Pia Desideria or, Divine Addresses, In Three Books. Illustrated with XLVII. Copper-Plates. Written in Latin by Herm. Hugo. Englished by Edm. Arwaker ... The Fourth Edition, Corrected |
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| TO THE DESIRE OF THE Eternal Habitations, JESUS CHRIST, Whom the Angels desire to pry into. |
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 | Pia Desideria |  |
TO THE DESIRE OF THE Eternal Habitations, JESUS CHRIST, Whom the Angels desire to pry into.
Lord, thou knowest all my Desire, and my Groaning is not hid from thee,
Psal. 38. vers. 9.
By no discov'ry did I e'er impart
The secret Pantings of my Love-sick Heart;
Whose close recesses to no other Eye
But that great Pow'r's that fram'd them, open lie:
He only views my Thoughts in their undress,
And his bright Beams search thro' their nakedness:
To him each secret sigh, each silent groan,
To him the bottom of my Soul is known.
Who can his sense t'another's ears convey,
Unless himself his own designs betray?
Yet, cou'd Discov'ry gratify my Wish,
Concealment should not long defer the Bliss:
But no relation can my wants relieve,
Or limits to my boundless Wishes give.
The secret Pantings of my Love-sick Heart;
Whose close recesses to no other Eye
But that great Pow'r's that fram'd them, open lie:
He only views my Thoughts in their undress,
And his bright Beams search thro' their nakedness:
To him each secret sigh, each silent groan,
To him the bottom of my Soul is known.
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Unless himself his own designs betray?
Yet, cou'd Discov'ry gratify my Wish,
Concealment should not long defer the Bliss:
But no relation can my wants relieve,
Or limits to my boundless Wishes give.
Rachel a while did her lost Sons deplore,
But finding Tears in vain, she wept no more.
Thus Fire emits, and then devours its Seeds,
And on its Off-spring the wild Parent feeds.
Thus, when the Clouds have empty'd all their Rain,
They drink up the exhausted stock again.
And thus I best receive the Tears I shed,
And turn the Streams back to their Fountain-head.
But finding Tears in vain, she wept no more.
Thus Fire emits, and then devours its Seeds,
And on its Off-spring the wild Parent feeds.
Thus, when the Clouds have empty'd all their Rain,
They drink up the exhausted stock again.
And thus I best receive the Tears I shed,
And turn the Streams back to their Fountain-head.
Then, what my Thoughts are, while I deeply GROAN,
Only to me, and him I love, is known;
What I design in every silent VOW,
Only my self, and my Beloved know;
And my thick SIGHS a mystick Language prove,
Unknown to all but me and Him I love.
Only to me, and him I love, is known;
What I design in every silent VOW,
Only my self, and my Beloved know;
And my thick SIGHS a mystick Language prove,
Unknown to all but me and Him I love.
How oft have I, with pious Fraud and Art,
In a dissembled look bely'd my Heart?
Pleasure and Mirth without deludes the sight,
While all within is Torment in the height.
In a dissembled look bely'd my Heart?
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While all within is Torment in the height.
No Faith in Tears, for Tears have learnt deceit,
No Faith in Smiles, unless your self you'd cheat.
I weep, the hasty World believes I'm sad;
I laugh, and they as fast conclude me glad.
How little shows my Face my Mind's intent?
I smile when griev'd, when pleas'd, I most lament.
Not the Camelion changes more than those,
Whose every Wish new Masquerades expose;
None knows my secret GROANS, and VOWS, and SIGHS,
None but we Two, and only we suffice.
No Faith in Smiles, unless your self you'd cheat.
I weep, the hasty World believes I'm sad;
I laugh, and they as fast conclude me glad.
How little shows my Face my Mind's intent?
I smile when griev'd, when pleas'd, I most lament.
Not the Camelion changes more than those,
Whose every Wish new Masquerades expose;
None knows my secret GROANS, and VOWS, and SIGHS,
None but we Two, and only we suffice.
Neither is there any Creature that is not manifest in his Sight, but all Things are naked and opened to the Eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Heb. iv. 13.
| Pia Desideria | |