Part 7

Flight is but the preparative. The sight Is deep and infinite, Ah me! 'tis all the glory, love, light, space, Joy, beauty and variety That doth adorn the Godhead's dwelling-place, 'Tis all that eye can see. Even trades themselves seen in celestial light, And cares and sins and woes are bright.

II

Order the beauty even of beauty is, It is the rule of bliss, The very life and form and cause of pleasure; Which if we do not understand, Ten thousand heaps of vain confused treasure Will but oppress the land. In blessedness itself we that shall miss, Being blind, which is the cause of bliss.

III

First then behold the world as thine, and well Note that where thou dost dwell. See all the beauty of the spacious case, Lift up thy pleas'd and ravisht eyes, Admire the glory of the Heavenly place And all its blessings prize. That sight well seen thy spirit shall prepare, The first makes all the other rare.

IV

Men's woes shall be but foils unto thy bliss, Thou once enjoying this: Trades shall adorn and beautify the earth, Their ignorance shall make thee bright, Were not their griefs Democritus his mirth? Their faults shall keep thee right: All shall be thine, because they all conspire, To feed and make thy glory higher.

V

To see a glorious fountain and an end, To see all creatures tend To thy advancement, and so sweetly close In thy repose: to see them shine In use, in worth, in service, and even foes Among the rest made thine: To see all these unite at once in thee Is to behold felicity.

VI

To see the fountain is a blessed thing, It is to see the King Of Glory face to face: but yet the end, The glorious, wondrous end is more; And yet the fountain there we comprehend, The spring we there adore: For in the end the fountain best is shewn, As by effects the cause is known.

VII

From one, to one, in one to see all things, To see the King of Kings But once in two; to see His endless treasures Made all mine own, myself the end Of all his labours! 'Tis the life of pleasures! To see myself His friend! Who all things finds conjoined in Him alone, Sees and enjoys the Holy One.

THE RAPTURE

I

Sweet Infancy! O fire of heaven! O sacred Light! How fair and bright! How great am I, Whom all the world doth magnify!

II

O Heavenly joy! O great and sacred blessedness Which I possess! So great a joy Who did into my arms convey!

III

From God above Being sent, the Heavens me enflame: To praise his Name The stars do move! The burning sun doth shew His love.

IV

O how divine Am I! To all this sacred wealth, This life and health, Who raised? Who mine Did make the same? What hand divine?

THE IMPROVEMENT

I

'Tis more to recollect, than make. The one Is but an accident without the other. We cannot think the world to be the Throne Of God, unless His Wisdom shine as Brother Unto His Power, in the fabric, so That we the one may in the other know.

II

His goodness also must in both appear, And all the children of His love be found In the creation of the starry sphere, And in the forming of the fruitful ground; Before we can that happiness descry Which is the Daughter of the deity.

III

His wisdom shines in spreading forth the sky, His power's great in ordering the Sun, His goodness very marvellous and high Appears, in every work His hand hath done: And all His works in their variety United or asunder please the eye.

IV

But neither goodness, wisdom, power, nor love, Nor happiness itself in things could be, Did they not all in one fair order move, And jointly by their service end in me: Had He not made an eye to be the Sphere Of all things, none of these would e'er appear.

V

His wisdom, goodness, power, as they unite, All things in one, that they may be the treasures Of one enjoyer, shine in the utmost height They can attain; and are most glorious pleasures, When all the universe conjoined in one, Exalts a creature as if that alone.

VI

To bring the moisture of far-distant seas Into a point, to make them present here, In virtue, not in bulk; one man to please With all the powers of the Highest Sphere From East, from West, from North and South, to bring The pleasing influence of every thing,

VII

Is far more great than to create them there Where now they stand; His wisdom more doth shine In that His might and goodness more appear In recollecting; He is more divine In making every thing a gift to one Than in the sev'ral parts of all His spacious Throne.

VIII

Herein we see a marvellous design, And apprehending clearly the great skill Of that great Architect, whose love doth shine In all His works, we find His Life and Will: For lively counsels do the Godhead shew, And these His love and goodness make us know.

IX

By wise contrivance He doth all things guide, And so dispose them, that while they unite For man He endless pleasures doth provide, And shows that happiness is His delight, His creatures' happiness as well as His: For that in truth He seeks, and 'tis His bliss.

X

O rapture! wonder! ecstasie! delight! How great must then His glory be, how great Our blessedness! How vast and infinite Our pleasure, how transcendent, how complete, If we the goodness of our God possess, And all His joy be in our blessedness.

XI

Almighty power when it is employed For one, that He with glory might be crown'd; Eternal wisdom when it is enjoyed By one whom all its pleasures do surround, Produce a creature that must, all his days, Return the sacrifice of endless praise.

XII

But Oh! the vigour of mine infant sense Drives me too far: I had not yet the eye, The apprehension, or intelligence Of things so very great, divine, and high. But all things were eternal unto me, And mine, and pleasing which mine eye did see.

XIII

That was enough at first: eternity, Infinity, and love were silent joys; Power, wisdom, goodness, and felicity; All these which now our care and sin destroys, By instinct virtually were well discern'd, And by their representatives were learn'd.

XIV

As sponges gather moisture from the earth Whereon there is scarce any sign of dew; As air infecteth salt: so at my birth All these were unperceiv'd, yet near and true: Not by reflexion, and distinctly known, But by their efficacy all mine own.

THE APPROACH[I]

I

That childish thoughts such joys inspire, Doth make my wonder and His glory higher: His bounty and my wealth more great, It shows His Kingdom and His Work complete: In which there is not anything Not meet to be the joy of Cherubim.

II

He in our childhood with us walks, And with our thoughts mysteriously he talks; He often visiteth our minds, But cold acceptance in us ever finds: We send Him often grieved away; Else would He shew us all His Kingdom's joy.

III

O Lord, I wonder at Thy Love, Which did my Infancy so early move: But more at that which did forbear, And move so long, tho' slighted many a year: But most of all, at last that Thou Thyself shouldst me convert I scarce know how.

IV

Thy Gracious motions oft in vain Assaulted me: my heart did hard remain Long time: I sent my God away, Grieved much that He could not impart His joy. I careless was, nor did regard The end for which He all those thoughts prepar'd;

V

But now with new and open eyes, I see beneath as if above the skies; And as I backward look again, See all His thoughts and mine most clear and plain. He did approach, He me did woo; I wonder that my God this thing would do.

VI

From nothing taken first I was; What wondrous things His glory brought to pass! Now in this world I Him behold, And me enveloped in more than gold; In deep abysses of delights, In present hidden precious benefits.

VII

Those thoughts His goodness long before Prepared as precious and celestial store, With curious art in me inlaid, That Childhood might itself alone be said My tutor, teacher, guide to be, Instructed then even by the Deity.

DUMBNESS

Sure Man was born to meditate on things, And to contemplate the eternal springs Of God and Nature, glory, bliss, and pleasure; That life and love might be his Heavenly treasure; And therefore speechless made at first, that He Might in himself profoundly busied be: And not vent out, before he hath ta'en in Those antidotes that guard his soul from sin. Wise Nature made him deaf, too, that He might Not be disturbed, while he doth take delight In inward things, nor be deprav'd with tongues, Nor injured by the errors and the wrongs That mortal words convey. For sin and death Are most infused by accursed breath, That flowing from corrupted entrails, bear Those hidden plagues which souls may justly fear. This, my dear friends, this was my blessed case; For nothing spoke to me but the fair face Of Heaven and Earth, before myself could speak, I then my Bliss did, when my silence, break. My non-intelligence of human words Ten thousand pleasures unto me affords; For while I knew not what they to me said, Before their souls were into mine convey'd, Before that living vehicle of wind Could breathe into me their infected mind, Before my thoughts were leaven'd with theirs, before There any mixture was; the Holy Door, Or gate of souls was close, and mine being one Within itself to me alone was known. Then did I dwell within a world of light, Distinct and separate from all men's sight, Where I did feel strange thoughts, and such things see That were, or seem'd, only reveal'd to me, There I saw all the world enjoyed by one; There I was in the world myself alone; No business serious seemed but one; no work But one was found; and that did in me lurk. D'ye ask me what? It was with clearer eyes To see all creatures full of Deities; Especially one's self: And to admire The satisfaction of all true desire: 'Twas to be pleased with all that God hath done; 'Twas to enjoy even all beneath the sun: 'Twas with a steady and immediate sense To feel and measure all the excellence Of things; 'twas to inherit endless treasure, And to be filled with everlasting pleasure: To reign in silence, and to sing alone, To see, love, covet, have, enjoy and praise, in one: To prize and to be ravish'd; to be true, Sincere and single in a blessed view Of all His gifts. Thus was I pent within A fort, inpregnable to any sin: Until the avenues being open laid Whole legions entered, and the forts betrayed: Before which time a pulpit in my mind, A temple and a teacher I did find, With a large text to comment on. No ear But eyes themselves were all the hearers there, And every stone, and every star a tongue, And every gale of wind a curious song. The Heavens were an oracle, and spake Divinity: the Earth did undertake The office of a priest; and I being dumb (Nothing besides was dumb), all things did come With voices and instructions; but when I Had gained a tongue, their power began to die. Mine ears let other noises in, not theirs, A noise disturbing all my songs and prayers. My foes pulled down the temple to the ground; They my adoring soul did deeply wound And casting that into a swoon, destroyed The Oracle, and all I there enjoyed: And having once inspired me with a sense Of foreign vanities, they march out thence In troops that cover and despoil my coasts, Being the invisible, most hurtful hosts. Yet the first words mine infancy did hear The things which in my dumbness did appear, Preventing all the rest, got such a root Within my heart, and stick so close unto 't, It may be trampled on, but still will grow And nutriment to soil itself will owe. _The first Impressions are Immortal all_, And let mine enemies hoop, cry, roar, or call, Yet these will whisper if I will but hear, And penetrate the heart, if not the ear.

SILENCE

A quiet silent person may possess All that is great or high in Blessedness. The inward work is the supreme: for all The other were occasioned by the fall. A man that seemeth idle to the view Of others, may the greatest business do. Those acts which Adam in his innocence Performed, carry all the excellence. Those outward busy acts he knew not, were But meaner matters of a lower sphere. Building of churches, giving to the poor, In dust and ashes lying on the floor, Administering of justice, preaching peace, Ploughing and toiling for a forct increase, With visiting the sick, or governing The rude and ignorant: this was a thing As then unknown. For neither ignorance Nor poverty, nor sickness did advance Their banner in the world, till sin came in. Those therefore were occasioned all by sin. The first and only work he had to do, Was in himself to feel his bliss, to view His sacred treasures, to admire, rejoice, Sing praises with a sweet and heavenly voice, See, prize, give hourly thanks within, and love, Which is the high and only work above Them all. And this at first was mine; these were My exercises of the highest sphere. To see, approve, take pleasure, and rejoice Within, is better than an empty voice. No melody in words can equal that; The sweetest organ, lute, or harp is flat And dull, compared thereto. And O that still I might admire my Father's love and skill! This is to honour, worship, and adore, This is to love Him: nay, it is far more, It is to enjoy Him, and to imitate The life and glory of His high Estate. 'Tis to receive with holy reverence, To understand His gifts, and with a sense Of pure devotion and humility, To prize His works, His Love to magnify. O happy ignorance of other things Which made me present with that King of Kings! And like Him too! All spirit, life, and power, All love and joy, in His Eternal Bower, A world of innocence as then was mine, In which the joys of Paradise did shine: And while I was not here I was in Heaven, Not resting one, but every, day in seven, For ever minding with a lively sense, The universe in all its excellence. No other thoughts did intervene, to cloy, Divert, extinguish, or eclipse my joy, No other customs, new-found wants, or dreams Invented here polluted my pure streams, No aloes or drugs, no wormwood star Was seen to fall into the sea from far; No rotten soul, did like an apple near My soul approach. There's no contagion here. An unperceived donor gave all pleasures, There nothing was but I, and all my treasures. In that fair world, one only was the Friend, One golden stream, one spring, one only end. There only one did sacrifice and sing To only one Eternal Heavenly King. The union was so strait between them two, That all was either's which my soul could view: His gifts and my possessions, both our treasures; He mine, and I the ocean of His pleasures. He was an ocean of delights from Whom The living springs and golden streams did come: My bosom was an ocean into which They all did run. And me they did enrich. A vast and infinite capacity, Did make my bosom like the Deity, In whose mysterious and celestial mind All ages and all worlds together shin'd, Who tho' He nothing said did always reign, And in Himself Eternity contain. The world was more in me, than I in it. The King of Glory in my soul did sit, And to Himself in me he always gave All that He takes delight to see me have, For so my spirit was an endless Sphere, Like God Himself, and Heaven, and Earth was there.

MY SPIRIT

I

My naked simple Life was I; That Act so strongly shin'd Upon the earth, the sea, the sky, It was the substance of my mind; The sense itself was I. I felt no dross nor matter in my Soul, No brims nor borders, such as in a bowl We see. My essence was capacity, That felt all things; The thought that springs Therefrom's itself. It hath no other wings To spread abroad, nor eyes to see, Nor hands distinct to feel, Nor knees to kneel. But being simple like the Deity In its own centre is a sphere Not shut up here, but everywhere.

II

It acts not from a centre to Its object as remote, But present is when it doth view, Being with the Being it doth note Whatever it doth do. It doth not by another engine work, But by itself; which in the act doth lurk. Its essence is transformed into a true And perfect act, And so exact Hath God appeared in this mysterious fact, That 'tis all eye, all act, all sight, And what it please can be, Not only see, Or do; for 'tis more voluble than light: Which can put on ten thousand forms, Being cloth'd with what itself adorns.

III

This made me present evermore With whatsoe'er I saw. An object, if it were before My eye, was by Dame Nature's law, Within my soul. Her store Was all at once within me; all Her treasures Were my immediate and internal pleasures, Substantial joys, which did inform my mind. With all she wrought My soul was fraught, And every object in my heart a thought Begot, or was; I could not tell, Whether the things did there Themselves appear, Which in my Spirit truly seem'd to dwell; Or whether my conforming mind Were not even all that therein shin'd.

IV

But yet of this I was most sure, That at the utmost length, (So worthy was it to endure) My soul could best express its strength. It was so quick and pure, That all my mind was wholly everywhere, Whate'er it saw, 'twas ever wholly there; The sun ten thousand legions off, was nigh: The utmost star, Though seen from far, Was present in the apple of my eye. There was my sight, my life, my sense, My substance, and my mind; My spirit shin'd Even there, not by a transient influence: The act was immanent, yet there: The thing remote, yet felt even here.

V

O Joy! O wonder and delight! O sacred mystery! My Soul a Spirit infinite! An image of the Deity! A pure substantial light! That Being greatest which doth nothing seem! Why, 'twas my all, I nothing did esteem But that alone. A strange mysterious sphere! A deep abyss That sees and is The only proper place of Heavenly Bliss. To its Creator 'tis so near In love and excellence, In life and sense, In greatness, worth, and nature; and so dear, In it, without hyperbole, The Son and friend of God we see.

VI

A strange extended orb of Joy, Proceeding from within, Which did on every side, convey Itself, and being nigh of kin To God did every way Dilate itself even in an instant, and Like an indivisible centre stand, At once surrounding all eternity. 'Twas not a sphere, Yet did appear, One infinite. 'Twas somewhat everywhere, And tho' it had a power to see Far more, yet still it shin'd And was a mind Exerted for it saw Infinity. 'Twas not a sphere, but 'twas a might Invisible, and yet gave light.

VII

O wondrous Self! O sphere of light, O sphere of joy most fair; O act, O power infinite; O subtile and unbounded air! O living orb of sight! Thou which within me art, yet me! Thou eye, And temple of His whole infinity! O what a world art Thou! A world within! All things appear All objects are Alive in Thee! Supersubstantial, rare, Above themselves, and nigh of kin To those pure things we find In His great mind Who made the world! Tho' now eclipsed by sin There they are useful and divine, Exalted there they ought to shine.

THE APPREHENSION

If this I did not every moment see, And if my thoughts did stray At any time, or idly play, And fix on other objects, yet This Apprehension set In me Was all my whole felicity.

FULLNESS

That light, that sight, that thought, Which in my soul at first He wrought, Is sure the only act to which I may Assent to-day: The mirror of an endless life, The shadow of a virgin wife, A spiritual world standing within, An Universe enclosed in skin, My power exerted, or my perfect Being, If not enjoying, yet an act of seeing. My bliss Consists in this, My duty too In this I view. It is a fountain or a spring, Refreshing me in everything. From whence those living streams I do derive, By which my thirsty soul is kept alive. The centre and the sphere Of my delights are here. It is my David's tower Where all my armour lies, The fountain of my power, My bliss, my sacrifice: A little spark That shining in the dark, Makes and encourages my soul to rise, The root of hope, the golden chain, Whose end is, as the poets feign, Fastened to the very throne Of Jove. It is a stone, On which I sit, An endless benefit, That being made my regal throne, Doth prove An Oracle of His Eternal Love.

NATURE