Part 9

And what than this can be more plain and clear? What truth than this more evident appear? The Godhead cannot prize The sun at all, nor yet the skies, Or air, or earth, or trees, or seas, Or stars, unless the soul of man they please. He neither sees with human eyes, Nor needs Himself seas, skies, Or earth, or any thing: He draws No breath, nor eats or drinks by Nature's laws.

VI

The joy and pleasure which His soul doth take In all His works is for His creatures' sake. So great a certainty We in this holy doctrine see That there could be no worth at all In any thing material, great, or small, Were not some creature more alive, Whence it might worth derive. God is the spring whence things come forth, Souls are the fountains of their real worth.

VII

The joy and pleasure which His soul doth take In all His works is for His creatures' sake. Yet doth He take delight That's altogether infinite In them even as they from Him come, For such His love and goodness is, the sum Of all His happiness doth seem, At least in His esteem, In that delight and joy to lie Which is His blessed creatures' melody.

VIII

In them He sees, and feels, and smells, and lives, In them affected is to whom He gives: In them ten thousand ways, He all His work again enjoys All things from Him to Him proceed By them: are His in them: as if indeed His Godhead did itself exceed. To them He all conveys; Nay, even Himself! He is the End To whom in them Himself, and all things tend.

THE ANTICIPATION

I

My contemplation dazzles in the End Of all I comprehend, And soars above all heights, Diving into the depths of all delights. Can He become the End, To whom all creatures tend, Who is the Father of all Infinites? Then may He benefit receive from things, And be not Parent only of all springs.

II

The End doth want the means, and is the cause, Whose sake, by Nature's laws, Is that for which they are. Such sands, such dangerous rocks we must beware: From all Eternity A perfect Deity Most great and blessed he doth still appear; His essence perfect was in all its features, He ever blessed in His joys and creatures.

III

From everlasting He those joys did need, And all those joys proceed From Him eternally. From everlasting His felicity Complete and perfect was, Whose bosom is the glass, Wherein we all things everlasting see. His name is Now, His Nature is Forever: None can His creatures from their Maker sever.

IV

The End in Him from everlasting is The fountain of all bliss: From everlasting it Efficient was, and influence did emit, That caused all. Before The world, we do adore This glorious End. Because all benefit From it proceeds: both are the very same, The End and Fountain differ but in Name.

V

That so the End should be the very Spring Of every glorious thing; And that which seemeth last, The fountain and the cause; attained so fast That it was first; and mov'd The Efficient, who so lov'd All worlds and made them for the sake of this; It shews the End complete before, and is A perfect token of His perfect bliss.

VI

The End complete, the means must needs be so, By which we plainly know, From all Eternity, The means whereby God is, must perfect be. God is Himself the means Whereby He doth exist: And as the Sun by shining's cloth'd with beams, So from Himself to all His glory streams, Who is a Sun, yet what Himself doth list.

VII

His endless wants and His enjoyments be From all Eternity Immutable in Him: They are His joys before the Cherubim. His wants appreciate all, And being infinite, Permit no being to be mean or small That He enjoys, or is before His sight: His satisfactions do His wants delight.

VIII

Wants are the fountains of Felicity; No joy could ever be Were there no want. No bliss, No sweetness perfect were it not for this. Want is the greatest pleasure Because it makes all treasure. O what a wonderful profound abyss Is God! In whom eternal wants and treasures Are more delightful, since they both are pleasures.

IX

He infinitely wanteth all His joys; (No want the soul e'er cloys.) And all those wanted pleasures He infinitely hath. What endless measures, What heights and depths may we In His felicity Conceive! Whose very wants are endless pleasures. His life in wants and joys is infinite, And both are felt as His Supreme Delight.

X

He's not like us; possession doth not cloy, Nor sense of want destroy; Both always are together; No force can either from the other sever. Yet there's a space between That's endless. Both are seen Distinctly still, and both are seen for ever. As soon as e'er He wanteth all His bliss, His bliss, tho' everlasting, in Him is.

XI

His Essence is all Act: He did that He All Act might always be. His nature burns like fire; His goodness infinitely does desire To be by all possesst; His love makes others blest. It is the glory of His high estate, And that which I for evermore admire, He is an Act that doth communicate.

XII

From all to all Eternity He is That Act: an Act of bliss: Wherein all bliss to all That will receive the same, or on him call, Is freely given: from whence 'Tis easy even to sense To apprehend that all receivers are In Him, all gifts, all joys, all eyes, even all At once that ever will or shall appear.

XIII

He is the means of them, they not of Him. The Holy Cherubim, Souls, Angels from Him came Who is a glorious bright and living Flame, That on all things doth shine, And makes their face divine. And Holy, Holy, Holy is His Name: He is the means both of Himself and all, Whom we the Fountain, Means, and End do call.

THE RECOVERY

I

To see us but receive, is such a sight As makes His treasures infinite! Because His goodness doth possess In us, His own, and our own Blessedness. Yea more, His love doth take delight To make our glory infinite; Our blessedness to see Is even to the Deity A Beatific vision! He attains His Ends while we enjoy. In us He reigns.

II

For God enjoy'd is all His End. Himself He then doth comprehend When He is blessed, magnified, Extoll'd, exalted, prais'd, and glorified, Honor'd, esteem'd, belov'd, enjoy'd, Admired, sanctified, obeyed, That is received. For He Doth place His whole felicity In that: who is despised and defied, Undeified almost if once denied.

III

In all His works, in all His ways, We must His glory see and praise; And since our pleasure is the end, We must His goodness, and His love attend. If we despise His glorious works, Such sin and mischief in it lurks That they are all made vain; And this is even endless pain To Him that sees it: Whose diviner grief Is hereupon (ah me!) without relief.

IV

We please His goodness that receive: Refusers Him of all bereave. As bridegrooms know full well that build A palace for their bride. It will not yield Any delight to him at all If she for whom he made the hall Refuse to dwell in it, Or plainly scorn the benefit. Her act that's woo'd yields more delight and pleasure If she receives, than all the pile of treasure.

V

But we have hands, and lips, and eyes, And hearts and souls can sacrifice; And souls themselves are made in vain If we our evil stubbornness retain. Affections, praises, are the things For which He gave us all those springs; They are the very fruits Of all those trees and roots, The fruits and ends of all His great endeavours, Which He abolisheth whoever severs.

VI

'Tis not alone a lively sense, A clear and quick intelligence, A free, profound, and full esteem; Tho' these elixirs all and ends do seem: But gratitude, thanksgiving, praise, A heart returned for all those joys, These are the things admired, These are the things by Him desired: These are the nectar and the quintessence, The cream and flower that most affect His sense.

VII

The voluntary act whereby These are repaid is in His eye More precious than the very sky. All gold and silver is but empty dross, Rubies and sapphires are but loss, The very sun, and stars and seas Far less His spirit please: One voluntary act of love Far more delightful to His soul doth prove, And is above all these as far as love.

ANOTHER

I

He seeks for ours as we do seek for His; Nay, O my Soul, ours is far more His bliss Than His is ours; at least it so doth seem Both in His own and our esteem:

II

His earnest love, His infinite desires, His living, endless, and devouring fires, Do rage in thirst and fervently require A love 'tis strange it should desire.

III

We cold and careless are, and scarcely think Upon the glorious spring whereat we drink. Did He not love us we could be content: We wretches are indifferent!

IV

He courts our love with infinite esteem, And seeks it so that it doth almost seem Even all His blessedness. His love doth prize It as the only Sacrifice.

V

'Tis death, my soul, to be indifferent, Set forth thyself unto thy whole extent, And all the glory of His passion prize, Who for thee lives, who for thee dies.

VI

His goodness made thy love so great a pleasure, His goodness made thy soul so great a treasure To thee and Him: that thou mightst both inherit, Prize it according to its merit.

VII

There is no goodness nor desert in thee, For which thy love so coveted should be; His goodness is the fountain of thy worth; O live to love and set it forth.

VIII

Thou nothing giv'st to Him, He gave all things To thee, and made thee like the King of Kings: His love the fountain is of Heaven and Earth, The cause of all thy joy and mirth.

IX

Thy love is nothing but itself, and yet So infinite is His that He doth set A value infinite upon it. Oh! This, canst thou careless be, and know!

X

Let that same goodness, which being infinite, Esteems thy love with infinite delight, Tho' less than His, tho' nothing, always be An object infinite to thee.

XI

And as it is the cause of all esteem, Of all the worth which in thy love doth seem, So let it be the cause of all thy pleasure, Causing its being and its treasure.

LOVE

I

O nectar! O delicious stream! O ravishing and only pleasure! Where Shall such another theme Inspire my tongue with joys or please mine ear! Abridgment of delights! And queen of sights! O mine of rarities! O Kingdom wide! O more! O cause of all! O glorious Bride! O God! O Bride of God! O King! O soul and crown of everything!

II

Did not I covet to behold Some endless monarch, that did always live In palaces of gold, Willing all kingdoms, realms, and crowns to give Unto my soul! Whose love A spring might prove Of endless glories, honors, friendships, pleasures, Joys, praises, beauties and celestial treasures! Lo, now I see there's such a King, The fountain-head of everything!

III

Did my ambition ever dream Of such a Lord, of such a love! Did I Expect so sweet a stream As this at any time! Could any eye Believe it? Why all power Is used here; Joys down from Heaven on my head do shower, And Jove beyond the fiction doth appear Once more in golden rain to come To Danæ's pleasing fruitful womb.

IV

His Ganimede! His life! His Joy! Or He comes down to me, or takes me up That I might be His boy, And fill, and taste, and give, and drink the cup. But those (tho' great) are all Too short and small, Too weak and feeble pictures to express The true mysterious depths of Blessedness. I am His image, and His friend, His son, bride, glory, temple, end.

THOUGHTS.--I

I

Ye brisk, divine and living things, Ye great exemplars, and ye heavenly springs, Which I within me see; Ye machines great, Which in my spirit God did seat, Ye engines of felicity; Ye wondrous fabrics of His hands, Who all possesseth that He understands; That ye are pent within my breast, Yet rove at large from East to West, And are invisible, yet infinite, Is my transcendent and my best delight.

II

By you I do the joys possess Of yesterday's-yet-present blessedness; As in a mirror clear, Old objects I Far distant do even now descry, Which by your help are present here. Ye are yourselves the very pleasures, The sweetest, last, and most substantial treasures: The offsprings and effects of bliss By whose return my glory is Renew'd and represented to my view: O ye delights, most pure, divine, and true!

III

Ye thoughts and apprehensions are The Heavenly streams which fill the soul with rare Transcendent perfect pleasures. At any time As if ye still were in your prime, Ye open all His heavenly treasures. His joys accessible are found To you, and those things enter which surround The soul. Ye living things within! Where had all joy and glory been Had ye not made the soul those things to know, Which seated in it make the fairest shew?

IV

I know not by what secret power Ye flourish so: but ye within your bower More beautiful do seem, And better meat Ye daily yield my soul to eat, Than even the objects I esteem Without my soul. What were the sky, What were the sun, or stars, did ye not lie In me, and represent them there Where else they never could appear! Yea, what were bliss without such thoughts to me, What were my life, what were the Deity?

V

O ye Conceptions of delight! Ye that inform my soul with life and light! Ye representatives, and springs Of inward pleasure! Ye joys, ye ends of outward treasure! Ye inward and ye living things! The thought or joy conceived is The inward fabric of my standing bliss: It is the very substance of my mind Transform'd and with its objects lined, The quintessence, elixir, spirit, cream: 'Tis strange that things unseen should be supreme.

VI

The eye's confined, the body's pent In narrow room: limbs are of small extent, But thoughts are always free; And as they're best So can they even in the breast Rove o'er the world with liberty: Can enter ages, present be In any kingdom, into bosoms see. Thoughts, thoughts can come to things and view What bodies can't approach unto: They know no bar, denial, limit, wall, But have a liberty to look on all.

VII

Like bees they fly from flower to flower, Appear in every closet, temple, bower, And suck the sweet from thence No eye can see: As tasters to the Deity, Incredible their excellence, For evermore they will be seen, Nor ever moulder into less esteem. They ever shew an equal face, And are immortal in their place: Ten thousand Ages hence they are as strong, Ten thousand Ages hence they are as young.

THOUGHTS.--II

I

A delicate and tender thought The quintessence is found of all He wrought; It is the fruit of all his works, Which we conceive, Bring forth, and give, Yea and in which the greater value lurks. It is the fine and curious flower Which we return and offer every hour; So tender is our Paradise That in a trice It withers strait and fades away If we but cease its beauty to display.

II

Why things so precious should be made So prone, so easy, and so apt to fade It is not easy to declare; But God would have His creatures brave, And that too by their own continual care. He gave them power every hour Both to erect and to maintain a tower, Which he far more in us doth prize Than all the skies, That we might offer it to Him, And in our souls be like the Seraphim.

III

That temple David did intend Was but a thought, and yet it did transcend King Solomon's. A thought we know Is that for which God doth enrich With joys even Heaven above and Earth below. For that all objects might be seen He made the orient azure and the green: That we might in his works delight And that the sight Of those His treasures might enflame The soul with love to Him, He made the same.

IV

This sight which is the glorious End Of all His works and which doth comprehend Eternity and time and space, Is far more dear, And far more near To Him, than all His glorious dwelling-place. It is a spiritual world within, A living world and nearer far of kin To God than that which first he made. While that doth fade This therefore ever shall endure Within the soul as more divine and pure.

[THE INFLUX]

I

Ye hidden nectars, which my God doth drink, Ye heavenly streams, ye beams divine, On which the angels think, How quick, how strongly do ye shine! Ye images of joy that in me dwell, Ye sweet mysterious shades That do all substances excel, Whose glory never fades; Ye skies, ye seas, ye stars, or things more fair, O ever, ever unto me repair!

II

Ye pleasant thoughts! O how that sun divine Appears to-day which I did see So sweetly then to shine Even in my very infancy! Ye rich ideas which within me live Ye living pictures here, Ye spirits that do bring and give All joys; when ye appear Even Heaven itself and God, and all in you Come down on earth and please my blessed view.

III

I never glorious great and rich am found, Am never ravished with joy, Till ye my soul surround: Till ye my blessedness display No soul but stone, no man but clay am I, No flesh, but dust, till ye Delight, invade and move my eye, And do replenish me; My sweet informers and my living treasures, My great companions and my only pleasures!

IV

O what incredible delights, what fires, What appetites, what joys do ye Occasion, what desires, What heavenly praises! While we see What every Seraphim above admires! Your Jubilee and trade, Ye are so strangely and divinely made Shall never, never fade: Ye ravish all my soul: Of you I twice Will speak, for in the dark y'are Paradise.

THOUGHTS.--III

Thoughts are the Angels which we send abroad, To visit all the parts of God's abode. Thoughts are the things wherein we all confess The quintessence of sin and holiness Is laid. All wisdom in a thought doth shine, By thoughts alone the soul is made divine. Thoughts are the springs of all our actions here On earth, tho' they themselves do not appear. They are the springs of beauty, order, peace, The city's gallantries, the fields' increase. Rule, government, and kingdoms flow from them, And so doth all the New Jerusalem, At least the glory, splendour, and delight, For 'tis by thoughts that even she is bright. Thoughts are the things wherewith even God is crown'd, And as the soul without them's useless found, So are all other creatures too. A thought Is even the very cream of all He wrought. All holy fear, and love, and reverence, With honour, joy, and praise, as well as sense, Are hidden in our thoughts. Thoughts are the things That us affect: The honey and the stings Of all that is are seated in a thought, Even while it seemeth weak, and next to nought. The matter of all pleasure, virtue, worth, Grief, anger, hate, revenge, which words set forth, Are thoughts alone. Thoughts are the highest things, The very offspring of the King of Kings. Thoughts are a kind of strange celestial creature That when they're good, they're such in every feature. They bear the image of their Father's face, And beautify even all His dwelling-place: So nimble, volatile, and unconfined, Illimited, to which no form's assigned, So changeable, capacious, easy, free, That what itself doth please a thought may be. From nothing to infinity it turns, Even in a moment: Now like fire it burns, Now's frozen ice: Now shapes the glorious sun, Now darkness in a moment doth become. Now all at once: Now crowded in a sand, Now fills the hemisphere, and sees a land: Now on a sudden's wider than the sky, And now runs parile with the Deity. 'Tis such that it may all or nothing be, And's made so active, voluble, and free Because 'tis capable of all that's good, And is the end of all when understood. A thought can clothe itself with all the treasures Of God, and be the greatest of His pleasures. It all His laws, and glorious works, and ways, And attributes and counsels, all His praise It can conceive and imitate, and give: It is the only being that doth live. 'Tis capable of all perfection here, Of all His love and joy and glory there. It is the only beauty that doth shine, Most great, transcendent, heavenly, and divine. The very best or worst of things it is, The basis of all misery or bliss. Its measures and capacities are such, Their utmost measure we can never touch. Here ornament on ornament may still Be laid; beauty on beauty, skill on skill, Strength still on strength, and life itself on life, 'Tis Queen of all things, and its Maker's wife. The best of thoughts is yet a thing unknown, But when 'tis perfect it is like His own: Intelligible, endless, yet a sphere Substantial too: In which all things appear, All worlds, all excellencies, senses, graces, Joys, pleasures, creatures, and the angels' faces. It shall be married ever unto all, And all embrace, tho' now it seemeth small. A thought my soul may omnipresent be, For all it toucheth which a thought can see. O that mysterious Being! Thoughts are things Which rightly used make His creatures Kings.

DESIRE

I