For things that will not come;
And if they do, they prove but cumbersome.
Wealth brings much woe;
And, since it fortunes so,
'Tis better to be poor
Than so t' abound
As to be drown'd
Or overwhelm'd with store.
Pale care, avaunt!
I'll learn to be content
With that small stock Thy bounty gave or lent.
What may conduce
To my most healthful use,
Almighty God, me grant;
But that, or this,
That hurtful is,
Deny Thy suppliant.
105. TO GOD: HIS GOOD WILL.
Gold I have none, but I present my need,
O Thou, that crown'st the will, where wants the deed.
Where rams are wanting, or large bullocks' thighs,
There a poor lamb's a plenteous sacrifice.
Take then his vows, who, if he had it, would
Devote to Thee both incense, myrrh and gold
Upon an altar rear'd by him, and crown'd
Both with the ruby, pearl, and diamond.
106. ON HEAVEN.
Permit mine eyes to see
Part, or the whole of Thee,
O happy place!
Where all have grace,
And garlands shar'd,
For their reward;
Where each chaste soul
In long white stole,
And palms in hand,
Do ravish'd stand;
So in a ring,
The praises sing
Of Three in One
That fill the Throne;
While harps and viols then
To voices say, Amen.
107. THE SUM AND THE SATISFACTION.
Last night I drew up mine account,
And found my debits to amount
To such a height, as for to tell
How I should pay 's impossible.
Well, this I'll do: my mighty score
Thy mercy-seat I'll lay before;
But therewithal I'll bring the band
Which, in full force, did daring stand
Till my Redeemer, on the tree,
Made void for millions, as for me.
Then, if thou bidst me pay, or go
Unto the prison, I'll say, no;
Christ having paid, I nothing owe:
For, this is sure, the debt is dead
By law, the bond once cancelled.
_Score_, debt or reckoning.
_Band_, bond.
_Daring_, frightening.
108. GOOD MEN AFFLICTED MOST.
God makes not good men wantons, but doth bring
Them to the field, and, there, to skirmishing.
With trials those, with terrors these He proves,
And hazards those most whom the most He loves;
For Sceva, darts; for Cocles, dangers; thus
He finds a fire for mighty Mutius;
Death for stout Cato; and besides all these,
A poison, too, He has for Socrates;
Torments for high Attilius; and, with want,
Brings in Fabricius for a combatant:
But bastard-slips, and such as He dislikes,
He never brings them once to th' push of pikes.
109. GOOD CHRISTIANS
Play their offensive and defensive parts,
Till they be hid o'er with a wood of darts.
110. THE WILL THE CAUSE OF WOE.
When man is punish'd, he is plagued still,
Not for the fault of nature, but of will.
111. TO HEAVEN.
Open thy gates
To him, who weeping waits,
And might come in,
But that held back by sin.
Let mercy be
So kind to set me free,
And I will straight
Come in, or force the gate.
112. THE RECOMPENSE.
All I have lost that could be rapt from me;
And fare it well: yet, Herrick, if so be
Thy dearest Saviour renders thee but one
Smile, that one smile's full restitution.
113. TO GOD.
Pardon me, God, once more I Thee entreat,
That I have placed Thee in so mean a seat
Where round about Thou seest but all things vain,
Uncircumcis'd, unseason'd and profane.
But as Heaven's public and immortal eye
Looks on the filth, but is not soil'd thereby,
So Thou, my God, may'st on this impure look,
But take no tincture from my sinful book:
Let but one beam of glory on it shine,
And that will make me and my work divine.
114. TO GOD.
Lord, I am like to mistletoe,
Which has no root, and cannot grow
Or prosper but by that same tree
It clings about; so I by Thee.
What need I then to fear at all,
So long as I about Thee crawl?
But if that tree should fall and die,
Tumble shall heav'n, and down will I.
115. HIS WISH TO GOD.
I would to God that mine old age might have
Before my last, but here a living grave,
Some one poor almshouse; there to lie, or stir
Ghostlike, as in my meaner sepulchre;
A little piggin and a pipkin by,
To hold things fitting my necessity,
Which rightly used, both in their time and place,
Might me excite to fore and after-grace.
Thy Cross, my Christ, fix'd 'fore mine eyes should be,
Not to adore that, but to worship Thee.
So, here the remnant of my days I'd spend,
Reading Thy Bible, and my Book; so end.
_Piggin_, a small wooden vessel.
116. SATAN.
When we 'gainst Satan stoutly fight, the more
He tears and tugs us than he did before;
Neglecting once to cast a frown on those
Whom ease makes his without the help of blows.
117. HELL.
Hell is no other but a soundless pit,
Where no one beam of comfort peeps in it.
118. THE WAY.
When I a ship see on the seas,
Cuff'd with those wat'ry savages,
And therewithal behold it hath
In all that way no beaten path,
Then, with a wonder, I confess
Thou art our way i' th' wilderness;
And while we blunder in the dark,
Thou art our candle there, or spark.
119. GREAT GRIEF, GREAT GLORY.
The less our sorrows here and suff'rings cease,
The more our crowns of glory there increase.
120. HELL.
Hell is the place where whipping-cheer abounds,
But no one jailer there to wash the wounds.
121. THE BELLMAN.
Along the dark and silent night,
With my lantern and my light,
And the tinkling of my bell,
Thus I walk, and this I tell:
Death and dreadfulness call on
To the gen'ral session,
To whose dismal bar we there
All accounts must come to clear.
Scores of sins w'ave made here many,
Wip'd out few, God knows, if any.
Rise, ye debtors, then, and fall
To make payment while I call.
Ponder this, when I am gone;
By the clock 'tis almost one.
122. THE GOODNESS OF HIS GOD.
When winds and seas do rage
And threaten to undo me,
Thou dost, their wrath assuage
If I but call unto Thee.
A mighty storm last night
Did seek my soul to swallow,
But by the peep of light
A gentle calm did follow.
What need I then despair,
Though ills stand round about me;
Since mischiefs neither dare
To bark or bite without Thee?
123. THE WIDOWS' TEARS: OR, DIRGE OF DORCAS.
Come pity us, all ye who see
Our harps hung on the willow tree:
Come pity us, ye passers-by
Who see or hear poor widows cry:
Come pity us; and bring your ears
And eyes to pity widows' tears.
_Chor._ And when you are come hither
Then we will keep
A fast, and weep
Our eyes out altogether.
For Tabitha, who dead lies here,
Clean washed, and laid out for the bier,
O modest matrons, weep and wail!
For now the corn and wine must fail:
The basket and the bin of bread,
Wherewith so many souls were fed,
_Chor._ Stand empty here for ever:
And ah! the poor
At thy worn door
Shall be relieved never.
Woe worth the time, woe worth the day
That 'reaved us of thee, Tabitha!
For we have lost with thee the meal,
The bits, the morsels, and the deal
Of gentle paste and yielding dough
That thou on widows did'st bestow.
_Chor._ All's gone, and death hath taken
Away from us
Our maundy; thus
Thy widows stand forsaken.
Ah, Dorcas, Dorcas! now adieu
We bid the cruse and pannier too:
Ay, and the flesh, for and the fish
Doled to us in that lordly dish.
We take our leaves now of the loom
From whence the housewives' cloth did come:
_Chor._ The web affords now nothing;
Thou being dead,
The worsted thread
Is cut, that made us clothing.
Farewell the flax and reaming wool
With which thy house was plentiful;
Farewell the coats, the garments, and
The sheets, the rugs, made by thy hand;
Farewell thy fire and thy light
That ne'er went out by day or night:
_Chor._ No, or thy zeal so speedy,
That found a way
By peep of day,
To feed and cloth the needy.
But, ah, alas! the almond bough
And olive branch is withered now.
The wine press now is ta'en from us,
The saffron and the calamus.
The spice and spikenard hence is gone,
The storax and the cinnamon.
_Chor._ The carol of our gladness
Has taken wing,
And our late spring
Of mirth is turned to sadness.
How wise wast thou in all thy ways!
How worthy of respect and praise!
How matron-like didst thou go dressed!
How soberly above the rest
Of those that prank it with their plumes,
And jet it with their choice perfumes!
_Chor._ Thy vestures were not flowing:
Nor did the street
Accuse thy feet
Of mincing in their going.
And though thou here li'st dead, we see
A deal of beauty yet in thee.
How sweetly shows thy smiling face,
Thy lips with all-diffused grace!
Thy hands, though cold, yet spotless white,
And comely as the chrysolite!
_Chor._ Thy belly like a hill is,
Or as a neat
Clean heap of wheat,
All set about with lilies.
Sleep with thy beauties here, while we
Will show these garments made by thee;
These were the coats, in these are read
The monuments of Dorcas dead.
These were thy acts, and thou shall have
These hung as honours o'er thy grave;
_Chor._ And after us, distressed,
Should fame be dumb,
Thy very tomb
Would cry out, Thou art blessed.
_Deal_, portion.
_Maundy_, the alms given on Thursday in Holy Week.
_Reaming_, drawing out into threads.
_Calamus_, a fragrant plant, the sweet flag.
_Chrysolite_, the topaz.
124. TO GOD IN TIME OF PLUNDERING.
Rapine has yet took nought from me;
But if it please my God I be
Brought at the last to th' utmost bit,
God make me thankful still for it.
I have been grateful for my store:
Let me say grace when there's no more.
125. TO HIS SAVIOUR. THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT.
That little pretty bleeding part
Of foreskin send to me:
And I'll return a bleeding heart
For New-Year's gift to Thee.
Rich is the gem that Thou did'st send,
Mine's faulty too and small;
But yet this gift Thou wilt commend
Because I send Thee all.
126. DOOMSDAY.
Let not that day God's friends and servants scare;
The bench is then their place, and not the bar.
127. THE POOR'S PORTION.
The sup'rabundance of my store,
That is the portion of the poor:
Wheat, barley, rye, or oats; what is't
But He takes toll of? all the grist.
Two raiments have I: Christ then makes
This law; that He and I part stakes.
Or have I two loaves, then I use
The poor to cut, and I to choose.
128. THE WHITE ISLAND: OR, PLACE OF THE BLEST.
In this world, the isle of dreams,
While we sit by sorrow's streams,
Tears and terrors are our themes
Reciting:
But when once from hence we fly,
More and more approaching nigh
Unto young Eternity
Uniting:
In that whiter island, where
Things are evermore sincere;
Candour here, and lustre there
Delighting:
There no monstrous fancies shall
Out of hell an horror call,
To create, or cause at all,
Affrighting.
There in calm and cooling sleep
We our eyes shall never steep;
But eternal watch shall keep,
Attending
Pleasures, such as shall pursue
Me immortalised, and you;
And fresh joys, as never to
Have ending.
129. TO CHRIST.
I crawl, I creep; my Christ, I come
To Thee for curing balsamum:
Thou hast, nay more, Thou art the tree
Affording salve of sovereignty.
My mouth I'll lay unto Thy wound
Bleeding, that no blood touch the ground:
For, rather than one drop shall fall
To waste, my JESU, I'll take all.
130. TO GOD.
God! to my little meal and oil
Add but a bit of flesh to boil:
And Thou my pipkinet shalt see,
Give a wave-off'ring unto Thee.
131. FREE WELCOME.
God He refuseth no man, but makes way
For all that now come or hereafter may.
132. GOD'S GRACE.
God's grace deserves here to be daily fed
That, thus increased, it might be perfected.
133. COMING TO CHRIST.
To him who longs unto his Christ to go,
Celerity even itself is slow.
134. CORRECTION.
God had but one Son free from sin; but none
Of all His sons free from correction.
135. GOD'S BOUNTY.
God, as He's potent, so He's likewise known
To give us more than hope can fix upon.
136. KNOWLEDGE.
Science in God is known to be
A substance, not a quality.
137. SALUTATION.
Christ, I have read, did to His chaplains say,
Sending them forth, Salute no man by th' way:
Not that He taught His ministers to be
Unsmooth or sour to all civility,
But to instruct them to avoid all snares
Of tardidation in the Lord's affairs.
Manners are good; but till His errand ends,
Salute we must nor strangers, kin, or friends.
_Tardidation_, sloth.
138. LASCIVIOUSNESS.
Lasciviousness is known to be
The sister to saturity.
139. TEARS.
God from our eyes all tears hereafter wipes,
And gives His children kisses then, not stripes.
140. GOD'S BLESSING.
In vain our labours are whatsoe'er they be,
Unless God gives the benedicite.
141. GOD, AND LORD.
God is His name of nature; but that word
Implies His power when He's called the Lord.
142. THE JUDGMENT-DAY.
God hides from man the reck'ning day, that he
May fear it ever for uncertainty;
That being ignorant of that one, he may
Expect the coming of it every day.
143. ANGELS.
Angels are called gods; yet of them, none
Are gods but by participation:
As just men are entitled gods, yet none
Are gods of them but by adoption.
144. LONG LIFE.
The longer thread of life we spin,
The more occasion still to sin.
145. TEARS.
The tears of saints more sweet by far
Than all the songs of sinners are.
146. MANNA.
That manna, which God on His people cast,
Fitted itself to ev'ry feeder's taste.
147. REVERENCE.
True rev'rence is, as Cassiodore doth prove,
The fear of God commix'd with cleanly love.
_Cassiodore_, Marcus Aurelius Cassiodorus, theologian and statesman
497-575?
148. MERCY.
Mercy, the wise Athenians held to be
Not an affection, but a deity.
149. WAGES.
After this life, the wages shall
Not shared alike be unto all.
150. TEMPTATION.
God tempteth no one, as St. Austin saith,
For any ill, but for the proof of faith;
Unto temptation God exposeth some,
But none of purpose to be overcome.
151. GOD'S HANDS.
God's hands are round and smooth, that gifts may fall
Freely from them and hold none back at all.
152. LABOUR.
Labour we must, and labour hard
I' th' forum here, or vineyard.
153. MORA SPONSI, THE STAY OF THE BRIDEGROOM.
The time the bridegroom stays from hence
Is but the time of penitence.
154. ROARING.
Roaring is nothing but a weeping part
Forced from the mighty dolour of the heart.
155. THE EUCHARIST.
_He that is hurt seeks help_: sin is the wound;
The salve for this i' th' Eucharist is found.
156. SIN SEVERELY PUNISHED.
God in His own day will be then severe
To punish great sins, who small faults whipt here.
157. MONTES SCRIPTURARUM: THE MOUNTS OF THE SCRIPTURES.
The mountains of the Scriptures are, some say,
Moses, and Jesus, called Joshua:
The prophets, mountains of the Old are meant,
Th' apostles, mounts of the New Testament.
158. PRAYER.
A prayer that is said alone
Starves, having no companion.
Great things ask for when thou dost pray,
And those great are which ne'er decay.
Pray not for silver, rust eats this;
Ask not for gold, which metal is;
Nor yet for houses, which are here
But earth: _such vows ne'er reach God's ear_.
159. CHRIST'S SADNESS.
Christ was not sad, i' th' garden, for His own
Passion, but for His sheep's dispersion.
160. GOD HEARS US.
God, who's in heaven, will hear from thence;
If not to th' sound, yet to the sense.
161. GOD.
God, as the learned Damascene doth write,
A sea of substance is, indefinite.
_The learned Damascene_, _i.e._, St. John of Damascus.
162. CLOUDS.
He that ascended in a cloud, shall come
In clouds descending to the public doom.
163. COMFORTS IN CONTENTIONS.
The same who crowns the conqueror, will be
A coadjutor in the agony.
164. HEAVEN.
Heaven is most fair; but fairer He
That made that fairest canopy.
165. GOD.
In God there's nothing, but 'tis known to be
Even God Himself, in perfect entity.
166. HIS POWER.
God can do all things, save but what are known
For to imply a contradiction.
167. CHRIST'S WORDS ON THE CROSS: MY GOD, MY GOD.
Christ, when He hung the dreadful cross upon,
Had, as it were, a dereliction
In this regard, in those great terrors He
Had no one beam from God's sweet majesty.
_Dereliction_, abandonment.
168. JEHOVAH.
Jehovah, as Boëtius saith,
No number of the plural hath.
169. CONFUSION OF FACE.
God then confounds man's face when He not bears
The vows of those who are petitioners.
170. ANOTHER.
The shame of man's face is no more
Than prayers repell'd, says Cassiodore.
171. BEGGARS.
Jacob God's beggar was; and so we wait,
Though ne'er so rich, all beggars at His gate.
172. GOOD AND BAD.
The bad among the good are here mix'd ever;
The good without the bad are here plac'd never.
173. SIN.
_Sin no existence; nature none it hath,
Or good at all_, as learned Aquinas saith.
174. MARTHA, MARTHA.
The repetition of the name made known
No other than Christ's full affection.
175. YOUTH AND AGE.
God on our youth bestows but little ease;
But on our age most sweet indulgences.
176. GOD'S POWER.
God is so potent, as His power can
Draw out of bad a sovereign good to man.
177. PARADISE.
Paradise is, as from the learn'd I gather,
_A choir of bless'd souls circling in the Father_.
178. OBSERVATION.
The Jews, when they built houses, I have read,
One part thereof left still unfinished,
To make them thereby mindful of their own
City's most sad and dire destruction.
179. THE ASS.
God did forbid the Israelites to bring
An ass unto Him for an offering,
Only, by this dull creature, to express
His detestation to all slothfulness.
180. OBSERVATION.
The Virgin Mother stood at distance, there,
From her Son's cross, not shedding once a tear,
Because the law forbad to sit and cry
For those who did as malefactors die.
So she, to keep her mighty woes in awe,
Tortured her love not to transgress the law.
Observe we may, how Mary Joses then,
And th' other Mary, Mary Magdalen,
Sat by the grave; and sadly sitting there,
Shed for their Master many a bitter tear;
But 'twas not till their dearest Lord was dead
And then to weep they both were licensed.
181. TAPERS.
Those tapers which we set upon the grave
In fun'ral pomp, but this importance have:
That souls departed are not put out quite;
But as they walked here in their vestures white,
So live in heaven in everlasting light.
182. CHRIST'S BIRTH.
One birth our Saviour had; the like none yet
Was, or will be a second like to it.
183. THE VIRGIN MARY.
To work a wonder, God would have her shown
At once a bud and yet a rose full-blown.
184. ANOTHER.
As sunbeams pierce the glass, and streaming in,
No crack or schism leave i' th' subtle skin:
So the Divine Hand worked and brake no thread,
But, in a mother, kept a maidenhead.
185. GOD.
God, in the holy tongue, they call
The place that filleth all in all.
186. ANOTHER OF GOD.
God's said to leave this place, and for to come
Nearer to that place than to other some,
Of local motion, in no least respect,
But only by impression of effect.
187. ANOTHER.
God is Jehovah call'd: which name of His
Implies or Essence, or the He that Is.
188. GOD'S PRESENCE.
God's evident, and may be said to be
Present with just men, to the verity;
But with the wicked if He doth comply,
'Tis, as St. Bernard saith, but seemingly.
189. GOD'S DWELLING.
God's said to dwell there, wheresoever He
Puts down some prints of His high Majesty;
As when to man He comes, and there doth place
His Holy Spirit, or doth plant His Grace.
190. THE VIRGIN MARY.
The Virgin Mary was, as I have read,
The House of God, by Christ inhabited;
Into the which He entered, but, the door
Once shut, was never to be open'd more.
191. TO GOD.
God's undivided, One in Persons Three,
And Three in inconfused unity.
Original of Essence there is none,
'Twixt God the Father, Holy Ghost, and Son:
And though the Father be the first of Three,
'Tis but by order, not by entity.
192. UPON WOMAN AND MARY.
So long, it seem'd, as Mary's faith was small,
Christ did her woman, not her Mary call;
But no more woman, being strong in faith,
But Mary call'd then, as St. Ambrose saith.
193. NORTH AND SOUTH.
The Jews their beds and offices of ease,
Placed north and south for these clean purposes;
That man's uncomely froth might not molest
God's ways and walks, which lie still east and west.
194. SABBATHS.
Sabbaths are threefold, as St. Austin says:
The first of time, or Sabbath here of days;
The second is a conscience trespass-free;
The last the Sabbath of Eternity.
195. THE FAST, OR LENT.
Noah the first was, as tradition says,
That did ordain the fast of forty days.
196. SIN.
There is no evil that we do commit,
But hath th' extraction of some good from it:
As when we sin, God, the great Chemist, thence
Draws out th' elixir of true penitence.
197. GOD.
God is more here than in another place,
Not by His essence, but commerce of grace.
198. THIS, AND THE NEXT WORLD.
God hath this world for many made, 'tis true:
But He hath made the World to Come for few.
199. EASE.
God gives to none so absolute an ease
As not to know or feel some grievances.
200. BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS.
Paul, he began ill, but he ended well;
Judas began well, but he foully fell:
In godliness not the beginnings so
Much as the ends are to be look'd unto.
201. TEMPORAL GOODS.
These temporal goods God, the most wise, commends
To th' good and bad in common for two ends:
First, that these goods none here may o'er-esteem
Because the wicked do partake of them;
Next, that these ills none cowardly may shun,
Being, oft here, the just man's portion.
202. HELL FIRE.
The fire of hell this strange condition hath,
To burn, not shine, as learned Basil saith.
203. ABEL'S BLOOD.
Speak, did the blood of Abel cry
To God for vengeance? Yes, say I,
Ev'n as the sprinkled blood called on
God for an expiation.
204. ANOTHER.
The blood of Abel was a thing
Of such a rev'rend reckoning,
As that the old world thought it fit
Especially to swear by it.
205. A POSITION IN THE HEBREW DIVINITY.
One man repentant is of more esteem
With God, than one that never sinned 'gainst Him.
206. PENITENCE.
The doctors, in the Talmud, say,
That in this world one only day
In true repentance spent will be
More worth than heaven's eternity.
207. GOD'S PRESENCE.
God's present everywhere, but most of all
Present by union hypostatical:
God, He is there, where's nothing else, schools say,
And nothing else is there where He's away.
_Hypostatical_, personal.
208. THE RESURRECTION POSSIBLE AND PROBABLE.
For each one body that i' th' earth is sown,
There's an uprising but of one for one;
But for each grain that in the ground is thrown,
Threescore or fourscore spring up thence for one:
So that the wonder is not half so great
Of ours as is the rising of the wheat.
209. CHRIST'S SUFFERING.
Justly our dearest Saviour may abhor us,
Who hath more suffered by us far, than for us.
210. SINNERS.
Sinners confounded are a twofold way,
Either as when, the learned schoolmen say,
Men's sins destroyed are when they repent,
Or when, for sins, men suffer punishment.
211. TEMPTATIONS.
No man is tempted so but may o'ercome,
If that he has a will to masterdom.
212. PITY AND PUNISHMENT.
God doth embrace the good with love; and gains
The good by mercy, as the bad by pains.
213. GOD'S PRICE AND MAN'S PRICE.
God bought man here with His heart's blood expense;
And man sold God here for base thirty pence.
214. CHRIST'S ACTION.
Christ never did so great a work but there
His human nature did in part appear;
Or ne'er so mean a piece but men might see
Therein some beams of His Divinity:
So that in all He did there did combine
His human nature and His part divine.
215. PREDESTINATION.
Predestination is the cause alone
Of many standing, but of fall to none.
216. ANOTHER.
Art thou not destin'd? then with haste go on
To make thy fair predestination:
If thou can'st change thy life, God then will please
To change, or call back, His past sentences.
217. SIN.
Sin never slew a soul unless there went
Along with it some tempting blandishment.
218. ANOTHER.
Sin is an act so free, that if we shall
Say 'tis not free, 'tis then no sin at all.
219. ANOTHER.
Sin is the cause of death; and sin's alone
The cause of God's predestination:
And from God's prescience of man's sin doth flow
Our destination to eternal woe.
220. PRESCIENCE.
God's prescience makes none sinful; but th' offence
Of man's the chief cause of God's prescience.
221. CHRIST.
To all our wounds here, whatsoe'er they be,
Christ is the one sufficient remedy.
222. CHRIST'S INCARNATION.
Christ took our nature on Him, not that He
'Bove all things loved it for the purity:
No, but He dress'd Him with our human trim,
Because our flesh stood most in need of Him.
223. HEAVEN.
Heaven is not given for our good works here;
Yet it is given to the labourer.
224. GOD'S KEYS
God has four keys, which He reserves alone:
The first of rain; the key of hell next known;
With the third key He opes and shuts the womb;
And with the fourth key he unlocks the tomb.
225. SIN.
There's no constraint to do amiss,
Whereas but one enforcement is.
226. ALMS.
Give unto all, lest he, whom thou deni'st,
May chance to be no other man but Christ.
227. HELL FIRE.
One only fire has hell; but yet it shall
Not after one sort there excruciate all:
But look, how each transgressor onward went
Boldly in sin, shall feel more punishment.