PAGE =353=, ll. 9-12. Perhaps the rhetoric of these lines would be
improved by shifting the semicolon from l. 10 to l. 11. 'In putting,
at thy behest, the seas between my friends and me, I sacrifice them
unto thee: Do thou put thy,' &c. As the verse stands the connexion
between the first two lines and the next is a little vague.
l. 12. _thy sea_. I have adopted 'sea' from the MSS. in place of
'seas' _1633_. It was easy for the printer to take over 'seas' from
the preceding line, but 'sea' is the more pointed word. The sea is the
blood of Christ. The 1635-69 editions indeed read 'blood', which is as
though a gloss had crept in from the margin. More probably 'blood'
was a first version, changed by a bold metaphor to a more striking
antithesis.
Miss Spearing has drawn my attention, since writing this note, to the
peroration of _A Sermon of Valediction at my going into Germany, at
Lincolns-Inne, April_ 18, 1619, which I had overlooked. It confirms
the rightness of 'sea'. The whole passage is of interest in connexion
with this poem: 'Now to make up a circle, by returning to our first
word, remember: As we remember God, so for his sake, let us remember
one another. In my long absence, and far distance from hence, remember
me, as I shall do you in the ears of that God, to whom the farthest
East, and the farthest West are but as the right and left ear in
one of us; we hear with both at once, and he hears in both at once;
remember me, not my abilities; for when I consider my Apostleship that
I was sent to you, I am in St. Pauls _quorum, quorum ego sum minimus_,
the least of them that have been sent; and when I consider my
infirmities, I am in his _quorum_, in another commission, another way,
_Quorum ego maximus_; the greatest of them; but remember my labors,
and endeavors, at least my desire, to make sure your salvation. And
I shall remember your religious cheerfulness in hearing the word, and
your christianly respect towards all them that bring that word unto
you, and towards myself in particular far bove my merit. And so as
your eyes that stay here, and mine that must be far of, for all that
distance shall meet every morning, in looking upon that same Sun, and
meet every night, in looking upon the same Moon; so our hearts may
meet morning and evening in that God, which sees and hears everywhere;
that you may come thither to him with your prayers, that I, (if I may
be of use for his glory, and your edification in this place) may be
restored to you again; and may come to him with my prayer that what
_Paul_ soever plant amongst you, or what _Apollos_ soever water, God
himself will give us the increase: That if I never meet you again till
we have all passed the gate of death, yet in the gates of heaven, I
may meet you all, and there say to my Saviour and your Saviour, that
which he said to his Father and our Father, _Of those whom thou hast
given me, have I not lost one_. Remember me thus, you that stay in
this Kingdome of peace, where no sword is drawn, but the sword of
Justice, as I shal remember you in those Kingdomes, where ambition on
one side, and a necessary defence from unjust persecution on the other
side hath drawn many swords; and Christ Jesus remember us all in his
Kingdome, to which, _though we must sail through a sea, it is the
sea of his blood_, where no soul suffers shipwrack; though we must be
blown with strange winds, with sighs and groans for our sins, yet it
is the Spirit of God that blows all this wind, and shall blow away
all contrary winds of diffidence or distrust in God's mercy; where we
shall be all Souldiers of one army, the Lord of Hostes, and Children
of one Quire, the God of Harmony and consent: where all Clients shall
retain but one Counsellor, our Advocate Christ Jesus, nor present him
any other fee but his own blood, and yet every Client have a Judgment
on his side, not only in a not guilty, in the remission of his sins,
but in a _Venite benedicti_, in being called to the participation
of an immortal Crown of glory: where there shall be no difference in
affection, nor in mind, but we shall agree as fully and perfectly in
our _Allelujah_, and _gloria in excelsis_, as God the Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost agreed in the _faciamus hominem_ at first; where we shall
end, and yet begin but then; where we shall have continuall rest, and
yet never grow lazie; where we shall be stronger to resist, and yet
have no enemy; where we shall live and never die, where we shall meet
and never part.' _Sermons_ 26. 19. 280.
l. 28. _Fame, Wit, Hopes, &c._ Compare: 'How ill husbands then of this
dignity are we by _sinne_, to forfeit it by submitting our selves to
inferior things? either to _gold_, then which every worme, (because a
worme hath life, and gold hath none) is in nature more estimable, and
more precious; Or, to that which is lesse than gold, to Beauty; for
there went neither labour, nor study, nor cost to the making of that;
(the Father cannot diet himselfe so, nor the mother so, as to be sure
of a faire child) but it is a thing that hapned by chance, wheresoever
it is; and, as there are Diamonds of divers waters, so men enthrall
themselves in one clime to a black, in another to a white beauty.
To that which is lesse then _gold_ or _Beauty_, _voice_, _opinion_,
_fame_, _honour_, we sell our selves.' _Sermons_ 50. 38. 352.