And out of nothing now awake,
These brighter regions which salute mine eyes,
A gift from God I take.
The earth, the seas, the light, the day, the skies,
The sun and stars are mine; if those I prize.
VI
Long time before
I in my mother's womb was born,
A God preparing did this glorious store,
The world for me adorn.
Into this Eden so divine and fair,
So wide and bright, I come His son and heir.
VII
A stranger here
Strange things doth meet, strange glories see;
Strange treasures lodg'd in this fair world appear,
Strange all and new to me;
But that they mine should be, who nothing was,
That strangest is of all, yet brought to pass.
WONDER
I
How like an Angel came I down!
How bright are all things here!
When first among His works I did appear
O how their Glory me did crown!
The world resembled His Eternity,
In which my soul did walk;
And every thing that I did see
Did with me talk.
II
The skies in their magnificence,
The lively, lovely air;
Oh how divine, how soft, how sweet, how fair!
The stars did entertain my sense,
And all the works of God, so bright and pure,
So rich and great did seem,
As if they ever must endure
In my esteem.
III
A native health and innocence
Within my bones did grow,
And while my God did all his Glories show,
I felt a vigour in my sense
That was all Spirit. I within did flow
With seas of life, like wine;
I nothing in the world did know
But 'twas divine.
IV
Harsh ragged objects were concealed,
Oppressions, tears and cries,
Sins, griefs, complaints, dissensions, weeping eyes
Were hid, and only things revealed
Which heavenly Spirits and the Angels prize.
The state of Innocence
And bliss, not trades and poverties,
Did fill my sense.
V
The streets were paved with golden stones,
The boys and girls were mine,
Oh how did all their lovely faces shine!
The sons of men were holy ones,
In joy and beauty they appeared to me,
And every thing which here I found,
While like an angel I did see,
Adorned the ground.
VI
Rich diamond and pearl and gold
In every place was seen;
Rare splendours, yellow, blue, red, white and green,
Mine eyes did everywhere behold.
Great Wonders clothed with glory did appear,
Amazement was my bliss,
That and my wealth was everywhere;
No joy to this!
VII
Cursed and devised proprieties,
With envy, avarice
And fraud, those fiends that spoil even Paradise,
Flew from the splendour of mine eyes,
And so did hedges, ditches, limits, bounds,
I dreamed not aught of those,
But wandered over all men's grounds,
And found repose.
VIII
Proprieties themselves were mine
And hedges ornaments,
Walls, boxes, coffers, and their rich contents
Did not divide my joys, but all combine.
Clothes, ribbons, jewels, laces, I esteemed
My joys by others worn:
For me they all to wear them seemed
When I was born.
EDEN
I
A learned and a happy ignorance
Divided me
From all the vanity,
From all the sloth, care, pain, and sorrow that advance
The madness and the misery
Of men. No error, no distraction I
Saw soil the earth or overcloud the sky.
II
I knew not that there was a serpent's sting,
Whose poison shed
On men, did overspread
The world; nor did I dream of such a thing
As sin, in which mankind lay dead.
They all were brisk and living wights to me,
Yea, pure and full of immortality.
III
Joy, pleasure, beauty, kindness, glory, love,
Sleep, day, life, light,
Peace, melody, my sight,
My ears and heart did fill and freely move.
All that I saw did me delight.
The Universe was then a world of treasure,
To me an universal world of pleasure.
IV
Unwelcome penitence was then unknown,
Vain costly toys,
Swearing and roaring boys,
Shops, markets, taverns, coaches, were unshown;
So all things were that drowned my joys:
No thorns choked up my path, nor hid the face
Of bliss and beauty, nor eclipsed the place.
V
Only what Adam in his first estate,
Did I behold;
Hard silver and dry gold
As yet lay under ground; my blessed fate
Was more acquainted with the old
And innocent delights which he did see
In his original simplicity.
VI
Those things which first his Eden did adorn
My infancy
Did crown. Simplicity
Was my protection when I first was born.
Mine eyes those treasures first did see
Which God first made. The first effects of Love
My first enjoyments upon earth did prove;
VII
And were so great, and so divine, so pure,
So fair and sweet,
So true; when I did meet
Them here at first, they did my soul allure,
And drew away my infant feet
Quite from the works of men; that I might see
The glorious wonders of the Deity.
INNOCENCE
I
But that which most I wonder at, which most
I did esteem my bliss, which most I boast,
And ever shall enjoy, is that within
I felt no stain nor spot of sin.
No darkness then did overshade,
But all within was pure and bright,
No guilt did crush nor fear invade,
But all my soul was full of light.
A joyful sense and purity
Is all I can remember,
The very night to me was bright,
'Twas Summer in December.
II
A serious meditation did employ
My soul within, which taken up with joy
Did seem no outward thing to note, but fly
All objects that do feed the eye,
While it those very objects did
Admire and prize and praise and love,
Which in their glory most are hid,
Which presence only doth remove.
Their constant daily presence I
Rejoicing at, did see,
And that which takes them from the eye
Of others offered them to me.
III
No inward inclination did I feel
To avarice or pride; my soul did kneel
In admiration all the day. No lust, nor strife,
Polluted then my infant life.
No fraud nor anger in me mov'd
No malice, jealousy, or spite;
All that I saw I truly lov'd:
Contentment only and delight
Were in my soul. O Heav'n! what bliss
Did I enjoy and feel!
What powerful delight did this
Inspire! for this I daily kneel.
IV
Whether it be that Nature is so pure,
And custom only vicious; or that sure
God did by miracle the guilt remove,
And made my soul to feel his Love
So early: or that 'twas one day,
Wherein this happiness I found,
Whose strength and brightness so do ray,
That still it seems me to surround,
Whate'er it is, it is a Light
So endless unto me
That I a world of true delight
Did then, and to this day do see.
V
That prospect was the gate of Heaven, that day
The ancient Light of Eden did convey
Into my soul: I was an Adam there,
A little Adam in a sphere
Of joys! O there my ravisht sense
Was entertained in Paradise,
And had a sight of Innocence,
Which was beyond all bound and price.
An antepast of Heaven sure!
I on the Earth did reign,
Within, without me, all was pure:
I must become a child again.
THE PREPARATIVE
I
My body being dead, my limbs unknown;
Before I skill'd to prize
Those living stars mine eyes,
Before my tongue or cheeks were to me shown,
Before I knew my hands were mine,
Or that my sinews did my members join,
When neither nostril, foot nor ear
As yet was seen, or felt, or did appear:
I was within
A house I knew not, newly cloth'd with skin.
II
Then was my soul my only all to me,
A living endless eye,
Just bounded with the sky.
Whose power, whose act, whose essence, was to see:
I was an inward Sphere of Light,
Or an interminable Orb of Sight,
An endless and a living day,
A vital Sun that round about did ray
All life, all sense,
A naked simple pure Intelligence.
III
I then no thirst nor hunger did perceive,
No dull necessity,
No want was known to me;
Without disturbance then I did receive
The fair ideas of all things,
And had the honey even without the stings.
A meditating inward eye
Gazing at quiet did within me lie,
And every thing
Delighted me that was their heavenly King.
IV
For sight inherits beauty, hearing sounds,
The nostril sweet perfumes,
All tastes have hidden rooms
Within the tongue; and feeling wounds
With pleasure and delight; but I
Forgot the rest, and was all sight or eye:
Unbodied and devoid of care,
Just as in Heaven the holy Angels are,
For simple sense
Is Lord of all created excellence.
V
Being thus prepared for all felicity,
Not prepossest with dross,
Nor stiffly glued to gross
And dull materials that might ruin me,
Nor fettered by an iron fate
With vain affections in my earthly state
To any thing that might seduce
My sense, or else bereave it of its use,
I was as free
As if there were nor sin, nor misery.
VI
Pure empty powers that did nothing loath,
Did like the fairest glass,
Or spotless polished brass,
Themselves soon in their object's image clothe.
Divine impressions when they came
Did quickly enter and my soul inflame.
'Tis not the object, but the light
That maketh Heaven: 'tis a purer sight.
Felicity
Appears to none but them that purely see.
VII
A disentangled and a naked sense,
A mind that's unpossest,
A disengaged breast,
An empty and a quick intelligence
Acquainted with the golden mean,
An even spirit pure and serene,
Is that where beauty, excellence,
And pleasure keep their Court of Residence.
My soul retire,
Get free, and so thou shalt even all admire.
THE INSTRUCTION
I
Spue out thy filth, thy flesh abjure;
Let not contingents thee defile,
For transients only are impure,
And aery things thy soul beguile.
II
Unfelt, unseen, let those things be
Which to thy spirit were unknown,
When to thy blessed infancy
The world, thyself, thy God was shown.
III
All that is great and stable stood
Before thy purer eyes at first:
All that in visibles is good
Or pure, or fair, or unaccurst.
Whatever else thou now dost see
In custom, action, or desire,
'Tis but a part of misery
In which all men at once conspire.
THE VISION
I
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