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
That Custom is a second Nature, we
Most plainly find by Nature's purity.
For Nature teacheth nothing but the truth;
I'm sure that mine did in my virgin youth:
The very Day my Spirit did inspire,
The world's fair beauty set my soul on fire.
My senses were informers to my heart,
The conduits of His glory, power, and art.
His greatness, wisdom, goodness, I did see,
His glorious Love, and His Eternitie,
Almost as soon as born; and every sense
Was in me like to some Intelligence.
I was by nature prone and apt to love
All light and beauty, both in Heaven above,
And Earth beneath, prone even to admire,
Adore, and praise as well as to desire.
My inclinations raised me up on high,
And guided me to all Infinity.
A secret self I had enclosed within,
That was not bounded with my clothes or skin,
Or terminated with my sight, the sphere
Of which was bounded with the Heavens here:
But that did rather, like the subtile light,
Secured from rough and raging storms by night,
Break through the lanthorn's sides, and freely ray
Dispersing and dilating every way:
Whose steady beams too subtile for the wind,
Are such that we their bounds can scarcely find.
It did encompass, and possess rare things,
But yet felt more, and on its angel's wings
Pierced through the skies immediately, and sought
For all that could beyond all worlds be thought.
It did not move, nor one way go, but stood,
And by dilating of itself, all good
It strove to see, as if 'twere present there,
Even while it present stood conversing here:
And more suggested than I could discern,
Or ever since by any means could learn.
Vast, unaffected wonderful desires,
Like inward, native, uncaus'd hidden fires,
Sprang up with expectations very strange,
Which into new desires did quickly change:
For all I saw beyond the azure round,
Was endless darkness with no beauty crown'd.
Why beauty should not there, as well as here,
Why goodness should not likewise there appear,
Why treasures and delights should bounded be,
Since there is such a wide Infinitie;
These were the doubts and troubles of my Soul,
By which I do perceive without control,
A world of endless joys by Nature made,
That needs must flourish ever, never fade.
A wide, magnificent and spacious sky,
So rich 'tis worthy of the Deity,
Clouds here and there like winged charets flying,
Flowers ever flourishing, yet always dying,
A day of glory where I all things see,
As 'twere enrich'd with beams of light for me,
And drown'd in glorious rays of purer light,
Succeeded with a black, yet glorious night;
Stars sweetly shedding to my pleased sense,
On all things their nocturnal influence,
With secret rooms in times and ages more,
Past and to come enlarging my great store:
These all in order present unto me
My happy eyes did in a moment see,
With wonders there-too, to my Soul unknown,
Till they by men and reading first were shewn.
All which were made that I might ever be
With some great workman, some Great Deity.
But yet there were new rooms and spaces more,
Beyond all these, new regions o'er and o'er,
Into all which my pent-up Soul like fire
Did break, surmounting all I here admire.
The spaces fill'd were like a cabinet
Of joys before me most distinctly set:
The empty like to large and vacant room
For fancy to enlarge in, and presume
A space for more, remov'd, but yet adorning
Those near at hand, that pleased me every morning.
Here I was seated to behold new things,
In the fair fabric of the King of Kings.
All, all was mine. The fountain tho' not known,
Yet that there must be one was plainly shewn,
Which fountain of delights must needs be Love,
As all the goodness of the things did prove.
It shines upon me from the highest skies,
And all its creatures for my sake doth prize,
Of whose enjoyment I am made the end,
While how the same is so I comprehend.
EASE
I
How easily doth Nature teach the soul
How irresistible is her infusion!
There's nothing found that can her force control
But sin. How weak and feeble's all delusion!
II
Things false are forc'd and most elaborate,
Things pure and true are obvious unto sense;
The first impressions in our earthly state
Are made by things most great in excellence.
III
How easy is it to believe the sky
Is wide and great and fair! How soon may we
Be made to know the Sun is bright and high,
And very glorious, when its beams we see!
IV
That all the Earth is one continued globe,
And that all men therein are living treasures,
That fields and meadows are a glorious robe
Adorning it with smooth and heavenly pleasures.
V
That all we see is ours, and every one
Possessor of the whole; that every man
Is like a God Incarnate on the Throne,
Even like the first for whom the world began;
VI
Whom all are taught to honour, serve, and love,
Because he is belov'd of God unknown;
And therefore is on Earth itself above
All others, that His wisdom might be shewn.
VII
That all may happy be, each one most blest,
Both in himself and others; all most high,
While all by each, and each by all possest
Are intermutual joys beneath the sky.
VIII
This shows a wise contrivance, and discovers
Some great Creator sitting on the Throne,
That so disposeth things for all His lovers,
That every one might reign like God alone.
SPEED
I
The liquid pearl in springs,
The useful and the precious things
Are in a moment known.
Their very glory does reveal their worth
(And that doth set their glory forth);
As soon as I was born they all were shewn.
II
True living wealth did flow
In crystal streams below
My feet, and trilling down
In pure, transparent, soft, sweet, melting pleasures,
Like precious and diffusive treasures,
At once my body fed, and soul did crown.
III
I was as high and great
As Kings are in their seat.
All other things were mine.
The world my house, the creatures were my goods,
Fields, mountains, valleys, woods,
Men and their arts to make me rich combine.
IV
Great, lofty, endless, stable,
Various and Innumerable,
Bright, useful, fair, divine.
Immovable and sweet the treasures were,
The sacred objects did appear
More rich and beautiful, as well as mine.
V
New all! new-burnisht joys;
Tho' now by other toys
Eclipst: new all and mine.
Great Truth so sacred seemed for this to me,
Because the things which I did see
Were such, my state I knew to be divine.
VI
Nor did the Angels' faces,
The glories and the graces,
The beauty, peace and joy
Of Heaven itself, more sweetness yield to me.
Till filthy sin did all destroy
Those were the offspring of the Deity.
THE CHOICE
I
When first Eternity stoop'd down to nought
And in the Earth its likeness sought,
When first it out of nothing fram'd the skies,
And form'd the moon and sun
That we might see what it had done,
It was so wise,
That it did prize
Things truly greatest, brightest, fairest, best,
All which it made, and left the rest.
II
Then did it take such care about the Truth,
Its daughter, that even in her youth,
Her face might shine upon us, and be known,
That by a better fate,
It other toys might antedate
As soon as shewn;
And be our own,
While we were hers; and that a virgin love
Her best inheritance might prove.
III
Thoughts undefiled, simple, naked, pure;
Thoughts worthy ever to endure,
Our first and disengaged thoughts it loves,
And therefore made the truth,
In infancy and tender youth
So obvious to
Our easy view
That it doth prepossess our Soul, and proves
The cause of what it all ways moves.
IV
By merit and desire it doth allure;
For truth is so divine and pure,
So rich and acceptable, being seen,
(Not parted, but in whole)
That it doth draw and force the soul,
As the great Queen
Of bliss, between
Whom and the Soul, no one pretender ought
Trust in to captivate a thought.
V
Hence did Eternity contrive to make
The truth so fair for all our sake
That being truth, and fair and easy too,
While it on all doth shine,
We might by it become divine,
Being led to woo
The thing we view,
And as chaste virgins early with it join,
That with it we might likewise shine.
VI
Eternity doth give the richest things
To every man, and makes all Kings.
The best and richest things it doth convey
To all, and every one,
It raised me unto a throne!
Which I enjoy,
In such a way,
That truth her daughter is my chiefest bride,
Her daughter truth's my chiefest pride.
VII
All mine! And seen so easily! How great, how blest!
How soon am I of all possest!
My infancy no sooner opes its eyes,
But straight the spacious Earth
Abounds with joy, peace, glory, mirth,
And being wise
The very skies,
And stars do mine become; being all possest
Even in that way that is the best.
THE PERSON
I
Ye Sacred limbs,
A richer blazon I will lay
On you than first I found:
That like celestial kings,
Ye might with ornaments of joy
Be always crown'd.
A deep vermilion on a red,
On that a scarlet I will lay,
With gold I'll crown your head,
Which like the Sun shall ray.
With robes of glory and delight
I'll make you bright.
Mistake me not, I do not mean to bring
New robes, but to display the thing:
Nor paint, nor clothe, nor crown, nor add a ray,
But glorify by taking all away.
II
The naked things
Are most sublime, and brightest show,
When they alone are seen:
Men's hands than Angels' wings
Are truer wealth even here below:
For those but seem.
Their worth they then do best reveal,
When we all metaphors remove,
For metaphors conceal,
And only vapours prove.
They best are blazon'd when we see
The anatomy,
Survey the skin, cut up the flesh, the veins
Unfold: the glory there remains:
The muscles, fibres, arteries, and bones
Are better far than crowns and precious stones.
III
Shall I not then
Delight in those most sacred treasures
Which my great Father gave,
Far more than other men
Delight in gold? Since these are pleasures
That make us brave!
Far braver than the pearl and gold
That glitter on a lady's neck!
The rubies we behold,
The diamonds that deck
The hands of queens, compared unto
The hands we view;
The softer lilies and the roses are
Less ornaments to those that wear
The same, than are the hands, and lips and eyes
Of those who those false ornaments so prize.
IV
Let verity
Be thy delight; let me esteem
True wealth far more than toys:
Let sacred riches be,
While falser treasures only seem,
My real joys.
For golden chains and bracelets are
But gilded manacles, whereby
Old Satan doth ensnare,
Allure, bewitch the eye.
Thy gifts, O God, alone I'll prize,
My tongue, my eyes,
My cheeks, my lips, my ears, my hands, my feet;
Their harmony is far more sweet;
Their beauty true. And these in all my ways
Shall themes become and organs of Thy praise.
THE ESTATE
I
But shall my soul no wealth possess,
No outward riches have?
Shall hands and eyes alone express
Thy bounty? Which the grave
Shall strait devour. Shall I become
Within myself a living tomb
Of useless wonders? Shall the fair and brave
And great endowments of my soul lie waste,
Which ought to be a fountain, and a womb
Of praises unto Thee?
Shall there no outward objects be,
For these to see and taste?
Not so, my God, for outward joys and pleasures
Are even the things for which my limbs are treasures.
II
My palate is a touch-stone fit
To taste how good Thou art,
And other members second it
Thy praises to impart.
There's not an eye that's fram'd by Thee,
But ought Thy life and love to see:
Nor is there, Lord, upon mine head an ear,
But that the music of Thy works should hear.
Each toe, each finger, framed by Thy skill,
Ought ointments to distil.
Ambrosia, nectar, wine should flow
From every joint I owe,
Or things more rich; while they Thy holy will
Are instruments adapted to fulfill.
III
They ought, my God, to be the pipes
And conduits of Thy praise.
Men's bodies were not made for stripes,
Nor anything but joys.
They were not made to be alone:
But made to be the very throne
Of Blessedness, to be like Suns, whose rays,
Dispersed, scatter many thousand ways.
They drink in nectars, and disburse again
In purer beams, those streams,
Those nectars which are caus'd by joys,
And as the spacious main
Doth all the rivers, which it drinks, return,
Thy love receiv'd doth make the soul to burn.
IV
Elixirs richer are than dross,
And ends are more divine
Than are the means; but dung and loss
Materials (tho' they shine
Like gold and silver) are, compar'd
To what Thy Spirit doth regard,
Thy will require, Thy love embrace, Thy mind
Esteem, Thy nature most illustrious find.
These are the things wherewith we God reward.
Our love He more doth prize,
Our gratitude is in His eyes
Far richer than the skies.
And those affections which we do return,
Are like the love which in Himself doth burn.
V
We plough the very skies, as well
As earth; the spacious seas
Are ours; the stars all gems excel.
The air was made to please
The souls of men: devouring fire
Doth feed and quicken man's desire.
The orb of light in its wide circuit moves,
Corn for our food springs out of very mire,
Our fuel grows in woods and groves;
Choice herbs and flowers aspire
To kiss our feet: beasts court our loves.[J]
How glorious is man's fate!
The laws of God, the works He did create,
His ancient ways, are His and my Estate.
THE ENQUIRY
I
Men may delighted be with springs,
While trees and herbs their senses please,
And taste even living nectar in the seas:
May think their members things
Of earthly worth at least, if not divine,
And sing because the earth for them doth shine:
II
But can the Angels take delight,
To see such faces here beneath?
Or can perfumes indeed from dung-hills breathe?
Or is the world a sight
Worthy of them? Then may we mortals be
Surrounded with eternal Clarity.
III
Even holy angels may come down
To walk on Earth, and see delights,
That feed and please, even here, their appetites.
Our joys may make a crown
For them. And in His Tabernacle men may be
Like palms we mingled with the Cherubs see.
IV
Men's senses are indeed the gems,
Their praises the most sweet perfumes,
Their eyes the thrones, their hearts the Heavenly rooms,
Their souls the diadems,
Their tongues the organs which they love to hear,
Their cheeks and faces like to theirs appear.
V
The wonders which our God hath done,
The glories of His attributes,
Like dangling apples or like golden fruits,
Angelic joys become.
His wisdom shines on Earth; His love doth flow,
Like myrrh or incense, even here below.
VI
And shall not we such joys possess,
Which God for man did chiefly make?
The Angels have them only for our sake!
And yet they all confess
His glory here on Earth to be divine,
And that His Godhead in His works doth shine.
THE CIRCULATION
I
As fair ideas from the sky,
Or images of things,
Unto a spotless mirror fly,
On unperceived wings,
And lodging there affect the sense,
As if at first they came from thence;
While being there, they richly beautify
The place they fill, and yet communicate
Themselves, reflecting to the seer's eye;
Just such is our estate.
No praise can we return again,
No glory in ourselves possess,
But what derived from without we gain,
From all the mysteries of blessedness.
II
No man breathes out more vital air
Than he before sucked in:
Those joys and praises must repair
To us, which 'tis a sin
To bury in a senseless tomb.
An earthly wight must be the heir
Of all those joys the holy Angels prize,
He must a king before a priest become,
And gifts receive or ever sacrifice.
'Tis blindness makes us dumb:
Had we but those celestial eyes,
Whereby we could behold the sum
Of all His bounties, we should overflow
With praises did we but their causes know.
III
All things to Circulations owe
Themselves; by which alone
They do exist; they cannot shew
A sigh, a word, a groan,
A colour or a glimpse of light,
The sparkle of a precious stone,
A virtue, or a smell, a lovely sight,
A fruit, a beam, an influence, a tear,
But they another's livery must wear,
And borrow matter first,
Before they can communicate.
Whatever's empty is accurst:
And this doth shew that we must some estate
Possess, or never can communicate.
IV
A sponge drinks in the water, which
Is afterwards exprest.
A liberal hand must first be rich:
Who blesseth must be blest.
The thirsty earth drinks in the rain,
The trees suck moisture at their roots,
Before the one can lavish herbs again,
Before the other can afford us fruits.
No tenant can raise corn or pay his rent,
Nor can even have a lord,
That has no land. No spring can vent,
No vessel any wine afford
Wherein no liquor's put. No empty purse,
Can pounds or talents of itself disburse.
V
Flame that ejects its golden beams
Sups up the grosser air;
To seas that pour out their streams
In springs, those streams repair;
Receiv'd ideas make even dreams.
No fancy painteth foul or fair
But by the ministry of inward light,
That in the spirits cherisheth its sight.
The moon returneth light, and some men say
The very sun no ray
Nor influence could have, did it
No foreign aids, no food admit.
The earth no exhalations would afford,
Were not its spirits by the sun restored.
VI
All things do first receive, that give:
Only 'tis God above,
That from and in Himself doth live;
Whose all-sufficient love
Without original can flow
And all the joys and glories shew
Which mortal man can take delight to know.
He is the primitive eternal spring
The endless ocean of each glorious thing.
The soul a vessel is,
A spacious bosom, to contain
All the fair treasures of His bliss,
Which run like rivers from, into the main,
And all it doth receive returns again.
AMENDMENT
I
That all things should be mine,
This makes His bounty most divine:
But that they all more rich should be,
And far more brightly shine,
As used by me;
It ravisheth my soul to see the end,
To which this work so wonderful doth tend.
II
That we should make the skies
More glorious far before Thine eyes
Than Thou didst make them, and even Thee
Far more Thy works to prize,
As used they be
Than as they're made, is a stupendous work,
Wherein Thy wisdom mightily doth lurk.
III
Thy greatness, and Thy love,
Thy power, in this, my joy doth move;
Thy goodness, and felicity
In this exprest above
All praise I see:
While Thy great Godhead over all doth reign,
And such an end in such a sort attain.
IV
What bound may we assign,
O God, to any work of thine!
Their endlessness discovers thee
In all to be Divine;
A Deity
That will for evermore exceed the end
Of all that creature's wit can comprehend.
V
Am I a glorious spring
Of joys and riches to my King?
Are men made Gods? And may they see
So wonderful a thing
As God in me?
And is my soul a mirror that must shine
Even like the sun and be far more divine?
VI
Thy Soul, O God, doth prize
The seas, the earth, our souls, the skies;
As we return the same to Thee
They more delight Thine eyes,
And sweeter be
As unto thee we offer up the same,
Than as to us from Thee at first they came.
VII
O how doth Sacred Love
His gifts refine, exalt, improve!
Our love to creatures makes them be
In Thine esteem above
Themselves to Thee!
O here His goodness evermore admire!
He made our souls to make His creatures higher.
THE DEMONSTRATION
I
The highest things are easiest to be shewn,
And only capable of being known.
A mist involves the eye
While in the middle it doth live;
And till the ends of things are seen
The way's uncertain that doth stand between.
As in the air we see the clouds
Like winding sheets or shrouds,
Which, though they nearer are, obscure
The sun, which, higher far, is far more pure.
II
Its very brightness makes it near the eye,
Tho' many thousand leagues beyond the sky.
Its beams by violence
Invade, and ravish distant sense.
Only extremes and heights are known,
No certainty, where no perfection's, shewn.
Extremities of blessedness
Compel us to confess
A God indeed, Whose excellence
In all His works must needs exceed all sense.
III
And for this cause incredibles alone
May be by demonstration to us shewn.
Those things that are most bright
Sun-like appear in their own light,
And nothing's truly seen that's mean:
Be it a sand, an acorn, or a bean,
It must be cloth'd with endless glory,
Before its perfect story
(Be the spirit ne'er so clear)
Can in its causes and its ends appear.
IV