How bruis'd, and broke

With every ftroke!

How meek, and patient was thy fpirit!

How didft thou cry,

And grone on high
Father forgive,

And let them live!

O bleffed Lamb!

That took'ft my finne,

That took'ft my shame,

How fhall thy duft thy praises fing?

I would I were

One hearty teare!

One conftant spring!

Then would I bring

Thee two fmall mites, and be at ftrife

Which fhould most vie,

My heart, or eye,
Teaching my years

In fmiles and tears

To weep, to fing, thy Death, my Life.

Rom. Cap. 8. ver. 19.

Etenim res Create exerto Capite obfervantes expectant revelationem Filiorum Dei.

Nd do they fo? have they a Sense
Of ought but Influence?

Can they their heads lift, and expect,

And grone too? why th' Elect,

Can do no more: my volumes faid
They were all dull, and dead ;

They judg'd them fenfleffe, and their state
Wholly inanimate.

Go, go; Seal up thy looks,

And burn thy books!

2.

I would I were a stone, or tree,
Or flowre by pedigree,

Or fome poor high-way herb, or Spring
To flow, or bird to fing!

Then fhould I, tyed to one sure state,
All day expect my date.

But I am fadly loose, and stray
A giddy blast each way;

O let me not thus range!
Thou canst not change.

3.

Sometimes I fit with thee, and tarry
An hour or fo, then vary.

Thy other Creatures in this Scene
Thee only aym and mean;

Some rife to seek thee, and with heads
Erect peep from their beds;

Others, whose birth is in the tomb,

And cannot quit the womb,
Sigh there, and grone for thee,
Their liberty.

4.

O let not me do leffe! fhall they
Watch, while I sleep or play?

Shall I thy mercies still abuse

With fancies, friends, or newes?
O brook it not! thy bloud is mine,
And my foul fhould be thine;
O brook it not! why wilt thou ftop
After whole showres one drop?
Sure, thou wilt joy to fee
Thy sheep with thee.

The Relapse.

Y God, how gracious art thou! I had flipt
Almoft to hell,

And on the verge of that dark, dreadful
pit

Did hear them yell;

But O thy love! thy rich, almighty love,

That fav'd my foul,

And checkt their furie, when I faw them move,
And heard them howl!

O my foule Comfort, take no more these wayes
This hideous path,

And I will mend my own without delayes,

Cease thou thy wrath!

I have deferv'd a thick, Egyptian damp,

Dark as my deeds,

Should mist within me, and put out that lamp
Thy spirit feeds

;

A darting Confcience full of ftabs and fears;

No fhade but Yewgh,

Sullen and fad Ecclipfes, Cloudie spheres,

But he that with his bloud, (a price too deere,)
My scores did pay,

Bid me, by vertue from him, chalenge here
The brightest day;

Sweet, downie thoughts, foft Lily-fhades, Calm

Joyes full and true,

[ftreams,

Fresh, spicie mornings, and eternal beams,

These are his due!

The Refolve.

Have confider'd it; and find
A longer stay

Is but excus'd neglect. To mind
One path, and stray

Into another, or to none,

Cannot be love;

When shall that traveller come home,

That will not move?

If thou would'ft thither, linger not,

Catch at the place ;

Tell youth and beauty they must rot,
They're but a Gale;

Loose, parcell'd hearts will freeze: The Sun
With scatter'd locks

Scarce warms, but by contraction

Can heat the rocks.

Call in thy Powers; run on, and reach
Home with the light;

Be there, before the fhadows ftretch,

And Span up night.

Follow the Cry no more: there is

An ancient way

All ftrewed with flowres and happiness,
And fresh as May;

There turn, and turn no more; Let wits,
Smile at fair eies,

Or lips; But who there weeping fits,
Hath got the Prize.

The Match.

Ear friend! whose holy ever-living lines
Have done much good

To many,

and have checkt my blood,

My fierce, wild blood, that still heaves, and inclines,

But is ftill tam'd

By thofe bright fires which thee inflam'd; Here I joyn hands, and thrust my stubborn heart Into thy Deed,

There from no Duties to be freed,

And if hereafter youth or folly thwart

And claim their share,

Here I renounce the pois'nous ware.

A

II.

Ccept, dread Lord, the poore Oblation;
It is but poore;

Yet through thy mercies may be more.

O thou! that canft not wish my foul's damnation,

Afford me life,

And fave me from all inward ftrife!