O, beat away the busy meddling fiend,
That lays strong siege unto this wretch's soul,
And from his bosom purge this black despair!

735

22-iii. 3.

The danger of trifling before God. Take heed, you dally not before your king; Lest He, that is the supreme King of kings, Confound your hidden falsehood.

24—ii. 1.

The great King of kings

Hath in the table of his law commanded,

That thou shalt do no murder.

Take heed; for he holds vengeance in his hand,

To hurl upon their heads that break his law.

737

The same.

Blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries,

24-i. 4.

Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth.t

738

Submission to God's will.

Put we our quarrel to the will of Heaven,
Who, when he sees the hours ripe on earth,
Will rain hot vengeance on offenders' heads.

God will be avenged for the deed;

Take not the quarrel from his powerful arm;
He needs no indirect nor lawless course,
To cut off those that have offended him.

He that hath the steerage of my course,
Direct my sail!"

17-i. 1.

17-i. 2.

24-i. 4.

35-i. 4.

Confess yourself to heaven;

Repent what's past; avoid what is to come;"
And do not spread the compost" on the weeds,

To make them ranker.

36-iii. 4.

t Gen. iv. 10.

" Prov. iii. 6.

Matt. iii. 8.

" Manure.

742

True repentance.

Arraign your conscience,

And try your penitence, if it be sound,

Or hollowly put on.

But lest you do repent, As that the sin hath brought you to this shame,*Which sorrow is always toward ourselves, not heaven; Shewing, we'd not spare heaven, as we love it, But as we stand in fear.

Ꭹ

Try what repentance can: What can it not?
Yet what can it, when one can not repent?
O wretched state! O bosom, black as death!
O limed soul, that, struggling to be free,
Art more engaged!

741

False repentance.

5-ii. 3.

36-iii. 3.

When I would pray and think, I think and pray
To several subjects: Heaven in my mouth,

As if I did but only chew His name;

And in my heart, the strong and swelling evil
Of my conception.

Pray, can I not,

Though inclination be as sharp as will;
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent;
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect.

746

The same.

5-ii. 4.

36-iii. 3.

May one be pardon'd, and retain the offence?
In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice;
And oft 'tis seen, the wicked prize, itself
Buys out the law: But 'tis not so above:
There is no shuffling, there the action lies
In his true nature; and we ourselves compell'd

* 2 Cor. vii. 10.

Spare to offend Heaven.

2 Rom. ii. 5.

Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence.

36-iii. 3.

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:
Words, without thoughts, never to heaven go.

748

God's care over his creatures.

He that doth the ravens feed,

Yea, providently caters for the sparrow,a
Be comfort to my age!

749

Conversion.

I do not shame

36-iii. 3.

To tell you what I was, since my conversion
So sweetly tastes, being the thing I am.

750

Submission to the Divine will.

I shall be well content with any choice,

10-ii. 3.

10-iv. 3.

Tends to God's glory, and my country's weal.

751

21-v. 1.

God the Christian's hope.
God shall be my hope,

My stay, my guide, and lantern to my feet.

752

Self-abasement.

22-ii. 3.

Being free from vainness and self-glorious pride;
Giving full trophy, signal, and ostent,

Quite from himself, to God.

Withhold thine indignation, mighty Heaven,
And tempt us not to bear above our power!

754

God the widow's friend.

Heaven, the widow's champion and defence.a

20-v. 1.

16-v. 6.

a Matt. vi. 26.

b Ps. xxxvii. 39.---xlvi. 1.---cxix. 105.
d Exod. xxii. 22, 23. Ps. lxviii. 5.

17-i. 2.

c 1 Cor. x. 13.

The words of heaven; -on whom it will, it will;
On whom it will not, so; yet still 'tis just. 5-i. 3.

Chosen from above,

By inspiration of celestial grace.

758

Want of resignation.

God is much displeased,

e

21-v. 4.

That you take with unthankfulness his doing;
In common worldly things, 'tis call'd—ungrateful,
With dull unwillingness to repay a debt,
Which with a bounteous hand was kindly lent;
Much more to be thus opposite with heaven,
For it requires the debt it lent you.

759

Authority given from God.

24-ii. 2.

From whom hast thou this great commission? From that supernal Judge, that stirs good thoughts any breast of strong authority,

In

To look into the blots and stains of right. 16-ii. 1.

760

Faith in supernatural power.

What impossibility would slay

In common sense, sense saves another way."

761

The evil of feigned prayer.

11-ii. 1.

That high All-seer which I dallied with,
Hath turn'd my feigned prayer on my head,
And given in earnest what I begg'd in jest.
Thus doth he force the swords of wicked men
To turn their own points on their masters' bosoms.

24-v. 1.

• Rom. ix. 15.---It shews that Shakspeare had a most correct idea of the nature of Divine sovereignty.

f Job i, 21.

8 Rom. iv. 18--21.

If angels fight,

Weak men must fall; for heaven still guards the

right.

17-iii. 2.

When holy and devout religious men,

Are at their beads,h 'tis hard to draw them thence: So sweet is zealous contemplation.

24-iii. 7.

764

Triumph over death.

Holy

Men, at their death, have good inspirations.i

765 The evil of contention between Christians.
I always thought,

It was both impious and unnatural,
That such immanity and bloody strife

Should reign among professors of one faith.

9-i. 2.

21-v. 1.

If when you make your prayers,

God should be so obdurate as yourselves,
How would it fare with your departed souls?1

767

Earthly crosses and cares.

22-iv. 7.

Comfort's in heaven; and we are on the earth,
Where nothing lives but crosses, care, and grief.

768

17-ii. 2.

Humility.

More will I do:

Though all that I can do is nothing worth;"

Since that my penitence comes after all,

Imploring pardon.

769

Joy in death.

My joy is-death;

20-iv. 1.

Death, at whose name I oft have been afeard,

Because I wish'd this world's eternity."

h Prayers. Barbarity, savageness.

22-ii. 4.

Luke xvii. 10,

i Gen. xlix. 18; 1. 24. 1 Cor. xv. 55.
1 Ps. cxxx. 3.
"Luke xvii. 33. John xii. 25.