God is so potent, as His power can
Draw out of bad a sovereign good to man.
Draw out of bad a sovereign good to man.
Robert Herrick - Hesperide and Noble Numbers
The spice and spikenard hence is gone,
The storax and the cinnamon.
_Chor. _ The carol of our gladness
Has taken wing,
And our late spring
Of mirth is turned to sadness.
How wise wast thou in all thy ways!
How worthy of respect and praise!
How matron-like didst thou go dressed!
How soberly above the rest
Of those that prank it with their plumes,
And jet it with their choice perfumes!
_Chor. _ Thy vestures were not flowing:
Nor did the street
Accuse thy feet
Of mincing in their going.
And though thou here li'st dead, we see
A deal of beauty yet in thee.
How sweetly shows thy smiling face,
Thy lips with all-diffused grace!
Thy hands, though cold, yet spotless white,
And comely as the chrysolite!
_Chor. _ Thy belly like a hill is,
Or as a neat
Clean heap of wheat,
All set about with lilies.
Sleep with thy beauties here, while we
Will show these garments made by thee;
These were the coats, in these are read
The monuments of Dorcas dead.
These were thy acts, and thou shall have
These hung as honours o'er thy grave;
_Chor. _ And after us, distressed,
Should fame be dumb,
Thy very tomb
Would cry out, Thou art blessed.
_Deal_, portion.
_Maundy_, the alms given on Thursday in Holy Week.
_Reaming_, drawing out into threads.
_Calamus_, a fragrant plant, the sweet flag.
_Chrysolite_, the topaz.
124. TO GOD IN TIME OF PLUNDERING.
Rapine has yet took nought from me;
But if it please my God I be
Brought at the last to th' utmost bit,
God make me thankful still for it.
I have been grateful for my store:
Let me say grace when there's no more.
125. TO HIS SAVIOUR. THE NEW-YEAR'S GIFT.
That little pretty bleeding part
Of foreskin send to me:
And I'll return a bleeding heart
For New-Year's gift to Thee.
Rich is the gem that Thou did'st send,
Mine's faulty too and small;
But yet this gift Thou wilt commend
Because I send Thee all.
126. DOOMSDAY.
Let not that day God's friends and servants scare;
The bench is then their place, and not the bar.
127. THE POOR'S PORTION.
The sup'rabundance of my store,
That is the portion of the poor:
Wheat, barley, rye, or oats; what is't
But He takes toll of? all the grist.
Two raiments have I: Christ then makes
This law; that He and I part stakes.
Or have I two loaves, then I use
The poor to cut, and I to choose.
128. THE WHITE ISLAND: OR, PLACE OF THE BLEST.
In this world, the isle of dreams,
While we sit by sorrow's streams,
Tears and terrors are our themes
Reciting:
But when once from hence we fly,
More and more approaching nigh
Unto young Eternity
Uniting:
In that whiter island, where
Things are evermore sincere;
Candour here, and lustre there
Delighting:
There no monstrous fancies shall
Out of hell an horror call,
To create, or cause at all,
Affrighting.
There in calm and cooling sleep
We our eyes shall never steep;
But eternal watch shall keep,
Attending
Pleasures, such as shall pursue
Me immortalised, and you;
And fresh joys, as never to
Have ending.
129. TO CHRIST.
I crawl, I creep; my Christ, I come
To Thee for curing balsamum:
Thou hast, nay more, Thou art the tree
Affording salve of sovereignty.
My mouth I'll lay unto Thy wound
Bleeding, that no blood touch the ground:
For, rather than one drop shall fall
To waste, my JESU, I'll take all.
130. TO GOD.
God! to my little meal and oil
Add but a bit of flesh to boil:
And Thou my pipkinet shalt see,
Give a wave-off'ring unto Thee.
131. FREE WELCOME.
God He refuseth no man, but makes way
For all that now come or hereafter may.
132. GOD'S GRACE.
God's grace deserves here to be daily fed
That, thus increased, it might be perfected.
133. COMING TO CHRIST.
To him who longs unto his Christ to go,
Celerity even itself is slow.
134. CORRECTION.
God had but one Son free from sin; but none
Of all His sons free from correction.
135. GOD'S BOUNTY.
God, as He's potent, so He's likewise known
To give us more than hope can fix upon.
136. KNOWLEDGE.
Science in God is known to be
A substance, not a quality.
137. SALUTATION.
Christ, I have read, did to His chaplains say,
Sending them forth, Salute no man by th' way:
Not that He taught His ministers to be
Unsmooth or sour to all civility,
But to instruct them to avoid all snares
Of tardidation in the Lord's affairs.
Manners are good; but till His errand ends,
Salute we must nor strangers, kin, or friends.
_Tardidation_, sloth.
138. LASCIVIOUSNESS.
Lasciviousness is known to be
The sister to saturity.
139. TEARS.
God from our eyes all tears hereafter wipes,
And gives His children kisses then, not stripes.
140. GOD'S BLESSING.
In vain our labours are whatsoe'er they be,
Unless God gives the benedicite.
141. GOD, AND LORD.
God is His name of nature; but that word
Implies His power when He's called the Lord.
142. THE JUDGMENT-DAY.
God hides from man the reck'ning day, that he
May fear it ever for uncertainty;
That being ignorant of that one, he may
Expect the coming of it every day.
143. ANGELS.
Angels are called gods; yet of them, none
Are gods but by participation:
As just men are entitled gods, yet none
Are gods of them but by adoption.
144. LONG LIFE.
The longer thread of life we spin,
The more occasion still to sin.
145. TEARS.
The tears of saints more sweet by far
Than all the songs of sinners are.
146. MANNA.
That manna, which God on His people cast,
Fitted itself to ev'ry feeder's taste.
147. REVERENCE.
True rev'rence is, as Cassiodore doth prove,
The fear of God commix'd with cleanly love.
_Cassiodore_, Marcus Aurelius Cassiodorus, theologian and statesman
497-575?
148. MERCY.
Mercy, the wise Athenians held to be
Not an affection, but a deity.
149. WAGES.
After this life, the wages shall
Not shared alike be unto all.
150. TEMPTATION.
God tempteth no one, as St. Austin saith,
For any ill, but for the proof of faith;
Unto temptation God exposeth some,
But none of purpose to be overcome.
151. GOD'S HANDS.
God's hands are round and smooth, that gifts may fall
Freely from them and hold none back at all.
152. LABOUR.
Labour we must, and labour hard
I' th' forum here, or vineyard.
153. MORA SPONSI, THE STAY OF THE BRIDEGROOM.
The time the bridegroom stays from hence
Is but the time of penitence.
154. ROARING.
Roaring is nothing but a weeping part
Forced from the mighty dolour of the heart.
155. THE EUCHARIST.
_He that is hurt seeks help_: sin is the wound;
The salve for this i' th' Eucharist is found.
156. SIN SEVERELY PUNISHED.
God in His own day will be then severe
To punish great sins, who small faults whipt here.
157. MONTES SCRIPTURARUM: THE MOUNTS OF THE SCRIPTURES.
The mountains of the Scriptures are, some say,
Moses, and Jesus, called Joshua:
The prophets, mountains of the Old are meant,
Th' apostles, mounts of the New Testament.
158. PRAYER.
A prayer that is said alone
Starves, having no companion.
Great things ask for when thou dost pray,
And those great are which ne'er decay.
Pray not for silver, rust eats this;
Ask not for gold, which metal is;
Nor yet for houses, which are here
But earth: _such vows ne'er reach God's ear_.
159. CHRIST'S SADNESS.
Christ was not sad, i' th' garden, for His own
Passion, but for His sheep's dispersion.
160. GOD HEARS US.
God, who's in heaven, will hear from thence;
If not to th' sound, yet to the sense.
161. GOD.
God, as the learned Damascene doth write,
A sea of substance is, indefinite.
_The learned Damascene_, _i. e. _, St. John of Damascus.
162. CLOUDS.
He that ascended in a cloud, shall come
In clouds descending to the public doom.
163. COMFORTS IN CONTENTIONS.
The same who crowns the conqueror, will be
A coadjutor in the agony.
164. HEAVEN.
Heaven is most fair; but fairer He
That made that fairest canopy.
165. GOD.
In God there's nothing, but 'tis known to be
Even God Himself, in perfect entity.
166. HIS POWER.
God can do all things, save but what are known
For to imply a contradiction.
167. CHRIST'S WORDS ON THE CROSS: MY GOD, MY GOD.
Christ, when He hung the dreadful cross upon,
Had, as it were, a dereliction
In this regard, in those great terrors He
Had no one beam from God's sweet majesty.
_Dereliction_, abandonment.
168. JEHOVAH.
Jehovah, as Boëtius saith,
No number of the plural hath.
169. CONFUSION OF FACE.
God then confounds man's face when He not bears
The vows of those who are petitioners.
170. ANOTHER.
The shame of man's face is no more
Than prayers repell'd, says Cassiodore.
171. BEGGARS.
Jacob God's beggar was; and so we wait,
Though ne'er so rich, all beggars at His gate.
172. GOOD AND BAD.
The bad among the good are here mix'd ever;
The good without the bad are here plac'd never.
173. SIN.
_Sin no existence; nature none it hath,
Or good at all_, as learned Aquinas saith.
174. MARTHA, MARTHA.
The repetition of the name made known
No other than Christ's full affection.
175. YOUTH AND AGE.
God on our youth bestows but little ease;
But on our age most sweet indulgences.
176. GOD'S POWER.
God is so potent, as His power can
Draw out of bad a sovereign good to man.
177. PARADISE.
Paradise is, as from the learn'd I gather,
_A choir of bless'd souls circling in the Father_.
178. OBSERVATION.
The Jews, when they built houses, I have read,
One part thereof left still unfinished,
To make them thereby mindful of their own
City's most sad and dire destruction.
179. THE ASS.
God did forbid the Israelites to bring
An ass unto Him for an offering,
Only, by this dull creature, to express
His detestation to all slothfulness.
180. OBSERVATION.
The Virgin Mother stood at distance, there,
From her Son's cross, not shedding once a tear,
Because the law forbad to sit and cry
For those who did as malefactors die.
So she, to keep her mighty woes in awe,
Tortured her love not to transgress the law.
Observe we may, how Mary Joses then,
And th' other Mary, Mary Magdalen,
Sat by the grave; and sadly sitting there,
Shed for their Master many a bitter tear;
But 'twas not till their dearest Lord was dead
And then to weep they both were licensed.
181. TAPERS.
Those tapers which we set upon the grave
In fun'ral pomp, but this importance have:
That souls departed are not put out quite;
But as they walked here in their vestures white,
So live in heaven in everlasting light.
182. CHRIST'S BIRTH.
One birth our Saviour had; the like none yet
Was, or will be a second like to it.
183. THE VIRGIN MARY.
To work a wonder, God would have her shown
At once a bud and yet a rose full-blown.
184. ANOTHER.
As sunbeams pierce the glass, and streaming in,
No crack or schism leave i' th' subtle skin:
So the Divine Hand worked and brake no thread,
But, in a mother, kept a maidenhead.
185. GOD.
God, in the holy tongue, they call
The place that filleth all in all.
186. ANOTHER OF GOD.
God's said to leave this place, and for to come
Nearer to that place than to other some,
Of local motion, in no least respect,
But only by impression of effect.
187. ANOTHER.
God is Jehovah call'd: which name of His
Implies or Essence, or the He that Is.
188. GOD'S PRESENCE.
God's evident, and may be said to be
Present with just men, to the verity;
But with the wicked if He doth comply,
'Tis, as St. Bernard saith, but seemingly.
189. GOD'S DWELLING.
God's said to dwell there, wheresoever He
Puts down some prints of His high Majesty;
As when to man He comes, and there doth place
His Holy Spirit, or doth plant His Grace.
190. THE VIRGIN MARY.
The Virgin Mary was, as I have read,
The House of God, by Christ inhabited;
Into the which He entered, but, the door
Once shut, was never to be open'd more.
191. TO GOD.
God's undivided, One in Persons Three,
And Three in inconfused unity.
Original of Essence there is none,
'Twixt God the Father, Holy Ghost, and Son:
And though the Father be the first of Three,
'Tis but by order, not by entity.
192. UPON WOMAN AND MARY.
So long, it seem'd, as Mary's faith was small,
Christ did her woman, not her Mary call;
But no more woman, being strong in faith,
But Mary call'd then, as St. Ambrose saith.
193. NORTH AND SOUTH.
The Jews their beds and offices of ease,
Placed north and south for these clean purposes;
That man's uncomely froth might not molest
God's ways and walks, which lie still east and west.
194. SABBATHS.
Sabbaths are threefold, as St. Austin says:
The first of time, or Sabbath here of days;
The second is a conscience trespass-free;
The last the Sabbath of Eternity.
195. THE FAST, OR LENT.
Noah the first was, as tradition says,
That did ordain the fast of forty days.
196. SIN.
There is no evil that we do commit,
But hath th' extraction of some good from it:
As when we sin, God, the great Chemist, thence
Draws out th' elixir of true penitence.
197. GOD.
God is more here than in another place,
Not by His essence, but commerce of grace.
198. THIS, AND THE NEXT WORLD.
God hath this world for many made, 'tis true:
But He hath made the World to Come for few.
199. EASE.
God gives to none so absolute an ease
As not to know or feel some grievances.
200. BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS.
Paul, he began ill, but he ended well;
Judas began well, but he foully fell:
In godliness not the beginnings so
Much as the ends are to be look'd unto.
201. TEMPORAL GOODS.
These temporal goods God, the most wise, commends
To th' good and bad in common for two ends:
First, that these goods none here may o'er-esteem
Because the wicked do partake of them;
Next, that these ills none cowardly may shun,
Being, oft here, the just man's portion.
202. HELL FIRE.
The fire of hell this strange condition hath,
To burn, not shine, as learned Basil saith.
203. ABEL'S BLOOD.
Speak, did the blood of Abel cry
To God for vengeance? Yes, say I,
Ev'n as the sprinkled blood called on
God for an expiation.
204. ANOTHER.
The blood of Abel was a thing
Of such a rev'rend reckoning,
As that the old world thought it fit
Especially to swear by it.
205. A POSITION IN THE HEBREW DIVINITY.
One man repentant is of more esteem
With God, than one that never sinned 'gainst Him.
206. PENITENCE.
The doctors, in the Talmud, say,
That in this world one only day
In true repentance spent will be
More worth than heaven's eternity.
207. GOD'S PRESENCE.
God's present everywhere, but most of all
Present by union hypostatical:
God, He is there, where's nothing else, schools say,
And nothing else is there where He's away.
_Hypostatical_, personal.
208. THE RESURRECTION POSSIBLE AND PROBABLE.
For each one body that i' th' earth is sown,
There's an uprising but of one for one;
But for each grain that in the ground is thrown,
Threescore or fourscore spring up thence for one:
So that the wonder is not half so great
Of ours as is the rising of the wheat.
209. CHRIST'S SUFFERING.
Justly our dearest Saviour may abhor us,
Who hath more suffered by us far, than for us.
210. SINNERS.
Sinners confounded are a twofold way,
Either as when, the learned schoolmen say,
Men's sins destroyed are when they repent,
Or when, for sins, men suffer punishment.
211. TEMPTATIONS.
No man is tempted so but may o'ercome,
If that he has a will to masterdom.
212. PITY AND PUNISHMENT.
God doth embrace the good with love; and gains
The good by mercy, as the bad by pains.
213. GOD'S PRICE AND MAN'S PRICE.
God bought man here with His heart's blood expense;
And man sold God here for base thirty pence.
214. CHRIST'S ACTION.
Christ never did so great a work but there
His human nature did in part appear;
Or ne'er so mean a piece but men might see
Therein some beams of His Divinity:
So that in all He did there did combine
His human nature and His part divine.
215. PREDESTINATION.
Predestination is the cause alone
Of many standing, but of fall to none.
216. ANOTHER.
Art thou not destin'd? then with haste go on
To make thy fair predestination:
If thou can'st change thy life, God then will please
To change, or call back, His past sentences.
217. SIN.
Sin never slew a soul unless there went
Along with it some tempting blandishment.
218. ANOTHER.
Sin is an act so free, that if we shall
Say 'tis not free, 'tis then no sin at all.
219. ANOTHER.
Sin is the cause of death; and sin's alone
The cause of God's predestination:
And from God's prescience of man's sin doth flow
Our destination to eternal woe.
220. PRESCIENCE.
God's prescience makes none sinful; but th' offence
Of man's the chief cause of God's prescience.
221. CHRIST.
To all our wounds here, whatsoe'er they be,
Christ is the one sufficient remedy.
222. CHRIST'S INCARNATION.
Christ took our nature on Him, not that He
'Bove all things loved it for the purity:
No, but He dress'd Him with our human trim,
Because our flesh stood most in need of Him.
223. HEAVEN.
Heaven is not given for our good works here;
Yet it is given to the labourer.
224. GOD'S KEYS
God has four keys, which He reserves alone:
The first of rain; the key of hell next known;
With the third key He opes and shuts the womb;
And with the fourth key he unlocks the tomb.
225. SIN.
There's no constraint to do amiss,
Whereas but one enforcement is.
226. ALMS.
Give unto all, lest he, whom thou deni'st,
May chance to be no other man but Christ.
227. HELL FIRE.
One only fire has hell; but yet it shall
Not after one sort there excruciate all:
But look, how each transgressor onward went
Boldly in sin, shall feel more punishment.
228. TO KEEP A TRUE LENT.
Is this a fast, to keep
The larder lean?
And clean
From fat of veals and sheep?
Is it to quit the dish
Of flesh, yet still
To fill
The platter high with fish?
Is it to fast an hour,
Or ragg'd to go,
Or show
A downcast look and sour?
No; 'tis a fast to dole
Thy sheaf of wheat,
And meat,
Unto the hungry soul.
It is to fast from strife,
From old debate
And hate;
To circumcise thy life.
To show a heart grief-rent;
To starve thy sin,
Not bin;
And that's to keep thy Lent.
229. NO TIME IN ETERNITY.
By hours we all live here; in Heaven is known
No spring of time, or time's succession.
230. HIS MEDITATION UPON DEATH.
Be those few hours, which I have yet to spend,
Blest with the meditation of my end:
Though they be few in number, I'm content:
If otherwise, I stand indifferent.
Nor makes it matter Nestor's years to tell,
If man lives long and if he live not well.
A multitude of days still heaped on,
Seldom brings order, but confusion.
Might I make choice, long life should be withstood;
Nor would I care how short it were, if good:
Which to effect, let ev'ry passing-bell
Possess my thoughts, "Next comes my doleful knell":
And when the night persuades me to my bed,
I'll think I'm going to be buried.
So shall the blankets which come over me
Present those turfs which once must cover me:
And with as firm behaviour I will meet
The sheet I sleep in as my winding-sheet.
When sleep shall bathe his body in mine eyes,
I will believe that then my body dies:
And if I chance to wake and rise thereon,
I'll have in mind my resurrection,
Which must produce me to that General Doom,
To which the peasant, so the prince, must come,
To hear the Judge give sentence on the throne,
Without the least hope of affection.
Tears, at that day, shall make but weak defence,
When hell and horror fright the conscience.
Let me, though late, yet at the last, begin
To shun the least temptation to a sin;
Though to be tempted be no sin, until
Man to th' alluring object gives his will.
Such let my life assure me, when my breath
Goes thieving from me, I am safe in death;
Which is the height of comfort: when I fall,
I rise triumphant in my funeral.
_Affection_, partiality.
231. CLOTHES FOR CONTINUANCE.
Those garments lasting evermore,
Are works of mercy to the poor,
Which neither tettar, time, or moth
Shall fray that silk or fret this cloth.
_Tettar_, scab.
232. TO GOD.
Come to me, God; but do not come
To me as to the General Doom
In power; or come Thou in that state
When Thou Thy laws did'st promulgate,
Whenas the mountain quaked for dread,
And sullen clouds bound up his head.
No; lay Thy stately terrors by
To talk with me familiarly;
For if Thy thunder-claps I hear,
I shall less swoon than die for fear.
Speak Thou of love and I'll reply
By way of Epithalamy,
Or sing of mercy and I'll suit
To it my viol and my lute;
Thus let Thy lips but love distil,
Then come, my God, and hap what will.
_Mountain_, orig. ed. _mountains_.
233. THE SOUL.
When once the soul has lost her way,
O then how restless does she stray!
