My tender age in sorrow did begin: And still with sicknesses and shame Thou didst so punish sin, That I became Most thin. WINGS With Thee Let me combine, And feel this day Thy victory, For, if I imp my wing on Thine, Affliction shall advance the flight in me. A HOLY BAPTISM S he that sees a dark and shady grove, Stays not, but looks beyond it on the sky; So when I view my sins, mine eyes remove More backward still, and to that water fly, Which is above the heavens, whose spring and vent Or else give tears to drown them, as they grow. Whatever future sins should me miscall, S' HOLY BAPTISM INCE, Lord, to Thee A narrow way and little gate Is all the passage, on my infancy Thou didst lay hold, and antedate O let me still Write Thee great God, and me a child: Let me be soft and supple to Thy will, Behither ill. Although by stealth My flesh get on; yet let her sister, My soul, bid nothing, but preserve her wealth: The growth of flesh is but a blister; Childhood is health. NATURE ULL of rebellion, I would die, That Thou hast ought to do with me. O tame my heart; It is Thy highest art To captivate strong holds to Thee. If Thou shalt let this venom lurk, And thence by kind Making Thy workmanship deceit. O smooth my rugged heart, and there Is sapless grown, To hide my dust, than Thee to hold. SIN LORD, with what care hast Thou begirt us round! Parents first season us: then schoolmasters Deliver us to laws; they send us bound To rules of reason, holy messengers, Pulpits and Sundays, sorrow dogging sin, Blessings beforehand, ties of gratefulness, The sound of glory ringing in our ears; Yet all these fences and their whole array WHEN AFFLICTION HEN first Thou didst entice to Thee my heart, So many joys I writ down for my part, Besides what I might have Out of my stock of natural delights, Augmented with Thy gracious benefits. I looked on Thy furniture so fine, And made it fine to me, Thy glorious household-stuff did me entwine, And 'tice me unto Thee. Such stars I counted mine: both heaven and earth What pleasures could I want, whose King I served, Thus argued into hopes, my thoughts reserved Therefore my sudden soul caught at the place, At first Thou gav'st me milk and sweetnesses; My days were strewed with flowers and happiness: My flesh began unto my soul in pain, Sicknesses cleave my bones, Consuming agues dwell in every vein, And tune my breath to groans: Sorrow was all my soul; I scarce believed, Till grief did tell me roundly, that I lived. When I got health, Thou took'st away my life, Thus thin and lean without a fence or friend, Whereas my birth and spirit rather took The way that takes the town; I was entangled in the world of strife, |