The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper

Such defect can be found in that creature alone, Which against his good will seeks to set up it's own; Then, to God, and his justice, it giveth the lie, And it's darkness and wrath are discover'd thereby: What, before, was subservient to life, in due place, Then usurps the dominion, and death is the case; Which the son of God only could ever subdue, By doing all that which love gave him to do.

If the anger of God, fury, wrath, waxing hot, And the like human phrases that scripture has got, Be insisted upon, why not also the rest, Where God, in the language of men, is exprest In a manner, which, all are oblig'd to confess, No defect in his nature can mean to express? With a God, who is love, ev'ry word should agree; With a God, who hath said, "fury is not in me."

The disorders in Nature, for none are in God, Are entitled his vengeance, his wrath, or his rod, Like his ice, or his frost, his plague, famine, or sword

That the love, which directs them, may still be ador'd:

Directs them, till justice, call'd his, or call'd ours, Shall regain, to our comfort, it's primitive pow'rs; The truc, saving justice, that bids us endure What love shall prescribe, for effecting our cure.

By a process of love, from the crib to the cross, Did the only-begotten recover our loss: And show in us men how the father is pleas'd, When the wrath in our nature by love is appeas'd; When the birth of his Christ, being formed within, Dissolves the dark death of all selfhood and sin; Till the love that so lov'd us, becomes, once again, From the father and son, a life-spirit in men.

Now, tho' 'tis proof, indisputably plain, That all is right, which God shall once ordain; Yet, if a thought shall intervene between Things and commands, 'tis evidently seen That good will he commanded: men divide Nature and laws which really coincide.

From the divine, eternal spirit springs
Order, and rule, and rectitude of things;
Thro' outward nature, his apparent throne,
Visibly seen, intelligibly known:
Proofs of a boundless pow'r, a wisdom's aid,
By goodness us'd, eternal, and unmade.

Cudworth perceiv'd, that what divines advance
For sov'reignty alone is fate, or chance:
Fate, after pow'r had made its forcing laws;
And chance, before, if made without a cause:
Nothing stands firm, or certain, in a state
Of fatal chance, or accidental fate.

Endless perfections, after all, conspire,
And to adore, excite, and to admire;
But to plain minds, the plainest pow'r above
Is native goodness, to attract our love:
Centre of all its various power, and skill,
Is one divine, immutable good will.

ON THE NATURE AND REASON OF ALL OUTWARD LAW.

The sabbath was made for man; not man f the sabbath. Mark ii, 27. FROM this true saying one may learn to draw The real nature of all outward law; In ev'ry instance, rightly understood, Its ground, and reason, is the human good: By all its changes, since the world began,

THE TRUE GROUNDS OF ETERNAL AND Man was not made for law; but law for man.

IMMUTABLE RECTITUDE.

TH' eternal mind, e'en Heathens understood,
Was infinitely powerful, wise, and good:
In their conceptions, who conceiv'd aright,
These three essential attributes unite:
They saw, that, wanting any of the three,
Such an all-perfect being could not be.

For pow'r, from wisdom suff'ring a divorce,
Would be a foolish, mad, and frantic force:
If both were join'd, and wanted goodness still,
They would concur to more pernicious ill:
However nam'd, their action could but tend
To weakness, folly, mischief without end.

Yet some of old, and some of present hour, Ascribe to God an arbitrary pow'r; An absolute decree; a mere command, Which nothing causes, nothing can withstand: Wisdom and goodness scarce appear in sight; But all is measur'd by resistless might.

The verbal question comes to this, in fine, Is good, or evil, made by will divine, Or such by nature? Does command enact What shall be right, and then 'tis so in fact? Or is it right, and therefore, we may draw From thence the reason of the righteous law?

"Thou shalt not eat" (the first command of al) "Of good and ill," was to prevent his fall: When he became unfit to be alone, Woman was form'd out of his flesh and bone: When both had sinn'd, then penitential grief, And sweating labour, was the law relief.

When all the world had sinn'd, save one good

sire,

Flood was the law that sav'd its orb from fire:
When fire itself upon a Sodom fell,
It was the law to stop a growing Hell:
So on the law with riches, or with rods,
Come as it will, is good, for it is God's.

Men who observe a law, or who abuse,
For selfish pow'r, are blind as any Jews;
On sabbath, constru'd by rabbinic will,
God must not save, and men must seek to kill;
Such zeal for law has pharisaic faith,
Not as 'tis good, but as it worketh wrath.

Jesus, the perfect law-fulfiller, gave The victory that taught the law to save; Plack'd out its sting, revers'd the cruel cry, "We have a law by which he ought to die"Dying for man, this conquest he could give, I have a law by which he ought to live.

Whilst in the flesh, how oft did he reveal
His saving will, and god-like pow'r to heal!
They whom defect, disease, or fiend possest,
And pardon'd sinners by his word had rest;
He, on the sabbath, chose to heal, and teach;
And law-proud Jews to slay him for its breach.

The sabbath, never so well kept before,
May justify one observation more;
Our Saviour heal'd, as pious authors say,
So many sick upon the sabbath day,
To show that rest, and quietness of soul,

Is blest for one who wants to be made whole;

Not to indulge an eagerness too great,
Of outward hurry, or of inward heat;
But with an humble temper, and resign'd,
To keep a sabbath in a hopeful mind;
a peace, and patience, meekly to endure,
Till the good Saviour's hour is come, to cure.

DIVINE LOVE,

HE ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTIC OF TRUE RE-
LIGION.

RELIGION'S meaning when I would recall,
Love is to me the plainest word of all;
lainest; because that what I love, or hate,
hows me directly my internal state:
by its own consciousness is best defin'd,
Which way the heart within me stands inclin'd.

On what it lets its inclination rest,
o that its real worship is address'd:
What ever forms or ceremonies spring

'rom custom's force, there lies the real thing:
ew, Turk, or Christian, be the lovers' name,
f same the love, religion is the same.

Of all religions if we take a view,
There is but one that ever can be true;

One God, one Christ, one Spirit, none but he;
All else is idol, whatsoe'er it be;
A good that our imaginations make,
Jnless we love it purely for his sake.
Nothing but gross idolatry alone
Can ever love it, merely, for its own:

t may be good, that is, may make appear
o much of God's one goodness to be clear;
hereby to raise a true, religious soul
To love of him, the one eternal whole;

The one unbounded, undivided good,
By all his creatures partly understood:
ftherefore sense of its apparent parts
Raise not his love or worship in our hearts,
Our selfish wills or notions we may feast,
And have no more religion than a beast.

For brutal instinct can a good embrace,
That leaves behind it no reflecting trace;
But thinking man, whatever be his theme,
Should worship goodness in the great supreme;
By inward faith, more sure than outward sight,
Shou'd eye the source of all that 's good, and right.
Religion then is love's celestial force,
That penetrates thro' all to its true source;
Loves all along, but with proportion'd bent,
As creatures further the divine ascent ;

Not to the skies or stars; but to the part
That will be always uppermost-the heart.

There is the seat, as holy writings tell,
Where the most High himself delights to dwell;
Whither attracting the desirous will
To its true rest, he saves it from all ill;
Gives it to find, in his abyssal love,

An Heaven within, in other words, above.

ON WORKS OF MERCY AND COMPASSION.
CONSIDERED AS THE PROOFS OF TRue religioN.

Of true religion, works of mercy seem
To be the plainest proof, in Christ's esteem;
Who has himself declar'd what he will say
To all the uations, at the judgment day;
Come, or depart, is the predicted lot
Of brotherly compassion shown, or not.

Then, they who gave poor hungry people meat,
And drink to quench the thirsty suff'rers heat;
Who welcom'd in the stranger at the door,
And with a garment cloth'd the naked poor;
Who visited the sick to ease their grief,
And went to pris'ners, or bestow'd relief-

These will be deem'd religious men, to whom
Will sound-"Ye blessed of my father, come,
Inherit ye the kingdom, and partake
Of all the glories founded for your sake;
Your love to others I was pleas'd to see,
What you have done to them was done to me."

Then, they who gave the hungry poor no food; Who with no drink the parch'd with thirst bedew'd;

Who drove the helpless stranger from their fold,
And let the naked perish in the cold;
Who to the sick no friendly visit paid,¡
Nor gave to pris'ners any needful aid

These will be deem'd of irreligious mind;
And hear the" Go, ye men of cursed kind,
To endless woes, which ev'ry harden'd heart
For its own treasure has prepar'd-depart:
Shown to a brother, of the least degree,
Your merciless behaviour was to me."

Here, all ye learned, full of all dispute,
Of true and false religion lies the root:
The mind of Christ, when he became a man,
With all its tempers, forms its real plan;
The sheep from goats distinguishing full well-
His love is Heav'n; and want of it is Hell.

VERSES

DESIGNED FOR AN INFIRMARY.

DEAR loving sirs! behold, as ye pass by,
The poor sick people with a pitying cye:
Let pains, and wounds, and suff'rings of each kind,
Raise up a just compassion in your mind:
Indulge a gen'rous grief at such a sight,
And then bestow your talent, or your mite.

Thus to bestow is really to obtain
The surest blessing upon honest gain:

To help th' afflicted, in so great a need,
By your supplies, is to be rich indeed:
The good, the pleasure, the reward of wealth
Is to procure your fellow-creatures health.

In other cases, men may form a doubt,
Whether their alms be properly laid out;
But in the objects, here, before your eyes,
No such distrust can possibly arise;
Too plain the miseries! which well may melt
An heart, sincerely wishing them unfelt.

The wise consider this terrestrial ball,
As Heav'n's design'd infirmary for all,
Here came the great physician of the soul,

To heal man's nature, and to make him whole:
Still, by his spirit, present with all those,
Who lend an aid to lessen human woes.

A godlike work; who forwards it is sure,
That ev'ry step advances his own cure:
Without benevolence, the view to self
Makes worldly riches an unrighteous pelf;
While blest thro' life, the giver, for his love,
Dies to receive its huge reward above.

To them who tread the certain path to bliss, That leads thro' scenes of charity like this, Think what the Saviour of the world will say"Ye blessed of my father, come your way: 'Twas done to me, if done to the distrest: Come, ye true friends, and be for ever blest."

AN HYMN TO JESUS.

COME, Saviour Jesus! from above,

Assist me with thy heav'nly grace; Withdraw my heart from worldly love, And for thyself prepare the place.

Lord! let thy sacred presence fill, And set my longing spirit free;

That pants to have no other will, But night and day to think on thee.

Where'er thou leadest, I'll pursue, Thro' all retirements, or employs;

But to the world I 'il bid adieu, And all its vain delusive joys.

That way with humble speed I'll walk, Wherein my Saviour's footsteps shine; Nor will I hear, nor will I talk Of any other love but thine.

To thee my longing soul aspires; To thee I offer all my vows:

Keep me from false and vain desires, My God, my Saviour, and my Spouse!

Henceforth, let no profane delight Divide this consecrated soul!

Possess it thou, who hast the right, As lord and master of the whole.

Wealth, honours, pleasures, or what else This short-enduring world can give,

Tempt as they will, my heart repells, To thee alone resolv'd to live.

Thee one may love, and thee alone, With inward peace, and holy bliss;

And when thou tak'st us for thy own, Oh! what an happiness is this!

Nor Heav'n, nor Earth do I desire, Nor mysteries to be reveal'd;

'Tis love that sets my heart on fire : Speak thou the word, and I am heal'd.

All other graces I resign; Pleas'd to receive, pleas'd to restore : Grace is thy gift, it shall be mine The giver only to adore.

AN HYMN ON SIMPLICITY.
FROM THE GERMAN.

JESU! teach this heart of mine
True simplicity to find;
Child-like, innocent, divine,

Free from guile of every kind:
And since, when amongst us vouchsafing to live,
So pure an example it pleas'd thee to give;
O! let me keep still the bright pattern in view,
And be, after thy likeness, right simple and true.

When I read, or when I hear

Truths that kindle good desires;
How to act, and how to bear

What Heav'n-instrcted faith requires;
Let no subtle fancies e'er lead me astray,
Or teach me to comment thy doctrines away;
No reas'nings of selfish corruption within,
Nor slights by which Satan deludes us to sin.

Whilst I pray before thy face,

Thou! who art my highest good!
O! confirm to me the grace,

Purchas'd by thy precious blood:
That, with a true filial affection of heart,
I may feel what a real redeemer thou art;
And, thro' thy atonement to justice above,
Be receiv'd, as a child, by the father of love.

Give me, with a child-like mind,
Simply to believe thy word;
And to do whate'er I find

Pleases best my dearest Lord :
Resolving to practise thy gracious commands;
To resign myself wholly up into thy bands:
That, regarding thee simply in all my employ,
I may cry, "Abba! Father!" with dutiful joy.
Nor within me, nor without,
Let hypocrisy reside;
But whate'er I go about,

Mere simplicity be guide:
Simplicity guide me in word, and in will;
Let me live-let me die-in simplicity still:
Of an epitaph made me let this be the whole-
Here lies a true child, that was simple of soul.

Jesu! now I fix my heart,

Prince of life, and source of bliss;
Never from thee to depart,

'Till thy love shall grant me this:
Then, then, shall my heart all its faculties raise,
Both here, and hereafter, to sing to thy praise:
O joyful! my Saviour says, "So let it be !"
Amen, to my soul,-Hallelujah! to thee!

WORLD adieu, thou real cheat! Oft have thy deceitful charms

heart with fond conceit,
Foolish hopes, and false alarms:
low I see, as clear as day,

low thy follies pass away.
ain thy entertaining sights;
False thy promises renew'd;
Il the pomp of thy delights
Does but flatter and delude:
bee I quit for Heav'n above,
bjects of the noblest love.

yu arewell honour's empty pride!
Thy own nice, uncertain gust,
the least mischance betide,
Lays thee lower than the dust:
Torldly honours end in gall,
ise to day, to morrow fall.
bolish vanity, farewell!

More inconstant than the wave;
here thy soothing fancies dwell,
Purest tempers they deprave:
e, to whom I fly from thee,
sus Christ, shall set me free.
ever shall my wandering mind
Follow after fleeting toys;
nce in God alone I find
Solid and substantial joys:
ys that, never overpast,
iro' eternity shall last.

rd, how happy is a heart, After thee while it aspires! is rue and faithful as thou art, Thou shalt answer its desires: 6 shall see the glorious scene of thy everlasting reign.

AN HYMN.

FROM THE FRENCH.

cow charming! to be thus confin'd
Within this lovely tow'r;
There, with a calm, and quiet mind,
I pass the peaceful hour:
ronger than chains of any kind
Is love's enduring pow'r.

hese very ills are my delight;
My pleasures rise from pains;
be punishments, that inost affright,
Become my wish'd-for gains:
Thatever torments they excite,
Pure sighing love remains.

ain is no object of my fear,
Tho' help is not in view;
ure as I am, from evils here,
That blessings will ensue:
o sovʼreign beauty it is clear,
That sov'reign love is due.
suffer; but along with smart
- Is grace and virtue sent:

Presence of God, who takes my part,

So sweetens all event!

He is the patience of my heart,
The comfort, and content.

THE SOUL'S TENDENCY TOWARDS ITS

TRUE CENTRE.

STONES towards the earth descend;

Rivers to the ocean roll;

Every motion has some end:
What is thine, beloved soul?

"Mine is, where my Saviour is;
There with him I hope to dwell:
Jesu is the central bliss;

Love the force that doth impel." Truly, thou hast answer'd right: Now may Heav'n's attractive grace, Tow'rds the source of thy delight,

Speed along thy quick'ning pace! "Thank thee for thy gen'rous care:

Heav'n, that did the wish inspire. Through thy instrumental pray'r, Plumes the wings of my desire.

"Now, methinks, aloft I fly:

Now, with angels bear a part:

Glory be to God on high!

Peace to ev'ry Christian heart!"

THE DESPONDING SOUL'S WISH.

My spirit longeth for thee,
Within my troubled breast;
Altho' I be unworthy

Of so divine a guest.

Of so divine a guest,
Unworthy tho' I be;
Yet has my heart no rest,
Unless it come from thee.
Unless it come from thee,
In vain I look around;
In all that I can see,
No rest is to be found.

No rest is to be found,

But in thy blessed love; O! let my wish be crown'd, And send it from above!

THE ANSWER.

CHEER up, desponding soul;
Thy longing, pleas'd, I see;
"Tis part of that great whole,
Wherewith 1 long'd for thee.
Wherewith I long'd for thee,

And left my Father's throne; From death to set thee free,

To claim thee for my own.

To claim thee for my own,

I suffer'd on the cross: Oh! were my love but known, No soul could fear its loss.

No soul could fear its loss,

But, fil'd with love divine, Would die on its own cross, And rise for ever mine.

AN HYMN TO JESUS.

FROM THE LATIN OF ST. BERNARD.

JESU! the soul that thinks on thee,
How happy does it seem to be!
What honey can such sweets impart,
As does thy presence to the heart!

No sound can dwell upon the tongue,
Nor ears be ravish'd with a song,
Nor thought by pondering be won,
Like that of God's beloved Son.

Jesu! the penitent's retreat,
The wearied pilgrim's mercy seat:
If they that seek thee are carest,
How are the finders of thee blest!

Jesu! the source of life and light,
That mak'st the mind so blest and bright;
Fullness of joy thou dost inspire
Beyond the stretch of all desire.

This can no tongue that ever spoke,
Nor hand express by figur'd stroke:
It is experience that must prove
The pow'r of Jesus, and his love.

A PARAPHRASE

And the men who dwell on it, his children, for

whom

It has pleas'd him that Christ the Redeemer should

come;

Yet his church must consist, in all saving respect, Of them who receive him, not them who reject; And his true, real children, or people, are they, Who, when call'd by the Saviour, believe and obey.

Now this excellent pray'r, in this sense of the phrase,

For the catholic church more especially prays; That it may be so constantly govern'd, and led By the Spirit of God, and of Jesus its head, That all such as are taught to acknowledge its creed,

And profess to be Christians, may be so indeed; May hold the one faith, in a peace without strife, And the proof of its truth, a right practical life.

No partial distinction is here to be sought; For the good of mankind still enlivens the thought; Since God, by the church, in its catholic sense, Salvation to all is so pleas'd to dispense, [crease, That the farther her faith, and her patience in More hearts will be won to the gospel of peace; "Till the world shall come under truth's absolute

sway,

[day

And the nations, converted, bring on the great

Mean while, tho' eternity be her chief care, The suff'rers in time have a suitable share: She prays to the fatherly goodness of God, For all whom affliction has under its rod; That inward, or outward, the cause of their grief, Mind, body, estate, he would grant them relief, Due comfort, and patience, and finally bless With the most happy ending of all their distress.

The compassion, here taught, is unlimited too, And the whole of mankind the petitioning view: As none can foresee, whether Christian, or not, What afflictions may fall in this world to his lot; The church, which considers whose Providence sends,

ON THE PRAYER, USED IN THE CHURCH LITURGY, Prays that all may obtain its beneficent ends;

FOR ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS OF MEN.

Ir will bear the repeating again and again,
Will the pray'r for all sorts and conditions of men;
Not to this, or that place, name, or nation confin'd,
But embracing, at once, the whole race of man-
With a love universal instructing to call [kind;
On the one great creating Preserver of all;
That his way may be known upon Earth, and be
found

His true saving health, by the nations all round.
He, who willeth all men to be sav'd, and par-
take
[make;
Of the bliss, which distinguish'd their primitive
To arise to that life, by a second new birth,
Which Adam had lost, at his fall upon Earth;
Will accept ev'ry heart, whose unfeigned intent
Is to pray for that blessing, which he himself
meant,
[will
When he gave his own Son, for whoever should
To escape, by his means, from the regions of ill.

But tho' all the whole world, in a sense that is good, [stood; To be God's house, or church, may be well under

And whenever the suff'rings, here needful, are past, By repentance and faith, may be sav'd at the last.

The particular mention of such, as desire To be publicly pray'd for, as made in our quire, Infers to all others God's merciful grace; [cas; Tho' we hear not their names, who are in the like It excites our attention to instances known, Of relations, or neighbours, or friends of our own; For the pray'r, in its nature, extends to all those, Who are in the same trouble, friends to us, or foes.

All which she entreats, for his sake, to be done, Who suffer'd to save them, Christ Jesus, his Son; In respect to the world, the Redeemer of all; To the church of the faithful, most chiefly, saith Paul;

And to them, who shall suffer, whoever they be, In the spirit of Christ, in the highest degree: How ought such a goodness all minds to prepare, For an hearty amen to this catholic pray'r!

The church is indeed, in its real intent, An assembly, where nothing but friendship is meant;

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The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper: Including ..., Volum 15