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TO HEAVEN.

GOOD and great God! can I not think of thee,
But it must straight my melancholy be?
Is it interpreted in me disease,

That, laden with my sins, I seek for ease?
O be thou witness, that the reins dost know,
And hearts of all, if I be sad for show;
And judge me after: if I dare pretend

To ought but grace, or aim at other end. As thou art all, so be thou all to me,

First, midst, and last, converted one and three, My faith, my hope, my love; and in this state, My judge, my witness, and my advocate. Where have I been this while exil'd from thee? And whither rapt, now thou but stoop'st to me? Dwell, dwell here still: O, being ev'rywhere,

How can I doubt to find thee ever here!
I know my state, both full of shame and scorn,
Conceiv'd in sin, and unto labour born,
Standing with fear, and must with horror fall;
And destin'd unto judgment after all.

I feel my griefs too, and there scarce is ground
Upon my flesh to inflict another wound.
Yet dare I not complain, or wish for death
With holy Paul, lest it be thought the breath
Of discontent; or that these prayers be
For weariness of life, not love of thee.

TO THE HOLY TRINITY.

O HOLY, blessed, glorious Trinity
Of persons, still one God in Unity.

The faithful man's believed mystery,

Help, help to lift

Myself up to thee, harrow'd, torn, and bruis'd
By sin and Satan; and my flesh misus'd,
As my heart lies in pieces, all confus'd,
O take my gift!

All-gracious God, the sinner's sacrifice,
A broken heart, thou wert not wont despise ;
But 'bove the fat of rams, or bulls, to prize
An off'ring meet

For thy acceptance. O, behold me right,
And take compassion on my grievous plight!
What odour can be, than a heart contrite,

To thee more sweet?

Eternal Father, God, who didst create
This all of nothing, gav'st it form and fate,
And breath'st into it life and light, with state

To worship thee:

Eternal God the Son, who not deny❜dst

To take our nature; becam❜st man, and dy❜dst, To pay our debts, upon thy cross, and cry'dst

All's done in me :

Eternal Spirit, God from both proceeding,
Father and Son; the Comforter, in breeding
Pure thoughts in man: with fiery zeal them feeding

For acts of grace:

Increase those acts, O glorious Trinity

Of persons, still one God in unity!

Till I attain the long'd-for mystery

Of seeing your face.

Beholding one in three, and three in one,
A Trinity, to shine in unity;

The gladdest light dark man can think upon;
O grant it me!

Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost, you three,
All co-eternal in your majesty,

Distinct in persons, yet in unity

One God to see.

My Maker, Saviour, and my Sanctifier :
To hear, to meditate, sweeten my desire,
With grace, with love, with cherishing entire ;
O then how blest!

Among thy saints elected to abide,

And with thy angels placed, side by side, But in thy presence, truly glorify'd

Shall I there rest!

FRANCIS QUARLES.

BORN 1592-DIED 1644.

FRANCIS QUARLES, a religious poet, was born in 1592. He was appointed cupbearer to Elizabeth, Electress of Bohemia, and afterwards was secretary to Archbishop Usher. He was a zealous royalist, and, on the ruin of his party, lost all his books, manuscripts, and other property. His

death was said to be accelerated by the misfortunes of his party and by personal chagrin. He is a quaint and conceited writer; but his piety appears sincere, and he possesses considerable liveliness of fancy. Mr Campbell thinks that "A considerable resemblance to Young may be traced in the blended strength and extravagance, and ill-assorted wit and devotion of Quarles."

EMBLEM I.

"My soul hath desired thee in the night.—ISAIAH."

How often have I vainly grop'd about,
With lengthen'd arms, to find a passage out,
That I might catch those beams mine eye desires,
And bathe my soul in these celestial fires!
Like as the haggard, cloister'd in her mew,
To scour her downy robes, and to renew
Her broken flags, preparing t' overlook
The timorous mallard at the sliding brook,
Jets oft from perch to perch, from stock to ground,
From ground to window, thus surveying round
Her dove-befeathered prison, till at length
Calling her noble birth to mind, and strength
Whereto her wing was born, her ragged beak
Nips off her jangling jesses, strives to break
Her jingling fetters, and begins to bate
At every glimpse, and darts at every grate :
E'en so my weary soul, that long has been
An inmate in this tenement of sin,
Lock'd up by cloud-brow'd error, which invites
My cloister'd thoughts to feed on black delights,
Now suns her shadows, and begins to dart
Her wing'd desires at thee, that only art

The sun she seeks, whose rising beams can fright
These dusky clouds that make so dark a night :
Shine forth, great glory, shine; that I may see,
Both how to loath myself, and honour thee:
But if my weakness force thee to deny
Thy flames, yet lend the twilight of thine eye!
If I must want those beams I wish, yet grant
That I at least may wish those beams I want.

WHOM HAVE I IN HEAVEN BUT THEE.

I LOVE, and have some cause to love, the
Earth-

She is my Maker's creature, therefore good;
She is my mother, for she gave me birth;
She is my tender nurse, she gives me food ;-
But what's a creature, Lord, compared with Thee?
Or what's my mother or my nurse to me?

I love the Air, her dainty sweets refresh My drooping soul, and to new sweets invite me. Hershrill-mouthed choir sustain me with their flesh, And with their Polyphonian notes delight me. But what's the Air, or all the sweets that she Can bless my soul withal, compared with Thee?

I love the Sea, she is my fellow-creature, My careful purveyor, she provides me store; She walls me round, she makes my diet greater, She wafts my treasure from a foreign shore. But, Lord of Oceans, when compared with Thee, What is the Ocean or her wealth to me?

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