A willing shiner, that shall shine as gladly

As frost-nipt sunnes look sadly :

Then we will sing, and shine all our own day,

And one another pay :

His beams shall cheer my breast, and both so twine,

Till ev'n His beams sing, and my music shine.

55.¶UNGRATEFULNESSE.

Lord, with what bountie and rare clemencie

Hast Thou redeem'd us from the grave!

If Thou hadst let us runne,

Gladly had man ador'd the sunne,

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And thought his god most brave,

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Where now we shall be better gods then he.

Thou hast but two rare cabinets full of treasure,

The Trinitie and Incarnation;

Thou hast unlockt them both,

And made them jewels to betroth
The work of Thy creation

Unto Thyself in everlasting pleasure.

The statelier cabinet is the Trinitie,

Whose sparkling light access denies :

Therefore Thou dost not show

This fully to us till death blow

The dust into our eyes;

For by that powder Thou wilt make us see.

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But all Thy sweets are packt up in the other;

Thy mercies thither flock and flow,

That as the first affrights,

This may allure us with delights;

Because this box we know,

For we have all of us just such another.

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But man is close, reserv'd, and dark to Thee;

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When Thou demandest but a heart,

He cavils instantly:

In his poore cabinet of bone

Sinnes have their box apart,

Defrauding Thee, Who gavest two for one.

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56. SIGHS AND GRONES.

O, do not use me

After my sinnes! look not on my desert,

But on Thy glorie; then Thou wilt reform,

And not refuse me; for Thou onely art

The mightie God, but I a sillie worm :
O, do not bruise me!

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O, do not urge me;

For what account can Thy ill steward make?
I have abus'd Thy flock, destroy'd Thy woods,
Suckt all Thy magazens; my head did ake,
Till it found out how to consume Thy goods:
O, do not scourge me!

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O, do not blinde me!

I have deserv'd that an Egyptian night

Should thicken all my powers, because my lust

Hath still sow'd fig-leaves to exclude Thy light;
But I am frailtie, and already dust:

O, do not grinde me!

O, do not fill me

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With the turn'd viall of Thy bitter wrath! up-turned 20

For Thou hast other vessels full of blood,

A part whereof my Saviour empti'd hath,

Ev'n unto death: since He died for my good,
O, do not kill me!

But O, reprieve me!

For Thou hast life and death at Thy command;
Thou art both Judge and Saviour, feast and rod,
Cordiall and corrosive: put not Thy hand
Into the bitter box; but, O my God,

My God, relieve me!

57. THE WORLD.

Love built a stately house, where Fortune came;
And spinning phansies, she was heard to say
That her fine cobwebs did support the frame,
Whereas they were supported by the same;
But Wisdome quickly swept them all away.
Then Pleasure came, who, liking not the fashion,
Began to make balcónes, terraces,

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balconies

Till she had weaken'd all by alteration;

But rev'rend laws, and many a proclamation,
Reformed all at length with menaces.

Then enter'd Sinne, and with that sycomore

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Whose leaves first sheltred man from drought and dew, Working and winding slily evermore,

The inward walls and sommers cleft and tore;
But Grace shor'd these, and cut that as it grew.

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Then Sinne combin'd with Death in a firm band
To rase the building to the very floore:
Which they effected, none could them withstand ;
But Love took Grace and Glorie by the hand,
And built a braver palace then before.

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58. OUR LIFE IS HID WITH CHRIST IN GOD.

Coloss. iii. 3.

My words and thoughts do both expresse this notion,

That LIFE hath with the sun a double motion.

The first Is straight, and our diurnall friend ;
The other HID, and doth obliquely bend.
One life is wrapt IN flesh, and tends to earth;
The other winds towards HIM, Whose happie birth
Taught me to live here so THAT still one eye
Should aim and shoot at that which Is on high;
Quitting with daily labour all My pleasure,
To gain at harvest an eternall TREASURE.

59. VANITIE.

The fleet astronomer can bore

And thred the spheres with his quick-piercing minde; He views their stations, walks from doore to doore,

Surveys as if he had design'd

To make a purchase there; he sees their dances,

And knoweth long before

Both their full-ey'd aspécts and secret glances.

The nimble diver with his side

Cuts through the working waves, that he may fetch. His dearely-earned pearl; which God did hide

On purpose from the venturous wretch, That He might save his life, and also hers Who with excessive pride

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Her own destruction and his danger wears.

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The subtil chymick can devest And strip the creature naked, till he finde The callow principles within their nest:

There he imparts to them his minde, Admitted to their bed-chamber before

They appeare trim and drest

To ordinarie suitours at the doore.

What hath not man sought out and found, But his deare God? Who yet His glorious law. Embosomes in us, mellowing the ground

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With showers and frosts, with love and aw, 25