English

O friend, it is a deep religious loss
To palter with our Master's pure renown;
To lose the sad precision of the Cross
In Fancy's lights, and melt away His crown;
Gazing on truth, why should our vision swim?
Let Calvary stand clear of fabulous mist,
Keep all the paths of Olivet for Christ,
And let no Orphic phantom walk with Him!
Then , and then only , welcome! what they tell
Of that majestic harp, which came full-strung
Among the woes of Hades, to compel
A pause in all her penance — of the spell

O give thy King no bynames! nor decry
The title proper to His native throne
Within our hearts, as tho' thou would'st deny
The authentic angel's voice which made it known;
'Tis treason to invalidate our creed
By understatements, partial, vague, and scant;
A faith in music is not what we want,
This sweet-toned mythus meets no sinner's need;
Come to the rescue, all who would not fuse
Redemption into harp-notes! nor exchange
For this new style our grand prescriptive use;
Nor seek, from flying leaves of legend strange,

What means this vain ideal of our Lord,
With " Orpheus" underwritten? Couldst thou see
With eyes of faith the Incarnate Deity,
That faith a nobler title would accord
Than this, whereat no Christian fancy warms;
Thou would'st not score the mythic harper's name
Beneath the fallen head and outstretch'd arms,
Nor seem to blink our dear Redeemer's claim
To His own cognizance and proper fame;
The sorrowing manhood of the King of kings,
The double nature, and the death of shame,
The tomb — the rising — are substantial things,

REVELATION 2 10.

Be thou faithfull unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life

1.

B E faithfull, Lord, what's that?
Believe: 'tis easie to believe: but what?
That he whom thy hard heart hath wounded
And whom thy scorn hath spit upon;
Hath paid thy fine, and hath compounded
For those feul deeds thy hands have done:

I

Canticles 5 8

I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am sick of love.

1.

Y O u holy Virgins, that so oft surround
The eltie's Saphire walls; whose snowy feet
Measure the pearly paths of sacred ground,
And trace the new Jerus'lem's Jasper street;
Ah, you whose care-forsaken hearts are crown'd
With your best wishes; that enjoy the sweet

1

R OMANES 7. 23.

I see another Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind, and bringing me into captivitie to the Law of sinne

O H ow my will is hurried to and fro,
And how my unresolv'd resolves do vary!
I know not where to fix; sometimes I go
This way, then that, and then the quite contrary:
I like, dislike; lament for what I could not;

The Entertainment.

All you whose better thoughts are newly born
And (rebaptiz'd with holy fire) can scorn
The world's basetrash, whose necks disdain to bear
Th imperious yoke of Satan; whose chast care
No wanton songs of Sirens can surprize
With false delight; whose more then Eagle-eyes
Can view the glorious flames of gold, and gaze
On glitt'ring beams of honour, and not daze;
Whose souls can spurn at pleasure, and deny,
The loose suggestions of the flesh, draw nigh:

I

I SAIAH 50. 11

You that walk in the light of your own fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled, ye shall lie down in sorrow.

1.

D O , silly Cupid , snuffe and trimme
Thy false, thy feeble light,
And make her self-consuming flames more bright;
Me thinks she burns too dimme.
Is this that sprightly fire,

The Invocation.

R OWZE thee, my soul; and drein thee from the dregs
Of vulgar thoughts; Skrue up the heightned pegs
Of thy sublime Theorboe foure notes higher,
And higher yet; that so, the shrill-mouth'd Quire
Of swift-wing'd Seraphims may come and joyn
And make thy consort more than halfe divine.
Invoke no Muse; Let heav'n be thy Apollo ;
And let his sacred influences hallow
Thy high-bred strains; Let his full beams inspire
Thy ravish'd brains with more heroick fire:

Of the Qualities of Small Women (excerpt)

A small bird is the skylark and so is the nightingale,
yet they sing more sweetly than any larger bird;
the woman who is small is therefore the better;
when treated with affection she is sweeter than sugar or a flower.

There is nothing to be compared with a small woman,
she is an earthly paradise, and a consolation,
a solace and a joy, a pleasure and a blessing,
she is better in the testing than in the first meeting.