3 The more he grows. Celestial natures still 4 This is the life which, hid above with Christ 5 Here spirits that have run their race, and fought, And won the fight, and have not feared the frowns Nor loved the smiles of greatness, but have wrought Their Master's will, meet to receive their crowns. 6 Here is the patience of the saints: this tree you 7 Here is their faith too, which if THE GARLAND. 1 Thou, who dost flow and flourish here below, When first my youthful, sinful age Appointing error for my page, And darkness for my days; I flung away, and with full cry In post for pleasures, bent to try All gamesters that would bid. I played with fire, did counsel spurn, But never thought that fire would burn, Glorious deceptions, gilded mists, Pieces of sackcloth with silk lists, These were my prime delights. I sought choice bowers, haunted the spring, Gave But at the height of this career Who, noting well my vain abear, 'Desist, fond fool, be not undone; Will fade at night, and with this sun 2 Flowers gathered in this world, die here; if thou LOVE-SICK. Jesus, my life! how shall I truly love thee? As to make man all pure love, flesh a star! Oh, come, and rend Or bow the heavens! Lord, bow them and descend, PSALM CIV. 1 Up, O my soul, and bless the Lord! O God, My God, how great, how very great art thou! Honour and majesty have their abode With thee, and crown thy brow. 2 Thou cloth'st thyself with light as with a robe, And the high, glorious heavens thy mighty hand Doth spread like curtains round about this globe Of air, and sea, and land. 3 The beams of thy bright chambers thou dost lay 4 In thy celestial, gladsome messages Despatched to holy souls, sick with desire 5 Thy arm unmoveable for ever laid And founded the firm earth; then with the deep As with a vail thou hidd'st it; thy floods played Above the mountains steep. 6 At thy rebuke they fled, at the known voice 7 For thou to them a bound hast set, a bound Which, though but sand, keeps in and curbs whole seas: There all their fury, foam, and hideous sound, 8 And as thy care bounds these, so thy rich love Doth broach the earth; and lesser brooks lets forth, Which run from hills to valleys, and improve Their pleasure and their worth. 9 These to the beasts of every field give drink; There the wild asses swallow the cool spring: 10 Thou from thy upper springs above, from those Chambers of rain, where heaven's large bottles lie, Dost water the parched hills, whose breaches close, Healed by the showers from high. 11 Grass for the cattle, and herbs for man's use Thou mak'st to grow; these, blessed by thee, the earth Brings forth, with wine, oil, bread; all which infuse 12 Thou giv'st the trees their greenness, even to those Cedars in Lebanon, in whose thick boughs The birds their nests build; though the stork doth [choose 13 To the wild goats the high hills serve for folds, 14 Thou makest darkness, and then comes the night, 15 The lion's whelps, impatient of delay, Roar in the covert of the woods, and seek 16 This past, the sun shines on the earth; and they 17 O Lord my God, how many and how rare Are thy great works! In wisdom hast thou made Them all; and this the earth, and every blade Of grass we tread declare. |