The Hesperides & Noble Numbers Part 86

LONDON Printed for _John Williams_, and _Francis Eglesfield_.

1647.

HIS n.o.bLE NUMBERS:

OR,

HIS PIOUS PIECES.

1. HIS CONFESSION.

Look how our foul days do exceed our fair; And as our bad, more than our good works are, E'en so those lines, pen'd by my wanton wit, Treble the number of these good I've writ.

Things precious are least numerous: men are p.r.o.ne To do ten bad for one good action.

2. HIS PRAYER FOR ABSOLUTION.

For those my unbaptised rhymes, Writ in my wild unhallowed times; For every sentence, clause, and word, That's not inlaid with Thee, my Lord, Forgive me, G.o.d, and blot each line Out of my book that is not Thine.

But if, 'mongst all, thou find'st here one Worthy Thy benediction; That one of all the rest shall be The glory of my work and me.

3. TO FIND G.o.d.

Weigh me the fire; or canst thou find A way to measure out the wind; Distinguish all those floods that are Mix'd in that watery theatre; And taste thou them as saltless there As in their channel first they were.

Tell me the people that do keep Within the kingdoms of the deep; Or fetch me back that cloud again Beshiver'd into seeds of rain; Tell me the motes, dust, sands, and spears Of corn, when summer shakes his ears; Show me that world of stars, and whence They noiseless spill their influence: This if thou canst, then show me Him That rides the glorious cherubim.

_Keep_, abide.

4. WHAT G.o.d IS.

G.o.d is above the sphere of our esteem, And is the best known, not defining Him.

5. UPON G.o.d.

G.o.d is not only said to be An Ens, but Supraent.i.ty.

6. MERCY AND LOVE.

G.o.d hath two wings which He doth ever move; The one is mercy, and the next is love: Under the first the sinners ever trust; And with the last He still directs the just.

7. G.o.d'S ANGER WITHOUT AFFECTION.

G.o.d when He's angry here with anyone, His wrath is free from perturbation; And when we think His looks are sour and grim, The alteration is in us, not Him.

8. G.o.d NOT TO BE COMPREHENDED.

'Tis hard to find G.o.d, but to comprehend Him, as He is, is labour without end.

9. G.o.d'S PART.

Prayers and praises are those spotless two Lambs, by the law, which G.o.d requires as due.

10. AFFLICTION.

G.o.d ne'er afflicts us more than our desert, Though He may seem to overact His part: Sometimes He strikes us more than flesh can bear; But yet still less than grace can suffer here.

11. THREE FATAL SISTERS.

Three fatal sisters wait upon each sin; First, fear and shame without, then guilt within.

12. SILENCE.

Suffer thy legs, but not thy tongue to walk: G.o.d, the Most Wise, is sparing of His talk.

13. MIRTH.

True mirth resides not in the smiling skin: The sweetest solace is to act no sin.

14. LOADING AND UNLOADING.

G.o.d loads and unloads, thus His work begins, To load with blessings and unload from sins.

15. G.o.d'S MERCY.

G.o.d's boundless mercy is, to sinful man, Like to the ever-wealthy ocean: Which though it sends forth thousand streams, 'tis ne'er Known, or else seen, to be the emptier; And though it takes all in, 'tis yet no more Full, and fill'd full, than when full fill'd before.

16. PRAYERS MUST HAVE POISE.

G.o.d, He rejects all prayers that are slight And want their poise: words ought to have their weight.

17. TO G.o.d: AN ANTHEM SUNG IN THE CHAPEL AT WHITEHALL BEFORE THE KING.