It so much loves; and fill the room And follow thee with all the speed And ev'ry houre a step towards thee. DR. H. KING. CI HYMN TO LIGHT THOU tide of glory which no rest dost know, But ever ebb and ever flow! Thou golden shower of a true Jove! Who does in thee descend, and Heav'n to earth make love. Say from what golden quivers of the sky, Do all thy winged arrows fly? Swiftness and power by birth are thine : From thy great sire they came, thy sire the word Divine. Thou in the moon's bright chariot proud and gay, And all the year dost with thee bring Of thousand flowry lights thine own nocturnal spring. Thou Scythian-like dost round thy lands above And still as thou in pomp do'st go, The shining pageants of the world attend thy show. When, goddess, thou lift'st up thy wak'ned head, Thy quire of birds about thee play, And all the joyful world salutes the rising day. All the world's brav'ry that delights our eyes Thou the rich dye on them bestow'st ; Thy nimble pencil paints this landscape as thou go'st. A crimson garment in the rose thou wear'st; The virgin lillies in their white, Are clad but with the lawn of almost naked light. With flame condens'd thou do'st thy jewels fix, And solid colours in it mix : Flora herself envies to see Flowers fairer than her own, and durable as she. Through the soft wayes of Heav'n, and air, and sea, Like a clear river thou do'st glide, And with thy living stream through the close channels slide. But the vast ocean of unbounded day In th' empyræan Heaven does stay. Thy rivers, lakes, and springs below, From thence took first their rise, thither at last must flow. CII A. COWLEY. FAITH AND REASON SOME blind themselves, 'cause possibly they may They build on sands, which if unmov'd they find, Less hard 'tis, not to erre ourselves, than know When we trust men concerning God, we then The Holy Book, like the eighth sphere, does shine Yet Reason must assist too, for in seas Our course by stars above we cannot know, Though Reason cannot through Faith's mysteries see, It sees that there and such they be ; Leads to Heaven's door, and there does humbly keep, And there through chinks and key-holes peep. Though it, like Moses, by a sad command, Must not come in to th' Holy Land, Yet thither it infallibly does guide; And from afar 'tis all descry'd. CIII A. COWLEY. THE GARDEN WHAT Wond'rous life is this I lead! The nectarine, and curious peach, Meanwhile the mind, from pleasure less, The mind, that ocean where each kind To a green thought in a green shade. Here at the fountain's sliding foot, Such was that happy garden state, While man there walked without a mate : After a place so pure and sweet, What other help could yet be meet! But 'twas beyond a mortal's share To wander solitary there : |