Is quick in acting, friendly in debate, Joint in advice, in resolutions just, Mild in success, true to the common trust. It cements ruptures, and by gentle hand Allays the heat and burnings of a land. [tract Religion guides it; and in all the Designs so twist, that Heaven confirms the act. If from these lists you wander, as you steer, Look back, and catechize your actions here. These are the marks to which true statesmen tend, And greatness here with goodness hath one end. After sun-rising; far-day sullies flowers. Rise to prevent the sun; sleep doth sins glut, And heaven's gate opens when this world's is shut. Serve God before the world; let him not go, Until thou hast a blessing; then resign The whole unto him; and remember who Prevail'd by wrestling ere the sun did shine. Pour oil upon the stones; weep for thy sin; Then journey on, and have an eye to heaven. When the world's up, and every swarm abroad, Keep thou thy temper; mix not with each clay; Dispatch necessities; life hath a load Which must be carried on, and safely may, Yet keep those cares without thee, If priest and people change, keep" thou thy ground. Who sells religion is a Judas Jew; And, oaths once broke, the soul cannot be sound. The perjurer's a devil let loose: Tie up his hands, that dares mock Seek not the same steps with the To thy sure trot; a constant, humble mind Is both his own joy, and his Maker's too; Let folly dust it on, or lag behind. A sweet self-privacy in a right soul Outruns the earth, and lines the utmost pole. But perfect all before thou sleep'st; then say, There's one sun more strung on my bead of days." What's good score up for joy; the Wash off with tears, and get thy Thy accounts thus made, spend in the grave one hour Before thy time; be not a stranger there, Where thou may'st sleep whole ages; Lasts not a night sometimes. Bad This conversation; but the good man lies Entombed many days before he dies. Being laid, and dressed for sleep, close not thy eyes Up with thy curtains; give thy soul the wing In some good thoughts; so when thy day shall rise, And thou unrakest thy fire, those sparks will bring New flames; besides where these lodge, vain heats mourn And die; that bush, where God is, shall not burn. TO HIS BOOKS. BRIGHT books! the pérspectives to our weak sights, The clear projections of discerning lights, Burning and shining thoughts, man's posthume day, The track of fled souls, and their milky way, voice The dead alive and busy, the still Of enlarged spirits, kind Heaven's white decoys! Who lives with you lives like those knowing flowers, Which in commérce with light spend all their hours; Which shut to clouds, and shadows nicely shun, But with glad haste unveil to kiss the sun. (night, Beneath you all is dark, and a dead Which whoso lives in, wants both health and sight. By sucking you, the wise, like bees, do grow Healing and rich, though this they do most slow, Because most choicely; for as great a store Have we of books as bees of herbs, or more: NATURE. JONES VERY. THE bubbling brook doth leap when I come by, Because my feet find measure with its call; The birds know when the friend they love is nigh, For I am known to them, both great and small. The flower that on the lonely hillside grows Expects me there when spring its bloom has given; And many a tree and bush my wanderings knows, And e'en the clouds and silent stars of heaven; For he who with his Maker walks aright, Shall be their lord as Adam was before; His ear shall catch each sound with new delight, Each object wear the dress that then it wore; And he, as when erect in soul he stood, Hear from his Father's lips that all is good. THE WORLD. 'Tis all a great show, The world that we're in None can tell when 'twas finished, Its courts and its halls, There are flowers in the meadow, There are clouds in the sky Songs pour from the woodland, The waters glide by: |