Classic Poem

If we for fading Gifts are euer bound
To loue our Friends (for Gifts still loue do breed)
And if the Fire doe more, or lesse abound,
According as the Fuell It doth feed:

Then ├┤! how great a Flame of endlesse loue
Should (├┤ deare Lord) still feede vpon mine All
Sith past all measure I thy bounties proue:
And feed'st this Fire with Vnction-spirituall!

If the whole frame of Nature; nay, sweet Lord,
If Heau'n and Earth , and all they doe containe,
Be but meere Gifts , which thou dost me afford,
Then how shold Loue but in me more then raigne?

And that so much the more, because there be
In thee, besides, all Couses causing loue;
Which, in their high'st perfection, are in thee!
Then, can such Motiues but much more then moue?

If Goodnesse I respect, in thee it is
As farre from Limit as Similitude:
For thou art (L ORD ) the boundlesse Sea of Blisse,
Because thou art the high'st Beatitude .

If Beautie I regard then thou art hee
That art the Fount from whence all Beauty flowes:
Whose Face the Angels still desire to see,
Whose Influence their Faces ouer-flowes!

If Bounty , then who is so liberall
As thou (selfe- bounty ) that dost, gratis , giue
All, and much more (in deede) then all, to All:
By which they more then liberally doe liue.

If Riches; who so rich as hee that owes
What not? If Being; or what can be beside:
If Friendship: who so kinde? who, for his Foes,
Did Death, with torment, willingly abide.

If Likenesse be a cause that loue effects;
Then who like that , by which I am , but thou?
For thou mad'st it like thee in all respects,
Saue that, like thee it knowes not where, nor how.

And, if the End ; for which we all things doe,
(The Finall End ) be infinitely lou'd;
Then who mine A LPHA , and O MEGA too,
But thou , to whom, by Nature , I am mou'd?

From thee to Thee, by onely Natures skill,
I come, and goe; but goe not as I came:
For, I came from thee iust, as thou art still,
But doe returne opprest with sinne and shame .

If then to be thine Image , with the rest,
Be seu'rall motiues (strong) of Loue intire,
Then what ought that to be bred of the best
Nay bred of all, but Loues eternall fire?

For, as the Sea is greater then each Ploud ,
Which from, and to her Bosome euer moues:
So, is thy Goodnesse greater then each Good
And thy loue more then other lasting loues .

Ah Lord! what made thee make me, but that loue?
What to redeeme me but that tender moode?
Of nought thou mad'st me (which can nothing moue
Being Nought) and me redeemest, to make me good.

O let me stretch the armes of mine Affects ,
To hold thee to the Breast of my desires
O cause of sweetnesse , cause these sweet effects
And make my Breast the Furnace for these Fires .

The Iuy still doth clip her neighb'ring Tree ,
Because thereby it is aduanced oft:
Then will I cling to that on Caluaree:
Because, thereby, I shall be rais'd aloft.

The Iuy spreads her branches not so farre,
Nor by a Cedar so aduanc'd can be,
As my Soules pow'rs increast in vertue are,
And made to mount by vertue of this Tree .

Then ├┤ that all my bodies Limbes were Armes ,
That I on eu'ry side, might it embrace!
Thy Crosse (├┤ Christ ) doth blesse al thine from harmes;
And with ioy comforts them in woefull case!

O Christ that did the Crosses Tree ascend,
That so thou mightst draw all things vnto thee;
O draw me then, let my life with thine end;
That so my life, with thine, may endlesse be!

Thou that didst Deitie to Manhood knit
(Two Natures so in Nature different!)
Making one person of them infinite
To make me one with the Omnipotent ,
Grant that the vertue of that VNION
May euer make us more entire then ONE.