CONVERSE with CHRIST. I 'M tir'd with vifits, modes, and forms, And flatteries paid to fellow-worms; Their converfation cloys; Their vain amours, and empty stuff: But I can ne'er enjoy enough Of thy best company, my Lord, thou life of all my joys. When he begins to tell his love, Through every vein my paffions move, In midnight fhades, on frofty ground, I could attend the pleasing found, [long. Nor fhould I feel December cold, nor think the darkness There, while I hear my Saviour-God Count o'er the fins (a heavy load) He bore upon the tree, Inward I blush with fecret fhame, And weep, and love, and bl.fs the name [for me. That knew not guilt nor grief his own, but bare it all Next he defcribes the thorns he wore, And talks his bloody paffion o'er, Till I am drown'd in tears: Yet with the fmypathetic finart There's a ftrange joy heats round my heart; The curfed tree has bleffings in 't, my sweetest balm it bears. I hear the glorious fufferer tell, And all the powers beneath : Tranfported and infpir'd, my tongue Attempts his triumphs in a fong; [death!" "How has the ferpent loft his fting! and where 's thy victory, But when he fhews his hands and heart, With thofe dear prints of dying fmart, He fets my foul on fire : Not the beloved John could reft With more delight upon Nor Thomas pry into thofe wounds with more intense Kindly he opens me his ear, And bids me pour my forrow there, And tell him all my pains : Thus while I eafe my burden'd heart, In every woe he bears a part, [fuftains. His arms embrace me, and his hand my drooping head Fly from my thoughts, all human things, And fporting fwains, and fighting kings, And tales of wanton love: My foul difdains that little fnare The tangles of Amira's hair; [remove. Thine arms, my God, are fweeter bands, nor can my heart GRACE fhining, and NATURE fainting. LL me, faireft of thy kind, TLL Tell me Shepherd, all divine, Thus overcome with love. Say, thou dear Sovereign of my breaft, Ne'er had I known his dearest name, Ne'er had I felt this inward flame, Had not his heart-strings first began the tender found. Nor can I bear the thought, that He Should leave the sky, Should bleed and die, Should love a wretch fo vile as me Without returns of paffion for his dying wound. 3 His His eyes are glory mix'd with grace; That with a frown he kills; And feel his warmer fmiles. Where fhall I reft this drooping head? I love, I love the fun, and yet I want the shade. T'endure the extafy; Beneath these rays I cannot live, And yet without them die. None knows the pleasure and the pain That all my inward powers fuftain But fuch as feel a Saviour's love, and love the God again. Oh, why should beauty heavenly bright Stoop to charm a mortal's fight, And torture with the fweet excefs of light? Turn, turn away thine eyes, Afcend the azure hills, and fhine Amongst the happy tenants of the skies, They can fuftain a vision fo divine. L 2. O turn thy lovely glories from me, The joys are too intenfe, the glories overcome me. Dear Lord, forgive my rafh complaint, And love me ftill Against my froward will; Unvail thy beauties, though I faint. My heart fhall all be love, my Jesus all delight. Love to CHRIST prefent or abfent. F all the joys we mortals know, OF Jefus, thy love exceeds the reft; Sweet are my thoughts, and soft my cares, In all my hopes, and all my fears, |