THE PEARL.

I know all these, and have them in my hand:
Therefore not sealed, but with open eyes

I fly to thee, and fully understand

Both the main sale, and the commodities;
And at what rate and price I have Thy love;
With all the circumstances that may move ;
Yet through the labyrinths, not my groveling wit,
But thy silk twist let down from heav'n to me,
Did both conduct and teach me, how by it

To climb to thee.

Herbert.

PEACE.

SWEET Peace, where dost thou dwell? I humbly crave,

Let me once know.

I sought thee in a secret cave,

And ask'd, if Peace were there.

A hollow wind did seem to answer, No;
Go seek elsewhere.

I did; and going did a rainbow note:
Surely, thought I,

This is the lace of Peace's coat:

I will search out the matter,

But while I look'd, the clouds immediately
Did break and scatter.

Then went I into a garden, and did spy
A gallant flower,

The Crown Imperial: Sure, said I,

Peace at the root must dwell;

But when I digg'd, I saw a worm devour

What show'd so well.

PEACE.

At length I met a rev'rend good old man:

Whom when for Peace

I did demand, he thus began:

There was a Prince of old

At Salem dwelt, who liv'd with good increase
Of flock and fold.

He sweetly liv'd; yet sweetness did not save
His life from foes;

But after death out of his grave

There sprang twelve stalks of wheat Which many wondering at, got some of those To plant and set.

It prosper'd strangely, and did soon disperse
Through all the earth;

For they that taste it do rehearse,

That virtue lies therein:

A secret virtue, bringing Peace and Mirth,
By flight of sin.

Take of this grain, which in my garden grows,
And grows for you;

Make bread of it: and that repose,

And Peace which everywhere

With so much earnestness you do pursue,

Is only there.

Herbert.

I TRAVELL'D on, seeing the hill, where lay
My expectation.

A long it was and weary way.
The gloomy cave of Desperation

I left on th' one, and on the other side

THE PILGRIMAGE.

And so I came to phansie's meadow strow'd
With many a flower:

Fain would I here have made abode,
But I was quicken'd by my hour.

So to cares' copse I came, and there got through
With much ado.

That led me to the wild of passion; which
Some call the wold;

A wasted place, but sometimes rich.
Here I was robb'd of all my gold,
Save one good Angel, which a friend had ti'd
Close to my side.

At length I got unto the gladsome hill,
Where lay my hope,

Where lay my heart; and climbing still,
When I had gained the brow and top,
A lake of brackish waters on the ground
Was all I found.

With that abash'd and struck with many a sting Of swarming fears,

I fell, and cry'd, Alas my King;

Can both the way and end be tears? Yet taking heart I rose, and then perceiv'd I was deceiv'd.

My hill was further; so I flung away,
Yet heard a cry

Just as I went, None goes that way
And lives: If that be all, said I,
After so foul a journey death is fair,
And but a chair.

Herbert.

THE FLOWER.

How fresh, O Lord, how sweet and clean

Are thy returns! ev'n as the flowers in spring;

To which, besides their own demean,

The late-past frosts tributes of pleasure bring.
Grief melts away

Like snow in May,

As if there were no such cold thing.

Who would have thought my shrivel'd heart
Could have recover'd greenness? It was gone
Quite under-ground: as flowers depart

To see their mother-root, when they have blown;
Where they together

All the hard weather,

Dead to the world, keep house unknown.

These are thy wonders, Lord of power,

Killing and quick'ning, bringing down to hell

And up to heaven in an hour;

Making a chiming of a passing bell,

We say amiss,

This or that is:

Thy word is all, if we could spell.

O that I once past changing were,

Fast in Thy Paradise, where no flower can wither. Many a spring I shoot up fair,

Off'ring at heav'n, growing and groaning thither : Nor doth my flower

Want a spring-shower,

My sins and I joining together.