ness or secularity of Spirit, that is the greatest Enemy to
Contemplation. Those that would have a true contempt
of this World, must suffer the Soul to be sometimes upon
the Wing, and to raise her self above the sight of this
little dark Point, which we now inhabit. Give her a large
and free prospect of the immensity of God's works, and of
his inexhausted wisdom and goodness, if you would make
her Great and Good. As the Poet said in his Rapture,
Give me a Soul so great, so high,
Let her dimensions stretch the Skie.
That comprehends within a thought,
The whole extent 'twixt God and Nought.
And from the World's first birth and date,
Its Life and Death can calculate:
With all th' adventures that shall pass,
To ev'ry Atome of the Mass.
But let Her be as GOOD as GREAT,
Her highest Throne a Mercy-Seat.
Soft and dissolving like a Cloud,
Losing her self in doing good.
A Cloud that leaves its place above,
Rather than dry, and useless move:
Falls in a showre upon the Earth,
And gives ten thousand Seeds a birth.
Hangs on the Flow'rs, and infant Plants,
Sucks not their Sweets, but feeds their Wants.
So let this mighty Mind diffuse
All that's her own to others use;
And free from private ends, retain
Nothing of SELF, but a bare Name.
