The Improvement

'Tis more to recollect, than make. The oneIs but an accident without the other.We cannot think the world to be the ThroneOf God, unless His Wisdom shine as BrotherUnto His Power, in the fabric, soThat we the one may in the other know.

His goodness also must in both appear,And all the children of His love be foundIn the creation of the starry sphere,And in the forming of the fruitful ground;Before we can that happiness descryWhich is the Daughter of the deity.

His wisdom shines in spreading forth the sky,His power's great in ordering the Sun,His goodness very marvellous and highAppears, in every work His hand hath done:And all His works in their varietyUnited or asunder please the eye.

But neither goodness, wisdom, power, nor love,Nor happiness itself in things could be,Did they not all in one fair order move,And jointly by their service end in me:Had He not made an eye to be the SphereOf all things, none of these would e'er appear.

His wisdom, goodness, power, as they unite,All things in one, that they may be the treasuresOf one enjoyer, shine in the utmost heightThey can attain; and are most glorious pleasures,When all the universe conjoined in one,Exalts a creature as if that alone.

To bring the moisture of far-distant seasInto a point, to make them present here,In virtue, not in bulk; one man to pleaseWith all the powers of the Highest SphereFrom East, from West, from North and South, to bringThe pleasing influence of every thing,

Is far more great than to create them thereWhere now they stand; His wisdom more doth shineIn that His might and goodness more appearIn recollecting; He is more divineIn making every thing a gift to oneThan in the sev'ral parts of all His spacious Throne.

Herein we see a marvellous design,And apprehending clearly the great skillOf that great Architect, whose love doth shineIn all His works, we find His Life and Will:For lively counsels do the Godhead shew,And these His love and goodness make us know.

By wise contrivance He doth all things guide,And so dispose them, that while they uniteFor man He endless pleasures doth provide,And shows that happiness is His delight,His creatures' happiness as well as His:For that in truth He seeks, and 'tis His bliss.

O rapture! wonder! ecstasie! delight!How great must then His glory be, how greatOur blessedness! How vast and infiniteOur pleasure, how transcendent, how complete,If we the goodness of our God possess,And all His joy be in our blessedness.

Almighty power when it is employedFor one, that He with glory might be crown'd;Eternal wisdom when it is enjoyedBy one whom all its pleasures do surround,Produce a creature that must, all his days,Return the sacrifice of endless praise.

But Oh! the vigour of mine infant senseDrives me too far: I had not yet the eye,The apprehension, or intelligenceOf things so very great, divine, and high.But all things were eternal unto me,And mine, and pleasing which mine eye did see.

That was enough at first: eternity,Infinity, and love were silent joys;Power, wisdom, goodness, and felicity;All these which now our care and sin destroys,By instinct virtually were well discern'd,And by their representatives were learn'd.

As sponges gather moisture from the earthWhereon there is scarce any sign of dew;As air infecteth salt: so at my birthAll these were unperceiv'd, yet near and true:Not by reflexion, and distinctly known,But by their efficacy all mine own.