| MY contemplation dazzles in the End | |
| Of all I comprehend, | |
| And soars above all heights, | |
| Diving into the depths of all delights. | |
| Can He become the End, | 5 |
| To whom all creatures tend, | |
| Who is the Father of all Infinites? | |
| Then may He benefit receive from things, | |
| And be not Parent only of all springs. | |
| |
| The End doth want the means, and is the cause, | 10 |
| Whose sake, by Nature’s laws, | |
| Is that for which they are. | |
| Such sands, such dangerous rocks we must beware: | |
| From all Eternity | |
| A perfect Deity | 15 |
| Most great and blessed He doth still appear: | |
| His essence perfect was in all its features, | |
| He ever blessed in His joys and creatures. | |
| |
| From everlasting He those joys did need, | |
| And all those joys proceed | 20 |
| From Him eternally. | |
| From everlasting His felicity | |
| Complete and perfect was, | |
| Whose bosom is the glass, | |
| Wherein we all things everlasting see. | 25 |
| His name is Now, His Nature is For-ever: | |
| None can His creatures from their Maker sever. | |
| |
| The End in Him from everlasting is | |
| The fountain of all bliss: | |
| From everlasting it | 30 |
| Efficient was, and influence did emit, | |
| That caused all. Before | |
| The world, we do adore | |
| This glorious End. Because all benefit | |
| From it proceeds: both are the very same, | 35 |
| The End and Fountain differ but in Name. | |
| |
| That so the End should be the very Spring | |
| Of every glorious thing; | |
| And that which seemeth last, | |
| The fountain and the cause; attained so fast | 40 |
| That it was first; and mov’d | |
| The Efficient, who so lov’d | |
| All worlds and made them for the sake of this; | |
| It shews the End complete before, and is | |
| A perfect token of His perfect bliss. | 45 |
| |
| The End complete, the means must needs be so, | |
| By which we plainly know, | |
| From all Eternity | |
| The means whereby God is, must perfect be. | |
| God is Himself the means | 50 |
| Whereby He doth exist: | |
| And as the Sun by shining’s cloth’d with beams, | |
| So from Himself to all His glory streams, | |
| Who is a Sun, yet what Himself doth list. | |
| |
| His endless wants and His enjoyments be | 55 |
| From all Eternity | |
| Immutable in Him: | |
| They are His joys before the Cherubim. | |
| His wants appreciate all, | |
| And being infinite, | 60 |
| Permit no being to be mean or small | |
| That He enjoys, or is before His sight. | |
| His satisfactions do His wants delight. | |
| |
| Wants are the fountains of Felicity; | |
| No joy could ever be | 65 |
| Were there no want. No bliss, | |
| No sweetness perfect, were it not for this. | |
| Want is the greatest pleasure | |
| Because it makes all treasure. | |
| O what a wonderful profound abyss | 70 |
| Is God! In whom eternal wants and treasures | |
| Are more delightful since they both are pleasures. | |
| |
| He infinitely wanteth all His joys; | |
| (No want the soul e’er cloys.) | |
| And all those wanted pleasures | 75 |
| He infinitely hath. What endless measures, | |
| What heights and depths may we | |
| In His felicity | |
| Conceive! Whose very wants are endless pleasures. | |
| His life in wants and joys is infinite, | 80 |
| And both are felt as His Supreme Delight. | |
| |
| He’s not like us; possession doth not cloy, | |
| Nor sense of want destroy; | |
| Both always are together; | |
| No force can either from the other sever. | 85 |
| Yet there’s a space between | |
| That’s endless. Both are seen | |
| Distinctly still, and both are seen for ever. | |
| As soon as e’er He wanteth all His bliss, | |
| His bliss, tho’ everlasting, in Him is. | 90 |
| |
| His Essence is all Act: He did that He | |
| All Act might always be. | |
| His nature burns like fire; | |
| His goodness infinitely does desire | |
| To be by all possesst; | 95 |
| His love makes others blest. | |
| It is the glory of His high estate, | |
| And that which I for evermore admire, | |
| He is an Act that doth communicate. | |
| |
| From all to all Eternity He is | 100 |
| That Act: an Act of bliss: | |
| Wherein all bliss to all | |
| That will receive the same, or on Him call, | |
| Is freely given: from whence | |
| ’Tis easy even to sense | 105 |
| To apprehend that all receivers are | |
| In Him, all gifts, all joys, all eyes, even all | |
| At once, that ever will or shall appear. | |
| |
| He is the means of them, they not of Him. | |
| The Holy Cherubim, | 110 |
| Souls, Angels from Him came | |
| Who is a glorious bright and living Flame, | |
| That on all things doth shine, | |
| And makes their face divine. | |
| And Holy, Holy, Holy is His Name: | 115 |
| He is the means both of Himself and all, | |
| Whom we the Fountain, Means, and End do call | |
