"Come unto me (Messiah cries) All that are laden and oppress'd: To Thee I come (my heart replies) O Patron of eternal rest! Who walks with me (rejoins the voice) With thee I walk, my gracious God; "Heav'n in my youth bestow'd each good Crown'd all the rest,-The fav'rite child Plain nature, un-scholastic sense:— "Blest with each boon that simpler minds desire, Till Heav'n grows weary of their nauseous pray'rs, I made the nobler option to retire 7, And gave the world to worldlings and their heirs; ginal Latin, and above sixty translations have been made from it into modern languages. Our author died August the 8th, 1471, aged 92 years. In the engraving on copper above-mentioned, and lying over his grave, is represented a person respectfully presenting to him a label on which is written a verse to this effect: Stealer of marches, subtile foe, Of wants, and fears, and chronic pain, Servant thro' choice, disciple by accord! Awkward in time, and sour'd with self-disgrace, The spend-thrift pays his all, and takes the bankrupt's place." Thus spoke the venerable sage Poet in sentiment! he feels The veil which artful charms conceals, Oh! where is Peace? for Thou its paths hast Verse decks them with a slight cymarr 11; trod. True charms by art in vain are drest. To which Kempis returns another strip of paper, Not icy prose could damp his fire: inscribed as follows: In poverty, retirement, and with God. He was a canon regular of Augustins, and subprior of mount St. Agnes' monastery. He composed his treatise On the Imitation of Christ in the sixty-first year of his age, as appears from a note of his own writing in the library of his convent. • Imitation of Christ, Lib. I. c. i. 7" Solitude is the best school wherein to learn the way to Heaven." St. Jerom. "Worldly honours are a trying snare to men of an exalted station; of course their chief care must be, to put themselves out of the reach of envy by humility." Nepotian. "The pleasures of this world are only the momentary comforts of the miserable, and not the rewards of the happy." St. August. Cætera solicita speciosa incommoda vitæ Permisi stultis quærere, habere malis. Couleius de Plant. Intense the flame and mounting high'r, 9 This parenthesis was inserted by way of imitating the famous parenthesis in Horace's Ode, which begins Qualem ministrum fulminis alitem, &c. 10. Even from the flower till the grape was ripe, hath my heart delighted in Wisdom." Ecclus. c. li. v. 15. "A thin covering of the gause, or sarsnet. kind. Dryd. Cymon & Iphigen ̧ 12 Jonab, c. iv. v. 6. Th' Ascetic then drew forth a parchment-scroll, And thus pour'd out to Heav'n th' effusions of his soul. THE MEDITATION OF THOMAS A KEMPIS. (1.) 'Tis vanity to wish for length of days; No blood of confessors that bosom warms3, it came: Oppress'd it thrives; its own destroyers tires, And with unceasing fortitude aspires 7. 1 This and the following passages marked with a note of reference are extracted almost verbatim from Kempis's Book of the Imitation of Christ. Lib. I, c. 1, 2. See also Lib. 1, c. 19. 23. 2 "Death, when compared to life, scems to be a remedy and not a punishment." St. Macar. On the same point another primitive Christian hath observed, "That the Supreme Being made life short; since, as the troubles of it cannot be removed from us, we may the sooner be removed from them." St. Bernard. When man desponds, (of human hope bereft) By force, a virtue of celestial kind Was never storm'd; by art 'tis undermin'd 10. (5.) All seek for knowledge. Knowledge is no more Than this; to know ourselves, and God adore. Wouldst thou with profit seek, and learn with gain? Unknown thyself, in solitude remain ". "Is hunger irksome?-Thou by Him art fed Ibid. c. 35, No. 2. Ibid. c. 18, No. 2. 9 See also Caussin's Holy Court, Part I, L: 3. Sect. 52, fol. 1650. 10 "True christian piety was never made a real captive; it may be killed, but not conquered." St. Jerom. c. 20. L. II, 11"Imitation of Christ, L. I, c. 10. 12" The retired Christian, in seeking after an happy life, actually enjoys one; and possesses that already which he only fancies he is pursuSt. Eucher. ing." 13 Drink waters out of thine own cisterns. Prov. c. v, V. 15. See also Rev. c. xxii, v. 1. "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, 3" Dost thou fear poverty? Christ calls the clear as crystal." See John, c. vii, v. 38. poor man blessed.- Art thou afraid of labour? Pains are produc tive of a crown, [fears no famine: Art thou hungry? A true confidence in God for the Supreme Governor of the world beholds thy warfare; and prepares for thee a crown of glory and everlasting rest.”— Hieron. in Epist. 14 Imitat. of Jesus Christ, L. I, c. 6. "The only means of obtaining true security is to commit all our interests to God, who constantly knows and is ever willing to bestow good things on them that ask him as they ought." Cassian. "Security is no where but in the love and service of God. It is neither in Heaven, nor Paradise, much less in the present world. In Heaven the angels fell from the divine presence: in Paradise Adam lost his abode of pleasure: in the world Judas fell from the school of our SaSt. Bernard. 6"The greatest safety man can have is to Senec. fear nothing but God." "Human fear depresses, the fear of God exhi-viour." Cassian. larates." 16 St. August. The ten lines marked with inverted commas are a literal translation from 7 Imitat. of Christ, L. III., c. 5. Ibid. c. 19, him. No. 1. (7.) The men of Science aim themselves to And know just what imports them not to know 18. Say, is it much indignities to bear, (10.) Hard is the task 'gainst nature's strength to strive : (8.) All chastisements for private use are giv'n; Perfection is the lot of none alive; The revelations Personal of Heav'n 22 : But man in misery mistakes his road, Sighs for lost joys, and never turns to God 23. Her dove brings olive, e'er the waves subside24, (9.) Afflictions have their use of ev'ry kind; 17" It is good to know much and live well: but, if we cannot attain both, it is better to desire piety than learning: for knowledge makes no man truly happy, nor doth happiness consist in intellectual acquisitions. The only valuable thing is a religious life." Sti. Greg. Magn. Moral. And again: "That only is the best knowledge which makes us better." 20 Imitat. of Jesus Christ, L. II, c. 10. 21 As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man." Prov. xxvii, v. 19. "Thou canst avoid, sooner or later, whatever molesteth thee, except thy own conscience." Augustin. in Psalm xxx. 22 Imitat. of Jesus Christ, L. I, c. 13. "God causeth (afflictions) to come, either for correction, or for his land, or for mercy." Job, c. xxxvii, v. 13. "It is the work and providence of God's secret counsel, that the days of the elect should be troubled in their pilgrimage. This present life is the way to our eternal abode: God there end." fore in his secret wisdom afflicts our travel with 23 Imitat. of Christ, L. I, c. 11. 25 Imitat. of Christ, L. I, c. 13. 26 lbid. Lib. I, c. 16. Lib. III, c. 12. See also Amos, c. ix. v. 3, and Luke c. xxii, v. 51. Or grant frail man could tread th' unerring road, grief Ask God to send thee patience or relief30. (11.) Th' ambitious and the covetous desire 32 More than their worth deserves, or wants re quire : Not merely for the profit things may yield, (12) Nothing but truth can claim a lasting Time is truth's surest judge, and judges late: 27 Imitat. of Christ, L. III, c. 5. 29 "For gold is tried in the fire, and accep- 32"He that gathereth by defrauding his own goods riotously. A covetous man's eye is not sasoul, gathereth for others, that shall spend his tisfied with his portion, and the iniquity of the wicked drieth up his soul." . Ecclus. c. xiv. 33 Ahab's excuse to Naboth, when he said give me thy vineyard that I may make it a garden of herbs, represents in a lively manner the pretences that avaricious and ambitious men use, when they want to make new acquisitions. They lye to their consciences; asking a seeming trifle, and meaning to obtain something very va luable." St. Ambrose. Woe unto them that covet fields, and take them away by violence." Micah, c. ii, v. 2. They enlarge their desire as Hell, and are as death, and cannot be satisfied: woe unto them that encrease that which is not theirs." Hab. c. ii, v. 5, 6. 34 Imitat. of Jesus Christ, L. I, c. 3. And, for thy guide, be he alone believ'd, (13.) Flatt'ry and fame at death the vain forsake, And other knaves and fools their honours take36, (14.) Tease not thy mind; nor run a restless round In search of science better lost than found. (15.) Presumptuous flights and sceptical debates (16.) He, who adopts religions, wrong or right, Is not a convert, but an hypocrite : Him, seeming what he is not, man esteems; God hates him, for he is not what he seems. The bull-rush thus a specious outside wears, Smooth as the shining rind the poplar bears: But strip the cov'ring of its polish'd skin, And all is insubstantial sponge within. When not a whisper breaths upon the trees, Unmov'd it stands, but bends with ev'ry breeze. It boasts th' ablution of a silver flood, But feeds on mire, and roots itself in mud. (17.) Self-love is foolish, criminal, and vain39, Therefore, O man, such partial views restrain : And often take this counsel for a rule, To please one's self is but to please one fool40. (18.) The alms we give, we keep the alms We lose 35 we save possessing only what we gave 41. -Neque decipitur,neque decipit unquam. 36 There is no work that shows more art and industry than the texture of a spider's web. The delicate threads are so nicely disposed, and so curiously interwoven one with another, that you would think it produced by the labour of a celestial being; yet nothing in the event is more fragil and insubstantial. A breath of wind tears it to pieces, and carries it away. Just so are worldly, acquisitions made by men in exalted stations, and reputedly wise and cunning.” 37 Dan. c. viii, v. 10, 11. Origen. 38 The prophet here means, by the goat, the king of Greece, the region of vain philosophy. 19"He that loveth himself most, hath of all men the happiness of finding the fewest rivals." Anon. Vet. 40 He that pleaseth himself, pleaseth a fool." 41"There is that scattereth and yet increaseth; and there is that withholding more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty." Prov. c. xi, v. 24. "The riches which thou treasurest up, are But if vain glory prompts the tongue to boast, A wretched martyr in a wretched cause; ter. Both their histories are drawn at large by St. Jerom, and addressed to Eustochium. Paula has written some excellent verses on religious subjects. She built a temple at Emmäus in honour of our Blessed Saviour., Her tomb is at Bethlehem. The inscription for her and her daughter was written by St. Jerom. Sandy's Trav. fol. 135. 139, &c. 45 The name of the monastery where Kempis resided. 46 Part of this paragraph, is copied from Job, c. xx, v. 14, 15, 18. Compare also Job, c. xxvii, v. 19, 20, 21. 47 Gold of Ophir. See 1 Kings c. ix, v. 28. 1 Chron. xxix, v. 4. 2 Chron. viii, v. 18. Psalm xlv, v. 9. Isaiah xiii. v. 12. 48 Turquoises. "The true oriental turquoise Then are the fi'ry rubies 19 to be seen, green, Translucent beryl 51, flame-ey'd chrysolite52, Secure from storms is land-lock'd ev'ry way. On the clear mirror of the silent deep58, Would'st thou be vitally with Christ conjoin'd ? (22.) When passions reign with arbitrary sway, Like the four cherubs in Ezekiel's dream66, calm-Walks forward still, in one unvarying line67: Nor wealth, nor pow'r, attract his wondering (20) No man at once two Edens can enjoy59: Nor Earth and Heav'n the self-same mind employ. Two diffrent ways th' unsocial objects draw: Flesh strives with spirit, nature combats law : Reason and revelation live at strife, Though meant for mutual aid, like man and wife60 Religion and the world can ne'er agree: Possession brings the vulgar dawbing near. comes out of the old rock in the mountains of 49 Rubies. "Nazarites, more ruddy than rubies." Lam. c. iv, v. 7. 50 Emeralds. "A rainbow in sight like an emerald." Rev. c. iv, v. 3. 51 Berryl. Dan. c. x, v. 6. Rev. xxi, v. 20. 52 Chrysolite. Ezek. c. xxviii. 63 Sardonyx. Rev. c. xxi, v. 20. 54 Amethist. Exod. c. xxviii, v. 19. Ibid. c. xxxix, v. 12. 55 Ezek. c. xxviii, v. 13, and Rev. xxi. v. 20. 56 The port of Lerichè, in Tuscany. 57One way to know God is perfectly to know one's self." Hugo de anima. 58 Imitat. of Christ, L. II, c. 1-3. 59"It is not only difficult but impossible to enjoy Heaven here and hereafter; or, in other words, to live in pleasure and dissapation, and at the same time attain spiritual happiness. No man hath passed from one paradise to another : no man hath been the mirror of felicity in both worlds, nor shone with equal glory in Earth and in Heaven." 60 Imitat. of Christ, L, I, c. 24. 61 lbid. L. I, c. 21. Hieron. sight; He swerves not to the left hand, nor the right. When fortune smiles within doors and without, Man's heart, well-pleas'd, may think itself devout: But, when ill days, and nights of pain, succeed, (23.) Those who revenge a deed that injures them, Copy the very sin, which they condemn”. (24.) The worldling,tempter of himself, pursues Idols of his own making; ideot's views ; 62 Imitat. of Christ, L. I, c. 24. 64 Ibid. L. I, c. 6. 65 Ibid. L. II, c. 3. 67 Ezek. c. i, v. 12. 70 Imitat. of Christ, L. II, c. 3. 71" To return one injury for another is to revenge like man: whereas to revenge like God is to love our enemies. It is a great happiness not to be able to hurt one's neighbour, nor to have the power and parts to do mischief. The ingenuity of (what we call) men of the world, consists in knowing how to injure others, and revenge ourselves when injured. Whereas, on the contrary, not to return evil for evil is the true honour and vital principle of the gospel." Leon. 72 Jude, v. 9. Zech. c. iii, v. 2. 73 Hosea, c. viii, v. 7. Hind is the head-servant in husbandry matters. Chancer, Dryden, and in the west of England at present. |