The Believer's Espousals: Preface

IT ARK, dying mortal, if the Sonnet prove A song of living and immortal love, ‘Tis then thy grand concern the theme to know, If life and immortality be so. Are eyes to read, or ears to hear, a trust? Shall both in death becramm’d anon with dust? Then trifle not to please thine ear and eye, But read thou, hear thou, for eternity. Pursue not shadows wing’d, but be thy chase, The God of glory on the field of grace: The mighty hunter’s name is lost and vain, That runs not this substantial prize to gain. These humble lines assume no high pretence, To please thy fancy, or allure thy sense: But aim, if everlasting life’s thy chase, To clear thy mind, and warm thy heart through grace. A marriage so mysterious I proclaim, Betwixt two parties of such diii’rent fame, That human tongues may blush their names to tell. To wit, the Prince of heaven, the heir of hell! But, on so vast a subject, who can find Words suiting the conceptions of his mind? Or, if our language with our thought could vie, What mortal thought call raise itself so high? When words and thoughts both fail, may faith

and pray’r Ascend by climbing up the scripture stair: From sacred writ these strange espousals may Be explicated in the following way. B