The Resolution

Psalm 189, 96.

Written when I was silenced and cast vut, £c.

Lord, I have cast up the account

What it will cost to come to thee: I find to what it will amount

A serious Christian to be. When flesh was weighing, thou puts in

Thy love, and the eternal crown,
Against a feather, and a sin:

And yet it thought these weigh’d thee down. Fool as I was, I took its word,

And chose what flesh did recommend: How could I more have wrong’ d my Lord?

Or more his love and name offend?
It had been wiser to have thought,

The earth is weigh’d down by a fly: Than to prefer a thing of nought

Before the love of the Most High. I see now what false scales can do,

In a deceitful partial hand
I will no more believe a foe;

But to the holy covenant stand. Will friends turn foes? that cannot be:

They were my greatest foes before, That would have kept my soul from thee,

Their malice now can do no more. I ’11 bid these cruel friends farewell;

Even Satan would be such a friend, He ‘d please and natter me to Hell,

And thither doth their friendship tend. He wants not friends that hath thy love,

And may converse and walk with thee; And with thy saints here and above;

With whom for ever I must be.
In the communion of saints,

Is wisdom, safety, and delight-And when my heart declines and faints,

It’s raised by their heat and light. Thy spirit in them speaks and prays;

Their speech is holy, clean, and quick; Dead -hearted fools talk but of toys:

Their speech and mirth even make me sick. Must lies and slanders me defame,

That innocence may not be known? Must proud men’s malice blot my name,

With epithets that are their own?
Thou justify’st when men accuse,

Thou ‘It answer all the spite of tongues, And do them right whom men abuse,

And plenteously repair their wrongs. It ’s no great matter what men deem,

Whether they count me good or bad;
la their applause and best esteem,

There’s no contentment to be had.
I stand not to the bar of man;

It’s thy displeasure makes me sad: My thoughts and actions thou wilt scan i

If thou approve me, I am glad.
Must I before the ruling power

Be call’d with shame to plead my cause, And judged as an evil-doer,

And as a breaker of their laws?
So was the Lord of life accused,

Slander’d and scorn’d with cruel spite And as a malefactor used,

And one that claimed Caesar’s right.
False witness cloud eth innocence:

Truth seemeth conquer’d by a lie:
Patience forbears a just defence;

And life itself is judged to die. Methinks I see thee clothed with scorn;

And spit upon, and buffeted,
And crowned with the piercing thorn,

Away to execution led.
It most amazeth me to think

Thou bearest the repute of sin! The bitter cup which thou didst drink,

Had nothing bitterer therein.
The sun did well to hide his face,

When sun did righteousness eclipse:
And the most just is with disgrace

A sinner judged by sinners’ lips. Thy steps, Lord, in this dirt I ee;

And lest my soul from God should stray, I ’11 bear my cross and follow thee.

Let others choose the fairer way.
My face is meeter for the spit;

I am more suitable to shame;
And to the taunts of scornful wit:

It ’s no great matter for my name.
Must I be driven from my books,

From house, and goods, and dearest friends? One of thy sweet and gracious looks,

For more than this will make amends. The world ’s thy book: there I can read,

Thy power, wisdom, and thy love: And thence ascend by faith, and feed

Upon the better things above. I ’11 read thy works of providence:

Thy spirit, conscience, and thy rod Can teach without book all the sense,

To know the world, myself, and God. Few books may serve, when thou wilt teach.

Many have stolen my precious time: I ’11 leave my books to hear thee preach.

Church-work is best when thou dost chime. As for my house, it was my tent,

While there I waited on thy nock: That work is done; that time is spent:

There neither was my home nor stock. Would I in all my journey have

Still the same inn and furniture, Or ease and pleasant dwellings crave,

Forgetting what thy saints endure?
My Lord had taught me how to want

A place wherein to put my head:

While he is mine, I’ll be content,

To beg or lack my daily bread. Heav’n is my roof, earth is my floor.

Thy love can keep me dry and warm. Christ and thy bounty are my store:

Thy angels guard me from all harm. As for my friends they are not lost j

The several vessels of thy fleet,
Though parted now by tempests tost,

Shall safely in the heav’n meet.
Still we are centred all in thee;

Members tho’ distant, of one head:
In the same family we be,

By the same faith and spirit led.
Before thy throne we daily meet,

As joint petitioners to thee:
In spirit we each other greet,

And shall again each other see.
The heavenly hosts world without end

Shall be my company above: And thou, my best and surest friend:

Who shall divide me from thy love? Must I forsake the soil and air,

Where first I drew my vital breath? That way may be as near and fair:

Thence I may come to thee by death. All countries are my father’s lands:

Thy son, thy love doth shine on all: We may in all lift up pure hands,

And with acceptance on thee call. Those banish’d are that go from thee,

Strange to thy service, love, and grace:

And, lost in sin, do never see

Thy kingdom, and thy pleased face.
May but my soul dwell near my God,

And walk with him in faith and love, No matter where be my abode,

Till to his glory I remove.
What if in prison I must dwell?

May I not there converse with thee? Save me from sin, thy wrath, and hell,

Call me thy child; and I am free. No walls or bars can keep thee out:

None can confine a holy soul: The streets of Heav’n it walks about;

None can its liberty controul:
Alas, my dark’ned mind is chain’d

To earth and flesh through unbelief ‘It looks and longs by distance pain’d:

When wilt thou hear and send relief? O loose these chains of sin and flesh!

Enlarge my heart in thy commands:
Could I but love thee as I wish,

How light would be all other bands! Must I feel sicknesses and smart,

And spend my days and nights in pain? Yet if thy love refresh my heart, I need not overmuch complain. This flesh hath drawn my soul to sin; If it must smart, thy will be done ‘O fill me with thy joys within,

And then I ’11 let it grieve alone.
Then to its sufferings I’ll consent
To be avenged on my foe,
That pain may help me to repent,

And sin may be consumed by woe. Pain will be short; joys will be long.

Yet, Lord, remember man is weak! Drop in thy cordials: make me strong,

Lest heart and hope, with flesh should break. I know my flesh must turn to dust,

My parted soul must come to thee,
And undergo thy judgment just,

And in the endless world must be. In this there ’s most of fear and joy,

Because there’s most of sin and grace, Sin will this mortal frame destroy,

But Christ will bring me to thy face. Here ’s faith’s great trial: pain may force;

And pride may willingness pretend;
A stupid fool’ die like his horse,

And Heathens make a beast-like end. Frail sinful flesh is loath to die:

Sense to the unseen world is strange: The doubting soul dreads the most High,

And trembleth at so great a change.
Vet faith can see beyond the skies,

Where now our head in glory is;
And above flesh and sense can rise,

Unto the world of saints in bliss. Cleansing the soul from flesh and sin,

Abstracting it from things below;
U draws the veil, and entering in,

Love’s glorious mysteries can know. Put forth thy beams and hand of grace:

Open mine eyes. take up my heart
Acquaint it with the holy place,

The joys and glory where thou art.
O let me not be strange at home!

Strange to the sun, and life of souls: Choosing this low and dark’ned room;

Familiar with worms and moles!
Shall I be strange unto my head?

The world of knowledge, love, and joys? Conversing here among the dead,

And taken up with dreams and toys?
And strange to angels, who attend

On man, and in his good delight;
And though unseen, do us defend;

Minist’ring for us day and night?
Am I the first that go this way?

How many saints are gone before!
How many enter every day

Into thy kingdom by this door! Christ was once dead, and in a grave-Yet conquer’d death, and rose again: And by this method he will save

His servants that with him shall reign. Shall I draw back and fear the end

Of all my sorrows, tears, and pain? To which my life and labours tend!

Without which all had been in vain? Can I for ever be content

Without true happiness and rest?
Is earth become so excellent,

That I should take it for my best? Or can I think of finding here That which my soul so long had sought?

Should 1 refuse those joysthrough fear,

Which bounteous love so dearly bought? All that doth taste of Heav’n is good:

When heav’nly light doth me inform; When heavenly life stirs in my blood;

When heavenly love my heart doth warm. No wonder if time’s womb be streight,

And souls through pain and strangeness go Into the glorious world of light,

Wrhich death translateth them unto. The strangeness will be quickly over,

When once the heaven -born soul is there: One sight of God will it recover

From all this backwardness and fear. To us Christ’s lowest parts; his feet,

Union and faith must yet suffice; To guide and comfort us: It ’s meet

We trust our head who hath our eyes. Christ seeth all that I would see:

The way and end to him are known:
He hath prepared the place for me:

He’ll love and use me as his own.
How many guiltless creatures die,

To be a feast or food to me; Who love their lives as well as I?

And hath not God more right to me? Must I be privileged alone?

Or no man die until he please?
And God deposed from his throne,

And human generation cease?
Though all the reasons I can see,

Why I should willingly submit,
And comfortably come to thee;

My God, thou must accomplish it. The love which fill’d up all my days,

Will not forsake me to the end:
This broken body thou wilt raise:

My spirit I to thee commend.

Decemb. 3, 1663.