Page:History of the life and sufferings, of the Reverend John Welch.pdf/16

of woman; but thy love, O Lord, paſſeth all created love! O uncreated love! Beginning without beginning, and ending without end. Thou are my glory, my joy, and my gain, and my crown: thou haſt ſet me under thy ſhadow with great delight, and thy fruit is ſweet unto my taſte; thou haſt brought me into thy banqueting houſe,and placed me in thy orchard; ſtay me with flaggons, and comfort me with apples, for I am ſick, and my ſoul is wounded with love. Behold thou art fair my love, behold thou art fair, thou has doves eyes; behold thou art fair my beloved, yea, pleaſant; alſo our bed is green; the beams of our houſe are cedars, and our rafters are of fir; how fair and how pleaſant art thou, O full of delights, my heart is raviſhed with thee: O when ſhall I ſee thy face! How long wilt thou delay to be with me as a roe, or a young hart, leaping upon the mountains and ſkipping upon the hills; as a bundle of myrrh be thou to me, and ly all night betwixt my breaſts; becauſe of the favour of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore deſire I to go out of this deſert, and to come to the place where thou ſitteſt at thy repaſt, and where thou make it thy flocks to reſt at noon. When ſhall I be filled with his love? Surely if a man knew how precious it were, he would count all things droſs and dung to gain it, truly I would long for that ſcaffold, or that ax, or, that cord, that might be to me the laſt ſtep of this my weariſome journey, to go to thee my Lord. Thou who knows the meaning of the ſpirt, give anſwer to the ſpeaking, ſighing, and groaning of the ſpirit. Thou who haſt enflamed my heart to ſpeak to thee in this ſilent, yet lovely language of ardent, and fervent deſires, ſpeak again unto my heart, and anſwer my deſires, which thou haſt made to ſpeak to thee, Cor xv 55 O death where is thy ſting, O grave where is thy victory. What can be troubleſome to me. ſince my Lord looks upon me with ſo loving and amiable a countenance, and how greatly do I long for these embracements of my Lord, O that he would kiſs me with the kiſſes of his mouth, Cant i. 3. For his love is better than wine. O that my ſoul were the throne wherein he might dwell eternally? O that my heart were