Classic Poem

Meditation VIII

Saints happier be when most distrest, Then wicked men are at the best.

1

We have the wicked view'd,
And seen his best estate:
And who would chuse with him to share,
Except a Reprobate?
For sure the Simple's ease
Shall turn to his decay:
And the Prosperity of Fools
Shall utterly them slay

2

When wicked men like Grass
Do springing up arise,
When they are in a flourishing case
That work iniquities:
'Tis for their cutting down
To perpetuity;
It's but to ripen them for woe,
And endless Misery

3

The less Affliction here
They feel, the more's to come:
The greater Blessings they abuse,
The heavier is their Doom
Now let us take a Saint
Whom men account accurst,
Because they judge him plagu'd of God,
And view him at his worst

4

Suppose his case as bad,
As bad it well can be:
And his Calamity more sad
Then commonly we see
Dispose him where you will,
Do with him what you can:
Yet God is present with him still;
He is a happy man

5

Let Sickness come upon him
Or great Tormenting Pain:
Bod will not lose him, but a Saint,
A Saint shall still remain
In prison him immure,
All comforts from him take:
You cannot rob him of his God,
Nor him unhappy make

6

Plunge him into the mire,
Or water; God is near:
Cast him into the burning Fire:
God will be with him there
If many roaring waves
Of great Affliction roll
Over his head: God so supports,
They cannot sink his Soul.

7

( Jacob in servitude
Joseph in Prison Chains,
Moses in his long Banishment
Heaven's Favourite still remains.
Three Children in the Fire
Daniel i'th' Lions Den
Have God to guard them: so had Paul
When Shipwrack'd Happy Men!)

8

The Everlasting Arms
Are underneath his head
To bear him up; and hence it comes
He is not swallowed,
Nor suffered wickedly
From God to turn aside:
As by his carriage will appear
When troubles him betide.