POEMS Written by the Right HONOURABLE Henry Lord Arundel of Warder, AND Count of the Sacred Roman Empire, Now PRISONER in the TOWER.  

1. A Valediction to the WORLD.  
HEnce all you Visions of the World's delight,  
You treacherous Dreams of our deluded sense  
Passion too long hath seized on Reasons Right,  
And played the Tyrant in her own defence:  
Her fluttring Fancies hurried me about,  
To seek content which I could ne'er find out.  
If any pleasure did slide o'er my sense  
It left a mark of shame when it went thence.  
And when possessed, it relished no more;  
And I remained as Thirsty as before:  
Those pleasant Charms that did my heart seduce  
Seemed great pursued, but lessened in the use;  
And that false flame that kindled my desire  
ere I could cast, the pleasure did expire.  
But Reason now shall repossess her Throne  
And Grace restore what nature had o'erthrown,  
My better Genius prompts me to declare  
Against those folly's, and to side with her:  
She tells me 'tis high time to stem that Tide  
Whose Torrent doth me from myself divide.  
Those brutal Passions do unman our mind,  
And rule, where Virtue had them slaves designed  
Such usurpation shall prevail no more,  
I will to Reason her just Rights restore:  
And make my Rebel heart that duty pay  
To her, which on my sense was thrown away.  
But this (dear Lord) must be thy act not mine,  
Thy Grace must finish what I but design  
It is thy power alone that first doth move,  
Then gives us strength to execute and love.  
For Nature hath by custom so prevailed,  
And such dominion on our sense entailed,  
That we can never hope but by thy hand  
To free our Captive Souls from her Command▪  
That fatal liberty which for our good  
Thou gav'st us, was ill used, worse understood.  
Man made by reason, not like Beasts, to obey  
Losing that reason, grows more beasts than they▪  
And sure we lose it when we do dispense  
With our known duty, to delight the sense.  
Since than thy bounty doth my heart Inspire,  
Make me to do, as well as to desire:  
Set so my wavering heart from passions free  
That it may ne'er love any thing but thee.  
By thy sweet force my Stubborn will Incline  
To quit my Conduct, and to follow thine:  
So shall my Soul thy double purchase prove  
Bought by thy Blood, and conquered by thy love.   

2 Persecution no loss.  
WHat can we lose for him, when all we have  
Are but the Favours which his Bounty gave;  
And which, when sufferings force us to restore,  
God only takes them for to give us more:  
And by an happy change doth kindly prove  
He takes our fortune but to give his love.  
How vainly should that beggar chide his fate  
That quits his Dunghill for a Chair of State:  
So fares it with us, when God doth displace  
The Gifts of fortune for the gifts of Grace  
God did on suffering set so high esteem,  
he that way chose the lost World to Redeem:  
And when his love and nature were at strife  
He valued more his suffering, than his Life.  
And shall Opinion have more power to move  
Then his Example, Doctrine, and his Love?  
Love makes Afflictions easy; to complain  
Lessens the merit, and augments the pain.  
Let's humbly then Submit to his design,  
And give that freely which we must resign:  
So shall our Losses prove the best Increase  
Of future Glory, and our present Peace.   

3 Quem amat castigat.  
IF then the earnest of thy favours be  
Affliction, good God let it light on me.  
I'll glory more in such a kind distress  
Then in all comforts when thy love is less.  
And by my Misery I'll make it known  
In spite of th' World, how much I am thy own  
No fruitful shower shall by the thirsty plant  
Be kindlier entertained than scorn and want.  
Or loss of Honour, Fortune or delight  
Shall be by me; That which did once affright,  
And filled my troubled Mind with care and grief  
Shall be my future Comfort and relief.  
I never more will Court a smiling Fate  
Since he's so happy, that is desolate.  
Afflictions shall be pleasing, for they come  
Like friendly showers to drive us sooner home.  
And by thy love, such Charms are in them found  
As cure the Heart, which they intent to wound;  
So strange effects doth Grace in us produce  
To change as well their Nature, as their Use.   

4 Considerations before the Crucifix.  
WHen I behold thee on that fatal Tree  
(Sweet Jesus) suffering, and that 'tis for me;  
When I consider in that purple Flood  
My sins ebb out, but with thy Life and Blood:  
When I reflect how dear my soul hath cost  
I'm moved to wish, it rather had been lost:  
For how can that life please that doth de●●●oy  
The Life of him, by whom we life enjoy▪  
And yet to wish thou hadst not suffered so,  
Were to reproach thy love and wisdom too;  
And if we Joy in what thy Death hath brought,  
We must allow the pains by which 'twas bought  
So that our joy and grief united lie,  
And nature's Life is t' have her maker die.  
It is thy will (dear Lord) must be obeyed,  
And in that duty both those debts are paid.  
O let my Soul, in a due measure, find  
A joy becoming, and a mourning mind;  
A joy in thy kind will, even whilst it made  
Sunshine in Nature by thy Godhead's shade.  
A grief to see the Torments sin did merit  
And Man deserved, God should himself inherit.  
That so divided 'twixt thy pain and will,  
I may resign with joy, and yet grieve still.  
Adoring so this Trumph of thy Love,  
That weeping here I may rejoice above.   

5 Upon the Pains of Hell.  
O Restless Groans! O slothful Tears!  
O vain Desires O fruitless Fears!  
One timely Sighs had eased that Pain,  
Which Millions now do seek in vain;  
Eternal Penance is thy Fate,  
For having wept and sighed too late:  
That short remorse which thou didst fly,  
Is changed into Eternity;  
Neglected mercy hath no room,  
When Justice once hath fixed his Doom.  
Prevent then timely by thy care,  
That endless Penance of Despair;  
And weep betimes, your Tears here may  
Turn Night into eternal Day;  
'tis only they have power to move,  
And change God's Justice into Love;  
If by the virtue of his Grace,  
Thou sheddest them in a proper place▪   

LONDON, Printed, 1679.