THE WAYS OF WISDOM

"Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace."

These sweeter far than lilies are,No roses may with these compare!How these excelNo tongue can tell,Which he that well and truly knowsWith praise and joy he goes!How great and happy's he that knows his waysTo be divine and heavenly Joys:To whom each city is more braveThan walls of pearl and streets which gold doth pave:Whose open eyesBehold the skies;Who loves their wealth and beauty moreThan kings love golden ore!Who sees the heavenly ancient waysOf God the Lord with joy and praise,More than the skiesWith open eyesDoth prize them all; yea, more than gems,And regal diadems;That more esteemeth mountains, as they are,Than if they gold and silver were:To whom the sun more pleasure bringsThan crowns and thrones and palaces to kings:That knows his waysTo be the joysAnd way of God—those things who knowsWith joy and praise he goes!

These sweeter far than lilies are,

No roses may with these compare!

How these excel

No tongue can tell,

Which he that well and truly knows

With praise and joy he goes!

How great and happy's he that knows his ways

To be divine and heavenly Joys:

To whom each city is more brave

Than walls of pearl and streets which gold doth pave:

Whose open eyes

Behold the skies;

Who loves their wealth and beauty more

Than kings love golden ore!

Who sees the heavenly ancient ways

Of God the Lord with joy and praise,

More than the skies

With open eyes

Doth prize them all; yea, more than gems,

And regal diadems;

That more esteemeth mountains, as they are,

Than if they gold and silver were:

To whom the sun more pleasure brings

Than crowns and thrones and palaces to kings:

That knows his ways

To be the joys

And way of God—those things who knows

With joy and praise he goes!

I do not think it is necessary to spend much time or ink in endeavouring to prove that the author of these three poems must have been also the writer of the other poems contained in this volume. Unless it be contended that no conclusion as to authorship can be drawn from similarity of style, sentiment, and peculiarities of expression, I do not see how it is possible for any one who carefully considers the matter to entertain a reasonable doubt about it. Not even the hypothesis of imitation by one author of the style of another can here be entertained—for no man can imitate what is not known to him.

Every poet has his special topics, his favourite terms of expression, his peculiar vocabulary, and even his pet rhymes, which are bound to appear often in his verse. I think it may be truly said that there is nothing in the three poems taken from "A Serious and Patheticall Contemplation of the Mercies of God" which cannot be paralleled in the other poems contained in this volume. All are characterised by the same fervent piety, the same command ofexpression and musical diction, the same dwelling upon the ideas that though God is necessary to man, yet man also is necessary to God, and that the body (instead of being, according to the ordinary theological belief, acorpus vileof corruption) is "a spring of Joy" crowned with glory; and the same continual allusions to the great natural phenomena. When to these resemblances we add the many small coincidences of words and phrases which are always recurring in the poems, the evidence of common authorship becomes too strong to be resisted.

Perhaps it may be worth while to quote a few instances of these resemblances out of the many which might be given. In the second stanza of "The Person" we have

Men's hands than angels' wingsAre truer wealth even here below.

Men's hands than angels' wings

Are truer wealth even here below.

In "Life's Blessedness" we have

So greatly high our human bodies areThat Angels scarcely may with them compare.

So greatly high our human bodies are

That Angels scarcely may with them compare.

In the fifth stanza of "The Estate" we have

The laws of God, the Works he did create,His ancient ways, are His and my Estate.

The laws of God, the Works he did create,

His ancient ways, are His and my Estate.

In "The Ways of Wisdom" we have

Who sees the heavenly ancient ways.

In "Thoughts IV." we have

The very heavens in their sacred worthAt once serve us and set his Glory forth.

The very heavens in their sacred worth

At once serve us and set his Glory forth.

In "Life's Blessedness" we have

The skies being made to serve me, as they do,While I Thy Glories in Thy Goodness view.

The skies being made to serve me, as they do,

While I Thy Glories in Thy Goodness view.

In "The Influx" we have

No soul but stone, no man but clay am I.

In "Life's Blessedness" we have

The stars but stones.

The reader will doubtless have observed that our poet was very fond of using "treasure" and a "pleasure" as rhymes. He seldom omits to bring them in in a poem of any length, and it will be observed that they are introduced in "The Resurrection." Certain defective rhymes (or no rhymes) also occur pretty frequently, as "lay," "joy," "away," "enjoy." In "The Ways of Wisdom" we have "ways" and "joys."

I think I have produced evidence enough to convince the reader of the soundness of my contention: if not, I will undertake to produce a good deal more. It is fortunate, indeed, that "A Serious and Patheticall Contemplation" should have stolen into print (for neither at the timeof its publication nor subsequently does it appear to have attracted any attention), since without it we should have had no clue to the authorship of these poems.

Mr. W. T. Brooke has discovered in the British Museum a broadside with the following title, "A Congratulatory Poem on the Right Honourable SrOrlando Bridgman, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England," which, he suggests, may possibly have been written by the author of the poems here printed. But though it is a poem of considerable merit, it has, in my opinion, no correspondence in style with Traherne's poems. A few lines from it, however, will not be altogether out of place here:

Were all your own Rolls searcht scarce should we findThat noble seat filled with so fit a mind:So brave a mind as baseness ne'er allays,So great a mind as greatness cannot raise,So just a mind as interest can't seduce,So wise a mind as colours can't abuse,So large a mind as largest Trusts do crave,So calm a mind as Equity should have.High Courtships construed in the present tense,Law's Oracle without perplexed sense,A sober piety in a virtuoso,And an Orlando without Furioso.

Were all your own Rolls searcht scarce should we find

That noble seat filled with so fit a mind:

So brave a mind as baseness ne'er allays,

So great a mind as greatness cannot raise,

So just a mind as interest can't seduce,

So wise a mind as colours can't abuse,

So large a mind as largest Trusts do crave,

So calm a mind as Equity should have.

High Courtships construed in the present tense,

Law's Oracle without perplexed sense,

A sober piety in a virtuoso,

And an Orlando without Furioso.

Back to Index Next