Innocence

But that which most I wonder at, which most    I did esteem my bliss, which most I boast,    And ever shall enjoy, is that within      I felt no stain, nor spot of sin.       No darkness then did overshade,      But all within was pure and bright,      No guilt did crush, nor fear invade      But all my soul was full of light.       A joyful sense and purity     Is all I can remember;     The very night to me was bright,     'Twas summer in December.    A serious meditation did employ   My soul within, which taken up with joy   Did seem no outward thing to note, but fly     All objects that do feed the eye.      While it those very objects did     Admire, and prize, and praise, and love,     Which in their glory most are hid,     Which presence only doth remove.      Their constant daily presence I      Rejoicing at, did see;     And that which takes them from the eye     Of others, offer'd them to me.    No inward inclination did I feel   To avarice or pride: my soul did kneel   In admiration all the day.

No lust, nor strife,     Polluted then my infant life.      No fraud nor anger in me mov'd,     No malice, jealousy, or spite;     All that I saw I truly lov'd.     Contentment only and delight      Were in my soul.

O Heav'n! what bliss      Did I enjoy and feel!     What powerful delight did this     Inspire! for this I daily kneel.    Whether it be that nature is so pure,   And custom only vicious; or that sure   God did by miracle the guilt remove,     And make my soul to feel his love      So early: or that 'twas one day,     Wherein this happiness I found;     Whose strength and brightness so do ray,     That still it seems me to surround;      What ere it is, it is a light      So endless unto me     That I a world of true delight     Did then and to this day do see.    That prospect was the gate of Heav'n, that day   The ancient light of Eden did convey   Into my soul:

I was an Adam there   A little Adam in a sphere    Of joys!

O there my ravish'd sense   Was entertain'd in Paradise,   And had a sight of innocence   Which was beyond all bound and price.    An antepast of Heaven sure!     I on the earth did reign;   Within, without me, all was pure;   I must become a child again.