He has left us a good deal of verse—­too much, perhaps, if we consider the length of the poems and the value of condensation.  There is in many of them a delightful fervour of the simplest love to God, uttered with a plain half poetic, half logical strength, from which sometimes the poetry breaks out clear and fine.  Much that he writes is of death, from the dread of which he evidently suffered—­a good thing when it drives a man to renew his confidence in his Saviour’s presence.  It has with him a very different origin from the vulgar fancy that to talk about death is religious.  It was refuge from the fear of death he sought, and that is the part of every man who would not be a slave.  The door of death of which he so often speaks is to him a door out of the fear of death.

The poem from which the following excerpt is made was evidently written in view of some imminent suffering for conscience-sake, probably when the Act of Uniformity was passed:  twenty years after, he was imprisoned at the age of sixty-seven, and lay nearly a year and a half.—­I omit many verses.

  THE RESOLUTION.

  It’s no great matter what men deem,
    Whether they count me good or bad: 
  In their applause and best esteem,
    There’s no contentment to be had. 
  Thy steps, Lord, in this dirt I see;
    And lest my soul from God should stray,
  I’ll bear my cross and follow thee: 
    Let others choose the fairer way. 
  My face is meeter for the spit;
    I am more suitable to shame,
  And to the taunts of scornful wit: 
    It’s no great matter for my name.

  My Lord hath taught me how to want
    A place wherein to put my head: 
  While he is mine, I’ll be content
    To beg or lack my daily bread. 
  Must I forsake the soil and air
    Where first I drew my vital breath? 
  That way may be as near and fair: 
    Thence I may come to thee by death. 
  All countries are my Father’s lands;
    Thy sun, thy love, doth shine on all;
  We may in all lift up pure hands,
    And with acceptance on thee call.

  What if in prison I must dwell? 
    May I not there converse with thee? 
  Save me from sin, thy wrath, and hell,
    Call me thy child, and I am free. 
  No walls or bars can keep thee out;
    None can confine a holy soul;
  The streets of heaven it walks about;
    None can its liberty control. 
  This flesh hath drawn my soul to sin: 
    If it must smart, thy will be done! 
  O fill me with thy joys within,
    And then I’ll let it grieve alone.

  Frail, sinful flesh is loath to die;
    Sense to the unseen world is strange;
  The doubting soul dreads the Most High,
    And trembleth at so great a change. 
  O let me not be strange at home,
    Strange to the sun and life of souls,
  Choosing this low and darkened room,
    Familiar with worms and moles!