OF DIVINE LOVE. A POEM IN SIX CANTOS.
Reading edition
Floriferis ut apes in saltibus omnia libant, Sic nos Scripturæ depascimur aurea dicta; Aurea! perpetua semper dignissima vita! Nam divinus amor cum coepit vociferari, Diffugiunt animi terrores…. Lucretius, lib. iii.
Exul eram, requiesque mihi, non fama, petita est, Mens intenta suis ne foret usque malis: Namque ubi mota calent sacra mea pectora Musa, Altior humano spiritua ille malo est. OVID. De Trist. lib. iv. el. I.
ARGUMENTS.
I. Asserting the authority of the Scripture, in which this love is revealed.—II. The preference and love of God to man in the creation.— III. The same love more amply declared in our redemption.—IV. How necessary this love is to reform mankind, and how excellent in itself.— V. Showing how happy the world would be, if this love were universally embraced.—VI. Of preserving this love in our memory, and how useful the contemplation thereof is.
[1] These were Waller's latest poems, composed when he was eighty-two.