Tired here, I came to Sychar, thence To Jacob's well, bequeathed since Unto his sons, where often they, In those calm, golden evenings, lay Watering their flocks, and having spent Those white days, drove home to the tent Their well-fleeced train; and here (O fate!) I sit where once my Saviour sate. The angry spring in bubbles swelled, Which broke in sighs still, as they filled, And whispered, Jesus had been there, But Jacob's children would not hear. Loth hence to part, at last I rise, But with the fountain in mine eyes, And here a fresh search is decreed: He must be found where he did bleed. I walk the garden, and there see Ideas of his agony, And moving anguishments, that set His blest face in a bloody sweat; I climbed the hill, perused the cross, Hung with my gain, and his great loss: Never did tree bear fruit like this, Balsam of souls, the body's bliss. But, O his grave! where I saw lent (For he had none) a monument, An undefiled, a new-hewed one, But there was not the Corner-stone. Sure then, said I, my quest is vain, He'll not be found where he was slain; So mild a Lamb can never be 'Midst so much blood and cruelty. I'll to the wilderness, and can Find beasts more merciful than man; He lived there safe, 'twas his retreat From the fierce Jew, and Herod's heat, And forty days withstood the fell And high temptations of hell; With seraphim there talked he, His Father's flaming ministry, He heavened their walks, and with his eyes Made those wild shades a paradise. Thus was the desert sanctified To be the refuge of his bride. I'll thither then; see, it is day! The sun's broke through to guide my way. But as I urged thus, and writ down What pleasures should my journey crown, What silent paths, what shades and cells, Fair virgin-flowers and hallowed wells, I should rove in, and rest my head Where my dear Lord did often tread, Sugaring all dangers with success, Methought I heard one singing thus: 1 Leave, leave thy gadding thoughts; Who pores And spies Still out of doors, Descries Within them nought. 2 The skin and shell of things, Though fair, Are not Thy wish nor prayer, But got By mere despair Of wings. 3 To rack old elements, Or dust, And say, Sure here he must Needs stay, Is not the way, Nor just. Search well another world; who studies this, Travels in clouds, seeks manna where none is. 'That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far off from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being.'--ACTS xvii. 27, 28. ISAAC'S MARRIAGE. 'And Isaac went out to pray in the field at the eventide, and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming.' --GEN. xxiv. 63.