The desire of that Soule, which hath a feeling of God, From St. Austin's manual english'd by Rogers Chapter y e 3d, "Thee woundrous Being excellently great", MS Wellesley, pp. 110-112. See Annotated Chronology No. 256. See also An Annotated Bibliography: Primary and Secondary Sources for all Finch's translations (paraphrases), imitations and adaptations.

Finch takes her source text from Chapter Three, "The desire of that Soule, which hath a feeling of God" (the title of Anne's text is the same as that of her source), pp. 7-10:

For thee then I do call unto my soule, O most gratious God, which thou preparest to receive thee through the desire which thou inspirest in the same.

Oh enter thereinto, I beseech thee, join it to thy self, that both thou maist possesse that which thou hast not only made (a), but also renewed (b), and I may enjoy thee as a seale upon mine heart.

Mercifull God, I beseech thee, forsake him not which calleth upon thee now(c): for before ever I could call upon thee, thou didst not call mee onely that, but also seeke me (d), to the end that I thy servant might seeke thee, (p. 8) and through seeking, finde thee, and being found, love thee.

I have sought, and I have found thee O Lord: grant that I may love thee.

Increase me desire, and grant me request: for though thou give me all things which thou hast made, yet unlesse thou give thy selfe withall, I thy servant shall never be satisfied.

Wherefore bestow thy selfe upon me (O my God) bestow thy selfe upon me.

Love, I doe love thee; and if too little I love thee, my desire is to love yet more entirely.

I love thee I say, I long for thee, I am much delghted to thinke upon thee.

Behold, while from my heart I doe sigh and call unto my remembrance thine unspeakable, the burthen of my flesh the lesse grieveth, troublesome cogitations the lesse invade but the waight of morality and miseries doe not so load me as they were wont, all things are hush, every thing is quiet.

My heart burneth, my minde is jocond, my memory fresh, mine understanding cleere, and all my spirit inflamed through the desire of thy sight, perceiveth how it was ravished with the love of things unseene.

Let the same my Spirit take the wings of the Eagles (e), let it flee, and not be weary, let it flee, and never faint, untill it come unto the place whereas thine honour dwelleth (f), even unto thy Throne of grace, there at the table (g), where the supernal Citizens doe repast, to be fed from thine eyes in greene pastures, by the still water. Bee thou our joy (h), our hope (i), on our salvation (k), and redemption (l), thou which hereafter wilt bee our reward, bee thou our comfort.

Let my soule evermore seeke thee, and grant that never it may cease to seeke, Amen.

• In the margins by each letter: a: Gen 1:25; b: Rom 5:15; c: Rom 8:30; d: Luk 25:4; e: Esai 40:31; f: Psal 26:1; g: Psal 2:32; h: Rev. 1:12; i: 1 Tim 1; k: Hos 13:9; l: Esai 44:4.

From A Pretious Booke of Heavenly Meditations: Called A private talke of the Soule with God Which, so so zealously will use and peruse, shall feele in his mind, an unspeakable sweetnesse of the everlasting happiness.

• Written, as some thinke, by that reverend and religious Father Saint Augustine, and not translated only, but purified also, and with most ample and necessary Sentences of holy Scriptures adorn'd. By THO. ROGERS. 1640.
• This manual for prayer consists of three books, the second, A Right Christian Treatise, Entituled St. Augustins Prayers; and the third Saint Augustine's Manuall.
• The book is dedicated to "the honourable Master Thomas Wilson, Doctor of the Civill Lawes, one of her Majesties principall Secretaries, and of the most Honourable Privy Councell; Grace and Peace in our Saviour Jesus Christ.
• In a short preface Rogers says that his book is a translation of holy meditations "written by the Reverend Father Augustine which he calleth his private talk with God". He then explains the religious purpose of his book and how he has organized it accordingly.
• It consists of 37 chapters, 198 pages.
• The other chapters have similar titles: Chapter 1, "Of the unspeakable sweetnesse of God"; Chapter 3, "Of God's wonderful light", Chapter 14, "That the eyes of the Lord are continually upon the doings and cogitations of men".
• The source texts are written in a personal vein. The author chooses texts that have reference to his own injuries in life. For example, on the first page he quotes as a epigraph: PSAL. 119. VER. 113, "I hate vain inventions, but thy Law do I love." They are often peculiarly apt to what we find in Anne's sense of injury in her poetry.

Finch's very last religious adaptations belong to the tradition explained in Louis Martz's The Poetry of Meditation: A Study in English Religious Literature. New York: Yale University Press, 1954. They are extremely free, personal paraphrases. At time she uses words when they resound deeply "quiet"; at times she uses important words for her: "crave."