impudent face said unto him I have peace offerings with me this day have I payd my vowes Therefore came I forth to meet thee diligently to seek thy face and I have found thee I have deckt my bed with coverings of Tapestry with carved workes with fine linnen of Egypt I have perfumed my bed with myrrhe aloes and cynamen Come let us take our fill of love untill the morning let us solace our selves with loves For the good man is not at home he is gone a long journey Proverbs 7. vers 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19. But what is she end of all this if we look on the end of the chapter we shall see the end of the Adulterer Her house is the way to hell going down to the chambers of death verse 27. Thou dost not dreame thou shalt be blasted I tell thee ere long thou shalt be lopt off and flung into eternity I grant thou hast aspired to the top of thy Olympick Palace but thou shalt shortly fall thy life hath beene at best but a Tragicomedy and thou hast acted the fools part with pleasure but I tell thee death ere long shall strike the Epilogue and thou shalt goe away Secondly the Drunkard is a barren Branch Woe to the crowne of pride to the drunkards of Ephraim whose glorious beauty is a fading flowre which are on the head of the fat valleyes of them that are overcome with Wine Isaiah 28. vers 1. Thou Drunkard that carowsest care away and on thy Ale-bench blasphemest the God of Heaven that takest no felicity but in swinish company and knowest no other happines but the colour of the wine thou burdenest the earth thou inflamest the fire thou infectest the aire thou art as a flowre drowned with the dew of Heaven and bowest thy glory to the earth goe drunkard take thy fill of Wine untill the morning but I tell thee the houre is comming when it may be the hand of Heaven shall write thy doom upon the plaister of the wall Daniell 5.25 26. ere long thou mayst Read MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN God hath numbred thy dayes and finisht them and being found too light thy glory is departed from thee then shall thy loynes be loosed thy countenance changed and thy false heart affrighted thou that drinkest iniquity like water I tell thee ere long thou shalt wash thy selfe away thy fruit is already withered and thou shalt be lopt from the Vine Thirdly the Robber is a barren Branch Leviticus 19. vers 11. Thou that by the Art of Leger-de-maine adoptest every mans goods thine owne I know thou wouldst have joy without sorrow wealth without want fruit without faith and life without death but remember the pitcher at last comes broken home There is a way seemes right in the eyes of man but the end thereof is the path of death Proverbs 14. vers 12. What though thou hast wheel'd off fairly once or twice or thrice yet thou shalt shortly fall Agememnon after all his 10 yeares wars at Troy was slain in one night among his freinds at Greece The valiant Hector whose temples were so often archt in a victorious Orbe while he was quitting his Countrey with gallantry and affronting his enemies in the height of bravery received in a moment the Embassage of death and upon the ground measured out his grave The mighty Achilles whose arme seemed a Postilion of death was slaine at last by a little winged Arrow and sent to his long home Tell me thou that canst draw thy sword and bid defiance upon the high way to truth and fidelity where lies thy brother Caine or Akan or Judas or Ahab does not their glory grovill in the ground or are they not sweltring in eternall flames It may be thou hast endured many a blast but there may come a blast ere long that may puffe thee quite away Thou that art acquainted with the Law so well that thou canst sometimes confute the Reverend Judges and yet performest never a tittle thereof believe mee thou canst not plead with death hee will come with a Habeas corpus and remove thee to eternity Forasmuch as thou art found unfruitfull in the Vineyard thou shalt be cut from the Vine and have thy portion in that lake of terrour where time shall be no more Fourthly the lyar is a barren Branch Leviticus 19. vers 11. Why boastest thou thy selfe in mischiefe O mighty man the goodnesse of God endureth continually Thy tongue deviseth mischiefes like a sharpe rasor working deceitfully Thou lovest evill more then good and lying rather then to speake righteousnesse Selah Thou lovest all devouring words O thou deceitfull tongue God shall likewise destroy thee for ever he shall take thee away and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place and root thee out of the Land of the living Psalme 52 vers 1 2 3 4 5. Thou that so oft dost call the God of heaven who is truth it selfe to witnesse to a lie tell me thou sordid peece of earth canst thou blinde the eies of heaven or canst thou draw a curtaine before the face of the most high does not his eie see thee does not his eare heare thee does not his heart ponder thy waies tell me is he excluded any where that can be comprehended no where if thou goest to heaven he is there if downe to hell he is there if thou take the wings of the morning and flye to the uttermost parts of the earth from thence the hand of God shall find thee out Come thou lyar Read the story of Ananias and Sapphira Acts 5. vers 1 2 3 4 5 5 7 8 9 10. The tree withers soone away that is perisht at the Root and thou shalt shortly fall who art rotten at the heart Alas thou art nothing but a walking shaddow a guilded peece of aire whose wealth is but poverty whose bravery but vanity whose truth infidelity and thou shalt ere long be â—hut out of eternity Revelation 22. vers 15. thy present tense ere long shal be made a preterimperâ—ectense and it shall shortly be said of thee he was and is not yet a little while and thou shalt be no more but shalt fade as the withering grasse and wither as the dying flowre Fifthly the Sabbath breaker is a barren Branch Ye shall keep my Sabbath therefore for it is holy unto you every one that breaketh it shall be cut off from among his people for whosoever doth any worke therein that soule shall surely be put to death Six dayes may worke be done but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest holy to the Lord whosoever doth any worke therein shall surely be put to death Wherefore the Children of Israell shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetuall memory It is a Covenant between me and the Children of Israeâ— for ever for in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed Exod.
31. vers 13 14 15 16 17. Come thou prophane Sabbath breaker thou findest fault of the shortnesse of thy time I tell thee ere long thy time shall be cut away the candle thou now dost waste in pleasure thou wilt hereafter begge to spend in prayer what thou wretch if thy God had required six dayes in the weeke to sanctifie his name and celebrate his praise how wouldest thou have done that if thou canst not give him one in seven Goe sordid earth imbalme thy self in tears thou knowest not what felicity the godly take in this dayes progresse while they travell through the coelestiall Groves and while they wander through the faire Elizium walkes aspiring beyond the reach of this unworthy earth to change their hourely entercourse of love with Heaven whose service is perfect freedome redemption from slavery and a path way to glory every dayes progresse sends thee nearer to eternity and thou makest but a few Sabbath dayes journey towards Heaven why tell me whither doest thou wander Is it because there is no God in Israel that thou servest the god of Ekron or because thou hast dined on earth wilt thou now goe sup in hell away blind man thou runnest to thy ruine retire a while to thy forgotten selfe and reckon how fast thy winged houres flie away Ah Lord thy Sabbaths in former ages have been celebrated to thy praise when thy people spake often one to another to thy glory when the morning starres sang together and all the sonnes of God shouted for joy thy Saints in former ages upon thy holy day have met to offer up their perfumed oblations and dayly sacrifices to thee who dwellest between the Cherubins but now the beauty of Israell is gone from the high places Oh how are the mighty falne tell mee thou wretch that sayest when will the Sabbath be over that we may sell our Corne and Wine and Oyle that we may put on our gallant apparrell and heape up bags of gold what gaine is in riches what beauty in bravery what profit in pleasure what glory in honour thy riches are but poverty thy beauty deformity thy pleasure a penalty thine honour slavery therefore foole thy selfe no more by omitting thy duty and robbing heaven of his glory lest thou beest strucke with leaprosie like Miriam lest thou beest swallowed up like Corah Dathan and Abiram lest thou art consumed with fire like the sonnes of Aron lest thou hast a shower of stones like Akan or art shot with an arrow from heaven like Julian lest thou beest lopt from the Vine and cut from the earth and shut out of Heaven and flung into Hell lest thy possession be made a desolation and thy memory perish from the earth for want of a memory Sixthly the swearer is a barren Branch Ye shall not sweare by my Name falsly neither shalt thou prophane the name of thy God I am the Lord. Levit. 19. vers 12. Thou prophane Wretch that with thy breath infectest the aire and with thy body burdenest the earth and with thy heart dost blaspheme heaven what became of the prophane Rabshekah or the blasphemous Senacherib that with their tongues sounded such thunderclaps in fearefull Israells ears but when their lips upbraided the God of Heaven how soon did he bow their proud imperious necks and layd their glory groveling in the ground thou black mouth'd swearer that with a flash of Oathes doest exalt thy selfe to Heaven I tell thee ere long thou shalt be spurned downe to Hell thy life seemes yet a merry Comedy but thou knowest not how soone thou shalt speake the last sceane which being done thou shalt exit to the attiring roome of earth and undresse thee in the silent grave thou foule mouth'd swearer thou faine wouldst be accounted a Christian yet livest more deboyster then the Heathen Come if thou art a Christian trye thy Copy by thy Saviours President and see how thou obeyest his command But I say unto you sweare not at all neither by Heaven for it is Gods throne nor by earth for it is his footstoole nether by Hierusalem for it is she City of the great King Neither shalt thou sweare by thy head because thou canst not make one haire white or blacke But let your communication be Yea yea Nay nay for whatsoever is more then these commeth of evill Matthew 5. vers 34 35 36 37. Poore man thou art so far from dishonouring thy God by this that by thy Ruine he will purchase himselfe glory as the Traveller that spits against the winde hath it blowne in his face so thou that with thy breath blasphemest heaven blowest but the fire of Hell which shall torment thee to eternity thou that doest waste thy time in trifles and thy dayes in a dreame thou art at the best but a piece of perjury and a flash of vanity that walkest by the light of thine owne fire and the sparkes thou hast kindled This is the portion thou shalt have from the hand of Heaven thou shalt lie downe in sorrow Seventhly the covetous man is a barren Branch and shall be cut from the Vine What 's hee that so prophanes all purity and scornes the power that others doe adore that curseth his Tapour for burning so fast his provision for spending too soone his houres for flying too swift and his purse for filling too slow Thou groveling worldling that Viper-like doest teare thy Mothers wombe and off rest sacrifice to the god of gold that art as pollitick as Achitophell as proud as painted Jezebell as churlish as Naball as swift as Asahell hadst thou the pollicy of Vlysses the strength of Hercules the beauty of Adonis the wealth of great Nilus or the gold of rich Tagus thou art but a house of clay and thy foundation is in the Dust Neverthelesse man being in honour abideth not he is like the beasts that perish Psalme 49. verse 12. The time is comming when delicates shall not be delightfull life shall not be desirable pleasure shall be painefull Riches unprofitable death unavoydable and eternity most terrible when thou shalt finde evidences enough for earth but no assurance for Heaven then it may be thou wouldst give ten thousand pounds for a share in Jesus Christ but Jesus Christ makes no such bargaine Dives had not been in Hell if his money would have purchast heaven but then thy Riches shall take to themselves wings and flye away thou knowest not how soone thou mayest come to thy journeyes end when thou shalt bee deposed from thy glory like Nebuchadnezar Dan. 4 30. or slaine in the midst of thy gold and mirth like drunken Belshazzer or lye in the cold like poore Lazarus or bee kickt into Hell like rich Dives go view the Monuments of thy Fathers where lyes the Crowne of Shyhon King of the Amorices and Ogge the King of Bashan Where bee the Perizites the Jebusites or the Children of the East or Zeba or Zelmunna Where is the Tower of Babylon the sometimes glorious Caanan the
but Actions not Chaffe but Wheate not Pibbles but Pearles not Leaves but Fruit not Drosse but Gold I meane Unity Fidelity Meekenesse long suffering Patience and Perseverance ye shall have a shield to save you a chamber to hide you an arme to protect you a Fountaine to coole you and a Rock to over-shaddow shaddow you and a Pillar of fire to guide you while you travell through the vally of the shaddow of death and while you are sayling through the red sea of sorrow In that day sing yee unto her A Vineyard of red Wine I the Lord doe keepe it I will water it every morning lest any hurt it I will keepe it night and day Isa 27. v. 2 3. Thus were you not protected alas how soone would you bee destroyed How weake would bee your strength How strong your weakenesse How soone would your persons bee abused your sence deceived your wills corrupted your apprehensions deluded your constancy contemned and your fidelity befooled But now had I a quill snatcht from the lofty Eagles wings or were my inke distilled from Gold had I the Curiosity of Cleo the Learning of Plato the Poetry of Apollo the Eloquence of Cicero or the Love of Queene Dido I should rather darken their Dignity then illustrate their Royalty I thinke Readers I must deceive you all and â—hut the Booke and make an end of my subject For hee that will speake of the worth of a Picture must himselfe bee a Painter so hee that will discourse of the Saints dignity must himselfe bee wrapt first in the Pallace of high glory this onely may suffice they shall have wealth without want puâ—ity without perjury health without sicknesse wisdome without folly life without mortallity there shall they have eternity for time gloâ—y for indignity a Crowne for a Crosse and a Kingdome with a Crowne But since the heart is too narrow to conceive it it is unlawfull for the tongue to utter it 2 Cor. 12. ver 4. Thus are wee forced to draw a Curtaine about our subject and hide our glorious sceane and because wee dare not speake of such a price silence shall now bee the Epilogue of the Play How lovely lookt the Sonne of Glory in our terestiall spheare earth was too unworthy to bee possest of such a glorious guest how powerfull was that tongue that with a short command could dispossesse the divel make his enemies in a moment drop downe and dye that could give feete to the lame eyes to the blinde health to the sick salvation to sinners and life to death How did his lips out passe the sweete lipt orator while in sundry places hee poured forth the sweetest words that Art or Love could frame enough to melt the beholders hearts and charme the hearers eares How full of sweetnesse is that bosome that was wounded with a speare I thinke Love lay there intomb'd having power enough to bring the lost soule to seeke for sanctuary in his circled armes how full of comlinesse was that face that so often was hit with the blowes of scorne and flurts of disdaine that head the fountaine of knowledge that was crowned with the thornes had power enough by wisedome to controle the world How full of Majesty were those faire eyes that so often were drowned in silent teares Had the ungratefull world no better entertainment for so Royall a babe but must mantle him in a Manger and from his Cradle hurry him to his Crosse Ah man how obdurate was thy heart to him that was as kinde as heaven well mayest thou cast dust on thy head since thou art so foule in thy heart goe weep thy selfe away goe goe be sad all mortalls let your downe east eyes present a silent sorrow let your dayes be as darke as the silent grave as when the eclipsed Sunne leaves the world in a mist or the angry aire covers heavens glory in a sable Cloud let every mortall mourn and be like a monument cut out of marble But is it so that Jesus Christ is the Vine and that so many of the branches shall be cut off then our subject sounds an alarum in the eares of all mortals and bids the Inhabitants of the world looke about them Is it so that none but the ingrafted Members shall stand and the others fall then this tels us that your condition is not so good as you imagine If those that seeme to be Members shall be cut away what shall be done to them that are enemies to the body if some of the branches shall fall that grow on the Vine what shall become of them that come not neare the Vineyard How hath the Prince of darknesse besotted all Mortalls how is poore man befooled perhaps thou measurest by another man and thou art higher by the head and shoulders and thou thinkest God must love thee because of thy person King Saul was higher then all his brethren yet little David was advanced to the Crowne and he was flung from the Throne Perhaps thou art a Scholar and for thy wisedome and learning thou thinkest God must love thee and thou must needs be a branch in the Vine I tell thee thy wit is but like a sharpe Rasor when God shall come and set thy wit to gnaw on thy accused Conscience Oh the anguish of thy soule in that day there is no such torment as a sharpe with will inflict upon it selfe Perhaps thou art a rich man and thou thinkest God must needs love thee because of thy Riches and ingraft thee in the Vine no I tell thee Jesus Christ can passe by all the Kings Courts and the Princes Palaces and enter in the house of poore Martha and be a companion for Lazarus that had nothing to entertaine him If Christ had been taken with gold he could have planted his Vineyard among the Indies where his Temple might have been all dawbed with gold Perhaps thou art beautifull and thou thinkest Heaven must love thee because thou art lovely Beleeve me that will wither away when sicknesse with her afly hand shall sweep off thy colour thou shalt resemble earth though thou art like Jezebell death will pluck thy feathers and thou shalt be banisht to the Grave and call the worme thy sister and thy Brother Therefore if thou hast any excellency in thee or parts it is but cumbred stuffe and the harder it is to pull thee into heaven God must be faine to take more paines with thee then with a poore creature that hath nothing to boast of every externall part thou hast is but a block to lye in thy way and thou must leave them behinde thee or thou wilt never crowd through the straight Gate Thy table that 's a snare to thee while sometimes thou eatest more then does thee good Thy gold that 's a snare to thee while thou settest thy heart upon it and forgettest Heaven Thy portly body thou mayst boast of it well enough it may be it is all thou art like to enjoy make much of
then thou among the rest of those dreadfull Comets appointed for horrour shalt fry for ever in this unquenchable fiery Chaos But here 's good newes now for thee that art prepared to dye thou poore soule that standest upon thy watch tower expecting the dawning of the day thou sayest my Love he dwells in Heaven that hath Captivated my heart with the glory of his Graces before whom I offer up my hourly oblations with silent teares from these my weeping eyes but sure he regards me not but leaves me here as a monument of misery or an object of the worlds soorne remember poore soule All flesh is grasse and grasse you know hath no long continuance on the ground believe me thou shalt shortly goe thou mayst heare thy beloved almost every day telling thee thy time is but short and thou shalt ere long be transpoâ—ted to eternity thou mayest heare his sweet voice to charme thine eares though thou canst not see his face to wound thy heart thou receivest love-Letters from him but yet thou canst not see him for this wall of flesh doth stand between but ere long it shall be taken downe that you may enter together in Communion and talke of the time of trouble that you may inherit eternall joyes while your eyes shoot equall flames that you may ravish in the sweetest embraces and lose your selves in love And further by these my sonne be admonished of making many bookes there is no end and much study is a wearinesse of the flesh Let us heare the conclusion of the whole matter Feare God and keep his Commandements for this is the whole duty of man Eccles 12. vers 12 13. I. ALas and is this all come spur away My Muse and let 's have done before the day Be downe let 's leave the Helliconian springs And sacred Delphice let our untuned stringe Be screw'd up higher yet untill our eares Can counterfeit the Musique of the spheares Then drown your selves no more this glorious prize Is given free the purchase cannot rise From floods of flowing teares no more my wearied eyes II. But does the Crowne of high immortall glory Arch his victorious browes that keeps this story True Yea and his undefiled soule shall shine Like Stars of the first magnitude divine And glorious ornaments he shall weare And sit inthroned above the hemisphere In a garb of purest gold this is the same That Heaven Will honour and his honored name Shal live and rise up higher then the trump of fame III. Foole that I was because the verse was soone Read o're I thought 't was easily done But thou O Lord that mad'st this little span Of earth must recollect poore uncollected man Keepe thy commands O Lord Is it not more Then all the World can doe am I before Them all Oh drown these unregenerate eyes that shine Too cleare that I may offer to thy shrine A shower of teares for every drop of blood of thine IV. Oh I am lost how shall poore I aspire Thine Altar Without diviner fire Whose hallowed smoake may make a sacred fume Before thy throne Ah how dare I presume To come Thou shalt have power from above I le be thy Lord and thou shalt be my Love Onely confesse thy sinnes and I le adorne Thy brow with beauty teach thee how to scorne The World and make thee fairer then the fairest morne V. Well then my honoured Lord I le come and trye To tread the path of immortality Oh that my wandring eyes could see the way That I might travell to it every day Where once arrived our lips shall strike up loves Alarmes in the blest hallowed Groves Doe soule shun death for earth is transitory True Lord But shall I if I keep this story Live I 'le give thee life wrapt in immortall glory VI. Too soone I wandred in an unknowne way Till I was almost lost had not the day Star rise to guide my wandring Orbe for all My power I had stoop'd to the imperiall thrall Of some temptation which had cryed aloud To Heaven and left me in a sable Cloud I knew not then to whom I could repaire To have one houre of ease but now my care Being past I 'le put a period to a well-tun'd aire The last SOLILOQUIE Or The Authours Farewell THE day breakes glorious in our darkened Orbe t is an illustrious morne cleare up my glimmering eyes Ah me now I see how much I was abused I wondred indeed the way to Heaven should be so hard and that such extremity should lye in the path to immortality alas I was befool'd it is not care can conquer a kingdome nor industry winne the Crowne of glory it is not heavinesse that workes holinesse nor holinesse that merits happinesse nor can the price of labour purchase the Palace of Love I wonder not now why the skilfull Astronomer has beene misguided by his star and why the fancies of the Learned Poets have been befool'd alas can ingenuity merit eternity no t is love t is love that unlocks the gate of glory Poore man where is thy power now that with thy triangle heart invelopest the water buildest Castles in the aire backest the windes devourest the earth and sometimes darest Heaven yet when thou commest to trye thy force a feather will scarce wag at thy fury alas though thou crawlest thou canst not climbe though by thy feare thou mayest rule on earth yet without Faith thou shalt not Raigne in Heaven though by thy policy thou mayest comprehend all things yet by thy power thou canst command nothing Hence let your wing'd battlements grapple goe vaile your transitory glory let your dignity lye downe and dye let him that has the most rarity study humility and be like a monument cut out of marble let the Astrologer put no confidence in Astronomy nor the Naturalist study curiosity let the learning of the Law be turned to the language of love and yet let the sweet lipt Orator lay downe his Rhetorick and plead no more it is not the language of learning nor a life of labour nor ingenuity nor sidelity nor greatnesse nor gallantry nor profit nor pleasure nor glory nor honour it is not a garment of gold nor a lofty looke nor the charming tongue nor the inchanting eye nor the fairest face nor the heroick heart nor the conquering arme that can win heaven no these doe but chaine thee to the world and hinders the soule from climbing up the Ladded to his Joy I should rather looke for heat in painted fire then think to finde ability in the creature I should rather believe the winde comes but to fanne us with a gentle gale when Eolus unlocks his blustering Gates and rocks the world in a tempestuous storme or that the Cloudes doe but shade us from the flaming Chariot of the Sunne when by their thundering noises they seeme to crack the Axeltrees of the World and by their dismall darknesse banish out the day or that the Sea when he furrows up
thee Alas we never saw thee Thou bidst us bee fruitfull and we be unprofitable thou commandest us to bee cleansed and wee be polluted when our eyes should be enlightned then our hearts are most darkened when we should be most washed then are we most defiled and when thou callest us to thee even then we fly from thee Wee lost our dignitie when our Father Adam lest his glory he breaking his League with Heaven left us his poore children nothing but our mother Earth who rocks us a while upon her idle knee of ignorance and then layes us to lullaby in eternall darkenesse Yet though wee have lost a Subjects loyalty thou hast not lost thy kingly dignity thou still retainest thy prerogative Royall yea Lord thou still hast power to command though we poore we have no ability to obey Oh that thou wouldst instead of commanding us compell us Oh thou that bidst us follow thee draw us and we shall run after thee Oh thou that commandest us to seeke thee shew thy selfe that wee may finde thee so though the world lies drowned in a sea of vanity yet we that follow thee shall live holily and dye happily forasmuch as our happinesse is wrapt up in heaven and dwells in the light of thy glory Now will I sing a Song to my welbeloved touching his Vineyard my welbeloved hath a Vineyard in a very fruitfull hill And he fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof and planted it with the choycest Vine and built a Tower in the midst of it and also made a Winepresse therein and he looked it should bring forth Grapes and it brought forth wilde Grapes Isa 5. v. 1 2. I. NO more Deluded England foole thy self no more But goe implore The heavens to ope thy dim and slumbring eyes No more Let blinde delusion keep thee shadowed ore And make thee soare Too high in wanton pleasures rarities Ah sin thou oft dost mix our sweets with soure Thou mak'st a Judgement in a short liv'd houre To blast the purest herb and crop the fairest flower II. Away Deluded England with thy workes away A new-borne Ray Begins to dawne and glorifie the aire Away Thou art discover'd poore can miry clay find power to pay Peace offrings no thou art more foule then faire The fig-tree brought forth leaves but we know who Did blast her is this all that thou canst doe Go vail thy Crown in dust lest thou be'st withred too III. Sit downe Ye glorious stars goe in the dust sit downe Whose glory shone Sometimes like Phoebus with his glittering traine Sit downe In silent sorrow goe and quench the frowne Of heaven thy Crowne Being vail'd then shalt thou wear the Crown again Why are we thus befool'd and do not cry To be transplanted Ah Reader thou and I Whose brach is withred here may soon lie down die IV. How soone Oh flouâ—ishing England didst thou swell how soon Thy fairest noone Was darkned o're and turn'd a glimmering day How soone Thou didst grow glorious prodigall and boone As the pale Moone In her blacke throne bids Phoebus flye away Oh it thou wilt have justice to reprieve thee If still thou wouldst have mercy to releive thee Trust not thy hollow self thy self wil but deceive thee V. Arise Oh then and ope thy unregenerate eyes How faire a prize Is there layd up in everlasting glorie Arise And be adorned in vertues rarities whose glory lies Drawne in the Records of this following story But if thy actions shall be still but vaine Led by the folly of a light haird braine Thou wilt be trampled down and withered ore again VI. Then shine For feare thy glimmering torch her light resigne And thou decline From thy first glory to a darkned shade Then shine Like Phoebus in the Equinoctiall line With fire divine Least thou art blasted and thy flower does sade So shalt thou flowrish in th' enlarged store Of wealth and Peace thy temples arched o're In a victorious Orb and war shall be no more The fift SOLILOQUIE A Gloomy Cloud may black the fairest Morne till Phoebus ariseth in his midday Majesty and with his glory cleares the darkned Aire when times black Daughter Night have wrapt her mantle about the virge of day and drowned the World in a forgotten dreame all things seeme alike to all the withered Weede the purest Herbe the comliest Blossome and the fairest flower But when the day starre appeares ushering in the morne and blushing Sol arises as from a bed of Roses whose burning Horses chafe up the Olympick hill and with their fiery fetlocks draw up the Golden Chariot of the day the World lyes then discovered Even thus the Gospel of our Lord Jesus haveing unmantled his glory from behinde a darkened cloud shining in full Majesty discovers the errours of our lower World but because time will bee too short to serve our turne and wee shall tyre the Readers eyes with too large a Soliloquie wee shall therefore looke upon but the latter part of our subject And first by the Vine wee can onely understand the Church of God and then our subject will lye as a stumbling block in the Readers way this seemes to bee strange say some that the Church of God should bee a fruitlesse Vine No this Vine beares pleasant fruit yet there are many worthlesse Branches that sprout among them bearing great show but little substance but when the wise Husbandman shall loppe them off the Branches that remaine shall sprout higher the fruit shall bee the sweeter and the Vine shall flourish the more And first wee shall endeavour to discover eight sorts of Branches that will bee cut from the Vine And they be these 1. The Adulterer 2. The Drunkard 3. The Robber 4. The Lyar. 5. The Sabboth-breaker 6. The Swearer 7. The Usurer 8. The Hypocrite First the Adulterer is a barren branch and shall bee cut off Thou Adulterer whose blood boyles in thy vaines and thy marrow is burnt in thy bones who art scorched in fire and sweltred in flames who swimmest in vanity and art drowned in a forgotten Dreame thy Morning is risen and thy Sunne hath aspired to the top of Noone-day thou seemest to ride upon the wings of Time commanding Pleasure as if shee were thy Captive Come wee will take a short survey of thy life which if the Scripture deceives us not is but the way to death For at the window of my house I looked through my casement and beheld among the simple ones I discerned among the youth a yong man void of understanding passing through the streete neere her corner and hee went the way to her house in the twilight in the evening in the blacke and darke night and behold there met him a woman with the attire of an Harlot and subtle of heart She is lowd and stubborne her feet abide not in her house Now is she without now in the streets and lieth in waite at every corner So she caught him and kissed him and with an