not thou thy cost Though we be stray'd yet do not see us lost The prodigall Son FAther dear Father I would utter fain But feare doth that word Father dear restrain Father I faine would have my grievance shown But oh I am asham'd to make it known But it is fit I should confesse the same But thou canst take no pleasure in my shame Thy greatnesse doth in robes of glory shine Then canst thou looke upon such raggs as mine But why should I these troubled Seas propound I sayling in whose surges must be drownd Why feare I thus the fetters which inthrall me When thus my Father doth from prison call me Thy call deare Father cannot but suffice To shake off all my shackls bolts and tyes Then at thy call which thus doth call for speed I come to meet thee trusting to be freed The pitifull Father VVElcome my Son thrice welcome i' st not meet Thou shouldst bee welcom'd with imbraces sweet Thou who wert lost and now art found remain Thou who wert dead and art alive againe Long have I long'd for this thy safe return Whereat my bowells of compassion yern Why shak'st thou then why blushest being poore Thy feare is past thou shalt have raggs no more Revive my Son be cheerfull then my child And cease thy sorrowes I am reconcil'd Oh let those teares be taken from thine eyes They stir the Fountaine where compassion lyes Come tast my dainties I have choicest fare And sweetest musick to delight thy eare This is my pleasure I will have it done In spite of envy for thou art my Son The Authors Epigram THou Father of all fatherly respects Whose pittie this all parents thus directs What duty then for this thy kindnesse shown Is due to thee from children of thine own Most happy children happy we indeed Whose Fathers kindnes doth thus far exceed Who when our follies in our faces flying Returns us weeping scekes to still our crying Oh then how silly sensles I may say Are we if we from such a Father stray Can all the worth can in the world appear Make us set light a Fathers love so dear But then shall trifles shall meer painted toyes Shadowes of pleasures and but dreames of joyes Or ought detaine us that shall labour for it From such a Father let us Sons abhor it Let us not seeking lose our selves to gain Such husks abroad and may at home have graine An Epitome FAther I have offended but alas Shame stops my voice here will not let it passe Son cease thy sorrow let my joyes appease thee T is not thy teares but thy return that please me Father but canst thou thus be pleas'd with me Who have thus sin'd both against heav'n and thee Son this thy sin is vanish'd as lamented I take delight to pardon sin repented Father but such offenders are too base To raign as Sons grant me a servants place Son know my Servants are as sons to me So highly honour'd all my Saints shall be Father then let me be for ever bound To serve where service is such freedom found Son welcome Son no bondman thou shalt be But shalt inherit with my Sons made tree Free then indeed when the testator lives To make that freedome certain which he gives BREATHINGS After DIVINE AYRE The third Booke The foolish man hath said in his heart tush there is no God Psal. 14. 1. Desires of ayde MOst gracious God and yet a God most meeke Above the heav'ns yet stoup'st to earth below Beyond our reatch yet giv'st us leave to seek past our conceit yet wouldst have us to know To seeke and know thee as thou dost appeare But further knowledge is not granted here As then we ought not to presume to pry Into those secrets must be yet conceal'd So thou hast given us licence yea a tye To seeke and know thee as thou art reveal'd Oh let me read thee in thy copies then But stay my thoughts where thou hast stay'd thy pen Thy largest booke is in thy works indented Thy lesser copy in our soules ingraven Thy sacred volumes are the Scriptures printed Thy secret lines are sent by grace from heaven Which secret lines Lord center in my breast Those are the keyes to open all the rest I do confesse that I am much unfit To pry into thy Mysteries Divine Besides the starres will not of sparks admit To zoare into those circles where they shine Though thou the Sun from whence those starres have light Disdain'st not sparks but mak'st them burn more bright Oh then thou Sun yea light it selfe indeed Who dost not quench muchles disdainst the same The smoking flax nor break'st the brused reed Turn thou my spark into so pure a flame As may both warme my chilled soule within And burst out to the light of other men Thou dost confound things mightie by the weake Out of the mouths of babes ordainest praise Mak'st the unlearned yea the dumb to speake Rejectest none but who rejects thy waies That hate to be reform'd Lord helpe me here And in my weaknesse let thy strength appeare Breathings after Divine Ayre EArth stand amazed stand amaz'd and move And be you heav'ns astonished above A man and yet no maker hells abisse Yea tremble earth and heav'n and hell at this Superiour powers who fram'd this matchlesse frame This man and form'd your Image in the same What fretting time or what infernall powers Have rac'd or thus defac'd that worke of yours You made him holy he defiles his race You gave him honour he hath lost that grace You lent him knowledge he abus'd that light Yours by creation he denies you quite Unhappie chance unhappie change alas What brought this most unhappie change to passe Who turn'd this perfect good to perfect evill But he that turn'd from Angell to a divell That hatefull hurtfull enemy indeed Who whiles man slept cast tares amongst the seed Or rather only in that peece of clay Cast tares and stole the pretious seed away Presumptuous theefe and enemy to man Whose hidious theft in heav'n above began He there aspir'd to steale from the most high And there most justly rob'd himselfe thereby For this his fact thrown down from heav'n to hell He lost himselfe and maker as he fell And ever since his restlesse selfe hath tost To steale from man what he by stealing lost But silly man shall such a hatefull foe Rob thee of God prevaile upon thee so Shall hells black vapours so thy soule benight To put out of thee all celestiall light But sensles man or rather savage beast Canst thou thus at the God-head make a jeast The fiends in hell more fealtie declare For they confesse there is a God and feare Oh horid hellish blasphemy or worse The damn'd in hell deny not God though curse And such as here against him dare dispute Shall find hereafter hell will them confute But silly man or monster of that name In mind a monster though a man in frame Resolve this
Palace of his soule a doore To keep in vertue and to shut out sin Were then set ope to let that traytor in Which traytor enter'd struck with sin as dead The whole man from the feet unto the head Who to thy foe thus being brought in thrall Lost both thy image and himselfe withall Nay yet lost more for by this cursed deed Losing himselfe he lost his wretched seed He lost thy image lost thy love thy grace He lost himselfe his happinesse and race Oh fearfull losse and eke oh fearfull gain Thou wert depos'd thy enemy did raigne Thy image lost the divell put on his Heaven was exchang'd for hels most deep abysse Lord what a heavy hidious change was here Lord how did man then in thy sight appear Lord with what patience couldst thou then abide To see the divell so in triumph ride Or Lord what pity in thy bowels boyl'd To see poore Adam so for ever foyl'd To see poore Adam thus undone by theft Thus of his jewells of thy grace bereft Cast out by thee of Paradise below And left unto the malice of his foe Nay foes indeed and a most potent troup The creatures all who were ordain'd to stoup At Adams beck now in rebellion rose The elements they all became his foes Which were his friends and all at peace before The winds to rage the sea began to roare The fire to burn and which of all is worst The earth for his offence became accurst Oh! Adam Adam though we may refuse As we are sons our father to accuse Yet being wounded by thy deadly blow We cannot but lament thy overthrow Hadst thou in tryall nor been over come Though we thy seed who should succeed thy room Had fallen our fall it had been small to thine Thy fall as head hath tainted all thy line Thou art our Head and we thy members be Thou art condemned how can we be free Had but a member only fault bin A member only should have dy'd therein But through the one death raigned over all Death by thy death brought all to death in thrall Death temporall that no mortall shall divert Death too eternall is our due desert Lord most immense in mercy yet so pure Thy sight can no polluted thing indure How could thy mercy and thy justice meet In viewing Adam thus from off his feet But how can we thy mysteries discusse Whose wayes are so past finding out by us Thou in thy wisdome it is so divine Couldst make thy mercy through thy justice shine When thou whose wayes cannot be understood Saw'st Adam thus polluted in his blood As Lord thy justice did his sentence give Of death thy mercy said unto him live Sure 't was the time of love when thou pass'd by For Adam only had deserv'd to dye That justice did injoyne but live again Thy mercy only did that musicke strain Oh! heavenly musick harmony most blest Thus peace and justice truth and mercy kist Justice by death thus satisfi'd in striving Mercy againe thus answer'd by reviving But Adams soule did first to sin consent His body guilty as an instrument Could then the death of Adams body serve When Adams soule did greatest death deserve No no alas that cannot serve the turne Although the body should for ever burne In flames of hell it could not satisfie Thou hast pronounc'd the soule that sins shall dye Most gracious God and great beyond conceit How could poore Adam beare this heavy weight Poore feeble fearfull faint and bending reed Support a burden infinite indeed Here was indeed the depth of miseries Adam must dye but death would not suffice His fact so foule and infinite had bin Death temp'rall could not expiate his sin Justice must yet be satisfi'd by dying Death temp'rall it could not be satisfying Adam must therefore suffer death eternall Or rather live a death which is infernall Lord thus we finde and make confession must Thy wayes are right our condemnation just We thus behold thy streams of justice flowing Most justly to our utter overthrowing But though thy justice seem'd to goe before Yet thou hadst mercy treasur'd up in store To free those slaves that Adam brought in thrall That so thou might'st have mercy upon all Well may we say love in thy bosome burn'd And bowells in thee of compassion yern'd How like a deare and most indulgent father Or like a melting hearted mother rather Who when her infant hath receiv'd some harmes Then most bemoanes it in her tender armes Even so thy goodnes did thy love bewray In that thy mercy could not brook delay But in the instant whiles the wound did bleed Prescrib'd a plaister for the wounded seed And mov'd with fury against Adams foe Who like a serpent had betray'd him so Not only for the present curs'd him for 't But thence for ever made his chaine more short And told that Serpent that the womans seed Which he had so much shaken in that reed That it should unto such a Cedar grow As should infine his Kingdome overthrow Oh! pretious promise drop'd from thine own pen Peace upon earth and good will unto men Both oyle and wine to heale the wounded man Drawn from that wounded good Samaritan Oh pretious promise by which Adams wife Late of his death becomes his means of life Oh pretious promise and for ever sweet By which divided heaven and earth did meet But Lord what seed what heavenly seed was this Whose promise only could afford such blisse Seed heavenly yea seed wonderfull indeed On which our fathers many years did feed To life yea unto life eternall while This seed it seem'd was buried in the soyle But when this promise should become fulfil'd Lord what a harvest must this seed then yeeld But when this seed converteth into bread It must give life sure to the very dead This did exceed the Manna which was given This was the bread that did come down from heaven The bread of God yea very God indeed Thy selfe oh Lord was promis'd in this seed A bread ordain'd before the world began To save the world to give new life to man And when the fulnesse of the time expir'd Thou did'st fulfill what man had long desir'd Mad'st that appear in substance to be true Which was before but shadow'd to the view But oh thou wonder-working God above Whose justice thus but amplifies thy love Who but thy selfe could have by searching pry'd How mercy could have justice satisfi'd But who but thee could ever have been brought To work a wonder as this worke was wrought That thou whose justice did mans sentence give Shouldst in thy mercy die that man might live And yet we do unto our comfort find Thou in thy mercy wert to man thus kind Rather then mankind should for ever lie In chaines of death the God of life would die But gratious God how can this granted be Thou art a spirit form corruption free The fountain too of life it selfe how then Canst thou be said to dye
for sinfull men Besides great God if thou as God couldst dye Which thing we must for evermore deny Yet man from death could thereby not be free For man hath sin'd and man must punish'd be Oh I soule polluting deadly sinck of sin That mankind should be so defil'd therein That God himselfe and only God remain Might not forgive nor wash away the stain No way but suffering would make full supplies Offended justice claim'd a sacrifice Man had no offering that would serve the turn Thou mightst not but thy melting heart did yern Yern Lord indeed to see hells raging fire But sawst no Sacrifice to thy desire And yet that man for ever might not burn Thou didst prepare a body for the turn Because that man no sacrifice could find Nor could thy Godhead suffer in that kind Thou didst unite by everlasting ties Thy selfe to man to be a sacrifice Thy second person and thy only Son Begotten long before the world begun Who scorning shame through all the danger ran Tooke flesh upon him and was found a man A perfect man and perfect God likewise And so became a perfect sacrifice As man for man he dy'd and lay as slain As God he conquerd death and rose again A perfect man without defect by sin A perfect God he had for ever bin Hid God-head and his manhood both intire Yet joynd in one one person we admire By thy decree he put out nature on Our nature thus exceping sin alone And living guiltlesse for himselfe therein He dying free'd the guilt of other men But being guiltlesse death was not his due Indeed respecting of himselfe t is true But he be came man onely to that end As free to free men that by sin offend But could the death of one suffice for all Yes such a one as we may truly call Both God and man yea God whose sacrifice All men nay Angells cannot equallize If Adam but a creature could so fall To bring all creatures of the world in thrall Sure the creating God made man might free All mankind fallen in a more full degree A second Adam thus is truly found To save the world the first in sin had drownd That as by one man all men guilty stood Even so by one man all might be made good First Adam falling dy'd be cause he fell The second standing dy'd of his good will A free will offering thus he freely gave Which by his free will had a power to save A free will offering Lord we truly say For of thy selfe thou hadst no debt to pay Untill it pleas'd thee to assigne thy Son To pay mans debt whom sin had quite undon Dear God that thou shouldst bring thy selfe in debt The greatnesse of it too should be no let Should'st binde thy selfe by promising a seed When thou before wert absolutely freed Could not the greatnesse of the debt to pay Those flames of love within thy breast alay When thou consider'st in thy deep fore-cast That it would cost thy dearest blould at last Lord what is man we still may aske of thee That for his sake thou could'st thous moved be That he which in thy bosome did remaine Should be a Lambe from the beginning slaine These secrets sure were hid from Adams eyes Had he knowne these he would have been more wise But we poore wretched we that with him fell Dp know and yet we doe again rebell We know and doe acknowledge as we read All this fulfill'd which was before decree'd That this eternall Seed thy Son is come By thee begotten in the Virgins wombe And by a way beyond our reach became Both God and Man a Lion and a Lambe We know againe thy Scriptures testifie How like a Lambe he did both live and dye How sinlesse blamelesse harmlesse and demure He did the malice of the world indure Number'd with sinners and yet free from spot Smitten of sinners yet he threatned not Led as a sheep did to the slaughter come Yet opened not his mouth but was as dumbe Where like a Lambe most innocent and free To cleare the guilty must condemned be And to regaine our freedome by his losse He by our sins was nayl'd unto the crosse Where wounded with those soul deep wounding spears Instead of a distilling floods of tears Heaven was set open and its fountaines ran With streams of bloud to wash polluted man Where like a lamb once offer'd up for all He drank not only vinegar and gall But dranke that bitter cup which doth therein The vialls of thy vengeance due for sin By drinking which he did asslwage thine ire He quench'd the flames of everlasting fire And purchas'd heaven to â—â—â—â—â—ate gaping hell And all for mankind out of meere good will Oh! worke of wonder can our hearts not shake At this whereat the very earth did quake The stones did rend graves let out men that slept The heavens above put out thelt lights and wept We read again when he thus like a lamb Had finish'd that for which he hither came How like a Lion he began to wake Or how like Sampson he the cords did breake And did assume his sacred corps again As one returnd with conquest from the slain Who like a Lion joy full of his prey He having took the sting of death away And made the grave a bed of sweet repose He rould away the mightie stone and rose And came and preach'd by his new preaching birth Deliverance unto captive men on earth Yea in the earth his rising from the grave Of all mens rising testimony gave This Lion now of Iudas Tribe as man Having fulfild his Priest here began To take his Royall Scepter in his hand As King to rule as God to Kings command But Lord his body now was glorifi'd He might no longer now on earth abide His Kingdome was not of this wotld not here His seat so raigne was in a higher spheare He must to heav'n into the throne of grace The earth is but his foot-stoole and too base And having fully all thy Law fulfil'd Made death the divell hell and sin to yeeld He did ride up triumphant in renown After his conquest to receive his Crowne Where thou hast crownd him with a crown more worth Then all the richest Diadems on earth With heaven it selfe and earth besides with all Those higher circles and this nether ball And with this scepter in his hand as fit Hast at thy right hand him in glory set Where he remains exalted and as God Doth rule the wicked with an iron rod But as he yet is God and man we read As man he yet for man doth intercede To thee his Father shewing of the scars Which he received in his hloody warres And thus he hath a Priest-hood yet on high Though not to suffer yet to sanctifie All our oblations and his saving Name The Alter where thou wilt accept the same Together with his Person where is kept The forme of man into thy bosome crept Whose sacred body
ensuing pain Why strive we here in pleasures to excell Or count distresse and sorrows here a hell Dives THrice wretched yea most wretched soule am I Wretched yea wretched drown'd in misery Drown'd yea and bound in that infernall pit Which hath no bottome yea more wretched yet Not only bound but bound in chaines a yoke Perpetuall too which never shall be broke Never what never without end or date Oh! this word never makes me desperate Desperate indeed no hope for me remaines I am in hell in everlasting chaines This purgatory I am in indeed Am in 't is true but out cannot be freed Hence to redeeme me men may be at cost But all in vaine and to no purpose lost Here intercessions dirges are too late Mans love is vaine where God above doth hate Lazarus THrice happy soule am I what happy thrice Yea infinitely in a Paradise Eternall in the heavens oh best of all And yet more happy where I cannot fall No Serpent here to tempt me to rebell I have a place from whence that Serpent fell No aple here whereby I can be try'd No choice offends where nothing is deny'd Nor can I now in my affections stray Corruption thence is purged clean away And with the Angels which have ever stood I freed from ill am now confirm'd in good I now indeed am from all danger free I cannot sin then cannot punish'd be I now am happy beyond end or weight And therefore happy beyond all conceit The Authors Epigram DIves in hell now suffers for that sin Which we on earth doe take our pleasure in Dives in soule is with his sin tormented We in the body are with sin contented Dives in soule contemplates his hard fate We in the body ponder not our state Dives in hell as desperate must indure We upon earth are desperately secure Lazarus in heaven contemnes all earthly toyes We upon earth regard not heavenly joyes Lazarus in soule now freed from earth hath rest We in the body thinke that thraldome best Lazarus in soule hath now in fault to mind We in the body nothing but offend Lazarus in heaven hath now no cure in â—ake We upon earth have our accounts to make Dives DIstressed soule my miseries indeed Are out of measure yet must more exceed Distressed soule what punished by art Thus fully tortur'd and yet but in part I in my soule am hellishly distrest While my corrupted carkasse is at rest But that and I ere long must meet againe Not to asswage but to increase my paine Unhappy soule was I indeed the first That did offend that I am punish'd worst I am in hell the body yet seems free Did I pollute the body or that me But this is sure both were created good And in that state wherein we might have stood The Apple was unto the eye presented But I unto the eating in consented Lazarus I Happy I who once was wretched heal'd Am now in soule in that Elysian field Mear heaven celestiall Paradise where I In boundlesse pleasures greater to discry I happy I have many years injoy'd What pleasures may be from the body void Which freedome might have justly been reputed A comfort when the body was polluted But when the body shall new formed be And made immortall from corruption free Shall to me by the hand of the Creator Be joyn'd againe my joy shall then be greater My present joyes are infinite yet some Of them in hope which hopes shall then become All hop'd for pleasures then shall be suppli'd The new form'd Bridegroome have his reform'd bride The Authors Epigram MOst happy Lazarus how art thou renown'd How are thy sad and patient sufferings crown'd With ample yea within 〈◊〉 victories And shalt have yet is greater weight of glories Thou in thy body were 〈◊〉 distrest Thou in thy soule art now in heaven at rest Thou in thy soule and body joyn'd againe With Saints made perfect shall triumphant reigne Vnhappy Dives thou hast done thy mirth Thou in the body hadst thy heaven on earth But now thy spirit from the body freed Doth finde its selfe in very hell indeed Thou in the body only but devis'd To make the body were impâ—rudis'd But on thy soule and time to come unheedfull The state in both is therefore now most â—readfull Dives MOst wretched I besides the woes I have Methinks I heare my bones within my graye As troubl'd with some fatall Trumpets sound Begin to shake and shiver in the ground Disquieted bones why rest you not as rotten Why are you not eternally forgotten What awfull power or dreadfull earthquake rather Is this which wakes and shakes you thus together But can the bones consumed into dust Restored be Yes wofull yes they must Both bones and flesh are but in earth refin'd They must together once againe be joyn'd Oh! how have I offended is not death Of body for the body condign wrath And hell sufficient for the soules reward No no there is a sentence yet more hard Lazarus MOst blessed I what joyes have I in store How out of measure can they yet be more Yes joyfull yes I yet more joyes shall finde When once my body to my soule be joyn'd When that long look'd for act is to be done How shall my flesh and bones together run And by the rising of that Lambe was slaine Have power infused to stand up again Then from the sad sepulchre of anoy How shall I but lift up my head with joy And in the body deeply ravish'd be Thus from that prison set for ever free Besides my body which now rests in peace Shall then from all corruption have release And like a Bridegroom ready trim'd to me The bride for ever shall new marri'd be The Authors Epigram OH Dives Dives thou on earth hadst store Hadst all things in abundance no man more But when thy sleep be slept dost understand Thou shalt awake with nothing in thy hand Oh! whither would thy soule then take her flight To keep out of the body if it might How would it rather forth the body dwell Then in the body feel another hell But Lazarus thou shalt then come forth with joy Thou in the world hadst nothing but annoy But when that day of restitution comes Thou shalt have plenty Dives not the crums Thy body which in rags was bound up here Shall then in most celestiall robes appear Thy soule therewith much ravish'd and delighted Shall in much pleasure be thereto united Dives T Is true indeed yea too to true alas As Scripture speaks which alwaies comes to passe It is decre'd for all men once to dye But were that all more happy then were I. But oh this sentence is not here confin'd The soule and body must againe be joyn'd The soul from hell the body from its tombe And after death must unto judgement come Confounded wretch how shall I then subsist Which if I might not I the more were blest But yet I must alas
I must appear But with what face alas I tremble here I in the body made of sin a sport I in the body then must answer for 't The Judge of all will justly then define Whether his wayes were equalest or mine Lazarus OH blessed body though a while in prison How will the soule take pleasure in thee risen And how againe will thy delights increase When as the soule returns to thee in peace How like the Turtle sent out of the Arke After the stood returning to that Barke With signes of joy shalt thou my soule my Dove Be in that day return'd with signes of love How shall my late dry scattered bones up stand When thou thus bringst a pardon in thy hand Yea with what comfort shall I be inspir'd When thus my corps is from the grave retir'd Nay with what courage shall I then appear What joy when my redemption draweth near What tongue on earth is able to expresse What joy in conscience I shall then possesse The Authors Epigram MOst fond yea most infatuated we Have ears and heare not eyes and will not see Or else how could we whiles we here remaine So blinded be in things which are so plain How could we else like men whom charms benum Be so unfeeling of the chance to come To not observe like men most sure to die What Dives lost what Lazarus gain'd thereby Here who but Dives had the cap and knee Here who came forth with greater pompe then he But lo hereafter dead and cold again Alas he comes forth trembling in a chain But blessed Lazarus who was here a scorn As out of time or most untimely born Shall when the dead are summon'd from the grave Come forth with comfort then most honour have Dives OH dreadfull dreadfull in what dreadfull terrours Am I in hell tormented with my errours By only meditating on that horrour My soule shall be in when the Judge sends for her But with what feare shall I be then possest The feare of which doth thus my soule molest When I at last shall feel the thing I feare Shall rise you dead and come to judgement here How like a prisoner in a chaine at last Shall I stand forth to heare my sentence past How like a most condemned wretch alas I am condemned ere the sentence passe My conscience which once counterfeited sleep Now in my soule a restlesse court doth keep And then shall make a Register come forth Worse then a thousand witnesses on earth Lazarus VVHat joyes are these which now so neer approch Divinest thoughts may you thereon incroach Incroach Oh! seise thereon be not deter'd They were for me before the world prepar'd For me what me who beg'd from door to door And in my selfe am to my selfe as poore Have neither birth nor worth in me whereby So mean a wretch should chalenge joyes so high Yet see and wonderd to these joyes divine I have such right that they by right are mine God did prepare Christ purchas'd I by faith Receive them due thus imputation saith But oh my sins are great but that 's no let In purchasing my joy Christ paid my debt But I must give account that 's yet to make But He that paid my debt my count must take The Authors Epigram OH happy Lazarus how maist thou stand sure How swimst thou in a sea of joyes secure Thy debt is paid which was so out of measure And paying that hath purchas'd thee a treasure What needst thou shake then at a judgement day Or of accounts who hast no debts to pay Or why shouldst feare the Judges face to see When as the Judge shall thy redeemer be But wretched Dives wretched sure indeed Thou hast a boundlesse fearfull bill to read Wherein thy debt is manifest and clear No crossing there no cancelling appear There was a time but now that time is lost Wherein thou might'st have got thy reckoning crost How wilt thou answer to the Judge of heaven Thou canst not pay nor canst thou be forgiven Dives MOst wofull I who now in wofull ruine In hell still muse of greater woes eusuing One woe doth another woe foreshew Woe endlesse woe my foresight is too true My woes againe are yet as to begin Wretch I have yet to answer for my sin Where my indictment must be found indeed Before a Judge too who will not be feed A Judge whose mercy I would not imbrace Where mercy moves not justice must take place A Judge who once cry'd gently come away But thou shalt to me goe you cursed say How will those Angells and those Saints abhor me Which I abus'd once seeking to doe for me How will those divells which I once obey'd Then cry my wages shall be duly paid Lazarus YEe Cherubins and Seraphins divine Come aid me with your tongues or teach you mine That in some measure I may so expresse My present joy in future happinesse My joy conceiv'd of my Redemption day When I shall meet my Saviour in the way Where I shall blesse the houre that I was borne When all the kind'reds of the earth shall mourn When earth and all the burden on the same Shall burne unto that nothing whence they came The skies shall melt the stars the sunne the moone Shall join to make perpetuall night at noone When out of heav'n the Judge of all most true Shall come downe riding on the clouds in view To bind the Divels and the damned down How sweetly shall He smile on me not frown The Authors Epigram MOst lambe like Lazarus thou shalt be set by Thy blood is not requir'd thou shalt not die When sacrifice for ever shall remaine In hell for sin the goats shall then be slaine Thou heer wert famish'd when the goats did feed Their hearts were cherish'd when thy heart did bleed But when they shall be sever'd from the sheep Thou shalt rejoice but they shall howle and weep But goat like Dives thou shalt pay full deer For eating up the sheep's allowance heer When they shall scape thy blood shall then be shed Thou wert but for a day of slaughter fed Fond thou who heer wouldst have the upper hand Must on the left at heav'ns tribunall stand And heare the Judge this sentence on thee passe Goe cursed goat my sheep must have the grasse Dives OH wretched I what shall of me become When wretched Goe ye cursed be my doome How shall my soule and body both affrighted Then curse the howr they were again united Then in what glory shall those Saints appeare At whom proud asse I once did slout and jeere How shall their blessing then increase my curse My conscience for abusing of them worse How shall the Divels then with fury driven Seaze me for hell thus sentenc'd out of heav'n And on me with much insultation rage As if my torments might their owne asswage Then with the hideous howling herd of hell I shall be thrown down to that dreadfull cell Where we in flames which
never faile shall burne From whence we never never shall returne Lazarus HOw shall I prize those words to me exprest Oh! Come thou blessed enter thou my rest Sweet meditations heav'nly joyes in heart These thoughts indeed are very heav'n in part How shall I then who once was most debas'd Be with much glory on the right hand plac'd And sit with Angels and with Saints to see The bad condemned and the good set free How shall I thence ascend up far above When my Redeemer shall his Court remove When Saints shall sing and Angels shall rejoyce How shall we mount up with a merry noyse How justly then shall Jesus wear the crown He having put all adversaries down How lowd in heav'n shall I his prayses sing There grac'd to wait upon so great a King The Authors Epigram ONce silly Lazarus now a Saint at rest Ere long a judge at last a son most blest Who could have seen when thou wert upon earth That thou hadst in thee any signe of worth When Kings and great men shall be in despaire At the great Sessions holden in the ayre There thou shalt in Commission sit and thence Ascend far higher with the highest Prince But once rich Dives now poore Dives nam'd Ere long arraign'd at last for ever damn'd Who would have thought when thou wert in thy pride That robes of purple could such ruines hide When Saints which here thou mad'st to mourne shall sing At heavens Assises thou thy hands shalt wring And to the mountaines and the hils complaine To fall and hide thee but alas in vaine Dives TOrmented wretch might I remaine in hell Only in soule tormented it were well Well though in woes which cannot be exprest Yet to the woes which are to come a rest But oh my body which in earth now lying Is as but in a furnace purifying Till it be such when it is fully try'd As may for ever burning flames abide That must againe my wofull soule ingage Which burning prison shall my soule inrage The one unto the other adding fuell The angry divells evermore most cruell Oh! Adam Adam why fogot'st thou this When thou for ever might'st have liv'd in blisse When thou on earth in Paradise didst dwell Thou thought'st not then on a perpetuall hell Lazarus NOw happy yea now heavenly I and sure 'T is only that makes happinesse secure When once my body from the grave be freed How shall I then be comforted indeed When my blest soule and body both united Shall reigne in heaven how shall I be delighted How shall I here be fully satisfi'd Where pleasant streames of endlesse pleasure glide One joy doth here another joy begin Increase of joyes makes joy increase therein Here from one fountaine rivers do distill Where Saints and Angels ever drinke their fill Here are those riches which all wants supply Because they alwayes fully satisfie Here are those joyes which are for ever crown'd Here nothing else but joy is to be found The Authors Epigram LAzarus Thy soule shall downe ere long retire To give thy body motion to mount higher Most swiftly soaring on thy Eagle wings From earth to heaven unto the King of Kings How highly there shall heavenly Angels place thee How sweetly there shall fellow Saints imbrace thee How welcome there shall Christ thy Saviour make thee How pleasing there shall God the Father take thee But with thee Dives thus it shall not be The clean contrary shall be true in thee When thou in soule and body shalt be cast Into that gaping cave of hell at last How eager shall the divels then be on thee How gastly shall the damned gaze upon thee What outward tortours shalt thou feel within What endlesse torments shalt thou then begin Dives OH savage senses brutish appetites In sensuall pleasure was your choice delights Your rage was only ruler in my heart You did command my understanding part Yea in my little Microcosmus vaine Did like so many heathen Princes reigne The world and all things in the world at will Were yours and yet you unsufficed still Thus all that world could not suffice my lust The divells therefore in another must My appetites which there did so excell Shall here be gorg'd with infinites in hell Each several sense which could not there be cloy'd Shall here be fed till it would food avoid Only the difference that shall then appear There fed with pleasures but with torments here Lazarus THe outward senses which to some are those Where at they drink in rivers of repose Were unto me but Cunduit pipes of care To let in floods of misery and feare My senses and my appetites I grant Did often gape and hunger in my want But for the most part hunger'd in despaire Or fed on troubles and infected ayre But when my body here above shall reigne My senses shall not covet here in vaine Each severall sense and secret appetite Shall here be fed with fulnâ—sse of delight Here is that banquet which delight each taste Here is that oyle which drawne on doth not waste Here are those cases once figur'd in a sheet Here is that manna which is ever sweet The Authors Epigram THus purblinde we on earth may partly see What plagues in hell prepared be That seeing those we so may have a care To kill sin heer if be not punish'd there Thus sinfull we whose sinnes or soules must die Our sinnes heer or our soules eternally May labour heer to put our sinnes to death Our tender soules may scape eternall wrath And thus again when we have got like men Some manly conquest over beastly sin We may with comfort view those joyes on high Where men shall live that make their sinnes to die Thus we of all may rightly make good use Fore-sight of danger oft prevents abuse And where the prize is glorious to behold It makes the dullest enterpriser bold Dives MY sense of taste was upon earth that Cooke Within whose Kitchin I most pleasure tooke And when its sacrifice was on the fire I offer'd up my earnestest desire This sug'red sense or rather savage beast Which oft devour'd when I could not digest Which still cri'd kill let sacrifice be slaine And drunk down liquor as the earth doth raine This idoll sense shall one day have its fill When soule and body 's sacrific'd in hell Where fiery fiends are cooks for ever killing And Divels tapsters diligent in filling Which cookes with scorching shall my throat inflame Those tapsters powre down sulphur in the same My soule with torments tortur'd for my sin Shall curse blaspheme and roar and rave within Lazarus MY sense of taste or taste of sense indeed Because I was most sensible of need Requir'd on earth no cooke at all because Still griping hunger gave my meat a sawce Yea I full oft was glad if I had meat Yea glad of that which others scorn'd to eat Yea glad of crums yea often driven to fast And glad to smell the meat
I might not taste But when I in my body shall be grac'd To sit in heaven where none but Saints are plac'd And at most sacred invitations given Shall taste the Supper of the Lambe in heaven My taste shall then in relishing be skil'd And with each sweet distinguished be fill'd Yea taste the sweetnesse of those streames of bloud Those heavenly Fountaines which on earth were shed The Authors Epigram DIves on earth with delicates was fil'd We taste all dainties that the earth can yeeld Dives did in excesse of liquor sin We tun down barrels drown our selves therein Dives thus drinking thought not on the poore We are so drunken we forget them more Dives in hell must therefore suffer need Yea hellish woes then how shall we be freed But once poore Lazarus who on earth distrest Was both with hunger and with thirst opprest Yet in his conscience then injoy'd that feast In which we famish or much fast at least He now in heaven already hath that store We never tasted and shall yet have more For which he sought to which we make no haste For which he long'd in which we feel no taste Dives MY sense of smelling which was once so nice Each stincke offended it but stincking vice I stopt my nostrils and I shut my doores To shut out Lazarus with his fest'red sores Which ayrie sense refresh'd my other powers By sweet perfumes and odoriferous flowers Extracting thence such savours of delight As fed that most attractive appetite This sense in the infecting fogs of hell Shall suck most deadly savours by the smell And stead of flowers and sweet perfuming shall Be fed with fumes of sulphur boild in gall Besides the loathsome savours in this den Of plagued poyson'd and tormented men The stincke of fiends and divells unto me Is now most grosse and shall more grievous be Lazarus MY smelling did on earth some comfort give When I was forc'd Camelian like to live But sweet perfumes and powders vainly spent Made me not proud to make the world a sent Barns styes and stables and full glad of those Were my persumed lodgings of repose My empty stomack of this sense annoy'd My stincking sores my empty stomack cloy'd But when my body shall exalted be To reigne in heaven from all corruption free Where all things are most sweet and purely try'd This sense shall then be sweetly satisfi'd This sense shall then have the preheminence Made of the five the most reviving sense If senses then such instruments shall prove By sucking in some living ayre above The Authors Epigram IF Dives now could but those dainties smell He tasted here he would give thanks in Hell We taste like dainties double if not thrice And yet ungratefull in a Paradise But Dives who here thought not at his board Of God hath now what Divels will afford We oft forget both God and eke our selves Then what hereafter can we looke for else If Lazarus were on earth againe no doubt He would but of our sweetest odoures flout We with our seeming sug'red sweets in love Are but in jest with sweetest joyes above Lazarus did wisely send up ere he went His suits as incense which now yeeld him sent We if we will not of the like despair Must send up first a savour sweet by prayer Dives MY sense of feeling which on earth was that I nurs'd most gently as a tender brat No care was lacking to preserve that sense From the sustaining of the least offence This sense forsooth might not endure the winde I little felt the smart in any kinde Of want of woe of sicknesse or of sin Within my selfe much lesse in other men But when my soule ascending on a chaine Shall fetch my body hither from the slaine I here in hell â—hall in that tender part Be most tormented feel the greatest smart My body here fast bound in fetters lying Shall tortur'd be in flames of sulphur frying My soule most fully then shall feel the sting Of sin that serpent in my conscience wring Lazarus FRe I was borne within my mothers wombe My sense of feeling suffer'd in that tombe And only sadly comming forth that cage I in that part did first salute earths stage And in that part I panted out my breath Till I was taken off that stage by death A wretched life insu'd a painfull birth Most wretched painfull Tragedy on earth But as my soule which was on earth distrest Is now in heaven return'd unto its rest So shall my body breaking ope its grave Ascend up hither from that silent cave Where it shall feel no hunger cold nor smart But heavenly fulnesse and content of heart My feeling sense to make its fulnesse measure Shall here be only sensible of pleasure The Authors Epigram LAzarus was here most patient in distresse We murmure yea seem often mad in lesse Lazarus was not here with his sin diquieted We feel not that or are with that delighted But Lazarus now doth feel his soule at rest Our soules alas not yet with sin distrest But would we finde what Lazarus now doth feel Our hearts must first be gentle here not steel Dives here might not feel the least annoy But Dives he had there for here his joy If here we feel not penitentiall griefe We shall feel desp'rate with the damned theefe But Dives in his feeling sense in hell Is now most plagu'd which plagues shall yet excell If we here make that tender sense our god It will in hell be our most torturing rod Dives MY sense of hearing which was once most nimble To heare each Syrens sugred tongue dissemble Each sound of pleasure musick sweet and worse Hells language people swear blaspeme and curse But when the cry of Lazarus full of care Did pierce the heavens it could not make me heare Nor could those voyces sent from heaven by preaching Repent repent awake me with their teaching This sense in hell instead of musicke sweet When all the damned shall together meet Shall be compell'd to heare me helpe to make A cry in hell would make the earth to shake We desp'rate creatures roaring in hells flame The damned divells raging in the same Gods voice of justice like most hideous thunder Above us with his vengeance boyling under Lazarus MY hearing sense I once did exercise With the sad ecchoes of my childrens cries My beating heart was in my bosome stung To heare those infants cry for food so young Besides the sad heart-breakings at the doore Of rich men rating of my children poore With churlish checks and threats of further griefe Instead of yeelding comfort or reliefe This sense in heaven shall no such language heare But come you blessed kindest welcomes there No churlish motions ever shall repell My suits there granted Dives is in hell This sense in heaven to musick shall attend Which earthly senses can not apprehend For ever ravish'd with those glorious Three To heare how sweetly they in one agree The Authors Epigram
DIves deny'd what Lazarus beg'd in want Dives now beg's what Lazarus must not grant Impartiall Justice dost thy hand so guide One drop of water may not fall beside Then why are we so in our hearing gul'd With the fond false enchantments of the world To stop our eares when poore men aske and know We must not beg if we will not bestow Dives in hell is now with horrour fill'd Lazarus hath musicke what the heav'ns can yield Dives hence forth shall never hear of joy Lazarus shall never hear the least annoy Let Dives then our daily warning be He once had musicke mirth as sweet as we And wisely working on examples given Let Lazarus now allure our eares to heaven Dives MY eyes which once as windowes did appear Through which the worlds polluted face seem'd cleer By which false view my most fond heart became To fall in love most deeply with the same The world indeed did so my wits surprise Its moale-hills seem'd huge mountaines in mine eies But to this casement sense of mine alas Heav'n seem'd a mote oh most deceitfull glasse But these same eyes shall so wide open'd be In hell that I shall heer be forc'd to see How they were once deluded and confesse Heav'n is the mountain earth a moale or lesse Besides my sight shall be tormented most In hell beholding hells infernall host Where I for ever one of them shall view How ugly fiends shall use that hidious crew Lazarus MY sense of sight which in me as the Sun Doth to the world did shew me what was done This sense most cleer when I on earth indur'd Was clouded most by stormes of tears obscur'd And how could I forbeare such showers to see The world in robes and none but rags for me The world in pleasure I in paine and griefe The world in plenty I without reliefe But this my sense or those my very eyes Restor'd my body when it shall arise Above all clouds shall from ecclipse be free'd All tears shall then be wip'd away indeed Then I shall in my body both behold My body more resplendent made then gold And ever view that heav'nly vision sweet Wherein conjoin'd all heav'nly joyes doe meet The Authors Epigram LAzarus on earth by earthly sorrowes driven To loath the earth did lift his eyes to heav'n We upon earth by earthly joyes inchanted Conceive no other heav'nly are not wanted Lazarus in heav'n doth now injoy that mirth Which unto heav'n he look'd for upon earth Our eyes asleep with earthly beauties lul'd Lose the Creator by the creature gul'd Dives on earth with earthly Saints in love Look'd not for objects fairer far above If we here living looke not having sight For heaven we dying shall not then have light But Dives now his cursed soule acquaints In hell with such as here he made his Saints If we hereafter better mates require We must looke here to get acquaintancâ— higher The Authors Petition to the Throne of Grace DIvinest powers thus by your aid inspir'd My restlesse muse with quenchlesse sparkles fir'd Dosts through the world each fragrant garden views And plucks those flowers she thinks most fit to use Thus safely mounted on her hovering wings I taste some sweetnesse of those higher springs Which from the pipes of sacred fountaines flow By oddes more pleasant then the streams below Thus whiles the doter upon earthy toyes Delights in trifles or more earthly joyes My thoughts are towring not downe stooping here I take my pleasure in a higher sphere Thus whiles the worldling night and day is tost To gain that wealth which must againe be lost I reap such gaine as theeves cannot betray Nor time nor fate nor tyrants take away Thus I of wealth in poverty may vant Of mentall wealth though otherwise in want But oh you Authors of divinest thrift Doe you inrich me with some further gift Thus leave me not but give me power to strive To reach a strain beyond contemplative Oh teach my heart doe that in temper bring To strike more fully on the practique string Thus give me power that I my selfe may tread Those active measures I my selfe have made That what I proffer to the publicke view May in my selfe be secretly found true Not thus with sweets fill others hands with posies And in my bosome cankers stead of Roses Not by my lines thus limit out a way For others steps and run my selfe astray But make my action such as in some part May give some life to my unpolish'd art That these my labours so may fruitfull be If not to others yet at least to me And others by that concord sweet invited Shall with the musicke be at least delighted THE PRODIGALL SONNE AND THE PITTIFVLL FATHER The second Booke The prodigall Son MY restles thoughts what move you thus to rome Why rest you not what would you doe from home What doth incite you have you found some prey Worth your adventure that you needs would stray Yes yes rich treasures are abroad no doubt My stragling thoughts have found some jewels out But I am tender travels rough and yet My skill but small for travells much unfit But wherefore should I thus restraine my will I have my portion that shall purchase skill Discreetest Fathers do not much deny We yonger Brothers should our fortunes try Besides my sailes thus fil'd with motion strong Most sweet companions do intice along With earnest proffers of an equall share In treasures pleasures and contentments rare The Pitifull Father MY Son my Son who art to me so neer And whom I tender as a child most dear What worme is crept into thy troubled head Or by what serpent art become misled Whither my child oh whither would'st thou go What is the reason thou would'st leave me so Dost thou suppose it is no griefe to me Thus of a Son to disregarded be Alas my Son thou art too yong indeed To make a venture will such danger breed What favour canst thou looke to find in lands Most strange to thee and at meere strangers hands Strange lands and people and from me as far As Egypt is or Sodoms people were Where thou shalt find thy hopes but mock'd vaine trust For freedome bondage and for fruit but dust The Authors Epigram MOst sinfull sons rebellious we below If that a son such disobedience shew A son too by the woman that is free How desperate must the feed of Hagar be Too venturous children from our Father stray To make our selves unto our fees a prey Our sin a monster but our grace a brat And yet we will be prodigall of that Our tender Father who best knows our frame Our weaknesse sees and warns us of the same We are so wilfull though most weak indeed That we will trust unto our strength that reed Our Father sees what snares abroad are laying And therefore seeks to keep t is in from straying We by the worlds alluring wiles mistooke Suck down the bait suspecting not
power to die The Scripture only on the soule reflects All earthly objects it as base rejects The soule a spirit therefore only fit To read those copies by the spirit writ This Writ from heaven then summons up thy soul To heaven that Court which issu'd forth this scroule Glew not thy soule then too neare earthly things Hang no such plumets on its sublime wings Againe the Scriptures only have the art To search into the secrets of the heart They only can discover sin and prove Upon the conscience they came from above They only a beginning doe relate No humane Treatise of so ancient date They only have preserved been and shall Though ever doubtlesse envy'd most of all And in them in the sacred Writ I meane As in a glasse is only to be seen That perfect image of supernall might Which can be viewed by no other light There is I grant it in each humane frame An eye by nature fixed in the same Which doth by nature beyond nature see A pow'r there supernaturall must bee Which power no doubt hath deified been From the beginning by the race of men Though most for want of power to understand Ascrib'd that power unto some other hand As some to creatures like themselves but clay Some to the Sun as former of the day Some to the Moon some to the Stars yea know Some to the prince of hell below Yet all to something thus the infidell Beleeves there is a power that doth excell But ignorant of what it is doth faine Or forge a God out of his idle braine Thus natures pen by reasons power no doubt Doth point at God but cannot point him out Doth shew a God but what he is or where That Scriptures only fully can declare Shall then a heathen a meere Infidell Who never heard of either heaven or hell Or dreames of soule alone by natures view Discern there is a God and homage due Which is apparant all the world abroad All nations worship something as a God And shalt thou Atheist dar'st thou all alone Be worst of all men and acknowledge none Thou hast besides the wisest heathens sight Much greater aide far cleerer beames of light Gods holy and eternall word by name Eternall in the nature of the same Where thou maist its eternall author find It only gives that sight unto the blind And this thou hast not so to make thee pos'd As pretious oyntment in a box inclos'd Not only in the hidden letter teaching But open'd by the pow'rfull hand of preaching Canst thou not row then in this calmed ocean Sit'st thou in darknesse in this heav'nly Goshen Dar'st thou deny that Deitie which here Doth in such perfect characters appeare Oh do not thou degenerate so far To be more sordid then the divels are The divels do much forced duty shew To holy Scriptures and do know them true Shall divels then unto the Scriptures bow Confesse and feare them and yet wilt not thou Deluded Atheist be reform'd herein Seeke no such shadowes so to hide thy sin Because the Scriptures render thee unjust Thou dost condemne them so to save thy lust Let not thy senses thus thy soule inthrall For lose the Scriptures and thou dost lose all Both soule and body heav'n and God yea soe Dost likewise purchase everlasting woe T is then no marvell that thou art so blind Or rather desp'rate in thy carnall mind That in thy fancy thou cast apprehend No soule no heav'n nor pow'r that doth transcend How canst thou view these when thou dost in spleen Reject the glasse where these are to be seen The Scriptures are Gods tapers set up here Extinguish those no God will then appeare God in times past aid oft appeare I know In visions and in shadowes here below But when the substance his eternall Son Once shin'd here all those lesser lights had done Bright Sun indeed well might the stars give way And hid themselves in such a heav'nly day A heav'nly day when heaven it selfe we find Burst through the clouds came down to earth and shin'd And yet we find this day at last did fade This glorious Sun at length began to wade And from these nether Regions to retire Ascended to the circles that are higher Well might the world then here beneath lament And put on sackcloath weeds of discontent Bewailing deeply that earth darking day Which from the earth tooke such a light away This heavenly Sun now in the heavens again Whose glory heavens cannot alone containe Did leave some rayes below and now and then Doth dart down more amongst the sonnes of men But all that light now of that heavenly taper Is set up in a lanthorne here of paper In holy Scripture all that light doth shine That is the lanthorne which gives light divine Then thou that first in such a sable night That of this nature thou canst see no light 'T is doubtlesse cause thou dost not duly look Into that lanthorn use that heavenly book Wouldst thou have wisdome have thy sight made cleer Thy heart made gentle and thy soule appear See hell beneath and heav'n that is most high Discern thy maker and eternity Then use the Scripture thy dim feeble sight Is apprehensive of no greater light God knowes such secrets do mans sight surpasse And therefore wisely shewes them through a glasse A glasse indeed the Scripture is most faire And more transparent then the purest aire Through which the perfect Images are view'd Of objects in the highest altitude Presumptuous earth because thou canst not see By carnall reason how these things can be Thou dost conclude they cannot be in fine As if there were no greater power then thine Thou art a peece but of the Potters clay What can the peece unto the Potter say Canst thou suppose the brickle vessell made As skilfull as its maker in his trade But were this granted which were too too grosse Yet thou art vainer at a greater losse All other creatures but the divells bee The same they were created but not we Thou art far weaker worser and hast lost Much of thy Makers workmanship and cost Thy reason is corrupt thy senses soyl'd Thy nature taynted and thy soule defil'd Indeed in the perfection of estate Wherein perfection did thee first create Thy sight was such thou stood'st not then in need Of glasses or of spectacles to read Thy apprehension was not then so weake But thou hadst power to heare thy Maker speake In his owne language and couldst understand Without the helpe of any second hand But long in Adam thou hast lost that art Like Lucifer in acting of his part He would have been although in heav'n yet higher Thou wouldst although in Paradise aspire He saw Gods face yet that would not suffice Thou knew'st his voice yet thou wouldst be more wise He clyming lost the hight he had before And thou thy knowledge by desiring more Canst thou suppose then that impaired light Yet in thy understanding part so bright As
Makers skill So wonderfull in working of that shell A shell indeed we may the corps affirme Which hath no soule the soule a kernell tearm The shell a chest of curious art compos'd The kirnell is the treasure therein clos'd Then of what knowledge is he like to speed Of what man is by taking up that leed Which priz'd ope once by deaths steel pointed dart Mans soule flies out which is his better part Physitians then by ripping up the dead To view the body when the soule is fâ—ed Can thereby doubtlesse not directly see At all times how the elements agree In humane bodies nor exactly tell How humors flow and hurtfull vapours swell When as the soule commanding in the same Sets every wheel a working in that frame But say by this and other helpfull means Whereon some learned wise Physitian leans He could at all times perfectly relate The ever changing temper and estate Of humane bodies which no mortall can I am resolv'd 't is past the reach of man But grant he could yet what were all his art Alas but to discover man in part The least part and inferior too as far As is a sparkle from a perfect star The soule indeed that is the only gem In search whereof the clearest sight is dim Grave Pliny Galen Aristotle all That men for skill did most renowned call In former times were failing in this kinde Yea in this eye of knowledge almost blinde The rayes of this so dazled them though wise The more they look'd the more they lost their eyes Excepting Cato and some other few Who were inspir'd with a more piercing view Nay what man living failes not in this kinde Who knowes the motions of anothers minde Or pryes so far into anothers breast To finde how his affections are at rest What endlesse windings occupie his thought And deep devices in his braine are wrought Which sinking to their centre do convert To secret resolutions in the heart Nay silly men we are our selves so far From self discerning what we truly are Within our selves that we can hardly tell What is amisse in us or what is well Our hearts in us are so deceitfull grown We cannot search those bottomes of our own Oh silly creatures silly sure at least Who beare we know not what within our breast Nay in our bosomes shrowd a serpent which To seem a Saint doth mightily bewitch 'T is then no marvell though we may complain That our affections are exceeding vain Our thoughts our wits and all with folly haunted When all comes from a fountain so inchanted Deluded be we out of question must Who have a power within us so unjust A power indeed most potent too a heart Which nature makes the over-ruling part Which force doth sure sufficient battell give And more then we can conquer whiles we live Yet whiles we live we must be ever trying Though cannot fully conquer without dying Lord what is man then still we must inquire We are to seek still raise our judgements higher How comes our hearts so evill and accurst Sith thou created'st all things good at first Or how come we unto our selves so blinde That in our selves our selves we cannot finde Lost we so much inheriting of sin That by that gaine we lost our selves therein Prodigious action racing such a tower Prevailing so on thy creating power What thou hadst form'd deform'd and form'd again A most deformed form which doth remain God Al-creating it was in thy power To have restrayn'd that enemy of our Who wrought upon thy workmanship so far As to unmake and make us what we are But this was for our exercise no doubt That thou maist crowne us when the field is fought Besides to make thy love appear the more Remaking us more glorious then before Thou mad'st man sinlesse subject though to slide But thou wilt make him sinlesse to abide Thou gav'st him here a Paradise indeed But thou wilt give him heaven which doth exceed Lord what is man then man that dares to sin Of whom thou hast so ever mindfull been A world before this present world was wrought Admired man was pretious in thy thought Pretious indeed in such a boundlesse measure As if that man should be thy only treasure And thereupon determin'd in thy breast To seat him highest and to love him best Such wonders in that Moses face foreseeing As pleas'd thee well before he had his being Wherein indeed was manifestly shown Thou wouldst unite mans nature to thine own When in thy wisdome thou didst think it meet To set that fore-known creature on his feet To give man form that little world to frame What preparation mad'st thou for the same What heart of man can truly on it ponder And not be rap'd up in any holy wonder Before thou wouldst this wonder undertake Thou sell'st to working wonders for his sake Six dayes almost expired in preparing Of wondrous things against this wonders roaring Thy powerfull hand thy Spirit was imploy'd By moving on a mighty Chaos void Of form or beauty thence to draw by art The dry and solid from the liquid part Both which thou having as it were given birth One part was waters and the other earth Both which continue hanging in a sort Unto our judgement without all support Indeed the waters do the earth surround Againe the earth is to the seas a bound But how this should uphold that globe from fall That doth exceed mans purest sense of all But ere these orbes were fixed not to move And sever'd from the orbes that are above Thou didst ordaine that ornament of light Creating day from a prodigious night In which thy wonder working hand was clear By making so thy wonders to appear For without light thy wonders wrought below Had been but like the secret winds that blow But it did please thee to set ope a door To let in light where darknesse dwelt before And here beneath injoyn'd a pleasant way Of entercourse between the night and day And further yet to furnish thy desire Thou yet mad'st greater lights and set them higher And plac'd the lesse in absence of the Sun That night might not to former darknesse run Besides for signes and tokens in our clymes As perfect rules distinguishing of times Nay further by their fervor from above To make the earth a fruitfull mother prove For till the Sun unto our regions come And warms the earth it seems a barren womb When thou hadst made the firmament thus faire Whose rayes come darting to us through the aire Extending severall curtaines as the shrouds Between the higher and the nether clouds That by a secret interposing way One element support another may When thou had'st drawne the waters here below Into one fountaine there to ebbe and flow And when thou had'st the face of earth made plaine And made its bars the bottome of the main Upon which sure and deep foundation lay'd The pillars rear'd whereon this frame is staid Thou then began'st to looke into
heavens must sure containe Till in his Body he shall come againe To judge the Nations at the judgement day Which judgement hastens though we men delay Where he will unbeleevers overthrow But on the faithfull he will heaven bestow Where they thence forward shall for ever stand With palmes of pleasure blooming in their hand Thus Lord in part thou giv'st us leave to read Not only what man is but what indeed Thou dost and wilt doe for thy creature Man Nay what thou didst before the world began In reading which although unto our shame Our hearts remaine unmelted by this flame Yet this thy love makes Angells to admire And sets besides the divells most on fire But gracious God to most ungracious we Thus good in a most infinite degree Do'st thou not dinde us to thy beck herein Look'st thou for nothing from the sons of men Shall we remaine as senslesse logs unmov'd Returning nothing who are so belov'd Yes doubtlesse yes we are most strongly bound The stronger too The more thy love is found To yeeld thce something for these gracious tyes Yea to doe something for our selves like wise As thou for us hast offer'd up thy Son For us so acting all that might be done So we are lincked by the selfe same chaine To offer up a sacrifice againe Our selves our soules and bodies whiles we live To thee who didst both soule and body give To serve to praise to worship feare and love thee As none made equall much lesse plac'd above thee Thy love to us should make our love divine Thy power should make us fear no power but thine Thou art our God and therefore unto thee All divine worship must directed by We are exalted it were then a shame Should we not magnifie thee for the same Thou hast made all things for the use of men Men for thy selfe shall we not serve thee then That were too grosse all creatures in their kinde Unto thy beck are readily inclin'd No creature like us are unto thee bound And shall we worst of all the rest be found Lord let thy grace prevent this foule defect The creatures else will witnesse our neglect But yet we owe thee one thing more then they Although in all things faile with them to pay And that is faith which is a pearle more worth Then all the pearles and jewels else on earth A jewell which surpasseth humane art A gem in which the Angells have no part We for our selves and for that boundlesse store Thou giv'st us here do owe our selves and more But for thy Son and for the joyes above We owe besides a faith which works by love Oh pretious faith a fountaine long time seal'd A hidden manna treasure unreveal'd Unto the world for many hundred years At least wise as it unto us appears Who do injoy the object of our faith Made manifest as holy Scripture saith Indeed our fathers saw this day 't is ture And what they saw they did rejoyce to view Yet only through thy promises whereby They did but as it were far off discry Or yet more darkly as behinde a vaile In types and shadowes which were things to fail Yet being faith though weak it did suffice Thou bearing with the weaknesse of their eyes Thou didst accept of that which made them glad Because the light was yet but dim they had For till thy Son came it I may so speak Faith was an infant and his sight but weak And heaven but as a shop shut up to men It's windowes were not halfe set open then Nay thou hadst very little knowledge given For many ages of the name of Heaven The resurrection and the world to come These secrets were but shadowed out to some These thou kept'st close as under lock and key Reserved mysteries clouded in on high Untill thy Son that day Star did draw nigh From whom some day did by degrees appear By sending of thy Prophets to bewray Like cocks by crowing a succeeding day Especially that Prophet who begun To crow immediatly before thy Son John Baptist who at breake of day was sent To give the world a warning to repent And in the mercy let men understand The Kingdome yea of heaven was then at hand Yea heaven it selfe was then set open wide And all those types and figures verifi'd Which were as vailes before thy highest frame Which shadowes vanish'd when that substance came That Angel of thy covenant of light Whose presence is a banishment of night Who comming in thy purest brightnesse down Our clouded orbes with heavenly rayes to crown He brought thy secret lanthorn in his hand The Gospel through which light we understand The very secrets in thy court above Yea in thy bosome in that seat of love And by this lanthorne which is so divine That in the same thy very face doth shine He plainly shew'd us all that boundlesse treasure That Well of life and streams of endlesse pleasure Which heaven hath stor'd up and to us made clear That he had bought them at a rate full dear And doth reserve them only to bestow Upon conditions upon us below But what conditions doth he then require For saving mankinde from eternall fire But what conditions doth he then enjoyne For purchasing a Kingdome so divine Sure had he ty'd us to remaine in hell A thousand yeares for this it had been well If we had then been crown'd with such a pay But see his love who doth but only say You sonnes of men beleeve in me and live Oh sonnes of men what lesser can we give The Law impos'd a heavy yoake on men And then said do the same and live therein But loe I thy selfe Lord who the Law didst give Sayst by thy Son now but beleeve and live Lord what is man now better then before That thou hast heap'd such mercies up in store For us poore creatures or to speak more true Dost mercies to us every age renue At first thou gav'st us all this world t is truth And when this world did flourish in its youth Thou now hast given us with the same thy Son Thy selfe and all that thou in heaven hast done All which by faith we claym our owne whiles here But what we shall be doth not yet appears Great God thy mercyes are thy selfe no doubt Most infinitly past all finding out To us poore silly wretched sinfull men Who are as bad as ever we have been But what is faith Lord which thou dost thus palce Between us and thy Covenant of grace As the condition whereupon doth rest All our assurance Lord of what thou hast Can our beleife most glorifie thy name Or wilt thou be best pleased in the same Sure that is it t is of thy meere good will Which thou extend'st unto us wretches still Thou by our faith canst not advantag'd be We by beleeving are inrich'd not thee Thou hast no need that Sacrifice be slaine But that the blood should wash away our stain Indeed by faith we set to