of men who dayly are betray'd By those insidious snares which Satan lay'd T' intrap their Souls Alas how void of care Is heedless man How subject to a snare But he whose more than superficial love Is always active lab'ring to improve Our hearts with thankfulness denies to let Our Souls be taken in th' eternal net Of unconceived misery and live In lasting death not having power to give The least of drops unto our howling tongues But suck the Flames until our sulphurous lungs Crackle and belch forth brimstone till we tire Our Carbonado'd members in a fire That 's inextinct the more we strive to turn Our parched Souls still more and more they burn Resolve these things within thy serious mind Oh Man let Love instruct thee to be kinde To him that 's loving do no disrespect A God whose Soul so dearly can affect Pour out thy thoughts and practise to relent And let thy thoughts induce thee to repent Grasp opportunity Time 's always flying God's always living and thou always dying Dye then before thou dy'st redeem the time Because thy days are evil learn to clime Jacobs erected ladder thou shalt see Th'adst better clime a Ladder than a Tree As Judas did Be wise and do not fan Thy Soul with air remember what a span Thou art remember whose inspired breath Made thee a Soul forget not whose sad death Made thee alive be mindful that thou art Th' Epitomy of Heav'n inure thy heart To love the best of loves so shall thy brest Be fill'd with comfort and thy Soul with rest Prepare and know the very fowls delight To prune their wings before they take their flight Although terrestial Kings will not permit A Traitor to his Courts nor let him sit Before his presence though they will not hear A Malefactors prayers yet Heav'ns blest ear Is always open and his tongue invites Repentant sinners for his eye delights To view them in his Courts when they appear For muddy waters may at last prove clear 'T is not unlike ill scented dunghils may At last bear flowers that which is foul to day To morrow may prove fair the thing that cost Millions of silver may as well be lost As things of smaller value Heav'n can spy A miâ—e as well as mountains for his eye Is lodg'd in every cranny of mans heart And he knows all that searches every part Where breathes that Mortal that can comprehend The ways thoughts of God who knows the end Of his beginning He that can break a rocky heart in twain And re-unite it if he please again He that can part the boiling waves and stand Upon the Seas as on the dryest Land He whose celestial power can make the graves To open and command their slumb'ring slaves To rise nay more to stand nay more to walk Nay more if more than this may be to talk He that can make a Whale to entertain A Jonah and to spue him out again He whose almighty power can unlock The flinty bowels of a scragged Rock And make her headlong-gushing streams abound To wash the bosom of the thirsty ground He that can transmutate by power divine The poorest water into richest wine He that can curb rude Boreas and asswage The lawless passion of the Oceans rage He that can rain down Manna to supply The craving stomacks of mortality He that can like an all-commanding God Make Almonds flourish from a sapless rod He that can make the Sun and Moon stand still Or run according to his sacred Will He that sav'd a Daniel from the paws Of Lyons and can muzzle up their jaws He that can make the greedy Raven carry Food to his Servants like a Commissary He that can with an unresisted hand Dash fire into Ice and counter-mand The wanton flames charm them that they dare But burn his Servants cords and not their hair He that can cause ten thousand to be fed With two small fishes and five loaves of bread He that can cloth himself with fire and name Himself I AM and make a bush to flame Without consuming He that can convert A Rod into a Serpent and not hurt He that can make his visage shine so bright That not a Moses can behold the light He that can strike a hand with leprosie And cure it in the twinkling of an eye He that can in a moment cut and break Tongue-tying cords make the dumb to speak He that can out of unregarded stones Raise unto Abraham many little ones He that can heal the Cripple with a touch And free him from the thraldom of his Crouch He that can cure the deaf and can expel A thousand Devils in despite of Hell He that can perfect what he first begun Expects that man should say Thy Will be done Consider man and thou shalt find it true Heav'n can do all but what he will not do Think not because thou art of low estate That he will scorn to love and love to hate Remember Dives whose unsumm'd up store Improv'd so much until he prov'd as poor As ever Job was Job unhappy I To speak it he was rich in poverty Heav'n made poor Job so rich that Satans wealth Could purchase nothing from him but his health And that corporeal too he could not boast His bargain for 't was Job that purchas'd most Happy is he that can at last inherit Riches obtain'd by an impov'rish'd spirit We'd better lick with Lazarus the crumbs Than gripe with Dives for Soul-damning sums Wealth cannot bribe the flames yet scraps may feed The hungry wretch he that has wealth may need The Crumbs of comfort David did condole Th' abundant famine of his hungry Soul Gods Love 's not mercenary to be sold For brain-distracting heart-confounding gold Hast thou not heard O Man the heav'nly cry Of him that says Ye that are poor come buy Come buy of me your pen'worth shall be such That for a little you shall purchase much Here 's Love that 's spun unto the smallest thred Though thou want'st mony yet thou mayst have bread Do thou but ask thou shalt not fail to have For God's more free to give than thou to crave Fear not to ask of him whose ready ear Before thy tongue can ask is apt to hear Heav'n loves the language of a broken heart And he will harken and with joy impart His love into thee and his milk and wine Without the price of mony shall be thine Th' ingrated Pris'ner whose dull tongue is whet With sharp'ned hunger will not fear to let His language fly to every ear that comes Within his audience and he always sums The totals of his grief in hungry words Whilst thousands pass along but few affords The blessing of an Alms perhaps they 'l grieve And seem to pity but will not relieve Yet will he not desist but hourly cry Bread bread for Heav'ns sake bread or else I die Hard hearted Man why wilt thou not relent To hear thy Brother almost hunger-spent
Craving thy succour Where 's thy love become Because th' art deaf ah wu'dst thou have him dumb Or dost thou think because thy panch is fill'd He cannot hunger He that first distill'd Those mercies on thy head expects that thou Shouldst feed thy Brother with a cheerful brow Say not thou canst not give thy treasure's light But let thy heart record the widows mite So Heav'n will fill thy Cisterns to the brim And feed thy Soul because thou hast sed him Should the Grandfather of true Charity Pass by the gates and hear thee beg and cry And not relieve thee should he slight thy prayers And scorn to take a survey of thy tears Wouldst thou not grieve and pine thy self to dust And almost say thy God was much unjust To turn away his ears from thy complaint And disrespect thy pray'rs and let thee faint For want of food Ah whither wouldst thou fly To feed thy famish'd Soul should Heav'n deny But ah he cannot for his melting Soul Is always free and willing to condole The sad conditions of distressed Man Who only strives to do but what he can To contradict him yet he 'l hear our grief In multitudes of mercies lies relief When our impris'ned Souls peep throw the grates Of this corrupting Earth our God dilates Himself unto us and he sends us meat From the rich store-house of his lofty seat He hears and hearing pities pitying sends And sending blesses and with blessing ends Even as the Sun which every day surrounds The sublime Globe and pries into the bounds Of this dark Center let his Beams reflect Upon a Molehil with as much respect As on a Mountain for his glorious Beams Shine always with equivalent extreams Even so the great and powerful Three in One That sits upon his all-inlight'ning Throne Does not deny to let his mercy crown The poorest Peasant with as much renown As the most stateliest Emperor though he Invests his body with more dignity Yet he 's but earth and must at last decay For Prince and Peasant go the self same way Their earth must turn to earth their Souls return To him that gave them or for ever burn There 's no distinction one infused breath Made them alike and both must live in death Or everlasting life both must commence Divines in Heav'n there 's no preheminence But all equality all must express With equal Joy their equal Happiness Rouse up dull man and let thy wak'ned Soul Be vigilant oh let thy thoughts enroul The love of God engrave it in thy brest That his resounding tongue may read thee blest O let thy sighs like Pens and let thy tears Like Ink transcribe the Love th'indulgent cares Of thy Creator that himself may find Within th' unblotted volume of thy mind Himself recorded so will he imbrace Thy spotless Soul and fill thee with his grace Incline thine ears and let thâ— heart rejoyce To hear the strains of his harmonious voice Harken and thou shalt hear his Prophets sing Th' admired Mercies of the glorious King Thus saith the great and ever-living One That rules the heav'ns governs earth alone 43. Thus saith the Lord that takes delight to dwel Amongst his Saints that formed Israel Created Jacob let thy sorrows flee Out of thy brest I have redeemed thee 'T was I that made thy clouded visage shine And call'd thee by my Name for thou art mine I will be with thee when thy feet shall wade Thorow the waters I will be thy aid I le make thee walk through Rivers and the waves Shall prove ambitious to become thy slaves And when thou walkest through the raging fire Th' unruly flames shall not presume t' aspire Or kindle on thy garments I alone The Lord thy God and Israels holy One And thy dear Saviour that was always true Gave Aegppt Seba and Ethiopia too To ransome thee for thou wert my delight And always pretious in my gracious sight Honors were heapt upon thee and thou wert The tender love of my affecting heart Therefore even I that am well pleas'd will give People for thy dear sake that thou mayst live Fear not for I am with thee and I 'le stand In thy defence and my all-grasping hand Shall bring thy seed from the remotest places And fill thee with my satisfying graces 6. My tongue shall call unto the North and say Unto the South Give and they shall obey Bring from a far my Sons and Daughters all Hear my loud voice be active when I call 7 I have created them and I proclaim They shall be call'd and honour'd by my Name I 'le usher forth the blind and make them see The splendent Glories of my Majestie I le cure the deaf and make their hearts rejoyce To hear the Ecchoes of my warbling voice Thus hath our God unty'd the tongues and broke His Prophets lips thus have his Prophets spoke And wilt thou be O man so much obdure As not to credit him that will assure Perpetual happiness Thou canst not ask That which he cannot give do but unmask Thy shamefac'd Soul that so thou mayst discry Jehovahs mercies with a faithful eye Descant upon his promises advise With thy own thoughts let reason make thee wise Inspect thy self weigh well thy own condition And thou shalt find thou want'st a good Physitian To cure thy maculated Soul Alas Thou art like water stop'd up in a glass So weakly fortifi'd and fenc'd about That one weak knock soon lets the Pris'ner out Vain lump of vanity what can this Earth Afford thy thoughts more than a short-liv'd mirth A mirth that fills thee with deluding toys And like a Tyrant afterwards destroys Dot'st thou on Earth For what because her pleasure Can guild thy wanton eye because her treasure Can cram thy bags because her Syrens song Can ravish thee because her power can throng Thy Soul with luxury because her charms Can court thee with delight because her arms Can pleasingly imbrace thee and impost Thy heart with gold and lull thee when th' ast lost Thy self in sleep Is this the little All That this great World can boast of Must we call These things our pleasures No they 'l prove our Our golden Fetters and our silken Snares These are the Joys we love these are the things cares That make us fly with our Icarian wings Up to Ambitions Court and there presume To gaze so long until our waxen plume Dissolve with heat and like presumptuous slaves Tumble our selves into the raging waves Of speedy Ruine Ruine's all that we Must hope t' obtain from Earths base treasurie Let 's scorn her wealth and say O Earth thou art A painted Mistress with a rotten heart Let 's hate to love that we may love to hate Th'unconstant glory of her fickle state Even as the subtile Crocodile prepares Her flatt'ring heart and eye-commanding tears To woo her Prey to come within the power Of her command that so she may devour With more facility and make her jaws To
There is no danger like a non-ag'd grief XXLII The wise man grieves not that he undergoes Affliction but because he fully knowes His many sins deserv'd as many more If ten times doubl'd than he did before Patience in things adverse like Stars shine bright And most transparent in the darkest night XLIII 'T is good to be afflicted or else he That spoke it took delight in Misery If Davids sins infect thee let thy heart Be bath'd in Davids tears and then thou art Indeared unto Heaven for he that lent Much time to sin must borrow to repent XLIV Repentance leaps to Heav'n if we expect A future blessing we must not neglect This present business which if we delay Wee 'l want to morrow what we lost to day But let 's consider e're our time be spent How soon we sin and yet how late repent XLV He that delayes Repentance makes great haste To his own ruine and commits a waste Upon his Soul for every hour we spend And not repent we wilfully befriend Our Adversary Hell whose Gins being set He lyes and watches when to draw the Net XLVI The Net being drawn well may we run about And make our selves more fast attempting out Then our betrayed Souls may sadly say Had we repented when 't was said to day This Net hath not insnar'd us nor we cry We that did ever sin must ever dye Gods Love AND Mans Vnworthiness GOD how that word hath thunder-clapt my Soul Into a ravishment I must condole My forward weakness Ah where shall I find Sufficient Metaphors t' express my mind Thou heart-amusing word how hast thou filld My Soul with Halelujahs and distil'd Wonders into me Oh that I could break My heart in pieces and divinely speak My mind in Raptures that the frantique Earth May bath it self in these sweet streams of mirth Then rouze my Soul and practise how to turn Thy wonders into language do not burn Thy sacrâ—d fuel in a place where none Can have the benefit but thee alone Hoist up thy Sails and let thy speedy motion Hurry thee hence into the boundless Ocean Observe thy Compass keep a constant pace And Heav'n will steer thee to the Port of Grace 'T is strange to think how the Almighty can That is so pure love such a thing as Man Whose primitive corruption makes him worse Than nothing whose Rebellion claims a Curse More than affection How can Heav'n endure A thing that can be nothing but impure Man like a word that 's void of reason sounds In every ear his very name expounds A misery at best he needs must be But vain And how can Heav'n love vanity Man like a shadow flies before the Sun Of his Afflictions and is still undone By his own doing he 's his own pursuer And how can Heav'n love such a self-undoer Man like a naked worm is often found Digging himself into the loathsom ground Of ruine he 's a Traitor to his Bliss And how can Heav'n love such a worm as this Man like a flash of lightning courts the world With lavish flames and by and by is hurl'd Into that Nothing whence at first he came Then how can God love such a short-liv'd flame Man like a Reed is evermore inclin'd To shake and totter with each blast of wind He 's always running to the ground with speed And how can Heav'n love such an earthly Reed Man like the dust is always blown and tost From place to place and flies till it has lost Its Center never resting in one place Then how can Heav'n love that which flies in 's face Man like a Fly still buzzes up and down From cup to cup and sips on till he drown Himself in pleasure fears no stander by And how can Heav'n love such a drunken Fly Man like a Rain-bow oftentimes appears Clothed in colours but can claim no years No days nay hardly hours but must decay And how can heav'n love that which loves no stay Man like a bubble floats upon the waves Of his desires whilst every blast enslaves His brittle substance fill'd with windy troubles And how can heav'n love such unconstant bubbles Man like the froth spew'd from the Oceans brest Is tyded up and down but knows no rest Nor Perpetuity and can betroth It self to nothing Heav'n loves no such froth Man like the wind is every moment flying To every place and hares to be complying Or resting any where how can it be That Heav'n can love so much inconstancy Man like a Swallow loves the fragrant spring Of earths delights but with a spreading wing Flies from the Winters more congealed Brest And how can Heav'n love such a Summer Guest Man like a smoak presumptuously aspires Into the air and by and by retires Himself to nothing nothing's his conclusion And how can Heav'n love such a base confusion Man like a fire whose green and scragged fuel Denies to burn until it fights a duel With the encountring Bellows which at last Obtains the conquest then it burns as fast And seems as 't were ambitious to expire Then how can Heav'n love such a raging fire Man like an Arrow being once let go Out from the Archers well commanded Bow Affronts the Clouds at last having spent the store Of his small strength sals down seems t' adore Th' inferior Earth which with a welcome hides His down-cast head within her wounded sides Where he remains and scorns to be withstood Man can be anything but what is good And cannot Man be good strange kind of tone What has he wept himself into a stone Like Niobie no sure I fear his eyes Were never loaded with such large supplies Ah could he weep a Flood Heav'n that prepares His ears to hear would bottle up his tears In his remembrance every drop should shine Like Pearls absconded in a golden Myne His sins command a Deluge could his head Be turn'd into a fountain could he shed An Ocean at a drop it could not cover His sins which are mountainous from the Lover Of real drops for he would soon descry Those sand excelling crimes where ere they lie Yet would his Soul so much compassionate The flowing sorrows of his watry state That with a calming hand he would remove His rocky sins and hide them with his Love He would have pity and with speed consent T' express his love when all our tears are spent Should Heav'n who justly may for every sin Drop down a Plague and make it live within Mans guilty Soul the world would quickly be Transform'd and chang'd into a leprosie Let none despair for Heav'ns known mercies can Out infinite the greatest sins of man Oh love beyond degree Shall Heav'n indulge Himself to Man and shall not Man divulge A gratefulness to him whose hand prepares To wipe away his sin-poluted cares Ungrateful Miscreant how canst thou view Thy former Miseries and not renew Thy thanks to him whose Power set thee free And brought thee back from thy Captivity Hast
execute by her tyrannike Laws Even so this World those Crocodile-like eyes Are always flowing wanting no supplies Of gliding tears to wash the rugged faces Of her designs with falsifying graces That so she may by her too smooth delusion Make Man the Author of his own confusion Frail flesh and blood how canst thou take delight To love this World that cannot give a mite Of comfort to thee but will still intrap And daily lull thee in her lustful lap Shee 'l rock thy Soul to ruine and shee 'l spawn Baseness into thee shee 'l deceive and fawn Upon the heart and with her guilded baits Shee 'l hook thy Soul unto the worst of fates There 's nothing in her that deserves the name Of Constancy her glory is her shame Smile at her tears for every drop she vents Harbors ten thousand thousand discontents Believe her not but when she speaks the best Believe the worst and if she promise rest Assure thy self of trouble if she chance To promise Treasure let thy thoughts advance Above her promises contemn her dross For what thou gain'st from her will be thy loss Let not her wealthy Donatives perswade Thy heart t' accept when once thou art betray'd There 's no resistance They that well advise Before they act deserve the name of wise But they that study in her frantick Schools May prove her wise men but Heav'ns out-cast fools Ask her the way to Bliss try if her skill Can give directions ask her if she will Fill thee with blest Eternity conjure Her helpless aid see if she can assure A safety to thee ask her if she can Prescribe a cure for a despairing Man Tell her thy Soul is sick thou canst not live A minure longer see if shee can give A Cordial to thee see if she can heal A broken heart see if she can reveal Celestial Joys unto thee and impart A heav'nly comfort to thy grieved heart If so cheer up and prosecute thy mirth And say there is no other Heaven but Earth Do thus fond Man and thou shalt quickly see A baffl'd World that cannot answer thee But must be silent for she cannot plead For her own self she knows she cannot lead The way to Heav'n she 's but a bad Director A base Believer and a worse Protector Thus shalt thou make her envy swell and burst And like the Basilisk discover'd first She needs must dye but if she should discover Thee first farewel th' art murder'd by thy Lover Then shalt thou hear the Soul-amazing tone Of him that sits on his immortal Throne Pronounce against thee at the dreadful day Of thy accounts thus shalt thou hear him say Depart ye cursed off-springs of a Father As curst as you avoid my sight go gather The fruits of your deserts you have forgot The God that made you and I know ye not See if the World within whose folding arms You always slept can quit thee from the harms That must ensue see if her flatt'ring power Can shelter thee from the ore-flowing shower Of my fast-dropping rage see if her brest Can entertain thee with eternal rest Be gone be gone my fury hates to see Such Miscreants had you remember'd me I now had known you had you made me eat When I was forc'd to importune for meat I now would bless you with celestial dyet And crown your Souls with everlasting quiet Had you but quencht my raging thirst or gave A single drop that very drop should save Your death-adjudged Souls and you should sup Abundant comforts from my streaming Cup Had you sad sons of vengeance but supply'd My nakedness with Garments when I cry'd And calld upon your charity to send Relief unto me I had been your friend Or had your more than marble hearts reliev'd M'impris ned body now ye had not griev'd Had you your world-affined Souls addrest Your selves unto me when I was opprest With lingrging sickness then I would have fed Your Souls which now are starv'd with heav'nly bread But since you have not done it unto those Which I esteem'd y 'ave prov'd your selves my foes Therefore be gone let darkness be your lot Learn to remember that ye have forgot My mercies go and let my judgments dwell Within your guilty hearts let black-mouth'd Hell Plague you with torments let him always lash Your hearts with flames until ye howl and gnash Your teeth together Go depart my sight And taste the fruit of everlasting night But as for you whose better deeds have found Acceptance in my heart ye shall be crown'd With unremoved happiness because Ye have obsequiously perform'd my Laws You fed my craving stomach and you cloath'd My naked body and you have not loath'd To visit me and when I was a stranger Ye took me in and guarded me from danger Go then my Lambs and let your Oratory Proclaim the greatness of your Fathers glory Go revel in my Courts no discontent Shall breed a faction in my Parliament I 'le pass an Act of Peace and it shall be Sign'd by the hand of my Eternity My tongue shall style you blessed and my voice Shall raise your Souls and teach you to rejoyce Your unexcised pleasures shall abound To infinite your ravisht hearts shall sound The depth of my delights all things shall move Within the sphere of uncontrouled Love Be well assur'd your pleasures shall be great Then fly from Judgment to my Mercy-seat And there rejoyce with a tryumphant mirth My Love shall live with them that hated Earth Obdurate Man here here thou mayst descry Judgment and Mercy one to terrifie The other to perswade and yet wilt thou Prove adamantine and refuse to bow To thy Redeemer Canst thou ruminate Upon his Love and yet wilt not dilate Thy Soul unto him Is thy brazen heart Impenetrable Will no flaming dart Of true affection enter Hast thou vow'd To stop thy ears Shall mercy call aloud And thou not hear Shall thund'ring Judgments rattle About thy ears and yet wilt thou imbattle Against the Lord of Hosts wilt thou invoke Perpetual vengeance to entail a stroke Upon thy stubborn heart What dost thou think Hell's void of flames or that thy God will wink At thine enormities Go rally all Thy thoughts together and discreetly sall Into a serious study Let thy mind Be absolute and really enclin'd To meditation contradict the rage Of thine own passion labour to asswage The fire of lust that so thou mayst behold With more serenity how manifold His mercies are that every day prevents The sad incursions of deprav'd events Think but in what a most defam'd condition The Soul was in before the grand Physitian Of Heav'n and Earth spontaniously set down A balm from his own Gilead to crown The sons of grief think what we did endure Before his wounds had perfected thy cure Remember how undauntedly he stood And sweat himself into a crimson flood To ransom thee remember how his woes Were asperared by his raging foes Remember how his sacred temples wore
DIVINE MEDITATIONS UPON Several Subjects Whereunto is annexed GODS LOVE AND Man's Vnworthiness WITH SEVERAL Divine Ejaculations Written by JOHN QUARLES LONDON Printed by T. J. for Peter Parker and are to be sold at the first shop in Popes-head Alley on the right hand next Cornhil 1671. To my Esteemed Friend JAMES HOBARTE of Hales in the County of Norfolk Esquire SIR IF I am bold it is in fulfilling your desires I am confident you well remember when we were Prisoners together that your self gave me the several subjects of these short Meditations I confess I have no cause to blush at the subjects but I fear you will find cause to blush at the bad performance of your desires however I have done my endeavor and if you please to own it worth your acceptance I shall own your acceptance worth my labor and ever remain Affectionately yours JOHN QUARLES TO THE READER Kinde Reader LEt me lay this Injunction upon thee before thou permittest thy eye to survey this little Volume that thou wilt resolve to pardon I will not say for what for fear thou shouldest be scrupulous and not read The subject is Divine and I confess too good to be so badly handled however I have done my endeavour and Alexander did no more when he conquered Kingdoms But Reader because I will not detain thine eye too long in one place I bid thee Farewel To my Muse TEll we presumptuous Muse how dar'st thou treat Vpon a Subject so sublime so great Alas how dare thy infancy aspire So high as Heaven where the Celestial Quire Of Soul-enchanting Angels hourly sing Anthems of joy to their mellifluous King This is a task that invocates the best And loftiest quills Heav'ns love must not b'exprest With wanton language he that shall presume To labour in this work must first perfume His Soul with true Divinity and breathe Celestial ayrs that Readers may perceive Their Author labours with a serious heart T'embalm his actions with divinest art This is a field whose spacious bounds extend Themselves to infinite who strives to end Shall still begin and having once bâ—gun This pleasing progress must not cease to run Vntil he stops in Heaven there lies the gain Who runs with Faith is certain to obtain If then my Muse thou canst divinely mount This sacred Stage thou needst not fea rt ' account Thy actions prosperous strive thou to stand Guarded with Faith and Heav'n will lend a hand To prop thee up his power will infuse Sufficient matter for an active Muse To work upon his wisdome will direct Thy painful hand his Mercies will correct Thy rambling thoughts and teach thee to proclaim Th' unsumm'd up glories of his Royal Name Abandon Earth and bid vain thoughts adieu Thou canst not serve thy God and Mammon too Rouse then and let thy well-prun'd Eagles wings Mount thee aloft let not terrestial things Disturb thy resolutions let them all Evade thy mind thy thoughts must grow too tall For such low toyes stir up thy zealous fire And what thou canst not well express admire DIVINE MEDITATIONS Upon several subjects I. GRoans midnight groans usurp the Commonwealth Oh my infringed Soul I know no health Nor feel no pleasure all my joyes are fled I know not where and I am worse than dead Heav'n shouldring Atlas if compar'd to me Bears nothing mine 's a weighty misery II. Ah me can nothing cure me is my grief So much insanable that no relief Can flow from Gilead do my sins obstruct Those tydes of grace which usually conduct Refreshments to me Oh most dismal fate He feels a plague too soon that grieves too late III. Cimmerian mists alas and what are they Compar'd to me less than a glorious day The sense of my own blindness makes me know The blindness of my senses Can a woe Be more exub'rous here 's a grief refin'd A seeing Body and a Soul that 's blind IV. The sight-deprived wretch whose darkned fate Makes day and night as 't were incorporate And knowes no difference but still gropes about And finds his Day within his Night without But I sad I being muffled up in sin Find Day without alas but Night within V. Saddest of thoughts Oh that I could espy One gracious Sun-beam that my willing eye Might like the dawning of the Infant-day Grow by degrees and at the last display Some glorious rayes to my endarkened heart I 'de hug that light and never let it part VI. But I unhappy I whose former dayes Consum'd in ill have quite expell'd the rayes Of future happiness and now I see All evil is epitomiz'd in me Too late I grieve for what I feel too soon The Sun le ts fall his fiercest rayes at noon VII Though foggy vapours oftentimes ascend Being exhaled by a Solar friend From Earths chill brest and for a season shroud Themselves within an entertaining cloud Yet at the last unwilling to remaine Discloud themselves and fall to Earth again VIII But ah my sin-exhaling soul is fill'd With noysome fogs that cannot be distill'd They keep a forc'd possession and encrease Within me nay and riot out my peace Needs must the Empire of a troubled brain Feel store of torments where such Neroes raign IX Corporeal griefs compartivelay merit The name of Pleasures to a troubled spirit Martyrs have taught that temporary pains If well improv'd swell into future gaines Grief 's banisht quite from him that dyes forgiven A Storm on Earth portends a Calm in Heaven X. As woe and trouble commonly await Upon the frailty of a humane state So Grace and Mercy evermore are found Attending where Divinity sits crown'd Ah! would it not be undiscreetly done To sit in darkness to avoid the Sun XI If Heaven should please to banish from our sight His glorious Lamp whose most diffusive light Gives life to nature all things would retire Into a Chaos and the world expire The Soul 's a World-divine and Christ's the Sun Who shining not the World is chang'd not done XII We may observe when happiness concludes How soon the sad and fatal interludes Of Misery appear for Grief and Joy Are Initiators When our sins destroy The happiness we had Ah then appears Mischief attended with an hoast of fears XIII Adam unhappy man with what a grace Could he present himself before the face Of his well-pleas'd Creator till the heat Of his own lust compel'd him to retreat From Gods commands Ah then his new-bred fear Made him afraid to see as well as hear XIV Let but the apples of the tender eye Receive a sudden touch and by and by The sympathizing part will quickly be Frighted as 't were into a mutiny So when the Sin toucht soul begins to smart The sentiate faculties must bear a part XV. Courage in Sin is but a Sin enlarg'd Which like a deep-mouth'd Cannon over-charg'd Recoyles or breaks Had Peter found no vent For his denying-sins his soul had rent It self in pieces Blest is he and wise That can
thou abandon'd Love wilt thou imprint Thy Soul with baseness Ah what obvious flint Hath turn'd Affections edge what art thou bent To shoot at him that labours to prevent The Arrows of thy ruine which will fly Into thy brest except he puts them by Hast thou transform'd thy heart into a rock That will not move Shall mercy call and knock And thou not hear What hast thou arm'd thy heart With senseless marble that no flaming dart Of love can enter Hast thou vow'd to stand In opposition Cannot Gods Command Force thee to bow Art thou resolv'd to sport With thy destruction and not yield the Fort Oh yield betimes do not resolve to be Too much a slave to Infidelity For know frail wretch thy strength consists in clay When Mercy 's lost then Judgment finds the way Rally thy thoughts together and throw down Thy brazen walls thy yielding yields a Crown For 't is in vain to oppose an arm that can Out-grasp the measure of so small a span Alas Alas it may be quickly seen What a large disproportion is between Thy God and thee Consider he is all And thou art nothing what can be more small Or what more great for he is infinite And thou art finite He is full of light And thou of darkness He is fill'd with love And thou art stuff'd with baseness He 's a Dove And thou a Worm Thus thus thou mayst descry His firmness and thine own infirmity Then be not obstinate but strike the Sails Of thy desires to him that never fails And know 't is easie in an inch of time To take a worm ingarrison'd with slime For such a thing thou art and all thy power Must yield to Heavens assaults thy April shower Has no continuance therefore do not strive Against a God whose wisdom can contrive What pleases him Alas thy state is grounded Upon contingencies thou art compounded Of nothing but uncertainties thy Arm Assumes no power except it be to harm Thy wilful self Then why wilt thou contend With him that importunes to be thy friend Thy friend soul-saving word what higher bliss Can crown a heart than such a friend as this Oh life of Ravishment how can it be A God a worm and yet a Sympathie Strange condescention was the like e're known Or fpoke by any mouth except his own Hie balmy breath declares that he will save And succor those that faithfully do crave His blest assistance Hark and hear him say Ye that are heavy loaded come away Oh come to me I am content to bear Your burthens and extenuate your care What higher note of love was ever strain'd To any ear Oh how hath man obtain'd So great a friendship 'T is a happy lot Nay and a wonder not to be forgot And yet it is not strange that he should prove So true a Lover that 's compos'd of Love And can do nothing else If he correct 'T is for thy crimes he only has th' effect Of anger for his grieved spirit moans To punish Sinners and to hear their groans His Soul takes no delight to crush to death The offending pris'ners of th' inferior Earth He is the rich Exchequer of all good And is by nothing except man withstood All things perform what they were made to do But only man that strives to prove untrue To his Creator nothing can be found Within thy brest but that which is unsound How sad it is to hear th' Almighty say I 've nourish'd children that are gone astray And scorn to own me Oh rebellious dust That hate my paths because my ways are just The Ox will know his Owner and the Ass His Masters crib but Israel alas Will not acknowledge me but have destroy'd Themselves made their understanding void Has not my fury then just cause to swell Because they can do nothing but rebel Nefandous Creature how canst thou endure Thy wretched self Ah why wilt thou procure Thine own destructions shall all creatures be Obedient to their owners only thee And wilt thou not acknowledge him that gave Large blessings to thee and desires to save Thy Soul from torments if thou wouldst incline Thy will to his whose thoughts are all divine Forget obduracy and learn the Art Of loving him that loves an upright heart Go ruminate upon thy base estate And be unto thy self compassionate Yield to thy Maker with a cheerful brow First know what 't is to love and after how Love is the Laws fulfiller he that will Love God aright must practise how to fill His Soul with true affection for the ways Of Heav'n are pav'd with Love Immortal praise Attend his Courts he that forgets to love Forgets his God They that desire to prove Heav'ns amatorious Guests must first admire How such a spark as man came to aspire To such a flame and how he came to be Not only Earths but Heavens Epitomie Be serious then and let thy thoughts reflect Upon Heav'ns goodness and thy disrespect God out of Nothing except Love compil'd This spacious World as if some princely child Were to be born His providential care Was as it were ambitious to prepare The quintessence of pleasures to invite Some stately Guest to banquet with delight First he extracted from a darksom Cell A glorious Light whose beauty pleas'd him well Then he prepar'd a Canopy inlayd With glittring Pearl whose twinkling luster made A Heav nly shew and afterwards his hand Dasht back the waters from the naked Land Then he commanded that the Earth being come Out from the Oceans new delivered womb Should be adorn'd with an imbroidered Gown That so her new-warm'd bowels might abound With several fruits Thus having plaid his part Upon this Theatre this life of Art He usher'd in a thing which pleas'd him best He made the Feast and after made the Guest Call'd by the name of Man a naked small And dusty shiftless Creature this was all And all this nothing but a lump of death Until inspir'd by Heav'ns all-quickning breath Vain simple wretch ah how couldst thou behave Thy self before a Judge so great so grave Hadst thou but seen thy self thou wouldst have cry'd Thy self to death and with a blush defy'd Thy base estate to think that thou should'st be Natures most base and rude Anatomie Couldst thou expect that Heav'n would entertain A thing so poor so weak so vile so vain Which like a spark blown from a new-made fire Can onely shew it self and then expire Was it for this the All-Creator made Such large provision Was 't for this he laid Such rich Foundations Was 't for this his Power Deckt this well-pleasing odoriferous Bower Was it for this this little world he form'd A world so great was it for this he warm'd The Earths chill bosom was 't for this he spent His six days Labor was 't for this intent He made a Paradise where Flora spred Her fragrant off-spring and made Earth a Bed Of rare compounded pleasures where he plac'd This new-come Guest whose
joys thy brest shall burn With flaming care until thy corps return Into the bowels of th' inclusive earth From whence thou hadst thy substance and thy birth For base thou art and therefore thou shalt be A food for gnawing worms and not for me As thou art dust to dust thou shalt retire Hereafter let not dust presume t' aspire Strange alteration Oh pernicious fate Too quickly bred in such an Infant state He that but even now enjoy'd a life Ballanc'd with pleasures now is fill'd with strife He whose Majestick Soul was lately crown'd With blest content is now ingulf'd and drown'd In sorrows Ocean He which was before Inrich'd with happiness is now as poor As poverty can make him He which had The countenance of Heav'n to make him glad Is now eclipst he knows not where to run Sin having interpos'd between the Sun And his dark Soul the Center of whose rest Is now remov'd and he survives unblest He which but even now had leave to dwell And revel in Heav'ns eye desires a Cell To entertain him he which liv'd in Peace Is now thrown down and forfeited his Lease Great was his Crime great was his sudden Fall Great was his Tenement his Rent but small Poor Adam's taken by his own decoys Sin is the Sequestrator of all j ys Sad Pilgrim of the world where wilt thou find In the unpathed earth a place so kind To entertain thee Ah where wilt thou keep Thus tumbled from a Precipice so steep The sad unpeopl'd rendezvouz Oh where Wilt thou procure a hand that will unsnare Th'intangled Soul Alas thy wearied life Hath two most sad companions first a Wife Than a bad Conscience what two greater crosses Can hang upon a brest whose cares whose losses Are grown so infinit that no relief But what distills from Heav'n can ease their grief Thou wert the first of men that entertain'd So grand a sorrow thou the first that stain'd So pure a colour thou the first that dwelt In Edens garden thou the first that felt The scourge of fury hadst thou not transgrest Vengeance had found no hand nor grief a brest Ah hadst thou not offended sin had found No habitation nor thy Soul a wound Had not thy hand so wilfully unlock'd The door of Death Destruction had not knock'd At thine impenetrable gates or ventur'd T' approach so near but being open'd enter'd Bold Customer of fate that sought about To come within and turn poor Adam out Thy strength out strength'd his strength made him weak A vessel crack'd how can it chuse but leak Sin prov'd Deaths father mans heart the womb That brought it forth this Deatb shall find a tomb When the Determiner of time hath hurl'd A finis to the volume of the world Till then man mortaliz'd by sin must be A subject unto Deaths Soveraigntie Poor man in what a wilderness of sorrow Dost thou now ramble in where wilt thou borrow A minutes rest On what inclining ear Wilt thou expend thy groans what canst thou hear But dialects of misery to vex hear Thy bankrupt thoughts The fatal disrespects Of Heav'n will blow and toss thee up and down From place to place his still renewed frown Will follow thee therefore provide t' endure The hot pursutes of such a fierce Pursuer Canst thou expect that this thy grand abuse Which runs beyond the limits of excuse Can be forgotten dost thou think t'out-live Thy long-liv'd crimes or hope for power to give Due satisfaction to thy God whose rage Thy heart cannot endure much less asswage Most lachrymable state What canst thou do Oh man that may ingratiate or renew Thy former love Alas thy base condition Makes thee incapable of a Petition Prepare thy self see if thou canst invade His Soul with pray'rs see if thou canst perswade His Heart to yield unto thy sad request And re-inthrone thee with thy former rest Dissect thy Soul with groans anatomize Thy Heart with sighs and let thy winged cries Fly through the Angles of his sacred ear And breed a harmony within the Sphere Of his blest Soul be circumspect and lay The best foundation hear what Heav'n will say Adams Petition to God Incensed Father of eternal light Permit a darkened Soul t' approach the sight Of thine incomparble eye unmask Thy Anger-clouded Soul and let me ask Forgiveness for those loading Crimes which press My stagg'ring Soul I know not whom t' address My apostate self unto but only thee Whom I offended Please to pity me I have no pleasing sacrifice t' attone Thy wrathful Brest except a hearty groan That 's quadrupl'd with grief Oh deign to look Upon the lines of my all-blotted book Although I 'm full of most detested spots Yet Lord I know that thou canst read my blots Oh read them then and let thy mercies run With thy progressive eye I am undone If not forgiven Lord I thee implore To shew some mercy to me thou hast store Decipher all my sins and let them not Bear record in thy Rouls but rest forgot Revoke this Act of death that I may sing Th' admired mercies of so blest a King Oh lift me up that now am thrown below Make not my Soul the Custom-house of woe Oh hear these bitter groans that I have spent And send some comfort from thy Parliament Gods Reply Thou Skelleton of baseness hie thee hence Disturb me not return I say from whence Thou cam'st at first thou shalt as soon remove A mountain as my mind I cannot love No nor I will not nothing shall intreat My resolutions for my fury 's great Begone proud Rebel do not think thy prayers Thy vows thy groans thy sighs thy sobs thy tears Shall make my brest their receptacle No How can I be a friend to such a foe Surcease thy importunities let fall Thy high desires I will not hear thee call Thy Sins have bart'd my ears I 'le not be won With thy base airy words for thou hast spun The thread of thy destruction therefore wear What thou hast labour'd for and so forbear T'intrench upon my patience 't is in vain To seek for that which thou shalt not obtain And is it thus that Heav'n will not regard My cryes Ah me and must my groans be heard With disrespect by him whose tongue affords Nothing but grief involv'd with bitter words Alas alas what greater woe can crowd Into a brest than to be disavow'd By Gods high voice whose most enraged breath Darts forth the Arrows of eternal death What shall I do Oh whither shall I run To hide my self until the glorious Sun Of his affections usher in the day Of welcom Joy Oh whither shall I stray If I am silent then my silence turns My thoughts to fire If speak my speech returns Trebl'd with wo into the brazen Tower Of my sad heart my language has no power To work upon his ears my words like balls Banded and thrown against th' obdurate walls Unyielding brest bounds back again and breaks Into
my heart and every sorrow speaks A volume at a word yet yet must I Return unheard 't is misery to dye And pain to live thus in despair I draw The loathsom air Destruction knows no Law Grief rains a flood of doubt into my Soul Ah me I can do nothing but condole I am despis'd and if I bend the force Of my desires to him he will divorce All thoughts of pity and with rage re-double Th'unsum'd up sums of my infringing trouble I sail into the Straits both wind and tyde Prevail against me and I have no guide To Pilot me unto the long'd-for Port Of pleasing happiness I am a sport To threatning Ruine whose presumptuous waves Out-dares my Soul whilst every blast enslaves My reeling Pinnace If I strive to go Towards Scylla Scylla will contemn my wo Alas in vain I can expect relief Scylla will bark at my unbridled grief Or if my head-long vessel chance to hit Against Charybdis I am torn and split Into ten thousand peices Oh hard hap Thus am I tossed in Destructions lap Where shall I find a heart that will advise My friendless Soul and audiate my cries I will not thus desist I must implore He that 's lost once sure can be lost no more Adams Petition to God Once more thou Metropolitan of all The spacious world I here presume to call Upon thy mercy Oh let me inherit The pleasing fruit of thy re-pleased Spirit I am thy fabrick Oh some pity take Preserve the building for the Builders sake Cloath not thy brow with frowns but let thine eye That rests inshrin'd with glorious Majesty Reflect upon my sorrows Oh encline Thy willing ears to hear this grief of mine Oh do not say I shall as soon remove A mountain as thy heart thou canst not love Let not such harsh imbitter'd language flow Out of a mouth so sweet I know I know Thou art as good as great oh therefore bow Thy sacred ears to hear oh hear me now Bestow some scraps on me that have deserv'd Nothing but stripes for I have fondly swerv'd From thy commands have committed treason Against thy Majesty Great God of Reason View my en-humbled Soul see how it lies Before thy sight a weeping Sacrifice I know thou knowst I am a hainous sinner Yet pity me that am a young beginner In this rich art of begging Do not slight My real prayers I know thou tak'st delight In being merciful Oh let me not Return unanswer'd or my prayers forgot Oh hear the sorrows of my bleeding state Let my complaints make thee compassionate And let the fervor of my language turn Thy thoughts to pity quench these flames that burn My wasting Soul speak peace to me that find A civil war in my uncivil mind Oh I have tasted of thy hot displeasure Too much Ah shall thy vengeance know no measure Say 't is enough though Lord I must confess I have deserved more yet give me less Thus with a melting heart I end my Suit Ah me how bitter is forbidden fruit Gods Reply Thou bold-fac'd Orator how dar'st thou come Before me or be otherwise than dumb Tell me how dar'st thou interrupt my brest I hate to see thee or hear thy Request Audacious wretch What has my Judgment made Thy heart grow peremptory Have I laid Too small a burthen on thee If I have I 'le lay a greater thou apostate slave I will not note thee nor I will not hear Thy words which have usurp'd my deafned ear Love thee for what be 't known sad wretch I scorn To love a thing so base so vile forlorn And if I cannot love how can it be That I can pity such a worm as thee I le neither love nor pity for my heart Is Adamantine thou shalt feel the smart Of my displeasure Go my Soul disdains To look upon thee thou art so fill'd with stains And smel'st too much of Fruit to find respect Thou art the subject of my great neglect Thou art a barren Soil nothing will grow Upon thy heart except the seeds of woe Tell me from what conceit thou dost derive Thy working confidence that thou dar'st drive Thy language to my ears and be so bold T' approach my sight and wilt not be control'd Art thou resolv'd to make what dost thou mean My ears thy stage and every word a scean Sum up thy small thy weak deserts and see What large respects thou hast deserv'd from me I plac'd thee in a Garden not to eat The fruit for bidden but to keep it neat Had not the violation of my Laws Mov'd me to anger thou hadst had no cause T' have felt the burthen of my weighty stroke Or live thus much subjected to the yoke Of thine owns sins most shameful is that Loss That 's crown'd with negligence great the cross That 's made with a self-hand they that clime Above their strengths impropriate a crime To their own Souls Destruction is the end Of all Rebellion Ruine knows no friend Suppose I should invest and entertain Your Soul with Love and call thee back again The Tree is still the same the fruit as sweet Thy appetite as great and thou mayst meet A Serpent too whose oratorious skill May soon entreat thee to enact his will He has a voice to tempt and thou an ear Will re-assume the priviledge to hear He has a hand to give and thou another Freely to take thus wouldst thou smother Thy new delights therefore I will not trust A heart that can be nothing but unjust Thou great Mugul of baseness cease to plead Thy tongue 's a canker and thy words are lead Thy sins have made thee not deserve the air Thou entertain'st hadst thou imploy'd thy care To serve me when I lov'd thee thou hadst had My heart-delighting joys to make thee glad But now expect no favour for no Art Of thine shall ever captivate my heart Hie thee unto the shades of grief bewail Thy sequestrated happiness no bail Of thy procuring will I take to set Thy Soul at liberty I will not let The vision of a comfort creep within Thy rambling thoughts thou art a slave to sin Hadst thou but lov'd or fear'd me at the first Th'adst been as happy as th' art now accurst If now thou lov'st me I shall quickly prove It is for fear alone and not for love Thy heart is steel'd with wickedness thy faults Are sparks enlivened by thy flinty thoughts Breath out thy groans unto a senseless rock And let thy sighs like hammers beat and knock Against her scragged sides thou shalt as soon Have her consent as mine to grant thy boon 'T is therefore vain to multiply thy words For ah my brest my hardened brest affords Thy Soul no pity and the more thy cry Attempts my ear the less I will reply Alas thy guilt-o're-burth'ned words renew Fresh thoughts of rage I cannot hear thee sue Without impatiency for ah the longer Thou crav'st thou mak'st my sury grow the stronger
Avoid my presence for I will no more Give audience to thy voice then cease t'implore Adams Lamentation Undone undone what mountain now will hide My loathed body from the swelling tyde Of raging Vengeance Whither shall I fly T' involve my Soul with true security Stretch stretch my lungs and roar unto the deep T' entertain me Oh that I might sleep Within her wavy bowels till the blast Of Heav'ns all-shaking thundring Voice were past Oh that some Rock would hear my sad request And give me burial in her frigid brest Oh that my grief-extended voice could cleave The solid Earth and make her to receive My wretched limbs Oh that some ranging beast Would prove so courteous to devour and feast Upon my corps Oh that I could contrive A way to live and yet not be alive Ah thus my sorrow-shaken fancy flies And envies at impossibilities I fain would dye but that I have no heart To kill my self and yet I feel a smart Transcending death I see I cannot shun The wrath of Heav'n Ah thus I am undone By my own doing this it is to eat Forbidden fruit Oh most pernicious meat I was too rash and rashly have I taken A deadly fall and falling am forsaken I 'm bruis'd to death and yet I cannot dye Ah what can be so much unblest as I I am inflamed and I dayly drench My Soul with tears and yet I cannot quench My raging fires the more I strive t' asswage And mitigate my pains the more they rage What shall I do or whither shall I go To hide me from this Labyrinth of woe I am compos'd of sorrow and my veins In stead of blood are fil'd with griping pains Curst be these eyes of mine which have let in The lawless tyrant of imperious Sin Curst be these lips of mine which at the suit Of my fond wife receiv'd forbidden fruit Curst be these ears that entertain'd the Charms Of that Inchantress which procur'd my harms Curst be these hands of mine which took and fed My greedy Soul and struck my Conscience dead And now my lips my ears my hands my eyes Must see hear taste and feel my miseries Oh sad condition Since there 's no relief I must be subject to perpetual grief Here we will leave poor Adam in the state Of woe and thus begin to ruminate Are there not many in this toilsom age That meditate themselves into a rage And wonder how a Serpent could express Himself and reason with such readiness Being by nature brute nay and the worst Of living creatures that he should at first Perswade and conquer and instruct his will How to determine both of good and ill It would seem strange if Reason were without Her wings and could flie above this doubt We may and yet not stain the truth declare It was the work of Satan to ensnare Frail Eve although he was not nam'd at all By Moses in the Hist'ry of the Fall It may not trouble us for we must know The bending Serpent was the Devils bow By which he shot the arrows of his spire Which did Oh grief to speak it flie too right And he that dares so high a Crime to act Though by another needs must own the fact And this our tongues may never cease to tell The Serpent was the Intrument of Hell Tun'd to the Devils voice thus we may see His fraud his malice and his subtiltie First when he saw he could not over-turn The great Creator he begun to burn With flames of envy lab'ring to invade And to disturb that order God had made In the Creation and to change the features Of his own Image in the best of Creatures That so he may by his too sooth delusion Make Man run headlong to his own confusion Thus having laid the platform of his work He then begun to agitate and lurk For opportunity which was effected As soon nay if not sooner than expected He gave the blow and by that blow he found The weakest Vessel had the weakest sound But yet it strongly eccho'd to the voice Of his desires and made him love his choice Even as some bold-fac'd General that dares To storm a well-man'd Town at first prepares A potent Army which he soon sets down Before the Walls of the alarum'd Town He after views the ruine-threatning-Fort Which speaks defiance and begins to sport Their several shots and with a sad delight Ingage each other in a bloody fight Then if the fierce Besiegers once perceive Themselvs out-strength'd they think it fit to leave So hot a work and for a little space Desist and fall upon a weaker place Where finding smaller opposition venture With greater Courage and at last they enter The yielding Town and cruelly begin To take revenge of them which are within Even so the grim look'd malice-armed Devil The base-resolved General of Evil Perceiving that he could by no means take The sublime Fort of Heav'n plots how to make A fresh attempt upon a weaker part And so prepares to storm the flexive heart Of unresisting Eve that could not grapple With such a Foe but yielded for an Apple To those most false alarums which surrounded Her much obedient and soon confounded Her inward parts and gave her Soul a wound Which cannot be by time or art made sound Except the grand Physitian please to slake His swelling fury and some pity take Thus are our conquer'd parents sadly left In a deplor'd condition and bereft Of all their comforts they which have enjoy'd The life of happiness are now destroy'd And man his wretched off-spring must be made Sorrows sad heir and Peace must not be said T' inhabit in him Adams actual sin Made ours original for we begin As soon as made to entertain the guests Of sin and lodge them in our infant-brests Now may our weak and despicable eyes Behold in them our ample miseries Now we may glut the air with this sad cry The root being dead the branches needs must dye For Adam's gone beyond all humane call Rebellion never ends without a Fall But stay my Muse here let us rest a while Our Journey 's long and 't is not good to toyl Too much at first for Reason sayes 't is best To pause a time and take a little rest Know then kind Reader that my Muse shall meet Thy serious eyes within another sheet The end of the first Book THE SECOND BOOK OF GODS LOVE AND Mans Vnworthiness ARe all hopes fled and is there no relief Must man still wander in the shades of grief Will not the eye of Heav'n be pleas'd to shine Upon his Soul but leave him in the brine Of his own Sins Is there no warbling voice Can charm his ears and woo him to rejoice In being pitiful Will nothing move The much incensed Soul of Heav'n to love Man Map of Misery who can prevail In thy requests Or who can cut off th' entail Of thy distress 'T is not a Writ of Error Can satisfie or guard thee from
the terror Of thine own Conscience which will alway stare Upon thy face and load thee with despair 'T is not a Habeas Corpus will remove The body of thy sin none can disprove The Will of God what he resolves to do Must neither be withstood nor div'd into It lies beyond thy power to perswade Thy God to pity whom thy Sins have made A wrathful Judge what he intends must be Derived from himself and not from thee For thou hast nothing in thee worth the name Of good because thy glory 's turn'd to shame Thou art corrupt and vile in every part And who can know the evil of thy heart Which like the Ocean that no art nor eye Can search her bottom or her banks descry Therefore til heav'n shall please to change the state Of thy condition Reason bids thee wait For be assur'd the promis'd seed will spread It self abroad and bruise the Serpents head Even as the Fountain whose exuberous brest Is always fluent and admits no rest But with a cheerful willingness she sends Her Christal tokens to her smaller friends Even so our God dâ—stilleth from above The healing streams of his refreshing love For ah the lustre of his Sun-bright eye Is drown'd in tears when our sad Souls prove dry Oh admiration that a God so just Should rain down flouds upon a heap of dust Oh Mercy that so much incens'd a God Should send forth Mercy and keep in his Rod His Soul is fill'd with pity and his eyes Begin to view th' unsariate miseries Of Adams down-cast off-spring Though his ear Seems unto us resolved not to hear Their bitter cries nor note the sad Devotions Of their contristed hearts yet by the Motions Of his blest Soul he sends his Son and Heir Into this wretched world that he might bear The Cross of our Transgressions and expel The clouds of Sin and conquer Death and Hell Thus by his death we liv'd and by his grief Our new-calm'd Souls were furnisht with relief Oh sudden change That winde which did before Drive wretched man upon the threatning shore Of unavoiding ruine fills the sails Of his desires with mild and prosperous gales The Boreas of his sin does now surcease His full-mouth'd blasts and Zephyrus speaks peace Unto his ship wrack'd Soul and now he rides Upon the new-tam'd backs of pleasing Tydes Oh that my tongue were able to rehearse The love of God with an Angelike Verse Oh that some Heav'nly Deity would fill The black mouth'd concave of my wandring quil With pure celestial Ink that I might write In heav'nly characters and learn t' indite Jehovahs praises in a style as high As my desires and make the lofty Skie Eccho with Hallelujahs that the Earth May like a Mid wife hug the joyful birth Of every word and make each corner ring With peals of joy the Glories of our King Is man deliver'd from the painful womb Of his foul sin and raised from the tomb Of everlasting death and shall not we Applaud that hand which set such pris'ners free What shall we be afraid to crack and break The chains of silence and attempt to speak The dialects of Angels No let 's call Upon his name that rais'd us from a Fall Let 's stretch our lungs with a warbling breath Sing to the life how we were rais'd from death And when our tongues are wearied let 's express By heav'nly signs our real thankfulness But stay where runs my quill what have I lost My self in raptures or else am I tost Into the Air of pleasure by the wind Of true delight If passion proves so kind I am content Oh may I always rest Adorn'd and crown'd with a heav'n ravisht brest O love ineffable Must wretched Man The spawn of baseness and the unmeasur'd span Of everlasting infancy be made Loves object Must th' Almighty's love be said To dwell in Man whose tongue cannot deliver The least of thanks unto so great a Giver Will the Sun-gazing Eagle that soars high Descend t' assist the web-infolded Fly Will he that hearkens with a willing ear To pleasing musick turn away to hear Confounding discords or will any woo A perjur'd enemy to come and go Into his Courts will any hand forbear To strike at him that labors to impair His worth and contumeliously upbraid His upright deeds Will he that is betray'd Affect the Trayor and with patience sue For reconcilement when as death is due All this blest Heav'n will do that he might place Vain man within the Covenant of Grace Consider man how often hath this Mirror Of pure affection woo'd thee from thine error Thou inconsiderate dust which every winde Can puff away how canst thou prove unkinde To such a Lover that delights to spin His bowels out to nourish thee within His milky bosom Shall his bounty crave Thy base acceptance Shall he be a slave To his own slaves Ah shall thy God implore And beg of beggars to receive his store Does he whom Heav'n and Earth cannot contain No nor the Heav'n of Heav'ns stoop down to gain Thy dull respects And ah wilt thou not raise Thy stupid Soul an inch to give him praise Thy fervent Prayers he always will admit Then how canst thou remember to forget A God so mindful How canst thou forbear To numerate his love without a tear How can thine eyes when thou observ'st the Sun Refuse to weep to see him daily run His painful Progress and rejoyce to greet The Earth with lustre to direct thy feet Thy sinful feet which every moment slide Into Rebellion loaded with thy pride How canst thou choose when thou behol'dst the ground Whereon thou tread'st but voluntary drown'd Thy self in briny flouds to think what care Indulgent Heav'n hath taken to prepare For thee before thou wert and how his hand Hath for thy profit fertiliz'd the Land How can thy rocky heart refuse to vent A stream of bloud when thou beholdst th'extent Of the unbounded Ocean how it hides Within the bosom of her swelling Tydes Diversities of Fish which live to seed Thy gulf of gluttony at time of need Uncloud thy thoughts O Man and thou shalt set He who ordained all these things for thee Created thee for him that thou mayst give The praise to him that lends thee leave to live Be serious Man consider how thou hast Converted all these blessings into waste Know that the great Edificer of things Furnisht thy Soul with Reason gave thee wings To fly above all mortals and hath crown'd Thy head with heaps of Honor and hath bound Inferior creatures prentice to thy will And this he did because thou shouldst fulfill Thy Gods Commands but thou that wert the best Hast made thy self more loathsome than the rest And by thy most derested deviation Abus'd thy glory of thy free Creation Though the Majestick Eagles will despise To be assistant to th' intangled Flies Yet Heav'n will from his lofty Throne descend And with a speedy cheerfulness defend The sons
A spiny Crown remember how it tore His sublime Front remember how they broach'd His brest with Spears and shamefully reproach'd His spotless fame remember how they nail'd His spreading hands remember how they scal'd His Ivory Walls remember how they spawl'd Upon his face remember how they bawl'd And banded at his Agony whilst he Prov'd patient Martyr to their tyranny Remember when he came unto the brink Of death they gave him vinegar to drink Nay more because they vowd to empty all Their poys'ned malice out they gave him Gall. Oh bitter deed Oh most abhorred Crimes Too nearly parallel'd in these our times Thus having put a period to their plots They thought it good to cast their hellish lots For his I dare not say mean clothes I know They were our Saviours to whose worth we owe Perpetual thanks 't was his well finished breath Redeem'd our Souls from everlasting death Here 's Love O man that does as far transcend Thy thoughts as thy deserts that heav'n shu'd send His Son and Heir to be incarnated And suffer death for thee that wert as dead As sin could make thee 't was for thy offence He dy'd Ah how how canst thou recompence Such high-bred Favors Favors unexpected Deserve to be imbrac'd and not neglected Do not rash Soul like Cleopatra nurse Imbosom'd Vipers blessings prove a curse If once abus'd Ingratitude cuts off Th'intail of Love it is a shame to scoff At Benefactors after thou art fed Wilt thou contemn the hand that gave thee bread Wouldst thou not love that friend that should bestow A super anuated crust and shew Respect unto thee when the ebbing tyde Of Fortune runs so low that thou mayst ride Upon the sands of Poverty Fond Man Strive to be grateful study how to scan The mercies of thy God remember how He feeds thy Soul with Manna learn to bow Th' unruly thoughts with admiration think How often and how much imbitter'd drink Thy Saviour drank with what a doleful cry He beg'd of God to let that cup pass by But knowing that his pleasure must be done He prov'd himself his most obedient Son And wilt thou not copy wretch drink one poor sup Of bitter drink for him that drank a cup To sweeten thine thou need'st not fear nor scorn To taste because Heav'ns sacred Vnicorn Hath purg'd the wa'ers and they must be sweet Except they 're reimpoys'ned by thy feet If so what wilt thou do where wilt thou find An Antidote for an invenom'd mind It is reported if the Spider chance To meet the obvious Toad they 'l both advance Their inward force and mutually proclaim An open War brave Combatants of fame And having fummon'd their imbowel'd might March boldly on and both incens'd they fight The Toad being heavy loaded cannot go Or wheel about like his encountring foe But keeps his ground makes a small resistance The Spider scorning to be kept at distance Falls in upon him and with nimble rage Assaults his foe who now begins t' asswage His former fury and would fain retreat From his small Foe whose strength is grown too great For opposition being thus distress'd He crawls away and with a crop-sick brest Seeks for relief and by and by discries A Plantain leaf within whose veins there lies A secret Antidote which did at length Expel his poyson and renew his strength Having disgorg'd himself he soon returns Into the Camp where for a time he burns To be in action and at last he sees The crafty Spider creeping by degrees To seize upon him then his courage fails He knows not what to do his foe assails With all his might constraining him to yield The conquest and with shame to quit the field Then he begins to seek and hunt about To find the soveraign healing Plantain out Which had before reliev'd him and supply'd His wants but that being gone he burst and dy'd Even so if Hells black Spider chance to crawl From his infernal Web into the Hall Of this all-dusty World he soon prepares Himself to sight and suddenly declares That he the grim-look'd General of Hell Dares to encounter any Souls that dwell Within the limits of the spacious Earth And in a moment qualifie their mirth Thus Satan boasts and if he chance to meet A single Soul he 'l thus begin to greet A DIALOGUE Between the Soul and Satan Sat. SOul th' art well met Soul 'T is true for I am well Sat. Say whither art thou going Soul Not to Hell Sa. Pish talk no more of that but tel me whither Thou go st come prithee let 's go both together Soul A pretty motion when I want a guide I 'le send for thee till then thou art deny'd To be my Usher Sat. Prethee tell me why Thou art so obstinate as to deny So free a courtesie as I have shown Mischance oft falls to them that walk alone Be not so much a verse as to neglect This opportunity I can protect Thy feet from sliding dangers still attend Those that despise the favors of a friend Sou. A friend how canst thou prove that title Sat. How As thus because I 'm willing to allow The best assistance of my ready arm To guide nay and protect thee from all harm Therefore a friend So. What you pretend to show Is but external he that can bestow Internal friendship on a Soul distress'd Is a true friend no matter for the rest If Heav'n will guide my Soul I shal not stray Or fear the evils of a dangerous way But as for you I needs must borrow leave To say your friendship 's onely to deceive Conâ—â—â—ion paths your ways and if I run By your advise Ineeds must be undone God bids me fly from sin if I refuse Obedience to his will I shall abuse His just commands then will my sorrows cry When Mercy stops Judgment begins to fly Sat. Desist fond Soul and labor to divorce Thy lips from this too fabulous discourse Guild not thy words with vanity perswade These thoughts which are erroneous to evade Thy serious mind advise and thou shalt see My ways are best be principl'd by me Let not the swing of passion strike thee down But follow me 't is I must give a Crown To thy deserts 't is I that can advance Thy down-cast Soul above the reach of chance 'T is I mistaken Soul 't is I alone That must conduct thee to the sublime throne Of true Salvation 't is my hand must bring Thy trembling Soul before th'all-judging King Of Heaven and Earth it is my power can fill Thy heart with joy believe me and I will Trust not the babling languages of those That seem thy friends but are thy greatest foes They 'r great to thy destruction they 'l connive stories And fawn nay almost bury thee alive They 'l talk of Heavn and Hell they 'l tell thee Of endless boundless unconceived glories They 'l tell thee of Eternity and woo Thy Soul out of thy ears if thou ' lt
bestow Thy pains to hear them they 'l infuse and brew Their own designs and tell thee all is true That they declare they 'l tell thee that they 're sent As Messengers from Heav'ns high Parliament Believe me Soul 't is I that can display The Gospels Colours better far than they There 's nothing in that Volume so abstruse But I can winde and twist it to my use And there is nothing in this world can be Stil'd worth a Work but can be done by me I can do all it lies within my power To make thee poor or rich in half an hour I can command whole Legions to attend Upon my honor Say what nobler friend Canst thou embrace I 'le be a friend to all That will give audience to my faithful call I 'le make them swell with riches they shall have As much nay if not more than they can crave Am I not rare and rich and high and great Incomprehensible Is not my seat The throne of happiness Yet cannot I Invite thee to my sweet eternity Come gentle Soul into my twining arms I 'le hug thee I 'le delight thee with my charms I 'le shew thee all my Joys nothing shall lie Hid from the view of thy all gazing eye Happy beyond expression Soul Satan slay The Progress of thy tongue and give me way That I may vent my thoughts for you have spoke At large already and is this the stroke Which you intend shall wound me Be assur'd The blow's but small and well may be endur'd Sat. What mov'd to passion Is thy mind disturb'd With foul mistrust pray let those thoughts be curb'd What dost thou think I am perfidious Fie 'T is folly to condemn before you try Alas alas what profit can accrue To me by wronging such a Soul as you What I express is onely for your good But what is more than grave advice withstood I doubt these weak these empty thoughts presage A tempest guarded with a storm of rage Well then storm on and when thy storm is spent Sit down and meditate and then repent Soul Repent Oh happy word although exprest By a foul mouth those that repent are blest How dare thy hellish lips usurp a word Fill'd with divinity but will afford No rest no comfort to thy horrid Soul Be gone be gone and if thou canst condole Thy self thou art if Logick prove but true Curst in the Major and the Minor too Bless me ô heav'n what blust'ring stormy weather Drove such a vile prodigious Monster hither Touch-stone of baseness dost thou come to prove Whether I 'm gold or dross thou mayst remove Thy forward hopes because I hope to be Metal at last for Heav'n and not for thee Be gone fallacious wretch I cannot brook Thy golden baits I have descry'd thy hook Father of Lyes thy policy is built Upon the sands and plaister'd o're with guilt Thy tongue foretells a storm if so be sure Thy sand-built policy shall not endure Flattery 's the life of baseness and that Art Is well imprinted in thy subtile heart Dost thou believe that I can entertain Belief from thee Or dost thou think to reign Within my brest No no thy cloudy powers Are at the best but falsifying showers Be satisfi d I cannot give the least Of credit to thee nor I dare not feast My thoughts with such uncertainties I know Thy dyet must and will corrupt to woe Thou bidst me not condemn before I make Some tryal of thy trust If I should take Such green advice I quickly should undo My wretched self and in condemning you What profit could I have or what relief Could I epect to mitigate my grief My accusations would be blown as dust Before the wind I 'le neither try nor trust Sat. Nor try nor trust Art thou resolv'd to cross My real motions Do and see whose loss Will prove most weighty if I lose the heat Of thy weak love my loss will not be great But if I should withdraw my love from thee How like a Map of well-drawn misery Wouldst thou appear be wise corect thy thoughts Neglected favors prove the greatest faults Take my instructions for 't is I must bring Content unto thee 't is a glorious thing To be immortal prethee Soul decline Thy former ways say shall I call thee mine Mine mine thou art I 'le load thee with renown Let me but conquer thou shalt wear the Crown How pleasing are my joys how full of peace Are all my ways my glories still increase I 'm great and good I take delight to win Distressed Souls and lead them from their sin I cannot chuse but pity those that lye Vpon the beds of sensuality My melting Soul is always free to give Comfort to them that study how to live Alas the care and trouble that I take Is more for their content than my own sake My gates are always open they that venture To come to me shall with a welcom enter And when they call and cry I will appear My self unto them and rejoyce to hear Their sad complaints I will not hide my face From them that seek the glory of my grace I cannot be unconstant I must grieve To hear their sorrows and I will relieve I will be pitiful to them that trust In me alone I cannot be unjust I cannot no I cannot Earth shall move Sooner than I will falsifie my love I am eternal they that will endeavor To gain my love shall have my heart for ever Soul 'T is not your empty words shall make my brest Stoop to the flatt'ry of thy vain request Though I have ears to hear I have a mind That will not shake at the hard-breathing wind Of your discourse what you pretend for reason Is nothing but the froth of private treason 'T is not your multiloquious tongue can turn The Biass of my Soul or make me spurn At Holy Writ 't is not your fond conceit Of being good shall make me to retreat From Heav'ns Commands 't is not your promis'd joys Can make me chearful or your painted toys Can lure me to your fist 't is not the dart Of your vain love can penetrate my heart 'T is not your seeming clemency can make My Soul to love you for your Pities sake 'T is not your always-open gates that shall Entice my steps to your large Guilded Hall 'T is not your self-appearance shall invite My well-composed thoughts to your delight 'T is not your greatness that shall make me yield To your desires Religion is my shield I le neither fear nor love your rash evasions Nor give attendance to your smooth perswasions ' Nis difficult to serve two Masters well Who strays from Heav'n must needs approach to Hell I am advis'd to shun the broad-path'd ways That lead to ruine what the Scripture says I must believe 't is dangerous to fly Without the wings of true Divinity The Scriptures are my way my light my guide And they that go without them needs must slide The paths
my pleasing fruit Must I be always waiting on the train Of your desires and spend my time in vain No no I will not for it is unfit I should attend if you will not submit Th' incensed fury of my spirits burn To be in action I will not adjourn A minute longer go and hug thy vice Thou lov'st the bargain but abhor'st the price Urge me no more away I have forgot All thoughts of friendship and I know thee not And here I leave thee to the Lawless power Of thine own passion Cursed be that hour That brought thee forth if all this will not do May all men curse thee and I 'le curse thee too Sou. And can the spring of thy affections find So soon an Autumn Canst thou be unkind With so much ease and can your real brest As you so call 't be so soon dispossest Of Love and Patience Oh how bad and strange Is the effect of such a sudden change 'T is disputable for I know not whether Anger or ' policy or both together Wharst thee to these extreams well then pursue Thine own desires and I will bid adieu To all thy follies yet my heart begun T' expand it self before the glim'ring Sun Of thy perswasions if thy sharp'ned rage Had not so soon exploded me the stage I fear I fear I had before this hour Been prostituted to thy tameless power Be gone be gone but stay hark Satan hark Go boast you shot but fairly miss'd the mark Sat. Why dost thou bid me go I m sure you speak As I have done in jest thou wilt not break The bonds of friendship though thou hast exprest Thy self in anger yet thou arâ— in jest Those good conceits that live in th'inner places Of my close heart tels me th' art fill'd with graces But there is none that can proclaim and cry They 're free from rage no not so much as I When I am angry then my heart is pleas'd Because I 'm satisfy'd my mind is eas'd Of a most pressing load which seems to tire And waste me with a brest-consuming fire A wise mans ear must always entertain Things spoke in passion to be void and vain The tongue's a restless member and oft-times Out-runs the wit and then it flyes and climbs Above all sense When Reason finds divorce The tongue proves subject to a headlong course What I have spoke observe and thou shalt find Proceeded from my passion not my mind The misconstruction of a word may make The dearest friends to vary and forsake The plains of friendship tho' their hearts are free From the curst evils of inconstancy Therefore mistake me not nor do not thou Construe my words with an incensed brow Smile on me then and cheerfully impart The loving childings of a friendly heart Then shalt thou see with what a willing arm I will conduct and guide thee from all harm Believe me Soul I am not come to scatter Uncertain stories but a real matter What I hold forth unto thee is the stem Of a pure heart thou art the only Jem Shall grow upon it come and let 's combine I shall rejoyce to see thee prove divine Sou. The Biass of thy Love runs now so strong That I much fear 't will not continue long I find I find thou hast the art to sail With any wind thou labour'st to prevail But 't is in vain for know I trust thee not My zealous heart is fearful of a plot I cannot be so foolish as to trust Without assurance that thou wilt be just Wilt thou be true Speak with a real breath Sat. I will be just believe me unto death I will I will oh may I never be True to my self it I am false to thee Sou. If thou art just and constant tel me where Thy seat is plac'd and who is Prince of th' air Be true in this and thou shalt find that I According to thy answer wil reply Sat. I 'le tell thee then because I 'le now fulfil The vast desires of thy enquiring will Where my refulgent Seat is plac't prepare Thy ears to hear I 'le speedily declare The large extent of my unbounded grace Cannot be comprehended in one place Because I am immortal unconfin'd To time or place I live in every mind That 's truly real and not disagreeing To my known Laws I have no local Being The World 's a spacious Body I the Soul Which lives in every part compleat and whole Thus this dispute is easily decided For what 's immortal cannot be divided Nay more because I 'le fill thee with content I say I 'm Prince of every Element Therefore of air Now if thou canst enquire Any thing more I 'le answer thy desire Sou. Before I suffer my swist thoughts to slide Into more questions I 'le be satisfi'd In what is past If so it be you have No local Being how then will you save Those Hosts of Souls which you intend shall be Seal'd with the Signet of Eternity Did you not tell me that your peaceful Seat Was rich sublime and without measure great If thus it be as 't is exprest by you 'T is more than strange that 't is not local too Clear but this doubt and thou shalt quickly find Those duties that attend an honest mind Flow from my brest till then I 'le rest in peace As you perform so shall my Love encrease Sat. Ambiguous Soul why dost thou thus connive At thine own follies Why dost thou deprive Thy self of comfort comforts that will heal Th'exulcerous sores of thy distemper'd weal Why art thou thus inquisitive the thing That thou desir'st to know if known will bring Small satisfaction to thy dubious brest He 's wise enough that knows he shall be blest If you enquire in such a doubtful case You l loose your rest in seeking out the place Surcease thy thoughts and do not proudly knock Thy self in peices now thou knowst the rock Pry not too sarl et secret things alone My Zodiack has more signs than must be known 'T is not the Heav'n of Heavn's that can contain Me the Creator and my glorious train I am even what I please and what I will be Even where I will So. Where 's that Sa. what 's that to thee The knowledge of my seat does no way tend To thy salvation therefore cease to spend Such fruitless thoughts cast by this needless care Learn to know what I am no matter where Sou. I must confess it is not good to pry In things that suit not the capacity But seeing 't was your pleasure to express So much of friendship I made bold t' address My self unto you pardon then my crimes You know that wisest men may doubt sometimes Your weights are light or else your courage fails You have not strength enough to turn the scales Of my affections yet you had almost Droven my ill man'd ship upon your Coast The winds of your perswasions rage and roar Within my brest I cannot find a shoar For my
desires I 'm tost from wave to wave And am become a most distracted slave Those heavenly thoughts which formerly frequenred The closet of my brest are now prevented By base bred fancies fancies that arise From a soul brain and makes me to despise Almost my self I know not what to do I dare not oh I dare not yield to you And yet I hardly can believe thou wilt Burthen thy conscience with so foul a guilt As to betray me sure thou art morekind Than to abuse a well-affected mind But yet I dare not trust a Soul pursuer Because thou kil'st when thou pretend'st to cure I reel I reel if not sustain'd I shall Receive a sudden and a deadly fall What shall I do in this deplor'd condition I fear I fear I 've lost my best Physitian Try Satan try and see what may be done For a sick Soul that foolishly has run Beyond it self oh see what thou canst do To give me ease and then I 'le call the true Sat. Now Soul I love thee rouze bid grief depart Thou hast the symptomes of an honest heart Me thinks I could with much content afford To say thou speak'st a Christian at a word Cheer up and know that many troubles wait Upon the changes of an ancient State The work of Reformation always brings Trouble at first but afterwards it sings Anthems of Peace whose fortunate event Will more than countervail thy discontent He that has spent the treasure of his days Under one Roof has reason to dispraise The troubles of removing yet at last When his defatigating cares are past He may declare himself to be a debter To fortune and confess that Life the better Even so mayst thou dear Soul hereafter say Blest be that hand which led thee from the way And paths of Ignorance although at first 'T is often known beginnings are the worst Thou feel'st a private nakedness within Because thou hast uncloath'd thy self of sin Although I must confess there cannot be A vacuum in Nature yet in thee There is an emptiness and must be still For what is empty craves a time to fill If he whose stomach hath sustain'd the rage Of sharp'ning hunger should at first asswage His appetite with fulness would it not Produce a surfeit and impose a blot Upon his wisdom raising such a strife Within his Microcosmus that his life Would be endanger'd therefore learn by rote That moderation is the chiefest note In all my Gammut none can sing so high A note as moderation only I. If I should let thee make too large a meal Of my rich joyes at first I should reveal Too much of folly for it thou shouldst take A surfeit at the first it needs must make Thee fear nay hate to entertain my diet 'T is better far to spare at first than riot Moreover should I let thee taste thy fill At first I know the reins of thy fierce will Would scorn a hand 't is dangerous to trust Presumptions spur can never want for rust Come Soul let reason rule thee do not stain Thy well-dy'd judgment 't is a greater pain To fear than sufler come I long to see Thee wanton with mee in Eternitie Then doubt no more resolve and let 's away There is no greater grief than to delay A happiness be well inform'd of this Procrastination is a foe to Bliss Sou. Thy words imposthumate my heart I feel A greater pain than ever Ixions wheel Knew how t' inflict extremities still crowd Into my thoughts my sorrows call aloud And none will hear what shall I do for I Unworthy am to live unfit to dye Except th' all ruling power above will please T'inspect my Soul and furnish me with ease To whose blest ears I 'le recommend my suit My sorrows will not let my tongue be mute Great Auditor of groans oh let my cries My sighs my tears invite thy eares thine eyes To hear and view me for I must confess My crimes are great and I am nothing less Than what is least alas and nothing better Than what is worst oh pardon me thy debter I 'm rost with grief and know not where to fleer My shipwrack'd self but still my fins appear Before my face whose looks almost affright And make me start into eternal night What shall I do or whether shall I flee That am an alien Lord except to thee From thee I cannot and I am too vile To come unto thee having made a spoyl Of those most sacred mercies which thy hand Confer'd upon me there is no command But I have broke yet gracious Lord I know That thy abounding mercies can o'reflow My sand excelling sins which cannot lie Absconded from thine all-surveying eye With shame I must confess the subtile art Of Satan hath impoysoned my heart Oh I am sick to death I swell I burst Never was any Soul so much accurst There 's none but thee thou sacred Antidote Can cure my grief be therefore pleas'd to note My sad condition let my sorrows lye Before thy face oh hear me when I cry Grant me the shield of Faith that I may stand In opposition to the powerful hand Of active Satan weaken Lord his power And add unto my strength let every hour Afford new mercies mercies that may sail Into my brest ah should my Foe prevail Oh then I perish shorten Lord his chain And lengthen out my patience oh make vain His fierce attempts that he my feel and see When he is strongest I 'm as strong as he Then shall my lips extol thee and proclaim The greatness of thy glory and his shame Give but thy grace unto me Lord and then Say what thou wilt my tongue shall say Amen Let everlasting plagues and horror dwell Within so fit a soul let black-mouth'd Hell Remove his scituation and take An everlasting Lease oh let him make A Ten'ment of thee dost thou think that I Will hear thy prayers oh no I scorn thee fye Away begon Sou. What voice is this that makes this bold intrusion Into my ears and grumbles out confusion Me thinks I see a storm-portending cloud Bowel'd with thunder and I hear a loud And horrid noyse a noyse that will confound A wel-prepared ear to hear the sound Who would not quake at such a voice as this That roars forth Malice with an Emphasis My thoughts are interrupted and amazement Flashes like Lightning through the brittle casement Of my ill glased-brest it cannot be The voice of Heav'n a God so pure as he Hates to be envious malice cannot spring From such a good and Love-composed King Although his voice made terrible oft-times By the addition of mans dayly crimes Thunders against a sinner yet his breath Can take no pleasure in a sinners death Hereafter Lord when malice finds a voice To speak my understanding shall rejoyce In knowing who it is this heart of mine Shall never quake at any voice but thine Then let hels deep-mouth'd blood-hound roar and thunder I le neither fear
nor love nor quake nor wonder For 't is not strange to hear a Lyon roare That wants his prey the more he has the more He seeks for more imploying still his power In seeking how and whom he may devour Know therefore Sathan that I am prepar'd To meet thee and I will not be out-dar'd 'T is not thy false malicious tongue shall tempt My heart to love no nor thy rage exempt My thoughts from heav'n although thy craft still For opportunity to stop good works When I compose my self and strive to pray lurks Thou seek'st to turn my thoughts another way Thou great corrupter of Diviner parts Thou watchful thief that steal'st into the hearts Of silly mortals think not to devour My armed heart with thy pursuing power Sat. Wil nothing move thee wilt thou stil mistrust If fair means will not move thee foul means must What dost thou think my arm is grown so short It cannot reach thee dost thou think to sport With my commands say thou imperious mite Who gave thee being who created light Who made the Heav'ns the Earth the Sea reply Audacious wretch speak was it thee or I Thou vain contender dost thou think to gain By striving with me any thing but pain Oh no thou shalt not for I 'le still renew Thy pinching sorrows therefore bid adieu To all thy comforts for thou shalt no more Injoy those blessings thou injoy'dst before Oh how thy horrid tongue shall roar and cry With Dives for a drop but no supply Shall dare t' appear the more thou crav'st the less Thou shalt be heard for nothing shall express The least of pleasure to thy per-boyl'd heart Thy chiefest food shall be perpetual smart Be well assured that thy ears thy eyes Shall hear nor see nought but extremities Be gon be gon my fury hates delay Hell and Damnation be thy lot away Sou. Experience makes me understand thou art A lively actor of a deadly part I find the greatness of your swelling rage Your Prologue speaks 't would be a bloudy stage If you might act as King but Heav'n prevent The cursed plots of your accurst intent I fear thee not because I know thy power Is limitted and thou canst nor devour Without commission therefore do thy worst And let thy envy swell until it burst And fall to nothing my Creator gives Me faith to say that my Redeemer lives And will protect me from the rage of those That are my known and secret deadly Foes Thy thundring words shall not make me complying For he 's unwise that dyes for fear of dying Thus being guarded with the shield of grace I 'le spit defyance in thine impious face Thou art a Lyon and thou seek'st for blood How bad 's that soul that dares to think thee good Urge me no more cashiere thy fruitless trouble The more thou strivst the more I le strive to double My resolutions for I dare not venture To rest my heart on such a bloudy center Oh no I dare not he that shall let go A certain friend for a most certain foe Justly deserves to have no other same But what reproach can build upon his name Should I permit my rambling thoughts to glance Upon thy love the Plea of Ignorance Could not be prevalent because 't is known Unto the blest-united three in one That I by his assistance have descry'd Thy real flatt'ry and thy humble pride I dare affirm no greater pride can be Than that that 's acted with humility But here I 'le stop and leave thee to inherit Th' effects of a diabolique spirit Sat. Accursed Caitiffe dost thou think to scape The fury of my hand or make a rape Upon my goodness no the Sun and Moon Shall stop their usual progresses as soon As I will change my mind Vengeance is mine And I 'le repay it on that Soul of thine Be gon be gon expect thy sudden doom It is thy sins give punishment a room Let everlasting Plagues and horrour dwell Within so fit a Soul let black-mouth'd Hell Remove his scituation and so take A still continuing Lease on her him make A ten'ment of thee dost thou think that I Will hear thy prayers oh no I scorn thee fie Away begon Sou. If words could kill I had been ere this time Worded to death but now I hope to clime Above the reach of words in thy despight Where thou mayst grumble at me but not bite Even as the surly blood-desiring Dog Ty'd with a chain or loaded with a clog Growes fiercer with restraint and stands in awe Of nothing but his Master to whose Law He must submit and keep within his list For fear will not permit him to resist But if some wandring passenger should chance To walk along he quickly would advance His watchful head and running to and fro From place to place he tuggs but cannot go Beyond his bounds but labors still in vain With fruitless bring of his senseless chain To free himself but when he finds his strength Is not sufficient to out-go the length Of his well-fastned chain he soon divides His sharp fang'd jawes and bauls until his sides And lungs are weary then he runs the round Until he layes himself upon the ground Where he remaineth much displeas'd and vext Seeming to threaten ruine to the next So thou hels ty'd-dog if thou couldst but strain And quit thy self from heav'ns fast-holding chain What Soul should scape thy jaws or be possest Of lasting peace or comfortable rest How sad how miserable had it been For patient Job had but thy power been seen Upon his heart but Heaven that will controul In spight of malice chain'd thee from his soul Alas alas Thy chain is not so long To reach a soul not is thy power so strong To break it at thy pleasure thou mayst baul And bark forth envy but not hurt at all If thou art God as thou pretendest why Why dost thou suffer such a thing as I T' expostulate so long and dost not show Thy Judgements in my speedy overthrow Sat. It is my goodness and not thy desert That breeds forbearance in my tender heart Alas alas what honour would accrue To me in conquering such a thing as you I could within a moments time asswage But that my clemency out-vies my rage Thy swelling fury for I could discharge Vollies of wrath and easily inlarge They restless torments I could make thee run Like morning mists before the rising Sun Out of my presence If I should but say The word be gon alas thou couldst not stay But ah I cannot for I hate to harm Love guids my strength that strength guids my arm Even as the Shepherd with bedewed locks Watches the feeding of his harmless flocks For fear the bold-fac'd Wolf should chance to peep Into the coasts of his beloved sheep And like a lawless Tyrant soon commence Against those Emblems of pure innocence A bloody action which would soon incite The Shepherds grief to see so sad a sight So