unto life None so easily raiseth one lying in bed Aug. serm 44. de verb. dom as Christ the dead out of the grave From all which things it plainly appears how truly the blessed Apostle called the death of the godly gain Phil. 1.21 for 't is gain to have escaped the increase of sin 't is gain to have passed from worse and to have arrived at better Psal 116.15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints and it is good to them because of rest better because of security best because of blessedness Pains of Death Tempted I fear not death but its pains for I have often seen the eyes of dying persons growing dim their ears waxing deaf their tongue faultering I have seen the sweat and anguish the horrour and nakedness of dying persons I have often heard the groans and complaints of the soul compell'd to go out of the tabernacle of the body Comforter Those that believe in Christ are preserved from those pains of death or at least their pains are mitigated Christ hath taken upon him what was most bitter in death namely the sense of God's wrath Ex. 15.25 Let us cast the tree of the cross into our death on which Christ died for us and it shall become a pleasant sleep Verily Joh. 5.51 verily I say unto you saith Christ if any man keep my saying he shall never see death that is he shall not only not see everlasting death but neither that ghastly and horrible shape of temporal death And if a very little taste of bitterness be in the cup of death we are to drink yet what and how little is it in respect of that brook whereof Christ drank in the way of this life for us Psal 110.7 how little is that little draught to be esteem'd in comparison of that cup which our heavenly Father gave him to drink off in our stead Matt. 26.42 Asaying of Methodius Our death is like a medicinal purge of our soul and body and seeing by it the poison of sin is as it were purged out of our flesh what wonder if some Aloes be mixt in this purge Our death is the midwife to life eternal what wonder if the same happen to us as to an infant born into the world out of the narrowness of its mothers womb by whom the pains of the birth are in part endured There is no birth without all pain That Fit will last but a moment and lo the day of our death will be the birth-day of eternal life Strait is that gate that leadeth us unto life what wonder if we feel something of straitness in its passage Christ is our Captain and breaker up Mic. 2.13 he opens the way before us we must cleave to him with a true faith that we may pass with him through the gate of death and may come to the path of eternal life that is known to him Psal 16.11 Sin yet dwelleth in our flesh what wonder if through the remainders of sin it be made to feel some straits of death Rom. 5.1 In the mean time our conscience hath peace in Christ who is our true peace Eph. 2.14 who rising from the dead brought the gift of peace to us Death hath nosting left whereby it can wound our soul it fasteneth its teeth in our heel but its poison is taken from it by Christ that it cannot infuse it into us when it fastens its teeth Untimely death Tempted I seem to be called out of this life too soon God snatcheth me away in the midst of my days Psal 55.23 therefore I fear lest this be a sign of God's anger seeing it is written Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days Comforter There is nothing untimely which God hath timed Long life indeed is God's gift but yet short life is not always a sign of God's anger seeing sometimes God commands even the godly and those that are beloved by him to pass betimes out of the habitation of this world that being freed from the dangers of sinning they may be translated into a security of not sinning and may not be made to undergo publick calamities that are often more sad than death it self God's people go and enter into their chambers Isai 26.20 and shall shut the doors upon them they shall hide themselves as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpast Isai 57.1 The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart the merciful men are taken away and none considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come He shall enter into peace he shall rest in his bed walking in his uprighteness Wisd 4.7 Though the righteous be prevented with death yet shall he be in rest For the honourable age is not that which is of long time 〈◊〉 neither that which is measured by the number of years But wisdom is the gray hair 〈◊〉 and an undefiled life is the old age He pleased God and was beloved of him 10 so that whereas he lived among sinners he translated him 11 He was taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding or deceit beguile his mind 12 For wickedness by bewitching obscureth the things that are good and the unstedfastness of concupiscence perverteth the simple mind Though he was soon dead 13 yet fulfilled he much time 14. For his soul pleased God therefore hasted he to take him away from wickedness Though we cut down those trees that do not bring forth and let those stand that do yet God does otherwise The godly dies most happily whether he die in a good old age Sph. Philos c. 36. p. 411. or in the very flower of his youth Quid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aliud nisi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nisi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nisi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nisi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is What is life but violence what is the body but a grave what but a chain what our birth but a passing to the grave Wilt thou take it ill to be freed betimes from these evils and chains The earlier the heavenly Emperour recalleth thee from the station of this life the sooner he putteth thee in a place of rest peace and victory The services further owing to the Church Tempted I might in my place hereafter further profit the Church of God by my labour in some kind to this end therefore I could wish a space of longer life were granted to me Comforter All this is to be committed to God's disposal namely how long God will have thee to live for the service of his Church Therefore say with that ancient Doctor of the Church and most deserving Bishop Ambroses dying words recorded by Posidon in the life of Augusti◠c. 27. I have not so
thee that Christ thy treasure liveth Let the frame of heaven and earth perish flee pass away thou hast the most faithful promises of a new heaven and a new earth Isai 65.17 2 Pet. 3.12 Behold I create new heavens and a new earth saith the Lord in which shall dwell righteousness so that none any longer remembreth the former Rev. 21.1 Let the tabernacle of thy pilgrimage fall the mansion of the heavenly countrey abideth ever Nor is there any reason thou shouldst fear the accusation either of Satan or the Law or thy sins thy sins are thrown into the depth of the Sea namely into the abyss of Gods mercy God hath thrown them behind his back Mic. 7.19 Isai 38.17 Ezech. 18.24 so that he will remember them no more hereafter Satan believe me shall not fetch thy sins up out of the sea nor shall dare to bring them into the sight of the Judge Thy sins are * Psal 32.1 Psal 51.1 forgiven covered blotted out they shall not be brought again into judgement The Devil will in vain accuse the godly because the blotting out the hand-writing by the blood of Christ shall be turned to him Col. 2.14 His accusation for sin shall be to no purpose because the forgiveness made through Christ shall be alledged against him Vain shall be the accusation of the Law because in this life there preceded reconciliation with God through faith Lastly thou hast no reason to fear Christ's sudden coming again to judgment for though the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night 1 Thes 5.2 yet God hath not appointed us to wrath 9. but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ Who died for us 10. that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him The judgment day is not to be feared by them for whom the heavenly kingdom was prepared from the beginning Mat. 25.34 Eph. 1.4 who were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world Commit therefore into the faithful hands of God the precious pledge of thy soul he will keep it in death and in judgement and he will introduce it being joyned to the body into the palace of heaven to everlasting glory A Prayer in Sickness HEar me O God thou giver and restorer of life in whose hands life and death health and sickness are Hear me not according to the desire of my will but according to the good pleasure of thine own will If thou wilt thou canst heal me say but one word and I shall be whole Thou art the length of my dayes in thy hands my lots are but if now thou call me to the heavenly country by the way of death first mortifie in me all inordinate love of this life give me strength of spirit that I may overcome the pangs of death and in the midst of the darkness of my dimm eyes kindle and encrease in me light of heart with thee is the well of true life and in thy light shall I see light Thy death O good Jesus is the remedy of my death and the merit of eternal life I embrace thy word with a faithful heart therefore I am sure that thou dwellest in my heart by faith I will not let thee go out of my heart until thou bless me and chear me with thy enlivening consolation Thou hast said He that believeth in me shall never die my heart presents this thy word before thee and with this faith I come to the throne of grace thou wilt not cast out nor reject him that cometh unto thee Let thy precious blood wash me from my sins let thy wounds hide me from the anger of God and the rigour of judgment I will die in thee thou shalt live in me I will abide in thee thou shalt abide in me thou wilt not leave me in death and dust but wilt raise me to the resurrection of life Thou hast fought and overcome for me fight now and overcome in me let thy strength be perfected in my weakness My soul cleaveth to thee I will not suffer my self to be plucked from thee Let thy peace that passeth all understanding keep my heart and senses into thy hands I commend my spirit thou hast redeemed me thou God of truth Take my poor soul which thou hast created redeemed wash it from sins in thy blood sealed with the earnest of thy holy Spirit and fed with thy body and blood thine it is thou gavest it me take what is thine and remit the guilt of my sins wherewith I have stained it Let not the fruit of thy passion perish in me nor let thy precious blood be unfruitful in me O Lord in thee have I trusted let me never be confounded Amen FINIS THE Christians TRIUMPH Over DEATH With some Divine Contemplations Soliloquies and Poems thereupon LONDON Printed by Margaret White for Nath. Crouch 1679. THE Christians TRIUMPH Over DEATH CONTEMPLATIONS On 1 Cor. 15.55 Oh Death where is thy sting UPright Adam was made Immortal but sinful Adam begot all his sons mortal even as he had made himself Adam therefore is dead and all the sons of Adam do but live to die the sentence of death past upon us all in him we are born to see this sentence executed upon our selves and as Adam himself dyed the same day he sinned that is brought himself into a necessity of dying though as to the time of his death he was reprieved for nine hundred and thirty years after that day So we in Adam came under the same necessity though it be some thousands of years after before the sentence be executed upon us As a Malefactor is a dead man in Law at that instant when the sentence is pronounced against him though his execution be respited for some few days after So according to Gods law and decree we are all dead in Adams doom though it please God to prolong these days of ours wherein we must live to die according to his irrevocable doom A Malefactor is not executed sometimes one two three four five or six days after judgment past so likewise we were all adjudged to die before we were born but God with whom a thousand years is but as one day hath appointed the first second third fourth fifth or sixth thousand year of the world to be the day of our execution There is more necessity of our dying than of our being born It is not so necessary that he who is not should be as that he that now lives should once die the former may be supposed but the latter is fully expressed It is appointed for all men once to dye Heb. 9.27 There is alwayes a greater necessity of the end than the means death is the end of life not only in the execution of it but in the intention Morti nati sumus we are born to dye and we dye from the time we are born The day of our birth what is it but the beginning of the day
of our death and the day of our death but the end of our birth-day our birth-day precedes the day of our death but the day of our death is preferr'd before that of our birth by the wise Solomon Eccl. 7.3 The day of death is better than the day one is born And did we rightly consider this our birthday is indeed a purishment and the day of our death in comparison thereof a reward for death only is the remedy against the miseries of life and to dye is but to rest from those labours and to be free from those sorrows whereunto we are born What a plague and punishment were the day of our birth into a sinful miserable world did not the day of our death give an end to all such evils both of sin sorrows and pains Now since as I have said our birth-day is but the beginning of our death and the day of our death but the end of our birth-day we seem to speak improperly to call the day of our departure only the day of our death On our last day indeed we cease to live but from our first day we begin to dye our last day is not the cause of our death but the consummation of it it doth rather finish than begin our death it is not the last and utmost minute of our life which brings death upon us it doth rather manifest and declare that death was always with us As the Prophet speaking of persecution says we are killed all the day long Psal 44.22 and the Apostle St. Paul concerning his own sufferings I dye daily 1 Cor. 15.31 So that though no violence or injury were offered to us yet even through natures frailty we dye daily and by fatal Mortality are killed all the day long we dye daily from the time we first begin to live the first day of our life is our longest day and every day afterward takes away one day from our lives and the longer we have lived the less time we have to live Quotidie morimur c. sayes Seneca we dye daily and every day takes away part of our life and while we are yet growing up our life decreases the very day that we now live we do divide it with death As by the time we spend in eating sleeping working and playing so by the moments which pass away in reading speaking writing our lives are shortened We dye daily our times dye daily our actions dye daily our Persons dye daily our times dye daily the time past is dead to the time present the time present is dying to the time to come yester-day is dead to this day and this day is dying to the morrow our actions dye daily what is done and past is dead to what we are now doing and what we now do is dying to what we shall do hereafter we hardly remember what we have nor conceive what we have done nor delight in what we have done so do our actions dye daily to our memories our understanding our Affections Our persons dye daily our infancy dies to our childhood our childhood to our youth our youth to our manhood our manhood to our old Age and our old Age dies into our death A man is in a continual Consumption of himself his days waste him as well as he spends his days one part or other of him languisheth perisheth or corrupts every day we dye by piece-meal not all at once saith Seneca There is not one day but wherein our spirits do in some measure waste our blood cools our moisture dries our stomach fails our liver corrupts our Lungs consume our bowels yearn our hearts faint or our head akes Every day either some vein stops some sinew shrinks some bone breaks some skin is withered some flesh bruised or at least some parts or member decayed The eyes grow dimmer of sight the ears more dull of hearing or the palate more unsavory of tasting every day than other Thus the several parts dye by little and little and thus at last the whole becomes dead As the Candle consumes from the time it first begins to burn so doth the Oyl and marrow of mans life waste from the very time he begins to live Man is like a candle that either consumes himself in the Candlestick of this world or else he is smothered under the Bushel of his mothers Womb. An hour-glass runs constantly from the very time it is turned up man is like this hour glass he is but running sand or moving dust and as the sand in the hour-glass falls by degrees one sand after another till the whole be run out so a man drops away by little and little till the whole is extinguished A traveller goes forward many days towards his journeys end man is a Traveller his life is the way he goes and death is the end of his journey and is it then a strange thing for us to dye when our whole life is but the way and path that leads to death Do we think we shall never arrive to that which we are continually going toward sayes Seneca There is no way on earth to which there is not an end the most intricate Labyrinth hath a way out of it at last We are continually walking towards death how can we then chuse but meet with it at last we dye daily how can it then be avoided but at last we must come to be dead Wretched man then that thou art why dost thou not daily dispose and prepare thy self for death since thou diest daily sayes St. Bernard Imagine thy self to be dead since thou must of necessity dye Wo unto us wretched creatures that all of us are so near death and yet most of us put this day so far from us Death is ready to take us by the hand in the natural execution of its office before we are willing to take it to heart by our Christian Meditation We go toward the grave with our faces turned backward so that our feet are just ready to fall into the pit before our eyes do once look upon it There are many who feel death before they know what it is and do wofully hazard and experience it before they could be perswaded either wisely to consider or conceive thereof for though we daily see death seizing upon others yet we can hardly be perswaded to believe our selves concerned as a learned Author says men behold nothing more familiarly than death and yet they forget and neglect nothing more Death then is a mighty King the great Conquerour of mankind to whom all the Glorys of this world must submit and yet our blessed Apostle exultingly cryes out Oh death where is thy sting Let us then consider St. Pauls Appellation or his summons to death Oh death what art thou a Chimera a fable a bugbear a dream a shadow a nothing Oh death thou art none of Gods creature the Wise man saith God made not death neither hath he pleasure in destruction Wisd 1.13 God is the God of
our life and being and he delights not in our destruction death was never intended against us but against our sin we were therefore made mortal that our sins might not be immortal we must dye once that sin may not always live Oh death what dost thou Thou dissolvest the rarest composition of heaven and earth thou dividest our spirits from our clay thou dost separate soul and body sharper art thou than any two-edged sword and entrest to the dividing asunder the soul and spirit yea thou dividest between the marrow and the bone Thou makest our dust return to the earth and our Spirit to God that gave it Oh death Thou makest our spirit to vanish our breath to stop our blood to cool our colour to change our beauty to fade and our strength to fail thou as Solomon saith Eccles 12.2 makest the keepers of the house our hands to tremble and the strong men our feet to bow themselves thou makest the grinders our Teeth to cease and them that look out at the windows our eyes to wax dim thou shuttest the dores of our lips and stoppest our windpipes the Daughters of Musick Thou cuttest short the silver Cord of our Marrow and breakest the golden bowl of our brain pan thou breakest the pitcher of our veins at the fountain of our liver at the cistorn of our heart there breakest thou the wheel of our head Oh death Thou art ordained for us all It is appointed for all men once to die we must all walk in this way all-tread this same path we must all sleep the same sleep our last sleep and the dark night of death will at last overtake us all our fathers are dead saith the Father our friends are dead and we our selves must die also Some are gone before us some do accompany us and some will come after us as wave after wave dashes against the Rock so shall we all one after another dash against this hard and cold Rock of death And thus sooner or later we all must die at last We are born with that condition that we must die we do therefore put on the Garment of our body that we may again put it off Death is the Law of Nature and to dye is but to pay a Tribute due to Nature it is as natural for us to live and then to die as it is for us to wake and sleep Oh death Thou wilt certainly come yet it is most uncertain when nothing is more certain than death but than the hour of death there is nothing more uncertain of that day and hour knoweth no man Matt. 24.36 that is of the day of judgement and the hour of death Death comes as a thief in the night both certainly suddenly and violently it takes one upon the house top another in the field one working in the Vineyard another grinding at the Mill one upon the house top of honours another in the field of pleasures one labouring in the Vineyard of a Christian calling another grinding at the Mill of worldly cares and troubles a man knoweth not his time Eccl. 9.12 that is the time of his death God will not discover to us the time when death shall come upon us because he would have us think it to be ever near us he will not let us know our last day because he would have us imagine and expect every day to be our last This one hour the hour of death is hidden from us that all the hours of our life might be the better improved by us saith St. Augustine Oh Death Thou art impartial and indifferent to all thou callest equally and as soon at the gate of the Palace as at the door of the Cottage thou makest the skull of the King and begger alike and between the dust of either thou knowest no difference thou hast neither pity upon the poor nor respect unto the rich thou neither scornest the foolish nor dost thou reverence the wise How dieth the wise man says Solomon even as the fool Eccl. 2.16 Thou dost long threaten the old man and soon betrayest and sruprizest the young thou never sparest any for their Age Sex degree or wealth we can by no power or force resist thee nor by any diligence avoid thee no tears can move thee no money bribe thee no art nor Eloquence can perswade thee Oh Death Thou hast manifold appearances and comest to us in several forms and shapes toward the old man thou approachest pale and lean toward the young bloody and boysterous to the bad man thou appearest as black as Hell it self and terrible to every man Thou comest to us sometimes by the hands of men sometimes by the Teeth of beasts sometimes by Fire and sometimes by water sometimes by a cold blast of wind sometimes by the slipping of a foot and sometimes by the falling of a tyle or stone sometimes in our cloths and sometimes in our meat and drink We dye several ways and by divers means some dye in War and some in peace some by sea and some by land some in the field and some in their beds some by their own neglects and intemperance others by a sudden wound or a languishing disease and thus by a Thousand ways of dying one death or other at last destroys us all Oh Death How bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liveth at rest in his possessions Oh Death how acceptable is thy judgement to the needy saith the Wise man Ecclus 41.1 2. Oh death thou art indeed like a shadow thou fliest those that follow thee and followest those that flye from thee thou hastnest toward us when we desire to avoid thee and when we would imbrace thee thou then delayest us Death is the rich mans fear the poor mans desire Thou art often called upon in adversity seldom or never thought on in Prosperity In prosperity we complain and cry with Hezekiah Isai 38. to have further time added to our days but in adversity we are apt every one to wish with Elijah It is enough now O Lord take away my soul for I am no better than my Fathers 1 Kings 19.4 Oh Death How dreadful a thing art thou to flesh and blood how do we abhor to think that the Grave should be our house and that we should make our bed in darkness to say to corruption thou art my father and to the worm thou art my sister and my mother How hateful is it to inherite serpents and worms to be separated from our selves and return to our dust How terrible is death to us not only from our own experience but from the example of others as often as we see or hear that another is dead we are concerned to think that we must dye also and when we are sick and think that death is coming upon our selves how are we troubled not well knowing what we shall do or whither we must go we are afraid to dye even we who have good hope of a better life after
Jesus standing o' th right hand of God And then think earth too mean a place for thee Whom he redeem'd with his most precious blood Sweet Jesus Thouwast pleas'd to buy me come I 'm not the worlds but thine then fetch me home If in this life only we have hope we are of all men most miserable 1 Cor. 15.29 THE world presents thee Ophir gold but stay Lose not thy Interest in God for Clay The world presents short pleasures to thine Eye Thy God presents blest Immortality Be circumspect the world 's a crafty Cheat And sells its Vanities at too dear a Rate Thy Soul 's more worth than all the world enjoys Exchange it not for Fooleries and Toys Which to thy fancy may seem precious things Yet are but Adders Poyson Serpents stings Wounding the dying soul that cannot die Nor live less than to all Eternity Consider him who said My soul take pleasure Go eat and drink thou hast abundant Treasure Laid up for many years That very night This wretched soul was stript of all delight And hurried hence amidst its chiefest joy By furious Ghosts Triumphing in their prey There are but few that solid wisdom prize And search Eternity with sacred Eyes Of saving faith Imploring not to miss Grace here below in Heaven Eternal Bliss Let thy Redeemer in thy heart be fixt So shall no sorrow with True joy be mixt Nor tempting vice thee from his precepts draw Omit no time fulfill his Royal Law With son-like fear and thou shalt have no less I' th end than everlasting Happiness The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is Eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.23 There is therefore now no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8.1 SAid I not Lord that I would sin no more Yet sin again hath got me on the score Pray I not without ceasing to be free From sinful thoughts yet sin abides in me When I awake sin seeks to gain my heart Contending for precedence by desert Of Birth-right from the womb and would controul My holy thoughts and close besiege my soul That matchless gift of thine what shall I do Comply with sin and be its Captive too Who arms the Creatures with enticing smiles And with deceitful arguments beguiles Unstable Souls no I will shun its charms Thy strength my God to shield me from its harms I do implore else I am lost undone O let me find redemption in thy son The son of thy dear love who 's freely bent To bath my soul and make it innocent With his pure crimson streams whose mighty power Trampled on Death and Hell that dreadful hour The Graves restraint he vanquished at length By his victorious and triumphant strength The Temple Veil he rent in open view And gave himself to Gentile and to Jew A sacrifice for sin He is that Lamb Foretold and Typified in Isaac's Ram. The builders Scorn yet the chief Corner-stone Ezekiels Shepherd Daniels Holy One My Rock my only confidence my stay Forsake me not but guide me in thy way I am the Jonah I did cause the Rout To beg a Murtherer and cast thee out I stript thee of thy cloaths and of thy skin And my transgressions tortur'd thee within My sins thy sharpest sufferings contriv'd My sinfulness thee of thy life depriv'd Drew down thy fathers wrath which none could bear But only thee my Lord my Life my Fear Uphold me yet a little to endure Sins Buffetings the victory is sure Faith tells me so and patience bids me wait And I shall gain a conquest to the height Of my expected hope I shall but die And then shall go to immortality To live with perfect souls in perfect bliss Discharg'd of such a Nothingness as this Then wait my soul with patience for thy rest Prepar'd from everlasting to invest Thy nakedness with purest white array Free from the Moth and power of times decay While with incessant pleasures thou art fed A Crown of glory shall begirt thy head Perpetual Halelujahs shalt thou sing Unto thy God thy Saviour and thy King The souls Longing COme Lord my head doth burn my heart is sick While thou dost ever ever stay Thy long deferrings wound me to the quick My Spirit gaspeth night and day O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee II. How canst thou stay considering the pace Thy blood did make which thou didst wast When I behold it trickling down thy face I never saw thing make such hast O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee III. When man was lost thy pity lookt about To see what help i' th earth or sky But there was none at least no help without The help did in thy bosom lye O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee IV. There lay thy Son and must he leave that Nest That hive of sweetness to remove Thraldom from those who would not at a feast Leave one poor Apple for thy Love O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee V. He did he came O my redeemer dear After all this canst thou be strange So many years baptiz'd and not appear As if thy love could fail or change O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee VI. Yet if thou stayest still why must I stay My God what is this world to me This world of woe hence all ye clouds away Away I must go up and see O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee VII What is this weary world this meat and drink That chains us by the teeth so fast What is this Woman kind which I can wink Into a blackness and distast O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee VIII With one small sigh thou gav'st me t' other day I blasted all the joys about me And frowning on them as they pin'd away Now come again said I and flout me O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee IX Nothing but drouth and dearth but bush and brake Which way so'ere I look I see Some may dream merrily but when they wake They dress themselves and come to thee O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee X. We talk of Harvests there are no such things But when we leave our Corn and hay There is no fruitful year but that which brings The last and lov'd though dreadful day O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee XI Oh loose this frame this knot of man unty That my free soul may use her wing Which now is pinion'd with mortality As an intangled hampred thing O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee XII What have I left that I should stay and groan The most of me to Heaven is fled My thoughts and joys are all packt up and gone And for their old acquaintance plead O shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee XIII Come Dearest Lord pass not this Holy season My flesh and bones and joynts do pray And even my verse when by the rhime and reason The word is Stay sayes ever Come Oh shew thy self to me Or take me up to thee Vpon Death WHy should we not as well desire our Death As sleep No difference but a little breath 'T is all but rest 't is all but a releasing Our tyred limbs why then not alike pleasing Being burthened with the sorrows of the day We wish for night which being come we lay Our body down yet when our very breath Is Irksome to us we are afraid of death Our sleep is oft accompanied with frights Distracting dreams and dangers of the nights When in the sheets of Death our Body's sure From all such evils and we sleep secure What matter Doun or earth what boots it whether Alas our body 's sensible of neither Things that are sensless feel not pains nor ease Tell me and why not worms as well as fleas In sleep we know not whether our clos'd eyes Shall ever wake From Death w' are sure to rise I but 't is long first Oh is that our fears Dare we trust God for nights and not for years Conclusion THe God of love my Shepherd is And he that doth me feed While he is mine and I am his What can I want or need II. He leads me to the tender grass Where I both feed and rest Then to the streams that gently pass In both I have the best III. Or if I stray he doth convert And bring my mind in frame And all this not for my desert But for his holy Name IV. Yea in deaths shady black aboad Well may I walk not fear For thou art with me and thy Rod To guide thy Staff to bear V. Nay thou dost make me fit and dine Even in my enemies sight My head with Oyl my Cup with wine Runs over day and night IV. Surely thy sweet and wondrous love Shall measure all my days And as if never shall remove So neither shall my praise FINIS