twain Now is the Vail pull'd off from Moses Face And the way plain'd to the most Holy Place Where neither Peasant Priest nor King did venture For to approach all holy souls may enter Nor is man reconcil'd to God alone But Jew and Gentile too here meet in one SOUL Grant that thy voice which made the vail to part May rend the Vail of sin off from my heart My sin 's the Gulf that Dives knew so well Makes that vast distance between Heav'n and Hell Let this wide space be fill'd with thy great Merit And circumcise my heart too with thy Spirit What boots it Lord if Heaven 's laid ope to me If that my souls unfit for Heaven and Thee Silence my doubts dear Lord and make this clear Why was thy side once pierced with a spear From thence came Water and from thence came Blood Methinks there must be something understood CHRIST Near to the Heart so Providence thought fit A Cruse of VVater's plac'd to cool its heat VVhen Blood and VVater from my side burst out That I was truly dead thou needst not doubt Except it did appear I truly di'd My Resurrection can't be verifi'd VVhen Moses in the Desart strook the Rock He smote my side with a Prophetick Knock. The Covenant of old was then made good VVhen ratifi'd by VVater and by ‖ Heb. 9.19 Blood And so the Covenant that did come after It was confirmed too by Blood and VVater This VVater and this Blood th' Apostle saith Are the great witnesses o' th' Christian Faith Pure as the water such my Doctrine was My Patience was exemplar on the cross What I have teached you may build your faith on And what I promis'd that I took my death on In the old Law there 's no atonement made Till the blood of the Sacrifice was shed That sacrificing Rite was then appli'd To me when that the Dagger pierc'd my side This bloody spout once gaged for thy sin Le ts my Life out and lets thy death come in My Blood comes forth thy Pardon for to merit Water concurreth for to cleanse thy spirit For so of old to make a Leper pure Blood mixt with Water must effect the cure Such Cordials from this Lymbeck were distill'd Thy Font with one thy Cup with others sill'd As Woman first was fram'd from Adam's side So from my Breast was form'd the Church my Bride First form'd by vital Water then my Blood And body both became her spritely food SOUL What greater favour could my Lord impart Than through his side that I may view his heart More wounded by his Love than Daggers Art What greater love than this was ever read My Lord will live in me when he is dead The Cross display'd thy Death 't was thy intent Thy Life should be convey'd by th' Sacrament Once to my flesh thou didst thy self impart Nothing will please thee now except my heart What said Hypocrates is here made good If all the Spirits in the Creatures blood Were once extracted and imbibed then Men that are mortal would be immortal men Who drinks thy blood draws in thy vital breath Must find a life yea in the Jaws of Death Thou art the Tree of Life in Paradise VVhose Faith can strongly feed on thee ne'r dies Let thy VVounds and thy Blood Lord make me whole And with this water purifie my soul I beg thy Favour Lord what did't betoken Not one bone of thy body shall be broken CHRIST God counts our hairs and heareth all our grones And is in Cov'nant with our very bones That mine might be preserv'd I 'd the defence Of Promise Prophecy and Providence The Jew wont break a bone o' th' Paschal Lamb VVhen sacrific'd that Sacrifice I am VVhat in my natural body 's understood My body Mystical shall make it good My Bride so dearly bought I 'le love and cherish Not the least member of her once shall perish My piercing eye beholds each dust and whither Retir'd my hand can bind up all together I di'd 't is true but yet I live and I As little can in my poor Member dye My flesh and blood my soul and life he is Can such a member ever fail of bliss VVill not God cherish that life he 's begun Or can you cut a Ray off from the Sun The dearest husband may forsake a wife But God whiles God can ne're forego his Life Souls full of Goodness Truth Integrity The Life and Spirit of the Deity Then ceases for to live when God can dye SOUL Lord hear my voice and listen to my cry Reach me thy hand or else I faint and dye VVhat loving Mother but will hear the crying Of her dear Child when at the point of dying Suffer not thy dear self to be in pain VVhy should my Lord and Saviour dye again VVhat life I have in me 't is thine alone Let not thy foes and mine once break a bone Nor suffer me to see corruption Vouchsafe my Lord this secret to disclose VVhy at thy death we read the dead arose CHRIST Under that curse of dying thou shalt dye A double death for sin did couched lye Sin rob'd thy body of its vital breath And caus'd thy soul to dye a second death My body from my soul was rent o' th' Cross My soul from God o' th' two the greater loss But yet by dying thus 't was truly shown Thy double death I satisfi'd in one I loos'd deaths bonds bursting Hell-gates asunder Out comes the dead and tells abroad the wonder Hast thou not heard nor seen that wonted Fashion Of Potent Princes at their Coronation To make their Glory and their Joy combine The very Conduit-Pipes must flow with VVine To shew withal their Grace and Clemency The Prison's open and the captives free So in Triumphal Conquests Princes please To cast about their Gifts and Largesses My Cross it was my Throne tho curst by sin Where I was consecrated Priest and King When that my side was pierced by my foe My blood more choice than wine did freely flow Having discharg'd thy debts upon the Tree Both from the Grave and Hell I set thee free And here I made the Goal-delivery Mounting on my Triumphant Chariot I Led sin and Satan in captivity Dragging them at my Chariot-Wheels and then I freely gave my gifts and grace to men Such was the glorious conquest of my Cross That sin death grave and hell my Vassals was SOUL If so my Lord why am I dead in sin As if what thou hast done had never been Since thou hast broke the Prison of the Grave Why doth my sin fetter me like a slave Making my soul forget her former birth Sinking her deeper in this mud of earth And tho within this Clay she can't stay long Why should she strive to make her Prison strong Since that my soul 's enlarg'd from th' nether Hell I will no more in that dark dungeon dwell Since thou hast paid so dearly for thy slave Shall not my
After the Victim had incurd his death He was consumed by a Heavenly Breath Nor did this sacrifice acceptance find Unless performed by a grateful mind That sweet Perfume that incense that did savour The sacrifice and so procured favour The Jewish Rites were relative of mine Who was a Sacrifice pure and Divine A Male the choicest first-born set apart Form'd fram'd and fashioned by Heavenly Art And when I did the wrath of God atone 'T was by a free-will Off'ring of my own Making the Jewish Mincha Off'ring good When freely pouring out my Life and Blood Led as a Lamb and as a Lamb too dy'd Closing my Mouth but opening wide my side My Sacrifice it was my precious Life My free consent the Sacrificing Knife My Godhead what the Altar did of Old It sanctifi'd the Gift and made it Gold I was consumed too as from above With Flagrant Flames of everlasting Love Look as Eliah when about to dye Mounts in a Fiery Chair then climbs the Sky Dropping his Mantle to the standers by In fervent Love to man from Heaven I came And thither went all in a Fiery Flame Expiring out to God my Vital Breath Casting my Bodies Mantle on the Earth So dying persons commonly commend Their choicest Treasure to their choicest friend To thee my Child I left my precious Merit My Body to my Friends for them to bury 't And to my God I did commend my spirit SOUL The Death of Saints as David doth Record Is precious in the aspect of the Lord * Psal 116.15 When Enoch walk'd with God God clos'd his eye Nor known nor heard nor seen he was to dye Abr'am gave up the Ghost and therefore blest Gods Bosome was the pillow of his rest When Moses dy'd such was the Jewish Faith 'T was by a Kiss from God his Soul in Death Being extracted by a Heavenly Breath Scaree can we say Eliah ever dy'd Since both in Soul and Body he bestired The Fiery Chair and unto Heaven did ride Lord let me now depart Old Simeon cryes And like a Swan sings sweet before he dies Sweetly expiring by such tempting Charms As he in Christs and Christ within his Arms. Saint Paul perceiving death a drawing on Calls it no more than dissolution And so the Tent-maker took down his Tent VVithout a Crack or Noise or any Rent This is the truth of what the Wiseman ‖ Prov. 10.22 saith That Righteousness deliv'reth from death Since that his Darts can ne'r be felt as keen Till they be whetted at the forge of sin Nor doth he ever ride the pale-fac'd †Revel 6.8 Horse Till Guilt and Hell engageth in the Course Who wrongs his Prince and what is more his God Must dread the Usher of the sable Rod. So have I seen a Pris'ner in a swound When at th' Assize he heard the Trumpet sound The Musick 's good but such he cannot find it Since that he knows the Judg comes close behind it Such is the Musick of a Passing-Bell Each sinner knows the meaning too too well Death goes before and after follows Hell Who makes his soul and body of one crust Of Heaven and heavenly things can have no gust Nor can with ease be turned into dust Who stews his flesh in Riot and Excess And lull'd asleep with steams of drunkenness That soul can never hope in Heav'n to dwell Since he 's descended to the lowest Hell Aethereal Mansions are too pure and clear For him to hope to have a dwelling there That state of bliss 't would be his state of pain His lusts would poise him down to Hell again Who strives to make his Prison strong within As 't is without by gratifying sin That captive must conclude without all doubt His labour must be painful to get out And that which pains him most and grieves him more He 's worse got out than e're he was before Nor could that Gospel-fool this world †Luke 12.20 depart Till death by force of arms tore out his heart Knock off my chains dear Lord and make me free Dead to the world and the world dead to me Thus dying in the flesh and to it more Death can compleat but what is done before Laying his gentle hand upon my back My soul may part from hence without a crack My spirit failing and my strength exhaust I freely may like thee give up the Ghost Why did the Sun my Lord withdraw his Light Changing bright day into a darksom night CHRIST At a full Moon the Sun eclips'd to see It was both Miracle and Mystery A Glorious Star points out my Glorious Birth A greater Star's eclipsed at my death By both conclude this truth was verifi'd 'T was God that once was born 't was God that dy'd This dreadful darkness child had ne'r been seen Wer't not for Thine the Jews and Adam's sin For so in Holy Writ 't is often ¶ Ezek. 32.7 8. said Gods Wrath to sin by darkness was ‖ Joel 2.10 displaid When God was wroth with Pharaoh and his †Amos 8.9 10. Host Thick darkness overspread th' Egyptian Coast That dreadful day of doom shall make this good The Sun to darkness turns the Moon to blood So base is sin and of so foul a feature That neither God can view it nor his creature SOUL Who would not hate his sin and fear his God That for its baseness and this for his Rod. Tho God 's not cloath'd with passions of man His anger far outgoes mans Passion What Tyrants frown like to the louring sky Ratling down Fire and Brimstone from on high The Lions roaring and the Thunders noise Is but the Eccho of his angry Voice Night-hag of Hell clad in its black Attire Is but the shadow of his dreadful Ire If darkness be so full of fear and fright What is the darkness of Eternal Night O sin of Hell or rather Hell of sin Darkness without and darkness too within But here my doubts return to me again Why was the Vail o' th' Temple rent in twain CHRIST The Temple of the Jews did typifie This lower World and that above the sky The outward Court this outward world did mean Where all do meet in and where beasts are slain That inward Court wherein God had his Throne By that the Heaven of Heavens is clearly shown To this most Holy Place none could prevail To enter in 't was guarded with a Vail Now this Vail was thy sins that dismal shroud Which on the place of glory draws a cloud This is that Cherub who with flaming Rod Bars up thy passage to the Living God Nor was it meet till th' bars of Hell be broken This passage-gate to Heav'n should e're be open Whose sins do chain them to the posts of Hell In heav'nly places are unfit to dwell In likeness of thy sinful flesh and blood Thy sins I did atone upon the Wood And when my flesh was torn with dying pain Thy sins with Temples vail were rent in
Licensed and Entred according to Order THE MYSTERIES OF MOUNT CALVARY Opened and Improved IN A DIALOGUE BETWIXT CHRIST and the SOUL Omnis creatura compatitur Christo morienti sol obscuratur terra movetur Petrae scinduntur velum templi dividitur Sepulchra aperiuntur Solus homo Christo non Compatitur pro quo tamen Solo Christus patitur S. Hieronymus in Mat. 27. Aut prodesse volunt aut delectare Poetae Aut simul jucunda idonea dicere vitae Horat. de Arte Poetica By J. V Rector of Woodston in the County of Huntington LONDON Printed for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapside near Mercers Chappel 1686. THE MYSTERIES OF Mount CALVARY c. SOUL GRant me O Lord thy Spirit from above That I may know the mysteries of thy Love It cramps my Reason and it damps my Faith To read the stories of thy Life and Death Thou art my God infinite Wisdom can Best solve the point why God became a man CHRIST Behold my Soul God's a transcendent Sprite Love Wisdom Justice Mercy infinite Such is his Glorious Nature to the Eye Once to behold is to behold and Dye Nor can a prospect of the Sun be made Ere grateful to the Eye but in a shade The Vail of Moses Face was as a Glass For to reflect the glory of his Face Moses Vail was my flesh that pleasing shade In which Gods Attributes were all displai'd Sin was conceived first by Virgin Woman Since Adam knew her not and she knew no man By Virgin woman sin found entrance in The Virgin Woman's seed attones the sin The birth of sins controuled by my birth Since I was pure and spotless born of Earth Pure as my birth my life hence qualifi'd To expiate those sins for which I di'd Nor did my human nature less express Gods Wisdom equal to his Holiness 'T was Flesh and Blood that sin'd to make this good Thy sin I did atone by Flesh and Blood 'T was man that sin'd 't was God that was offended Man di'd God's satisfied the quarrel ended God's peace with man's proclaimed by my merit Man's peace with God's procured by my Spirit I took thy nature so imparted mine I was humane that thou may'st be Divine I came from Heaven to Heaven I plain'd the Rode God dwelt with man that man may dwell with God When I for sin a Sacrifice was made Gods Justice like his Wisdom was display'd That mercy may be shown God will be Just Either the sinner dyes or Jesus must At the same instant Mercy meant thy good Justice procur'd it with the price of Blood Nor do'st thou read God ever pard'ned Vice Scarce with but ne'r without a Sacrifice For so the Jews in all their solemn Feasts To atone their sins they Sacrificed Beasts And when the Lamb was slain i' th' sinners stead The guilt pass'd over to th' accursed head By these and other rites it was infer'd Sin was not strictly pardon'd as transfer'd David pursu'd with guilt to th' Altar flies His sin is pard'ned but his Infant dies So Just is God but yet so meek and mild He pardons sin but punisheth his Child Fear to offend Justice being so severe Since that thy pardon too doth cost so dear That God is merciful thy sins do shew it His blessed nature prompts him daily to it But since I paid so dearly for thy sin Justice it self doth usher Mercy in So contrite Souls may in Gods Mercy trust Since God is merciful ' cause he is just Buying thy Ransom at so dear a price Justice can ne'r demand the payment twice Gods Love like to his Mercy 's infinite Exerting all its pow'rs with all its might Light ceases not to spread his Golden Bams Fountains would drain themselves in Silver Streams God can't be less than the work of his hands His very Nature is what love commands Thy self unto thy self God gave thee once Ten thousand times thy self he gave thee since But when thy sin and misery he spi'd Took flesh so gave himself for thee and di'd Thus love from Heaven discharging every dart At last he threw himself into thy heart Not only took thy flesh and so thy sin But being man like thee became thy kin What friendship e're was found in any other Of Friend Physician Advocate or Brother All meet in me nay I am more then this Thy Flesh thy Life thy self thy God thy bliss SOUL Since 't was my Lords blest purpose and intent Within my Nature for to pitch his Tent Since that thy house meat grave they were not thine The reason is my Lord thou wouldst have mine Come Holy Ghost and by thy spritely art Hover and breathe upon my barren heart Since the place sacred is where God will come Make my heart like unto the Virgins Womb. Tho 't is not pure as knowing sin before Let it be Virgin knowing sin no more Once in a Manger was thy Body lay'd But in a Jakes I blush to have it said Into a worldly mind thou canst not come 'T is pinching narrow and it wanteth room Nor can I hear thy sweet and secret Voice In a House fill'd with jangling War and noise Nor canst thou dwell in a revengeful Brest The noise and hurry will disturb thy Rest Nor can my Lord an Habitation find Fit for thy Presence in an haughty mind Self taketh up the room and fills thy space Of residence and scorns to give thee place Uncleanness doth thy sacred spirit choak Bees shun the Hive when driven out by smoak Drunkards do quench thy Sprite pure and Divine Who cannot keep his own he cannot thine Nor can the God of truth e're dwell within A naughty mind where treachery hath been Since it betrays him to each tempting sin Nor can a sin within thy Temple dwell No more than Heaven can e're accord with Hell What friendship hath my God with Belial Why wouldst thou condescend Lord let me know Not to be made a man but man so low CHRIST Such was thy pride daring with God to vye And I atton'd it by humility God envys none his happiness to know it When pride atempted it and did foregoe it Humility points out the way unto it Such is the Virtue of an humble Soul Coupling all graces and secures the whole Blest be the grace to which alone 't is given To fetch God down to Earth raise man to Heaven Such is its power and vertue that it can Make man become like God and God like man God greater than himself can never be Except in this great in humility God and man courts this grace Heaven is Gods seat He 's but one more the humble soul is it When greatness doth with goodness twist and twine What can be more Heroick and Divine What makes the Sun so graceful but his light Quickning the meanest object of our sight Never did Radient Pearl so please the eye As to behold an humble Deity Learn O my Child
outbids the Devils market far Judg whether Vice or Virtue is more gainful Since Life to come's so sweet and Death so painful Nor canst thou say 't is thine unhappy state Sin never was thy choice but 't is thy Fate Can Life cause Death Good Evil Truth a lye Life Goodness Truth crys out why wilt thou dye Is man a Creature of a rank no higher Than artificial Puppet made of Wier Are praises promises rewards all one As if you should sing well to please a stone Is man no more blame worthy for his sin Than is a Watch not pointing right the Pin Conscience would never smite thee for a Vice Did not thy Nature prompt thee otherwise Is' t not the Drunkards choice to set at nought That cup where Aconite is made the draught And cannot Heaven nor Hell make him refrain Can Heaven e're lose its price or Hell its pain Strange Fate ne're fix'd on ought but what are evils As if God ne're made men but all were Devils If sin hath caught thee in its fatal gin Thy punishment's as fatal as thy sin But after all is there no strength and force In this that sin made God himself a curse Then sinner take thy fill carouse and quaff But canst thou drink o th' Cup that Christ drank of Or can thy back once bear that direful Rod Prest with the Arm of an Almighty God If sin made God so cursed Oh what can Make sin more cursed unto sinful man If innocence did under wrath so groan What comfort can the sinner look for none I beg thy Favour Lord for to relate Why thou wast Crucifi'd without the Gate CHRIST For to compleat a Jewish Type of note Th' accursed Sacrifice o' th' Scapen Goat Nor was it fit my Merits and my Grace Should be confin'd only to th' Jewish Race I dy'd a Pagan Death my erected wood Stood ' loft that all may view it for their good My Arms were stretched out from East to West To close with every Soul that would be Blest My Titles wrote in Hebrew Latin Greek All Nations in me may Salvation seek SOUL Thou dyd'st for all nought can it falsify But only cursed Infidelity Were not thy Death of Value infinite It could not make atonement for one sprite But being infinite it satisfi'd Both for this world and thousand worlds beside Let my name in thy Cross Engraven be Thou didst not dye for all if not for me But why in Holy Writ is' t verifi'd My Lord betwixt two Malefactors dy'd CHRIST There is a reason why th' Apostle said it Not only for to save the Prophets credit I was esteem'd a greater thief to be Than either of those Thieves that dy'd with me But yet by dying thus I mercy meant To th' greatest thief the greatest penitent When Adam robb'd the Tree to make him VVise And then deny'd it lost his Paradise Humble confession finds admission in To Paradise thus lost by Adams sin Wht one Thief lost you see the other found Who falls and riseth soon he gaineth ground But he that lives in sin in sin shall dye Yea tho his Lord and Saviour standeth by VVho hopes for Heaven but will not change his vice May find a Hell yea in a Paradise His very hopes are founded in his fears Since lust would fire a Heaven about his Ears Bateing my word each sinner can foretel Sin hath a Central force that points at Hell I need not say Depart out of my sight It never was nor can be his delight VVho to my sacred Laws hath small regard Hath less of reason to expect reward My Cross here seems to represent my Throne VVhich at the last day I shall sit upon O' th left hand stands the Goats my Sheep o' th' right As meet inheritors with Saints in light SOUL By these two Thieves my Lord hath clearly shown Justice and Mercy doth uphold his Throne Th' one aws my hopes th' other checks my fears Th' one hoists up Sail whil'st that the other stears To th' dying Thief much was thy mercy shown I won't presume on 't cause he was but one 'T was his first time he ever heard of thee The same can ne're be verifi'd of me He for his Lord and Saviour once did take thee In that weak state when all thy friends forsake thee Thou own'st him at thy death he thee at thine The same can ne're be truly said of mine I 'le now resolve God ne're held forth to morrow Or if he did did not repenting sorrow That I shall turn to God can it be said When that I scarce can turn me in my Bed My time is short way heavy long the course Shall all the burden lye o' th' weakest Horse My debts run on shall I discharge the score And pay them bitter when I owe the more I blush to think what 's dreadful for to own My lusts shall have the Marrow God the Bone When on the dying Thief thou cast thine Eyes Methinks thy words some potent truth implies This day thou shalt be with m' in Paradise CHRIST The Jews held forth a double Paradise That on the Earth and that above the Skies The place where earthly joys all met together The one the fitter umbrage of the other From hence th' Elysian Fields first took their rise Shades of the Trees that grew in Paradise Both Jew and Greek concur that men survive Their mortal clay and then are most alive Nothing to nothing tends and more say I 'T is by a Metaphor my Saints can dye God 's not the God o' th' dead but of the living The Souls of Abraham Isaac still surviving Moses Elias in the Mount appears Alive tho dead above two thousand years When Jacob saw the garment of his son Cries out some Beast hath kill'd him I 'm undone Whilst thus lamenting his unhappy fate Joseph's alive and Lives in Princely state Whilst mine and thy dear friend do spriteless lie Inexorable to thy sighs and cry They are not Dead but are alive as I Leaving their Grave-Cloaths for to wipe thine Eye Hast thou not seen a Student at his Book Close pent and pris'ned in some private nook He 's then all Mind all Soul all Life all Sprite And most alive when dead to Human sight Hast thou not seen two Combatants Engage Till one seems prostrate dead upon the Stage But when drawn off dragg'd through a Postern Door He is alive as e're he was before So have I seen the Branches of a Vine At Winters season faint away and pine When at that instant each luxuriant shoot Tho seeming dead yet is alive at Root And when the Sun imparts its gentle light Each branch appears again in pregnant plight Thy Life on Earth is hid with Christ above And when the Sun of Righteousness and Love Quickneth thy Soul all truth shall be display'd And latent forms of things which have been dead Hast thou not heard the pangs and pains that come From teeming Mothers of a pregnant
Womb Presaging as Aurora doth the Morn A welcome Infant shortly to be born Thus when Expiring Souls do vent their grones Their sighs their sobs and such like dying tones Conclude upon this struggle and this strife The souls new Birth into a better Life Thus shaking off this cold clay clod of Earth It joys to reassume its former birth Fast fixing on the center of its Rest Knows nothing but this one thing to be blest SOUL How doth the Soul forget her noble Birth When she 's confin'd within these Walls of Earth Kissing her shadow courting to her slave Thinking her self no bigger than a grave As if a Bird that 's soaring up on high Should cast her eyes down on the Earth and spie Her shadow there and say that it was I When she 's a climbing up the Towring Sky So doth the Soul by her dear Flesh inclin'd Impress her false opinions on her mind Counting that only true what 's in her sight And what she sees and feels of bulky weight As if a Child pent in its Mothers Womb Sould say the world affords no larger Room So Children fancy there 's no more of Sky Nor Earth than what is bounded by the Eye The folly of our Souls no less appears As in our fancies here so in our fears Fearful of Death who ne're had fearful been Till he put on the Vizard of our sin When e're he strikes me with his gentle Wand And takes me by the cold and clammy Hand He wounds my sin not me since that I dye Only in dear and tender sympathy To this vile Earth of mine which is not I. So have I heard a loving Mother cry When that her Child was stricken Ah! I dye When all 's but love and care and sympathy To her dear Babe for she 's alive as I. These Bodies we dwell in they are but Tents Tenants can live without their Tenements Or in some others dwell nor do we lose This Mortal Life when stripped of our Cloaths Paul wish'd to be dissolv'd to be with Christ Knowing that after death he should exist For tho it was his pleasure for to dye Yet as before so after he was I. And I with Christ and that is all in all St. Paul he was with Christ Christ with St. Paul Can Saints in Paradise e're faint and dye Having the Tree of Life thus standing by Can they fall in Gods Arms thirst at a Well Freeze at a Fire can ever Heaven be Hell Or can a Soul sun'd in the beams of Light Be wrapt in shades of everlasting Night Like to the dying Thief I beg thine Ear For to be open to my constant Pray'r When Death shall spred a cold shute on my Bed And wreath his Poppey Garland on my Head Then close the Casements of my tender Eyes My Soul may close with thee in Paradise Why doth th' Apostle Lord report thy crying With a loud voice when at the point of dying CHRIST When all my Members were upon the Wrack And all the sins o' th' World lay on my Back No wonder that they made so great a crack The Thunder never sent forth such a sound Nor ever Lightning pierc'd so deep a wound It rent the Rocks and made the Earth to quake The Heav'ns went into Mourning for my sake To th' lower parts o' th' Earth my Voice is fled It burst the Tomb-stones and awak'd the Dead Hell heard the Voice too the same poys'ned dart That pierc'd my side did rend the sinners heart All Creatures mourn at my sad obsequies Nature must sink when th' God of Nature dyes SOUL Grant that the Voice which clove the Rocky Pit May pierce my Heart too harder far than it Let my Soul eccho back to this thy grone Shall the Rocks find thee Ears and I have none I' th' Caverns of my Heart let thy voice sound And let it reach the Heav'ns at the rebound My sins thus smote by this thy weighty Rod I safe may say this was the Son of God Hear me Lord too when at the point of Death My strength doth fail me most strengthen my Faith Why is it said or can be said by thee My God! my God! why hast forsaken me CHRIST This is the fruit of that imbitter'd Tree Which once I tasted for the World and thee Which sets thy teeth on edg but mine much more Thou hast the kernells of it I the core O sting of sin all sorrows met in one Such sorrows as were felt but can't be known View O my Child what a great good God is And how thou wast Created for that Bliss As knifes were made to cut and stones do tend With their main force to th' center as their end As Vessels to be fill'd and as a Glass Was only made to represent thy Face So wast thou shap't and form'd for Happiness What Torment Nature finds hence may be guest When she 's with held from th' center of her rest The Object of mans Bliss is infinite Having a quick sense of it in his sprite And tending to it too with all his might To be rent from this bliss is such a loss As ne're was felt on Earth but on my Cross Embosom'd in my Fathers Brest were I None better knew where happiness did lie And must a Cloud withdraw it from my Eye Gods will was mine my nature of the same Born of a Virgin and dy'd like a Lamb Can innocence be made a publike shame I came from Heaven and know what joys were there Reveal'd them too and must I lose them here I was Gods Son Gods Darling too were I. Can God forsake himself his Son and dye The Eccho of thy sin my Child says I. SOUL Hear me O Lord and let thy dying throb Give all my cursed sins their mortal stob How can I bear sins damned Curse for ay Which bow'd the Back of God all in a day Well may the damned wish they ne're had been And call to th' Mountains for to hide them in More ease to bear a Mountain than a sin Lord pardon what is past and I 'le amend Why should I kiss that knife that kill'd my Friend Which cut a wound so deep as ne're did Thunder That rends the Rocks this God himself asunder VVhy did my Lord dying o' th' cursed Post Express his Death by giving up the Ghost CHRIST VVhen Nature most did fail my cries were most To shew how freely I gave up the Ghost None takes away my Life nor none can crave it But God from whence I had it he must have it Know that these dying words this truth implies The Fragrant Odour of my Sacrifice The Pagans thought their Gods would not impart Their favours to a Victim wanting heart Or if it came to pass the beast had cry'd Or loud or strugled before he dy'd VVhen e're the Jew did Sacrifice a Beast It was to be his own and of the best Chiefly a Lamb of pure and spotless Feature A meek a harmless and a gentle Creature
Lord his dear-bought purchase have My debts are paid shall I begin the score And load thy Cross with sins and sorrows more Oh that the breath of life would breath upon This rotten Carkass and this dryed Bone That I may testifie two Truths in one Thy mighty Death and Resurrection One question more VVhy did th' Apostles all So faithfully record thy Burial CHRIST The Prophet David did this Truth †Psal 16. foretell Thou wilt not leave my soul i' th' nether Hell This from Isaiah too may be ¶ Isa 55.9 infer'd I dy'd with wicked with the rich inter'd Joseph 's Pit Daniel 's Den and Jonah 's Whale VVere but the umbrage of my Burial 'T is a religious seed in nature bred All Nations do prepare t' inter the dead Such was the custom of th' Egyptian Sages Holding the Soul to live immortal Ages Lest after death the soul might transmigrate The body was embalm'd in Princely State That both uniting they might frustrate death Aping an Immortality on Earth The Grecian Rites tho different did tend To perfect and compleat the self-same end Fetching the Souls Original no higher Than that its nature was like unto Fire The Piles erected and the Bodies burned By this the soul to her first state returned The body too thus purged in the fire Like to the soul may never more expire The Romans did no less their bodies burn Closing the ashes in sepulchral Urn. The corps drencht of its dregs was thus calcin'd And made Aethereal like to the mind These uncorrupted Ashes did presage Their firm belief of an immortal age The Jews best taught of God abhorred burning The soul next aftr death to God returning The body was committed to the Earth It s proper Parent whence it had its birth It was Gods penal law too sinners must As dust they were return unto the dust Nor did Gods Law consign men to this fate Without a prospect of a future state VVho di'd a cursed death so 't is ‖ Deut. 29. infer'd VVas afterwards expos'd but then inter'd Lest perishing o' th tree may thence create A foul opinion of a future state For so Gods image would have been beli'd As if the soul like to the body di'd The body too prey'd on by winged Fowl Should never more return unto the soul The Washings Oyntments Gums with other cost Suggests this Truth None that are dead are lost Nor can we Judas like this question state Why was this Oyntment spent at such a rate VVhy are our Cloaths wrapt up so neatly spread But that the Grave 's a Wardrope for the Dead VVhen th' Sacrifice o' th' Altar was consum'd The Ashes by the Priest was then assum'd Then Faithfully deposited abroad As Relicks that were Relative to God The Earth the Elements the spacious Globes Are but one chest to keep my Servants Robes The Keys are hung upon my Royal Throne And when I turn my hand all know their own None is so rich in death but that he hath Either a Monument or Epitaph Nor none so poor but that he thinks it meet A stone should Crown his Head or shoe his Feet This truth by this dumb Language is display'd Man fain would be alive when he is dead Thus stones do speak and speak it to the full That man both is and would be living Soul Thus Custom Nature Piety withal Brings Gums and Spikenard for my Burial Nor did my due interment want its sence Both as to time and place and circumstance The seventh day was the season God had blest The very day on which I took my rest O' th' six't day Adams Body had its Birth O' th' six't my Body visited the Earth This held for truth and for a truth related Adam the same day fell he was created On the same day I gave the Thief a tast O' th' Fruit of Paradise which Adam lost Nor was it less Mysterious that I have A Garden-plat wherein to pitch my Grave By this cunclude my Death a way hath forc't To Paradise again which Adam lost 'T is not without remark I laid my Head In a new Tomb where none was buried As I was spotless in the Virgins Womb My Purity requir'd a Virgin Tomb. Were I inter'd with sinners as I dy'd My Resurection would have been beli'd Had others slept with me it might be said Some other person 's risen in my stead My Tomb was therefore new hewn out of stone That so my Resurrection may be known Had it been built of stones stones more than one The Bottom might be raz'd the Body stone But since it was a stone cut out of Rock Had Pilates Signet too to be the Lock Since that a weighty stone too guards the Cell And did become its sturdy Centinel And to make sure a band of Soldiers taken Whom envy malice fear did keep awaken This Rock so Guarded was the Corner-stone Of the truth of my Resurrection SOUL Since my Lord dy'd for me shall I not come And break a Box of Spikenard on thy Tomb I know thy purity and innocence Needs not my Myrrh my Gums my Fankincense For to preserve thy sacred person whole As uncorrupt in Body as in Soul What Pow'r in Gums and Oyntments e're can be The Body from corruption to keep free Such was the power of thy Divinity Since that I cannot now Embalm my Head I will Anoint the Members in its stead Thy Body Hands and Feet shall nor go free What to the Members done is done to thee Since thou wilt have a Tomb cut out by Art Oh let thy Spirit work it in my Heart It is a Rocky Stone but yet it will Make thee a Tomb when Polisht by thy skill Since it was so as thou my Lord hast said Thou wast inter'd where no man else was lay'd Oh let no wilful sin dare once to dwell Within that place where God hath made his Cell Seal it then with the signet of thy VVord That no vile lust may steal away my Lord. Help me to watch my Lips and guard my Heart That no ill thought ill speaking or ill Art May offend my Lord and cause him to depart VVhat I engag'd in my Baptismal Vow I here remember and do promise now That since my Lord was Dead and Buried This Truth in me shall be accomplished My sins shall dye with thee upon the Cross A painful lingring Death as Jesus was VVhen once they 'r Dead Oh let it ne're be said I shall renew acquaintance with the Dead But like our dearest Friends when dead and rotten Become vile Earth and therefore soon forgotten So Abra'm said of Sarah when she dy'd Take her away let her no more be ey'd If that my sin with thee is thus inter'd And that I am made free among the dead I shall with joy at last lift up my head Lord lay me lower in this bed of dust Then raise me to the mansions of the Just The Close I am thy Servant Lord I am no Poet As thou dost know and all that know me know it If I have ask't or made thee say amiss I beg thy pardon on my beaded knees Grant me thy Spirit Lord and by its art Do thou imprint these Lines upon my heart That then my scribble not till then shall be Esteemed to be good Divinity VVhat 's said amiss thy pardon Lord that mine is What well the Grace and Favour only thine is As thou hast been my Alpha be my FINIS