on their prey do fasten So would they flock about me Or if I Could learn the art of popularity I might be rich in friends yet all my store Would not know how to keep Death out of doore Meditation 1. OF Proteus 't is fained that he could Transform himself to any kind of shape Into a Dove or Lamb and when he would Into a Tiger Lion Bear or Ape Or a Mountain Rock or Spring Or Earth Water Fire Air Into any forms that are Stampt in any kind of thing And Aristippus could exactly flatter He had the art of winning gainfull friends And that his fortune might be made the fatter Had all behaviours at his fingers ends He could grene when 's friend was sickly And could weep when he was sad Any humour good or bad Did become him very quickly Did I believe that metempsychosis Pythagoras did dream of I should swear That Proteus ghost to this day neither is In hell nor yet in heaven but doth wear Now a body and the base Ghost of Aristippus dwells In a thousand bodies else How could thousands have the face To personate so many humours act So many parts at once and balk no sinne Yea perpetrate with ease the basâ—st fact That hell e'r punished to wind them in to great friendshâ—ps though they misse Heavens favour all the while Dreaming that a great mans smile Is on earth the onely blisse And yet when that last enemie shall come And grind their aching bones with griping throes To bring their bodies to their longest home There 's not a man 'mongst all their friends that know How to take away their pain In comes ghastly Death among The midst of that friendly throng And turns them to dust again Meditation 2. THere 's none among the sacred troup of Saints Yet militant below but doth desire Gods favour most and most of all lamenâ—s When it is lost and alway sets a higher Estimate upon the rayes That are darted from above By the God of peace and love Then on all he here enjoyes Ne'r doth the chased hart in hottest weather When horse and hound pursue him o'r the plains And hunt him sweating twentie miles together That all his bloud is boil'd within his veins When he 's to the hardest driven Pant so much for water-brooks As a soul deserted looks For a kind aspect from heav'n Once did Elias zealous prayers climb To heav'n and made the windows there so fast This came to passe in wicked Ahabs time That one and twentie months twice told were past E'r there fell a showre of rain Or a drop of morning dew In the meadows nothing grew Nor was any kind of grain Fed by the parched mold How do ye think That thirstie drie and barren land did yawn And gape to heav'n-ward for a draught of drink Just so whene'r Gods favour is withdrawn From a soul it doth distresse her Ne'r earth thirsted more for rain Then doth she for God again To relieve her and refresh her Have you not seen a mothers wofull tears Embalm the carcase of her onely sonne How to all comfort she stops both her eares Wrings both her hands and makes a bitter moan Fain in sorrow would she swim Or be drown'd it is so deep She hath heart enough to weep Heaven full up to the brim But this is nothing to that matchlesse anguish That breaks in pieces ev'rie pious heart And makes the soul with darkest sadnesse languish If from 't a sense of Gods good will depart O how strangely David's troubled When God hid away his face Though but for a little space See how his complaints are doubled How long for ever Lord wilt thou forget me How long wilt thou thy gratious visage hide How long be angrie wilt thou never let me Enjoy thy face again shall I abide Thus for evermore bereft Of all comfort joy and peace Shall my soul ne'r dwell at ease Hast thou Lord no mercy left O once again be pleas'd to turn and give My soul a relish of thy wonted grace There 's nothing can my sadded heart relieve If thou dost hide thy comfortable face Thou in tears thy servant drown'st Thou dost fill my cheâ—ks with furrows And my soul with ghastly sorrows Whensoever Lord thou frown'st The world doth value at a precious rate Things here below Some highly prize their sport Some jewels some a plentifull estate And some preferments in a Princes court But for life we so esteem it Above whatsoe'r is best That with losse of all the rest We are ready to redeem it But none of these Gods children do regard So much as Gods love by a thousand parts Feel they but this to 〈◊〉 't is spar'd The best and highest room in all their hearts They 〈◊〉 no wordly pelf In comparison of this Kindnesse yea to them it is Better faâ—re then life it self Have they no reason for this eager thirst After Gods love and friendship sure they see Gods favour and his kindnesse is the first And chiefest good all other friendships be Most deceitfull trustlesse rain When the pangs of Death do scise us Mortall favours cannot ease us God can rid us of our pain But grant he do not yet these pains shall send Our souls to him that loves us to enjoy A painlesse life that ne'r shall see an end He whom God loves can on a death-bed say I know my Redeemeâ— liveth For me there 's laid up a crown When this clay-built house is down God a better mansion giveth I 'll never woo the smile of man whose breath Is in his nostrils by sinister wayes 'T will not advantage at the houre of Death All my supportment on these carnall stayes At the length will but deceive me 'T is to have a friend above 'T is Gods favour and his love Or else nothing must relieve me Lord make thy graces in my soul appear My heart from ev'rie lothsome blemish cleanse That I may clearly see thine image there For that 's an undeceived evidence Of thy favour which when I Once am certain to obtein I 'll not faint for any pain Nor will care how soon I die Sect. 5. Youth cannot protect us from the stroke of Death A Young man may die but an old man must This may die quickly that cannot live long Often are graves fill'd full with youthfull dust Though youth be jocund lustie merrie strong Yet is it subject unto Death-bed-pains 'T is mortall bloud that runnes along their veins In all appearance old mens halting feet are Mov'd to the grave-ward with the greatest speed Like that disciples which did outrunne Peter But sometimes younger men step in indeed And peradventure twentie years or more Sooner then those that looked in before Graves gape for ev'rie sort The butcher's seen Often to kill the youngest of the flock Some long to pluck those apples that are green Death crops the branches and forbears the stock Children are wrapp'd up in their winding-sheets And aged parents mourn about the streets
Lord will have us die He numbers all our dayes we cannot shorten Nor lengthen them a minute Destiny Neither spinnes nor cuts the thread God a certain period sets No man shorter falls or gets Further then the bounds decreed If God vouchsafe to number out the hairs That do adorn and cloth our sinfull heads Who doubteth that his providence forbears To count our dayes If not a sparrow treads On the earth's face thus or thus But his providence awaketh For to note it sure he taketh Greater care by farre of us If any godlesse wits so curious be To talk of Hezekiah's fifteen years His sentence God did change not his decree The answer is yet Esay's tongue appears To speak not a jote the lesse Truth 't was with a supposition God doth thâ—eaten with condition Either 〈◊〉 expresse When Pestilence that lothsome dreadfull hag Bepatch'd with botches wanders up and down And into ev'ry houshold drops the plague Scarce any Turk in an infected town But will wise and friend afford Daily visits and imbraces They flie no contagious places Nor fear either bed or bord Their reason is Gods providence doth write Their fortunes on their foreheads neither can Their day of life be longer nor their night Of Death come sooner then God wills it Man Must yield 's ghost when God will have it For health and life if God will Save it 't is not plague can kill If not 't is not they can save it Such block-heads have not brains enough to think That as the time so God withall decrees The means of life as physick meat and drink Clothes recreations and what else he sees Needfull They themselves destroy And are to their safety strangers That runne into mortall dangers And not shun them when they may Howe'r imploy'd Lord grant I may have leisure Religiously to meditate that thou My dayes dost number and my life dost measure And make me think Lord that this very now That this twinkling of an eye Is the period thou hast set Lord grant I may ne'r forget That this moment I may die PART III. Of Deaths suddennesse THough sometimes Death doth stay till it be late At night untill our most decrepit years And when he comes doth like a King in state Send harbingers before yet Death appears Sometimes unlook'd for early in the morning And takes us up before he gives us warning When at full tide our youthfull bloud doth flow In every vein and when our pulses dance A healthfull measure when our stomachs know No qualms at all as we would say by chance Snatch'd are our bodies to their longest homes And Death is past before a sicknesse comes How many sleepie mortals go to bed With healthful bodies and do rise no more How many hungry mortals have been sed Contentedly at dinner yet before Against a second meal they whâ—t their knives Death steals away their stomachs and their lives How many in the morning walk abroad For to be breath'd on by the keener air Perhaps to clarifie their grosser bloud Or else to make their rougher checks look falt But e'r they tread a furlong in the frost Death nips them so their former labour 's lost Nature is parsimonious Man may live With little but alas with how much lesse A man may die There 's nothing but may give A mortall blow small matters may undresse Our souls of clay A thousand wayes we have To send our crazie bodies to the grave The elements conâ—eder how they may Procure our Death the Air we suck to live It self hath poi'sned thousands in a day And made such havock that the slain did strive For elbow-room in Church-yards houses were Good cheap and onely shrowds and coffins dear If we could come to speak with Pharaoh's ghost 'T would tell how many met with sudden graves Beneath the water that a mighty host Was slain and buried by the surly waves Except a few which surfeted with store The crop-sick sea did vomit on the shore Sometimes our mother Earth as if she were So hunger-bitten that she needs must eat Her children gapes as for some toothsome cheer And multitudes one swallow down doth let Which either in her womb she doth bestow Or else doth send them to the world below That usefull creature Fire whose light and heat Doth comfort and when Earth doth penance warm us Whose cookerie provides us wholesome meat Yet mortally this element doth harm us One morning sent from heav'n such dreadfull flashes As did intomb five cities in their ashes We may remember some that have been kill'd By falls of buildings some by drunken swords By beasts both wild and tame our bloud is spill'd There 's not a creature but a death affords 'Bove fourtiâ— childrens limbs God's anger tears In pieces with the teeth of savage bears But there 's some likelyhood that sudden Death By mean like these may easily befall us But many times we mortalls lose our breath By wayes lesse probable The Lord doth call us Upon a sudden hence by petty things Sometimes the meanest means Death's â—rrand brings Our staff of life may kill a little crumb Of bread may choke us going down awâ—y A small hair in their drink hath caused some To breath their last By any thing we die Sometimes a sudden grief â—r sudden joy Have might enough to take our souls away Meditation 1. HOw weak's the thread of life that any thing How weak so e'r can break it by and by How short 's the thread of life that Death can bring Both ends of it together suddenly Well may the scriptures write the life of man As weak as water and as short 's a span How soon is water spilt upon the ground Once spilt what hand can gather 't up again Fome that doth rise to day is seldome found Floting tomorrow When the wanton rain Gets bubbles to make sport with on the water A minute breaks them into their first matter Such is our life How soon doth Death uncase Our souls and when they once are fled away Who can return them As upon the face Of thirstie ground when water 's shed to day The morrow sees it not so when we die None can revive us as we fall we lie Our life 's a vapour Vapours do arise Sometimes indeed with such a seeming power As if they would eclipse the glorious skies And muffle up the world but in an houre Or two at most these vapours are blown o'r And leave the air as clear as 't was before We look big here a little while and bristle And shoulder in the smiling world as though There were no dancing but as we would whistle So strangely domineer we here below But as a vapour in a sun-shine day We vanish on a sudden quite away Our life is like the smoke of new-made fires As we in age and stature upward tend Our dissolution is so much the nigher Smoke builds but castles in the air ascend Indeed it doth aloft but yet it must At high'st
Carnation And coy Adonis particoloured sonne Subject to such a sudden alteration That in a day their fading beauty 's gone This tree this corn and this flower Or what things else vainest are To my self I do compare Who may die within this houre Meditation 2. I 'LL ne'r be proud of beauty if I must Be blemish'd when I die And if the grave Will mix my beauty with the vilest dust What profits pride Reader I 'll pardon crave Here to set you down a story Of as rare and fair a She As the Sunne did ever see Whom Death robb'd of all her glory I once saw Phoebus in his mid-day sline Triumphing like the Sovereigne of the skies Untill two brighter rayes both more divine Outblazed his and they were this Nymphs eyes Forthwith Sol curtain'd his light Looking very red for shame To be vanquish'd by this Dame And did slink out of her sight I once saw silver Cynthia nights fair Queen In her full orb dimming each lesser flame Till this Nymphs beauty-vying front was seen Outshining hers then she look'd wan for shame The man in her knew he how But to quit that giddy place She had so divine a face Would have dwelt upon her brow Once was this woman pleas'd to walk the fields Then proudly fragrant with Dame Flora's store The damask rose unto her beauty yields And was contented to be fair no more Sure I cannot say how truly Yet 'mongst many 't was a fame That the rose did blush for shame And the violet look'd most bluly Once did this woman to the temple go Where doth fair Venus marble-statue lie Cut to the life that one can hardly know But that it lives indeed When she came nigh He who then the temple kept After would be often telling She was so super-excelling That for mad the marble wept Melodious musick 's warbled by the spheres Swans sing their Epitaphs in curious layes Once with a singing Swan a part she bears As soon's those corall doores dismiss'd her voice The poore Swan held his peace and di'd And the spheres as men do say Dumbly move unto this day This was by a rivers side What think you now of such a glorious woman This Phoenix sure was she if any might That might be proud And yet the tongue of no man Can well expresse nor any pen can write What grim death hath done unto her Now she 's of another feature Hardly can you know the creature Stay a while and we will view her Th' almighty King that dwells above in heaven Directs to 's high Shrieve Death a certain writ Wherein a strait imperiall charge was given At 's utmost peril forthwith on sight of it To arrest that piece of beauty And to wrap her up in clay 'Gainst the last great judgement-day Death address'd him to his duty And with great care gives warrant by and by Unto his baillifs Fever Pox and Gout Phrensie Strangury Colick Squinancy Consumption Dropsie and an ugly rout Beside these for to assail her Deaths command was that they must Tie her fast in chains of dust He gave charge that none should bail her You would not think with what a furious pace These catchpoles flie to pull this creature down But Pox was nimblest she got to her face And plow'd it up This hag goes in a gown Rugged and of colour tawny Button'd o're from top to toe Skin-deep beauties deadly foe Uglier hag was never any Fain would the rest have fastned on her too But that this hag had frighted out her soul Now looks her carcase of another hue Grim ugly lothsome ghastly and as foul As did ever eye look on What 's become of that complexion Which held all hearts in subjection In a moment all is gone If we might be so bold to dig the grave Some few years hence where this good woman lies Sure we should find this beauty but a slave To pallid putrefaction and a prize For those silly vermine worms As they crawl in stinking swarms She doth hug them in her arms And doth give them suck by turns Here 's a deformed lump indeed and this Must be the fortune of the fairest face None then are proud but fools They love amisse Whose hearts are chain'd to any thing but grace From the beauty of the skin In the loveliest outward part Lord vouchsafe to turn my heart To love that which is within Meditation 3. IF Death will come sure there will come an end Of all this worlds deep-biting misery Nothing adverse that 's here on earth doth tend Beyond the grave that 's a delivery From the pow'r of men and devils And what-ever other wo May befall us here below Death's a â—helter from all evils Here I am poore my daily drops of sweat Will not maintâ—in my full-stock'd family A dozen hungry children crie for meat And I have none nor will words satisfie Could I give their belly ears 'T were a comfort or could fill Hungry stomacks with good will Or make daily bread of tears Here the oppressour with his griping claws Sits on my skirts my racking land-lord rears Both rent and fine with potent looks he aws Me from mine own Scarce any man but bears In his bosome Ahabs heart Horse-leach-like that 's ever craving Other mens and sick of having Right or wrong will catch a part Here in these clay-built houses sicknesse reigns I have more maladies then I can name Each member of my body hath its pains Moreover weeping groning sadnesse shame Slanders mâ—lancholy fear Discontents disgraces losses And a thousand other crosses Must be born if I live here But these are finite all When I am dead My poverty is ended and my care I heare my samish'd children crie for bread No longer Then I drink I lodge I fare Just as well as Caesar doth There ends cold and nakednesse All my former wretchednesse Death is meat and drink and cloth There 's no face grinding There the mighty cease From troubling there the weary be at rest The servant 's freed the pris'ner is at ease All 's still and quiet no man is oppress'd For incroachers there are none Not a poore man's wronged nor Is his vineyard longed for Every man may keep his own Sicknesse there 's none when-ever Death shall take My body hence and lodge it in the clay I shall not feel a tooth or finger ake Nor any other misery that may In the least degree displease me For all sores the grave hath plasters And it cureth all disasters Of all burdens Death will ease me Malicious tongues fired below in hell There will not hurt me nor the poisonous breath Of whispering detractours I shall dwell Securely in the dust One stroke of Death Sets me out of gun-shot quite Not the deepest piercing tongue Can there do me any wrong Bark they may but cannot bite Lord I am thine and if it be thy will While I do live a stranger here below Brim-high with bitternesse my cup to fill And make me
drink 't yet Lord withall bestow But thy grace and thou shalt see me Patient and my comfort 's this That a short affliction 't is In a moment Death may free me Meditation 4. IF I must die it must be my endeavour So to provide that every thought of Death May be a thought of comfort that when-ever That aged sire shall take away my breath I may willingly lay down This old house that 's made of clay Gladly welcoming the day That brings an eternall crown But of all things a holy life 's the way Must lead me to a comfortable end To crucifie my lusts and to obey Gods sacred will in all things This doth tend Unto comfort joy and ease Mark the man that is upright And sets God alwayes in a sight That mans end is ever peace What makes me fear a serpent 't is 〈◊〉 sting The mischief 's there When that is taken out I can look on him as a harmlesse thing And in my bosome carry him about What makes Death look 〈◊〉 Noâ— Deaths self it is his sting That doth fear and horrour bring And makes men so loth to die The sting of death is sinne but there 's a Jesus Hath pluck'd it out The guilt 's done quite away The stain is wash'd He sent his Spirit to ease us In some good measure of that kingly sway Which o're us sinne held before Blessed work of grace now I Strongest lusts can 〈◊〉 In my soul sinne reigns no more Now in me holinesse is wrought which is A pious disposition of the heart Inclining me to hate what 's done amisse In me and others never to depart From God to left hand or right Nor one of his laws to break But to think and do and speak What 's well-pleasing in â—us sight Each act from faith and love ariseth and The end I aim at is my Makers praise His word 's my rule my warrant 's his command Thus am I fitted Death cut off my dayes If thou wilt within this houre I will thank thee for thy pain For to me to die is gain I 'll not fear a jote thy power What canst thou do that justly may affright me Though with thee in the dark I dwell a space Yet canst thou not eternally benight me Thou art my passage to a glorious place Where shall not be any night My rais'd ashes shall enjoy There an everlasting day And an uneclipsed light I fear not death because of putrefaction Nor if I might would willingly decline it My body gains by 't 't is the graves best action God as a founder melts it to refine it Death cannot annihilate And in despite of the grave Yet I shall a body have Fairer and in better state Gods second work excells his first by ods Our second birth life Adam to repair Our bodies is a second work of Gods To make them better then at first they were Glorious immortall sound Nimble beautifull and so Splendid that from top to toe Not a blemish may be sound What begger weeps when 's rags are thrown away To put on better clothes Who is 't will grieve To pull a rotten house down that it may Be fairer built Why should we not receive Death with both hands when he comes To pull off those rags that hide us To unhouse us and provide us Richer clothes and better homes The griping pangs of Death do not affright My heart at all I have deserved mo And if upon no other terms I might Enjoy my God I to my God would go Through hells self although a throng Of an hundred thousand juries Of the black'st infernall Furies Claw'd me as I went along Nor can those inward terrours make me quake Which Death-beds often on the soul do bring I have no Death-bed-reck'nings for to make 'T was made while I was well and every thing Was dispatch'd before that I Nothing in the world now save Home-desiring longings have Then to do but just to die Nor doth it trouble me that Death will take me From those delights that are enjoy'd below Alas I know that none of them can make me One jote the happier man nor can bestow Any comfort Carnall gladnesse Mirth delight and jolliâ—y This worlds best felicitie All is vanity and madnesse Mere empty husks Had I as many treasures In my possession as the muddiest wretch Did ever cover and as many pleasures As from the creature fleshly men can fetch Had I this or if I were Supreme Monarch onely Lord Of what earth and sea afford Yet I would not settle here To be dissolv'd is better Death doth bring A fairer fortune then it takes away It sets us in a world where every thing Is a happinesse a full and solid joy Not to be conceiv'd before We come thither but the blisse Which exceedeth all is this That there we shall sinne no more Lord grant a copious portion of thy Spirit The more I have of that the lesse I fear What Death can do for sure I shall inherit All joy in heaven if I am holy here Nought suits with heaven but sanctitie Let my God thy Spirit and grace Fit me for that holy place And that holy companie Meditation 5. IF Death will come what do men mean to sinne With so much greedinesse me thinks I see What a sad case the godlesse world is in How fast asleep in her securitie Fearlessely in sinne men live As if Death would never come Or there were no day of doom When they must a reck'ning give Observe a little yonder black-mouth'd swearer How 's tongue with oathes and 〈◊〉 pelts the skies 'T would grieve the heart of any pious hearer But to bear witnesse of his blasphemâ—es He darts wounds at God on high Puts on cursing as his clothes And doth wrap his tongue in oathes To abuse Eternity In law lesse lust the fornicatour fries And longs to slake it 'twixt forbidden 〈◊〉 Ne'r sets the sunne but his adulterous eyes Observes the twilight and his harlot meets That which follows when the night Draws its curtain o'r the air To conceal this goatish pair Modesty forbids to write And I could shew you were it worth the viewing In that room three or foure drunkards reeling In this as many more that sweat with spewing Some that have drunk away their sense and feeling Men of all sorts in their wine And their ale sit domineering Cursing railing roring swearing Under every baser signe 'T is said so vile is this big-belly'd sinne That in a day and lesse some foure or five Of lustie drunken throats will swallow in More then hath kept two families alive A whole forthnight yet made they Merrie with 't Had I my wishes Such gulls should not drink like fishes But their throats should chaÌ„ge their trade The covetous man with his usurious clutches Doth catâ—h and hold fast all the wealth he may He leans on 't as a creeple on his crutches The miser studies nothing night and day But his gain he 's like a
swine Looking downward like a mole Blind and of an earthen soul Minding nothing that 's divine These and beside these other sorts of sinners In every parish you may dayly see As greedy at their sinnes as at their dinners And wallowing in all impiety Sure these miscreants do never Entertein a thought of dying Nor yet are afraid of frying In hell flames for altogether Thou God of spirits be pleas'd to aw my heart With death and judgement that when I would sinne I may remember that I must depart And whatsoe're condition I am in When I sink under Deaths hand There 's no penance in the grave Nor then can I mercy have So must I in judgement stand Meditation 6. Lord what a thief is Death it robs us quite Of all the world great men of all their honours Luxurious men of all their fond delight Rich men of all their money farms and mannours Naked did the world find us And the world will leave us so We shall carrie when we go Nothing but leave all behind us Let Death do's worst ambitious men do climb By any sinne though it be ne're so soul Gold-thirsty misers swallow any crime That brings gain with it though it kill the soul Here for gain is over-reaching Cosening cheating lying stealing Knavish and sinister dealing All arts of the devils teaching Whilst I am well advis'd I 'll never strive T' increase my wealth if 't will increase my sinne I will be rather poore then seek to thrive By means unlawfull all 's not worth a pinne When mine eye-lidâ— Death doth close What I sinned for must be Shak'd hands with eternally But the sinne that with me goes I 'll not wast love upon these lower things Nor on the choicest of them doâ—ing sit For when sad Death a habeas corpus brings To take the world from me and me from it 'Gainst which I have no protection To spend love in what I may No where but on earth enjoy Were to loose all my affection The longest lease of temporalls God doth make Is but for life I 'll patiently behave My self though from me God be pleas'd to take In middle age that which his bounty gave Neither discontent nor passion Shall make me repine or grumble 'T is a way to make me humble And takes from me a temptation Thou mad'st my heart Lord keep it for thy self Lest love of dust eternally undo me Vouchsafe that this vain worthlesse empty pelf May never win me though it daily woo me If 't were lovely yet 't is gone When I dy Lord make me see That there is enough in thee To place all my love upon Meditation 7. I Am a stranger and a pilgrime here The world 's mine inne 't is not my dwelling-place In this condition all my fathers were The life I live below is but a race Here I sojourn some few yeares This world is a countrey strange Death my pilgrimage will change For a home above the spheares In elder time the goddesse Quiet had Her temple but 't was plac'd without the gates Of Ethnick Rome to â—hew that good and bad Have here their vexing and disturbing fates And do bear their crosse about Whilst within the walls they stay Of this world and shall enjoy No rest till Death let them out Here I am look'd upon with divers eyes Sometimes of envy sometimes of disdain Here I endure a thousand miseries Some vex my person some my credit stain My estate 's impair'd by some But yet this doth comfort me That hereafter I shall be Better us'd when I come home In all estates my patience shall sustein me I am resolved never to repine Though ne'r so coursely this world entertein me Such is a strangers lot such must be mine Were I of the world to dwell Here as in my proper home Without thoughts of life to come Then the world would use me well I am not of their minds in whom appears No care for any world but this below Who lay up goods in store for many years As if they were at home but will bestow Neither care nor industry Upon heaven as if there They were strangers but had here A lease of eternitie The banish'd Naso weeps in sable strain The woes of banishment nor could I tell If Death and it were offer'd of the twain Which to make choice of O! to take farewell Of our native soil to part With our friends and children dear And a wife that is so near Must needs kill the stoutest heart What iâ—'t then to be absent from that house Eternall in the heav'ns not made with hands From Angels Saints God Christ himself whose Spouse Our soul is from a haven where nothing lands That defileth where's no danger No fear no pain no distresse All ' â— eternall happinesse What is 't to be here a stranger I have been oft abroad yet ne'r could find Half that contentment which I found at home Me thought that nothing suited with my mind Into what place soever I did come Though I nothing needed there Neither clothes nor drink nor meat Nor fit recreations yet Me thought home exceeded farre Thither did my affections alwayes bend And I have wish'd before I came half-way A thousand times my journey at an end And have been angry with a minutes stay Sunne-set I did ever fear And a hill or dirty mile That delay'd me but a while Seem'd to set me back a yeare I built not tabernacles in mine inne Nor ever cry'd out 'T is good being here No company would I be ever in That drown'd but half an â— our in wine or bier I have wish'd my horse would runne With a farre more winged speed Then those skittish jades that did Draw the chariot of the Sunne From carnall self-love Lord my heart unsetter And then shall I desire my heavenly home More then this here because that home is better And pray with fervency Thy kingdome come Lord had thy poore servant done What thou hast set him about I would never be without Holy longings to be gone Meditation 8. THere was a State as I have heard it spoken The tale doth almost all belief surpasse That had a custome never to be broken But a bad custome I am sure it was 'Mongst themselves their King to choose The elected man must be King as long's they would and he When they pleas'd his crown must loose This State elected and deposed when And whom they would but the deposed Prince They suffered not to live 'mongst other men But drove him to a countrey farre from thence Into wofull banishment Where he chang'd his royalty For want and all misery Scarce a Kingly punishment One King there was that whilst his crown was on Knowing his subjects fickle disposition Beat his crown-worthy head to think upon Some course of providence to make provision At the place of 's banishment Full-stuff'd bags of money and What things else might purchase land He into that Kingdome sent It came to passe after some
Shall presently enjoy a paradise Of brave delights indeed The place is set All about with glorious matters There are rivers pleasant benches Straw'd with flowres gallant wenches That have eyes as broad as platters And many other joyes as good as these But all are bables to that strong content Wherewith the man we told you of doth please Himself in his estate More merriment In the images of Kings Doth he find then six or seven Martyr'd Turks do in their heaven Hearken how the miser sings I 'll eat drink and play And I 'll freely enjoy My pleasures before I am old I 'll be sorie no more For my soul hath in store Abundance of silver and gold In this day and night Will I place my delight It shall fatten my heart with laughter No man shall excell me For who is 't can tell me What pleasures there will be hereafter His irreligious song was hardly ended When at his gate was heard one softly knocking It was that Tyrant Death who came attended With troups of griping throes all these came flocking Round about this golden fool As the issue did assure us God had sent these ghastly Furies For to take away his soul Alas Sir said his servants what may be The cause you send us out such wofull grones How fell you into such an agonie What ails your throat your head your heart your bones Or your stomach or your brains That you howl so here before you Is that which must needs restore you And ease your extremest pains Here 's gold and silver and as stately stuff As England Scotland France or Ireland yields Of jewels and of plate you have enough Of any man you have the fruitfull'st fields Fattest oxen throng your stall Tenants tumble in your rent Those to whom you mony lent Bring both use and principall This cannot chuse but comfort But the man That lay upon his easelesse death-bed sprawling Made this replie If any of you can By marks infallible make sure my calling To my soul and my election If from any text divine You could prove that Christ is mine This would be a good resection Or if you could assure my parting ghost Of seeing God to all Eternitie Of being one amongst that heavenly host Whose blisse it is to praise him endlessely This were comfort that accordeth With his case that is distrest As now I am but the rest On a death-bed none affoordeth There was another man whose occupation Was to passe time away he made a trade Of that which men do call a recreation He was indeed a very merry blade Taverns bowling-alleys playes Dauncing fishing fowling racing Hawking hunting coursing tracing Took up all his healthfull dayes But on a time a sudden sicknesse came And seised him in each extremer part This grudging did begin to spoil his game But at the length it fast'ned on his heart There it plung'd him wofully And forthwith the man is led Home and laid upon his bed Think him now at point to die A little after came into the room A gallant troup of necessarie stuff His coachman falconer huntsman page and groom His mistresse with her hands both in a muff Sorle all to see him so But see how these fools invent To give a sick man content And to ease him ere they go One breaks a jest another tells a tale One strikes the lute another sings a dittie But neither of them pray to God at all Another tells what news is in the citie Everie man is in his vein And all jointly do contrive Pleasant passages to drive Out of doore their masters pain They ask'd him if he pleas'd to take the air Or call for 's coach and ride to see a play And whether he would hunt the buck or hare Or to a tavern go to drive away Or to drown times tediousnesse Or else to a tennis-court Whither gallants do resort Or else play a game at chesse The man reply'd Ye know I must be gone The way of all I cannot tell how soon And I have other things to think upon Already it is with me afternoon Erelong my declining sunne Needs must set Oh! my life hangs On a thred these mortall pangs Crack it Out my glasse is runne Time was I doted on these idle toyes Now can they not a dram of comfort yield Too late I see they are not death-bed joyes No refuge from soul-vexing storms no shield When a mortall blow is given Prate no more let not a man Open's mouth unlesse he can Tell me how to get to heaven There was another that for nothing car'd It was a woman but for vain excesse In bravery of clothes no cost was spar'd Nor art nor care that served to expresse To the full a female pride But at length it came to passe That this spruce and gallant lasse Fell extremely sick and di'd But I must tell you that whilst like a lion Pains tore her bones in pieces â—re she sent Her last breath out imagine her of Sion A matchlesse daughter to her chamber went Weeping ripe her good handmaiden Purposing as much as may be To chear up her dying Ladie For with comforts was she laden Thus she began and spake it with a grace Be comforted good Madame never let A little sicknesse spoil so good a face Your Ladyship cannot so soon forget Your contents If ever any Gentlewoman liv'd that might Find materialls of delight You good Madame have as many Here for your feeet are tinkling ornaments Here are your bonnets and your net-work-cauls Fine linen too that every eye contents Your head-bands tablets eare-rings chains and falls Your nose-jewels and your rings Your hoods crisping-pinnes wimples Glasses that bewray your pimples Vails and other pretty things Here are your dainty mantles and your sutes Of changeable apparel and your tires Round like the moon your bracelets finger-fruits Of busie houres mufflers and golden wires And so many more that no man Can repeat not yet remember From October to September This would comfort any woman Suppose her if you will an English Lady And think you heare her waiting gentlewoman Bespeak her thus Madame here is a gawdy And glorious shew these fashions are not common Here 's your beaver and your feather Here are silver-ribband knots Trunks full of rich riding-coats Galiant shelters 'gainst the weather Here are your holland and your cambrick-smocks Your gowns of velvet satten taffatie Irons to curvifie your flaxen locks And spangled roses that outshine the skie For your head here 's precious geere Bonelace-cros-cloths squares shadows Dressings which your Worship made us Work upon above a yeare Rich chains of pearl to tie your hair together And others to adorn your snowiâ— breast Silk stockings starre-like shoes of Spanish leather And that which farre excelleth all the rest And begets most admiration Of your clothes is not their matter Though the world affords not better But it is their Frenchest fashion Madame believe 't the fairest of the Graces Subscribes
Jobs children di'd before himself for after The death of ten he liv'd to get ten other We sigh out Ah my sonne or Ah my daughter As oft as Ah my father or my mother The first that ever di'd resign'd his breath Nine hundred yeares before his fathers death Yea many times Deaths gripings are so cruel Before the groning mothers child-birth-pain Is past the infant's buri'd like a jewel But shewn and presently shut up again Perhaps within a minute after birth Is forthwith sent to cradle in the earth Perhaps he is not born at all yet dies And dies a verie thriftie Death to save Fun'rall expenses he in 's mother lies Entombed both lodg'd in a single grave And with him lies in one poore narrow room His swadling-clouts nurse mother cradle tomb Meditation 1. SOme sinnes there be as holy writ doth teach That interrupt the current of our dayes He that 's found gultie of them cannot reach That length of life which he that 's free enjoyes Sinne you know and Death are twins Or Death is Sinnes progeny Many of us if we die In our youth may thank our sinnes One sinne is disobedience to that pair Which did beget us If I shall despise My parents lawfull precepts if my care Be not to do what 's pleasing in their eyes If I willingly neglect Any thing which I do know Is a duty that I ow I may Death betimes expect Another sinne is unprepar'd receiving That blessed Supper which doth feed and heal And in and to a soul that is believing A full release of sinnes doth freely seal Where that body and that bloud Is presented on the table Which are infinitely able To do hungri'st sinners good If I come hither an unworthie guest Or if before my heart I do not prove Or if I come as to a common feast Or come without Thanks Knowledge Faith and Love If I carrie any crime Thither with me unlamented Or go â—re I have repented Deatâ— may 〈◊〉 me hence betime Another is Bloud-thirstinesse when we To do a mischief are so strongly bent That we sleep not unlesse our projects be Contrived to insnarâ— the innocent When wâ— are so like the Devil Everie way satanicall That tongue brains heart hands and all Are imploy'd in what is evil These sinnes and others like them do procure Untimely Deaths Lord purifie my heart From everie sinne but chiefly Lord secure My soul from these that I may not depart Hence too soon Lord my desire Is not to live long but I Onely pray that I may die In thy favour not thine ire Meditation 2. THere is a sinne that seldome doth escape A rich mans heir yet 't is a foul transgression For parents Death with open mouth to gape That their estates may come to his possession He gapes that his friends may sleep Parentalia are rites Verie welcome he delights At a fathers grave to weep Poore hare-brain'd fool Perhaps thou may'st go first This night thy younger soul may be requir'd Thy Death may frustrate that ungodly thirst Whose then is that estate thou hast desir'd If these gallants were not blind Sure they could not choose but see That a thousand children be Dead their parents left behind Of any kind of sinne to speak the truth That Satan can beget upon the soul Most commonly man 's guilti'st in his youth Our youthfull nature is beyond controll Some examples are afforded In whose historie appears Loosenesse in our yonger years These the Scriptures have recorded The verie first that e'r suck'd mothers tear Because his works were naught his brothers good Did boil his choler to so strong a heat That he must slake it in his brothers bloud How much rancour did he show So much harmlesse bloud to spill And a quarter-part to kill Of all mankind at a blow Unnaturall accursed gracelesse Cham Never did grieve nor sigh nor blush but he Laugh'd at and mock'd his drunken fathers shame A sober fathers curse his portion be Prophane Esau did make sale Of 's birthright for 's bellie-full As 'mongst us there 's many a gull That sells heaven for pots of ale And Absalom was most deform'd within His head-piece had more hair then wit by ods His beautie went no deeper then his skinne He fear'd not mans law nor regarded Gods In him David had a sonne Beastly and ambitious too He did wrong his bed and do What he could to steal his throne Incestuous Amnon dotes upon his sister And in his own bloud cools his law lesse fires That brother should have sinn'd that had but kiss'd her If mov'd unto it by unchast desires But he makes a rape upon her And so furious is his lust That it cannot hold but must Rob a virgin of her honour And I could tell you of a number more Most sinfull vitious vile exorbitant Whose courses are upon the Scriptures score As if their youth had sealed them a grant To be neither wise nor holy But to runne into excesse Of all kind of wickednesse And do homage unto follie The sage Gymnosophists who first did give The wilder Indians good and wholesome laws The Magi by whom Persia learn'd to live In order the Chaldei whose wise laws The Assyrians justly rul'd And did guide in everie thing Numa Romes devoutest King Who the elder Romanes school'd That famous Solon whom th' Athenlans ow For all their statutes and Lycurgus he Whose wisdome taught the Spartanes how to know What to omit and do and more there be That have publish'd wholesome laws To curb all indeed but yet Chiefly 't was to put a bit In mens wild and youthfull jaws It is a signe that colt is wild that needs So strong a bridle Ground that doth require So much manuring sure is full of weeds It is because she wallows in the mire That we need to wash a sow Men in youth must needs be bad To curb whom those laws were made Which we told you of but now 'T was a commanded custome that the Jews Should once in ev'rie two and fiftie weeks Visit their temple no man might refuse To worship there Each fourth year the Greeks Their Olympian sacrifice Orderly performed and Th' Egyptians us'd to stand Lifting up devoutest eyes Unto their Idole ev'ry seventh yeare Within th' appointed temple And 't is said Once in ten years the Romanes did appear To sacrifice then was Apollo paid His great Hecatomb and then Unto Delphos many went With their gifts for thither sent Presents ev'rie sort of men And of the Samnites authours do relate That th' ancient'st of them did most solemnly Once in five years their Lustra celebrate But 't is delivered by Antiquitie That the youth of all these nations Strictly all commanded were To these places to repair Oftner to make their oblations What doth this intimate but that the crimes Of youth are great and frequent and their vices Exorbitant that they so many times Have need to purge them by such sacrifices By experience we do find What
dissolve we vanish into dust What is a shadow Nothing Grant it wâ—re A thing that had a name and being too Yet let a cloud 'twixt us and heav'n appear It s turn'd into its former nothing â— o Our shadows vanish surely so do we At noon a man at night a corps we see Our life 's a cloud and from varietie Of vapours are created diverse 〈◊〉 The stronger last a time the weaker flie With lesse ado yet half a day transports Both strong'st and weakest hence and in their â—light Their nimble speed outrunnes the quickest sight Some men are healthfull merrie lustie strong Some crazy weak sad sickly dâ—ooping both Post hence with winged speed we may not wrong Life's footmanship for sure with greater sloth Clouds through the air the strongest wind doth send Then frail mans life doth gallop to its end With greater sloth A man that now is here Perhaps an houre yea half a minute hence That man may in another world appear Our life moves faster then those things which sense Acquaint us with faster then ships by farre Or birds or bulletâ— that do plow the air All flesh is grasse how suddenly that fades Grasse in the morning standeth proudly green E'r night the husbandmen prepare their blades To cut it down and not a leaf is seen But e'r the morrow 's wither'd into hay That in its summer-suit was cloth'd to day We grow and flourish in the world a space Our dayes with ease miâ—th health strength heav'n doth crown But 't is not long we run this happy race Death cometh with his sithe and mows us down When we are apt to say for ought we know As yet we have an age of dayes to grow Our life 's a flower that groweth in the field A garden-flower is but a fading thing Though it hath hedges banks and walls to shield It self from cropping long 't is e'r the spring Doth bring it forth three quarters of a yeare Are gone before its beauty doth appear And when it shineth in its fairest pride One hand or other will be sure to pluck it But let 's suppose all snatching fingers ty'd And grant withall that never Bee doth suck it To blemish it a jote yet will the breath Of winter blow the fairest flower to death 'T is long before we get us very farre Into the world for after generation There is a time when lifelesse lumps we are And have not bodies of a humane fashion Such as we have both life and motion want And when we live we live but like a plant A while we do but grow then like a beast We have our senses next indeed we live The life of him that lives to be a feast For despicable worms The womb doth give No passage to us yet we are like corn Sown lately fit to be but are not born When born 't is long before we can procure Our legs or understandings to assist us And then 't is long before we grow mature And all this while if sudden Death hath mist us Yet in the hoary winter of our age Our part is ended and we quit the stage Lord what is man Lord rather what am I I cannot tell my self unlesse thou teach me From thee came Know thy self down through the â—kie To mortalls here Thy servant doth beseech theâ— To make me know though it be to my shame How vanishing how weak and frail I am Meditation 2. VVHat would I do if I were sure to die Within this houre sure heartily repent My sinfull couch should never more be driâ— But drown'd in tears sad grones my heart should rent And my sorrow still increase With repenting till I die That once reconciled I Might be found of God in peace Then presently I 'll set about it for My time 's uncertain and for ought I know God may not leave my soul a minute more To animate my body here below Deep fetch'd sighs and godly sorrow Shall possesse my heart to day 'T is a foolish sinne to say That I will repent to morrow What if I die before just as the tree Doth fall it lies When I am in the grave I cannot grieve for sinne nor can I be Converted unto God nor pardon crave Had I breath and grace to crave it Yet God's time of mercie 's gone 'T is giv'n in this life alone In the next I cannot have it What would I leave undone if ghâ—stly Death Stood at my elbow sure I would not wallow In those pollutions that reigne here beneath No lewd and wicked courses would I follow I should tremble at a thought Of uncleannesse if I were Sure that dreadfull time were near When I must to earth be brought Why should I sinne at all for in the act Of my next sinne a sudden Death may catch me A town secure is much the sooner sack'd What know I but God setteth Death to watch me That when any lust hath press'd me For his service that I may Down to hell without delay Death may presently arrest me If we did well still should we fear to meeâ— Death in those places where we use to sinne And as we enter think we heare the feet Of Death behind us coming softly in We should fear when sinnes delight us When we swallow any crime Lest that very point of time Justice should send Death to smite us I know whatever is on this side hell Is mercie all that we were not sent thither When we sinn'd last is mercie What befell Zimri and Cozbi as they lay together Phinchas zealous spear did thrust Both to death and bored holes To let out those guilty souls Which were melted into lust Help me O Lord to do and leave undone What thou command'st for sudden Death prepare me That at what time soe'r my glasse is run Thy holy Angels may to heav'n bear me Give thy servant grace that I May so fear the face of sinne As a serpents lest that in Th' unrepented act I die Meditation 3. DOth Death come suddenly so much the better If I am readie and do daily die So much the sooner 't will my soul unfetter T' enjoy the best degree of libertie And if Death will send me where I shall evermore remain I will never care how vain Or how frail my life is here My life is like the wind but when this 〈◊〉 Iâ— pass'd I shall eternally enjoy A place in heav'n where all is calm enough Where never blast is felt that brings annoy Where is everlasting case Not a storm nor tempest there Nor a jote of trouble where All is quietnesse and peace My life is like a vapour but assoon As this thin mist this vapour is dispersed My day shall be an undeclining noon Whose glorious brightnesse cannot be rehearsed Which will shew me for so clear And so shining is that place God immortall face to face Whom I saw but darkly herâ— My life is water spilt and cast away Upon the ground but after it is shod In stead thereof I shall a stream injoy As Crystall clear which from the throne of God And the Lamb of God proceedeth Water 't is of life and lasteth Ever which a soul that tasteth Once no more refreshing needeth My life is like a shadow that doth vanish But whensoe'r this shadow 's vanish'd quite Substantiall glories will my soul replenish And solid joyes will crown it with delighâ— The worlds are but fading joyes Shadows we all purchase here Never untill Death appear Have we true and reall joyes My life 's a flower but when it withers here It is transplanted into paradise Where all things planted flourish all the year Where Boreas never breaths a cake of ice With sweet air the place is blest There iâ— an eternall spring Thither Lord thy servant bring Here my homely Muse doth rest Nor another flight will make Till she see how this will take FINIS * Lorin. in Psalmos Tom. 1. p. 4. D. proveth it by many good witnesses