To charm our fancies and besot our reason And make our selves against our selves work treason Nor have we in our selves pow'r to resist Her winning wiles noâ— from her love desist That pow'r supernal is O dearest Lord Grant us this pow'r thy help to us afford Then shall we force thy greatest Foe to yeild And make our temptingst sin forsake the field An Epigram on the same THe Devil 's a Witch our Proverb tells us thus But Sin 's the Witch that witch'd both Him and Us. Him past all cure but We may cured be If we by faith can Jâ—sus feel and see Great God assist us and it shall suffice For we must have from Thee both hands and eyes Pride the Seed of Sin GReat fall of Men and Angels Heavens hate Wert thou as good as thou art seeming great Thou would'st the fairest Vertue be of many But art the most deformed Vice of any Scorn of all good a bastard mungrel Evil Begot betwixt relapsing Man and Devil Though both quâ tales thy own creatures be Begetters of and yet begot by thee A monstrous spawn of Incest sp'ritual That Viper-like hadst life from parents fall And yet thou vaunt'st boasting thy birth and blood When no progenitor of thine was good Surpassest in thy self-conceit by odds Those humbler souls descended from the gods Whose most heroick race and princely birth Farther transcendeth thine then heaven doth earth Bold Queen of Vices thou ledst on the Van Of that Black Regiment that foiled Man Under Gods elbow by the Prince of Hell Lucifer thy Lieutenant Colonel Under the subtile Serpents shape disguis'd Thereby presuming to make man despis'd In his Creators eyes for evermore VVhose Mercie sent his Son to clear that score VVho brake the Serpents head thy daring skill Did legions of sacred Angels fill VVith God-unthroning plots whereby they fell To all eternity cast down to Hell The glory of thy conquests yet thy gain Appears but small for they subdu'd again Thee their subduer and have forc't thee since To act in service of their direful Prince Who by Self-merit and Presumption Thy fatal Daughters hath more souls drawn on In everlasting-fire-chains to be ti'd Then by all other sins and sâ—…res beside Mother of Antichrist thou first set'st on The founding of Mysterious Babylon The Beast is but thy Creature and the Whore Thy eldest unmach't Daughter I therefore A Mate will motion to her though a mad one Yet not unfit it is the great Abaddon Who shortly will to her a Kingdom give Wherein though dying she shall ever live For here her time is short as I compute And will be found so without all dispute Therefore translate her hence unto the place Before all worlds prepared for her was It is her portion Oh detain it not Do her no wrong but let her have her lot And then the Lord of Life shall rule again And under him his humble Saints shall reign Amen Lord Jesus haste it on for lo The whole Creation groans to have it so The Angels Saints and Martyrs cry aloud To have thy vengeance poured on the proud For of all sins that bar poor man from bliss To Them and Thee Pride the most hateful is None doth in Man thy Image more deface Nor any makes us in thy sight so base VVhat Necromantick Philter us hath charm'd And both of sense and reason so disarm'd That we should glory in our greatest shame Our Fig-leaf cloathes do but our fall proclaim VVas that worth boasting of Then thy gains scan Proud prinking pranking prating parret man And brag on spare not kneaded lump of clay Thy seal'd damnation 't will at last display Handful of dust coagulate short span Of putri'd earth such art thou proudest man Thou vaunt'st of thy descent and may'st do 't well Never was greater then from heav'n to hell Thy pedigree I 'll shew I dare aver To be Angelick from great Lucifer Thy parts and gifts of body and of soul Are fair and comely but pride makes them foul Thou aimst at great atchievments buildst high hopes Sand-founded structures On whose towring tops Are batt'ries rais'd against the walls of Heav'n But all thy Cannon-shot of force bereav'n Retort from those unpierced edifices Upon thy self and so thy fond devices Are self-crush't And what self not ruinates Death briefly seizeth and annihilates Proud fool go rake great Alexander's dust The ashes of those Hero's whose meer lust Their pow'r transform'd to law whose very word Made Empires tremble whose devasting sword Made seas of blood and robb'd the lands of breath Divorcing souls from bodies by grim death And see how calm they are how voyd of pride As if all Histories had them bely'd Draw neerer home and open late-made tombs Of thy progenitors within whose wombs Their nigh-corrupted flesh sends forth a stink Which thou abhorr'st to smell yea loath'st to think How noysom 't is And tell O tell me then If there be reason for such pride in men Dost thou their flesh-devested bones there see Such Skeleton be sure thy self shall be If not by providence to worse ordain'd For worse corruption many have sustain'd And truth to say most proper 't were for thee Should thy dead corpse by fowls devoured be Who living in self-thoughts didst soar on high And so when dead on others wings shalt fly Pride is Lust's Bawd Broker to Avarice Mother of Envy and each hateful Vice Excesses Vintner Brewer Cook and Baker The Souldiers and the Lawyers Cavil-Maker Ambitious Engineer Wars shoo-horn so Were't not for Pride souldiers might bare-foot go VVho now march booted to advance the shew Of her vain-glorious self-conceited Crew Shoo-makers Haberdashers Jewellers VVith Lapidaries Goldsmiths Pewterers Cutlers and Armourers all sorts of Drapers Fencers and Fidlers Dancers cutting capers Those that make Buttons Bandstrings Tires and Borders Teeth Eyes and Periwigs and mend disorders In ugly Faces with a countless number Of other Trades who us with changes cumber Chameleon Dyers who by Art do vary Their colours to the same that others carry Attend her train all plague-sick of the Fashion Led on by Taylors pest of English Nation VVhose Proteus-like changing quite out-braves In mutability the Moon and VVaves VVho Frenchifie our men and women so That who are English we can hardly know VVho a new Fashion do affect so well They 'l have it though they knew it came from Hell Did they the Dev'l in Uncouth Habit spie They 'ld sue for his Old Suit to cut New by These are which I think cannot be deny'd Gentlemen-Ushers to the Devil and Pride A Letany to beg deliverance From these were very fit Here and in France VVhich two fond Nations they have stultifi'd This last-past Age more then the world beside Pride would fear banishment if they should fall VVho are supporters of her Devil and all I think few wise men deem this censure hard If Laws were mended Taylours would be marr'd And women made more wise and poor men too VVho now betwixt them
decay in age but this strength wins And grows with age it self the elder still A miser grows more griping grow he will A judgement sad a man should labour most For what he least doth need spend time and cost In that which he must forthwith leave to others And knows not unto whom mean-while smothâ—… His souls desires of seeking grace indeed That is the gain he most of all doth need Perhaps with Magus he befools himself Hoping to purchase grace with worldly pelf There 's no such barter feasible One grain Of grace exceeds the wealth of earth and main In truest value God and Mammon prove Incompatible masters whoe'er love One must despise the other God loves peace Mammon's contention 's Prince strife cannot cease In hearts by him o'ersway'd Treasons and Wars Bloodsheds oppressions violence and jars Are his hearts-solace And all other evils Are rife in him as in the very Devils Lord fortifie our souls by thy free Spirit Against this slavish sin whose justest merit Is guerdon of Injustice for she swayes And corrupts Justice by her bribing wayes Throughout the earth And take this at farewel Though here thou do'st thou shalt not do 't in Hell An Epigram on the same HArd-handed Mammon why do'st gripe so fast Thy gain will surely be but small at last Thy muck is ordure thou art a gold-finder Thy close-fist griping doth thy holding hinder 'T will squeeze betwixt thy fingers and be lost Unless thou gape to save it Oh haste post And lest thy sweet beloved ware should fall Hold fast with arms with hands teeth mouth and all Take take it all And then withall take this Thy body 's rob'd of rest thy soul of bliss All cannot unto either of them buy A moments ease to all Eternity Lust A branch of sin GIve leave to venial Sin the lists to enter She 'll soon display the height of your adventure And prove the Whore that gave her that slight name A lying gossip though a mincing dame Lust hath both botch and blain of sin's worst pest And therefore mortal is as well's the rest Nay none is so infectious she strikes dead By glance of eye by sight of clothes or bed Of parties not infected yea each sense She poisons with her flaming pestilence Sight hearing smell taste touch and all infect By secret Magick her enamour'd sect A smile a song a sent a cup a kiss Heart-wounding and most mortal to them is Yea which her venome more admired makes Of pest-free people she the plague oft takes At distance vast Oh most stupendious wonder Of parties many hundred miles asunder Their Lust hath sometimes on a picture fir'd Which shadow made the substance more desir'd And thus the Jewish Dames did doat of old When they did Chaldee counterfeits behold Nay her insinuating Necromancy Works where's no real Object on the fancy And stupifying reason sense and all Makes some in love with meer Idea's fall Whose souls of judgement she hath made so void To joy in that that cannot be enjoy'd And Lust contemplative hath so produc'd Incestuous Monsters 'twixt self-thoughts abus'd Lust is the Devils fueller makes fires And blows into a flame unchaste desires Contriving ever by deceits to win Others to be partakers of her sin And mostly if it end in publick shame They each on other strive to lay the blame Which shews in hearts where lust hath got possession A great aversness to a plain confession Which should blaze penitence This fire obdures And crusts the conscience where it once inures She 's now become one of the chief commanders Of the infernal Legions for her panders Are pride excess and sloth yea avarice Dotes mostly more on her then any vice If she come cheap But if the price be high Her flames at thought thereof expire and die Lust is on earth grown a commandress great Who ere the Crown do wear she keeps the seat The Throne and Scepter royal she doth sway And for the most part Monarchs makes obey Our first that title got of faith's defender Prov'd herein a notorious faiths offender A King perhaps most Christian may be stil'd Or Catholick and yet be so defil'd With lust's pollution as to merit scorn From Catholicks and Christians yet unborn Who will hereafter see with clearer eyes Then this dull age their covert Crimes espies For palaces and earth's most large possessions Are most deprav'd by lust excess oppressions And such like vices which have often been Lust's bawds whereby we Saints intrapt have seen For Ammon's sword had spar'd Uriah's life And he had not been drunk but that his wife Was grown by lust's enchanting forceries A pearl at once in both poor David's eyes What he abhorr'd to think she made him do Blinding his eyes of soul and body too And his son Amnon by his incest foul Wrought his own drunken death and wrong'd his soul Whose fratricidious brother past all shame Out-vi'd his incest as a sin too tame For such a roister who in Sol's bright eye Before all Israel in contempt did lie With his dear Fathers Concubines a fact Fitter for Devil then for man to act This sin inveigled had two brothers more Of their twelve Patriarchs in times of yore Reuben and Judah both herewith defil'd Wittingly one but t'other was beguild Nor could burnt Sodoms cinders terrifie Heav'n-rescu'd Lot from lust's Nicanthropy Nor both their judgements afterwards prevent The Benjamitish Gibeah's punishment The subt'ly wicked Prophet Balaam blew This cole in Isr'els hearts so them orethrew Whom his inchantments could not hurt at all Being Devil-proof and yet by lust did fall Old Eli's sons hereby Gods wrath provok't To his Ark's loss and Isr'els being yok't Under Philistims and their own sad deaths Which robb'd one 's VVife both's Father of their breaths The Preacher wisest of meer mortals who Knew most of men knew so much women too That lust infatuated the most wise Wresting his wisdom to Idolatrize So he to whom Jehovah twice appear'd To Chemosh Molech Milcom Altars rear'd To Ashtaroth and all the host of Heav'n For which his son was of ten Tribes bereav'n Whence Jacobs seed dicotomiz'd remain Their kingdom never unifi'd again Herod's base lust dish't up the Baptist's head Lust the Corinthian laid in 's father's bed The Gentile's great Apostle she disturb'd And could not by his praying thrice be curb'd At least not conquer'd Since as well's before She hath been Satans messenger to more She 's both to us and heathens though she mince Leidger Embassadour for Hell's black Prince And Rome's sly Nuntio's Machiavilians pure Did ne'er attain their errands ends more sure Aegypt's great Cleopatra fair grown foul By lust's pollution lost both soil and soul The greater Hercules whose very name Wonder-strook men was blasted by this flame All whose twelve matchless labours fam'd persever And yet his fame 's eclips'd by lust for ever The greatest Jupiter by lust o'ercome From God turn'd beast and was a bull become True 't was a faigned
Roar'd howl'd and cry'd and dy'd in deep despair Although he had good men's advice and prayer Despair's a Polititian whose black Art Makes man upon himself act Satans part Accuse condemn torment repel free grace Refuse to give his proferr'd pardon place Tempt to the highest sin and then to tell His sadded soul No place for thee but Hell And so when man the Devils work hath done He payes him wages who desired none The Poets Momus she out-strips in spight VVho hated others for his own delight She hates both God and Man Angels and Devil And her self too yea all both good and evil Save her despairing humour which alone She cherishes and strives to dote upon And to her everlasting torment feeds The gnawing worm that in her conscience breeds She 's sick to death yet will no cordial take Casts off all physick which her pains might slake Her wound is deep and cure she doth desire Yet throws her plaisters all into the fire A spirit frenzifi'd within her raigns She ease desires yet needs will keep her pains Merciful Lord defend us from afflictions VVherein are manifest such contradictions Assist us with thy grace to persevere Unto the end and then we need not fear O'erwhelming in this deep abyss wherein So many heav'n-bound vessels sunk have been Strengthen our faith against despair uphold Our feeble souls and bring them to thy fold An Epigram on despair DEspair avaunt eternal death attends Thy very touch Hell's at thy fingers ends The Cockatrices optick poyson's weak Asps tactick venome slight to thine thou l't break Hearts all in shivers by a single thought Yea murther souls too though most dearly bought By God-man's blood thou mak'st men spill the price And slight their mercies by thy rash advice Lord grant a better Counsellor to me For sure such Counsellor deserves no Fee On Presumption and Despair OLd Poets all mistake who all agree In one to make the fatal Sisters three It's one too many for but two they are But two more fatal then their three by far Daring Presumption that her cheats may pass Puts Mercy in a multiplying-glass So magnifies her past proportion'd measure Makes her a Patroness for lust and pleasure Whilst Cowardly Despair to dim her worth Peeps through a Perspective whose wrong end 's forth VVhich less'ning glass when mercy's through it view'd Semi-annihilates her magnitude They oft change glasses and Despair puts sin Into Presumptions glass whilst she agin Views Justice through Despairs false Perspective VVhich makes them both erroneous judgement give A cure for both I 'll briefly thus devise Let both their glasses break and trust their eyes Presumption stoop to Poenitence Despair Arise to Faith 't will make their ways both fair So shall Despair true Poenitence become Presumption saving Faith to bring us home For one is still too low t'other too high Neither will let us unto God draw nigh Repentance DRop on sweet lymbeck-eyes till you distâ—l Those high-priz'd waters that Gods bottle fill Drop spare not this the richest water is That Earth affords and Heav'n hath none of this Save in Gods handkerchief those tears â—…ip'd off Their glorified cheeks whom earth did scoff Water of life it is if truly made Oh that the avaricious world would trade For this rich ware one drop whereof out-vies East and West-Indies bought at highest price In its true worth add to it for 't will need As much faith as a grain of mustard-seed This composition valu'd is most high In the esteem of Jove's great majesty 'T is worth more worlds then heav'n hath stars shoar sands Sea drops or single blades of grass earth's lands Stream on pure fountains with your hysop water Your nitred springs my sin-stain'd soul bespatter Sope-lave it in your pearly rills that fall From sorrow's source but still have care to call For Lamb's blood intermixt by faith which brings True vertue to your mundifying springs It cleanseth all the stains in nature left And those we added since our Parents theft Blow on serenest sighing wind and calm My stormed conscience and abate the qualm That seiz'th my wounded spirit clear the air Dispel the clouds with gusts of zealous pray'r VVhich force ope heaven and commit a rape Upon th'Almightie's ears we shall escape How fierce soever our assault be made Thou art the wind drives all who heav'nward trade By thee they must un-anchor and set forth Or else their voyage will be little worth Fill up our sails for we shall finde rich ware That hidden lies beyond the fixed sphere Yet blow as faith may steer aright know well VVho sayl by heav'n pass neer the gates of Hell 'Twixt Scylla and Charybdis we must pass Presumption and despair and these alass Are full of danger one 's a floating Rock T'others a gulf shifting like weather-cock Its place with each neâ—… wind On if we stay They 'l both most surely cross us in the way And for the most part he that one doth fly Is shipwrack'd on the other instantly Whiff not with boyst'rous blasts into the deep Let thy gales us in fathom'd shallows keep Blow well to Leeward though a Rock appear 'T is Christ the Cape of our good Hope no fear For never vessel which that Rock did miss Arrived at the wished Port of bliss Nay more unless that Rock we hang upon Our vessel 's split and we are all undone Oh see where it appeareth yond' before Haste on I 'm sea-sick put me there ashoar The floating Rock and shifting gulf I see Approaching neer they both in kenning be Blow strong bear in on that Rock run aground Strike sail cast Anchor for our Port is found If that firm Rock do make the Anchor bend Hope's Anchor steel with faith at either end She with one finger if we Anchors want Can moâ—e us on a Rock of Adamant Such is the Rock on which we must depend That thee my soul from shipwrack must defend An Adamantine Rock whose vertue lay'th Magnetick force on all that 's steel'd by faith Help sighs sad heart my dâ—…ie eyes help tears Such wind and water souls on this Rock bears To steel Hope well with stedfast faith endeavour Then shall we Anchor on it safe for ever Epigram on Repentance BLow wind drop rain Repentance much endears Our souls to God such musick charms his ears Let faith hold fast and then full safe are we These sisters are and must not parted be Both of one birth most strange intwined twins Where the first ends mostly the last begins Which should be elder great Divines do doubt But we 'll not sift such needless scruples out God grant us both in truth of soul and mind And which is first we need not pry to find Faith STrongest of creatures whose eternal Base Is firmer fix'd then earth's foundation was Whose everlasting force none can withstand Surviving change in Heav'n Hell Sea and Land By thee the Elders good report did take Thou teachest us Gods Word the world did make By
1. LIfe thou dost flatter and betray My heedless soul to sin to day On thee presuming And hopes assuming Of penitence hereafter And so thou lead'st me sheep-like to the slaughter 2. Thou in thy warfare careless art Though Death hath got Letters of Mart Soon to surprize thee VVhere-e'er he spies thee A foe that will not trifle But surely speed and will thee shortly rifle 3. Why shouldst thou faithless to me be 'T is to thy self as well as me Cease then to flatter And thy baits scatter To hook my foolish fancie For thy allurements work like necromancie 4. 'T is a black Art and dark thou hast VVho danger vail'st till time is past Of it preventing And mak'st repenting Late unavailing to us And by thy Syren's songs dost quite undo us 5. VVe silly mortals quite mistake VVhen thee for our chief friend we take Death is more friendly And deals more kindly VVho summons us to heaven VVhen thou would'st keep us here of joy bereven 6. Nature on thee doth too much dote VVhose humour 't is to love by rote VVhil'st reason 's blinded And sense most minded Our souls by thee are lulled Secure asleep and of salvation gulled To DEATH 1. DEath how do sinners thee abuse VVho thee most grim to pourtray use They quite mistake thee VVho uglie make thee Thou to the good art comely Though worldlings deem thy presence course and homely 2. Thou art out Moses who dost show Our way from Egypt here below To Can'an's glory Thou dost us hurry From this worlds dayly sorrows To joyes eternal where to day wants morrows 3. It is thy father makes thee grim Thou lovely art wert not for him He dwells within us And he doth win us To hate thee without thy desert Thy Father's sin and thou his wages art 4. A father strange that hates his child And wages too you 'ld deem him wild As we count wildness For death's sweet mildness Is shown still to the holly Sin 's their chief foe and counts their goodness folly 5. Death is God's Hâ—… who calls away His servants to receive their pay But to his debtors And their abertors His under-Sheriff cruel Who them imprisons where flameâ— ne'er wantâ— fuel 6. Death lays our bodies here asleep Whilst festivals our souls shall keep 'Till our exciting And re-uniting In joys passing all beneath Ah fit me Lord for thee and welcome death The Resurrection DRead Lord what harmony my soul doth find In all the wondrous works by thee design'd Or consummate past present or to come Oh! how disorder bringeth order home This days confusion sure will far surpass The Chaos that at the Creation was And this days order will the perfect'st be That men or Angels ever yet did see The sad confusion of thy Goat herds train Exceeds all thoughts conceiv'd by mortals brain And the sweet order of thy shepherds sheep Will Angels strike with admiration deep What hurly-burly here shall we descry ' Mongst Nimrod's fell Tyrannick progeny How loath this day will their proud ashes be To re-unite when they thy Son shall see Whose members they have persecuted here In cloud-clad glory come what rueful cheer What horrour and amazement will confound Their loathsome souls when that last trump shall sound And they be summon'd forthwith to appear Before that Judge whom they condemned here Pilate will wish his heart had washed been When he his hands did wash but for a screen To cover horrid murther Wilful Jews That roar'd out Crucifie him at this news Struck with astonishment will surely wish They had been all born dumb or mute as fish But empty wishes nought avayl them here For will they nill they all men must appear At this last great Assize and render in Compleat account of what hath acted been By them here in the flesh and not alone Of act 's but of their words and thoughts each one According whereunto they shall their doom Receive for all that endless time to come Save those for whom the Lamb was born and dy'd Who shall by faith not by deserts be try'd And bathed in his blood shall shine more bright Then Phaebus doth when he gives purest light These shall have all the tears wip'd off their eyes And be enthroned with the deities With great Tri-une Jehovah they shall be The Bridegroom's Bride to all eternitie And raign with him in bliss for evermore Who them redeemed hath and pay'd their score Lord these do groan for this great day and cry Come come Lord Jesus Oh come quickly hy To set us free from sin and from all those That persecute us thine and our fierce foes When shall we be avenged when wilt thou Ascend the throne and make all mortals bow Before thy foot-stool when again restore All pow'r unto thy self for evermore Lord re-assume it for it is thy due Thou hast it lent a while to men 't is true But they bad stewards prove and miss-employ Thy talents and deserve not to enjoy Thy slighted favour Lord call in again That pow'r and let the Lamb for ever raign Then shall the Church triumphant sing his song With Hallelujah's from the Angel-throng For he alone is worthy to ascend The throne eternal whose rule shall not end Whose Kingdom and dominion ne'er shall â—…se Who is the Prince of everlasting peace Who from beginning was ordain'd to die That he his chosen flock might glorifie To whom all glory be ascrib'd and then Shall Saints and Angels cry Amen amen The Epigram JUdas prepare thy bag thy day is come When for thy pains thou shalt be payd full home But Oh! thy mind is chang'd thou would'st Essoyn Thy self this court rather then take this Coin Though take it needs thou must and when thou hast it 'T will last for ever for time cannot waste it Yet thou wilt finde thy state had been more thriving Had'st thou refus'd those thirty pieces living This is a maxime though of my own making Men grow not always truly rich by taking Misers whom love of coin on earth o'er-sway'd Shall this day in their own coin be repay'd For Sion's Lamb when he ascends the throne Will prove himself a debtor unto none But will requite both good and ill that 's done By all man's off-spring since the world begun A Soliloquie on the Resurrection CHeer up my soul exalt thy head on high For thy long-look'd Redemption draweth nigh Lo thy sweet Saviour comes in glory bright This day to put an end to day and night Whence times alternate course away shall fly Issuing forth into eternity One everlasting day whose splendor clear Will need no Sun to give us light and chear Our Sun shall be the Sun of Righteousness Which never sets whose light no cloud makes less In his coruscant glory He shall shine Into thine eyes my soul with light divine And yet not dazzle them to hurt thereby They 'l dazled be with sweet satiety With joy and admiration to behold Israels shepherd with his flock and
running A way chalk'd out by thine and our most cunning And mortal foes a way devis'd at Rome VVhich will these lands to desolation doom Our bodies to sharp sword and famine thin Our souls ro utter darkness for our sin Deprive us of thy candlestick that live And to posterity dark Lanthorns give To guide in pathes of death and to deceive Our progeny false Gospels to believe Unless thy grace prevent Bless'd God arise And let thy foes be scatter'd that despise And persecute thy truth and people thus Draw us to thee and be thou GOD WITH US Cease our divisions chase all schisms and errours All Heresies and Ath'ism hence with terrours And with confusion unto those that broach'd them And recantation to those that approach'd them Let Reformation true at last come in To our distracted Church and State which sin Hath long kept off let love with truth and peace And blessed union daily more increase In these distressed lands chase hence the swarms Of black-pits locusts whose inveigling charms Dicotomize the world whose industry Makes King fight King and men make war with thee Lord let eternal mercy turn us thus From all our sins and all thy wrath from us For none but thine Almighty hand can cure Our desp'rate wounds thy enemies make sure Shortly to sway these lands and therewithal To ruine thy reformed Churches all Unless thy grace prevent Help Lord at need It 's in the mount it 's time thou help indeed For vain is mans false help we fools have try'd By Egypt's friendship to be fortifi'd Whose broken reeds have pierc'd our heedless hands And drawn thy judgments on these sinful lands Avert them Lord and turn us unto thee Thy fury just from us else lost are we Thy stock of wonted mercies we have spent And are undone unless thy grace prevent We set up Princes Lord but not of thee Rulers whom thou know'st not who'll fatal be Unto this land and make us soon repent Our foolish choice unless thy Grace prevent Oh let the BRANCH spring forth and bud and bear If thou so will'st whilst we are pilgrims here The birth is at wombs mouth Oh God help strength To bring that bless'd production forth at length Which our sins keep obstructed in the womb And let the Son of David's Kingdom come But out great crimes defer that blest event And urge thy wrath Lord let thy Grace prevent Prevent our just-deserved ruine Lord Let love obliterate our crimes abhor'd Recruit our stock of grace so vainly spent And our just fears Lord let thy grace prevent Angliae Omen OH stupid England how hath S. befool'd thee Not to give ear to what thy G. hath told thee But to F. P. thou willingly canst hearken Which will I fear thy brightest glory darken E. and D. fight like fools by J. deceived To make S. sport unless by G. relieved G. chalk'd thee out a way yet thou refusest Therein to walk his mercies thou abusest Pervert'st the means of grace to schism and faction Wrest'st profer'd peace into perverse distraction P. B. is spil'd whence P. in mirth exceedeth Whil'st P. spoyls P. the heart of C. C. bleedeth And thou still glorying in thy shame abidest Sweet mercies scornest judgments fierce deridest Exceed'st in pride oppression blood and thieving Excess and bold profaneness never grieving For all thy horrid acts whose exclamation Rings up to Heav'n and croaks thy desolation For which thy crimes one of these are attending Thy soon repentance or thy latter ending It is not to me unknown that divers exquisite pens have poëtically translated the following Lamentations whose Labours I honour and aym not herein to detract from neither strive I to claw mans ear or tickle his fancie but have as neer as I was enabled kept the very words of the Text it self in our most usual English Translations hoping the divine gravity and interwoven plainness of that stile may prove powerful above all mans ingenious flourishes hereon as fitting best the parallel times and people whereâ—n and for whom they were first written Amen Hodie mihi Cras tibi Let Jury Britain's warner be Let Jebus London teach That we Gods ways may heed and see Whilst Jews to English preach The Lamentations of Jeremiah in metre CHAP. I. verse 1 HOw doth the thronged City sit desert How art thou widowed O thou that wert The great among the Nations Princess took Of Provinces and now in tributes yoak verse 2 Her nightly tears make torrents o'er her cheeks In vain she comfort from all lovers seeks Her friends perfidious all are foes become verse 3 Judah's gone captive from her native home Because of servitude and great affliction Among the Heathen she finds no refection Her persecuters 'twixt the straights o'ertake her verse 4 Zions wayes mourn since solemn feasts forsake her Her Priests do sigh her gates are desolate verse 5 Virgins afflicted She in bitter state Her soes are chief and prosper for the Lord Hath her afflicted for her most abhorr'd And multipli'd transgressions and her Sons Her enemies led captive all at once verse 6 All Zions Daughters beauty is departed Her Princes are like Harts in pastute thwarted verse 7 As finding none and they are strengthless gone verse 8 Before pursuers Jebus now thinks on Her pleasant things in days of old enjoy'd By miserie 's afflicting hand made voyd Her Sons faln in the hands of enemies Quite helpless foes her Sabbaths did despise verse 9 Jerusalem hath sinned grievously Therefore removed of her friends cast by Who saw her shame she sighs backward turns verse 10 Her filth is in her skirts and she adjourns The day of her last end whence she descends To wonderment yet voyd of cheering friends Lord view my sorrow for the foe doth boast verse 11 And snatch our pleasant things we value most She in her Temple sees the Heathen Nations Whom thou forbad'st t' approach thy Congregations verse 12 Her people sigh and seek their bread they give Their pleasant things for food them to relieve See Lord consider for I vile am grown verse 13 Is it to you as nothing have yee known O all by-passers any grief like mine In his fierce angers day by sacred Trine verse 14 Afflicted fire from Heaven he hath sent Into my bones his net spread with intent My feet to trap Yea he hath turn'd me back And made me faint and desolate alack verse 15 His hand hath bound the yoak of my transgressions Which wreathed mount cause my neck 's oppressions My strength he made to fall he gives me over Into their hands from whom I can't recover verse 16 In me he trampled on my men of might Assembled those that crush'd my young men quite As in a wine-press he that wears Heav'ns crown The Virgin Judah's Daughter hath trod down verse 17 For this I weep mine eye mine eye fleets on Because from me the Comforter is gone That should relieve my soul And desolate My children are ' cause those prevail'd