which now are starv'd with heav'nly bread But since you have not done it unto those Which I esteem'd ye 'ave prov'd your selves my foes Therefore begone let darkness be your lot Learn to remember that ye have forgot My Mercies go and let my Judgments dwell Within your guilty hearts let black mouth'd Hell Plague you with torments let him always lash Your hearts with flames until ye howl and gnash Your teeth together go depart my sight And taste the fruits of everlasting night But as for you whose better deeds have found Acceptance in my heart ye shall be crown'd With unremoved happiness because Ye have obsequiously perform'd my Laws You fed my craving stomack and you cloath'd My naked body and you have not loath'd To visit me and when I was a stranger Ye took me in and guarded me from danger Go then my Lambs and let your Oratory Proclaim the greatness of your Fathers glory Go revel in my Courts no discontent Shall breed a faction in my Parliament I 'le pass an Act of Peace and it shall be Sign'd by the hand of my Eternitie My tongue shall stile you blessed and my voyce Shall raise your Souls and teach you to â—ejoyce Your unexcised pleasures shall abound To infinite your ravish'd hearts shall sound The depth of my delights all things shall move Within the sphere of uncontrouled Love Be well assur'd your pleasures shall be great Then fly from Judgment to my Mercies Seat And there rejoyce with a triumphant mirth My Love shall live with them that hated Earth Obdurate Man here here thou mayst discry Judgment and Mercy one to terrifie The other to perswade and yet wilt thou Prove adamantine and refuse to bow To thy Redeemer Canst thou ruminate Upon his Love and yet wilt not delate Thy Soul unto him Is thy brazen heart Impenitrable Will no flaming dart Of true affection enter Hast thou vow'd To stop thy â—ars Shall Mercy call aloud And thou not hear Shall thund'ring Judgments rattle About thy ears and yet wilt thou imbattle Against the Lord of Hosts Wilt thou invoke Perpetual Vengeance to intail a stroke Upon thy stubborn heart What dost thou think Hell's voyd of flames or that thy God will wink At thine enormities Go rally all Thy thoughts together and discreetly fall Into a serious study Let thy mind Be absolute and really inclin'd To meditation contradict the rage Of thine own passion labour to asswage The fire of lust that so thou mayst behold With more serenety how manifold His mercies are that every day prevents The sad incursions of deprav'd events Think but in what a most defam'd condition Thy Soul was in before the grand Physician Of Heav'n and Earth spontaniously sent down A balm from his own Gilliard to crown The sons of grief Think what he did endure Before his wounds had perfected thy cure Remember how undauntedly he stood And sweat himself into a Crimson flood To ransom thee remember how his woes Were asperated by his raging foes Remember how his sacred temples wore A spiny Crown remember how it tore His sublime Front remember how they broach'd His brest with Spears and shamefully reproach'd His spotless fame remember how they nail'd His spreading hands remember how they seal'd His Ivory wâ—lls remember how they spawl'd Upon his face remember how they baw'ld And banded at his Agony whilst he Prov'd patient Martyr to their tyrannie Remember when he came unto the brink Oâ— death they gave him vinegar to drink Nay more because they vow'd to empty all Their poys'ned malice out they gave him Gall Oh bitter deed oh most abhorred Crimes Too nearly paralleld in these our times Thus having put a period to their plots They thought it good to cast their hellish lots For his I dare not say mean clothes I know They were our Saviours to whose worth we ow Perpetual thanks 't was his well finished breath Redeem'd our Souls from everlasting death Here 's Love O Man that does as far transcend Thy thoughts as thy deserts that Heav'n should send His Son and Heir to be incarnated And suffer death for thee that wert as dead As sin could make thee 't was for thy offence He dy'd Ah how how canst thou recompence Such high brâ—d Favors Favors unexpected Deserve to be imbrac'd and not neglected Do not rash Soul like Cleopatria nurse Imbosom'd vipers blessings prove a curse If once abus'd Ingratitude cuts off Th' intail of Love it is a shame to scoff At Benefactors after thou art fed Wilt thou contemn the hand that gave thee bread Wouldst thou not love that friend that should bestow A superâ—nuated crust and shew Respect unto thee when the ebbing Tyde Of Fortune runs so low that thou mayst ride Upon the sands of Poverty Fond Man Strive to be grateful study how to scan The mercies of thy God remember how He feeds thy Soul with Manna learn to bow Th' unruly thoughts with admiration think How often and how much imbitter'd drink Thy Saviour drank with what a doleful cry He beg'd of God to let that cup pass by But knowing that his pleasure must be done He proy'd himself his most obedient Son And wilt thou not â—â—y wretch drink one poor sup Of bitter drink for him that drank a cup To sweeten thine thou need'st not fear or scorn To taste because Heav'ns sacred Unicorn Hath purg'd the waters and they must be sweet Except they 're reimpoys'ned by thy feet If so what wilt thou do where wilt thou find An Antidote for an invenom'd mind It is reported if the Spider chance To meet the obvious Toad they 'l both advance Then inward force and mutually proclaim An open War brave combitaâ—â—s of Fame And having 〈◊〉 their imbowel'd might Maâ—ch boldly on and both incens'd thy fight The Toad being heavy loaded cannot go Or wheel about like his encountring foe But keeps his ground and makes a small resistance The Spider scorning to be kept at distance Falls in upon him and with nimble rage Assaults his foe who now begins â—â—asswage His former fury and would fain retreat From his small foe whose strength is grown too great For opposition being thus distress'd He crawls away and with a crope-sick brest Seeks for relief and by and by discrys A Planton leaf within whose veins there lies A secret Antidote which did at length Expel his poyson and renew his strength Having disgorg'd himself he soon returns Into the camp where for a time he burns To be in action and at last he sees The crafty Spider creeping by degrees To seize upon him then his courage fails He knows not what to do his foe assails With all his might constraining him to yield The conquest and with shame to quit the field Then he begins to seek and hunt about To find the soveraign healing Planton out Which had before reliev'd him and supply'd His wants but that being gone he burst and dy'd Even so if Hells black Spider chance to crawl
deed so foul prepares himself to run To some close shelter where he might immure His naked body and repose secure But ah in vain in vain he strove to hide Himself from God that need implore no guide To teach him where his sad offender lay He needs must find when sin hath chalk'd the way But when Heav'ns shril-enquiring voyce surrounded The ears of Adam Adam was confounded VVith deep distress his heart began to call His quivering Senses to a Funeral Fear like a powerful fire began to thaw His frozen thoughts and keep his soul in awe He breath'd in a Dilemma and could find No Sanctuary for a perjur'd mind At last the language of th' eternal God Storm'd his sin-armed soul and like a Rod VVhipâ— him from his security and cry'd Adam where art thou Adam thus reply'd I heard thee walking in the pleasing shade Of the cool ev'ning and I was afraid And hid my self because I must confess I blusht to see my shameful nakedness GOD Tell me thou trembling wretch how dost thou know That thou art naked say who told thee so â—hat has thy lips usurp'd the fruit which I â—â—njur'd thee not to touch if so reply Adam The woman which thou gav'st me gave to me â—â—d I did eat of the forbidden tree GOD Unconstant woman Ah why hast thou ruâ— â—â—â—ond thy bounds what 's this that thou hast done Woman the Serpents flowing language swel'd too great 〈◊〉 my low banks he tempted and I eat Gods Curse against the Serpent Because thou hast thus subtilly deluded 〈◊〉 lustful woman thou shalt be excluded â—â—â—m future good more shall thy curses yield â—â—â—n all the beasts and cattle in the field 〈◊〉 belly shall because thou hast done this â—â—â—e to the earth a life-remaiming kiss â—â—â—u shalt not taste of any thing that 's good â—â—â—t shall supply the place of wholesom food 〈◊〉 be thy ways thou shalt no more be seen â—â—me I will put enmity between Thy seed and herâ— hereafter thou shalt feel A bruised head and she a bruised heel Gods Curse against the woman And as for thee oh woman I 'le enlarge Thy grief and thy conception I 'le discharge Thy joys and load thee with a weighty grief Thy pains in child-bed shall find no relief Thou shalt desire thy husband and his hand Shall over-rule thee with a strict command Adams Curse Rebellious Adam unto thee I 'le give A life as bad as death for thou shalt live To see thy sorrows more and more abound And for thy sake I 'le curse the loathed ground For thou hast hark'ned to the conquering voyce Of thy frail wife and made my fruit thy choyce And sepulchred my words within the grave Of thy false heart be gone thou self-made slave The thorny ground shall give a large increase To thy laborious hand the name of Peace Shall prove a stranger to thy ears and thou Shalt eat thy bread with a sweat-dropping brow I 'le murther all thy joys thy brest shall burn VVith flaming care until thy corps return Into the bowels of th' inclusive earth From whence thou hadst thy substance and thy birth For base thou art and therefore thou shalt be A food for gnawing worms and not for me As thou art dust to dust thou shalt â—etire Hereafter let not dust presume t' â—spire Strange alteration Oh pernicious Fate Too quickly bred in such an infant state He that but even now enjoy'd a life Ballanc'd with pleasures now is â—ll'd with strife He whose majestick Soul was latâ—ly crown'd VVith blest content is now ingulf'd and drown'd In sorrows Ocean He which was before Inrich'd with happiness is nâ—w as poor As poverty can make him He which â—ad The countenance of Hâ—av'n to mâ—kâ— him glad Is now eclipst he knows not where to run Sin having interpos'd between the Sun And his dark Soul the Center of whose rest Is now remov'd and he survives unblest He which but even now had leave to dwell And revel in Heav'ns eye desires a Cell To entertain him he which liv'd in Peace Is now thrown down and forfeited his lease Great was his Crime great was his sudden Fall Great was his Tenement his rent but small Poor Adam's taken by his own decoys Sin is the Sequestrator of all joys Sad Pilgrim of the world where wilt thou find In the unpathed earth a place so kind To entertain thee Ah where wilt thou keep Thus tumbled from a Precepes so steep Thy sad unpeopl'd randezvouz Oh where VVilt thou procure a hand that will unsnare Th' intangled Soul Alas thy wearied life Hath two most sad companions first a Wife Then a bad Conscience what two greater crosses Can hang upon a brest whose cares whose losses Are grown so infinite that no relief But what distills from Heav'n can ease their grief Thou wert the first of men that entertain'd So grand a sorrow thou the first that stain'd So pure a colour thou the first that dwelt In Edens garden thou the first that felt The scourge of fury hadst not thou transgrest Vengeance had found no hand nor grief a brest Ah hadst not thou offended sin had found No habitation nor thy Soul a wound Had not thy hand so wilfully unlock'd The door of Death Destruction had not knock'd At thine impenitrable gates or ventur'd T' approach so near but being open'd enter'd Bold Customer of fate that sought about To come within and turn poor Adam out Thy strength outstrengthd his streÌ„gth made him weak A vessel crack'd how can it chuse but leak Sin prov'd Deaths father mans heart the womb That brought it forth this death shall find a tomb VVhen the Determiner of time hath hurl'd A finis to the volume of the world Till then man mortaliz'd by sin must be A subject unto Deaths Soveraigntie Poor man in what a wilderness of sorrow Dost thou now ramble in where wilt thou borrow A minutes rest On what inclining ear VVilt thou expend thy groans what canst thou hear But dialects of misery to vex Thy bankrupt thoughts The fatal disrespects Of Heav'n will blow and toss thee up and down From place to place his still-renewed frown VVill follow thee therefore provide t' endure The hot pursutes of such a fierce pursuer Canst thou expect that this thy grand abuse VVhich runs beyond the limits of excuse Can be forgotten Dost thou think t' out-live Thy long-liv'd crimes or hope for power to give Due satisfaction to thy God whose rage Thy heart cannot endure much less asswage Most lachrymable state What canst thou do Oa man that may ingratiate or renew Thy formor love Alas thy base condition Mâ—â—â—s theâ—â—â—capable of a Petition Prepare thy self see if thou canst invade His Soul with pray'rs see if thou canst perswade His â—eart to yield unto thy sad request And â—â—inth one thee with thy former rest Dâ—â—â—â—ct thy Soul with groans anatomize Thy heart with sighs and let thy winged cries Fly through the angles of his sacred ear And
the weakest sound But yet it strongly eccho'd to the voyce Of his desires and made him love his choyce Even as some bold-fac'd General that dares To storm a well-man'd Town at first prepares A potent Army which he soon sets down Before the Walls of the alarum'd Town He after views the ruine-threatning-Fort Which speaks defiance and begins to sport Their several shots and with a sad delight Ingage each other in a bloody fight Then if the fierce Besiegers once perceive Themselves out-strength'd they think it fit to leave So hot a work and for a little space Desist and fall upon a weaker place Where finding smaller opposition venture With greater courage and at last they enter The yielding Town and cruelly begin To take revenge of them that are within Even so the grim-look'd malice-armed Devil The base-resolved General of Evil Perceiving that he could by no means take The sublime Fort of Heav'n plots how to make A fresh attempt upon a weaker part And so prepares to storm the flexive heart Of unresisting Eve that could not grapple With such a Foe but yielded for an Apple To those most false Alarums which surrounded Her much obedient and soon confounded Her inward parts and gave her Soul a wound Which cannot be by time or art made sound Except the grand Physician please to slake His swelling fury and some pity take Thus are our conquer'd parents sadly left In a deplor'd condition and bereft Of all their comforts they which have enjoy'd The life of happiness are now destroy'd And man his wretched off-spring must be made Sorrows sad heir and Peace must not be said T' inhabit in him Adams actual sin Made ours original for we begin As soon as made to entertain the guests Of Sin and lodg them in our infant-brests Now may our weak and despicable eyes Behold in them our ample miseries Now we may glut the Air with this sad cry The root being dead the branches needs must dye For Adam's gone beyond all humane call Rebellion never ends without a Fall But stay my Muse here let us rest a while Our Journey 's long and 't is not good to toil Too much at first for Reason says 't is best To pause a time and take a little rest Know then kind Reader that my Muse shall meet Thy serious eyes within another sheet The end of the first Book THE SECOND BOOK OF GODS LOVE AND Mans Unworthiness ARe all hopes fled and is there no relief Must man still wander in the shades of grief Will not the eye of Heav'n be pleas'd to shine Upon his Soul but leave him in the brine Of his own sins Is there no warbling voyce Can charm his ears and woo him to rejoyce In being pitiful Will nothing move The much incensed Soul of Heav'n to love Man Map of Misery who can prevail In thy requests or who cut off th' entail Of thy distress 'T is not a writ of Error Can satisfie or guard thee from the terror Of thine own Conscience which will alway stare Upon thy face and load thee with despair 'T is not a Habeas Corpus will remove The body of thy sin none can disprove The Will of God what he resolves to do Must neither be withstood nor div'd into It lies beyond thy power to perswade Thy God to pity whom thy sins have made A wrathful Judg what he intends must be Derived from himself and not from thee For thou hast nothing in thee worth the name Of good because thy glory 's turn'd to shame Thou art corrupt and vile in every part And who can know the evil of thy heart Which like the Ocean that no art nor eye Can search her bottom or her banks disery Therefore till heav'n shal please to change the sâ—â— Of thy condition Reason bids thee wait For be assur'd the promis'd seed will spread It self abroad and bruise the Serpents head Even as the Fountain whose exuberous brest Is always fluent and admits no rest But with a cheerful willingness she sends Her crystal tokens to her smaller friends Even so our God distilleth from above The healing streams of his refreshing love For ah the luster of his Sun-bright eye Is drown'd in tears when our sad Souls prove dry Oh admiration that a God so just Should rain down floods upon a heap of dust Oh Mercy that so much incens'd a God Should send forth Mercy and keep in his Rod His Soul is fili'd with pity and his eyes Begin to view th' unsatiate miseries Of Adams down-cast off-spring Though his ear Seems unto us resolved not to hear Their bitter cries nor note the sad Devotions Of their contristed hearts yet by the Motions Of his blest Soul he sends his Son and Heir Into this wretched world that he might bear The Cross of our Transgressions and expel The clouds of sin and conquer Death and Hell Thus by his death we liv'd and by his grief Our new-calm'd Souls were furnish'd with relief Oh sudden change That wind which did before Drive wretched man upon the threat'ning shore Of unâ—voyding ruine fills the â—ails Of his desires with milde and prosperous gales The Boreas of his sin does now surcease His full mouth'd blasts and Zâ—phyrâ—â— speaâ—s peace Unto his ship-wrack'd Soul and now he rides Upon the new-tam'd backs of pleasing Tydes Oh that my tongue were able to rehearse The Love of God with an Angelike Verse Oh that some heav'nly diety would fill The black-mouth'd concave of my wandring quill With pure celestial Ink that I might write In heav'nly characters and learn t' indite I châ—â—ahs praises in a stile as high As my desires and make the lofty Sky Eccho with Hallelujahs that the Earth May like a Midwife hug the joyful birth Of every word and make each corner ring VVith peals of Joy the Glories of our King Is man deliver'd from the painful womb Of his foul sin and raised from the tomb Of everlasting death and shall not we Applaud that hand which set such pris'ners free VVhat shall we be afraid to â—rack and break The chains of silence and attempt to speak The dialects of Angels No let 's call Vpon his name that rais'd us from a Fall Let 's stretch our lungs with a warbling breath Sing to the life how we were rais'd from death And when our tongues are wearied let 's express By heav'nly signs our real thankfulness But stay where runs my quill what have I lost My self in raptures or else am I tost Into the air of pleasure by the wind Of true delight If Passion proves so kind I am content oh may I always rest Adorn'd crown'd with a Heav'n-ravish'd brest O love ineffable Must wretched Man The spawn of baseness and the unmeasur'd span â—f everlasting infancy be made Loves object Must th' Almighty's love be said To dwell in Man whose tongue cannot deliver The least of thanks unto so great a Giver VVill the Sun-gazing Eagle that soars high Descend t'