are gone His foes are fill'd with feare amaze and wonder Like Latmos rent with heav'ns high ratling thunder Seraphick Spirits bow before his face Mortality to glory now gives place And all the Children of his wedding Chamber Whose lips are Corrall and whose locks are Amber Whose eyes Carbuncles are in dark of night Gladly doe now attend this mornings light And from the grave they role away that stone Which Caiaphas had fet his seale upon 'T were strange to see that was could make that sure That heav'ns had destin'd to distemp'tature But now the Scriptures are fulfill'd which say He gives his Angels charge 〈◊〉 thy way To keep thee lest thy foot should either slip Or'gainst a stone at any time should trip Yet was it neither Angels might nor power That did return life to my Saviour But that same Godhead which in him did dwell Restor'd his life and did his death expell For though his soule was from his body cut His Godhead from his Man hood was not shut For that great tye of Hypostatick union Shall never be dissolv'd or lose communion No no Mans nature which he did assume And unite to the Word i' th' Virgins wombe Shall in no after time or taste Confusion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or by a stronger hand ' plain of Division Or by a change smell any Alteration Or by or death or life have Separation But shall for ay that union retaine Where three are one and one is three againe No sooner doth my Soules brave Sampson draw Gaza's gate-barrs asunder then his aw Maketh earths wieghty globe to reatch and reele About him like Ixyons giddy wheele The dead arise and to the Citty goe As witnesse of his great triumphing show The Lyons to their dens return apace Because great Judah's Lyon shakes his tresse And all the beasts of neighb'ring Forrests feare Whilst they this matchlesse Lyon's roaring heare The chirping birds whose sweet melodious notes Bring sweeter crotchets from their carr'ling throats Then all Apollo's nymphs can straine or sing Unto his Harps delicious fingering Betake themselves unto their wings to flie Rather then in an Earthquakes arms to die The nibling Lambs which graze on Vesta's kirtle And sips her hony suckles and her mirtle Leaving their breakfast bleat and cry and call Each one to gaze anothers festivall Great Neptune and his Thetye now sing dumbe Because the Soveraign of the Seas is come To put a hooke in their nostrills and draw Leucotheo from Achelous maw But above all the long-liv'd Phenix seems As freshly wak'd from her reviving flames To greet him with the rarest welcome that E're Lark or Finch or Linot modulat And at his foot her starry Spangled Crown As to the righteous owner she throws down For she reviv'd hath thousand years in store But he requickneth lives for evermore In end comes Titan dayes bright shining eye Who lately slept in darknesse Cannopy And from his Orient or Eoan wave Where Neptune doth his steps in pearle engrave Seeing a clearer Sun i' th' West arise To all his Naids and his Napaeis cries Look here and see the rare yea rarest wonder That ever Earth held up or Heav'ns kept under Two Suns arise at once and in one day Two Titans to the world their lights display The one wherof although he rise must fall The other knowes no Occident at all Thus is my Saviour up and mangre hell And all the pow'rs of darknesse there doe dwell A new light life and liberty is given To all that hunger for the light of Heaven 'T is true no article o' th' Christian faith More faithlesse or reluctant en'mies hath Then hath the Doctrine of the Resurrection Whil'st it stands canvass'd by humane direction Yea nature ne'er requir'd a better sport Then tosse this Ball within her Tennis-court For faith it selfe can hardly sound this deep How a scatter'd non ens to an ens can creep Although that Nature and the Scriptures both Have writ the hieroglyphicks of this truth The Phoenix spicie nest her Mistris burneth Yet she from out her fatall Urne returneth When length of time sun-staring Eagles spills They doe revive by casting off their bills Hearbs trees and plants which in the winter wither I' th' spring receive both sap and life together The Corn we sow doth first corrupt and die Yet from that death their grains doe multiply And if 't be true Medaea for the sake Of Jason made old Aesons youth t' awake But Scripture tells us that the first man hath By sinne subdu'd all mankinde unto death And that the second man doth yeeld more grace Requickning that which dy'd by our trespasse And unto Abram's seed the Lord hath said I am the livings God and not the dead Adde unto this that he who first did make All things of nothing can from something take With lesser pain this little world of Man Then when at first he from the dust it span Nor is it just that any coupled paire Who work together should not have like share Of glory after death who in their life ' Gainst Sin and Sathan kept a conjunct strife Why art thou then so sad my Soule and why Art thou cast down with such anxiety Dost not thou know that Christ is made thy head And thou by faith his living member made He is thy husband thou his wedded wife Whil'st he doth live how canst thou doubt of life He is the root and thou his ingraft-branch When thou art judg'd he sitteth on the bench He is our Main which by our faith 's hid pores Refreshing waters to our springs restores And till his never ebbing streams goe dry We need not fear to lack a new supply Naked from out our mothers wombe we come And thither naked must we once goe home Yet we believe earth shall not still enfold Us in her arms that were too base a hold For any in whose soule the sp'rit of grace Hath made his mansion or a dwelling place No sure suppose these putrid tents of clay Wherein we sojourn for a night or day Must be dissolved better buildings we In heav'n shall have For Immortalitie Shall this our Mortall swallow and devoure Our weaknes then shall be exchang'd to power Corruption shall to incorruption turne And shame shak'd off we shall no longer mourn For what by Nature we doe here inherit Shall there renew'd be by th'Eternals Sp'rit Though then the grave unto weak natures taste Relish no better then the hemlocks feast Yet from her arms we reap a richer store Then ever nature did possesse before For there the poore have peace from their oppression There earths horsleeches shrink from their possession There rich and poore the high the low and all To earthly tempest ly no more made thrall But waiting for the return of their Judge In secret for a while lye still and lodge Since then I know that my Redeemer liveth And that he shall perform what faith believeth In all the periods of my lifes poore
Immanuel OR THE MISTERY Of GOD Manifested in the FLESH Sung in the severall CANTOES Of URANIA ASTRAEA MELPOMENE By WILL. WISHARTT B. D. Scoto-Britan and Preacher in both Kingdoms LONDON Printed by R. Hodgkinsonne for Philip Nevill dwelling in Ivie Lane 1642. TO THE HIGH AND MIGHTY MONARCH Charles Of Great Britain France and Ireland c. ANAGRAMMATA REGIA Carolus Steuartus Solus sacra tuetur Charles Steuart Th' Altars Rescue Charles Steuart L'-tres haut Cesar TO thee great Britains France Irelands King To thee great Faith 's defending Soveraign To thee great Patron of Parnassus spring To thee great Neptune of our Northern Main To thee great Owner of th' Hesperian Plain To thee great Patron both of Armes and Arts To thee great Mover of great Albion's wain To thee great Monarch both of hands and hearts To thee great Sun who to our soyle imparts Light vegetation life and influence To thee great Pan who break'st Bellona's darts To thee great Mirrour of Magnificence My pure Urania sacres those poor drops She suck'd from Pindus and Parnassus tops 'T is true to thee she can no good impart Yet shall she sing Thy servant's WILL. WISHARTT To the Reader WHat wise Jedidjah did not understand What Jakehs Son could never yet conceive Apelles pencill in Apollo's hand On those succeeding tables shall engrave What way a young man with a maid can have What way a Serpent strayeth on a stone What way a Ship doth slope the Oceans wave What way an Eagle scales the welkins Zone How glory commeth from confusion How meat com'th from the eater sweet from soure How life doth spring from deaths pavilion And how a Lambe doth curb the Lions powre Stand all indented on that cursed Tree Where ink and blood have writ J. N. R. J. The Contents of the severall Chapters or Cantoes contained in the 3 ensuing Weeks-Works or Books expressed under the Titles of URANIA ASTRAEA MELPOMENE viz. In URANIA or the first Week Cant. 1o. The Rogation or the Authors Prayer fol. 1 Cant. 2o. The Prodrome or Fore-runner fol. 5 Cant. 3o. The Annunciation or Salutation fol. 17 Cant. 4o. Immanuel or the Birth of Christ fol. 27 Cant. 5o. The Advent or Circumcision fol. 39 Cant. 6o. The Epiphany or the Sages fol. 51 Cant. 7o. The Massacre or murther of the children fol. 59 In ASTRAEA or the second Week Cant. 1o. The Vnction or Baptisme fol. 69 Cant. 2o. The Duell or Temptation fol. 79 Cant. 3o. The Doctor or the Law interpreted fol. 91 Cant. 4o. The Powers or Miracles fol. 102 Cant. 5o. The Proselytes or Converts fol. 117 Cant. 6o. The Metamorphose or Transfiguration fol. 126 Cant. 7o. The Hosanna or riding to the Temple fol. 136 In MELPOMENE or the third Week Cant. 1o. The Conspiracy or betraying of Christ fol. 147 Cant. 2o. The Agonie in Gethsemen fol. 158 Cant. 3o. The Surprize or Apprehension fol. 168 Cant. 4o. The Assize or Tryall fol. 178 Cant. 5o. The Crosse or Death fol. 189 Cant. 6o. The Triumph or Resurrection fol. 200 Cant. 7o. The Trophec or Ascension fol. 211 URANIA Here doth a worm-ling to his wondrous maker His Soules best service and affections sacre A Lyon to a Lamb prepares the Way The Angel Gabriel greets great Bethleem's May The chast Parthenia bringeth forth her Son Immanuel's seal'd by Circumcision A blazing Star makes Sages seek their King In Ramah Rachel weeps and scornes to sing The Rogation CANTO 1o. THE very Heav'ns are in thy sight impure O thou dread Soveraign of all Creature Thy Wisdom's such and eke thy pow'r so large That thou layst folly to the Angells charge O then how idly foolish and how vain A thing is man ev'n in his choycest strain Whose habitation is in dust and clay Where Vanity beares such imperiall sway As makâ— his strength but weaknes wisdom folly Thoughts fond and actions ev'ry way unholy How canst thou then thou sacred strong of strongs To whom untainted Majesty belongs Once sip the runnals of that source whence gall Springs up from Worm-woods poysond Minerall Or heare the cryes which wretched hee poures out Whose best apparell is a men struous clout No sure I am it cannot bee but thou Who in thy self art still unchang'd and true Must on some rarer object fix thine eyes E'r thou dispense with our impieties Yea sure I am it is that Lamb alone Who joynd with thee in triple-union Whose intercession and sweet warbling ayrs Makes thee attend the tenour of our Prayers Look therfore great GOD on that Lamb whose cry Speaks better things then Abel's butchery Look on that blood which spred on Israel's doores Saves from that Plague which Pharaoh's sons devoures Look on that thred which being tied about Zarah's right hand inspr'd him to come out Holding his brothers heel in 's grapling fist To testify hee strugled to bee blest And finally look on that scarlet Lace Which ti'd to Rachab's window gave her Peace Amidst that foyl and death-denouncing wound Which Jericho's vain-glory did confound Look on all those and through all those on me In him whom those did all presignifie And by thy Spirit enrich this spirit of mine With learned Judgement and with Art divine That whilst I undertake this task to tell The World how her dread Lord Immanuel Thy eternal Word yea thy eternal Son Was made in Time our very flesh and bone I may dilate that story in such guise As may enforce the learnd the sage the wise To leade the Squadrons of their carnall-sense All captivate to thy obedience And to this end rowse thou my minde on high Teach thou my hands to touch and eys to see The secrets of thy sweet-coelestiall-Court Which may my Soule above the Pole transport In such a sort that whilst the Poetasters Of brain-sick passions and of fond disasters Doe ravish worldly minds and muddy brains With forged sighs false teares and feined strains Of wanton Love lascivious shews and songs Vain Madrigals dissembling woes and wrongs My Muse quit-claming the Castalian Font Where the Pyerian maids of old were wont To sip their Nectar And those swelling tops Of Pindus and Parnassus whose sweet drops Ravish'd great Homer by their sacred kisses To sing Achilles and the wise Vlysses Made Maro from his Mantua to descry The sighs of Dido and the sack of Troy And taught Love's pander in a ravish'd trance To vent his fabulous Metamorphos'd dance I may with sacred measures notes and numbers Which on sublunar-themes nor sleeps nor slumbers The grave sweet honors and th' eternall praises Of my Redeemer rouse from errors mazes So whilst that some their pens and pains inure To limb the Gnydian Idols pourtrature And in the vains of their lascivious rime Make Cupid prince and Genius of the time Whilst others subjects are but fictions dreams Imaginations and conceited theames Cloath'd up in such a charming phrase that vice Robs virtue of her chaire shee looks so nice My care may bee t' unfold that boundles Ocean
Behold a trembling voice of feare Jer. 30.5 And not of peace shall so assault the eare And inward parts of Israel that loe The bravest worthy in her streets doth goe Shall lay his hands upon his loyn's as shee VVho labors in her byrths perplexitie Jer. 31.15 But chiefly in poore Ramah shal they heare The voice of bitter weeping and such dire Laments that Rachel scornes to be comforted Because her children are with death transported Is' t possible ô Sun that thou shouldst see Or yet behold such inhumanity Is' t possible ô Earth thou canst sustein The burthen of such soul-less wicked men Or is it possible that a humane tongue Can be the trumpet of such monstrous wrong VVhilst harmless Infants on their mothers knees Joyn mouth to mouth and wanton eys to eys The smiling childe cries to his Nurse mam mam And she replies thy min and mam I am They greet each other with a thousand toyes And still enjoy their still renued joyes And in a speechless compact promise never Their love-bred obligations to dissever VVhen loe like Tygers or whelp-robbed Beares VVhich in the fenns of Caucasus appeares The cruell actors of this tragick-Scean Doe write the epacts of Death's last amen With bloody letters of Erynnis note Upon the Dames and Nurses petticoat The childe not knowing what 's the traytor 's mind First laughs upon him like a Lamb enclind To doubt no evill since no ill he knowes But being struck his winding armes he throwes About his mothers neck she for to save him Doth in her bosome hugge at once and grave him Another whil'st he sleeps i' th' swadling bands Is fiercely pluck'd out by the Butchers hands And as a Fawn or Kid he 's cut asunder And made unto the world a wofull wonder A third pluck'd from his mothers twisting armes For all her vowes her oaths her cryes or charmes Is stab'd and then disjoynted like that meat That Cookes and Bakers doe prepare to eat Thus like the subtle spiders that doe teare The flies they catch within their tifney snare So doe these damned Rascals dance a ring Of cruell murther to their monstrous King Woe woe now doth the childlesse mother cry Why have the heav'ns reserv'd my tear-drown'd eye To be the sad spectator of this wrong Or why doe I possesse my life so long That I to those who first did ope my womb Should in my armes behold a fun'rall tomb Awake awake my deer and lovely Boy My hope my hap my love my life my ioy What dost not thou now heare me call upon thee And know'st thou not that I 'm enamor'd on thee What shall I have for all my watchfull care Thy births hard labour and my burthens share Thy restlesse rocking wiping washing wringing And cure of all thy wayward cryes with singing But dead dumb silence wilt thou ne'r awake And fain a smile for any poore comforts sake Alas thou canst not now thy lips are pale Thy eyes are blind and stamp d with deaths black seale Now art thou cold and weighty as a stone And deaf unto thy wofull mothers groane Like those who dwelling neer to Nilus fall Hear not his horrid Catadupes at all Thrice cursed be the heart that first did breed The wofull sanction of thy homicide And thrice thrice cursed be the bloody hand Did execute the cruell curs'd command Of that vile monster whose unsatiate wrath Hath drunk my Darling's blood and stop'd his breath But ô how happy happy thrice art thou Poor tender babe who by this torture now Hast entred in thy Masters rest and made His arme the pillow that upholds thy head And wofull monster Herod though of late For preservation of thy Crown and State Thou hast triumph'd on Bachels children so That thou dost laugh in scorn at their o'rethrow Think'st thou that he who first did form the eye Cannot the Center of thy mischiefe see And he whose finger first did plant the eare Cannot thy cursed soules hid whisprings heare Be not deceiv'd he who from heav'n descries And fans the secrets which our hearts devise Shall in short time repay thy murth'ring stroak With quenchlesse fire and Conscience tort'ring yoak Did not of old the Memphian Tyrant load The sonnes of Jacob with a grievous rod And yet when he esteem'd his fury crown'd Jacob's redeem'd and Cairo's Monarch's drown'd And did not proud Adoni-bezek by The stroak of an impetuous tyranny Make seventy Kings whose thumbs and toes were cut Like dogs to snatch their crums before his foot And yet i'th'end he reap'd for his offence The selfe-same straine of tort'ring recompence And did not base Abim'lech in desire To sit at Stern of Israel's Empire Powre out like water on a fatall stone The blood of seventy Brothers all save one And yet a flash of Sechems bramble so Reverberat his pride with just o'rethrow That nothing could it's rapid flame restrain Till Thebes drank Abim'lech's blood again Thus have we heard thus doe we wish and pray But knowing that Jehovah's just alway We stay our imprecations and beleeve That he in time will our trespasse forgive And render thee thy just deserved doome Both in this world and in the world to come Here ends URANIA Or The first week Gloria Patri ASTRAEA On Jordans sweet enamel'd verge a Dove Anoynts our Saviour Prince of peace love Hee in the Desert's Hungry Tempted Fed. Sinay's deep-Riddle is interpreted Heav'n earth seas ayre hell confesse their God Nature's subdu'd b' a supernat'rall rod. Tabor's illuminat with an unwonted glory And Salem's streets exalt Hosannah's story The Unction CANTO 1o. AS when a thick and foggy cloud of raine Locks up her sluces in their sourse againe Industrious Bees doe haste from out their hives To seek that Nectar which preserves their lives And suck from tops of many a fragrant flowre A sugered syrrop quintessenc'd from sowre So after all those teares and wofull toyle Those murth'ring blows and that curs'd damp foyle Which Herod's vultur-like ambition hath Powr'd out on Rachels children in his wrath Now now 't is more then time my sacred Muse That with a living touch thou should'st peruse Those paths wherein the miracle of time Hath left us traces of our glories prime Up then awake and tell me who is this That in Judaea's desert wildernesse Doth like a yawning Lion roare and cry Make straight Messiah's path prepare his way What hath the Thisbite re-appear'd again Whose heav'nly message ne're return'd in vain Whose voyces dire event thrust down to hell The sin sold Ahab and his Jesabel And made all Baals Priests asham'd to see The dotage of their fond Idolatrie It seemes 't is he for loe his richest share Is but a Coat compos'd of Camels haire His girdle is of leather his chief meat Are Locusts and wilde honnie's delicate And for all this his poverty he still Doth all the neighboring dales and valleyes fill With this sad accent Turn repent amend For loe Gods heavenly Kingdome is
But hee that to the Gospels folly shall Subdue his heart and its affections all 1 Cor. 1.21 And finally as for the Jews I have To Circumcision made my self a slave So now by Baptism for the Gentiles I Must undergoe this Jordan's watry dy That Jew and Gentile bond and free and all VVho for Salvation hunger thirst and call By mee may have a reconciling Peace And in mee access to the throne of Grace No deeper blush hath golden Phoebus when He hides his head in Peru's Ocean Then deth o're-shade the Baptiist's face while as His weakness is display'd in wisdom's glass Submitting then himself his thoughts and all To the injunctions of his Generall They both goe straight to Jordan that therein Christ may bee seal'd a surety for our sin No sooner hath this milde sweet-coupled pair Trod on the frisled locks of Jordan's hair When loe the Sun forsaking th'opal morn Doth his meridian-poynt with pompe adorne And like a Prince set in his royall throne He calls his neighb'ring tapers one by one Who by their intermixed torches seven VVith matchless-splendor cleer the cope of heav'n Those steep proud hills whose lofty swelling tops Drink for their mornings-draught Aurora's drops Such as the Law-grac'd Sinay Carmell old VVhere Seraphims God's Prophet did enfold Horab and Nebo whose soft arms doe keep Moses and Aaron in their dusty sleep Jegar-sha-duthae and mount Pisgah whence Moses view'd Jacob's fair inheritance The balm-rich Gilead and mount Moriah where The faith of Abram made him mercies heire Link'd all together clasp'd their hands to hand And on their stately tip-toes trip and stand To see him baptiz'd whose fierce indignation Subverts the Sinewy props of their foundation Jordan himself like Nereus eldest son VVrap'd in a roab of pearle and Nacre's stone No sooner sees his sweet approach when loe Hee curbs his streames from their accustom'd flowe Who whilst they turn their back upon the deep To see their maker seem'd for joy to weep Straight way there com'th that dainty swelling stream That fatt'h and lean'th proud Misraims Diadem The faire Euphrates and Hydaspes who Through Media's channell joynes with gentle Po Chesel Araxis Volga and that rill That waits on new-born Titan's hests and will Rhine Ister Danube Tanais Tagus Iber Meander Xanthus Tygris Po and Tiber Peneus Orontes and each Runnall else Which either softly slides or proudly swells Doe all to Jrodans flowry bank repaire And of their intertexed locks and haire Compose a sumptuous Arrasse richly sweet To wipe the water off their Masters feet In this enpamper'd crew great Jordan stands Bending his knees and heaving up his hands And to his Maker in a pearle-like teare Breaths this Congratulation in his eare Eternall Issue of th' Eternall Sire Deep wisdome of that God whom th'heav'ns admire Almighty Lord all-seeing God all 's Maker Here at thy foot-stoole we doe humbly sacre Our selves our service and our dearest love As vassals to obey thy dread behove VVhil'st Nature thus and all her tender broods Hills valleyes deserts silver brooks and floods Intranc'd with joy conspire to solemnize This masque before their glorious Makers eyes Behold our Shiloe glad to undergoe That state wherein he should our sinnes o'rethrow Steps down to Jordans silver streames and there By John's enstall'd Copartner of our Care And now no sooner doth he step from out The liquid Current and the chrystall Spout Of Jordan when to all the peoples eye Heav'ns act their part in this Festivitie And by their rich applause confirm and seale The Covenant of Mercies Common-weale For loe heav'ns azur'd Arch is slop'd in twain And from Jehovah's throne comes down amain A silver-feather'd Dove who rests upon him And hugs his head as being enamour'd on him With all from heav'ns high Senate comes a voyce Inviting all the world thus to rejoyce Rejoyce O heav'ns be glad O earth and all That in the world doe creep or breath or crawl For here 's my welbeloved Sonne in whom My wrath 's appeas'd ' gainst sinners Come O come Today if you will save your soules draw neer him And whil'st he opes his mouth in wisdome heare him Now now I see that harmlesse Dove un-stay'n Who being sent out returned home again Holding within her bill an olive branch To shew that Neptune then his wrath did quench Was but a Type sent to presignifie The rest the peace the joy we have in thee O how thou' rt faire exceeding faire my Dove Thy eyes have made my Soule ev'n sick with love Thy neck is Ivory Raven-black thy locks Thy dwelling's in the top of Shenirs rocks Faire Sharons Rose Engeddyes sweet Camphire The dew of Hermon Gileads dainty Mirrhe The Balm the Alloes and the Spice also Which Abanah and Parphars valleyes show Yeeld not so sweet a smell as doe thy lips Whil'st thou on Bethers tops mak'st known thy trips Stay then my Darling goe not hence away The shady night can no more wrong the day Whil'st with a sable furre she lops his eye To snort in midnights velvet Cannopy Then thou shalt wound me to the death if ever Thou shalt thy Rayes from my pale Moon dissever Stay then my deare and by that Spirit of thine Repaire renew reform this soule of mine That like the harmlesse Dove who without gall Still loves and knowes not how to hate at all My Soule may by the radiance of thy love Still wed her selfe to thee who from above Hast brought the sacred Olive of our Peace T' establish mercy where fierce wrath had place The Duell CANTO 2o. OFt have mine eares been filld and eyes been fed With Raptures of that highly honored Alâ—mena's sonne whose high and conqu'ring hand By victories obtain'd by Sea and Land Hath made the trophies of his praise appear In all the stamps of Titan's bandilier Oft have I wondred at the martiall acts Heroick exploits and same-famishing facts Of Hector and Achilles and that crew Of Greekes and Trojans whose memorials grew To such a height that Homer's golden pen Could never fully point them forth but when He shut his eyes lest by their active glory He should betray the tenor of their story Oft have I stumbled to behold the great Distemper o' th' puissant Roman state By Shylla and by Marius set on fire For satisfaction of their fond desire Yet never quench'd or yet blown out again For all the armes or arts of France and Spain Till Pompey and great Caesar by the streames Of Rubicone drench'd these Aetnaean flames But wherefore doe I gaze this heathen stage Did not th' Almighty in that selfe same age Raise up a Theater of brave Heroes farre More eminent in Peace more bold in warre Then any heathen who did e're make bold Or Mars his helm or Mercur's pipe to hold Great Joshuah how didst thou stay the Sun In Gibeah and in Ajalon the Moon Till Jacobs wormlings to the ground down brings The pride of five combin'd Canaans Kings Shamgar how did thy oxen-taming goad
in so fearfull fashion That they no sooner feel their grievous yoak But to the Sea they run and there they choak O glorious thou who to the world didst come T' unlose those snares which Sathan thrusts on some And leav'st some others to those sp'rituall bands Which in eternall darknesse prison stands Restrain our enemies rage controll his power Lest his assaults doe our poore soules devoure Ne'er did a swarm of hony sucking Bees Pursue a Waspe from out their Colonies With greater spight or more enraged spleen Then doth that blockish beastly Gadaren Republick thrust my Saviour from their coast Because of these few swine which they had lost O the blind change and choise o' th' sonnes of men Who ere they lose this worlds poore pelf will len ' Their Soules a pray to Sathan and betray A lasting glory for a moments pay With speed therefore my Saviour homeward goeth Because they loth'd his power and his truth And there behold a croud of sick folks lie A waiting him to cure their Maladie For some ev'n from their mothers wombe lay lame Some Leprous some Lethargique and some maim Some with an Apoplexy were o'retaken Some with a paralitioue blow were shaken Some with a Dissenterie doe decay Some with a Calcule on their reines doe cry Here one had eyes but now he 's dark and blind Here one was wise but now 's distract in mind A menstruall flux doth here distain a woman A burning Ague to another's common All those he healeth and so doing hath Gain'd many a Pros'lyte to the Christian faith But above all I stand amaz'd to spy How at Bethesdaes poole huge heaps doe lye Of poor weak sick diseased persons who Attend her motions and her watry flow For here an Angell at some speciall season Beyond all reach of humane sense and reason By moving of the waters gave release To all that were diseas'd in any case Providing alwaies that they stepping down Should drench themselves in her first motion An hieroglyphick of our Baptims washing Whose watry streames can never cleanse our tashing Unlesse th'Arch-angell of the Covenant Joyne his dread power to the Element A man oppress'd full eight and thirty yeere With strange diseases is at last brought here On whom Christ Jesus having fix'd his eyes Doth not enquire what were his maladies Where those his griefs did hold him or how long He had been bound with that infirm'ties thong But only asks him if he would be cured Of that saith he great Master be assured I hunger for my health but can not stirre To taste this waters first distemperature I cannot helpe my self and none I have To help me when their helping hand I crave Another alwayes stepping down before me Is cur'd and I as if all did abhorre me Must this my griefe and languishing sustain Till he who wounds me binde me up again Rise rise then saith my Saviour rise and walk I pitty thy distresse I heare thy talk The poore man riseth as Christ doth appoint And is restor'd to health in every joynt Behold saith Christ poore man now thou art whole And from thy crown unto thy very sole There is no bruise goe goe and sinne no more Lest worse befall thee then thou felt'st before Glad should I be if my poore Muse had breath To follow my Redeemer in that path Of strange stupendious miracles whereby In flesh he did expresse his Deity But wearied now she needs must rest a while And draw away her Pencill from that toile Which he from place to place did undertake To ease our sorrows for his mercies sake Only this one poore thing she must relate How he did Lâ—â—arus re-animate That in his Resurrection we may see Our Resurrections rich felicity As Chyrstall brooks have still the broader course The neerer they approach great Neptunes sourse So now the neerer that my Saviours dayes Draw to an end the more he still displayes His heav'nly wisedome and mirac'lous power When opportun'ty did the same procure Sicknes to man is prodrom of his death From which no nat'rall man exemption hath Even Lazarus whom Jesus lov'd is now Sick to the death and to the grave must bow Whil'st he is sick his sister Mary sendeth A messenger to Christ who first attendeth Him in his doctrine and thereafter saith Sir he whom thou dost love now almost pay'th His debt to Nature by his death for loe A burning Ague worketh his o'rethrow I know thou lov'st him and he loveth chee Let then thy love to him extended be For thou art love it selfe and from thy love It is that we doe live or breath or move I know saith Christ he 's sick but not to death Although this fit of Fever out his breath Yet shall the glory of the Lord appeare In his return to this lifes hemispheare And that the Sonne of God may glory have Let him be sick yea fick unto the grave A little after to his friends he saith Let us goe hence my staying here delay'th The work of God for Lâ—zarus our friend Lies fast asleep and I doe fully mind T' awake him up again for none but I Can rouze him from the graves deep Lethargy If he doe sleep say his Disciples then He shall be well for sleep doth soften pain But here they doe mistake they meant that sleep Which on our weâ—ried eyes doth softly creep But Christ did mean that sleep which in the grave Shall on each mortall man dominion have No no saith Christ to speak the truth indeed Our brother's dead and death doth on him feed And I am glad for your sakes that I was Not there when death o'return'd his short hour-glasse Alas my Saviour how canst thou be glad To see man under his afflictions sad Dost thou delight in our distresses no Thou tak'st no pleasure in our griefes or woe But as a loving father who doth see His only sonne in that perplexity Where wounds and blowes on th' one side threaten death And Triumph on the other promiseth Eternall honour hath more joy to know The fame which from out those his wounds shall flow Than he is sad to see his crimson blood Expatiat like a Dalmatian flood So from our light afflictions whil'st thou spies The trophies of thy glory to arise Thou dost much more rejoyce than thou canst grieve To see us wrestle and in end survive To Bethany he hasteth then for there Mary and Martha had their chiefe repaire And being come Mary with speed doth run To greet th'approach of this Imperiall Sun She sees him and down at his feet doth fall Master saith she hadst thou been here at all My brother had not dy'd Mary saith he Thy brother shall rise up again trust me I know saith she that at the gen'rall doome He shall arise and unto Judgment come Mary saith he hold but thy peace and thou Shalt see Gods glory manifested now Where have you laid him come come let me see They point the place He with a
thoughts espy With a loud voyce he boldly thus doth say Alas I now perceive it for a truth This people doe draw neer me with their mouth Whil'st as their hearts are farre from me for loe Not for my Doctrine sake they doe me know But for the barlie loaves they did partake When I did feed them for my mercy sake But travell not I pray you for that meat Which is as quickly gone as it is eate But labour for that bread which lasts for ever Which I the sonne of man to you deliver Your Fathers in the deserts did eate Manna And prais'd the giver with a loud Hosanna Yet did they perish dye and eke consume In their stifnecked murmuring A mertume But he who eats the bread that I shall give him Shall never perish for it shall revive him I am the bread of life which came from heaven My father unto you this bread hath given That by his bread of life which is supernall He may your soules maintain to life Eternall As many then as come to me shall neither Have thirst nor hunger for my glorious Father Sent me from heav'n not my own will to doe But mans hard heart unto his yoak to bow That so man may eschew his burning wrath And scape the sorrows of the second death No man hath seen the Father but the Sonne Who in the Fathers bosome dwels alone He doth reveale him unto whom he pleaseth Whose crosse he lightneth and whose soule he easeth No man ascendeth unto heav'n but he Who came from heav'n and doth in Majestie Though base on earth yet when he thinketh sit Doth on his Fathers right hands glory sit And at his second comming saves his sheep From sinking in that never fathom'd deep Whereas the sulpher of th'Eternalls breath Layes hold upon the vessels of his wrath And makes the faithfull and the righteous all Be fill'd with glories endlesse festivall The Metamorphose CANTO 6o. FOre-chosen Jacob Isaac's second Swaine Jah-struggling champion and victorious man Thou royall she apheard and tresprudent Siere Whom Palestina's Princes did admire Vouchsafe me but t' approach thy dying throne And charge thee with this Gordian knot alone And like Apollo thou thy front shalt see Deckt with a garland from the Lawrell tree Whence come th' Enthusiasm and that sacred sury Which made thee all thy carnall senses bury In Lethe's lap and with religious rage Divide Chams tents to Israels heritage VVhence hadst thou wisdome and sweet inspiration To precognose and with true divination Foretell that Juda's tribe should beare the sway Till Shilo should ecclipse his Majesty How madest thou Joseph like a fruitfull Vine That doth her arms about her Bridegroom twine Drunk with the grapes of Ephraims royall cup Which weak Manasseh's hands could not beare up But above all I stand amaz'd to see Lewd Levi's scatt'rings dare t' approach so nigh To Joves Ariell offring there upon For sinne and sinners expiation Is Dinah dead or Sechem's blood gone dry That thou dost thus forget his villany And without smarting for his foule offence Exalt him to the high-Priests eminence 'T is strange that divine Justice should permit Him who i th' chaire of sinners so hath sit Without corrections rod possesse the throne And sing the carrols of exemption O now I see thy tongue was not thy own A higher power hath it rul'd and thrown Even He great He whose wayes we cannot spy Because his will 's the square he worketh by Who where he will have mercy there he pardons And where he will with draw his grace he hardens From his good pleasure then and no where else It is that Levi's tribe the rest excels And on his Ephod whiter then the snow Hath tyed his breast plate where in sumptuous show Stands Vrim and great Thummims true direction For light of knowledge and for lifes perfection So then from loyns of that unhallowed stem Which Jacob thrust from Israels diadem The Lord hath chosen a successive race Of royall Priesthood who before his face Shall in that course which David did prescribe Burn incense and their sacrifice contrive With never alter'd though alternat order Till Melchizedeck come and crush their border All those like Comets when they first appeare In our sublunar regions hemispheare Did draw mens wandring eyes and wondring hearts To scan their sequels whether smiles or smarts But all in vaine nature can ne'er unty The clasped books of heav'ns great mystery For till the Word was Flesh great Judah's throne Ne'er knew her perfect exaltation And Aarons rod did ne'er her top bow down With reverence to Melchizedecks Crown But when thou cam'st those figures types and tropes Had reall Essence for unreall hopes For where the Sun doth shine in lights aray All clouds evanish night gives place to day Since then thou art true light and since with thee Darknesse dare plead for no societie O let me but be bold this once to follow Thee to thy Tabor that my sp'rit being shallow May by the lustre of thy glories shine Taste of that light that never shall decline But aye me whil'st I see the hill so steep The gulfe of my poore misery so deep The flesh so fraile the sp'rit so soone o'retak'n The flax so quench'd the bruised reed so shak'n The load of sinne so great my faith so faint So strickt the forfeit of the Covenant I cannot choose but feare lest by the way My hasting doe defraud me of my pray Unlesse thou help who help'd the faithfull thiefe For I believe Lord help my unbeliefe Come then dread Saviour let me search the time Wherein thou didst to Tabors fastege clime Thy Scriv'ners differ many therefore doubt Thy journies Epoche how they shall finde out One sayes that it was fully six daies after That thou didst make their soules o'reflow with laughter By promising that some who stood thee by Should not see death nor taste mortality Till they being witnesse of thy raptures story Should see the Sonne of man come in his glory Another saith the dayes were almost eight After that promise that thou scal'dst this height Thus doe some weake mindes stumble whilst they spy Amidst thy truth so great variety But foolish we in vanity still wallow We straine a Gnat yet doe a Camel swallow We grope at noone day and make known our blot Whil'st in a rush we seek a Gordian knot For where the eight day's neere and six are spent By true arithmetick the seventh is meant Upon this day when heav'ns and earth were made And all their frame and fabrick finished Th' Eternall seeing all his creatures good Proclam'd the seventh dayes rest and so it stood Upon this day from Mysraims darkned Cell God did redeem his first born Israel Upon this day from Baalz phons shoare To Migdoll he his people dry-foot bore Upon this day from Syna's thundering jaw He gave the Sanctions of his sacred Law Upon this day in Cana's wedding shrine He turned fountaine water unto wine And
sight and at this roaring call The three Disciples to the earth down fall And like a man who with the Palsie's taken Their sp'rits are troubled and their senses shaken But he who 's rich in mercy drawing neer First touches them and so disbands their fear Then bids them rise they by 's word made strong Doe hope their former comforts to prolong But ah in vaine Jesus stands there alone His Glory Moses and Eliah's gone O what a cloud of witnesse standing here Our humane frailty to the world mak'th clear Those Saints of late did sleep then were o're joy'd Then with a quiv'ring feare were overcloy'd Now recomforted but God know'th how long 'T is strange to see what a tumultuous throng Of changes and vicissitudes lay'th hold On him who lives and moves upon the mold For nothing's stable here beneath the sun Perfection's cloyed with imperfection Strength is contempered with humane weaknes Wisdome with follie health with smarting sicknes But when we shall arise to our better rest And in our Masters glory shall be plac'd Then shall our imperfections flye away And true perfection shall recleare our day For then the glory of our God shall hide The spots and wrinkles of his virgin-bride And what in her is now with weaknes mix'd Shall then in never fading strength be fix'd For being chang'd unto his image we Shall sigh no more because of miserie But being exalted to our all in all Our joyes shall flourish still and never fall The Hosanna CANTO 7o. NE'er did my Saviour keep such pompe and state Ne'er was his traine so populous and great Ne'er did he take such Majesty upon him Ne'er was so many eyes at once fix'd on him As now while as the day draw'th neer wherein His night of death should our lifes day begin Till now he path'd his journeys all on foot And measur'd Judahs cirruits all about Without or noise or traine or Prince-like stage To attend him in a royall equipage But now being ready his pure blood to spend And bring our soules Redemption to an end He cloaths himselfe with Majesty indeed As best befitted royall Davids seed From Bethphage therefore he two servants sends To Syons suburbs and thus saith There stands An Asse and by her side her Colt unty de Goe bring them hither for I now must ride If any aske of you why doe you so Say I have need and they shall let you goe His two disciples goe and as he told So finde they all things therefore they make bold And bring the Asse unto him with all haste So forth he go'th to keep the Passeov'rs feast The asse and colt whereon he rides his store Of pomp and acclamations were before Prognosticat by Zachary and all According to the Scriptures verdict fall The Colt whereon he rides did ne'er till now Her tender back to any burthen bow Yet to his burthen now she stoopeth down As one accustom'd to subjection The best apparell which the people wore Are made his foot-cloths Some doe run before Some follow after bowes are pluck'd from trees Applauding clangor to the heav'n up-flies And noble Palm-tree sprigs are thrown i' th way That all succeeding times may blesse that day Hosannah to the Highest is their word And bless'd be he that commeth from the Lord And yet in all this masque and royall guise There 's nothing but a croud of mysteries For by the Asse the Jewes are understood And by the Colt the Gentiles for the food Of sp'rituall bread and water first must flow From Judah's fountaine and thereafter goe Unto the way of all the Gentiles that God may in both be truly celebrate The Jewes indeed like to this Asse ev'n now Their necks to Moses legall yoak did bow The Gentiles like the Colt have not as yet Submitted their proud necks t'obtemper it Chrysostom But having snuff'd the winde up at their pleasure Hieronim Now in their month are catch'd toth ' Gospels treasure The garments with the which th'Apostles loath'd Those beasts declare their doctrine which betroth'd Remigius Both Jew and Gentile to espouse that Lamb Who into th' world for their re-union came Hilarius The garments which the people throw i' th' way That after-love unto the Truth display Whereby th'Apostles and the Martyrs shall Seale with their blood Truths testimoniall The Palm-tree sprigs which from their stems are cut And cast into the way doe point us out The Fathers faith and constant hope who by The storms of worldly torments though they dye Yet cannot be cut from that root and stem From which they hope an eternall di'dem Hosanna to the Sonne of David shew'th That he is true man and what more he ow'th To heaven by 's heav'nly generation Is shut up in the highest acclamation O thou the fairest ' mongst the sonnes of men In majesty and triumph ride thou then Because that truth and righteousnes thou brings And thy right hand shall teach terrible things In this so rich a pomp and pompous store Unto Jerus'lem rides my Saviour Jerus'lem was of old the royall seat Of Kings Priests Prophets dul'inaugurat Kings there did raigne for there was Davids throne Priest there did offer their oblation A midst their streers and on their sacred Temple The Prophets fix'd their oracles so ample Hither doth now the great Messiah come King Priest and Prophet that to all and some He might make known the path of life and be King Priest and Prophet to eternity As King he rides along their streets and there The clangors of Hosanna pierce the aire As Priest unto the Temple straight he goes And thence the Rancour table he orethrowes And as a Prophet there he doth foretell The finall fall and foyl of Israel Oft hath he view'd Jerusalem ere now With small regard or aspect of her crew But now the City 's mov'd both more and lesse And earnestly doe cry who 's this who 's this As when the Sages at the first brought newes That there was born a Monarch to the Jewes Herod and all the town were in commotion To heare from strangers mouths so strange a notion So now while as they see him cast aside The rags of basenes and in pomp to ride In fear and in commotions path they range And what before seem'd nought doth now seem strange Such be our soules in their still changing state While as we sit secure and desolate bound in the fetters of iniquity We dream no change nor new oeconomy But when with our corruptions Grace doth ruffle And our impostors she to door doth shuffle Straight all the anvels of our trembling heart Doe from their rest retire and finde it smart What mean'th this strangenesse Suleme tell menow With bayes hath he not crown'd thy wrinkled brow Hath he not wedded thee for his ture Bride And left the widow-world to weep beside Hath he not given thee thy wedding token Hath he not earl ' and late in thy street spoken Hath he not
in miseries For God who alwaies doth thy sinnes abhorre Takes no delight to chastise ever more And alwayes chide with man yet one sound blow Of Justice shall repay what he doth ow To mens forgot prevarication So righteous is his rod and indignation That when mens Cup of sinne doth over-top He fills his Cup of wrath and man drinks't up Here ends ASTRAEA OR The second week Gloria Patri Filio MELPOMENE On this last Scean we read a Tragick story How Judas did betray the Lord of Glory How in Gethseman's garden Christ swet blood How he was taken bya multitude How he was judged and condemn'd to die How he was rack'd and nail'd t' a cursed tree How from the grave he riseth up again And scales the heav'ns Melpom'ne maketh plain The Conspiracy CANTO 1o. WHEN Haniball at Canna did ov'rcome Terentiuâ— Varro Generall of Rome When Caesar in Pharselia did defeit Great Pompey fautor of the Marian state No bigger wax'd their fame and praise abroad Nor did at home their mut'nous envies load For seldome doth faire Rachel gaine the day But squint-ey'd Leah steal'th the night away So whil'st Christ Jesos in Judaea doth Display his divine and his humane truth By stilling of the Oceans untam'd stage By curbing of the Hyperborean rage By raising of the dead from deaths cold hands By losing men and women from hells bands By purging of his Fathers glorious Temple Whose Reformation makes his fame more ample But straight as did his fame mount to a top Right so did envy strive to break it up The Pharisees the Scribes and Priests therefore Conveen a Councell wherein they deplore The sad succeeding ills which might ensue If they his speedy fame should not subdue Sathan hath once already sought t'assaile The crazie bulwarks and the batter'd wall Of humane nature wherein God doth show The great affection he to man doth ow Here once againe with a redoubled wrong He makes his front more fierce redoubts more strong And as a recrue bring'th with him a main Battalion of Church-men for his traine For what one cannot doe that many may And sad experience teacheth this alway They come together then unto one place Whom love did never joyn i' th' bond of peace For they the wayes of peace have never known They sought not what was Gods but what 's their own Who can but wonder at this Convocation And foule discording concords combination Though Cain did his brother Abel kill Although ' gainst Isaac rise an Ishmael Though Esau doe his brother Jacob hate Though Saul envy the happy Davids state Though Simeon and Levi Joseph knit And thrust him in a deep and hopelesse pit Though cruell Jesabel proud Achabs wife For Naboth's viney ard doe take Naboth's life It is not strange for since th' Eternall did The womans seed from Sathans seed divide There hath been is and ever shall remaine A horrid gulfe of hatred them between And till th' eternall Conqu'rour gain the field Their conflicts cannot e're be reconcil'd Whil'st then we see the worlds great Monarchs all Kingdomes Empires Republicks great and small Combine themseves against the Lords anoynted As though Earth's axle-tree were all disjoynted Yet let no man who 's born a sonne of thunder Be brought to gaze it with the eyes of wonder For though the counsels of Achitophel The threats of Saul and Achabs Josabel The fi'ry fornace and the Lyons den Doe rage and roare against the sonnes of men Yet shall the sonnes of God by his great might Shine as the Sunne in his Meridian light Their flesh may perish by the fire and sword But God preserves their soules alive by is word What shall we doe say they if this man live The world runs after him he will deprive Us of our honour and the Romane Nation Shall quickly drive us from this habitation We have nor eyes to see nor ears to heare Nor hearts to understand what danger 's neare Saith Caiaphas for 't is more fitting fane That one should perish then the jaws of was Should swallow upon Nation round about Disturbe our altars and our liver put out This spoke he not so much of his own wit As he who in the heav'n of heav'ns doth sit Did by this High Priests mouth his truth foretell And how he meant to save his Israel O God! how wond'rous strange and different be The different actors of this Tragedie For in this plot I doe perceive still four Opposed aspects on my Saviour Th' Almighty in it hath his right hand first Sathan his left hand next and that 's accurs'd The great Sauhedrim for the third room plead And Judas last for gain will lose his head God had decreed from all Eternitie To pay the ransome of our miserie In his sonnes blood yet sure they needs must fin Whose fingers had the deepest touch therein For whil'st they in a hid intent doe minde The sonne of God in darknes bonds to binde Th' Almighty doth their rapid rage ov's throw And tyes themselves unto Eternall woe For as the moystning hope of cloud bred raine Here drown'th a field there doth refresh the grain Or as the warming blinks of Furan's ray Makes this floure flourish that to shrink away So what the world and Sathan mindes to harme Gods providence doth so 〈◊〉 their charme That what they for our prejudice intend His wisdome turneth to a blessâ—â—â—â—â— O what a world of wonders doe concurre While as th' Almighties hand o'rerules the sturre Of humane actions for his unseen singers Doe curb the station of their strongest hingers Sometimes he suffers sinne and lends her being Then takes she Ic'rus wings and soars a fleeing Sometimes he stops her course and makes her stay And then for her intent she findes no way Sometime he sers about her such a border That she cannot transgresse her lim'ted order Sometime he sits at helm and set at stern Doth her unequall motions so govern That in her proudest strains let her doe what She will he still doth stand immaculat Leaving foul sinne to Sathans foul direction Whil'st he lends onely nerves unto the action As when the sun hath on a dunghill shin'd Where many hid corruptions lay combin'd The stench proceeds not from the Suns pure ray But from the hid corruption therein lay So whil'st by sinne man doth transgresse Gods lawes God of the sinne must not be call'd the cause But man abusing his licentiat will By concupiscence doth prove guiley still O God how hid's thy way who can beguile Thy frown of justice or thy meicies smile For man amidst them both is bound and free Enfranchiled and in captivitie His will is free for it is no wayes ti'd Yet notwithstanding all his works beside Are captivat for man can doe no more Then thy good pleasure pre 〈…〉 before Thus be those hellish hounds with envy big ' Gainst Davids righteous heire and Jesse's sprig And that they may the better act their parts They charge their Serjeants with
might'st be The Asahel of God the seepe-goat We Ne'er did the wounded Deere with more desire Run to the water brooks to queuch his fire Then thou dost thirst to taste that wofull cup Which Adam's with'red hand could not beare up Man thou didst make at first and him so lov'd That for his rescue from Gods wrath 't be hov'd Thee to be Man and all his sinnes sustain To reunite him to his God again Such leve as this hath not as yet been known As thou unto the sonnies of men hast shown The love that Danid did to Jou'than beare Or to proud Absoloms gold-locks of haire With this thy love cannot be parallel'd Thy love 's epcinall mah's by time is quel'd The old Passeover being finish'd now The Eucharist succeedeth in that liew They sing a Psalme and praise that mighty God Who brought his Isr'el out from Aegypts rod Then sayth my Saviour Now the houre draw'th neer Of my dread suffrings all of you stands here By me this night shall be offended for 'T is writ The shepheard I will smite therefore The sheep shall all be scattered anon And I to sorrow shall be left alone Yet come thus thus it needs must be for so The Prophets have forespoken long agoe This Peter heareth and with pride oppress'd As if his heart were steel'd his bones were brass'd He saith though vainly Master whither shall We run from thee though all the world should fail And shrink from thee yet will I never leave thee Till dust and earth doe of my life bereave me Peace Peter saith my Saviour hold thy peace Before the Cock crowtwice even to my face Thou shalt deny me thrice and by base feare Of this thy life thou shalt my love forsweare Thus out they goe and over Kedrons brook Whereas Mounr Olive overshading looke Covers Gethseman's garden there they stay But Jesus go'th aside and thus doth pray Father the houre is come now glorifie Thy Sonne as he hath glory giv'n to thee All such as thou didst give me I have kept And none of them hath perish'd save that sheep Or rather childe of wrath and of perdition For him thou didst nor give to my tuition This is eternall life that man should know Thee for true God and me thy Sonne also This I have taught them this doe they believe Eternall life by this doe thou them give I pray not for the world for them I pray That they in me by faith may alwayes stay I doe not pray that from the world thou take there But that thou in the world doe ne'er forsake them For while they in the world remain they 're hated And for my names sake shall be ill intreated But I have kept them in thy name and they Both know thee doe believe and thee obey Keep them therefore ô Father by thy truth Thy word is truth they have it from my month Nor doe I pray for them alone but eke For all these Prof lyres who salvation seek By faith begotten by their word in me O let them share in my felicitie For thou and I ô righteous God are one Let them with us have also unione That as thou art in me and I in thee So they may be made one with us trulie And by their joynture with us two may shun Sinne death and hell and condemnation Thus hath he prayed and now returning he To Peter James and John familiarlie Gives this forewarning Watch and pray lest that Your restlesse foe doe catch you in his net He go'th again unto his former station To taste the first fruits of his bitter passion He kneeleth down to pray but sense of wrath Makes him to cry My soule unto the death Is heavy Father if it be thy will Take this cup from me let not thy wraths rill Lay more upon me then my strength can beare O heare me Father bow thine ears and heare But ah his Agony waxing still more great Through his pure vains and pores a bloody sweat Doth from his body so bedew the ground As if from Eorâ—â—a's presseh ' had got a wound Three severall times in this perplexed state Doth Christ the selfe same words reiterat Father he cryeth still O let this cup Passe from inde for I cannot drink it up Yet if it be thy will let it be so Thy will and not my own I came to doe Father againe I pray thee let this houre Passe from me for 't is tart above my power Yet for this houre into the would come I Why should I then decline an piety No though I smart in this my passion Not my will Father but thy will be done Now all this while doe his Disciples fleep A Lethargy upon their soules did creep And though he wak'd them thrice yet thrice again They doe return to their Lethargiouest into But heav'ns amaz'd to see his soule so sad Doe by an Angels comfore make him glad Who can behold the passage of this story And see the dumpish fits o' th' God of glory And not be struck with more then admiration To view the sonne of God's evacuation What griefe what fear what blood what sweat is this Which wallowing like the Oceans vast abisse Can finde no bottom nor restrayning brink To curbe his woes or make his sorrows shrink O Bozra now I see thy robes are read O Ramah now thy joyes are banished O Rachel now thy children are transperted And justly thou disdainist to becomforted From Edoms winepresse whilst of late the come Hoping to finde somesweet refresh oâ— home Thou couldst find none thou trod'st that presse of wine Alone and therefore no mans greises like thine But ah me blessed Soviour where be now Thy wonted comforts and that strength'ning crew Of consolations which thou gavist of late To thy Disciples in their wofull state Where 's now the comforts which the Scriptures say Thy presence doth for evermore display Where 's now thâ—â— hope which in deaths valley from Thy rod and shepheards crook were wont to come Where 's now the promise of that great comforter Which thou didst promise as our soules supporter What shall become of us poore withered shrubs Of hysop how shall we endure the rubs And counter-pusss of fact all lictions when Thou lofty Cedar lowâ—es and bows for men Under that burthen and that load of wrath That should presse man down to the second death What was it Saviour tell me that thus lay Upon thy back with such impetuous sway That made thee with a sad redoubled groane Say that thy soule to th'gates of death was throwne What was it feare of death and fore felt-paine That madethee in such measure to complaine Or was 't the shame of thy ensuing Crosse That made thee utter this distemper'd voyce No no farre be 't from me to wrong thee so Those sighs those groans and grief's redoubled woe Did from another deeper sourse and spring Send forth their runnais wofull bubling It was the wofull burthen of mans finne Joyn'd with th'Etem
all wrath that did begin This wofull combat in thy soule for loe What we should suffer thou didst undergoe Hence were thy griefes thy bloody sweats and teares Hence were thy supplicavions and thy feares Hence were th' affrighting passions of thy soule As man alone thou could'st not them controle The spirit of man infirm'ty may sustaine But who can beare th' Almighties deep disdaine To see the Sonne of God sweat drops of blood 〈…〉 And yet no wonder though â— wond'rous cause Produce effect that reason quite dissâ—nowes If hell and death have pains in tollâ—â—able If flesh be weak and humane faith be feeble What wonder was it though with flesh aray'd Thou of th'Eternalls wrath wa st so dismay'd The wonder is how thou our true Phisition Knowing our sicknesse and our sad condition Cor Id'st by the drinking of our poyson'd Cap Refresh our soules and eke revive our hope O that in this thy wofull agonie We could but read our own perplexitie So should our sighs and teares in time prevent Th' eternall throbbings of deaths punishment But since we cannot as we would recall Our mispent time and so repaire our fall O teach us in our lives to follow thee That with thee we may finde conformitie Of comfort in our crosse so shall thy grace Once make us to enjoy thee face to face Yea let the path or way be what it will Let griefe and toile and tears and torment still Beat down our outward Man yet let us make Our inner man more strong by faith and take Example by thee both in life and death To seek Gods favour and to 〈◊〉 his wrath The Surpryse CANTO 3o. THrice hath the Sonne of righteousnes display'd The soure-sweet symptoms of a soule dismay'd And thrice hath zeale-bred pray'rs prevayling power Recleer'd th'eclypses of his darkned houre Thrice hath he bidden his Discyples pray Lest to tentation they should one the way But while he checks their watch they 're still asleep Droun'd in the bottome of secur'ties deep So frequent are our foyles our faith â— unsteady That flesh is ever weak though th'spirit's ready Yet once more will he rouze them from their rest And print this farewell Sermon in their breast My friends saith he oft have I bid you watch Lest Sathan in his snare your soules should catch But you havedroup'd you have been drouzy still Hence forth goe sleep and take your rest at will For th' houre is come The Sonne of Man 's betray'd The Traitounis at hand and for his avde An armed Legion com'th yet none can take My life from me but for my poore sheeps sake I lay it down and take it up againe And by my willing death you life retain Arise let us goe hence Scarse are they gone When loe the traitor and his legion Come all along and to my Saviour goe First to surprize him then work his ov'r throw And first comes Judus in a poore Lambs fleece Though inwardly a raying Wolfe be is Throwing his arms about his Masters neck Doth greet him with this foule dissembling check Haile Master to his word he joyns a kisse And by that signall tells the troupe who h 'is But ô my Saviour meekly doth enquire Friend wherefore com'st thou so dost thou desire By this thy kisse to kill the Sonne of Man The task is foule goe on doe what thou can Hadst thou but as a stranger been suborn'd Thus to betray me I could well have born 't Or hadst thou as a causlesse hatefull foe Conspir'd to work and perpetrate my woe I would not then have grudged But to see Him who did dip his hand i th' dish with me And him who in my bosome lately lay Lift up his heele against me and betray Me to the death 't is strange but Father what Thou hast begun continue consummat Fie on thee Judas Sathans first born sonne Hadst thou but kept one spark of grace within Thy hellish breast these words of friendly love Might have suffic'd thy treach'rous heart to move And pull'd thee down upon thy soules bow'd knees To beg the pardon of thy treacheries But ah as one poore bubbling drop alone Can hardly gutter flint or Porphire stone So hardly can one word though ne'er so â—â—ue An indur'd heart to sense of sinne subdue Whil'st thus he spâ—â—ks to Judas all the â—est Of that proud rable have themselves addrest To apprehend him straight way He but saith Whom seek you friends Jesus of Nar areth Say they he answers Surely I am he Which words import he 's God and Man trulie Iam did from the burning bush foretell The safe redemption of his Israel And this word He doth his human'ty show Who by his death should satisfie the Law For he 's the Man and truly onely He Who gives man life and imâ—ortalitie No sooner hath he spoke â—hose words I 'm he When by those words consounded back they flie And to the ground doe fall such was the power And piercing virtue of my Saviour He doth enquire againe Whom would you have Jesus say they the man of Naxareth I surely am the man saith he the truth I have already told you from my mouth If me you seek then let those goe their way From you I shall not flie but with you stay For what is writ of me fulfill I must Let those goe safe lot me sustain the worst Not long agoe my Saviour hath foretold The times were comming in the which men should Of two coats sell the one and buy a sword Peter remembreth this Prophetione Word And seeing Matchas proudly lay his hand Upon his Master draweth forth his brand And ayminght proud Malchus head that blow Did crop his eare and cut it quite in two Surely the sword of Peter was but just Who stops his ear to God and man doth trust May justly lose his eare his eye his hand And all his body that doth God withstand But Peter here doth wrong could he but know 't He beats the stone and quts the hand did throw 't The blow on Judas should have been moresure Who th' Author was of this distemp'rature Malchus but acts false Judas falser plot 'T is pitty Judas had not Malchus lot Yet that poore Peter now may wisely know That good intention's not enough to show The actions good and that shows cannot hide The hidden frailty of a self-sick pride Christ bids him put his transhing sword againe Into his place for humane streng this vaine And he who by the sword his will doth cherish Shall sometime by the sword both fall and perish Dost thou not know saith he that what a cup My father doth propine I must drink up Thouh it were ne'er so bitter were 't not so This world should perish in an endlesse woe Or dost thou think that if I pleas'd t' escape I could not this earths drossie globe ov'rleap And riding on a thousand Cherubs wings Prepareany ineseue with the King of Kings Or think'st thou not but if I lov'd t'remove I
I know not what you think him worthy sure I think him guilty shamefull death t' indure To this they all applaud with acclamation O let him die and perish from this Nation Yet once more proudly doth the Priest enquire Him of his Doctrine and Disciples Ire And rapid rage doth to his soule possesse That Truth and Conscience with him have no place Christ answers In your Synagogues have I Still taught and by me nothing secretly Is done or said enquire of them therefore Who heard me let them witnesse lesse or more By this one of those slaves who stood neer by Doth smite him on the face most vil'nously And ads this motto to his cruell blow What Villaine dost thou answer th' High-Priest so Christ meekly replyes If I have spoke wrong Beare witnesse of it but if thus my tongue Hath spoke the truth why smit'st thou me 't may be Some higher hand repay thy villanie Ah me my God how hath this High Priest still Spoke prophecy although against his will Of late he said it was expedient that One for the nation should be immolat And now he sayes he 's guilty to the death And so both truth and lye pronounced hath O what a vaticiny what a word Is this that Caiaphas doth now afford Guilty he was to die the death he come And yet not guilty to the death as some Man born in sinne to die the death is born Because by sinne he 's guilty and forelorne But he did neither sinne nor know trespasse For Gods 〈◊〉 ' â—â— Lambe and Sonne he was And therefore since he knew not sinne no death Ov'r him or power or jurisdiction hath Yet guilty was he for 〈◊〉 guilt he tooke And by the way for 〈…〉 of the brooke And so was guilty made to death for loe His bodies death must our soules death ov'rthrow Thus was he guilty to the death and yet Nor guilt nor death his innocence did fit His was the death the guilt was ours and so Both from the guilt and death w' are free to goe Next to this censure all those catyss still With excrements his glorious face doe spill And though the glorious hoast of heav'n are bold In him to gaze Gods wisdome manifold Yet muffling up his face they hood-wink's eyes Then crave in scorn to heare his Prophecies This not enough they be not yet content T' afflict his body and his soule torment But what is more to Pilat's civill power They lead him there to have his death made sure From out the High Priests house and hall he 's led And unto Pilat's hall is carried Tumultuous crowds of people run along To make their malice and their griefe more strong And in Iudibrious manner thus doe cry Here 's Naz'reths Propher pray you make him way Pilat affrighted with the Convocation Comes forth and cals the head o' th' Combination And asks the cause of this their concourse for Such stirre Jerus'lem had not seen before Yet ere the Roman Depute will approve Their combination he doth gravely move This question to them What hath this man done Or gainst the State or gainst Religion If he had nor a malefactour been Say they to Pilate sure thou hadst not seen Us stand as supplicants before thy doore Nor had we ever judg'd him by thy pow'r O cruell catiffes irreligious you Who act such murther under pieties show To Pilat's house you come but will not enter As if his house were hells condemning center Woe woe to you Scribes Pharisees and Priests You rav'ning Wolves dissembling Hypocrites Why doe you think by ' xternall rites and showes To purge that poyson in your hearts ov'rflowes Why doe you make your platter clean without While as the fountain's poyson'd round about Why doe you guild your graves with pretious stones Whose richest linings are but rotten bones Why doe you wash your hands so oft with water While as your hearts be lust and prides Theater It is not Pilat's roof nor Pilat's wall Nor the corruption of his Judgements hall Can make you so unclean or so impure As doth your sinfull soules distemp'rature For what is from without cannot so much Defile the Man as doth the hearts hid touch But thus th' Almighty hath decreed and thus You have determin'd by a secret push To catch the innocent unto your snare While as your words be soft and smoothly faire But he who in the highest heav'ns doth dwell Can both your fraud detect and pride repell And will in his own time your plots repay Upon your pates with woe and weal-away Jesus now stands before the Pagan Judge And from his fury findeth no refuge Pilat enquires him Art thou Juries King I am saith he without dissembling But in this world my Kingdome hath no place Nor hath this world a portion of my grace Pilat then on his Judgements feat fits down And once more asks him of Judaeas Crown And tels him that if he that Crown should claim Then should he wrong Augustus Diadem Not I saith he let Caesar have what 's his And God what 's God's no other thing I wish But while this Roman on his bench doth sit His wife did by her letter him intreat Yea she adjures him that he should not touch That just man for saith she I 've suffer'd much Concerning him this last night in my sleep The gods preserve thee and thy conscience keep That unto him thou doe no wrong nor harm For feare hath giv'n my soule a sad alarme This Pilat reads but 's deafe to such a tale Where will doth govern words will not prevaile He therefore calls the multitude aloud Heare mut'nous you and hark you envious croud Whom will you that at this your solemne feast I should let loose to you what think you best Here have we Barrabas a murth'ring thiefe Will you that he goe loose and have reliefe Or shall we let this Jesus goe pray tell For your desire shall be my Centinell O Barrabas say they let him goe free But for this Jesus him let 's Crucifie VVell then saith Pilat since it must be so Him shall you have and Barrabas shall goe Yet bring me here some water water 's brought And for dissimulation lacketh nought His hands he washeth his dissembling heart Stands still corrupt and foul in every part Yet doth he call Come malecontented you To this just man take heed what you shall doe For in him I doe finde no fault at all Why one haire of his head to ground should fall I therefore to your conscience doe appeale To Church to Councell and to Common-weale That from his blood I stand this day as free As be my hands from their impurity Alas vain Pilot hadst thou cleans'd thy heart As thou hast wash'd thy hands then sure no part Of this mans blood should have against thee cry'd Then should both heart and hand been purifi'd But since one thing thou sayst and dost another Thy words shall not thy foule transgression smother In short time thou
interpretation is thus taken My God my God why hast thou me forsaken One saith he calls Eliah stand aside And let us see what Saint in heav'n can guide Him from this crosse surely if any come We will believe him we will make him roome Not onely doe those Burreaves him revile And ' gainst that holy one lift up their heel But also that proud mastive who did at His left hand suffer as he perpetrat Calls to him and in proud luâ—ibrious manner Commands him to display his pow'rfull banner And as he had sav'd others save him selfe And him likewise from splitting on this shelfe But Jesus holds his peace to make it plaine That he revil'd did not revile again Though Jesus hold his peace yet doth that mate Which on his right hand hung thus ope the gate To his just ire and rebukes his brother He can his fury now no longer smother Proud rayling rascall saith he we be here To suffer for our sinnes as doth appeare By all the Legends of our murd'ring ditty Justly doe men therefore withdraw their pitty From us but this just man what hath he done His innocence is cleare as middayes Sun Why dost not thou feare God and in this station Beg shelter from a deeper condemnation But what thou wilt not doe behold I will Lord look upon me in thy mercy still And when thou com'st unto thy kingdome then Remember me in mercy heale my pain Jesus beholding this his faith replies Man I doe tell thee that in Paradise This night thou shalt be with me and shalt taste The glorious Nectar of my Fathers feast Father once more all thing are finshed Which thy great law requires diminished Is nothing which her Sanctions did crave And now I 'm ready to be laid in grave I therefore come to thee Into thy hands I recommend my Sp'rit let not deaths bands Triumph ore me for it I vanquish'd have Yet I 'le subject my selfe unto the grave By this he bows his head and giveth up The Ghost and so hath drunken up his cup. One of those Souldiers who did him attend Hoping to gaine some honour in the end Takes up his Speare to try if Christ were dead And in his side doth thrust it over head Straight from the wound doth flow both blood and water Whose still dissever'd streams themselves so scatter As never Tigris and Euphrates did More th' one from th' other at their sourse divide When the first Adam snorted in his sleep Great Isr'els Watchman who poore man doth keep Took from his side a rib of which he made An helpe unto the man who was her head And now the second Adam on his Crosse Lacks not a bone but to repaire that losse From out his side whereon his bride now stands Sends forth pure water first to wash her hands And that clean hands may have as clean a heart He sends her blood to purge her better part His water purgeth and refresheth more Then that which from Rephidims rock did rore His blood speaks better things then Abels did When she in Vesta's lap her head did hide And truly such a water or such blood Nor Baalzephom shoare nor Ganges flood Did ever borrow from earths bubling vain While as they pard their tribute to the Main Loe how the sonne of God in human nature Loe how for Man poore creature the Creatour Loe for the guilty how the innocent Loe how the lowly for the insolent Suffers payes covers satisfies at once Death debt shame wrath for our exemptions Come wayward Gentile come rebellious Jew Come scoffing Atheist Semichristian thou Prodigious misbeliever natures slave Blasphemous mockers of the crosse and grave Come come I say and if you needs must scorn Those hands those feet this heart that crown of thorn From whence my Saviour in such sev'rall rills Celestiall Nectar to the world distills If nothing here on earth you see below Can your hard hearts to his obedience bow Look up above your head and see what strange Commotions through th' heav'nly regions range And from their troubles learn in time to tremble Least those their palsies prove your deaths preamble For whil'st his soule doth to the heav'ns ascend Which to his Father he did recommend Straight with his last gaspe earth's round globe doth shake As if her engines axle-tree should breake The broad enameld courtaine of the sky Obfuscat with dark clouds doth droup and dye And since he whose right hand first formed Nature Hath so much suffred for a sinfull creature The frame of Nature now hath sworn to show That natures God hath suffred here below Hence hoary Saturne turns his face awry And scorns to gaze so great a butchery The bounteous Jupiter now amazed stands And scorns with Amalthaea to shake hands Blood-thirsting Mars throws down his dart and cries What Phlegra 's this whose Typhon scales our skies The wanton now betakes her to her heels And puls her Pidgeons from Apollo's wheels The witty Merc'ry throws his pen aside He cannot see to write for nights black pride And Cynthia now beholding Titans Car Ecclipsed by a brighter morning star Runs from th' Eoan to th' Hesperian coast And grapleth Titan in her arms so fast That brave Latona's son nor can nor may But through her sad imbrace take leave of day Now is the Temples vaile rent quite in twaine And Jew and Gentile reconcil'd againe Now are the flint-hard rocks found cut asunder That mans hard heart might at it's hardnes wonder Now are the graves devouring gates cast up And long interred dust drinks new lives cup That heav'ns and earth and hell and all may see That power of th'Eternalls victorie Whereby he hath as both true God and Man For man subbu'd Deaths great Leviathan The Triumph CANTO 6o. ERE Cairo's Monarch would let Isr'el goe From out the fornace of affliction loe The holy one of Israel bigge with ire Is forc'd in wrath to blow so fierce a fire Against him that a Decad of stern woes Must fall upon him ere he melt his snowes So deeply were they froze amidst his heart That nothing but deep wrath can him convert Of all those plagues which did on Misraim fall Me thinks the last save one was worst of all For what are fields or fruits or brooks or trees In respect of mans gracious faculties And life it selfe is small being compar'd With utter darknesse wherein man ensnar'd By living death and dark Cimerian mist Of Goshens childe is made a Memphytist Such were the foggy mists that now doe stand For three houres space through all Judaea's land So that th' inhabitants doe gaze with wonder To see the sun obscured from his splendor But Titan once more doth reclear his eye And shuffling off his Sisters canopy Doth joy to see his eldest brothers bed With such triumphing trophees honored Now whil'st the stern Centurion sees the damp That Christ his death hath wrought in Natures camp He shrinks away for feare and doth professe Surely this man hath
date I for my last and glorious change shall waite For He who was dead is alive and shall To me be Alpha and Omega All. The Trophee CANTO 7o. CHrist had not come from heav'n to earth but that He might our dying soules re-animat He had not liv'd on earth so long to try Cares watches griefes reproaches misery Had he not meant to write us an example In patience upon their necks to trample Nor had he took our flesh if not to die That by his suff'rings he might satisfie The wrath of God due unto mans offence And reconcile that sin-bred difference Nor had he dy'd were 't not to rise again And reunite us to our Soveraigne Nor did he rise but that he might ascend And so bring our Redemptions to an end Thus was he born thus did he live and thus He hath both dy'd and rose againe for us That our new birth new life and new death may By him be turn'd to an eternall day Now if that any ask who shall perswade VVeake man that he such mighty power had The trembling earth the darkned sunne the grave The quickned dead the rent vaile and that slave VVhich in earths centers dwels can all declare The Virgins sonne and eke th' Almighties heire True God and Man earths Monarch heav'ns great King Did those stupendious works t' effect forth bring But if sublunar things subject to errour Can neither work our joy nor strike with terrour Our hardned hearts let glorious Angels then Serve to extirpate misbeliefe from men For they did by their presence shake those fooles VVho by their spears and staves and murth'ring tools Sought to detaine the Lord of Life i' th' grave Let all such guardians such reward still have Then to some weaker women whose true care And love to life had quickly brought them there They furnish matter of true consolation Declaring his true life whose death and passion Had but of late their soule so pierc'd with woe That naturall comfort could not cure their blow Such as our conscience is or good or bad Accordingly we are rejoyc'd or sad When God to us his countenance doth show Or in a cheerfull smile or frowning aw The righteous Man is like the Lyon bold The wicked shrink for feare within their hold And one day when their joyes away shall fly Then shall they shrink and feare eternally One woman there was of a speciall note The Magdalen of late known by her spot But now by penitentiall tears made clean She greater grace and favour doth obtain For he whodwelleth in the heav'ns doth weigh The hearts of men in scales of Veritie And looks not on our outward carnall things But on that treasure which the heart forth brings To this poore woman then they first doe talk And with her in the way of comfort walk That she who sometime was a sinner might To after-sinners shew the wondrous hight The depth the length and breadth of mercy that Unto the penitent's accumulat For God doth not take heed to what we were But unto what we by adoption are For still his mercies supr'abound and more Where sinnes abundant plenty dwelt before If he can see our tears our cheeks distaine And bubble up from true repentance vaine Some eight dayes hence this Nymph began to weep And make her tears bedew her Masters feet Her eyes as yet have not shut up their sluces So deep 's the memoyr of her youths abuses And eke so fresh the relish of his smart Who spent his blood to purge her sinfull heart That she cannot her throbbing sighs restrain Nor from her restlesse seas of teares refraine But when sh'ath weep'd enough she still weeps more And ' gainst her sorrowes cannot shut the doore VVhil'st thus she weeps she turnes unto her stay And bowing down beholds where Jesus lay And loe two Angels there doe sit the one VVhere Jesus head did lye and rest anon Another she espies there where his feet Had their impression in the hard rock set They see the woman weep and thus enquire VVoman why weep'st thou what dost thou desire She answers Sure I weep not without cause For here of late in deaths devouring jawes My Lord did lye but now alas he 's gone And none can tell me whither no not one They thus reply what foole art thou to seek The living ' mongst the dead did he not speak And preach to you last day in Galile The sonne of man must suffer and third day Rise up again he is not here goe goe Tell his Disciples that he 's rise But loe VVhil'st thus they parley Jesus comes and still Rebukes her for her mis-informed will VVoman saith he woman what dost thou mean VVhat wilt thou never from thy teares abstain She takes him for the Gardner and saith Sir If you have took him hence pray let me heare VVhere you have layd him and be sure from thence I will re-bring him at what-ere expence To those fond words my Saviour saith But Mary She answers him Rabboni Without tary Falls down before his feet to kisse them but He to that fond affection yeeldeth not O doe not touch me Mary saith he for I am not yet ascended but what 's more Expedient for the world goe quickly tell My weak Disciples that the gates of hell Which gap'd against me now have no more pow'r To hedge me in for I have broke their door And to my members doe propine Lifes cup That they may dine with me I with them sup O what a masse or magazen is here Of pretious comfort by a Gardiner Breath'd to a woman O what large extent Of pardon 's sealed to a Penitenâ—â— For whil'st I see her thus so sadly weep And him comfort her ' gainst her griefs I keep In minde that Program which of late he told Blessed are they who mourn for loe behold They shall reap comfort and thrice blessed they Who ask seek knock for verily I say They shall receive and finde and enter for To such my Father doth not shut his door Next this whil'st I behold the great mistake Wherein her true affection although weake Made her believe a Gardner she had seen I doe impute it to her tear-drown'd eyn I cannot choose but make my soule to smile At this so happy fraud and sweet beguile For never man did to my weak esteem Give him a fitter stile or truer name For where did ever garden in the stower Of stormy rage produce so sweet a flower Or where did ever Gardner plant or frame So rich an imp in such a withring stem Did he not first in Paradise re-plant The promis'd Primrose of the Covenant In Baal-haman graft'd he not that Vine About the which the Saints their armes doe twine Is not he Sharons Rose the Valleyes Lilly Engeddies Camphire Bethleems Daffadilly Gethsemans Gilly-flow'r and Golgaths Rheu And Arimathea's Turn-sol ever true It is not then a great mistake to call Him Gardner who makes those to rise and fall O glorious Gardner
whose right hand doth plant The rut'lant starres amidst the Firmament Who pav'st the Ocean with thy orient gem Plant in my soule thy Artimesian stem And like the lotos in Euphrates bosome Be thou the Sun that still re-clears my blossome But ay me what is this I now doe heare Thee say to Mary Mary come not neare And touch me not Art thou that fi'ry bush Which made old Moses stand afar no tush The flames and threats of Sinay now are gone And thou art made our very flesh and bone Yea thou hast bid us touch and taste and feele How good thou art to Isr'els Common-weale And yet as if thou wouldst some distance try Thou stopp'st our wonted famil'arity It is not long since thou endur'dst a touch Which justly tearmed might have been Non-such A Traitor kissed thee a Rascall knave Did with his buffet and his spit out-brave Thy glorious face thy head was crown'd with thorns Thy hands and feet were pierc'd and with proud scorns Of thy unlook'd for death a speare did part The water and the blood from out thy heart Those touches thou endur'dst but ay me now Thou call'st for distance but I know not how It can subsist with thy unchanged love To change a sweet imbracet'a sad remove But pardon me my God for now I finde That too much love hath made her judgment blinde For since she saw thee put in porta mortis Her eyes have still been drown'd in aqua fortis And in her rapture whil'st she cryes Rabboni She turnes her Benjamini to Benoni For though thou still be what thou wast before True God and Man yet art thou now some more Then man and mortall but immortall now Kodesh laihova is writ on thy brow The Vrim and the Thummim on thy breast Tels Aaron's dead and Melchisedeck â—s Priest And since true life hath triumph over death Now must we live no more by sense but faith And by the spirit not the flesh must we Now seek our God and his felicitie Some eight dayes hence Christs Disciples meet And in a private chamber closely sit The doores being shut Christ Jesus commeth in And greets them with his 〈◊〉 then doth begin To rouz their 〈…〉 Soulles from â—eare to â—aith Which oâ— salvaâ—ion 〈…〉 promise hath To waken Thomas from his misbeliefe For lack of faith ' mongst many sins is chiefe Thomas saith he thou hast of late deny'd To trust my Resurrection till my side My hands my feet and all my wounds doe give Thee by thy touch true reason to believe I pitty this thy weaknes for I know The sourse and fountain whence this stream doth flow Is not proud malice but infirmitie The sp'rit speaks faith flesh infidelitie T is true that when those wounds I did receive And from my Crosse was carried to my grave Thou didst not see me for thou rann'st away When Judas by his kisse did me betray But now thou art return'd and so am I Thou from thy fears I from mortality And since I see upon thy fingers end Thy faith and resolution doth depend Come come thy touch not only shall be fed But al 's ' thy other senses satisfied Come come I say behold those wounds of mine And let not misbeliefe ' gainst faith repine Reach here thy fingers boldly touch my hands Touch those my feet see how my side yet stands Wide open with those wounds which did of late My harmlesse body cru'ly penetrate And be not thou a faith lesse Did'mus more But make true faith ov'rflow thy hard hearts shore Thomas no sooner doth stretch out his fingers To touch Christs side when loe from off her hingers Christ pulls his heart which then was hard as stone And with the touch of true contrition Makes him bewaile his infidel'ty more Then he was bent to harden it before O now I finde saith he and cryes aloud Thou art the Christ my very Lord my God O happy Thomas what a happy change Is this which now doth in thy bosome range Of late thou saidst Unlesse I surely see The stamps of death in his mortalitie I will not trust what ever can be sed That he from death can be recovered But now behold what nature could not see Faith doth perceive behold that Mustard tree Of faith in thee hath been most shrewdly shaken Yet from the root it hath not quite been taken O what a forcelesse force of heav'ns high thought This alteration in thy brest hath wrought For one thing thou didst see believe another And this made Faith and Nature joyn together One thing thy eyes did see that he was Man Thy heart believes him God 't is more than can By natures rules or documents of art Couch in thy conscience or confirm thy heart But ô the power of the Almighty who Unto the weak joyns grace and nature so That what weak nature cannot work for want Of strength grace there doth furnish supplement And though that faith doth build her house on that Which to the nat'rall eye 's unseen yet what May help weak nature and procure her strength She doth amasse together and at length From both their Magazens draws forth that store Of grace which Sathan can deface no more Thrice happy Thomas who didst thus believe Because thou saw'st but if that God shall give The grace to such as never saw to trust Thrice happy they their faith shall make them just For when they by the heav'ns great power shall Arise to make their last Judiciall Account their unseen faith shall make them see Death hath no sting Grave hath no vietorie Thus standeth Thomas to the faith converted From him a hard heart by a touch is parted Christ to the rest of those his brethren saith Brethren these times require much strength of faith Harken therefore to what I to you say 'T is long since I first said I goe my way And you were heavy that I so should speak For then your faith was wav'ring faint and weak But now your eares have heard youe eyes have seen What I have suffred yet my wounds be green Gird up your loynes therefore henceforth be strong For he who wrongeth you to me doth wrong And whoso harmeth you he harmeth me I love you as the apple of mine eye Yet must not I alwayes on earth remain I to my Father must return again And to your Father to my God I goe And to your holy one and God also My God is your God and my Father 's yours The gates of hell and all their darkned powr's Shall not be able ' gainst you to prevaile My Scepter and my Rod their strength shall quaile Full forty times brave Titan now hath run About the world and stay'd where he begun Full forty dayes hath he yea each day once Saluted and adieu'd both Horizons Full forty times hath Pha'ton's Chariots wheel Bid Flora both good morrow and farewell Now now 't is time that Jesus should goe hence T' enjoy the throne of his magnificence Not