a wett shooe falles In weeping winter which a man would thinke Their age had now dry'd vp into one Chinke Yet such a roome one comfort does afford It was not built to ruine its sad Lord. For who will begge a Cottage who would make A guilty wretch that he his rags might take To that whence nothing comes is no regard None would be vicious too but for reward No let them feare who dwell in arched vaults Who in much roome doe seeke to hide their faults Where hundred columnes rise to mate the skie And mocke their Lords with false Diuinity Enuie is proud nor strikes at what is low And they shall onely feele who scorne her blow She on no base aduantage will insist Nor striue with any but that can resist Now is the table spred and now the meat Be'ing set each takes him his appointed seat No courtship here is shew'd no caruing grace The entertainment homely as the place Spoke onely hearty and that plaine intent Which greater entertainers complement So Abraham feasted heau'nly guests as when He made the Angels eate the bread of men Soon the like guests hospitable Lot Bestow'd the diet which they wanted not In this ours differs nay in this exceeds That he bestowes his kindnesse where it needs One would haue thought so when he heard the noise Of confus'd multitudes men mixt with boyes All ages in the cry as if they meant That now the Babes should not be innocent Bees doe not murmure so and angry hounds In their full rage send forth but easy sounds Compar'd to this their inland Sea stood still Wondring to heare himselfe out-scar'd and till This time that noise hath such a silence bred That euen since it hath beene styl'd the Dead Now they besiege the house and one would feare That their loud tongues so many engines were To batter it downe with the Gate cryes one Another laughes at that and with a stone Threatens to force a Gate and deepely swore To giue them entrance all the House was Doore But then another that would needs be wise And counted cheife in this great enterprise Exhorts them to a Parly Why my friends Make you such hast sayes he to loose your ends Haue you indented with the stones you throw To misse the Leuite Doe you thinke no blow Can fasten on him or d' ye meane to proue If that the stones are riualls in your Loue Stones and not men with that the hands were still But all the noyse the Hubbub with an ill Consent cries for the Leuite whom they faine Would onely know and so returne againe And could you see him in the street so long As farre from beeing laid as this your wrong Shall be from after-Ages when he had No couer but the kinder heau'ns whose sad Compassion hindred them from shedding teares Lest such a griefe should make th' vnkindnesse theirs Had you so full a view of him and yet Doe you desire to know him No forget That euer there was such an one and then Posterity may thinke that you were men How will they wonder else when they shall heare You lou'd him in the house whom you did feare To bring into your house that you were mad In the pursuit of that you might haue had You aim'd another a worse way and iust His answere is that calls your Knowledge Lust But how were they so long time innocent How was this Prodigy of Desire eu'n spent Before it was exprest here we may see In impudence there was some Modesty They would not sinne at home the worst abhor'd To be a Beast where he should be a Lord. And it seem'd better to the vilest breast Not to receiue then to abuse a Guest Now the Old-man not fearing any harme That might ensue whether he hop'd the warme Lust of their Youth would by his Age bequelld And that those flames would to such winter yeeld Or whether he was then rather addrest To offer vp himselfe before his Guest Vnto their Fury forth he goes they thought That now they should obtaine what they had sought Whom thus he does bespeake Haue patience My friends I come not to intreat you hence But to fulfill your pleasure onely change The Seâ—â— I haue a daughter and what 's strange In this not towne a Virginâ— at your sure I am content to make her prostitute So that my stranger may nor iniur'd â—e Nature shall yeeld to Hospitality O constant goodnesse O best act which can Conclude the Vertue older then the Man How I could 〈◊〉 my selfe in praysing thee Man not of Age but of Aeternity Who didst respect thy guest beyond thy blood And knew'st the difference betwixt Fond and Good Henceforth scorne all comparisons below Onely thy Maker thy Superiour know Such was his Mercy that he did bestow His onely Sonne a ransome for his Foe This was a patterne fit for the most High Yet next this Mercy was thy Charitie Thy Act at least is second to the best Who wouldst not spare thy Daughter for thy Guest But they 'l not be prescrib'd in their desire Who thinke to alter were to quench their fire They must the Leuite or his Sister know For Sister they interpret her to show Our sawcy Lay-men how they should expound Their Preachers actions not to be profound To search their faults but well and wisely too Doe what they speake and not speake what they doe This they exclaime and this our Leuite heares Who now hath spent his Reason and his Fares Such a Confusion he is falne into He knowes not what to shunne nor what to doe So in rais'd Seas when that the angry wind Threatens destruction to that daring kind Who to a flying house themselues commit Seeming at once to flye too from their wit The well-stor'd passenger when he does find That all this fury of the waue and wind Is for this Treasure now resolues to dye Death is not so much fear'd as Pouerty And now resolues that he will venture on More losse before that Resolution He does from this vnto that purpose skip And now his mind more totters then his ship Till after all this tedious foolish strife Which he shall saue his treasure or his Life He shall saue neither and thus being loath To hazard either he does forfeit both And now she shall be Passiue O Fates sport Hee 'l now betray that should defend the Fort. Such Revolution did you euer see Who earst was Iealous will a Pander be O Life thou most desir'd and wretched thing Thy loue betrayd his loue from thee did spring This Contradiction of crosse Faults O why Chose he not rather to doe well and Dye Why did he so desire to shunne his Friend And call that Misery which was an End The Dead doe feare no Rauisher no Lust Was ere so hot to dote vpon cold dust Were he once dead he should feare no crimes then Neither his owne nor those of other men And could he wish a longer life let those Who doe
be accounted with the Grandmothers When Sara now was so vnweildy growne Her legges could scarcely beare her selfe alone She beares another burthen and does swell Not with a child but with a Miracle This said he stops and then againe goes on No more with story but Deuotion O prayse the Lord my soule let me not find My body was more fruitfull then my mind O let that teeme with thankefulnesse and be Made sweetly pregnant by my memory Father sayes Isaac I haue often heard That we doe tell with Ioy what we haue Feard And what in suffring terrifies our sense Does in relating please what violence Of blisse possesseth me when I compare My dangers past with ioyes that present are Methinkes I yet carry that fatall wood A burden which I hardly vnderstood Should carry me methinkes I still enquire VVhere is the sacrifice and where the fire How little did I thinke or feare till then That God commanded sacrifice of men How little could I guesse in any part That God in such sort did desire the Heart Yet pardon Father if you now must know Your silence seem'd more cruell then your blow Could I oppose my mind against your will Or wish him spar'd whom you decreed to kill Wherefore was all this circumstance what need But first to tell and then to act the deed I neuer knew what disobedience meant And your distrust was my worst punishment I must confesse I was amaz'd my bloud Congeal'd within me and my faint haires stood Yet not for feare of death Death was my profit But for the manner and the Author of it Was this the heau'nly promise and must I So strangely borne somewhat more strangely dye What should I say now or what shall I doe That frustrate by my death Gods promise too Should I inuoke Heau'ns ayde alas from thence Came the iniunction for this violence Should I implore my fathers helpe why he Would sooner hearken vnto heau'n then me And so he did for when the trembling sword As if he knew the temper of his Lord Threatned a death most fortunately then He that did arme you did disarme agen Shewing your will was all he did require Commanding you to that you most desire To be againe a Father O the power And mercy of our God! who in an houre Who in a minute can make all things well Can bring and then deliuer out of Hell These were their Accents when that Moses sayes It is an holy businesse to praise To magnifie our Lord so to goe on In the intent of our Creation To this all times all reasons doe obey And we may praise as often as we pray But now let 's change these tones let vs be mute In all discourses now but in a suite Let vs at once conioyne our prayers and see If our one God will hearken vnto three Your issue and my charge whom I haue led Thorow those paths that neuer man did tred As if they fear'd a scarcity of foes Doe their owne selues against themselues oppose And their destruction vnlesse we repaire Sooner to ayde them will preuent our pray'r It was a place aboue the Ayre the Sky Whither Man cannot reach not with his Eye Nay if th' exactnesse of the height be sought Whither Man cannot reach not with his thought Beyond the place where haile and raine doe grow Aboue the chill-white treasures of the snow To which compar'd the starry heau'n is fell Vnto a neerer neighbourhood with Hell And when I shall of Gods abode intreat It does become his prospect not his seat To which compar'd the Chrystall heau'n does meet With Earth to be a stoole vnto his feet This was the Place yet pardon 't was not so Places are things which onely bodies know Our bounds of Ayre from which the heau'ns are free As from Corruption and Mortality But heere it was His sacred throne did stand Who with a word created Sea and Land Who with a word was Maker of his Throne Who till he made it neuer wanted one Bring me the richest goldsmiths treasuries Those baites that doe allure our hearts and eies The dusky Sapphire the Pearle richly white The sparkling Diamond yellow Chrysolite Or if there be a gemme Nature hath fram'd Of so high price that Art hath neuer nam'd Ransacke the Inga's tombes where there doth lye With their corrupted dust their treasury Who to that pretty bounty doe attaine That they bestow their gold on earth againe Search me their graues or if you fearfull be Of treasure guarded by Mortality Rob all the mines fenc't with so many barres Where Nature in the Earth hath fancy'd starres Whose luster least our weaknesse cannot beare Her kinder wisedome made her store vp there Bring these vnto the view to an exact Figure which Phidias durst call his Act Yet to this throne compar'd it will appeare So farre from shining it will scarce looke cleare Here does the Ancient of dayes disclose The glory of his Maiesty to those To whom he daynes his presence who enioy At full what would a weaker eye destroy Whose blisse shall neuer haue a period Who therefore liue because they see their God How could I euer linger euer dwell In this so blest Relation O how well Should I esteeme my selfe entranc'd if I By staying here should lose my History Here thousand thousands wait vpon his call Of humane seruants and Angelicall And such a multitude inuest his throne Millions of Spirits waiting vpon One That it may be we should not say amisse Their Number stranger then their Nature is Here sound the Halleluiah's here the Quire Of Heau'n is high and full as their desire No voice is here vntun'd they doe not find Aiarre more in the sound then in the mind Their power of singing growes on with their song And they can longer sing because thus long Thus here themselues they fully strengthned fee To a melodious eternitie Here Abraham presents himselfe and sayes O thou aboue the iniury of Dayes Who making Times art subiect vnto none Who giu'st all knowledge and art neuer knowne Who in my dayes of flesh didst gladly lend An eare vnto my sute and wouldst not bend Thy plagues against thine enemies vntill I knew th' intent and thou hadst askt my will The will of me poore mortall nay farre worse Of me a sinner then the ancient curse Stucke deepely in me that I might haue feard My faults and not my pray'r should haue beene heard Could I speake then and am I silent now Did Sodome moue and cannot Israel bow O pardon me if I bewaile their state If I their Father proue their Aduocate Didst not thou promise when I had giu'n ore All hope of Father when I wisht no more Then a contented Graue that then from me Should come so numerous a progeny That all the cleerer army of the sky And the thicke sands which still vnnumbred lye Should come within account before my seed Which not my Sara but thy truth should breed How oft I thought
yet the Traitor shall not scape at last Whose execution is deferr'd not past T was neither peace nor warre now either side Hauing sufficiently their forces try'd Take breath a while O happy men if still This mind continue in them If they kill Their appetite of killing if this rest Can at the last informe them what is best To bury their slaine friends both sides agree Vnto a two dayes truce Stupiditie Nor to be borne with had they knowne the vse At first of that which they now call a truce This truce had beene vnnecessary then They might haue spar'd whilst now they bury men And that they now may bury they intreat Respite a while from warre thus all their heat Is buried for the time good heau'n to see Th' Omnipotency of Necessity Whom all the neerest ties of Neighbourhood Religion Language nay of the same Bloud Could not containe from fight but that they would To see if it were theirs shed their owne bloud These are intreated to a forme of peace Their fury for a day or two can cease Commanded by Necessity they feare Lest th' Ayre by so much carcasse poysoned were Lest to reuenge the bloud which they had shed They now might feele the valour of the dead Of strong corruption these thoughts hold their mind These thoughts a while inforce them to be kind On both sides for they doe not iarre in all Nature preuailes not but a Funerall Nor doth this long preuaile for when they had Interr'd some carcasses they yet are mad Till they haue made some more till they haue done A second fault as not content with one They see their Error and commit it thus Who are not eminently vertuous Are easily entrapp'd in vices snares And want the poore excuse that vnawares They were ingag'd we greedily runne on Offending with Deliberation And can you call this but Infirmity Nick-name a Vice O call it Prodigy Call it O what What name can well expresse The miracle of humane guiltinesse Could he pretend an ignorance at least And be in Nature as in Fact a beast He were not worse then they then he might be Both from the Vse and Fault of Reason free But what new horror ceizeth me what fire Raignes in my thoughts and prompts me to rise higher Hence you low soules who groueling on the Earth Basely deiect your selues below your birth Sold to your senses I intend to tell What none can know but in whose breasts doe dwell Coelestiall fires and vnto whom 't is giu'n To haue a neerer intercourse with Heau'n Yet pardon you pure soules whom no one dares Eas'd of our flesh to trouble with our cares Pardon I once more aske if my weake pen Fitting it selfe to ordinary men Attaine not to your height to vs vnknowne And giue you those words which you shame to owne The Lawgiuer who saw as in a glasse All in the Word what euer 't was did passe In these neer enmities as farre as Man Perfectly happy knowes a griefe began To feele Compassion Haue I then said he Deliuer'd Israel for this misery And did I free them from th' Aegyptian Onely to find them graues in Canaan I did foretell their Land should ouerflow But neuer thought to be expounded so Neuer with bloud I meant that they should haue More blessings then the couetous can craue The flowing Vdder and the vntyr'd Bee An happy Deluge of Fertility O how would now proud Pharaoh reioyce How would he haue a Ioy beyond a voyce Beyond his tyranny could he but know VVhat Israel does indure without a Foe VVas it for this I did so oft repeat VVonders before him wonders of so great Exuberance of powre so highly done That they contemne all admiration How wert thou Nilus bloudy'd into Red Thy waters as vnknowne as is thy Head VVhen all thy finny progeny did find That to destroy now which did breed their kind VVhen by a nimble death they vnderstand The Riuer as discourteous as the Land Can I forget that when I did bestow A liberty as heretofore to flow Vnto thy now pale waters there did passe An issue stranger then his Colour was From the too fertil riuer Frogges are found VVith such a multitude to hide the ground That ther 's no grasse appeares no corne is seen The spring does blush because he lookes not greene Their numbers and their noyse equally harsh Make Aegypt not a Region but a Marsh VVhat a small portion of my acts were these How scarcely to be counted passages In my large story Dust is chang'd to Lice And now beginnes to creepe which the most nice And curious eye before could neuer find To moue at all vnlesse 't were by the wind VVhich could not scatter those thicke clouds of Flyes That would not let them no not see the skyes VVhen I but threaten all the cattle dye And Aegypts Gods find a Mortality But lest the men should thinke that they were free From the fault too if the Calamity◠I taught their bodies with blacke goare to runne And imitate their soules corruption What was a Face is now a Pimple growne And in each part is plentifully sowne A store of blaines so vgly that to me It was a kind of Iudgement but to see And if this were but little was 't not I That call'd those candy'd pellets from the sky Which in a moment ouerwhelming all Did badly change their colour in their fall And by the murthering euery one they found Within their reach came red vnto the ground When to repaire the numbers they had slaine Beasts of all sorts the land is fill'd againe But t is with Locusts such a swarme they see Made for the shame of all their Husbandry That they could wish so they were rid of these The former Murrein ere this new increase But who can tell the following Prodigy Last day the Earth was hid but now the sky Chaos returnes the Sunne hath lost his rayes And Nights obscurity is turn'd to Dayes Who could a greater miracle afford God made the Light I Darknesse by a Word Which had it lasted had it ne're been spent They would haue call'd it a kind punishment They had not seen then their first borne to dy To challenge death by their Natiuity All 〈…〉 but why was it to see 〈…〉 suffer fuller misery To gaine the Country which they could not hold From which their owne armes ignorantly bold Expell their owne selues O let no man tell That Israel did banish Israel My prayers forbid nor let it ere be said That Moses was vnkind since he was dead That in the graue I left my goodnesse too And could not pity when not feele a woe Hauing said this with all the speed he may He seekes out holy Abraham who that day By his deere Isaac seconded did sing The ancient mercies of their heauenly King One tells how hauing now worne out a life And so being fitter for his Graue then VVife Nay then when she had liu'd vnto those yeares To
spend in prayer but when the morne Had dimm'd the pride of Cynthiah's cleerest horne By higher luster being call'd away Not by the Cocke the Trumpetter of Day But by an earlier trumpet then you might By her vnwilling and yet hasting light Discerne and seeing almost rightly poyse Whether were more their number or their noyse And vnto which more feare was to be giu'n Who fill the Earth with Numbers with Noyse Heau'n Beniamin takes th' alarme and hauing chose One in whose faithfulnesse they might repose A wary confidence they quit the wall And to the wider field issue out all Lest if they stay'd within and did oppose Rampiers and ditches onely to their foes They might haue bragg'd as if that they had won Making a prison of their garrison Now both the Hoasts themselues so neere doe find That it would aske more labour t' haue declin'd The field then to haue wonne it yet they stay Hoping that innocence is in delay If they are slowly guilty now speares flye Shiuer'd in thousand fitters to the skye And whether it reuenge or fortune were Euery peece becomes a Murtherer And from their bodies frees a many soule Doing that broken which they could not whole Could Xerxes here haue sate vpon an hill To see these warriors hee would not still Fondly lament nor lauish out a teare Because they could not liue an hundred yeere But melt into iust passion away Because they could not liue out all that day Now might you haue beheld the fiery horse Proud of his owne and of his Masters force Robb'd of his Master whom you now might see Running as if t were after Liberty Or you 'de conceiue had you but seene the race That 't was no more a battle but a chase No stroke falls idle nay they are so neere They need not strike at all death is caus'd here By their bad neighbourhood the whole and sound You might haue seene here dead without a wound To saue the guilt and labour of the sword Bodies to bodies their owne ends afford Now nothing but the dust is to be seene Which like so many Emblemes flyes betweene The mingled armies which in silence sayes They are no better then the motes they raise Then those poore Atomes but they thinke to shrowde Their acts from sight of heau'n vnder that cloud And therefore did their vtmost yet as though These hands were slugglish or this fury slow The trumpets chid them to a lustier guilt And the lowd drummes proclaim'd you haue not spilt Blood enough yet O what were they that found Out first the vse and malice of that sound Which makes vs kill with greedinesse and when T is the Corrupted Nature of most men Hardly to yeeld vnto the destitute These will not suffer vs to heare their suite This drownes the groanes but now both armies reele Now this giues backe some ground now that doth feele That it is prest too hardly Thus the seas When euer it the angry winds does please To exercise their fury doe not know What course to take nor whither they should flow This waue breakes that and then another blast Makes that the conqueror which was conquerd last At length the Israelites giue backe indeed And though in order yet with such a speed Beniamin calls it Flight all 's ours they cry If we can runne we haue the victory With that what euer men the towne affords Skilfull to vse their fingers or their swords For spoyle or for pursuite issue out thence With such a noyse they giue intelligence That they haue left it emptie O the vaine Attempts of foolish man O deseru'd paine Th' are made the spoile that they intend to make So wisely can iust heau'ns their vengeance take On bad attempts so all heate asswage And make our Ruine greater then our Rage It neuer entred into their proud thought They should receiue the dammage which they sought To giue vnto their brethren who hauing left Their woody couert and the friendly cleft VVhich entertain'd them by a quicke surprize Take the vnguarded towne O who can prize Those losses to the full or who rehearse Those misaduentures in an equall verse They spare no age but cruell take away From the old men the solitary day They could expect to liue now Infants dye Eu'n those who yet within their mothers lye Finding a Night before they see the Morne Being buri'd thus before that they were borne For whom their murtherers no crime could choose But that they were and had a life to loose Nor does the weaker sex escape the rage Of these intruders and as euery Age So euery Person suffers onely here May be the difference if that any were Either they 're killd out-right or which is worse They thinke their life to be the greater curse Here mothers see their daughters whom they bred As Votaries vnto their Maidenhead Vn-virgin'd in their sight where hauing lost That peerelesse iewell which they valewd most They doe receiue to vindicate their name A death from them from whom they had their shame Auarice followes Lust now they haue leisure To ransacke all those Mineralls of treasure Long peace and thrift had hoarded vp at last As children when their Appetite is past Spoyle what they cannot eate and badly kind Pamper their dogs with that they leaue behind So these as surfeiting with such a store VVhich made them lose all feare of being poore VVhat is not ready spoyle giue to the fire VVhose conqu'ring flames vnto the heau'ns aspire As boasting of their seruice through the towne Swifter then any thing that has renowne For speedinesse they runne one houre does spoile Vnlucky houre what was an Ages toyle Now cracke the houses now the Temples fry Now the poore Citizens resolu'd to dye Doubt of what death and know not which to try The fire the downefalls or the Enemy Had this misfortune hapned in the Night Though Nature had oppos'd such a full light Had made a day and so againe had wonne A Conquest of the towne and of the Sunne Neuer did Sailor with such ioy behold Castor and Pollux when his ship was roll'd Vpon the angry Ocean whose proud waues Made the most haughty minds freeze into slaues VVith a base feare as Israel does view Those flames which he does feare not to be true They are so great and yet he hopes to see These flames to light him to a victory Now all the face of things is chang'd anew Now those which earst seem'd vanquish'd doe pursue The Israelites confirming by their Fight That they could cause as well as act a Flight Beniamin growes amaz'd and does not know VVhat he should doe nor on what grounds to goe VVhich probably seem safe if he should flye He runnes away vnto the Enemy And shall he fight alas but he will find It is impossible to fight behind VVhere he shall be assay'ld yet he shifts ground And figures out his battle in a round And since he hath no hope to scape away Hee 'l