Roar'd howl'd and cry'd and dy'd in deep despair Although he had good men's advice and prayer Despair's a Polititian whose black Art Makes man upon himself act Satans part Accuse condemn torment repel free grace Refuse to give his proferr'd pardon place Tempt to the highest sin and then to tell His sadded soul No place for thee but Hell And so when man the Devils work hath done He payes him wages who desired none The Poets Momus she out-strips in spight VVho hated others for his own delight She hates both God and Man Angels and Devil And her self too yea all both good and evil Save her despairing humour which alone She cherishes and strives to dote upon And to her everlasting torment feeds The gnawing worm that in her conscience breeds She 's sick to death yet will no cordial take Casts off all physick which her pains might slake Her wound is deep and cure she doth desire Yet throws her plaisters all into the fire A spirit frenzifi'd within her raigns She ease desires yet needs will keep her pains Merciful Lord defend us from afflictions VVherein are manifest such contradictions Assist us with thy grace to persevere Unto the end and then we need not fear O'erwhelming in this deep abyss wherein So many heav'n-bound vessels sunk have been Strengthen our faith against despair uphold Our feeble souls and bring them to thy fold An Epigram on despair DEspair avaunt eternal death attends Thy very touch Hell's at thy fingers ends The Cockatrices optick poyson's weak Asps tactick venome slight to thine thou l't break Hearts all in shivers by a single thought Yea murther souls too though most dearly bought By God-man's blood thou mak'st men spill the price And slight their mercies by thy rash advice Lord grant a better Counsellor to me For sure such Counsellor deserves no Fee On Presumption and Despair OLd Poets all mistake who all agree In one to make the fatal Sisters three It's one too many for but two they are But two more fatal then their three by far Daring Presumption that her cheats may pass Puts Mercy in a multiplying-glass So magnifies her past proportion'd measure Makes her a Patroness for lust and pleasure Whilst Cowardly Despair to dim her worth Peeps through a Perspective whose wrong end 's forth VVhich less'ning glass when mercy's through it view'd Semi-annihilates her magnitude They oft change glasses and Despair puts sin Into Presumptions glass whilst she agin Views Justice through Despairs false Perspective VVhich makes them both erroneous judgement give A cure for both I 'll briefly thus devise Let both their glasses break and trust their eyes Presumption stoop to Poenitence Despair Arise to Faith 't will make their ways both fair So shall Despair true Poenitence become Presumption saving Faith to bring us home For one is still too low t'other too high Neither will let us unto God draw nigh Repentance DRop on sweet lymbeck-eyes till you distâ—l Those high-priz'd waters that Gods bottle fill Drop spare not this the richest water is That Earth affords and Heav'n hath none of this Save in Gods handkerchief those tears â—…ip'd off Their glorified cheeks whom earth did scoff Water of life it is if truly made Oh that the avaricious world would trade For this rich ware one drop whereof out-vies East and West-Indies bought at highest price In its true worth add to it for 't will need As much faith as a grain of mustard-seed This composition valu'd is most high In the esteem of Jove's great majesty 'T is worth more worlds then heav'n hath stars shoar sands Sea drops or single blades of grass earth's lands Stream on pure fountains with your hysop water Your nitred springs my sin-stain'd soul bespatter Sope-lave it in your pearly rills that fall From sorrow's source but still have care to call For Lamb's blood intermixt by faith which brings True vertue to your mundifying springs It cleanseth all the stains in nature left And those we added since our Parents theft Blow on serenest sighing wind and calm My stormed conscience and abate the qualm That seiz'th my wounded spirit clear the air Dispel the clouds with gusts of zealous pray'r VVhich force ope heaven and commit a rape Upon th'Almightie's ears we shall escape How fierce soever our assault be made Thou art the wind drives all who heav'nward trade By thee they must un-anchor and set forth Or else their voyage will be little worth Fill up our sails for we shall finde rich ware That hidden lies beyond the fixed sphere Yet blow as faith may steer aright know well VVho sayl by heav'n pass neer the gates of Hell 'Twixt Scylla and Charybdis we must pass Presumption and despair and these alass Are full of danger one 's a floating Rock T'others a gulf shifting like weather-cock Its place with each neâ—… wind On if we stay They 'l both most surely cross us in the way And for the most part he that one doth fly Is shipwrack'd on the other instantly Whiff not with boyst'rous blasts into the deep Let thy gales us in fathom'd shallows keep Blow well to Leeward though a Rock appear 'T is Christ the Cape of our good Hope no fear For never vessel which that Rock did miss Arrived at the wished Port of bliss Nay more unless that Rock we hang upon Our vessel 's split and we are all undone Oh see where it appeareth yond' before Haste on I 'm sea-sick put me there ashoar The floating Rock and shifting gulf I see Approaching neer they both in kenning be Blow strong bear in on that Rock run aground Strike sail cast Anchor for our Port is found If that firm Rock do make the Anchor bend Hope's Anchor steel with faith at either end She with one finger if we Anchors want Can moâ—e us on a Rock of Adamant Such is the Rock on which we must depend That thee my soul from shipwrack must defend An Adamantine Rock whose vertue lay'th Magnetick force on all that 's steel'd by faith Help sighs sad heart my dâ—…ie eyes help tears Such wind and water souls on this Rock bears To steel Hope well with stedfast faith endeavour Then shall we Anchor on it safe for ever Epigram on Repentance BLow wind drop rain Repentance much endears Our souls to God such musick charms his ears Let faith hold fast and then full safe are we These sisters are and must not parted be Both of one birth most strange intwined twins Where the first ends mostly the last begins Which should be elder great Divines do doubt But we 'll not sift such needless scruples out God grant us both in truth of soul and mind And which is first we need not pry to find Faith STrongest of creatures whose eternal Base Is firmer fix'd then earth's foundation was Whose everlasting force none can withstand Surviving change in Heav'n Hell Sea and Land By thee the Elders good report did take Thou teachest us Gods Word the world did make By
makes them both Heav'n and Hell Her age in times meer infancy was vast Transcending all Arithmeticians skill The number of her fore-past years to cast Though they should use the stars that Heaven fill Each grass and grain of dust that Earth can shew And all the drops and sands in Sea and shore With the Ayre 's Atomes they would be too few Were each a thousand thousand millions more For figures that grand number to express To which they would amount Howe'er when time Shall be no more her youth will be no less Then at the first O wonder most sublime Here muse and stand amaz'd presumptuous man Who squandrest pretious time in seeking that VVhich when possess'd annoys Content ne'er can Be found in Treasures Honours Pleasures flat False titillations They the fancy please With momentaneous tickling but the foul Can no satiety receive from these Whilst her diviner eyes espie their foul And gross delusions winning us to waste Our time of grace short week of working dayes On toyes and trifles care away to cast Neglecting our creation's end his prayse That formed us and so to lose our pay In that eternal Sabbath's rest to come And gull us with false hopes that fade away When Judgement dooms us Hell for our sad home Whose everlasting flames should us deter From their allurements and our souls provoke No longer true repentance to defer But take upon us our Redeemers yoke Embrace his endless love And let that force Our souls to grace by holy violence Redeem our time by Faith and true remorse And giving neither God nor man offence For on the husbanding of this short span Of our frail life eternal life depends Or death eternal Oh! when this we scan It should unbottom us from all false ends And keep us firm in truths sincerest wayes And in the pathes of life that when times race Is run and all distinguishments by dayes Hours months years shall here no more have place We may enjoy Eternity above Whereof that we may not at last be mist But ponder still in heart what doth behove Eternity Ah dearest Lord assist AMEN The Epigram on the same ETernity my Muse doth quite confound Her true Description never Mortal found Rings Snakes and Globes with such round things as those Th' Ancients for her diâ—…e resemblance chose A boundless Plain a pointless Parallel A Circle that includes both Heaven and Hell Yet hath nor Centre nor Circumference Demonstrable to Reason or to sence Each Mathematick poinâ— of whose vast Ring Equals her whole Dimension Wondrous thing Yet true as strange Nay more I 'll tell you what Think what man cannot think and she is that She rounds my Verse no man her depth can sound Eternity my Muse doth quite confound Objections Solutions and Chorus Objection 1. WHy should onely Man desire To transgress his Makers Laws Who made him so high aspire That all earthly things he awes Solution 1. NOthing but corrupted Nature Made Man so perverse a creature Nothing but renewing Grace Can Mans guilt and filth deface Objection 2. WHy should Christ from glory come To be born in coursest home Live and die in pain and grief For unthankful mans relief Solution 2. NOthing but divinest Love Brought our Maker from above Who for all his grief and pain Craves but Love for Love again The CHORE OH admired Love divine Suit our hearts with love to thine Then adieu false creature-joys Welcom Truths and farewel Toys Man's Heart 1. A Curious triangle methinks I see Immur'd by Heav'ns Eternal Architect His seed-plot of each Grace divine to be A glorious Paradise without defect A Paradise in Paradise that 's slight The Paradise of Paradise the throne Of the worlds great Creator whose delight Was fiâ—… therein his Majesty thereon Such was Mans heart and such might still have bin Had he baulk'd Serpentine deceit of sin 2. But ah most horrid fate since Adam fell This Nursery a Wilderness is grown Eden of Eden is the Hell of Hell And Graces plants by Pride's puffs over-thrown Earth-mice have eat the seeds the thorns and briers Hemlock and Wormwood have o'er spread the ground Once till'd to grace Lusts and corrupt desires With all their base productions there abound And what was once the King of Glories home Is wholly now a Den for Fiends become 3. World flesh and devil this triangle have fill'd Having got full possession plac'd therein A cursed rabblement of Elves that build Fortifications and strong holds for Sin The blessed Founders greatest Enemy Who in them rests secure thence Grace repells Though profer'd by the Lord spontaneously And all good Inclinations quite expells Whence from a sp'ritual Cana-an it 's grown No less then a mysterious Babylon 4. It 's now the old Red Dragons Nursery A new Plantation of each hateful crime The Shop of that accurst Apothecary Who therein doth his pois'nous drugs sublime Pride's Mercury Zeal-chilling Ellebore Intemperancies Swine-bane Antimony Of Infidelity and thousands more The Opium of dull security And Lusts Cantharides these he refines By them to work his mischievous designes 5. The cunning Gardiner doth oft-times graft Bud and inoculate to shew his skill Produc'th fair-seeming flow'rs on stocks stark naught And specious fruits from roots corrupt and ill But these like Sodoms Apples vanish quite If try'd by touch which sorts he mostly plants In a close corner for his own delight Allotted to Hypocrisie where wants No dressing that the Devil can afford To nourish plants accursed and abhorr'd 6. Stand you but there at gaze and you will deem Your self in Heaven with Saints incircled round Whilst it is Hell and Devils for they but seem And are not real as will once be found The Angels trumpets that at last shall blow Our Resurrection-summons them shall blast And we their painted falsities shall know Themselves in everlasting flames be cast Their rotten Roots which all shall plainly see Proclaim who Impt them and whose Imps they be 7. Dread God! shall this Intruder still possess Thy sacred portion and thy choisest field 'T will make him question thine Almightiness Avenge thee Lord and force the fiend to yeild Root out his worthless plants and replant thine New turn the ground and sow thy seeds of grace Afresh therein and let thy power divine Cherish them there Satans rank weeds deface Batter his raised forts his forces rout Re-enter in thy Right and turn him out 8. Renew thy sin-demolish'd Image here Hallow this little frame to thy great praise New mold new make the model hence cashier Innate corruptions plain the crooked ways Throw down the hills and hillocks raise the vales Manure the barren ground more fertile make The erst unfallow'd plots re-build the walls Thy wonted pleasure in this fabrick take Lord it did cost thee dear when thou went'st hence To purchase it with thy heart-blood's expence An Epigram on the same COuld not Creations Title keep Gods Right In mans false heart that subtile Serpents spight Compell'd him to
be thereto wise men demurr'd But I 'll resolve that doubt whoe'er thou be Atheist approach and feel draw neer and see And doubtless thou shalt have full satisfaction For thy nice question and each godless action Thou' rt right i' th' way no guide needs yet know this Death will most surely shew thee where it is Heaven ETernal Majesty who here dost raign My Muse assistance by thy Spirit daign In mercy pardon this my bold adventure The holiest of holies thus to enter Oh! circumcise my heart my foul lips touch VVith thy great Altar's cole ere I approach Thy honour's dwelling Sanctifie my verse Let this its Our ano-graphy rehearse Soul-charming strains that ravish may with love My self and others of the things above I kiss thy threshold Lord and so creep in VVhere 's no approach for ought defil'd with sin Not that i 'm pure but foul yet purged cleer Lo Lord my sacrifice and Priest are here At thy right hand of glory with thee one The glory both of thy right hand and throne The wonder of thy mercy love and grace VVho bears all Heavens joys summ'd in his face The Heav'n of Heav'n Men cannot wish more bliss Then to behold thy sacred face and his Though but a moment who such sight might have Would hug the silent hushtness of the grave Kiss death yea woo Hells self on the condition When time 's spent to the snuff to have fruition Of that transcendent joy Oh grace divine Incomprehensible save by the Tri'ne It forc'th my tongue-ty'd Muse rapt with delight To stutter forth a far-short Epithite Oh su-per-su-per-su-su-per-la-tive Stupendious Love Into whose depth to dive Would non-plus Heav'ns Angelick Hierarchy VVonder-strike all the Saints to Lethargy Yet as if these essentials of that joy VVere too too small for mankinde to enjoy Too slight a guerdon for a sinful worm VVhose sting death-stung the Lord of Life whose form First most divine is self-deform'd by guilt God for augmenting circumstantials built This New Jerusalem Joys splendid throne A City whose high walls are precious stone Her streets transparent gold her unshut gates Of Orient pearls all of unvalu'd rates VVhere needs nor Sun by day nor Moon by night For God's great glory gives eternal light The Lamb 's the Lamp thereof within it walk Earth's saved Tribes whose musick and whose talk Are Allelu-iahs whose white Robes out vie The purest snow in candor such no eye Of Mortal ever saw nor heart of man Can half conceive where Jesus leads the Van Of sacred Myriades host of Lord of hosts VVith millions of Angels for the posts And scouts of that Coelestial Army grac'd VVith many thousand-thousand Kings all plac'd In thrones of glory crown'd with endless peace And sceptred with triumphant Palms where cease All oppositions to eternity For all their Enemies subdued lie Chain'd up in deathless flames in sulph'ry smother Tormenting and tormented by each other Doom'd to so horrid and immense a curse As God himself can wish his Foes no worse But what need Joys Antipathetical Where Sympathetical drown heart and all In sweet satiety and pleasing fulness Blessedly void of nauseating dulness This feast's cates cloy not ne'er so freely ta'en The Ghests need fear no surfeiting or bane Yet it 's a lasting everlasting feast Like free for all the greatest or the least Here winged Cherubims bring in the Ghests From all Earth's quarters after Death's arrests That Vinegar prepares their appetites To feed on unexpressible delights For that 's Gods wonted way as all Saints know who 'll feast above must taste sowre sauce below Afflictions are Preparatives to bliss VVho rightly bear one rarely t'other miss I might say never Lord what fools are we VVhom sense misseads to doat on what we see Hear feel smell taste with Organs physical Sense-comforts have Soul-poyson in them all The Spider sucks them thence and heedless Bees Fixing on them their ' fore-got honey leese And labour too Avaunt avaunt dear souls Let Faith's bright eye aspire beyond the Poles And view those everlasting Mansions there Void of disturbance anguish care or fear Of all that discontents all that annoys And full refert with boundless endless joys Here the celestial choristers declare Their maker's glory chaunting hymns most rare Sweet odes and Epithalamies they 'll sing To celebrate the nuptials of their king Mount Sion's Lamb Lyon of Judah's tribe Whose bless'd inauguration they 'll describe In soul-amazing notes that ravish quite All ears with sweet excess of choice delight The Heav'n and Heav'n of Heavens ring with peals Of acclamations at the open'd seals The mystery of God fulfill'd they 'll see And joy therein to all eternitie Methinks I hear the most melodious songs The none-such ditties warbled by those throngs My towring soul transmounts the cast back skies Sensing in her degree those rhapsodies Hyper-noetick strains that quite transform My lowly muse into a lofty form Make nature lethe-drunk inflame my heart With restless longing there to bear a part Where who the least part bears shall bear a weight Of countless endless glory great yet light A crowning burthen burthenless who bear The Cross right here shall there the crown right wear An Amarantine Crown of glory lasting Further beyond then 't is to everlasting Lord why doth this dull lump of earth detain My mounting soul from their consort that raign With thee in glory I should groan to be Dissolv'd that I thy presence bright might see Whereof a glympse I spy but sinful flesh Still conjures up desires of life afresh Of life not worth desiring now I view The difference 'twixt it and this that 's true True life is only here our life below Is but a mock-life meerly life in show But real death Lord that I here might stay And wait at my Redeemer's feet for aye But ah it cannot be I must descend And re-invested be in flesh to end My task by thee appointed me beneath Till summon'd by thy Pursevant grim death Or judgement's change I re-appear before Thy throne to be with thee for evermore Dear God in mercy dangers all prevent That may affayl my soul in this descent From sin-defilement keep her pure and free And then thy will be done O Lord on me Yet ah i 'm loath to part my soul much fear'th To fall from highest heav'n to lowest earth Guide me and her Lord while we there remain And then ere long we shall return again The Epigram OH what all-dazling lustre's here whose bright Corruscancy deprives all eyes of sight All tongues of words expressive and all hearts Of comprehensive thoughts all these weak parts Are stupifi'd hereat yet this great throne Was made for worthless man's fruition What miracles hath mercy more to do What! forgive sins give sinners heaven too There needs no more of mercy for man's lot Get hea-ven and get all that need be got Of getting other things learn the forgetting For when all 's got heav'n's all that 's worth the getting Valedictio