Ears My head the prickled Crown my Cheeks the nips My Hands and Feet the Nails my Back the Whipts 'T is strange but true what cannot be deni'd God cannot dye yet t' was a God that dy'd SOUL I clearly see my sins do wound my Lord Without a Trope with and without a Sword Curst Serpent sin since nought can quench his thirst Till he 's imbib'd the precious Blood of Christ What Sinners make so light of by their leaves It press'd God down like as a Cart with Sheaves Nay press'd forth Blood when laid upon his back Poor Wretch am I shall ne're a heartstring crack Shall both thy Head and sacred Temples reek And not a tear bedew my withered Cheek Indeared Mothers when they see a Dart Levelled at the tender Infants Heart They Cry they Screek I Faint I Swound I Dye So cannot I my Lord so cannot I Yet I 'm resolv'd these sins shall ne're be mine I 'le spit them in the face who spat in thine Grant that the Spittle Malice cast on thee May wipe all foul Aspersions off from me But now again my Lord I 'm at a loss What meant thy carrying up and down thy Cross CHRIST The Pagans when a Judgment stroke a Town Did lead their Sacrifices up and down T' appease their angry Gods 't is also said Isaac did bear the Wood on which he 's laid Simon and I bearing that weighty Tree Tells my Disciples what t' expect from me Come on my Child with an undaunted heart Since I go first and also bear a part SOUL Can I refuse thy blessed Yoak to take Since born by thee and fitted to my Neck Thy Cup was full of the red Wine of Sadness Thou fil'st it up to me with Oyl of gladness Thy Cross was fixt on Golgotha a place Where God from thee withheld his blessed Face Mine thou hast fixt on Mount Moriah's green The place where God once promis'd to be seen * Gen 22. A Crown of Thorns thy sacred head encloses Thou wear'st the Prickles and I wear the Roses Truth Lord who follows thee shall have no loss The Cross bears him who ever bears the Cross Is it unlawful Lord for me to say Why was thy Cross fixt on a Golgotha CHRIST This was the seal Tradition would maintain Where Isaac once had like to have been slain The place of Dead mens Skulls 't is also said It was the place where Adam 's buried This being so as 't hath been said of old Then Death was Conquer'd in his Fort and Hold. Man found out sin by sin Death first came in Sin brought forth Death and Death hath conquer'd sin Who by the Serpents sting hath got a hurt The Oyl of Serpents is a plaister for 't 'T was humane Flesh that caus'd the first to dye So humane Flesh obtain'd the Victory Under my Cross Death like a Victim lies And as a Sacrifice o' th' Altar dyes So that of Golgotha it may be said Here is the place where Death lies buried Courage my Soul Death 's done his utmost spite The Serpent he may hiss but cannot bite Spred his cold hand he may and press upon Thy spriteless Corps but cannot break a Bone Hence Death a dark and shady Entry call Bending thy footsteps to a spacious Hall SOUL When through Death's valley I shall bend my way Thy Cross shall be my Rod my Staff my Stay Can'st thou my Soul refuse to lay thy Head Within that place where Jesus made his Bed Once 't was a Golgotha of stench and smell The Pagans call'd it Hades the Jews say Hell Since Christ lay there and from thence did arise Call it from hence the Gate of Paradise Chide not dear Lord my curiosity Why was thy Cross exalted up on high CHRIST It was Gods penal Law and his Decree * Deut. 27.26 Cursed is every one that hangs o' th' Tree I to atone thy Sin thy Curse thy Shame Did dye that Death which did attest the same Altho it was a Roman Death I dy'd Yet an All-seeing Eye did so provide That the curse should contain that Ignomy The Law pronounc't to him that hung o th' Tree Hast thou not read the place where 't is rehearsed And they shall look on him whom they have pierced By this 't is plain my Cross I was to bear And dye that Death whose piercing was by Spear When th' Lamb of old was to the Altar ti'd Mounted aloft and then upon it di'd My Crosses Exaltations verifi'd That sacrificed Ram as 't is related * Exodus 29.27 At the time when the Priest was consecrated 'T was waved to and fro heav'd up and hurld Pointed to the four corners of the World When I was consecrated on the Tree That Jewish rite was well becoming me For so my Cross was mounted up on high That all the World may their Redeemer spy Thus plac't 'twixt Earth Gods footstool and Heavens Throne To reconcile both God and Man in one The Brazen Serpent in the Desert was A Type of me relating to my Cross The Jews being stung with Serpents were made whole By a brass Serpent fixed on a Pole To cure the Wound caus'd by that cursed Creature Art can't effect the cure no more could Nature For if it was a Serpent then I 'm sure Serpents by nature rather kill then cure A fiery Serpent too who can indure The sting of Death is sin by th' Serpent shown The Venom too cause 't was a fiery one What more averse to Reason Sense or Faith Than to seek Life from an accursed Death A crucified Jesus did bespeak Spite to the Jew and folly to the Greek But if you look at Gods wise end in this The cursed Tree's become the Tree of bliss Look as th' aforesaid Serpent made of Brass Was not a Serpent but its Image was So without sin I 'm made a sinful Creature And by my Death gave Life to humane Nature And this Life is convey'd as Scripture saith By looking on my Cross with lively faith A Faith that puts the Serpent to the rout Pulls out his sting and lets the Poyson out SOUL Since that my Lord thus rais'd himself on high Why doth my Soul o th' ground thus grov'ling lie O fix my heart on this thy blessed Tree So as to tast the fruit and healed be What boot's thy pardon tho so full so free If that my Conscience will not pardon me I have been told that this thy Towring cross The downfal of the Devils Kingdom was CHRIST Some make the brazen Serpent for to be A fitting Emblem of this Verity A dead and wounded Serpent on a Tree Bespeaks the wounds Satan receiv'd from me For thus my Cross became the Stage and Scene Where that curst Serpent vents his utmost spleen Nor did I break his Scepter and his Rod By force of Arms alone as being God By Martial Law I entred in the Field By a new Conquest made my Foe to yeild My Innocence did quench his fiery Dart
here my Lusts and dare to taste no more O' th' Fruit ' the Tree of Good and Evil bore Y' have tasted of the Apple view the Core Hear O supine Devotion his loud cry So strong so fervent that it pierc'd the Sky His very Prayer was an Agony VVhy didst thou deprecate thy Cup and say Father if possible pass it away 'T was thy Baptismal Cup thou long'st for how Could'st thou desire it once and dread it now CHRIST Oh 't was a dreadful Cup as ne'r was seen Poison'd with Wrath of God and dregs of Sin The greatest sorrow and the quickest sense Doth set the higher Price on Patience Once to desire it now to drink it loath Doth signifie my love and sorrow both SOUL Shall I take pleasure in those cups and cates VVhich my dear Lord so dreads and deprecates Shall I delight in that by which he dies And sport with ponyards and with Agonies Grant that thy Cup more dreadful than thy Cross is May sour my sins and sweeten all my losses Suffer me Lord thy love for to controul Thou sufferest in thy Body why in Soul CHRIST Sin from thy soul my child did first begin My sorrows did commence as did thy sin And why I sweat such drops of such a sort The burden of thy sins must answer for 't View how my soul 's surrounded for thy sin Sweats Blood without and feels a Hell within Such anguish as is never to be found Sweat without Heat and Blood without a Wound With God with Sin with Satan did I strive Mine was the Life of Death as Death of Life My Death was one yet in that all may be Who di'd before and after di'd in me Well may my Blood be squeez'd through all my Pores I had as many deaths as I had Doors SOUL And shall my sins dear Lord increase thy store And cause thee for to dye ten Thousand more Sin robb'd thee of thy life and 't is as true It kills thy death and stobs thy kindness too Mercy Love Truth and Goodness are a good More dear to thee than was thy Flesh and Blood This thou assum'st the other to display And yet in these thou suffer'dst every day Thy flesh ne'r felt so much from Daggers keen As did thy Heart and Mind feel by my sin O cursed sin far harder to be born Than VVhips than Deaths than Daggers Crowns of Thorn VVhy did the Jews all in a spiteful Vogue Prefer before thee Barabbas a Rogue CHRIST To shew the sinners choice in every Vice Wh ' on God and Conscience sets so low a Price To gain his Lust will lose bis Paradise The value of a soul wer 't to be sold Weighs down a world yea tho a world of Gold Gods Glory 's more to be esteemed than Ten Thousand worlds than Millions of Men Put all into the scales they wont outpoise The wilful madness of the sinners choice There 's no unjust man sins but that in sinning He stabs the mighty God that is within him Lust stares you in the face heard in its groans Felt by its fires smelt in its rotten bones The Drunkard of all sinners not the least Tho God hath stampt his image in his breast Changes that coin and only buys a beast The Swearer sins not at the common rate Swallowing the Devils Hook without a Bait Pawning his soul but for a fruitless evil And not so much as cheapning with with the Devil Who fears man more than God I 'l answer for 't He kills himself for fear of being hurt Thus through the sinners choice it comes to pass Each sin crys out Not Him but Barabbas SOUL The sinner's wretched choice doth far outvy What 's said in Holy VVrit or Hystory Esau stands fool on record for his dotage Selling his Birthright for a mess of Pottage Glaucus chang'd Gold for Brass Crates they say To brave his folly cast his Gold away The Romans fram'd an Altar to apppease A feaverish God worshipping a Disease The Sinners folly doth them all excel Exchanging Life for Death and Heav'n for Hell If Souls more worth than Worlds infer from hence How cheap the're sold when sold for thirty Pence Nay for a filthy Lust when pass'd and gone Not to be found but in a Sigh or Groan Is this the Paramour that most doth please us Is this the Barabbas that Vyes with Jesus Is there such charming Magick in its hue As to be Wed without a Dowry too Nay pay a price down sor't and such a price As Health Wealth Life Soul Bliss and Paradice Since thou dost guard the Tree of Life so well With Cherubims of Death and Flames of Hell How can I break the Fence since to be blest It is my Duty both and Interest Why wast thou stript my Lord I cannot fathom CHRIST To take on me the state of sinning Adam He and thou naked were I naked am That thou may'st have my Robes to hide thy shame SOUL O Clothe me with the Robe of thy great Merit Adorn me with the Graces of thy Spirit Why wast thou bound my Lord why whipt with Cord My Faith begins to fail me help me Lord CHRIST Was Adams sin nought in respect to thee Who robb'd Gods Orchard the forbidden Tree Or did that Fruit ne're set thy Teeth on Edge Or Achan like did'st never steal a Wedg I for thy theft was like a thief fast bound Not guilty but for thee was guilty found Thy greater sins did Stob me to the heart The lesser were those Whips that made me smart Causing such ghastly Wounds in every part SOUL Let me not cherish Lord that viprous brood Which fed upon the reekings of thy Blood Oh wound my sins which caus'd such wounds in thee Then heal those wounds thy love hath made in me Why wast thou spit on Lord why mockt why made A Prophet Priest and King in Masquerade CHRIST Learn where the sin of sin doth chiefly lye Offring affront to th' glorious Majesty Profaness lays him open to Disgrace And Malice spits him in the very face Drunkards deface his Image spoil his Creature Lust would assoil his pure and spotless Nature The unbeliever fain would tye his hands From punishing the breach of his commands And what Injustice does you soon may guess It strips him of his Robes of Righteousness In Robes of Scarlet Scoffers make him stand And puts a Reeden Scepter in his hand Who with inflamed Blood revenge doth seek Doth smite his blessed Maker on the Cheek The Proud Crown him with Thorns the Swearers part Is for to strike his Ponyard through his heart All sin doth mean the same to th' Deity What the Jews meant and did effect in me SOUL To affront my God it is the Sinners sport God may be injur'd true can he be hurt CHRIST I was both God and Man conclude thou then What hurt sin brought to God what hurt to men My Body felt its pangs my Soul its fears My Eyes its taunts its mocks and scoffs my
twain Now is the Vail pull'd off from Moses Face And the way plain'd to the most Holy Place Where neither Peasant Priest nor King did venture For to approach all holy souls may enter Nor is man reconcil'd to God alone But Jew and Gentile too here meet in one SOUL Grant that thy voice which made the vail to part May rend the Vail of sin off from my heart My sin 's the Gulf that Dives knew so well Makes that vast distance between Heav'n and Hell Let this wide space be fill'd with thy great Merit And circumcise my heart too with thy Spirit What boots it Lord if Heaven 's laid ope to me If that my souls unfit for Heaven and Thee Silence my doubts dear Lord and make this clear Why was thy side once pierced with a spear From thence came Water and from thence came Blood Methinks there must be something understood CHRIST Near to the Heart so Providence thought fit A Cruse of VVater's plac'd to cool its heat VVhen Blood and VVater from my side burst out That I was truly dead thou needst not doubt Except it did appear I truly di'd My Resurrection can't be verifi'd VVhen Moses in the Desart strook the Rock He smote my side with a Prophetick Knock. The Covenant of old was then made good VVhen ratifi'd by VVater and by ‖ Heb. 9.19 Blood And so the Covenant that did come after It was confirmed too by Blood and VVater This VVater and this Blood th' Apostle saith Are the great witnesses o' th' Christian Faith Pure as the water such my Doctrine was My Patience was exemplar on the cross What I have teached you may build your faith on And what I promis'd that I took my death on In the old Law there 's no atonement made Till the blood of the Sacrifice was shed That sacrificing Rite was then appli'd To me when that the Dagger pierc'd my side This bloody spout once gaged for thy sin Le ts my Life out and lets thy death come in My Blood comes forth thy Pardon for to merit Water concurreth for to cleanse thy spirit For so of old to make a Leper pure Blood mixt with Water must effect the cure Such Cordials from this Lymbeck were distill'd Thy Font with one thy Cup with others sill'd As Woman first was fram'd from Adam's side So from my Breast was form'd the Church my Bride First form'd by vital Water then my Blood And body both became her spritely food SOUL What greater favour could my Lord impart Than through his side that I may view his heart More wounded by his Love than Daggers Art What greater love than this was ever read My Lord will live in me when he is dead The Cross display'd thy Death 't was thy intent Thy Life should be convey'd by th' Sacrament Once to my flesh thou didst thy self impart Nothing will please thee now except my heart What said Hypocrates is here made good If all the Spirits in the Creatures blood Were once extracted and imbibed then Men that are mortal would be immortal men Who drinks thy blood draws in thy vital breath Must find a life yea in the Jaws of Death Thou art the Tree of Life in Paradise VVhose Faith can strongly feed on thee ne'r dies Let thy VVounds and thy Blood Lord make me whole And with this water purifie my soul I beg thy Favour Lord what did't betoken Not one bone of thy body shall be broken CHRIST God counts our hairs and heareth all our grones And is in Cov'nant with our very bones That mine might be preserv'd I 'd the defence Of Promise Prophecy and Providence The Jew wont break a bone o' th' Paschal Lamb VVhen sacrific'd that Sacrifice I am VVhat in my natural body 's understood My body Mystical shall make it good My Bride so dearly bought I 'le love and cherish Not the least member of her once shall perish My piercing eye beholds each dust and whither Retir'd my hand can bind up all together I di'd 't is true but yet I live and I As little can in my poor Member dye My flesh and blood my soul and life he is Can such a member ever fail of bliss VVill not God cherish that life he 's begun Or can you cut a Ray off from the Sun The dearest husband may forsake a wife But God whiles God can ne're forego his Life Souls full of Goodness Truth Integrity The Life and Spirit of the Deity Then ceases for to live when God can dye SOUL Lord hear my voice and listen to my cry Reach me thy hand or else I faint and dye VVhat loving Mother but will hear the crying Of her dear Child when at the point of dying Suffer not thy dear self to be in pain VVhy should my Lord and Saviour dye again VVhat life I have in me 't is thine alone Let not thy foes and mine once break a bone Nor suffer me to see corruption Vouchsafe my Lord this secret to disclose VVhy at thy death we read the dead arose CHRIST Under that curse of dying thou shalt dye A double death for sin did couched lye Sin rob'd thy body of its vital breath And caus'd thy soul to dye a second death My body from my soul was rent o' th' Cross My soul from God o' th' two the greater loss But yet by dying thus 't was truly shown Thy double death I satisfi'd in one I loos'd deaths bonds bursting Hell-gates asunder Out comes the dead and tells abroad the wonder Hast thou not heard nor seen that wonted Fashion Of Potent Princes at their Coronation To make their Glory and their Joy combine The very Conduit-Pipes must flow with VVine To shew withal their Grace and Clemency The Prison's open and the captives free So in Triumphal Conquests Princes please To cast about their Gifts and Largesses My Cross it was my Throne tho curst by sin Where I was consecrated Priest and King When that my side was pierced by my foe My blood more choice than wine did freely flow Having discharg'd thy debts upon the Tree Both from the Grave and Hell I set thee free And here I made the Goal-delivery Mounting on my Triumphant Chariot I Led sin and Satan in captivity Dragging them at my Chariot-Wheels and then I freely gave my gifts and grace to men Such was the glorious conquest of my Cross That sin death grave and hell my Vassals was SOUL If so my Lord why am I dead in sin As if what thou hast done had never been Since thou hast broke the Prison of the Grave Why doth my sin fetter me like a slave Making my soul forget her former birth Sinking her deeper in this mud of earth And tho within this Clay she can't stay long Why should she strive to make her Prison strong Since that my soul 's enlarg'd from th' nether Hell I will no more in that dark dungeon dwell Since thou hast paid so dearly for thy slave Shall not my
Lord his dear-bought purchase have My debts are paid shall I begin the score And load thy Cross with sins and sorrows more Oh that the breath of life would breath upon This rotten Carkass and this dryed Bone That I may testifie two Truths in one Thy mighty Death and Resurrection One question more VVhy did th' Apostles all So faithfully record thy Burial CHRIST The Prophet David did this Truth †Psal 16. foretell Thou wilt not leave my soul i' th' nether Hell This from Isaiah too may be ¶ Isa 55.9 infer'd I dy'd with wicked with the rich inter'd Joseph 's Pit Daniel 's Den and Jonah 's Whale VVere but the umbrage of my Burial 'T is a religious seed in nature bred All Nations do prepare t' inter the dead Such was the custom of th' Egyptian Sages Holding the Soul to live immortal Ages Lest after death the soul might transmigrate The body was embalm'd in Princely State That both uniting they might frustrate death Aping an Immortality on Earth The Grecian Rites tho different did tend To perfect and compleat the self-same end Fetching the Souls Original no higher Than that its nature was like unto Fire The Piles erected and the Bodies burned By this the soul to her first state returned The body too thus purged in the fire Like to the soul may never more expire The Romans did no less their bodies burn Closing the ashes in sepulchral Urn. The corps drencht of its dregs was thus calcin'd And made Aethereal like to the mind These uncorrupted Ashes did presage Their firm belief of an immortal age The Jews best taught of God abhorred burning The soul next aftr death to God returning The body was committed to the Earth It s proper Parent whence it had its birth It was Gods penal law too sinners must As dust they were return unto the dust Nor did Gods Law consign men to this fate Without a prospect of a future state VVho di'd a cursed death so 't is ‖ Deut. 29. infer'd VVas afterwards expos'd but then inter'd Lest perishing o' th tree may thence create A foul opinion of a future state For so Gods image would have been beli'd As if the soul like to the body di'd The body too prey'd on by winged Fowl Should never more return unto the soul The Washings Oyntments Gums with other cost Suggests this Truth None that are dead are lost Nor can we Judas like this question state Why was this Oyntment spent at such a rate VVhy are our Cloaths wrapt up so neatly spread But that the Grave 's a Wardrope for the Dead VVhen th' Sacrifice o' th' Altar was consum'd The Ashes by the Priest was then assum'd Then Faithfully deposited abroad As Relicks that were Relative to God The Earth the Elements the spacious Globes Are but one chest to keep my Servants Robes The Keys are hung upon my Royal Throne And when I turn my hand all know their own None is so rich in death but that he hath Either a Monument or Epitaph Nor none so poor but that he thinks it meet A stone should Crown his Head or shoe his Feet This truth by this dumb Language is display'd Man fain would be alive when he is dead Thus stones do speak and speak it to the full That man both is and would be living Soul Thus Custom Nature Piety withal Brings Gums and Spikenard for my Burial Nor did my due interment want its sence Both as to time and place and circumstance The seventh day was the season God had blest The very day on which I took my rest O' th' six't day Adams Body had its Birth O' th' six't my Body visited the Earth This held for truth and for a truth related Adam the same day fell he was created On the same day I gave the Thief a tast O' th' Fruit of Paradise which Adam lost Nor was it less Mysterious that I have A Garden-plat wherein to pitch my Grave By this cunclude my Death a way hath forc't To Paradise again which Adam lost 'T is not without remark I laid my Head In a new Tomb where none was buried As I was spotless in the Virgins Womb My Purity requir'd a Virgin Tomb. Were I inter'd with sinners as I dy'd My Resurection would have been beli'd Had others slept with me it might be said Some other person 's risen in my stead My Tomb was therefore new hewn out of stone That so my Resurrection may be known Had it been built of stones stones more than one The Bottom might be raz'd the Body stone But since it was a stone cut out of Rock Had Pilates Signet too to be the Lock Since that a weighty stone too guards the Cell And did become its sturdy Centinel And to make sure a band of Soldiers taken Whom envy malice fear did keep awaken This Rock so Guarded was the Corner-stone Of the truth of my Resurrection SOUL Since my Lord dy'd for me shall I not come And break a Box of Spikenard on thy Tomb I know thy purity and innocence Needs not my Myrrh my Gums my Fankincense For to preserve thy sacred person whole As uncorrupt in Body as in Soul What Pow'r in Gums and Oyntments e're can be The Body from corruption to keep free Such was the power of thy Divinity Since that I cannot now Embalm my Head I will Anoint the Members in its stead Thy Body Hands and Feet shall nor go free What to the Members done is done to thee Since thou wilt have a Tomb cut out by Art Oh let thy Spirit work it in my Heart It is a Rocky Stone but yet it will Make thee a Tomb when Polisht by thy skill Since it was so as thou my Lord hast said Thou wast inter'd where no man else was lay'd Oh let no wilful sin dare once to dwell Within that place where God hath made his Cell Seal it then with the signet of thy VVord That no vile lust may steal away my Lord. Help me to watch my Lips and guard my Heart That no ill thought ill speaking or ill Art May offend my Lord and cause him to depart VVhat I engag'd in my Baptismal Vow I here remember and do promise now That since my Lord was Dead and Buried This Truth in me shall be accomplished My sins shall dye with thee upon the Cross A painful lingring Death as Jesus was VVhen once they 'r Dead Oh let it ne're be said I shall renew acquaintance with the Dead But like our dearest Friends when dead and rotten Become vile Earth and therefore soon forgotten So Abra'm said of Sarah when she dy'd Take her away let her no more be ey'd If that my sin with thee is thus inter'd And that I am made free among the dead I shall with joy at last lift up my head Lord lay me lower in this bed of dust Then raise me to the mansions of the Just The Close I am thy Servant Lord I am no Poet As thou dost know and all that know me know it If I have ask't or made thee say amiss I beg thy pardon on my beaded knees Grant me thy Spirit Lord and by its art Do thou imprint these Lines upon my heart That then my scribble not till then shall be Esteemed to be good Divinity VVhat 's said amiss thy pardon Lord that mine is What well the Grace and Favour only thine is As thou hast been my Alpha be my FINIS
Licensed and Entred according to Order THE MYSTERIES OF MOUNT CALVARY Opened and Improved IN A DIALOGUE BETWIXT CHRIST and the SOUL Omnis creatura compatitur Christo morienti sol obscuratur terra movetur Petrae scinduntur velum templi dividitur Sepulchra aperiuntur Solus homo Christo non Compatitur pro quo tamen Solo Christus patitur S. Hieronymus in Mat. 27. Aut prodesse volunt aut delectare Poetae Aut simul jucunda idonea dicere vitae Horat. de Arte Poetica By J. V Rector of Woodston in the County of Huntington LONDON Printed for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapside near Mercers Chappel 1686. THE MYSTERIES OF Mount CALVARY c. SOUL GRant me O Lord thy Spirit from above That I may know the mysteries of thy Love It cramps my Reason and it damps my Faith To read the stories of thy Life and Death Thou art my God infinite Wisdom can Best solve the point why God became a man CHRIST Behold my Soul God's a transcendent Sprite Love Wisdom Justice Mercy infinite Such is his Glorious Nature to the Eye Once to behold is to behold and Dye Nor can a prospect of the Sun be made Ere grateful to the Eye but in a shade The Vail of Moses Face was as a Glass For to reflect the glory of his Face Moses Vail was my flesh that pleasing shade In which Gods Attributes were all displai'd Sin was conceived first by Virgin Woman Since Adam knew her not and she knew no man By Virgin woman sin found entrance in The Virgin Woman's seed attones the sin The birth of sins controuled by my birth Since I was pure and spotless born of Earth Pure as my birth my life hence qualifi'd To expiate those sins for which I di'd Nor did my human nature less express Gods Wisdom equal to his Holiness 'T was Flesh and Blood that sin'd to make this good Thy sin I did atone by Flesh and Blood 'T was man that sin'd 't was God that was offended Man di'd God's satisfied the quarrel ended God's peace with man's proclaimed by my merit Man's peace with God's procured by my Spirit I took thy nature so imparted mine I was humane that thou may'st be Divine I came from Heaven to Heaven I plain'd the Rode God dwelt with man that man may dwell with God When I for sin a Sacrifice was made Gods Justice like his Wisdom was display'd That mercy may be shown God will be Just Either the sinner dyes or Jesus must At the same instant Mercy meant thy good Justice procur'd it with the price of Blood Nor do'st thou read God ever pard'ned Vice Scarce with but ne'r without a Sacrifice For so the Jews in all their solemn Feasts To atone their sins they Sacrificed Beasts And when the Lamb was slain i' th' sinners stead The guilt pass'd over to th' accursed head By these and other rites it was infer'd Sin was not strictly pardon'd as transfer'd David pursu'd with guilt to th' Altar flies His sin is pard'ned but his Infant dies So Just is God but yet so meek and mild He pardons sin but punisheth his Child Fear to offend Justice being so severe Since that thy pardon too doth cost so dear That God is merciful thy sins do shew it His blessed nature prompts him daily to it But since I paid so dearly for thy sin Justice it self doth usher Mercy in So contrite Souls may in Gods Mercy trust Since God is merciful ' cause he is just Buying thy Ransom at so dear a price Justice can ne'r demand the payment twice Gods Love like to his Mercy 's infinite Exerting all its pow'rs with all its might Light ceases not to spread his Golden Bams Fountains would drain themselves in Silver Streams God can't be less than the work of his hands His very Nature is what love commands Thy self unto thy self God gave thee once Ten thousand times thy self he gave thee since But when thy sin and misery he spi'd Took flesh so gave himself for thee and di'd Thus love from Heaven discharging every dart At last he threw himself into thy heart Not only took thy flesh and so thy sin But being man like thee became thy kin What friendship e're was found in any other Of Friend Physician Advocate or Brother All meet in me nay I am more then this Thy Flesh thy Life thy self thy God thy bliss SOUL Since 't was my Lords blest purpose and intent Within my Nature for to pitch his Tent Since that thy house meat grave they were not thine The reason is my Lord thou wouldst have mine Come Holy Ghost and by thy spritely art Hover and breathe upon my barren heart Since the place sacred is where God will come Make my heart like unto the Virgins Womb. Tho 't is not pure as knowing sin before Let it be Virgin knowing sin no more Once in a Manger was thy Body lay'd But in a Jakes I blush to have it said Into a worldly mind thou canst not come 'T is pinching narrow and it wanteth room Nor can I hear thy sweet and secret Voice In a House fill'd with jangling War and noise Nor canst thou dwell in a revengeful Brest The noise and hurry will disturb thy Rest Nor can my Lord an Habitation find Fit for thy Presence in an haughty mind Self taketh up the room and fills thy space Of residence and scorns to give thee place Uncleanness doth thy sacred spirit choak Bees shun the Hive when driven out by smoak Drunkards do quench thy Sprite pure and Divine Who cannot keep his own he cannot thine Nor can the God of truth e're dwell within A naughty mind where treachery hath been Since it betrays him to each tempting sin Nor can a sin within thy Temple dwell No more than Heaven can e're accord with Hell What friendship hath my God with Belial Why wouldst thou condescend Lord let me know Not to be made a man but man so low CHRIST Such was thy pride daring with God to vye And I atton'd it by humility God envys none his happiness to know it When pride atempted it and did foregoe it Humility points out the way unto it Such is the Virtue of an humble Soul Coupling all graces and secures the whole Blest be the grace to which alone 't is given To fetch God down to Earth raise man to Heaven Such is its power and vertue that it can Make man become like God and God like man God greater than himself can never be Except in this great in humility God and man courts this grace Heaven is Gods seat He 's but one more the humble soul is it When greatness doth with goodness twist and twine What can be more Heroick and Divine What makes the Sun so graceful but his light Quickning the meanest object of our sight Never did Radient Pearl so please the eye As to behold an humble Deity Learn O my Child
this blessed grace of me SOUL Thy pardon Lord methinks thy sinful Creature Should learn this lesson of his wretched nature Earth should be Earth and Worms are ever found Like other insects crawling on the ground Man to be lowly is as if I said Man should be man dust dust a spade a spade How can man pride himself and himself flatter When sin 's his form and nothing is his matter Poor and proud is the greatest monster seeing None but it self can give it self a being Man 's all is God nothing's his own beside That which is worse than nothing that 's his pride Pride therefore is a sin of Monstrous birth Who Serpent like feeds on the slime o' th' Earth Black spawn of Hell Void of intelligence Got in the darksome night of ignorance Who like a Viper eats through's Mother's side Since nothing but a nothing genders pride So bladders swell and skip for want of poise And empty Vessels make the greatest noise When Fruitful Trees of young and early Birth Do end their teeming burdens to the Earth So Pearls in dark and deepest Earth are found And sweetest Violets trail on the ground My self unto my self do thou disclose Who knows not his own nothing nothing knows Gods greatness and mans sin 's so deep a pit Such as no mortal man e're sounded yet Who counts himself a sinful wretched man He is more wretched than his thoughts can span Lord let me know and feel my nothingness Then do thou fill this wide and empty space With plenitude and riches of thy grace Since I am nothing of my self alone And nothing nothing hath to bottom on Lord touch my heart as needle's touch't with stone That it may point and fix on thee alone Why did my Lord and Saviour think it best Before his Death t' appoint the Paschal Feast CHRIST When once the Lamb was slain and every door o th' Jewish Tribes was signed with the gore The quick-ey'd Angel spi'd it out and slew The Egyptian Host but passed o're the Jew Then did the Jews conducted by the Hand Of Moses pass o're safe to th' promis'd Land Not that they did atchieve that land till they Had trac't their passage through the Ruddy Sea View how this rite was perfected by me I pass'd from Life to Death by sinners slain I pass from Death to Life for sinners gain Look as the Lamb when on the Altar lay'd The owners debt was by the Victim pay'd And so the curse pass'd o're the sinners Head And fell upon the beast slain in its stead I was that Lamb ti'd fast upon the Tree Gods Justice like the Angel fell on me Th' Egyptian's slain the Israelite is free Passing from Life to Death I made all good Passing from Death to Life is understood The way to bliss is by and through my Blood Thus knowing my departure to draw on I joyn'd the Paschal-Supper with my own That both the Type and Antitype may meet And with a joynt Salute each other greet The Paschal-supper did commemorate The ancient thraldom of the Jewish State The signal was a pure and spotless Beast Offred in Sacrifice of Eucharist Nor did they only Sacrifice a Beast But on that Sacrifice they made a Feast Thus on the Cross I gave my Flesh and Blood Both on the Table are become thy Food Here thou may'st quell thy hunger quench thy thirst Feeding upon the Sacrifice of Christ Since thus for thee I gave my Life and Breath Forget not the memorials of my Death SOUL Since that my Lord so freely did impart His Blood to me sprinkle it on my Heart That so thy Justice may the signal view Making my sin th' Egyptian me the Jew Slay my First born O thou First-born of God! My mighty sins with thine Almighty Rod. Drown these Egyptians in thy Sea of Blood Then through this Sea Lord make my passage good Unto the Land of Canaan understood Help me too through this Egypt where I dwell A Land of darkness thraldom sin and Hell Snce that my Bands are loosed by thy Merit Guide me Lord through this desert by thy Spirit Let thy Hand be my Covert and my Shrowd Thy Law my fiery pillar and my Cloud Let truth that binds our words and actions fast Gird up my Loyns and clasp about my Wast Bind on my feet the Sandals of thy Word Which to my steps alone can light afford Give me the staff of Faith too in my Hand My Foes to conquer or at least withstand Thus fix't I 'le trace my way to th' Holy Land Lest in this Pilgrimage I faint and pine I 'le not forget my Viands Bread and Wine My dayly wants and needs do prompt me to it Thy Dying Words dear Lord commands me do it And am I not a treasure to attend The living pledges of my Dying Friend Thy cursed Death dear Jesus should be mine And shall I balk the blessed fruits of thine Thy Cross I should have born tho pressed down And shall I be compell'd to wear my Crown Compulsion to a Feast seems very odd Surely to such whose Friend and Food is God If that the Jewish Rites and thine accord I Feast not only with but on my Lord. Thou giv'st thy self on Earth from Heaven above Thou giv'st thy self again such is thy Love Shall not thy dying Love on Earth invite me Shall not thy living Love from Heaven excite me Canst thou do more than dye Do more than love me Can 't bleeding Love nor feeding love too move Be angry Lord and let my sins at least Harrass and toss me to this blessed Feast Then shall thy sacred Body and thy Blood Be Meat and Med'cine both Physick and Food Give me this day my dayly Bread I cry Or in this pilgrimage I faint and dye Why did my Lord and Saviour think it meet To condescend to wash his servants Feet CHRIST To raise the price of that contemned grace Humility born of a Heavenly Race If any one had reason to be high And lift his Head above the Tow'ring Sky None shews a better title to 't than I. I claim Gods Titles Worship Nature Name God and Gods Privy-Councellor I am My Births Divine my works were works of Wonder My Life was Lightning and my Voice was Thunder I was King too but yet my power was shown In Kindness Love and Courtesy alone Great was my Works as not to be withstood Yet great in nothing more than doing good I raise the Dead tho Dead to worldly pelf I Dy'd unto the VVorld and to my Self For when my Miracles came to be known I stopt mens mouths together with my own I rais'd the Sick and still'd the Winds beside Yet knew not how to raise a puff of pride When I was once transfigured on high Both Moses and Elias standing by The only news they brought me I must Dye When in a King like manner once I came Riding in Triumph to Jerusalem My joys were soon allayed by my fears For then I
wet my Palms with dewy Tears 'T was then and there I was to be a King But Consecrated such by Suffering My Throne was plac'd betwixt the Crosses Horns My Scepter was a Reed my Crown of Thorns My Robes were Mocks my Acclamations Scorns Thus both my Life and Death commends to thee This Godlike vertue of Humility SOUL Could man but know himself himself he 'd know To be a stinking Dunghil clad with Snow Vile Earth without and viler Soul within A mighty nothing superadded sin Methinks the sin of pride should find no place Nor yet Humility become a grace In man whose sinful nature is so base But when I see what once my Lord became I little nothing worse than nothing am Ne're do we seem so little in our â—ye As when we look down on our selves from high When I consider what my Lord hath done I melt away like Snow-balls in the Sun When by thy light and bâ—thy spritely Art I dig to th' center of my sinful Heart I am all fear all dread all in a maze Viewing the grizley Spirits which I raise But when I see a Nature so Divine Exerting so much goodness once in mine How Heaven courts Earth and God becomes our brother How one Abyss doth call upon another Here self dissolves struck by such potent Charms Expiring like to Moses in Gods Arms. Here pride that brat of darkness and of night Not daring to behold this glorious sight Makes off like spirits at the day-brake light Oh! let me see my Face in this thy Glass Shall man be proud when God so humble was Since that the meanest services were thine I will not grudg my Lord shall make them mine Whate're thy hand hath touched is Divine I 'le go from house to house from door to door Healing thy sick and visiting thy poor Since in these Offices I need not fear To meet a Friend for I shall meet thee there VVhy is' t Recorded Lord why is it said That thou for thirty pieces wast betray'd CHRIST Thou sold'st thy self to sin to set thee free The price of slaves was judg'd the price of me As in a Glass behold my Child and view The baseness of thy sin and thraldom too Jesus thy Lord setting so vile a rate on Making thy Soul do Homage unto Satan Pagans a Drunken Bacchus did adore Mars Mammon Pluto Venus too a Whore Who casts off these by his Baptismal vow Tho he thinks not he may adore them now Uncleanness rapine riot and excess Mars Venus Pluto Bacchus was no less And all but Devils in a Godlike dress The Christian sins with Pagan rites accord Both Tribute pay to Satan as their Lord. Tho sinners aim at nought but pleasing profit The Devils service is the meaning of it Pagans in all their superstitious evils They meant a God tho Worshipt none but Devils Who owns himself a Christian by my Name And breaks my Precepts does the very same When as I was about to be betray'd Lord is it I The Traytor Judas said Nor was that wretch ever so void of sence To think my Person worth but thirty Pence 'T was not his Reason but his Avarice That on his Master set so low a price 'T was lust that did above his Lord prevail So the beam lean'd too much to th' weakest scale Jesus more worth than worlds a Judas cryes Rather than lust be starved Jesus Dyes Such is the nature of a sin when bred VVhat cannot once be cured must be fed VVhose heart the world doth sway and that his bliss is He 'le sell me Judas like for thirty pieces Tho in Exchange he doth impart a kiss I need not tell thee who his Master is For so in secret Caverns Serpents lurk Like hidden Springs setting the Wheels on work SOUL In Lawful things we most of all offend When our desires want measure both and end Whose swelling mind his Fortunes doth out go Five Hundred pounds is not so much as two Proud and ambitious Minds will draw a Sword For that which meek men count not worth a Word The sober Person dines without a wish When Lust is pined at a double Dish Ne'r was there Judg that dare to be unjust Were he not bribed otherwise by Lust None covets sin but lust for to fulfil And so sins willingly against his Will Down to my mean Estate Lord bend my mind And let them both like Warp and Woof combin'd Sleeping securely thus on Natures Lap I 'm safe from Satans wiles and Fortunes Clap. Why did that Traytor wound thee with a Kiss And suck rank Poyson from the Streams of Bliss CHRIST To expiate thy foul Hypocrisie Which doth at once betray thy God and me My flesh it was a Mirror to express Gods Justice Goodness Truth and Righteousness Who makes a breach in any one of these Tho a Disciple yet a Judas is Who in my Gospel Precepts doth be-lye me In all my Gospel Truths he will deny me He will not dye that dares not to be just He 'l ne'r forsake his life that wont his lust Who shipwracks Conscience as the Scripture saith Must cast away the Anchor of his * 1 Tim. 1.19 Faith Whose formal Christian only may as well Bating the name of Hypocrite and Hell Become a Jew a Turk an Infidel He is my Friend by the same reason so As Turk and Jew and Pagan is my Fo And tho he wears my Coat as Judas Kisses When th' Fashion alters tears it all in pieces They who would make me King did most deride me Who cri'd Hosanna most they crucifi'd me SOUL Cursed Hypocrisie that would outvye The God of Wisdom Truth Sincerity Daring to kiss his Face in 's Courts to dwell More distant from him than is Heav'n from Hell So Apes are counted most deformed Creatures VVho are not men but would be men in features Grant I may love thee Lord by being like thee That I may ne'r at once both kiss and strike thee Let me detest all sin in every part That I may ne'r be Judas in my Heart The Garden is a Seat of Pleasure why VVas it the Scene of thy sad Tragedy CHRIST Here in a Garden I aton'd that Sin Which in a Garden you know did begin For there we find the Tree of Good and Evil Which Adam eat of tempted by the Devil Here I engag'd that Tempter in the Field Where first he made thy Parents for to yield Here my imbitter'd Cup did first confute The fancied Pleasures of Forbidden Fruit. That Curse of sweat when man procures his food * Gen. 3.17 I here aton'd by sweating drops of Blood SOUL Enough my Lord thou 'st fully paid my Scores Fitting thy Plaisters wisely to my Sores Approach you hither all you idle Drones View how your Lord both sweats and sighs and groans Behold you swearers how he faints and swoons Under the burthen of your cursed VVounds View how his Blood and Moisture is sunk up By drinking of the Drunkards poison'd Cup. Come
My Patience smote him to the very Heart My Foe by wounding me did himself wound Meeting his fiery Dart at the rebound Murdering the Son of God i' th' sinners stead He brought both shame and curse upon his Head And thus I caught the Devil in that gin By which he made Adam and Eve to sin I' th' Serpents shape at first he did appear Not in his own 't was full of dread and fear And by this Craft he got the Womans Ear. In love to man mans Flesh and Blood took I Cloathing my Godhead with Humanity The Serpent by this art I did outvy Who views my Cross now with a faithful Eye May see the cursed Serpent wounded lye What once was term'd the ignominious Tree Now proves a Trophy of my Victory For so the Romans in a conquer'd Town Set up a Trophy of their great Renown At first it was a Garment or some Cloaths Stript from the back of their new conquer'd Foes Then fastned to a Transverse Beam it was Then mounted on a Pole my very Cross I having spoild the Devil on the Tree I made the shew on 't Triumpht openly * Col. 2.15 My Cross that was so cursed doth appear To be my Chariot and triumphing Chair SOUL If that the Serpent's crucifi'd with thee Why do I find him daily tempting me Is not my heart more Devil e're then he Grant that as Satan felt thy Crosses smart So do thou Rule and Reign within my Heart Why would my Lord girt with a Crown of Thorns Be nail'd and rivetted to Crosses horns CHRIST The Earth once curst by Adams sin did bear Bryars and Thorns which on my Head I wear And for that Curse I make Atonement here Before the Heathens Oxes Blood was shed They put a Crown of Flowers on his Head When I was Crown'd with Thorns upon the Tree The Heathen may behold the Mystery VVhen Isaac the delight of Abraham 's Eyes Had like to bave been once a Sacrifice A Ram was caught i' th' Thickets of the VVood Christ crown'd with Thorns is that Ram understood In every Jewish Sacrifice of Old My Cross was but the story often told For when the Lamb was slain his joints stretcht out Then ti'd to th' Altars Horns without all doubt The Mystery of the Cross was pointed out SOUL Since that the Jewish sacrifice and thine Did in one Altar meet and so combine Oh let my sins be fastned to the Tree And like a sacrifice be slain with thee So shall the Jews and Christian Rites agree And Christ be all in all in them and me Let all my crosses losses mocks and scorns Be dignified by thy Crown of Thorns I have not done methinks thy Cross points out Some latent Truth behind Lord clear my doubt CHRIST How doth the God of Love void of all evil Run counter to the Malice of the Devil Since that the cursed Caitiffs proper food Is for to glut o' th' streams of humane Blood But God is Love tho Justice might step in And claim mans blood as forfeited by sin Yet Goodness is so full of his own good Rather than man shall lose his life and blood God by the hands of his own Justice dies Not man but God becomes the Sacrifice The powers of darkness and eternal night Were spoiled here and here expos'd to sight By the same sword thy Lord receiv'd his wound He smote the cursed Serpent to the ground Here Satan more than Christ seems to be dead He bruis'd his heel indeed but he his head Nor was he hurt alone but 't is as true He was disarm'd of all his weapons too Can he condemn The sinner soon replies Man shall not dye since God himself here dies When that the Creditor's become thy friend The Bailiffs inquisition's at an end Here Hell was hy its captive captive led And the destroyer Death slain by the dead That Hand-writing which threatned man with th' loss Of life is cancell'd here and nailed to th' cross So laws of old when that their power was lost They were expos'd transfixed to a Post And to make all compleat Gods Justice too For thy contentment is expos'd to view Here both Gods Arms of Justice with his Hands Were fastned to the cross by loving hands He cannot lift them up since they are bound To strike the contrite sinner to the ground Nor can his weighty feet since they are pent Trip up the heels of any Penitent Only his hands are stretcht as silent charms T' allure the soul to fall into his arms The mouth of Justice here is still and mute And only bows his head to th' sinners suit His side is pierc't his blood trails on the ground To fetch you in and so close up the wound SOUL Since that my soul for sin can find no ease Toss'd on the billows of the angry seas I 'l fly unto thy Cross and there imbark Creeping in at the Windows of that Ark Thy side I mean Lord grant me entrance in Then let thy precious wounds close up my sin Nor am I pleas'd my sins are covered Till they be crucifi'd with thee and dead How shall I sound thy pangs thy pains thy smart And what a sufferer for me thou wert Till that I find and feel thy pois'ned dart Lye throbbing in each Fibre of my Heart The Jew before the Victims blood was shed Laying his hand upon th' accursed head Cri'd out 'T was I that merited this pain Thus to be bound and strangled cut and slain My sin that cursed beast that goard my Lord I 'l bind him to thy Altar fast with cord Then slay the slayer with the slayers sword 'T was sin that forc't thy death or 't had not been Shall not thy death enforce the death of sin I 'le therefore stretch its hands and arms full wide Upon thy Cross and wound them through thy side Thy pangs shall through my hollow bowels move And eccho back again thy dying love My tears shall meet thy blood then safely I May say thy death is mine when thus I dye Pardon my suit O Lord discover why Thou choosest such a painful death to dye CHRIST Small was the instance of mans first offence The greater was his disobedience Scarce do ye sin or ever go astray Till pleasure goes before and leads the way I bore those pains most contrary to sence Mans cheap and pleasant sin to recompence What was thy pleasure let it be thy fear Since what 's so cheap to thee to me 's as dear A living death a dying life had I I di'd in dying yet I could not dye My bones disjointed and my Nerves extended I di'd in every part yet no life ended My lingring death that death may signifie Where sinners always live and always die By this death without death it may be shown If Infinite by Finite can be known Thy ever dying death I did atone SOUL A death so painful shameful ne'r was seen Nay cursed too I wish't had never been CHRIST I
outbids the Devils market far Judg whether Vice or Virtue is more gainful Since Life to come's so sweet and Death so painful Nor canst thou say 't is thine unhappy state Sin never was thy choice but 't is thy Fate Can Life cause Death Good Evil Truth a lye Life Goodness Truth crys out why wilt thou dye Is man a Creature of a rank no higher Than artificial Puppet made of Wier Are praises promises rewards all one As if you should sing well to please a stone Is man no more blame worthy for his sin Than is a Watch not pointing right the Pin Conscience would never smite thee for a Vice Did not thy Nature prompt thee otherwise Is' t not the Drunkards choice to set at nought That cup where Aconite is made the draught And cannot Heaven nor Hell make him refrain Can Heaven e're lose its price or Hell its pain Strange Fate ne're fix'd on ought but what are evils As if God ne're made men but all were Devils If sin hath caught thee in its fatal gin Thy punishment's as fatal as thy sin But after all is there no strength and force In this that sin made God himself a curse Then sinner take thy fill carouse and quaff But canst thou drink o th' Cup that Christ drank of Or can thy back once bear that direful Rod Prest with the Arm of an Almighty God If sin made God so cursed Oh what can Make sin more cursed unto sinful man If innocence did under wrath so groan What comfort can the sinner look for none I beg thy Favour Lord for to relate Why thou wast Crucifi'd without the Gate CHRIST For to compleat a Jewish Type of note Th' accursed Sacrifice o' th' Scapen Goat Nor was it fit my Merits and my Grace Should be confin'd only to th' Jewish Race I dy'd a Pagan Death my erected wood Stood ' loft that all may view it for their good My Arms were stretched out from East to West To close with every Soul that would be Blest My Titles wrote in Hebrew Latin Greek All Nations in me may Salvation seek SOUL Thou dyd'st for all nought can it falsify But only cursed Infidelity Were not thy Death of Value infinite It could not make atonement for one sprite But being infinite it satisfi'd Both for this world and thousand worlds beside Let my name in thy Cross Engraven be Thou didst not dye for all if not for me But why in Holy Writ is' t verifi'd My Lord betwixt two Malefactors dy'd CHRIST There is a reason why th' Apostle said it Not only for to save the Prophets credit I was esteem'd a greater thief to be Than either of those Thieves that dy'd with me But yet by dying thus I mercy meant To th' greatest thief the greatest penitent When Adam robb'd the Tree to make him VVise And then deny'd it lost his Paradise Humble confession finds admission in To Paradise thus lost by Adams sin Wht one Thief lost you see the other found Who falls and riseth soon he gaineth ground But he that lives in sin in sin shall dye Yea tho his Lord and Saviour standeth by VVho hopes for Heaven but will not change his vice May find a Hell yea in a Paradise His very hopes are founded in his fears Since lust would fire a Heaven about his Ears Bateing my word each sinner can foretel Sin hath a Central force that points at Hell I need not say Depart out of my sight It never was nor can be his delight VVho to my sacred Laws hath small regard Hath less of reason to expect reward My Cross here seems to represent my Throne VVhich at the last day I shall sit upon O' th left hand stands the Goats my Sheep o' th' right As meet inheritors with Saints in light SOUL By these two Thieves my Lord hath clearly shown Justice and Mercy doth uphold his Throne Th' one aws my hopes th' other checks my fears Th' one hoists up Sail whil'st that the other stears To th' dying Thief much was thy mercy shown I won't presume on 't cause he was but one 'T was his first time he ever heard of thee The same can ne're be verifi'd of me He for his Lord and Saviour once did take thee In that weak state when all thy friends forsake thee Thou own'st him at thy death he thee at thine The same can ne're be truly said of mine I 'le now resolve God ne're held forth to morrow Or if he did did not repenting sorrow That I shall turn to God can it be said When that I scarce can turn me in my Bed My time is short way heavy long the course Shall all the burden lye o' th' weakest Horse My debts run on shall I discharge the score And pay them bitter when I owe the more I blush to think what 's dreadful for to own My lusts shall have the Marrow God the Bone When on the dying Thief thou cast thine Eyes Methinks thy words some potent truth implies This day thou shalt be with m' in Paradise CHRIST The Jews held forth a double Paradise That on the Earth and that above the Skies The place where earthly joys all met together The one the fitter umbrage of the other From hence th' Elysian Fields first took their rise Shades of the Trees that grew in Paradise Both Jew and Greek concur that men survive Their mortal clay and then are most alive Nothing to nothing tends and more say I 'T is by a Metaphor my Saints can dye God 's not the God o' th' dead but of the living The Souls of Abraham Isaac still surviving Moses Elias in the Mount appears Alive tho dead above two thousand years When Jacob saw the garment of his son Cries out some Beast hath kill'd him I 'm undone Whilst thus lamenting his unhappy fate Joseph's alive and Lives in Princely state Whilst mine and thy dear friend do spriteless lie Inexorable to thy sighs and cry They are not Dead but are alive as I Leaving their Grave-Cloaths for to wipe thine Eye Hast thou not seen a Student at his Book Close pent and pris'ned in some private nook He 's then all Mind all Soul all Life all Sprite And most alive when dead to Human sight Hast thou not seen two Combatants Engage Till one seems prostrate dead upon the Stage But when drawn off dragg'd through a Postern Door He is alive as e're he was before So have I seen the Branches of a Vine At Winters season faint away and pine When at that instant each luxuriant shoot Tho seeming dead yet is alive at Root And when the Sun imparts its gentle light Each branch appears again in pregnant plight Thy Life on Earth is hid with Christ above And when the Sun of Righteousness and Love Quickneth thy Soul all truth shall be display'd And latent forms of things which have been dead Hast thou not heard the pangs and pains that come From teeming Mothers of a pregnant
Womb Presaging as Aurora doth the Morn A welcome Infant shortly to be born Thus when Expiring Souls do vent their grones Their sighs their sobs and such like dying tones Conclude upon this struggle and this strife The souls new Birth into a better Life Thus shaking off this cold clay clod of Earth It joys to reassume its former birth Fast fixing on the center of its Rest Knows nothing but this one thing to be blest SOUL How doth the Soul forget her noble Birth When she 's confin'd within these Walls of Earth Kissing her shadow courting to her slave Thinking her self no bigger than a grave As if a Bird that 's soaring up on high Should cast her eyes down on the Earth and spie Her shadow there and say that it was I When she 's a climbing up the Towring Sky So doth the Soul by her dear Flesh inclin'd Impress her false opinions on her mind Counting that only true what 's in her sight And what she sees and feels of bulky weight As if a Child pent in its Mothers Womb Sould say the world affords no larger Room So Children fancy there 's no more of Sky Nor Earth than what is bounded by the Eye The folly of our Souls no less appears As in our fancies here so in our fears Fearful of Death who ne're had fearful been Till he put on the Vizard of our sin When e're he strikes me with his gentle Wand And takes me by the cold and clammy Hand He wounds my sin not me since that I dye Only in dear and tender sympathy To this vile Earth of mine which is not I. So have I heard a loving Mother cry When that her Child was stricken Ah! I dye When all 's but love and care and sympathy To her dear Babe for she 's alive as I. These Bodies we dwell in they are but Tents Tenants can live without their Tenements Or in some others dwell nor do we lose This Mortal Life when stripped of our Cloaths Paul wish'd to be dissolv'd to be with Christ Knowing that after death he should exist For tho it was his pleasure for to dye Yet as before so after he was I. And I with Christ and that is all in all St. Paul he was with Christ Christ with St. Paul Can Saints in Paradise e're faint and dye Having the Tree of Life thus standing by Can they fall in Gods Arms thirst at a Well Freeze at a Fire can ever Heaven be Hell Or can a Soul sun'd in the beams of Light Be wrapt in shades of everlasting Night Like to the dying Thief I beg thine Ear For to be open to my constant Pray'r When Death shall spred a cold shute on my Bed And wreath his Poppey Garland on my Head Then close the Casements of my tender Eyes My Soul may close with thee in Paradise Why doth th' Apostle Lord report thy crying With a loud voice when at the point of dying CHRIST When all my Members were upon the Wrack And all the sins o' th' World lay on my Back No wonder that they made so great a crack The Thunder never sent forth such a sound Nor ever Lightning pierc'd so deep a wound It rent the Rocks and made the Earth to quake The Heav'ns went into Mourning for my sake To th' lower parts o' th' Earth my Voice is fled It burst the Tomb-stones and awak'd the Dead Hell heard the Voice too the same poys'ned dart That pierc'd my side did rend the sinners heart All Creatures mourn at my sad obsequies Nature must sink when th' God of Nature dyes SOUL Grant that the Voice which clove the Rocky Pit May pierce my Heart too harder far than it Let my Soul eccho back to this thy grone Shall the Rocks find thee Ears and I have none I' th' Caverns of my Heart let thy voice sound And let it reach the Heav'ns at the rebound My sins thus smote by this thy weighty Rod I safe may say this was the Son of God Hear me Lord too when at the point of Death My strength doth fail me most strengthen my Faith Why is it said or can be said by thee My God! my God! why hast forsaken me CHRIST This is the fruit of that imbitter'd Tree Which once I tasted for the World and thee Which sets thy teeth on edg but mine much more Thou hast the kernells of it I the core O sting of sin all sorrows met in one Such sorrows as were felt but can't be known View O my Child what a great good God is And how thou wast Created for that Bliss As knifes were made to cut and stones do tend With their main force to th' center as their end As Vessels to be fill'd and as a Glass Was only made to represent thy Face So wast thou shap't and form'd for Happiness What Torment Nature finds hence may be guest When she 's with held from th' center of her rest The Object of mans Bliss is infinite Having a quick sense of it in his sprite And tending to it too with all his might To be rent from this bliss is such a loss As ne're was felt on Earth but on my Cross Embosom'd in my Fathers Brest were I None better knew where happiness did lie And must a Cloud withdraw it from my Eye Gods will was mine my nature of the same Born of a Virgin and dy'd like a Lamb Can innocence be made a publike shame I came from Heaven and know what joys were there Reveal'd them too and must I lose them here I was Gods Son Gods Darling too were I. Can God forsake himself his Son and dye The Eccho of thy sin my Child says I. SOUL Hear me O Lord and let thy dying throb Give all my cursed sins their mortal stob How can I bear sins damned Curse for ay Which bow'd the Back of God all in a day Well may the damned wish they ne're had been And call to th' Mountains for to hide them in More ease to bear a Mountain than a sin Lord pardon what is past and I 'le amend Why should I kiss that knife that kill'd my Friend Which cut a wound so deep as ne're did Thunder That rends the Rocks this God himself asunder VVhy did my Lord dying o' th' cursed Post Express his Death by giving up the Ghost CHRIST VVhen Nature most did fail my cries were most To shew how freely I gave up the Ghost None takes away my Life nor none can crave it But God from whence I had it he must have it Know that these dying words this truth implies The Fragrant Odour of my Sacrifice The Pagans thought their Gods would not impart Their favours to a Victim wanting heart Or if it came to pass the beast had cry'd Or loud or strugled before he dy'd VVhen e're the Jew did Sacrifice a Beast It was to be his own and of the best Chiefly a Lamb of pure and spotless Feature A meek a harmless and a gentle Creature
wish so too but such hecame thy sin For never was there sin thou didst commit But pain and shame and curse attended it SOUL Truth Lord in every breach of thy command The Pain doth take the Pleasure by the hand The Proud shall never want their pain and trouble The reason is they bottom on a bubble The worldlings in their plenty still do crave And pain'd in this they want the goods they have The envious to themselves prove very Devils Making their brothers goods become their evils Lust is a Devil too that first doth tempt us Then making conscience Devil to torment us The lyar finds a truth who never said it He suffers from his conscience and his credit Injustice that withdraws anothers pelf Doth the exactest Justice on it self It is a truth too true we may relye on 't Each sin doth bear his cross but will not dye on 't Thy death was painful Lord but I 'm offended That by a shameful death thy life was ended CHRIST My Cross was as a Pulpit plac'd on high Preaching a Sermon visible to th' eye Of Meekness Patience Love Humility These virtues in the mind could make no stamp Had I appear'd array'd in worldly Pomp Phocian Thrasias and such men as these Regulus Aristides Socrates Such Heroes Virtues ne'r could climb the sky Were not their persons once condemn'd to dye So stars shine brightest in a frosty night The biggest least appearing in our sight In love to man and tender sympathy To man in troubles 't was but meet that I Should feel the brunt of all and therefore dye Now love's a law never to be controul'd What e're it toucheth turneth all to Gold From an accursed death exalts its fame Nobles disgrace finds dignity in shame Since God must be aton'd too I 'm content To undergo this legal punishment Condemn'd to dye in shame what greater dread Than to dye once be killed too when dead Can worse be meant what all men always have My pains must want a death my death a grave This was thy shame my soul mine ne'r had been Wer 't not to expiate thy shameful sin That sin is cloath'd with shame this doth express it Men dare to sin but dare not to confess it Sin dyes thy Aspect red or makes it pale Nature to hide thy shame pulls on her Vail Like to the cursed Serpent such is lust It creeps on 's belly and it licks the dust Lyars want feet to stand on yet they can Dare to affront a God but sneak from man Drunkards have naught to speak them humane creatures But inward guilt and some few outward features Would they but once in my word view their face They 'd curse the Image but commend the Glass The Misers sins as base base earth at best Making it self the center of its rest Thus shame to wait on sin will never fail Bating the sting that 's in the vipers tail SOUL Most shameful sin tho Hell had never been Methinks there 's Hell enough in every sin Shall I create a Title and a Name To that which made my God a publick shame Since sin expos'd my Lord I 'le here begin From this example to expose my sin I 'le search and try judg and condemn its cause At the most strict Tribunal of thy Laws I 'le strip the Varlet of his vain pretences Then Scourge him roundly for his vile Offences I 'le bind him fast in this fast twisted Cord Sins guilt deaths curse Gods Ire Hells Flaming Sword I 'le make him feel his burden with Remorse Of conscience bear and dye too on the Cross I 'le cause my luxuries to take a sup O' th' mixtures they prepared for thy Cup. Here my intemperance like thee O Christ Shall on thy Cross cry out I thirst I thirst My whoredorms riots revels in the Night Shall here do penance in thy Robes of White My Oaths that stabb'd thee to the Heart shall feel The pangs and pains of thy side-peircing Steel My pride that cannot stoop nor bear a frown Shall feel the pungent prickles of thy Crown My lusts those Nayls that ty'd thee to the Tree Shall feel themselves fast bound and ty'd with thee Those fierce and fiery passions that most please us Shall here lye prostrate at the Feet of Jesus Thus shall my sins with all their mighty Host Be stretcht and nailed to thy cursed Post Then cry aloud and so give up the Ghost Why wouldst thou dye upon that cursed Wood Methinks ther'e 's something yet Lord understood CHRIST T' attone the sin of the forbidden Tree Once curs'd by Adam but more curse to me O Cross the name and quintessence of Evils Cursed by God by Angels Men and Devils What curse is greater except this be worse I am at length become the Creatures curse The Sun at Noon-day hides his Glorious Face Blushing at such an object of disgrace My Corps they must not rest a night o' th' Tree Lest that the Air should take offence at me The Earth that 's curs'd by mine tho Adams sin Won't let me touch her with my nether skin That Earth where Serpents feed and Beasts do tread on I must not find a place to lay my head on Rocks put on sence and seem for to condole The pangs and dolors of my dying Soul The Temple seems to be profan'd by me And rents its Cloaths as hearing Blasphemy SOUL If spotless innocence hath thus been used Can sins Excuses ever be excused Who counts his sin but small of little weight Must say the same of God if he say right Count thy sin small if any can be such 'T is not a little that thou lov'st it much For so a Bodkin if it reach thy Heart Kills thee as sure as doth a greater Dart. The prickles of that Crown which Jesus wore Bedew'd his Temples with a purple gore The smaller instance doth enhanse the sin VVilt loose Gods Grace and Favour for a pin In smallest cranies serpents will not fayl First to twine in the Head and then the tayl VVho takes an earnest penny he engages To do more work when Satan bids more wages Nor must thou reckon at the common rate Thy sin was small cause the temptation 's great Such as man is such is the power of sin Prevailing not without but from within Some Healthful persons will devour a mess VVhen squeamish stomacks will recoyl at less Joseph was Tempted more than e're was David The one fell foul the other he was saved Poor thirty pieces did prevail upon Judas when thousands could not on St. John VVho for a pound won't sin but will for seven This is to set a price on God and Heaven VVhat 's Infinite and what 's Eternal Life Equal outweighs five thousand pounds as five But for Temptation this had never bin Is nought to say but that you love the sin Nor can sins pleasure or its pleasing Profit Excuse the sin for the Commission of it Since in its tempting and commodious ware Jesus