The grand Tryal OR Poetical Exercitations UPON THE BOOK of JOB WHEREIN Suitable to each Text of that sacred Book a modest Explanation and Continuation of the several Discourses contained in it is attempted BY WILLIAM CLARK Nam momentanea est ira ejus vita vero in beneplacito ejus ad vesperam accedat fletus licet sub auroram tamen redit laetitia Psal. 30. ver 5. EDINBURGH Printed by the Heir of Andrew Anderson Printer to His most Sacred Majesty Anno DOM. M. DC LXXXV TO JAMES EARL OF PERTH Lord Drummond and Stobhall LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR Of the KINGDOM of SCOTLAND My Lord BEing now to expose this Poetical Essay to the mercy of the censuring World and considering under whose Patronage I might adventure the Publication I humbly presum'd your Lordship both as a person eminent in Piety Virtue and Learning and by the high Character you bear in the Government as supream Judge of that Illustrious Court upon which my Profession as a Lawyer has afforded me a dependance now these many years to be the only Person to whom I could with honour dedicate this Proiece especially being encourag'd to it by your Lordships generous perusal and approbation of some of the Sheets in privat I do therefore my Lord address this Poetical Composure to your Lordship as to a Person whose sublime Soul I know entertains the true Sentiments of Mortality and the transient vanity of this World of which this admirable Book of JOB affords so large and spacious a Field for Contemplation as a Mind but even a little elevate above the Dust of the World and furnish'd but with ordinary Parts may in private Meditations on the several Texts far exceed my most polish'd Reflections on the Subject the exercise of Contemplation being so pleasing to an ingenuous Spirit as what in other Sciences reiteration renders nauseous in this it adds fresh Desires and makes the Soul so enamouâ—'d with but even a random Prospect of its true and permanent Felicity which it discovers through the Telescope of Conten plation as it undervalues all the Afflictions of this Life in the satisfaction of what nothing can parallel on this side Separation The ground of my Address to your Lordship proceeding then from that esteem which all this Nation has for you as a Person who in the Affairs of greatest Importance affords daily Proofs of your eminent Abilities I do not so much as approach the borders of Flattery if I name your Lordship one of the prime Ornaments of the Age in which you live For seriously my Lord when I compare the Figure you make in the State with that of your years contrary to the Vulgar opinion That Wisdom only dwells in aged Breasts I must acknowledge with the learned young man who bears no small part in the ensuing Discourses that There is a spirit in man and the instigation of the Almighty giveth understanding But as your Promotion my Lord in so small advance of years to the high Dignity in which you now move makes me admire the vivacity and felicity of your wit so to augment the wonder when I consider your Lordships younger Brother at this same time shining in that eminent station of Secretary of State making thus betwixt you the most â—â—â—ly conspicuous pair of one Family that has flourish'd since the days of the two Illustrious Brothers Dukes of Hamilton I find my self again oblig'd with that same Elihu to acknowledge that the Spirit of God has made you both and the breathing of the Almighty has given you life May this bright Constellation long shine in the Orb of our Government and as you increase in Years so may you both increase in Piety and Virtue advance in His Majesties Royal esteem and the love of your Countrey until such time as two such refined Souls being translated to eternal Felicity may make a fairer appearance in the Court of the King of kings then mortal Men can make in that of a King upon Earth to which the good Wishes shall never be deficient of him whose Ambition is to be esteem'd My Lord Your Lordships most humble most oblig'd and most sincerely devoted W. C. Preface SInce men do no less differ in their Judgments and apprehensions of what they read in this then in former Ages and that some out of envy others out of malice or ignorance do either abstain from perusing of Compositions of the nature of the ensuing Treatise or having perused such though never so well accommodate with all the embellishments of Wâ—t and Art in the same humour decry them it is usual for Authors to make Apologies for publishing of what many of them pretend were never design'd for the Light but importunity of Friends or Copies surreputiously creeping abroad oblig'd them to a Publication though in reality their only design was an itch of Applause only to be attained by the brokery of the Press as if a few polish'd expressions in the entry of their Writings were able to divert the torrent of the censuring Readers Hence tedious Prefaces and joyn'd with these a deal of Encomiums are posted in the Avenues of all our modern Writings only to put the Readers in an humor before perusal and invite them to an appetite for their Crudities But what is here published I acknowledge was originally design'd for the Press and so stands in need of no such inviting Complement the Publication being as necessary by the rules of my Circumstances as the Composition was which was so far from being calculate to the Meridian of Applause as I never projected a favourable reception of it but made my account as I yet do for censure and the worst of usage with all which I am resolv'd to dispense in confidence that all ingenuous and impartial Readers will find my design in it has been only to alleviate the severity of my own sad Circumstances It is true indeed the publishing my private Reflections upon a Subject of such sacred Importance as is that admirable Book of JOB may be esteem'd a presumption in one of my Profession whose business is generally to mind secular Affairs and not to make such in-roads into Divinity but with the good favour of the learned and worthy Clergy for whom no man has greater esteem then I have I hope it will be acknowledged that the Scripture being a Theme in which we are all equally concern'd as to perusal and instruction if I following the opinions of the best of Commentators on the Subject have at my solitary opportunities express'd my thoughts in Poesy upon the several Texts as I found those of their own Profession have learnedly instructed me in Prose my greatest Crime in this Publication is only that I am not of their Order Neither will it be found upon perusal by the most severe Inquisitors that I have deviate from the receiveâ—â—pinions of the Divines upon the place unless possibly in cap. 24. v. 18. where the words are He is swift as the Waters c. I
seem to represent In all his actings something of a Saint Yet then he cryes then he repines a main Then he complaines of poverty and pain O then he railes upon that providence Which was in former times his sole defence For now all sorrow wrath and desperation He thinks on nothing less then restauration Whereas before he thought he was so sure His wealth to generations would endure Well I have seen some Gallant in his pride Inâ—ulsly laugh at all the world beside Fix'd and firme-rooted as he did suppose And proof against the batterie of his foes When on a suddain providence would frowne And this same fool would tumble headlong down With all his sins about him in a tryce Kill'd by the fall from glories precipice Then would I say this man deservedly Doth fall and with him all his family Is levelled with dust because he did In such vain transitory things conside For by fair justice he shall be destroy'd And all his unjust purchases made voide Then after he has justly forfeit all He without pity shall most justly fall Those who are hungry shall eat up his grain And reap the profit of his nine Months pain Nay they shall sweep his grounds and fields so clean As his poor children shall find nought to glean The thirsty travellers who for rain doth gape Shall drink up all the substance of his grape For thou must know afflictions do not come By accident as is suppos'd by some On any man nor do Heavens noble laws Allow that any one without a cause Should suffer punishment no not at all There 's no such thing as that you fortune call 'T is a meer notion a device of men To palliate their sins and entertain A proud opinion of their innocence And lay the blame of all on Providence Which they call fortune and conclude from thence When any are afflicted at the rate As thou art now that they 're unfortunate Unlucky and I know not what alace Why should we with such sopperies as these Abuse our selves when certainly we know Who know there is a God things are not so But that our God doth formally arraigne For every sin convict and punish men Then know That no affliction comes by accident But that all Judgements to our doors are sent By rule of Heavens Court where information Is made and prov'd preceeding condemnation Besides as sparks by nature upwards fly So man to sorrows born doth live and dye In a continued sweat of toyle and care With dregs of anger for his daily fare Tortures of mind and body all at once Do suck the marrow from his very bones Nor can he pleasure to himself project Or joy and comfort in this earth expect Were I then in thy lamentable case I 'd not repine but humblie make address To my good God from him I would demand A patient mind and learn to understand From whence such floods of evils do proceed And in my sorrows I my sins would read To him alone my self I would apply To whom the world belongs who sits on High To whom all Creatures in subjection are Whose Jurisdiction doth exceed by far All Powers on Earth who things unsearchable Performes of which we are not capable To give a Judgement things beyond our reach Things which to act no humane Art can Teach 'T is he who makes the Rain from Clouds to fall By which the Earth made pregnant yeelds us all Our Hearts can wish affords us dayly Bread Drink Cloaths and Med'cine and what else we need For Maintnance of that Fabrick which he fram'd To Lodge the Soul and it the Body nam'd The Body O a thing most excellent For whose Subsistence we should even torment Our Souls a very precious thing indeed That on the Labours of the Soul should feed The Body a meer piece of useful Dust Demis'd for some time to the Soul in Trust. Though for its use the too kind Soul at best Payes a severe and dreadful Interest Whilst to afford it pleasure legally It forfaults its own true Felicity What is 't we hugg then what do we esteem A dying thing which scarce deserves a name A thing so long as Soul doth it inspire Moves for a time like Puppet on a Wyre That gone it moves it prats it squeeks no more But a dull piece of Clay as 't was before Breathless and Sapless on the Ground it lies Yet in its Fall its Maker glorifies As well as in its Frame because from thence We learn what Honour and Obedience We owe to him who this fair Fabrick raises And by a Breath destroyes it when he pleases Besides who 'd not in Duty be exact When still before his Eyes he sees the Rack The Axe the Gibbet and in Mind doth feel Sad apprehensions of the dreadful Wheel Is not our case the same do we not see How many thousand Shapes of Death there be Dayly presented to our view to show That after all all to the Grave must go From this fair Topick let us argue then He is our God and we poor sinful men Therefore since to him we owe Life and Breath We should live well that when invading Death Approaches he may find us on our Guard Not by his gastly looks to be out-dar'd For though he seize the Body yet on high The Soul shall live to perpetuity 'T is he the mighty God 't is he alone Who in the Heavens has set up his Throne From whence he orders all things and doth raise This man to honours and that man debase That to th' afflicted he may comfort give And make those whom the world abhorreth live The subtile plottings of our knowing men He disappoints and makes their projects vain He laughs at all their consults and despises Both them and all their silly state devises So that what e're those Crocodiles project Their Machinations never take effect He spoiles their counsels and makes all their wit Like salt whose savour's lost down-right unfit For any thing save at a round of Ale To be the subject of some Country tale For the Worlds wisdom in Gods eyes is folly Their Art but th' product of dull Melancholly Their reasoning is notional and vain Erring in things even evident and plain Things manifest things clear as noon-tide-light To them are dark as to one in the night Who nothing sees gropes but no rode can find And stands confounded betwixt raine and wind Whil'st at each justling shrub his joints do tremble Thinking the Night-thieves round him do assemble Lord what is all we brag of then for what Keep we such toyl on earth is 't only that We may be thought more wise than others are And be esteemed wits 't is very fair A rare designe indeed well worth our pain When after all we learn or can retain All our fine wisdom in Gods eyes is vain For when our Politicians counsel take How they the just and pious man
Why shouldst then be at so much pains good Lord To kill a thing which of its own accord Will quickly dye a thing that by thy Wrath As yet deny'd the liberty of Death Doth only some small sparks of Life retain And like a Dying Creature breaths with pain One entire Ulcer a meer lump of Boyls A heap of Sores one loaden with the Spoiles Of all Diseases one so fully spent In Body and in Mind so discontent No pleasure which the World affords can hire My Soul to Live pray let me now expire Or else I fear that through impatience Of my afflictions I may give offence For when I say my Couch shall me relieve And in my Bed I shall some comfort have When I imagine I may find some ease In-sleep to cull the edge of my Disease When I suppose I may find Consolation I' th' pleasure of a few hours Meditation And whilst on Pillow I my Head do lay To sleep away the sorrows of the day Then dost thou put my Soul all in a fright With fearful Dreams and Visions of the night In a cold sweat I lye my Flesh and Bones My Joints and Sinews tremble all at once Strugling with pain upon my Bed I rowl Whilst horrid Objects do night-mare my Soul And to my troubled fancie represent What neither Tongue can speak or hard can paint Hells Terrors plainlie are to me reveal'd Whilst with amusing sleep my Eyes are sealâ—d On which reflecting when I do awake Fear damps my Soul and makes my Body shake Hence Drowning Smothering Strangling of the Breath Or any of the numerous kinds of Death My Soul to Life prefers my generous Soul Abhorrs to live in such a lurking hole As is this body such a vile Hog-sty A Brutish Soul would even disdain to ly Within its Walls a Cottage so unclean So Cob web-furnish'd so obscure and mean As none but one of Life that 's wearyed In such a villanous Cave would lay his bed What Soul so poor and mean exceeding but The small Dimensions of a Hazel nut Would stoop so low as condescend to dwell In such an ugly smelling nasty Cell As is this body which I do call mine So thin the Sun doth clearly through it shine Is this a Lodging for a Thing Divine A tottering Fabrick which the rotten Bones Not able to support down all at once Will quickly fall is this a dwelling place For any thing come of a Heavenly Race No no fly hence my Soul fly hence make haste Why dost not fly for such a Noble Guest There 's here no room no fit Accomodation This body can afford no Habitation For such as thee Dear Soul O let me dy then let me dy good Lord O let me dy Death surely will afford Such comfort as I here expect in vain Why should I live then in such grievous pain And as a mark to all sad torments stand When pitying Death doth offer help at hand In this condition I do do life abhorr I baâ—e it and shall never love it more What should I for a few hours breathing give For 't is impossible I can longer live O spare me then for some small time at least That these o re wearyed bones may have some rest And in this life I may find ease before I take my Journey hence and be no more E're I be wrapp'd up in Eternity For all my days are but meer vanity Then what is Man that thou shouldst look upon him This wretched thing that thou shouldst so much own him Thou dost thy heart too much upon him set Which makes the silly Toad it self forget Valuing it self so much on thy esteem As it hath purchas'd to its self a name Beyond the other Creatures of thy hand Whereas if it it self did understand 'T is but as dust that 'fore the Wind doth fly A passing thought th' abstract of vanity Since thou canst then Lord by one word destroy This Creature why shouldst so much time employ In Torturing of it thus once and again And not by one blow put me out of pain One blow of favour Lord I do implore Kill me and then I shall complain no more But still I cannot fancy why shouldst thou Before whom all in Heavens and Earth do bow Have this same Creature Man in such esteem This flying Shade this passage of a Dream A thing so mean not worth thy Observation Why should'st allow it so much Reputation That thou the great Creator every day Shouldst of this pismire make so strict survey How long Lord shall I in these Torments lye â— Ah is there no end of my Misery Some respite Lord I beg I do request Some breathing time even so long time at least Free from these pains as I may swallow down My Spittle Oh good God let me alone But for a Moment that I may but try Thy goodness once again before I Dye Lord I have sinn'd 't is true I do confess My Error and my black unrighteousness What shall I do how shall I answer find To thee the great preserver of Mankind As worst of sinners Lord thou dost me treat For as my Sins so are my Judgements great Th' hast set me gainst thee as a Mark or Butt At which thy pointed Arrows thou dost shoot With Torments hast me so o'reloadened That long ago of Life I 'm wearied Why should thy wrath continually burn 'Gainst a poor sinner O let Grace return Pardon my sins wash from iniquity The Soul thou gavst me Lord before I dye Let me of Mercy hear the joyful sound For in an instant I shall not be found I dye I dye my Passing Bell doth Toul Have Mercy Lord have Mercy on my Soul Cap. VIII THus have we seen how Job with grief opprest By night and day has in his Mind no rest In this sad case with great impatience Appears to quarrel even Providence For those his Friends of whom he did expect Some Comfort rather sharplie did him check For th' Errors of his Life and openly Reprov'd him for his gross Hypocrisie We 've seen with how much Art and Eloquence One of his friends has given evidence Against him now another undertakes Th' argument and thus he answer makes How long sayes he friend wilt thou thus exclaim Against that justice which the Heavens did frame To what do all thy imprecations tend What means this clamour shall there be no end Of this thy idle talking shall we be Oblig'd to hear what none but such as thee Would stammer out what one in sober case Would be asham'd to speak such words as these Which thou in foolish passion hast us'd Against our God would hardly be excus'd Out of a mad-mans mouth but when they flow From such as thee friend whom we all do know To be of more than ordinary Sense We must condemn thy gross impatience Dost ' think that God whose great and mighty Name All things Created dayly do
may break Partly by law partly by violence Th' Almighty soon appears in his defence He rescues him from all their calumnies Their false Inditements and the Batteries Of their foul mouths and powerfully withstands The rude attaques of their all-seizing-hands That grasp at person chattels fame and lands Thus from the snare the just man doth escape And saves his meanes for which those fools did gape As all had been even ready now to fall Into their hands whilst the unjust Cabal Now disappointed of their former hope Are forc'd at length their ravenous mouth to stop And all with shame confounded to confesse Gods justice and their own vile foolishness Our God alone the just mans cause maintaines And with strong Bitt and seasonable Reins He curbs the fury of th' oppressing beast Who to enrich himself would lay all waste Who formally denies that Laws were made For such as him to check his roving trade But boldly claimes all that his armes can take And in his Wars doth no distinction make Betwixt his Allies and his open foes But treates them all at the same rate God knows Our God shall sure attaque this foolish thing Whil'st all his friends do yet his triumphs sing And ' midst his pleasures make unwelcome death Rob him of both his Lawrels and his breath Then since the case is thus let 's be content With whatsoever plague or punishment Our God inflicts upon us for be sure To such as us his kindness doth endure O happy is that man whom God corrects And for his leud and sinful courses checks Thrice happy he whom when his sin abounds And makes him proud God in his mercy wounds And brings him low that on his former state In bed of sorrow he may meditate Counting what time he hath in folly spent And in return how his sad punishment Makes all his ballance Let 's then understand Our selves and patiently th' Almighties hand Endure and in our minds rest satisfy'd That for our good we 're with afflictions try'd For as he gives the wound with the same hand He binds it up he never wants a band A Slave a Plaster ready in such cases Which he applyes to all th' affected places He wounds he cures makes sick and doth restore Men to their health what can we ask for more Though troubles upon troubles woes on woes Should tumble on us as the Ocean flows And the rude tempests of adversity Should drive us on the rocks of poverty Where sure to suffer Shipwrack we despair Of all relief then will our God take care To rescue us that so we may perceive 'T is he alone who doth his people save Let 's praise him then pray to him and obey His word and we shall no more salvage pay When by oppression all our meanes seiz'd And we and all our family es are sqees'd Within the Compasse of a hazle nut For our Provisions and our bread is cut Like Sugar-tablets in small lozanges T' allay the hunger which doth sore express Our little ones and makes them often cry With tears for crums of bread or else they dye Of which when each so hunger-starv'd and pain'd In graines and scruples has its dividend These scrambling morsels rather doe incite Then quash the fury of their appetite Whilst thus I say we hunger-sick shall lye Under Deaths Talons and upbraidingly Our Enemies shall laugh out all around Whilst we and ours do tear the very Ground For â—oots and Vermine or what ever may Detain the poor life but one single day Then shall our God appear and furnish store Of Bread for us and all our Infants more Then we could even ha' wish'd and let us see Th' unjust for want of Food may dye but he Who trusts in God shall ne're want sustenance For I 've been Young in Age I now advance Yet all my time I never could observe One man that fear'd our God for hunger starve Nor could I ever see the just mans Seed Like those o' th wickeds offspring begging Bread Nay when the men of War shall roar around us And with their threatning Oaths shall so confound us As we shall not know whether we should flye To save our Lives and Goods When the enraged Sword shall hew down all And Old and Young do by its fury fall Then shall the Lord make Angels us Environ To Guard us from the blows o' th' dreadful Iron So whilst behind on both sides and before The hungry steal our Neighbours shall devour To us and ours God shall be Tutelar And save us from all miseries of War Nay further when another Sword doth rage And with us doth more cunningly engage The Sword o' th' Tongue then that of Steel more feirce For this the Body that the Soul doth peirce A killing Sword and yet invisible A Sword whose wound is inperceptible By outward Signs like Thunder wounds the Heart The Body still untouch'd in any part A Sword that kills us always unprepar'd For fight whose blows the bravest cannot ward A Sword that whet with Malice day and night Is still in Edge yet ne're within the sight Of him it wounds the subtlest of all ills Like Baâ—iliâ—k unseen it sees and kills An useless Sword in open fields and tame But in dark Rooms makes havock of our Fame The Champions who this famous Sword do use A â—e the meer Dross of Nature the Refuse Of Mankind who by secret Calumnies Foul Characters false Oaths and serious lyes Vain Apprehensions Jealousies and Fears Endeavour to set all the World by th' Ears Whilst the false decoyes hugg themselves to see The wish'd effects of their vile Treachery Poor Caterpillars who 'cause no man can Find out their Wakes escape th' revenge of man Yet God has Spyes on those malicious fools Ferrets them out of all their lurking Holes Though here they scorn the Ear the Sight the Scent Yet God will bring such out to Punishment Those ugly crawling Toads with malice swell'd Shall be at length destroy'd in open field To show how God abhors the very Race Of Back-biters as they still shun the Face Of those they injure and will vindicate The just from their aspersions soon or late From this same Sword which others doth devour Thou shalt be free and fear its Edge no more Than those who in Proof-armour do not feel The furious Gashes of the Murdring Steel But when both War and Famine do appear And Food shall be intolerably dear When wicked men shall howl and make a noise For lack of Bread thou freely shalt rejoyce And be of want of Meat no more afraid Than those who have their Stores in Garners laid The very stones o' th' field shall seem to be At such time in firm allyance with thee And in their several stations shall produce Something that to thy welfare may conduce Each Beast its throat shall offer to the Knife With emulation to support thy Life In fine shalt be so happy
Justice will proclaim My misdemeanors and make evident How I in courting sin my time have spent Nay though I were upright yet would I not Desire to live my Soul hath quite forgot Its former kindness to that piece of clay It lov'd so much before and every day Longs to be from its consort separate Whom it doth now with so much reason hate Yet here 's my comfort that I understand My God will punish with impartial hand Both just and unjust and will evidence That 'twixt them both he makes no difference Has no respect for persons no regard For one or other but gives out award In every point as he finds just and layes Every mans Cause in equal ballances In unjust Causes he will none maintain So of Gods Justice no man should complain If in his wrath God should the wicked slay And root them out what could those wretches say Against Gods Justice when their Conscience Assures them he has done them no offence Because Gods Judgements do their sins pursue And punishment t' offenders is as due As Wages to the Labourer for each sin First acts its part then Judgement does begin Where it leaves of and so pursues the Chace Until the breathless sinner end his Race This is his Justice but his Mercie sure Eternal to all ages doth endure Must not our God be full of Clemency When on the wicked even unwillingly He executes his Justice punishment Is long delay'd and vengeance seldom sent 'Gainst any but the stiff impenitent Who at his Judgement doth repine and cry Out upon Gods too great severity Sure that unhappy Creature doth mistake Gods Bounty and his own Condition make Worse than it was intended for we know In Mercy God is quick in anger slow A God of Mercy he himself doth write And so in sinners death takes no delite Far lesse than should the just and innocent Think God takes pleasure in their punishment Nor ought we to repine when we reflect How God the wicked Lords o' th' earth doth make How he puts Pastures Vineyards Houses Lands Power Jurisdiction Honours in their hands By which puff'd up a wanton life they lead Whilst godly men do toil for daily bread Nor how the Judges of the earth abuse Their Sacred Function and their Power do use T' oppress the Just whose eyes with avarice Are sealed up who boldly set a price On Justice and employ their utmost Art To sell the same as in a publick Mart. Who by their Friends use to negotiat For Quotes of Pleas and closely stipulat For so much at the Issue of the cause T' attain which point they cruciat the Laws And make them serve their ends so forcibly As all the world may see their Bribery If we consider how God doth permit Those men to live on earth as they think fit Because they 're none of his and have no share I' th'land of Promise whilst the upright are In sad afflictions toss'd and seem to be O're whelmed by a most impetuous Sea Of miseries wee 'l find these walk i' th'Road Of black Damnation of such Creatures God Doth take no care but le ts them all run wild Like Herds of Asses in the open field But his own Children he doth exercise In a continual tract of miseries That being keep'd in such strict Discipline In a full body they may mount the Line I' th' daily Seige of Heaven and in the end Possess the same only to be attain'd By Sighs and Tears whilst wicked men do run Without all order and so are undone Amidst their pleasures for they do compell Their Souls instead of Heaven to march to Hell Now were it lawful to repine did God Allow to any that do feel the Rod To say that his condition were sad Sure never any Mortal Creature had More cause than I poor wretch have to complain Who 've lost my years and spent my days in vain Swifter than Post my days their course have run That I might be more speedily undone My days are gone my time is vanished My hours are fled my life is finished My wretched life a Scene of woes has been Under the Sun I have small pleasure seen Whilst others of obscure and mean estate To Wealth and Honours have been elevate Their modest parts buoyd up by Friends and Fame Purchassing quickly to those Fools a Name Which impudently they would attribute To their abilities I destitute Of every thing that 's good do silently Spin out my days in grief and penury And as the south wind with a gentle breese Breaths on the verdant Plain and skims the Seas With little noise so I my days have spent My view o' th' world was meerly transient Have you not seen a Vessel under sail Swoln with a stiff but favourable gale Post through the stubborn Seas and make a Line Upon its surface in a foaming brine Or with what wonderful celerity The ravenous Eagle to her prey doth flye So have my days run out so have my years Plough'd through a sea of foaming brinish tears Now should I say I will complain no more But here my exclamations give o're Here to my querullous Notes I 'le put a stop And from this minute I 'le begin to hope Then all my sorrows all my woes and fears Would suddainly appear about my ears With ghastly looks they 'd stare me in the face And in their silence publish my disgrace Because however I my self do vent I know God will not hold me innocent If horrid sins then do my Soul distain Why do I thus excuse my self in vain If to my Maker I have given offence Why should I all this while plead Innocence No sure if things be so all I can say Is to no purpose only I betray My weakness in endeavouring to maintain My just demeanour where my guilt is plain For certainly however I pretend To Piety and Grace yet in the end The great Heart-searcher will make evident That to this minute I my days have spent In wickedness and sin in villany Not to be nam'd in stead of purity And thou O Lord in just conceived rage will Sentence such a Scandal of his age To utmost torment that the world may see How much thou hatest such a one as me Whilst all the Fig-leav'd arguments I use To palliate my sins and make excuse For my false dealings and unrighteousness ' Stead of concealing shall my guilt express For God Almighty's not a man as I'm That I should set my face to 't and defye him When he to Justice doth himself betake That I before my God should answer make An what am I a moulded piece of Dust Consigned to a few years breath in trust Awalking ghost a meer night wanderer Like th' empty figment of some Conjurer That such as I forsooth should undertake Harangues befor the King of Heavens to make And argue for my self whilst tacitely My Conscience tells me I deserve
to dye Nor should I offer to expostulate ' And with my Maker enter in debate Is there an Umpire to oblige us both And tye us by Subscription and Oath To stand to his award for who is he Dares arbitrate betwixt my God and me But let him hold a little and at least For some small time forbear at my request To torture me let him withdraw his Rod And let th' hot Pincers of an angry God Piece-meal my Soul no more O let his wrath Be satisfied with a single death Then would I boldly speak and without fear Before him in my own defence appear Then would I argue with such Eloquence As in short time would clear my Innocence But 'cause at present I am not in case For speaking I think fit to hold my peace Cap. X. MY Soul 's cut off and though I seem to breath Yet am I coop'd up in the jaws of death My Soul is fled my days of life are gone And this poor widow'd Body left alone To be the subject of some country fable As in its ruines only memorable This fashion'd piece of Earth which formerly One would ha' thought would shift Mortality For many years a Body which of late In health and vigour fully animate With a most cheerful Soul seem'd to imply As if at least some small felicity Were to be found below the Heavens this point Of the Creation framed joint by joint Into a reasonable shape at last By griefs consuming fury quite defac't Has now no figure but doth every day Like Wax before the Candle melt away For as a stranded Vessel by no hands To be got off and sticking on the Sands Obnoxious to the rage of every Tide Whilst each rude Wave beats ribs out of its side In its dimensions every day decreases Until at length 't is shattered all to pieces And then what was a statelie Ship before In Planks and Boards is cast upon the Shore So this frail Body which in health and strength Look'd like a tall Ship in its Course at length Stranding upon the Shelves of foul diseases In its proportion every hour decreases And that it may be ruin'd with dispatch Each ulcerous Billow doth large Gobbets snatch Out of that vigorous Body which alace Is now in a most despicable case Hence what remains is that this shattered frame Void of all honour beautie shape and name Should like infected Goods by no man own'd In Skin and Bones be hurried under ground Then what is Life O let me but admire What idle expectation can hire Insipid man upon this Earth to dwell And love that thing which we call Life so well Life like the Mornings-dew upon the Grass Exhal'd e're Noon-tide Life a simple lease At will and pleasure of a homelie Farm For us to toile in where we 're hardly warm In the possession of it when anon Our Lease runs out and we must all be gone Life but the parcels of a few years breath Summ'd up at last i' th capital of death Times wast-book health and strengths extinguisher Heavens great derider Hells remembrancer The old mans profit and the young mans loss The rich mans Idol and the poor mans cross Sins active Pander for some little space Then to Repentancea sad looking glass Pleasures mean vassal times obedient â—alve And a most faithful servant to the Grave Death charges Time Time charges Life by Roll To make account of every living Soul The grand Collector by just calculation Himself discharges of each Generation In deaths exchequer then begins afresh T' exact the impost of all living flesh This is that we call Life this is the thing Of which poor Mortals make such reckoning As if the sum of all their happiness Lay in their breathing for some little space Alace that men of reason thus should lye Sick of an universal phrenesie And not rouz'd up at length perceive for shame What is this Life which they so much esteem This Life a thing so burdensome to me As how I hate it you do clearly see May I not then oppress 't with Life repine Since there 's no Life comparable to mine The dregs of Life that do with me remain Are but the meer fomenters of my pain For who extended night and day on rack Would not with all his heart Death welcome make O let me then to God make my address O let me to himself my woes express He is a God of mercy and will hear Th'oppress't and have regard to every tear That drops from pious eyes A sore complaint then on my self I 'l make And in the anguish of my Soul I 'l speak I 'l say to God condemn me not and why Wilt thou contend with such a thing as I An Eagle take the pains to kill a flee Contend with me a thing not to be nam'd A thing of which even Nature is asham'd A piece of Earth that serving for no use Is thrown out on the Dung-hill as refuse The dross of human frailâ—â—y the abstract Of all that 's mouldy low decay'd and crack't A thing now grating at the gates of death Retarded only by a gasping breath A thing so mean as is not worth thy wrath Then why good Lord dost thou take so much pleasure T' oppress so mean a thing beyond all measure What doth this to thy Glory contribute How doth such usage with thy Justice sute Alace I know not how the matter stands But thus t' undo the labour of thy hands Thus to destroy a Creaure thou didst frame And once didst think it worthy of a name Nay as thy Creature thou was 't pleas'd to own Thus to reject it with a sullen frown Me thinks is strange What may the Atheists say When thy own servants are oppress 't this way Why they will surely in their scoffing mode Blaspheme the ever glorious Name of God See here they 'l say a man who seriously Apply'd his mind to th' art of piety Who his great God above all things ador'd A most devoted Servant to his Lord. One who not pleas'd with what his neighbours us'd Despised their Religion and refus'd T' acknowledge any of their Deities But in a zealous phrensy did devise A Deitie to himself peculiar Out of an humour to be singular See now they 'l say see how his God doth treat him See how his Lord he so much lov'd doth hate him How he doth whip him how he takes delite To vex a man who us'd himself to write A most obedient Servant to his God See how he beats him with a heavie Rod. Let him complain weep pray do what he can Let him cry out yet still this pious man Finds none to comfort pity or deplore him And for his God ' has no compassion for him But on the contrair doth appear t' abhor him Sure this will be their language thus alace Those impious wretches will themselves express Yes this will be their Table-talk I fear O then forbear for thy own sake
all kind of ill Let them Hood-wink their conscience as they will After great labour and perplexity Are all delivered of meer vanity Of all their stale devices here 's the end what ere they plot doth to their ruin tend PART III. Cap. XVI TH' afflicted man whom all this while we must Suppose on Dung-hill parch'd with blowing dust His Body all with grievous sores o're spread With Blood and Ulcerous runnings pargetted Such as would make a man in health forbear To sit by such a Carrion through fear He might b'infected putrify'd unclean Shrunk into bones all withered and lean with Boiles and Scabs so loathsome and so foul So noisesome to inhabit as his soul Can scarce have Lodging yet the loving thing For all his Sores for all his suffering Will not forsake him and for all that 's past Resolves by shifts to hold it out to th'last For as when Floods in Winter suddainly Break into lower Rooms men use to fly Up to their Garrets to preserve their Lives So to his head his soul doth fly and strives Whilst all below with sores are overflown And there 's no room undrown'd but that alone There to reside though in a doubtful case Until the Waters violence decrease Amidst these storms there it resolves to dwell And fortifie that goodly Cittadel Which if by strength of Art it can hold out Against those numerous foes it doth not doubt But though it gives the Body now as lost As but a breathing Skeleton at most Yet after all these woes by art and pain It may be soon recovered again Job then all soul with reason yet supply'd Doth think himself still so well fortify'd As he 'l not yeeld such courage this affords As all these furious batteries of words Us'd by his friends against his innocence Cannot prevail but still to his defence He means to stand and though he 's now so weak So fully spent as he can hardly speak Yet answers though he rather seems to squeak Job then I say we must imagine now To this so learn'd discourse has much adoe To make an answer for we must suppose This Eliphaz to be as one of those Who to a Castle by long Siege become At length esteem'd untenable by some With Forts on every side environed And to meer rubbish almost battered Is peremptorly with last summons sent And Job as speaking from the battlement Alace my friends said he what comfort brings This long discourse I 've often heard such things As you have spoke and I perceive you trace All the same steps and from one common place Draw all your arguments and still repeat As if in speech you were confederat Each one anothers words so palpably As though almost here without sense Ilye Yet seriously I am asham'd to hear Men of your parts men who to all appear Of a deep reach with so much toil and pain Speak the same lesson o're and o're again If this be that which comforting you call Most miserable comforters you 're all Still to repeat this harangue o're and o're And tell me nought but what I knew before Is very hard pray what d' ye take me for D' ye think for all the torments sores and pains Which I endure but that there still remains Some small reserve of reason not yet spent By which I may withstand your argument Yet for some time I am not yet o'recome So much with sorrow as I should be dumb Hearing of such discourse my conscience Doth still assure me of my innocence And therefore I must let you know that I Do still all your insulting words defy My God in whose Name you so much accuse Your miserable friend knows you abuse His Majesty whilst you would seem to be Of council to him as if all you three Were blamelesse without sin beyond the reach Of Laws and only I a sinful wretch Shall there be no end of such aery prating And what makes thee friend in expostulating So violent so bitter so severe In words so piquant as you 'd hardly bear From one another yet must I sustain All these reproachful words and not complain This 't is to be aflicted this to lye Under the mercy of sad penury This to be poor this to be miserable When words by me before intolerable Words which incensing Choller in my breast In the same heat I had return'd at least I 'm now compell'd with patience to digest D' ye think but I could speak as well as you And use the same unkind expressions too Nay more severe and pique you to the bones Were we in equal terms but for the nonce All you can say with patience I must bear For now it seems I am condemn'd to hear All you can speak But would that any of you Felt but the twentieth part of what I do Would that but for a week a day an hour You had some feeling of what I endure That for my satisfaction I might see In such a case what might your carriage be Should I but rate you thus as you do me In such a case I would indeed assert Though you set up for Saints yet in your heart You were all sinners men who take delite To counterfeit the puling hypocrite Men who deserv'd what ever you endur'd And therefore plead that you might be assur'd God had rejected you as all of you Affirm he has done me and argue too 'Gainst your impatience in your agony And by harsh words augment your misery I could insult I could your woes deride And jestingly passe by and shake my head When I might see you thus on Dung-hill sit As I do now and puzle all your wit Though in the eyes o' th' world pretended saints To make an answer to my arguments All this I could perform were I inclin'd On such occasions to be so unkind To you as you are all of you to me And try your patience to that same degree As you do mine I could indeed expresse My thoughts of you with as much bitternesse As you do now of me But God forbid were your estate so sad I should affliction to affliction add Or convocat my wits and rack my brain For shrewd inventions to augment your pain And smartly tax you when you did complain No no but on the contrair from my soul I would your sad affliction condole I 'd cherish you with soft and cordial words Such as true friendship at such times affords I 'd tell you that afflictions are sent From Heaven upon us with no ill intent But all our woes if rightly understood Do rain upon us only for our good I 'd tell you too that Wheat the best of Grain Doth in Earths surface almost dead remain All the long Winter buried in Snow Yet maugre all those Storms it still doth grow And in the Summer when the Sun draws nigh Makes an appearance with more bravery More Weight and Substance than all other Graines Which in Green Liveries do adorn the
And with themselves think what they may expect When such as I who hopes all don't maintain That in Gods sight I am the worst of men Am so unkindlie us'd but when they check Their errors and begin to recollect Their minds and fall to solid Contemplations Of the true Order of Gods Dispensations Then do they understand that God doth try His own by so exact a scrutiny And with such Judgments doth their lives infest As puts their patience to the utmost test Yet still he loves them and will not permit The Floods to rise higher than he thinks fit Because good men men just and innocent Do at his hands deserve no punishment But for the couzâ—ning Hypocrite sad wrath Shall rain upon him he shall wish for Death But shall not find it and his miseries Shall be augmented by his unheard cries Because God knows those men the World do cheat With a fair show of zeal and shreudly treat The just and upright whilst they would maintain They were themselves the only pious men Then good men their afflictions shall forget When they see men whom God doth truly hate So justly punish'd men who have provok't By Villany Fraud and Oppression cloak't With piety one that will not be mock't Then shall the righteous men new Spirits take When they consider how God doth correct The good but utterly destroys the bad And makes their case irreparably sad Then though in dreadful misery and pain Yet shall they no more of their God complain Then will a Patient who doth understand His good Phisician will not set his hand To any Order or for any bribe Be hired by his En'mies to prescribe Such Medicines to him but what he knows At least he doth by rules of art suppose Are for his Health to those Religious Men In the most boiling Calenture of pain Shall not repine but with great constancy Endure all the assaults of misery And still hold bravely out untill at length God shall relieve them and renew their strength And now my friends though I design'd no more To argue with you as I did before Yet on this subject I cannot forbear But once again must in all calmness here Complain of you who so mistake my case And 'cause afflicted tell me in my face I 'm a curs'd Person a vile Reprobat One whom his Maker doth abhor and hate When you your selves for shame will not deny But that th' Almighty when he means to try The faith of those he loves will exercise Such with unheard of woes and miseries That when such fiery tryal they endure With patience they may become more pure Then formerly and as your selves aver After such sufferings in Gods sight appear More just and righteous then they were before Like Gold refin'd in Furnace o're and o're But since you 've taken up an argument To prove that no man can be innocent Who is afflicted but that only those Whose sins do cry for judgements suffer woes You do resolve although your reasons were Ill founded and of no more weight then air Yet still your reputation to maintain By a continued reasoning and vain Expressing of your Parts albeit you know You are i'th'wrong yet you will have it so Because you are wisemen and cannot err Whereas my friends by what doth yet appear I know not what you wit and prudence call But truth I find none wise amongst you all But O I will no more expostulat With men who love to entertain debate On every triffle and in foolish pride Think they know more than all mankind beside No such men are too wise for me and I Now am not for debates I dy I dy My days are spent all my designs are quash'd My poor endeavours are to pieces dash'd My thoughts are now so with afflictions clouded My judgement with the vail of woes so shrowded As now my sad confusion I see When things most clear are dubious to me Then why should I my time in arguing wast My small time that remains my days are past Then why should I desire to live when those From whom in this sad state I did suppose I might find comfort by their tart discourse Have rendred my condition ten times worse Then when they found me O had not these men Come hither sure I had been out of pain Before this time for in my solitude I had been stiffled by the multitude Of wasting sighs and groans sure I had dy'd And been so happy too as none had spy'd My face when dying none had interpos'd Themselves 'twixt me and death no hand had clos'd My glaring eyes none had officiousl Impeded me when I design'd to dy But in some silent hour unseen unknown Unheard uninterrupted all alone As one that falls asleep I had expir'd And gently from the Worlds view retir'd How sweetly had I dy'd how quietly Had I been shiffled in eternity Betwixt the utmost gasp of parting breath And the chill blowing of approaching death My wearied soul ere now from whence it came In the vehicle of a pleasant dream Had been transported and my Body laid In the cold Ground had its last tribute pay'd For though I with some reason hope that I May see my sun return before I dy And though I fancy to my self that yet The time may come in which I may forget All these afflictions which I now sustain And no more of consuming want complain The time may come in which my Body may In its own sphere its former strength display And this poor soul which now with heavy groans And floods of tears its miseries bemoans May from the Dung-hill yet be elevate And so restored to its former state Yet to what purpose all these hopes alace To what end serve those faÌ„ir appearances Those aery expectations which uphold The drooping spirits of both young and old Those pleasing notions by which we deceive Our lingring hours and make our selves believe We may when vapours of the night are gone Yet view our sun in its full horizon That smiling prospect of our future blisse Which for some time allays our grievances That painted idol in whose downy lap Our wearied sorrows sometime take a nap For what do all those serve when after all Death at our doors doth peremptorly call To Grave to Grave make haste my hour draws on Dispatch dispatch up I most wait on none Bestir your selves 't is high time to be gone Then where are all our hopes where all our joys And pleasures which did here make so much noise When that sad Summons in our ears doth sound Ah where is then our Life-guard to be found Those Champions of the World I doubt they are By that time bravely vanish'd into Air. Away all foolish hopes then for I know I know this Body to the Grave must go And after all those mournful passages I know the Grave must be my dwelling place Where in close darknesse and long night I must Attend until my Soul
noise thus cry and howl And in his anger tear his very Soul As thou dost now thy self in wrath expresse As though thou were 't first Martyr in the case How from my Soul do I commiserat A man in such a sad distracted state Why dost thou think but other men as well As thou my friend the same afflictions feel Thy case indeed is no ways singular Nor are thy sufferings extraordinar Then why my friend art thou become so vain To think thou shouldst not feel what other men As good as thee do dayly undergo And make not half this noise of it if so I do with sorrow look upon thy state And think indeed it is more desperate Then that of those shut up in Hospitals For most of these have lucid intervals But thou hast none their fury may be tam'd By strength of Medicine and they reclaim'd By time to their own wits thine doth encrease And seems to be a madness in excess Thy fury seizes on thee more and more Beyond the approved cure of Hallâ—bore For thou dost think that God to favour thee Should alter his established decree And even be pleas'd on thy account to change The so well ordred course of Nature strange That any mortal man endu'd with reason Should dar to hatch within his breast such treason Against Heavens King dost think that God will make The lofty Rocks within their Sockets shake Or mash the Frame of Nature for thy sake Dost think he 'll make the Earth turn desolate To complement thee in thy sad estate Or make Men Beasts Birds Fishes in the Sea Endure the same afflictions with thee That the whole Universe from Pole to Pole Might with one voice thy miseries condole Alace my friend thou rav'st thou rav'st indeed If thou foment such fancies pray take heed What thou dost think at least what thou dost speak For thy expressions show thy judgement weak And which is yet a sign more evident Of thy distemper and an argument Of thy disordred mind with confidence Because we seem to doubt thy innocence Thou calls't us fools and dunces which implyes As much as thou think'st thou art hugely wise Whilst all wise men conclude without debate That every man wise in his own conceit Iâ— but a fool of which alace I see A too true demonstration in thee And therefore with more reason I 'd request Then thou hast us thou would not speak at least For in this troubled state I 'd thee advise To hold thy peace and we shall think thee wise At least as we have heard with patience All thy discourse and taken no offence At thy injurious words so thou wouldst hear What I intend to speak which though I fear Will quadrat too much with thy case yet I With all discretion shall forbear t' apply But only shall endeavour to expresse In a few words wy judgement on the case I see my friend then though thou still dost plead Not guilty yet a man may plainly read In thy afflictions what 's the cause of all Thy miseries which I do freely call Thy crying sins thy unjust dealings hence Those woes from these thy sufferings commence Thy judgements clearly do thy sins expresse To all of us though thou wilt not confesse But cunningly wouldst still plead innocent And truly there 's no greater argument Of guilt then still denying when impeach'd But for all thy defences God has reach'd Thee in his justice and has punish'd thee For thy foul sins in manner as we see Now as in wrath our God is formidable So all his orders are inviolable He lets the wicked man in villany Proceed and flourish undisturbedly For a long time until he doth attain To the full Zenith of his joyes and then He draws the Reins and doth his pride compesce In the bright noon-tide of his happinesse So from his earthly glory in a tryce He tumbles down as from a precipice His radiant lustre shall be no more seen But his great name as though he ne'er had been Shall be raz'd out of the Records of Fame And none shall know he was or whence he came Nay those who knew him in prosperity Shall now abhor his very memory His wealth and power in which he did confide Shall fail him all his arts and tricks beside By which he us'd to couzen other men Shall be most quaintly disappointed then His council shall be overturned all And by his own devices he shall fall The course of life he in this Earth doth steer Shall be like Ships 'mongst shelves in constant fear With dreadful thoughts he shall be overlaid Of his own shadow he shall be afraid Sad apprehensions shall upon him seize And in his spirits he shall find no ease For when he means by pleasures to divert His sorrows and alleviate his heart By serene thoughts his conscience by and by Shall lay before him his impiety Which shall him also in his sleep affright And steal upon him like a Thief by night Shall apprehend that plots are every where Laid for his life and that men do prepare Actions Indytements Jurors evidence Against him and his frighted conscience Makes him believe that men do ly in wait To catch him and that every man doth hate Both him and all his execrable race And that he 's the discourse of every place When on his pillow he shall lay his head Thinking by sleep from terrors to be freed Then shall fresh terrors like a rapid stream Break in upon his fancy in a dream Then shall he start out of his sleep and call For Sword for Helmet Corslet Shield for all Then sleep again but in a tryce awake And nimbly to his feet himself betake So sleep and wake and wake and sleep by fits All the long night like one out of his wits His Creditors on all his Means shall seize Turn out his Family bring him by degrees To such a sad penurious exigent As he and his shall have no aliment Then wasting sorrow want of sleep and food With all things that to nature are allow'd Shall in his Loines his Body and his Head A complication of diseases breed By which the hateful wretch shall every day In some dark corner rot and pine away Then all his hopes by which he formerly In th' hottest fits of his adversity Would cheer his drooping spirits and recall His almost parting soul then shall they all Abandon him and he shall then appear Upon all hands environed with fear Like a poor Malefactor who has tane His leave of all his friends and with some pain Mounted the Ladder when he looks about Of deaths approach he makes no longer doubt Concluding 'cause attended now by none But th' horrid Executioner alone Sure he must dy for all his hopes are gone Fear while he lives shall dwell within those walls Which his indeed he most unjustly calls Because by fraud and rapine purchased In his own Chamber fear
innocent and upright in my heart Then O my friends why do you persecute A poor man thus why do ye contribute All your endeavours why is all your wit Employ'd to prove that I am Hypocrite Ah why so cruel why so inhumane As still to doubt me still to entertain Bad thoughts of me although you clearlie see What e're my faults and outward failings be Yet God to me some kindness doth impart And his true Grace is rooted in my heart Then if for my sake you will not forbear By strength of argument to make appear That I am guilty be at least so kind To your own selves as though you in your mind Suppose I am such yet to hold your peace And not so smartlie tell me in my face That I am of the number of those men Whom God doth hate when you perceive how plain And evident appears from what I speak Although my body be consum'd and weak Yet is my living Soul inspir'd with faith With which supported never while I breath Shall you evince by all your wit and art That I 'm an Out-side saint but in my heart A rotten Sinner truth you should be blam'd For this Discourse indeed I am asham'd To see wise men so over-reach'd with passion In words out run their reason in this fashion Now to conclude my friends I would advise You all hereafter to become more wise Than of your parts to be so proud and vain As thus t' insult on poor afflicted men As thus to stretch your argument so far Thus to conclude that none afflicted are But those who 've sinn'd a Principle indeed Of dangerous import pray my friends take heed How ye give Judgment i' th' afflicteds case How ye pronounce them guilty for alace Why should you thus presume why should you dare T' affirm what God himself doth not declare For he has never yet declar'd that all Those men who in afflictions Quag-mire fall Are meerlie sinners or that sorrows are Still signs of Gods Displeasure pray be'ware How you affirm this for you may incense Gods wrath by such your sawcy Eloquence And what you all so often do repeat Shall be the wretch'd and miserable state O' th' wicked in this world if you persist In these opinions argue as you list I fear shall be your own for you provock Your God to wrath and openly do mock His Providence and inwardly displease Your Maker by such Arguments as these But when your prosp'rous daies are vanished And in your Judgments you your sins do read When your high pride is level'd with the dust ' Then you will clearly see that God is just Pray then forbear for Heav'ns sake pray forbear This foolish arguing let me no more hear Those vain Debates but if you do intend To comfort me beseech you put an end To this Discourse and plainly let me know Whether you be my real friends or no. For if you be seeing how I abhorr This trifling talk you 'l argue so no more And if you be not pray you then begone And leave me here rather to die alone Than a sad life in such a converse lead As all my other sorrows doth exceed Cap. XX. AS one at Bar is to be pitied Who having well and eloquently plead His innocence and made the same appear By evidence as Sun at noon-tide clear Yet after all let him do what he can This friendlesse Creature this unhappy man Must be condemn'd he must to Gibbit go Because the partial Judge will have it so This is this good-mans case for all this time As one Arraign'd for an atrocious Crime He has by force of reason laboured To purge himself and for that end has made Ample confession of his Faith yet all These reasons cannot with his friends prevail They still esteem him guilty and maintain However of injustice he complain That he had grossely in his life provok't His God to wrath though cunningly he cloak't His murdred sins with such a specious vail Of Piety and World-deceiving zeal He closely kep't those murmuring faults conceal'd From sight of men yet now they were reveal'd For God at length had heard their shameful cry And by his punishment did testify How much he did abhor hypocrisie Let us observe then here with how great heat Zophar the words doth faithfully repeat Which Eliphaz himself and Bildad too Had spoke already yet this wise man now In his old strain will lisp them out once more As if they never had been spoke before When first says he fame to our ears did bring The dismal news of thy sad suffering When of thy many losses we did hear No men could be more troubled then we were We did thy griefs as heavilie bemoan As if thy losses had been all our own Nor could we in our troubled minds have peace When men inform'd us of thy woful case Until we see thy self and so forsook All that was dear to us and undertook A tedious journey to this place that so We might perform what every man doth owe To real friendship that we might condole Thy sufferings and from our very soul Lament with thee as one for whom we still Bore great respect think of us what thou will Therefore with more then ordinary speed We hasted hither not that we might feed Our eyes with such a woful spectacle As now alace we do behold or fill The appetites of envy and revenge With observations on so sad a change No we come hither only to declare That as thy friends we mean't to bear a share In thy afflictions and so thou didst see Seven days we sat in complaisance with thee With Garments rent and ashes on our Head Not speaking word more then we had been dead We beat our breasts we bow'd we sigh'd and weep't And with thy sorrows a true cadence kep't We had resolv'd on silence But when we heard thee with great violence Exclaim against the works of Providence When we did hear thee bitterly arraign The Justice of our God once and again When with great fury thou didst execrat The hour that gave thee Birth and with such heat Pursue thy foolish wishes as if he Who out of meanest Dust Created thee Who By his powerful Breath did make thee live Who did to thee wealth honours issue give Were still oblig'd to keep thee in that state And had no freedom to eradicate Thee and thy race as well as other men Who surely were it lawful to complain Could in as sad and mournful tone declare How they did once live and what now they are When we did hear thee with such impudence At all occasions plead thy innocence As if our God had been unjust indeed We might ha' fear'd to ha' been punished As well as thou if we had held our peace And not maintain'd his Justice in the case For who I pray could such discourses hear And after all from answering forbear On this account we 've spoke and spoke again And
are the same And as they liv'd together so they dy Returning both to dust by sympathy They think re-union not imaginable And hold the Resurrection but a fable Thence void of apprehensions after death With great indifference they shut up their breath Nor are these men to whom God is so kind O' th' better sort more polish'd and refin'd Then common sinners are no they are such As hugg their sins and honour vice so much In foulest shape with so high veneration They 're not asham'd to make it their profession Such as our God so little do esteem They think his glory but a sounding name Such as affirm the works of Providence The checks and dictats of a Conscience To be but stale devices forg'd by those Envious men whom Fortune doth oppose Men who enrag'd because they can't possesse That which themselves acknowledge happinesse Pick'd to see others in a better state Then they themselves invent they know not what To crosse their joyes and fain by art would move The World to credit what they cannot prove For when outwitted by Philosophy They run to th're fuge of a mystery Yet God is even kind to such as these Who think so of him and speak what they please Who boldly laugh at Death Heavens Hell and all In principles so Atheistical As they to God dar impiously say Prethee begone disturb us not we pray Let us alone torment us pray no more With admonitions which our souls abhor Forbear thy curses and dire menaces Vex us no more but let us live in peace And when we dy thou mayest dispose of us Even as thou wilt but whilst we live we 'll thus Employ our time in mirth and jollity And take our hazard of Eternity For who say they shall ever us perswade Or make believe that thou a soul hast made A something which doth after death exist A thing which preachers call even what they list That such a thing of thy own essence part Infus'd into us by thy special art Should after separation be condemn'd To endlesse torments and by thee esteem'd As useless dross because the thing did take Pleasure in that which thou thy self did make Why this we are perswaded were to hate Thy self and so thy self excruciat For others errors this is somewhat strange And in our thoughts a very poor revenge Give orders pray then to thy preaching men Who in this World spend much talk in vain To spare their lungs for they shall ne'r perswade Any of us that thou a soul hast made A subtile Idea a thing Divine Limbeck'd to th' hight sublimat sopra fine To be destroyed eternally No let us live say they even as we please On Earth let us enjoy our mirth and ease Not all thy art our pleasures shall controle Nor shall the silly notion of a soul Ever be able in the least to check What we resolve by what we may expect Pray who 's this God say they let 's understand Who 's this Almighty Lord at whose command We all must live and dy pray let us know Who is this Prince to whom all here below Must pay such homage who 's this Heavenly King To whom all Mortals on their knees must bring Their praying tribute twice a day at least And once a week give audience to some Priest Who calls himself this Kings Ambassador Whilst he repeats his Message o'r and o'r In such a saucy and incensing strain As those who hear him hardlie can abstain From choller when he is so bold to say All men shall be chastis'd who do not pray To this Great God For what end should we pray who stand in need Of nothing from him those whose dailie bread Comes from his Table those who do possess No part of earthlie Joy and happiness As we do all those whom unluckie fate Has plung'd into a miserable state Those men may lie a begging at Heavens Gate But as for us who live in afluence Who spend our time in great convenience Why should we pray what can he give us more Than we enjoy nay whom should we adore Shall we adore an unknown Prince who shrouds Himself behind the Curtains of the Clouds And treats the Sons of Men with such Disgrace As he disdains to let us see his face The Sun and Moon we know and dailie see But for this God of Heaven pray who is he Or if such adoration we allow him What profit shall we make by praying to him Have any fortunes by this praying made Are anie wealthie by this idle trade Do not we see how those who dailie call On this same God are miserable all Poor and Deform'd Contemptible and Mean By want of food most scandalouslie lean Praying and sleeping by a formal Rule Treated by all the world in Ridicule Why then should we to him our selves applie Who live in Wealth since onlie Povertie Is the return of Prayer shall we request That we may become such no let us wast Our Years in mirth and not our selves betray To miserie but chase all cares away By frolick sports whilst Fools and Beggars pray Yet such even such the God of Heavens doth bless Such cursed things in Honour Wealth and Peace Do flourish here on earth those wretched men Have in their lives no reason to complain They know no judgments nor afflictions they Whilst ' those who from their tender Years do pray And in Devotion earlie exercise Their spirits are involv'd in miseries For shame forbear my friends then to assert That punishments are meerlie by desert Inflicted when the contrair doth appear By what I 've said so evident and clear Nor would I my dear friends you should mistake My meaning or suppose by what I speak Whilst I express how happy those men are That I envie them or i' th' least appear To harbour any thoughts of discontent Whilst those means plentie with my punishment And wretched state of life I do compare Or that I would be happy as they are No God forbid that I should entertain Such impious thoughts or any way complain Of Gods good Dispensations No I 'm so far from that as seriouslie I think what those men call Prosperitie Doth not deserve the name of happiness But is at best but like a gentle breeze Which blowes before a Storm I do believe What those poor Souls do fillilie conceive To be the true supream Felicity Is on the matter down-right Misery O let those mens prosperity to me Be never known let these eyes never see Plenty on earth as I have seen before Let my kind Maker never me restore To anie thing which men call happiness Rather than I should be as one of those And now my friends as I have thus express'd How much the wicked in this life are bless'd So I would have yow know that what I say I do not as a firm position lay Nor do I think it proper on my part That I should so tenaciouslie assert That all such
But when his Lust begins again to to flow Forgetting wholly all his former woe To the same place like mad-man he returns And in those unclean flames again he burns There 's one Crime more of which I do expect You will permit me yet my friends to speak A Crime well known by th' name of piracy Which is on Sea an open robbery I have already spoke of that on Land And now 't is fitting you should understand How that on Sea is no lesse openly Practis'd as from those men who live hard by The Coasts of the Red-sea we daily hear Where in great Fleets those Picaroons appear They re men who having try'd all Trades on Land And finding nothing which they took in hand Succeeded to their wish in hopes of gain At length they became down-right High-way-men Then out-law'd and by justice every where Pursu'd they found there was no living there And so at last to Sea-towns they repair Where buying some small Pinnace with a few Hatchets and Swords and mustering a crew Of Rake-hells like themselves to Sea they go And plunder all they meet both friend and foe They spoil all Trade they make the Merchants groan And to all States and Nations bemoan Their daily losses by such men as these Who 'gainst all justice do infest the Seas They seldom come on Land or if they do 'T is in some Creek where for a day or two They do refresh themselves and with great pain Carine their Barks and so to Sea again At length when by this vill'nous roaving trade Those Sea-opprssours have great Booty made To some small Island where they are not known They steer and there themselves they boldly own To be the Subjects of some mighty State Where they as Merchands do Negotiat With th' â—slanders and riotously spend What by their privateering they had gain'd These in their little Wherryes skim the Seas And ramble on the Ocean with ease Killing and Robbing doing what they please Who though each moment they have fair occasions T' enrich their Souls with pious Meditations Viewing Gods wonders in the deep Yet do they still their sinful Trade practise And both the Laws of God and man despise Though floating shrewdly betwixt Winds and Waves And not four inches distant from their Graves Thus then we see my friends how at all times Men take delite to act most horrid Crimes In a continued tract of villany Pray let us see now how these men do dye Why not bereav'd of Life by Rope or Sword Not drown'd not cut in pieces in a word After they have grown old in sin and known No other trade but that of Hell alone As in some places Snow doth still appear Until the Summer Solstice of the year And undissolv'd in heaps it self doth show Until by heat it doth in waters flow So these grown old in sin and now no more Able to act it as they did before Do softly dwindle to the Grave and there Lye down and rest without all fear or care Nay with such calmnesse and tranquility As if they mean't to sleep they softly dye And with so little violence or pain As even their very Mothers do abstain From weeping at their death and making noise Above their Corps but rather do rejoice To see their Children in th' extremity Of age wealth honours and discretion dye The worms upon their Corps do sweetly feed And they in Grave do find as soft a bed As do the bodies of those pious men Of whom no man had reason to complain Nay though those men with sin so soul and black May well be nam'd villany in th' abstract Yet in their Death there 's nothing singular Nor do they die in horrour and dispair But like an aged Trunk fall'n to decay Insensibly they moulder quite away Now here my friends I thought t' have given o're And of oppression to have spoke no more But that I think on 't there 's a species Of those unhappy men who do oppress Of whom I have not spoke as yet there are Some who for neither rich nor poor do care But bolster'd up with vain authority Against all persons they promiscuously Do vent their rage men full of picquant-wrath Who threaten still Destruction and Death To all who give them but the least offence And to th' afflicted with great violence They add affliction They take great pleasure tartly to upbraid All those on whom the hand of God is laid The barren woman who in doleful tone In private doth her barrenness bemoan They call an useless wretch a barren fool A dry She-ass a pitiful Night owl The widow too whose lamentable state All truely pious men compassionate Those men with all their force and art oppress And makes her Life a Scene of bitterness Nay on the wealthy too their hand they stretch And fleece them all as far as they can reach By heavy Fines give way to Informations Against them and encourage accusations On slender grounds which with great art they draw Out of the very Excrements of Law T' attain the lives and means of those they hate And satiat their Revenge at any rate Their dire Revenge which no man can endure For who is he can of his life be sure If once those men by their intelligence Can find against them any evidence Then must they dy for all their innocence Yet these these are the men who do possess The good things of the earth these men in peace Do spend their time whilst good and righteous men Of want of bread do every day complain But after all though these men sillily Suppose they sin with great security And think God doth not eye them nor remark At least their hidden actings in the dark Yet he doth eye them and will surely bring Those men to an account and reckoning For all these villanous deeds and make them know That though he be a God to anger slow Yet when inflam'd with a just indignation He 'll of his anger make clear demonstration And cut off all their race by extirpation For wicked men though in the worlds eyes They seem to swell and in great foamings rise Blown up by winds of pride to th'hight of all That which poor mortals happiness do call Yet are their honours titles dignities But meer delusions vain uncertainties Things of no value triffles emptie shows And but of short duration God knows For in a few years time we shall perceive Them and their honours shut up in the Grave And their successors prodigally fall A wasting spending and consuming all What those poor Caterpillers had with pain Amass'd together in their lives and then There shall be no more memory of those men Now to conclude then if what I have said Shall not be able fully to perswade Your minds my friends that what I speak is true Come let me hear I pray now which of you Will undertake the question to decide And make appear that I have
visitations For certainly if thou wilt call to mind Thy by past life I doubt not but thou'lt find Th' hast had some warnings were 't but in a dream Of thy afflictions long before they came Yes in a dream for often-times I know God is accustom'd seriously to show To men what often they conceal for shame Their future state i' th' mirrour of a dream For when the active soul outwearied With toile o' th' day at night is brought to bed Of a sound sleep then it begins to fly Then liberat from the bodies drudgery It soares aloft and in another sphere Begins to act nay then it doth appear To be what we cannot imagine here For being then as fit for contemplation Almost as 't will be after separation By vision intuitive it sees The state of things to come and by degrees Becomes so subtile and doth at that rate In contemplation then expatiate With such delight as if it did not mean By natural Organs e're to act again But when some hours it has thus wandered And in that time God has discovered What for its profit he intends at large Then he commands it to its former charge Have you not sometimes seen a General His Officers to his Pavilion call Whilst all the Army do securely sleep Save a few Companies who Guard do keep And there inform them what he would ha' done Give every one his Orders and anon Command each to his Post so let 's suppose When in profoundest sleep the eyes are close The Body one would think o're-come by death Were 't not that only it did softly breath Th' Almighty then is pleas'd as 't were to call The soul unto him and inform it all What he intends to do with it and then Commands it to the sleeping Corps again Whether when come the sad Noctambulant In a cold sweat with fear and rambling faint Rouzes the Body from its sleep and then Shows its instructions and begins t' explain What it has seen and heard and plainly shows What Miseries Calamities and Woes They may expect God will to them dispense If not prevented by true penitence Then as if God himself to them did speak When on these admonitions they reflect With fear and horrour they begin to quake For they consider that his sole intent By these night-warnings is but to prevent Their total fall and by such signs as these Divert them from those foolish purposes Which in their hearts they proudly do intend To prosecute did he not kindly send Such seasonable messages to show What will be th' event if they forward go In such mad projects and by consequence Make them to understand the difference 'Twixt humane power and his Omnipotence By Dreams and Visions then he doth allarme Th' unwary race of man and from all harm Preserve both soul and body which alace Would fall into the dreadful ambushes Of th' enemy o' th' world wer 't not that he Who fram'd both soul and body thus did free Them both from danger and did constantly Mind their concerns with a Paternal eye For else the murdered body soon would drop Into the grave the soul without all hope Of pardon in that deep abyss would fall Which God in justice has design'd for all Whom he doth hate and dolefully in Chains Compare short pleasures with eternal pains Thus then we see how much we should esteem The ordinar Phaenomenon of a dream And not contemn it because usual As if a common accident to all Occurring in their sleep ane aâ—ry thing Of which the wiser make no reckoning For sure those dreams and visions contain The mind of God and are not shown in vain Next as by dreams so by diseases too The Spirit of God is pleased to allow Kind warnings to us for if understood All sicknesses of body for our good Are sent upon us so that did we know What kindness by diseases God doth show To our poor souls we never would complain But think our selves most happy in our pain For let 's observe now don't we daily see How man in health from all diseases free Consumes his precious years so wantonly As if he never did expect to die He so imploys his time in sinful pleasure As for devotion he can find no leasure But when diseases on his body seize And conquering death approaches by degrees When th' lungs all overflow'n with constant rain Of Pituite that falls down from the Brain Afford scarce room for breathing when the Blood Is in its Circulation withstood By stagnant humours when the Bones do ake And all the Pillars of the Body shake When for his food he has no appetite And in his Table he takes no delite But every dainty Dish doth nauseate On which with pleasure he did feed of late VVhen all his flesh in health so plump and fair Now rotten and consum'd doth not appear As formerly but shrunk quite to the bone The bones which were not seen before anon Stick out i'th'figure of a Skeleton When in this sad condition on his bed Helyes and sees that all his hopes are fled And he must die when all he can perceive Is nothing but the avenue o'th'grave And with himself he now considereth There 's no avoiding of a certain death Then he begins with horrour to reflect Upon his by past actions and take Account of all his wandrings then he falls On thoughts of Heaven and for Preachers calls For pious men who in this sad occasion May by their words afford him consolation And teach him how he may attain salvation Then all his former wayes he doth abhorre Complains on sin and can endure no more To hear the voice of pleasure in his ears But buried now in sorrows pains and fears His only thought his sole consideration Is what shall become after separation Of his poor soul how that in death shall fare For which in life he took so little care And if perhaps which is rare to be found A man of God appear who can expound The matter to him and before his eyes Draw out the Map of his iniquities Speak to his soul and to his anxious heart The gracious language of the Heavens impart Then will this good man to his God address And say have pity on this sinners case Father of mercy for I 'me confident He of his sins doth seriously repent Restore him to his health and let him see How much O Lord he is oblig'd to thee Who when thou couldst have ruin'd him with ease And made him perish in this sad disease Art pleas'd to let him live that he may yet Express thy glory in his mortal state To this petition God shall lovingly Make answer well this sinner sholl not dye For I have found him in this exigent Vext at his sins and truly penitent Then let him live for I his heart have try'd And for his errors he hath satisfy'd I 'me reconcil'd and freely to him give Full liberty
princes and maketh the strength of the mighty weak 22. He discovereth the deep places from their darkness and bringeth forth the shadow of death to light 23. He encreaseth the people and destroyeth them he enlargeth the nations and bringeth them in again 24. He taketh away the hearts of them that are the chief over the people of the earth and maketh them to wander in the wilderness out of the way 25. They grope in the dark without light and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man 1. Lo mine eye hath seen all this mine ear hath heard and understood it 2. I know as much as you know I am not inferior to you 3. But I will speak to the Almighty and I desire to dispute with God 4. For indeed you forge lies you are Physicians of no value 5. O that you would hold your tongue that it might be imputed to you for wisdom 6. Now hear my disputation and give ear to the arguments of my lips 7. Will you accept his person or will you contend for God 8. It is well that he should seek of you will you make a lye for him as one lyeth for a man 9. He will surely reprove you if you accept any person secretly 10. Shall not his excellency make you afraid and his fear fall upon you 11. Your memory may be compared to ashes and your bodies to bodies of clay 12. Hold your tongues in my presence then and let me speak let come upon it What will 13. Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth and put my soul in my hand 14. Loe though he slay me yet will I trust in him and I will reprove my ways in his sight 15. He shall be my salvation also for the hypocrite shall not come before him 16. Hear diligently my words and mark my talk 17. Behold now if I prepare me to judgement I know I shall be justified 18. Who is he that will plead with me now for if I hold my tongue I dye 19. But do those two things to me then will I not hide my self from thee 28. withdraw thy hand from me and let not thy fear make me afraid 21. then call thou and I will answer thee or let me speak and answer thou me 22. How many are mine iniquities and my sins show me my rebellion and my sin 23. Wherefore hidest thou thy face and takest me for thine â—remy 25 Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro and wilt thou pursue the dry stuble 26 For thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth 26. Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks and lookest narrowly into all my paths and makest the print thereof in the heels of my feet 27 Such an one consumeth like a rotten thing and as a garment that is moth-eaten 1 Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble 2. Hr shooteth forth as a flewer sâ—cut down he flyeth â—â—o as a shadow continueth not 3. Yet dost thou open thine eyes on suen a one and bringst me into judgement with thee 4. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean no not one 5. Are not his days determined the number of his months are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds which he cannot passe 6. Turn from him then that he may cease until his desired day as an hireling 7. For there is hope of a tree if it be â—ut down that it will yet sprout and the branches thereof will not cease 8. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth and the stock thereof be dead in the ground 9. Yet by the scent of water it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant 10. But man is sick and dyeth man perisheth and where is he 11. As the waters pass from the sea the flood decayeth and dryeth up 12. So man sleepeth and riseth not for he shall not awake again nor be raised from his sleep while the heavens be no more 13. O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave and keep me secret untill thy wrath were past and wouldst give me a term and remember me 14. If a man dye shall he live again all the days of my appointed time will I wait till while my change come 15. Thou shalt call me and I shall answer thee thou lovest the work of thine own hands 16. But now thou numbrest my steps and dost not delay my sins 17. Mine iniquity is sealed up as in a bag and thou addest to my wickedness 18. And surely as the mountain cometh to nought and the rock that is removed from his place 19. As the waters break the stones when thou oversâ—â—â— est the the things â—â—â—ion grow in the dast of the earth 〈◊〉 thou destroyest the hope of man 20. Thou prevâ—â—lâ—st against him so that he passeth away he changeth his face when thou castest him away 21. And he knoweth not if his sons shall be honourable neither shall he understand concerning them if they be of low degree 22. But while his filesh is upon him he shall be sorrowfull and while his soul is in him it shal mourn 1. Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite and said 2. Shall a wise man speak words of the wind and fill his belly with the east-wind 3. Shall he dispute with words that are no comely or with talk that is not profitable 4. Sure thou hast casten off fear and restrains prayer before God 5. For thy mouth declareth thy iniquity seing thou hast chosen the tongue of the crafty 6. Thine own mouth condemneth thee not I and thy lips testify against thee 7. Art thou the first man that was born and wast thou made before the hills 8. hast thou heard the secret council of God and dost thou restrain wisdom to thee 9. What knowest thou that we know not and understandest that is not in us 10. With us are both ancient and very aged men far older then thy father 11. Seem the consolation of God smal unto thee is this thing strange unto thee 12. Why ' doth thine heart take thee away and what do thine eyes mean 13. That thou answerest thy God at thy pleasure and bringest such words out of thy mouth 14. What is man that he should be clean and he that is born of woman that he should be just 25. Behold he found no sted fastness in his saints yea the heavens are not clean in his sight 16. How much more 〈◊〉 man abominable filthy who drinketh iniquity like water 17. I will tell thee hear me and I will declare what I have seen 18. Which wise men have told as they heard of their fathers and have not keeped secret 19. To whom alone the land was given no stranger passed through them 20. The wicked man is as one that traveleth continually with child the number of years is hid from the tyrant 21. A found of fear is in his ears and