I know not what you think him worthy sure I think him guilty shamefull death t' indure To this they all applaud with acclamation O let him die and perish from this Nation Yet once more proudly doth the Priest enquire Him of his Doctrine and Disciples Ire And rapid rage doth to his soule possesse That Truth and Conscience with him have no place Christ answers In your Synagogues have I Still taught and by me nothing secretly Is done or said enquire of them therefore Who heard me let them witnesse lesse or more By this one of those slaves who stood neer by Doth smite him on the face most vil'nously And ads this motto to his cruell blow What Villaine dost thou answer th' High-Priest so Christ meekly replyes If I have spoke wrong Beare witnesse of it but if thus my tongue Hath spoke the truth why smit'st thou me 't may be Some higher hand repay thy villanie Ah me my God how hath this High Priest still Spoke prophecy although against his will Of late he said it was expedient that One for the nation should be immolat And now he sayes he 's guilty to the death And so both truth and lye pronounced hath O what a vaticiny what a word Is this that Caiaphas doth now afford Guilty he was to die the death he come And yet not guilty to the death as some Man born in sinne to die the death is born Because by sinne he 's guilty and forelorne But he did neither sinne nor know trespasse For Gods 〈◊〉 ' â—â— Lambe and Sonne he was And therefore since he knew not sinne no death Ov'r him or power or jurisdiction hath Yet guilty was he for 〈◊〉 guilt he tooke And by the way for 〈…〉 of the brooke And so was guilty made to death for loe His bodies death must our soules death ov'rthrow Thus was he guilty to the death and yet Nor guilt nor death his innocence did fit His was the death the guilt was ours and so Both from the guilt and death w' are free to goe Next to this censure all those catyss still With excrements his glorious face doe spill And though the glorious hoast of heav'n are bold In him to gaze Gods wisdome manifold Yet muffling up his face they hood-wink's eyes Then crave in scorn to heare his Prophecies This not enough they be not yet content T' afflict his body and his soule torment But what is more to Pilat's civill power They lead him there to have his death made sure From out the High Priests house and hall he 's led And unto Pilat's hall is carried Tumultuous crowds of people run along To make their malice and their griefe more strong And in Iudibrious manner thus doe cry Here 's Naz'reths Propher pray you make him way Pilat affrighted with the Convocation Comes forth and cals the head o' th' Combination And asks the cause of this their concourse for Such stirre Jerus'lem had not seen before Yet ere the Roman Depute will approve Their combination he doth gravely move This question to them What hath this man done Or gainst the State or gainst Religion If he had nor a malefactour been Say they to Pilate sure thou hadst not seen Us stand as supplicants before thy doore Nor had we ever judg'd him by thy pow'r O cruell catiffes irreligious you Who act such murther under pieties show To Pilat's house you come but will not enter As if his house were hells condemning center Woe woe to you Scribes Pharisees and Priests You rav'ning Wolves dissembling Hypocrites Why doe you think by ' xternall rites and showes To purge that poyson in your hearts ov'rflowes Why doe you make your platter clean without While as the fountain's poyson'd round about Why doe you guild your graves with pretious stones Whose richest linings are but rotten bones Why doe you wash your hands so oft with water While as your hearts be lust and prides Theater It is not Pilat's roof nor Pilat's wall Nor the corruption of his Judgements hall Can make you so unclean or so impure As doth your sinfull soules distemp'rature For what is from without cannot so much Defile the Man as doth the hearts hid touch But thus th' Almighty hath decreed and thus You have determin'd by a secret push To catch the innocent unto your snare While as your words be soft and smoothly faire But he who in the highest heav'ns doth dwell Can both your fraud detect and pride repell And will in his own time your plots repay Upon your pates with woe and weal-away Jesus now stands before the Pagan Judge And from his fury findeth no refuge Pilat enquires him Art thou Juries King I am saith he without dissembling But in this world my Kingdome hath no place Nor hath this world a portion of my grace Pilat then on his Judgements feat fits down And once more asks him of Judaeas Crown And tels him that if he that Crown should claim Then should he wrong Augustus Diadem Not I saith he let Caesar have what 's his And God what 's God's no other thing I wish But while this Roman on his bench doth sit His wife did by her letter him intreat Yea she adjures him that he should not touch That just man for saith she I 've suffer'd much Concerning him this last night in my sleep The gods preserve thee and thy conscience keep That unto him thou doe no wrong nor harm For feare hath giv'n my soule a sad alarme This Pilat reads but 's deafe to such a tale Where will doth govern words will not prevaile He therefore calls the multitude aloud Heare mut'nous you and hark you envious croud Whom will you that at this your solemne feast I should let loose to you what think you best Here have we Barrabas a murth'ring thiefe Will you that he goe loose and have reliefe Or shall we let this Jesus goe pray tell For your desire shall be my Centinell O Barrabas say they let him goe free But for this Jesus him let 's Crucifie VVell then saith Pilat since it must be so Him shall you have and Barrabas shall goe Yet bring me here some water water 's brought And for dissimulation lacketh nought His hands he washeth his dissembling heart Stands still corrupt and foul in every part Yet doth he call Come malecontented you To this just man take heed what you shall doe For in him I doe finde no fault at all Why one haire of his head to ground should fall I therefore to your conscience doe appeale To Church to Councell and to Common-weale That from his blood I stand this day as free As be my hands from their impurity Alas vain Pilot hadst thou cleans'd thy heart As thou hast wash'd thy hands then sure no part Of this mans blood should have against thee cry'd Then should both heart and hand been purifi'd But since one thing thou sayst and dost another Thy words shall not thy foule transgression smother In short time thou
Of Peace of Mercy and of Lovesick-motion VVherewith the Man-God my Redeemer hath Releas'd my Darling both from Sin and Death But since my wit is weake my pen unable My judgment shallow and my hand unstable To give a true characterizing strain Unto thy Greatnes Goodnes Mercies-Main O grant that whilst thou openest thus my mouth T' unfold the Tenor of thy sacred Truth I bee not like those stones which by the way Unmov'd themselves the beaten rode display Nor like that Canall and that watry Spout VVhich from the fountaine to it's bubling snout Conveys pure streams of coole refreshing water For th' use of others whilst it self 's no better No first inform my mind then cleer mine eye That I may learn what depth of Deiry Thy VVisdome hath entrencht within the Vail Of flesh and made it there reside and dwell Then touch my lips and guide my babling pen That I may warble to the sons of men The sweet Hyblaean Nectar of thy Powre That brings us sweetnes from our bitter-sowre So shall I teach thy Saints thy waies aright Whilst thy all-seeing eye vouchsafes mee sight The Prodrome CANTO 2o. I Sing the wonders of that wondrous GOD Who being essentially one is Trin'ly od Not in that first born Word-begotten Mater Whose after-byrth was fire ayre earth and water From whom and to whom as their native sourse Time reconveys his childrings circled course Nor gaze I that re-colonizing Boat Wherein old Noah twelve months pent did float On steepe high Mountains and Ryphaean woods Like Neptune trampling on those swallowing floods Which from Heav'ns-sluces Earths hid vains and Seas Deep-channels did God's wrath anatomize Nor minde I now to lim that wondrous Love Which burning in Elohim's brest above Did Shem and Heber's sacred line re-bring From Shinar's soyl and fayre Euphrates spring T' attend the loadstar of th'Eternals call Amidst those plains where Jordan's course doth craule Nor shall my bubling pen those plagues expresse Which from the heav'ns in wraths enrag'd excesse On Zâ—an's field and Mizraim's flowry Tent Were as postilions of their wrath down sent Nor sing I those divine decrees and wonders VVhose voice contemper'd with a thousand thunders Breeds more respect in Israel's haughty heart VVho notwithstanding acts the truants part Then all those Lawes which Numa could afford Or yet the Spartane or Cecropian Lord L. S. No those already have in matchlesse Ore Traverst both Vestae's lap and Thetis shore And by the pencill of a glorious Gawl D. B. Have drawn the curtain of our azur'd All In such a sort that time shall never bring So sweet a draught from Hippocrene's spring Save that which Albian's Mercury Trismegist J. S. Hath quintessenc'd from Ampelonaes brest No no my care shall bee in heav'n-bred trance To gaze his more then wondrous excellence From whom all things as from their common father Doe all their essence and their being gather That true beginning midst and end of all VVho but beginning midst or end at all Is ground and top of that uncoupled chaine VVhich links poore sinners to their Soveraign The blessed Son I sing of God and Man VVho born in time yet was ere time began The Son of God th' eternall living rock And royall off-spring of great David's stock That blest Redeemer whom the Prophets old By heav'n-bred revelations oft foretold On whom their figures shadowes Types and Tropes Built all their truths moralities and hopes The God of Gods I sing and King of Kings From out whose mouth a two ed'd smyter-springs Dividing twixt the marrow and the bones And manifesting th' hearts hid motions VVhose words are misteries whose works are wonders VVhose eyes are lightnings and whose voice is thunders VVhose hayres are whiter then the new faln snow Whose sparkling eyes like flames of fire doe glow VVhose loynes are girt with gold of better fine Then Titan lusters in his mid-day shine VVhose foot 's of burning brasse and trampleth down The rage of Lethe Styx and Acharon Him him I sing Earth Earth attend my song That so the hony-suckles of my Tongue May like those showres which on the Meads doe trill Celestiall Nectar to the world distill For though my pen in peace should snort and ly The Rocks the Mountains and the Stones would cry Crant therfore ô my God Grant grant betimes Peace to my Soule and soule unto my Rhimes Yea quintessence my soule and eke advance My care-free spirit in some celestiall trance That purg'd from passion thy divine addresse May guide me through this desert wildernesse Of humane weaknesse that my Pen from thee And Lines may borrow such a dignity As may expresse in lofty quavering songs The lofty prayse which unto thee belongs But stay my Muse and lanch not to the Ocean VVhose never ebbing Tide and restles motion No Pilot yet could know aright or keep Himself from Naufrage in so vast a deep For this is sure That in this voyage stands Charybdis gulfe and Scilla 's shelf and sands 'Twixt which the whistlings of an easie gale Must guide thy Bark and not a blustrous sale Yet keep not alwaies peace my Muse for now 'T is time to cleere thy care-eclipsed brow And by the numbers of thy sacred fury To stray along th'enamel'd coasts of Jurie Goe then from Dan to Bethel thence anon To Aroer Keilah Adullam Ziff Maone To Shilo Gilgall Mizphe Ramah Nob And these sky-threatning towr's whose spires doe rob Their white from Pelops shoulder and their Ore From Peru Ganges and Hydaspes shore And while thou viewst those coasts and pleasant fields Which milk and hony in abundance yeelds Vaile vaile thy top-saile and in rev'rence greet That sacred Flamyn whose heav'n-ravish'd sp'rit Doth at Joves Altar with a zeale-bred fire Evaporat his Soules sincere desire Haile flowry Jordan then and you sweet torrents Of christall-water whose Meandring currents So many Saints have sip'd and O thou soyl Whose arms gave rest from that tumultuous toyl Wherein our Fathers forty yeers did stray And O you sacred-walls where eft-soon lay That mighty God and Man whose chrimson shower From out his side made him our Saviour Yea O you hills you dales and fields each one Where Earths-sole Phoenix Heav'ns-true Paragon Did from his Cradle to his Crosse endure Our sinnes-disease and griefs-distemp'rature Haile haile I cry you all a glad good morrow Let neither blustring winds nor rain-bred sorrow Your Meads unflowre or yet your woods disleave Or choak your torrents in their bubling grave No let nor haile nor snow nor frost nor Ice By their tumultuous violent prejudice Your brows enage or yet your Tresses scorne Till from your tops your golden fleece be shorn But rather let the heav'ns with smiling face Your Nayids and your Napa's so embrace That by the tincture of their milk-sweet raine Your floury virdure may still fresh remaine As long as Titan takes delight to post From Japan to the great Herculaean coast But above all Hail hail thou ghostly-Father
as upon this day he next shall come To Judge the world and render life to some So on this day he takes delight to goe To Tabors top that there he might forth show A glance of that great glory which we shall One day possesse in his great marriage hall For when six ages of the world are run The seventh shall finish our Redemption Thus having found the time we next must view The place wherein Christ Jesus doth allow To cloath himselfe with glory for a while And cover Jacobs hands with Esau's guile The place is Tabors mountain top whereon He manifests his glories vision For till we climbe above earths drossie ball We are not fit t' enjoy heav'ns Festivall On top of Moriahs mountain Abram rear'd An altar to that God he lov'd and fear'd On Carmels top Eliah pray'th for fire And heav'ns obtemper his devout desire On Horebs top and in that hollow cave Whil'st he from Jesabel his life doth save Earth trembleth windes doe roare and flaming coals Of fire for his protection raves and roles On Pisgahs top meek Moses lyeth down And sleepeth in his first corruption On Nebo's top did Aaron sweetly lay His bones whil'st as his soule to heav'n did stray So on mount Tabor will my blessed Saviour First pray and then transforme his true behaviour That by him we may learn when we draw neer To God in aspirituall Hemispheare To cast distractions worldly cares and pains Behind our backs and make our chiefest strains To rest on high and whilst we talk with God T' obnubilate our heads within his cloud Leaving our Asses on the plain below Whil'st we to heaven our sighs and sobs upthrow The circumstance of time and place descry'd Wherein the Sonne of Man was clarifi'd 'T is fit we look on his attendants next That so our swarving faith may once grow fixt Those were three great ones Peter James and John Those sonnes of thunder this a pretious stone If any shall enquire why to those three My Master manifests his Majestie I answer first that Scripture doth command That every Truth accomplished shall stand By Declaration of some two or three And from their mouth receive stability Next unto this to them he shew'th indeed His future suff'rings should no way proceed From lack of power to confound his foes But from his love to mankinde hence he throws A way his robe of weaknesse and grows rich In glories vesture whose embroider'd stitch Bezaleel for all his skill and art Ne'er paralell'd in whole or yet in part And finally to those three first is shown His glory for they be the first must own His fellow sufferings least then orflings they Should seare his Crosse and so his cause betray He gives them here a glance of that reward Which for their after sufferings was prepar'd Thus on Mount Tabors top and lofty stage Those three receive the greatest priviledge That ever mortals in the flesh did see Being chain'd in bonds of base mortalitie But ô no sooner have they climb'd up there When loe their Master kneeling in his prayer They fall asleep so weake is this our flesh That what the sp'rit desires it doth empoish Yet seldome doth the flesh in quiet sleep But some distemper to the soule doth creep Whil'st Adam slept his rib was stoln away And sleep did Noahs nakednesse display Whil'st Sampson slept his Nazarisme's gone The Church asleep disknow'th her holy one In Jaels tent while Sisara sleeps he 's kill'd Jonah from sleep must wake ere th' sea be still'd Yea if the master of the house doe snort The thiefe digs thorow and the goods transport 'T is good therefore that men should watch and pray That Christ may be their light both night and day From sleep then can those three no sooner wake When of their Master they doe notice take And finde his count nance clarifi'd as farre Beyond his wonted feature as that starre Which gildes our midday doth exceed that lamp That cuts her capers in our midnight Camp And all his body deck'd with brighter beams Then Cynthia when she 's drunk with Neptunes streams The new faln snow was never halfe so white The Fullers soape makes nothing so perfect Jobs snowy water Davids hyssop drops VVhen from th' Alembicks cloud it softly hops Could never make a cloth so fresh and new As are his vestures in Celestiall hew Yea with him Moses and Eliah walk In glory and comfort him with their talke Concerning those dread sufferings which he was T' endure by Pilate and by Caiaphas Ne'er could the heav'ns afford two fitter guests To talk with him of fastings or of feasts Then were those two for Moses gave the Law And with Eliahs heav'n commanding aw The following Prophets made the world to try The power of th' Eternals verity Yet unto Christ both Law and Prophets tend From him they had beginning he 's their end Now to the world I see he did not come T' undoe the Law or Prophets but to summe Them both together that to both he might Be guide by day and loadstarre in the night VVherefore then should we in our deepest joyes Forget our Crosse or in our crossing toyes Forget our glory since our Saviour Amid'st his richest glory can endure To heare of crosses sorrows stripes and wrongs In stead of trophies triumphs shows and songs 'T is fitting then that in our peace we think Upon that wormwood cup we once must drink For humane mindes doe best digest their gall VVhen expectation cooks their Madrigall Peter awake beholds this glorious Trine And like a man awak'd from out his wine Cries to his master 't is good we be here O that I could three tabernacles reare The first for thee my Shilo and Messiah Then one for Moses then one for Eliah So should we spend our time in rest and peace Feeding upon the glory of thy face And being satiat with thy glories store Return to our sublunar toyls no more Now Peter tell me art thou truly ' wake Or sleep'st thou still that thus thou dost mistake Shall Tabor be thy dwelling place for ay Or shall my Saviour from his suffrings stay Shall Moses and Eliah still remain On Tabors top and not return again To that Celestiall joy from whence they came Fie on those stag'ring wishes fie for shame 'T is shame that men should give their fancies scope But greater shame to sleep their eyes be'ng ope Or therefore speak the truth or sleep thou still A drousie braine doth judgements project spill And yet I pardon thy ecstatique mood What thou didst speak thou no wayes understood Now scarce hath Peter from a zeale bred fire Evaporat those accents of desire When loe from heaven a bright irradiat cloud O'reshades the place whereas my Saviour stood And from on high did sound this loud loud voyce Be glad ô heav'ns and ô thou Earth rejoyce For here 's my first born sonne my best beloved Heare him for in him onely y' are approved At this dread
might'st be The Asahel of God the seepe-goat We Ne'er did the wounded Deere with more desire Run to the water brooks to queuch his fire Then thou dost thirst to taste that wofull cup Which Adam's with'red hand could not beare up Man thou didst make at first and him so lov'd That for his rescue from Gods wrath 't be hov'd Thee to be Man and all his sinnes sustain To reunite him to his God again Such leve as this hath not as yet been known As thou unto the sonnies of men hast shown The love that Danid did to Jou'than beare Or to proud Absoloms gold-locks of haire With this thy love cannot be parallel'd Thy love 's epcinall mah's by time is quel'd The old Passeover being finish'd now The Eucharist succeedeth in that liew They sing a Psalme and praise that mighty God Who brought his Isr'el out from Aegypts rod Then sayth my Saviour Now the houre draw'th neer Of my dread suffrings all of you stands here By me this night shall be offended for 'T is writ The shepheard I will smite therefore The sheep shall all be scattered anon And I to sorrow shall be left alone Yet come thus thus it needs must be for so The Prophets have forespoken long agoe This Peter heareth and with pride oppress'd As if his heart were steel'd his bones were brass'd He saith though vainly Master whither shall We run from thee though all the world should fail And shrink from thee yet will I never leave thee Till dust and earth doe of my life bereave me Peace Peter saith my Saviour hold thy peace Before the Cock crowtwice even to my face Thou shalt deny me thrice and by base feare Of this thy life thou shalt my love forsweare Thus out they goe and over Kedrons brook Whereas Mounr Olive overshading looke Covers Gethseman's garden there they stay But Jesus go'th aside and thus doth pray Father the houre is come now glorifie Thy Sonne as he hath glory giv'n to thee All such as thou didst give me I have kept And none of them hath perish'd save that sheep Or rather childe of wrath and of perdition For him thou didst nor give to my tuition This is eternall life that man should know Thee for true God and me thy Sonne also This I have taught them this doe they believe Eternall life by this doe thou them give I pray not for the world for them I pray That they in me by faith may alwayes stay I doe not pray that from the world thou take there But that thou in the world doe ne'er forsake them For while they in the world remain they 're hated And for my names sake shall be ill intreated But I have kept them in thy name and they Both know thee doe believe and thee obey Keep them therefore ô Father by thy truth Thy word is truth they have it from my month Nor doe I pray for them alone but eke For all these Prof lyres who salvation seek By faith begotten by their word in me O let them share in my felicitie For thou and I ô righteous God are one Let them with us have also unione That as thou art in me and I in thee So they may be made one with us trulie And by their joynture with us two may shun Sinne death and hell and condemnation Thus hath he prayed and now returning he To Peter James and John familiarlie Gives this forewarning Watch and pray lest that Your restlesse foe doe catch you in his net He go'th again unto his former station To taste the first fruits of his bitter passion He kneeleth down to pray but sense of wrath Makes him to cry My soule unto the death Is heavy Father if it be thy will Take this cup from me let not thy wraths rill Lay more upon me then my strength can beare O heare me Father bow thine ears and heare But ah his Agony waxing still more great Through his pure vains and pores a bloody sweat Doth from his body so bedew the ground As if from Eorâ—â—a's presseh ' had got a wound Three severall times in this perplexed state Doth Christ the selfe same words reiterat Father he cryeth still O let this cup Passe from inde for I cannot drink it up Yet if it be thy will let it be so Thy will and not my own I came to doe Father againe I pray thee let this houre Passe from me for 't is tart above my power Yet for this houre into the would come I Why should I then decline an piety No though I smart in this my passion Not my will Father but thy will be done Now all this while doe his Disciples fleep A Lethargy upon their soules did creep And though he wak'd them thrice yet thrice again They doe return to their Lethargiouest into But heav'ns amaz'd to see his soule so sad Doe by an Angels comfore make him glad Who can behold the passage of this story And see the dumpish fits o' th' God of glory And not be struck with more then admiration To view the sonne of God's evacuation What griefe what fear what blood what sweat is this Which wallowing like the Oceans vast abisse Can finde no bottom nor restrayning brink To curbe his woes or make his sorrows shrink O Bozra now I see thy robes are read O Ramah now thy joyes are banished O Rachel now thy children are transperted And justly thou disdainist to becomforted From Edoms winepresse whilst of late the come Hoping to finde somesweet refresh oâ— home Thou couldst find none thou trod'st that presse of wine Alone and therefore no mans greises like thine But ah me blessed Soviour where be now Thy wonted comforts and that strength'ning crew Of consolations which thou gavist of late To thy Disciples in their wofull state Where 's now the comforts which the Scriptures say Thy presence doth for evermore display Where 's now thâ—â— hope which in deaths valley from Thy rod and shepheards crook were wont to come Where 's now the promise of that great comforter Which thou didst promise as our soules supporter What shall become of us poore withered shrubs Of hysop how shall we endure the rubs And counter-pusss of fact all lictions when Thou lofty Cedar lowâ—es and bows for men Under that burthen and that load of wrath That should presse man down to the second death What was it Saviour tell me that thus lay Upon thy back with such impetuous sway That made thee with a sad redoubled groane Say that thy soule to th'gates of death was throwne What was it feare of death and fore felt-paine That madethee in such measure to complaine Or was 't the shame of thy ensuing Crosse That made thee utter this distemper'd voyce No no farre be 't from me to wrong thee so Those sighs those groans and grief's redoubled woe Did from another deeper sourse and spring Send forth their runnais wofull bubling It was the wofull burthen of mans finne Joyn'd with th'Etem
top which thou didst lately saile What wonder is' t though stripling I be shaken And with a tempest trespasse be ov'rtaken But bless'd be God thy fall was not so soule But true repentance hath restor'd thy soule That all the world may know As sinne breeds death The promise of true life Repentanee hath Look how a well-rig'd Pinnace set to sea With blind and Maine and Misaens liberty Lacking a Pilot who by due regard Should sit at stern and point her treâ—bling card Whil'st Dolphin-like she skips against the skies As if she would Joves starry throne surprise And like a Triton in the glassie field Dives down again and being forc'd to yield To Neptunes rage she visits Pluto's cell As if she sought Euridice from hell But recomforted by sweet Zephyr's gailes Whose following favours fill her empty sailes In short time she attains her wished shore Where winters tempests threaten her no more So fareth it with the irres'lute brests Of Adams off-spring who doe build their rests On their own strength no sooner doe they scale The Barracad's of Fortunes slippry ball When either fainting feare be-leads their heels And so they sink Or else their Chariot wheels Drawn by presumptuous Palfries trot so fast That hardly can they shun a fall at last Unlesse some strong strong hand doe curb their rein And so their ruine and their shame restrain For whil'st th' impetuous fancies of fraile man Sets him to try the worlds vain Ocean Unlesse a steddier hand than is his own Doe guide his course he 's either quite orethrown Or dash'd in peeces ' gainst some sturdy rock So furious be the flames of Sathans shock Thrice happy he whom Jacobs God doth guide And in his secret tent doth alwayes hide Thrice happy he whose heart kept in Gods hand Doth neither faintly fall nor proudly stand But in a due contemp'rature of Grace 'Twixt faith and feare doth wisely run his race O surely such a one when windes doe blow When seas doe rage and earth no rest doth know Shall by the secret influence of heaven So steare his course and hold his ballance even That neither death nor life nor wealth nor want Nor weale nor woe can crush his Covenant But holding still the gripes of grace h' hath got Still eyes his Pole and so he finketh not The Assize CANTO 4o. OF late I heard the High Priests Cock crow day Of late I saw Aurora shrink away From Darknesse center to th' Eoan plain T'enamell Heav'ns and guild the Ocean But ay me scarcely could the pearly morn With opall light our earthly globe adorn When loe Ixyons dark condensat cloud Did Pha'ton Titans Coach-man so oreshroud That one should think two nights combin'd in ire Had met together to drown out Sols fire A presage sure that ere that Sun should set A brighter Sun should be exanimat Yet hopefull day hath over come that shade And Titans rayes reclear'd made Flora glad But all this while since yester-nights surprise Till now that Phaebus 'gins to deck the skies My Saviour hath been bound with twisted cords Beaten with blowes wrong'd by sarcastick words Fond Jews and foolish Souldiers tell me why You doe outbrave him with such cruelty Had he not by his own will more been ty'd Then by the Cart-ropes of your swelling pride He like to Sampson might have burst your flax And made your bonds to melt away like wax But now what eye can choose but weep to see Those hands which fram'd the heav'ns the earth the sea And by his dainty singers framed man More nearly fine then art or nature can Thus wrung and wrested with a cord or rope Even whil'st Arachne-like he spins our hope But ah me Mans hard heart 's indured so That he can no compassions strain allow On him who from the heav'ns vouchsafes to take Our nature for our Soules redemptions sake Now Annas High-Priest and his sonne in law Great Caiaphas unto a Councell draw The whole Sanhaedrin Pharisees and all Whose suffrage can or life or death empale To judge the just one by injustice He Submits himself to all their tyrannie But ô you fooles and hypocrites wherefore Serves all this tumult and this mut'nous stirre One blow in secret might have finished Your wrath against him such the Baptist had But now I see Envy and Malice both Concurre together to oppresse the Truth And under shew of truth and justice must Sentence be giv'n unjustly ' gainst the just And since the Scriptures be not yet fulfill'd His blood in secret must not now be spill'd The Bench is set the Judges are conveen'd The guiltlesse is accus'd and guilty deem'd False witnesse now are sought and many come The hall is full there is no empty room At last two sonnes of Bielal are brought They witnesse ' gainst him what he never thought Thou sayd'st deceiver say they Let this Temple Be quite destroy'd and in three dayes more ample I will re-build it Fourty years and six Were spent in squaring stones and carving sticks To build it first and now thou say'st in three Dayes space thou wilt repair 't more sumptuously What canst thou doe it But he holds his peace And answers not to that their forged case And wisely doth he so for bruise a fool Even in a morter yet his folly still Shall cleave unto him wrangling is a vice And to the truth brings often prejudice The High-Priest seeing this saith I adjure Thee by the living God to tell me sure If that thou be the Christ the sonne of God Say either yea or nay and there he stood Jesus replies Thou say'st it I am he This world another Saviour shall not see And that thou may'st my words the more believe I tell thee that hereafter God shall give The Sonne of Man this honour to sit down At his right hand in glory and renown And thou shalt see him come again from thence To judge this world by righteous recompence At those words Caiaphas his cloaths doth rend Ev'n from their top unto their lower end Although against the laws expresse commend Lev. 21. â—â— Which to the contrair tyes the High Priests handâ— O now I see there 's an appointed time And for each thing beneath the Sun a Prime A time to laugh and so a time to weep A time to travell and a time to sleep A time to build a time eke to destroy A time to sorrow and a time to joy A time to rest a time to run our race A time to speak a time to hold our peace Whil'st foolish Ruffians did their cavill spue He neither said that they were false or true But now whil'st he his Fathers name doth heare Setting aside of humane force all feare He boldly speaks the truth and doth display The hidden Godhead in his flesh did lie The High Priest hath his robe no sooner tore When thus he speaks What need we any more To cite a witnesse ' gainst him hath not he Blasphemed God before us impiously
like Duke Joshuah's Sun which did not set Till he proud Amâ—lecks forces did defeat Nor like to Hezekiah's Sun whose rayes Went back on Aha's dyall ten degrees No no this Sun in Gibeah must not stand His foes are foyl'd already by his hand Nor will he now turn back on Aha's dyall To give us of our health a second tryall But like his Grandsire David's Sun he now Come from his late bed-chamber needs-must bow The heav'ns and all their vaulted arches that He may regain his first Magnificat Unto the mount of Olives out goes he And with him his Disciples foure times three Save one and many others of both sexes He with his poor Disciples intermixes There doth he pause a little and anon To him his Schollers move this question Master say they 't is long since we expected T' have seen Judaea's kingdome re-erected But still our expectation hath been vain Our hoped freedome we cannot obtain Wilt thou at this time that our state restore Once let us know and we enquire no more Poore weak and wayward Orphans he replies 'T is not for you to know the mysteries Of times and Seasons which my Father yet In his unclasped Kalendar keeps knit But what 's more fitting for you I reveale Goe back to Jerusalem there stay still And I to you the Comforter shall send Who shall you govern unto the worlds end For as my Father sent me I send you O that his grace your soules may so endue That your sweet savour wheresoe're you goe May like the Balme of Gilead still flow And by your preaching my poore Gospell may Celestiall glory to the world display Then stretching out his hands he doth them blisse And greets them with this sweet Cignaean kisse O great ô holy ô righteous ô all-seeing Father in whom we live and have our being Now come I to thee where I was before The earth had limits or the sea had shore For thou and I are one thou art in me And from Eternity I was in thee One glory with thy coeternall Spirit Did thou and I before all time inherit We all are one that one is blessed three A blessed Union of bless'd Trinitie I pray thee and I know thou dost me heare Keep those thy servants hearts in thy true feare Thy word is truth and truth is in thy word Besides thy word nothing can truth afford Sathan did lye against us at the first And by his lye hath made mans soule to thirst After a lying vanity but I Have come from thee by truth to edifie Their ruin'd soules and make thy truth again Repaire thy image in their hearts hid plain The world shall hate them for thy truth ô then Strengthen their hearts against the threats of men That in true wisdome they may boldly tell When I am gone that I Immanuel Th' Eternall word yea thy Eternall sonne Being flesh of their flesh bone of their bone Have in the flesh by my sad suff'rings payd What e're was due to sinne and so allay'd The fury of thy wrath unto all such As by true faith my garments hem shall touch Give grace also unto that word which they Shall in my name or Preach or Prophecy That in their hearers hearts it may take root And in convenient time bring forth good fruit That so good works and faith their soules may cure And they may of Salvation be made sure This said he with a sweet and deere imbrace Joyns hand to hand his face unto their face And breathing on them bids them all farewell Till he return their glory to reveale He by a bright oreshading cloud is straight Heav'd up and taken quite out of their sight Thus doth a shining cloud to heav'n up-cary The Sonne of God born of the Virgin Mary On whom while as the people fix their eyes Two glorious Angels from heav'ns Senat flyes And standing by them with a sweet impire Thus doe correct their vain and vast desire You men of Galile why stand you here Groping at noon-day in your Hemisphere This very Jesus whom you now behold Within a clouds bright cannopy enrol'd Shall from the heav'ns in this same manner come To give the world her last and righteous doom Thousands yea thousand thousands Angels than Shall shout before the glorious Sonne of man Upon the Cherubs and the Seraphs hee Shall ride and on the windes swift wings shall flee He shall no rapture nor no whirl-winde crave To raise his Saints from out their snorting grave But as the worlds great owner he shall make The Earths foundation like a whirl-gig quake The Sun shall lose his light the Moon her Ore The starres shall fall from heav'n the Sea shall rore And every soule that hah or breath or sense Shall stand before his great Omnipotence For He the righteous Judge to them shall render Both to th'Apostate and the faithfull stander Due retribution of what they have wrought In publick word and deed or private thought But since nor Man nor Angell knowes that houre Let all flesh labour their peace to procure Yea let them watch and pray and still take heed Lest while they think to live they prove not dead Here with this Cloud in which He did ascend I wrap my Raptures and my Verse shall end Here ends MELPOMENE or the third Week Gloria Patri Filio Spiritui Sancto FINIS