A Paraphrase on The Ten Commandments in Divine Poems Illustrated With Twelve Copper Plates, shewing how Personal Punishments has been inflicted on the Transgressors of these Commandments, as is Recorded in the Holy Scripture. Never before Printed. Also, a Metrical Paraphrase upon the Creed and Lord's-Prayer. Written by George Wither |
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| I. | Command. I.
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 | A Paraphrase on The Ten Commandments in Divine Poems |  |
8
Command. I.
[To such as love, our God of Love makes known]
Serve but one God, and let him be
That God who made and ransom'd thee.
That God who made and ransom'd thee.
To such as love, our God of Love makes known
A Duty, and a benefit, bestown;
That they might know the object of their Creed,
And, in the way of Righteousness proceed.
For, by the Preface (of what follows here)
A freedom from a Bondage doth appear.
And by the Substance of this great Command,
A Duty we may likewise understand.
A Duty, and a benefit, bestown;
That they might know the object of their Creed,
And, in the way of Righteousness proceed.
For, by the Preface (of what follows here)
A freedom from a Bondage doth appear.
And by the Substance of this great Command,
A Duty we may likewise understand.
To them whom no kind usage may perswade
From sinful Paths (till they afraid are made)
We here exhibit Pharoh, as a chief
Of those, who suffered for an Unbelief
Join with contempt of God; that, such from thence
Might moved be to faithful penitence,
To them that shall with Reverence and fear
Receive the holy precept which they hear,
We shew with love and mercy how they may
Observe the Streight, and Shun the crooked way.
From sinful Paths (till they afraid are made)
We here exhibit Pharoh, as a chief
Of those, who suffered for an Unbelief
Join with contempt of God; that, such from thence
Might moved be to faithful penitence,
To them that shall with Reverence and fear
Receive the holy precept which they hear,
We shew with love and mercy how they may
Observe the Streight, and Shun the crooked way.
9
There is one God alone; That God is he
By whom we formed and reformed be,
And they who serve another, or deny
His Attributes, commit impiety.
By whom we formed and reformed be,
And they who serve another, or deny
His Attributes, commit impiety.
This God, (that's God indeed) though he might say,
My will and pleasure is, you shall obey
Me only as your Lord, (and unto us
No reason render, why it should be thus)
Proceeds not so; but hath declared why
We should accept him for our Deity,
And peradventure this vouchsafed he
To teach them knowledge who his Viccars be;
And shew to us (by being meek and kind)
How from false Gods the true one we may find.
My will and pleasure is, you shall obey
Me only as your Lord, (and unto us
No reason render, why it should be thus)
Proceeds not so; but hath declared why
We should accept him for our Deity,
And peradventure this vouchsafed he
To teach them knowledge who his Viccars be;
And shew to us (by being meek and kind)
How from false Gods the true one we may find.
For to be God is to be good, and so
In Goodness infinite, to overflow,
That all may tast thereof (excepting none)
Such is my God, and he is God alone.
The Egyptian Bondage, tipified all
The Race of Adam, in their native Thrall,
And as their temporal Saviour, Moses than,
Left not behind one hoof, much less a man,
Inslav'd to Pharoh, so the blessed Son
Of this Great God hath ransom'd every one
From that sad house of Bondage and of pain
Where we, without Redemption else had lain.
For which great favour, he from us doth crave,
That we no other God, but him should have.
And that we love him with a Reverent awe,
Which is the whole fulfilling of this Law
In Goodness infinite, to overflow,
That all may tast thereof (excepting none)
Such is my God, and he is God alone.
The Egyptian Bondage, tipified all
The Race of Adam, in their native Thrall,
And as their temporal Saviour, Moses than,
Left not behind one hoof, much less a man,
Inslav'd to Pharoh, so the blessed Son
Of this Great God hath ransom'd every one
From that sad house of Bondage and of pain
Where we, without Redemption else had lain.
For which great favour, he from us doth crave,
That we no other God, but him should have.
10
Which is the whole fulfilling of this Law
This Gracious God, by many is rejected,
And as they understand, or stand affected,
They take, or make up New ones of such things
As almost to contempt, the Godhead brings.
And as they understand, or stand affected,
They take, or make up New ones of such things
As almost to contempt, the Godhead brings.
He of himself would make some Deity
Who his own power so much doth magnify,
As if by that he thought to gain access
To present and to future happiness.
Who his own power so much doth magnify,
As if by that he thought to gain access
To present and to future happiness.
He makes the World his God who thinketh fit
To love, to follow, serve, and honour it;
As many do, and they who much incline
To love this God, are enemies to mine.
To love, to follow, serve, and honour it;
As many do, and they who much incline
To love this God, are enemies to mine.
He makes his Lust a God who doth fulfil
In every thing his own unbridled Will:
This Tyrant many serve; Yea this is He
Who makes them Bondslaves, whom God setteth free.
In every thing his own unbridled Will:
This Tyrant many serve; Yea this is He
Who makes them Bondslaves, whom God setteth free.
He makes the worst men Gods who doth obey
Their Pleasures, in an unapproved way,
Or their imperious threatning so much feareth
As think it from his Duty him deterreth.
Their Pleasures, in an unapproved way,
Or their imperious threatning so much feareth
As think it from his Duty him deterreth.
He makes the Devil, God; who doth believe,
By evil means good blessings to receive;
Which very many (very often) doe
Whose words deny him, and defie him too.
By evil means good blessings to receive;
Which very many (very often) doe
Whose words deny him, and defie him too.
But some of us not only Guilty stand
Of being breakers of this first Command,
By serving Gods beside; (and more than) him,
Who from Death, Sin and Hell, did us redeem.
But, either we neglect him also quite,
Or, practise works to him so opposite,
That into worse impieties we fall
Than such, as yet, confess no God at all.
Of being breakers of this first Command,
11
Who from Death, Sin and Hell, did us redeem.
But, either we neglect him also quite,
Or, practise works to him so opposite,
That into worse impieties we fall
Than such, as yet, confess no God at all.
For, by distrust, self-love, backsliding fear,
Inconstancy, Presumption, fruitless Care,
Impatience, Grudging, Frowardness or Pride,
With other such; our God we have deny'd
More oft than once, and oftner fear we shall
Into this error through our frailty fall.
Inconstancy, Presumption, fruitless Care,
Impatience, Grudging, Frowardness or Pride,
With other such; our God we have deny'd
More oft than once, and oftner fear we shall
Into this error through our frailty fall.
This Law, (in some degree) is also broke,
Unless we, to our powers, due care have took
To Shun each cause of breaking it; The Chief
Is Ignorance, (the ground of misbelief.)
The next, is to be oft, and willingly
Among Professors of Idolatry.
The Third is Servile fear, which many ways
The Heart unto Idolatry betrays.
The last (not least) is when the sway we give
To any Lust or Sin: For (thus believe)
Such men, to gain the full of their delight,
Will change their God, or leave Religion quite.
Yea, they who hate at first so gross a Sin,
Are by the Devil this way hooked in.
Unless we, to our powers, due care have took
To Shun each cause of breaking it; The Chief
Is Ignorance, (the ground of misbelief.)
The next, is to be oft, and willingly
Among Professors of Idolatry.
The Third is Servile fear, which many ways
The Heart unto Idolatry betrays.
The last (not least) is when the sway we give
To any Lust or Sin: For (thus believe)
Such men, to gain the full of their delight,
Will change their God, or leave Religion quite.
Yea, they who hate at first so gross a Sin,
Are by the Devil this way hooked in.
This Meditation here had found an end
But that there are, some others who offend
Against this Law, in such a high Degree
As that they must not quite unmention'd be.
But that there are, some others who offend
12
As that they must not quite unmention'd be.
The truest God, confessed is by them
Their only God: They serve and honour him
In outward shew; and if believe we may,
What they themselves have pleased been to say,
They love him too; But either they mistake him
Or, by their own Invention, so new Make him,
That though they speak him, by a gracious Name
The goodness of his nature, they defame
By making him the Authour to have bin
And cause original of every Sin:
For in affirming that the fall of Man,
And Sin, and Death from Gods meer will began,
They say no less, although they praise him much
For being good to them, and some few such.
Their only God: They serve and honour him
In outward shew; and if believe we may,
What they themselves have pleased been to say,
They love him too; But either they mistake him
Or, by their own Invention, so new Make him,
That though they speak him, by a gracious Name
The goodness of his nature, they defame
By making him the Authour to have bin
And cause original of every Sin:
For in affirming that the fall of Man,
And Sin, and Death from Gods meer will began,
They say no less, although they praise him much
For being good to them, and some few such.
To say of these I am no whit afraid,
As of old Idol-Makers, hath been said,
Their God and they are like, for on their Will
They ground their practices (which must be still
Supposed Just) and some, perchance, of them
Would be as cruel as they fancy him
But that their Finite Natures cannot reach
The Tyranies which they of him do preach.
As of old Idol-Makers, hath been said,
Their God and they are like, for on their Will
They ground their practices (which must be still
Supposed Just) and some, perchance, of them
Would be as cruel as they fancy him
But that their Finite Natures cannot reach
The Tyranies which they of him do preach.
Let us of such impieties beware,
What we conceive of God let us have care,
And not (with foolish Hereticks) suppose
By teaching common truths, and making shows
Of holy piety to keep Gods eye
From seeing when we wrong his Majesty.
What we conceive of God let us have care,
And not (with foolish Hereticks) suppose
By teaching common truths, and making shows
13
From seeing when we wrong his Majesty.
For, if he be displeas'd with such as make
Good Creatures of his Godhead, to partake,
How much more cause have they his wrath to fear,
Who make him worse than his worst Creatures are?
And that prime Attribute have overthrown,
By which, he chiefly to be God is known?
For, none are bound to serve him (by this Law)
But such as he did out of bondage draw.
For if he drew not all, then some there be
Who, though they have a God, ours is not he,
At least in such a manner as may give
These Unbelievers courage to believe.
Good Creatures of his Godhead, to partake,
How much more cause have they his wrath to fear,
Who make him worse than his worst Creatures are?
And that prime Attribute have overthrown,
By which, he chiefly to be God is known?
For, none are bound to serve him (by this Law)
But such as he did out of bondage draw.
For if he drew not all, then some there be
Who, though they have a God, ours is not he,
At least in such a manner as may give
These Unbelievers courage to believe.
Their God they say did some unhappy make
To shew his power; and for his Glorys sake;
My God is he, who pittied their Estates,
Whom these do fancy hopeless Reprobates
An Issue leaving out of that temptation,
In which they lying to their Just damnation,
And for the day of wrath no sinners made
But such as do abuse the Grace they had.
Their God is he, who forc'd mankind to fall
And mine is he, who did Redeem us all.
My sweet Redeemer, so my heart incline,
To shew his power; and for his Glorys sake;
My God is he, who pittied their Estates,
Whom these do fancy hopeless Reprobates
An Issue leaving out of that temptation,
In which they lying to their Just damnation,
And for the day of wrath no sinners made
But such as do abuse the Grace they had.
Their God is he, who forc'd mankind to fall
And mine is he, who did Redeem us all.
That, I may always keep this Law of thine
Amen.
| A Paraphrase on The Ten Commandments in Divine Poems | |