 | Ioseph |  |
Iacobs last blessing.
Sith, my deare sonnes, I haue not long to dwell
On earth, come hither: and I will you tell,
What shall come on you in the latter dayes,
Assemble and attend your Fathers Sayes:
On earth, come hither: and I will you tell,
What shall come on you in the latter dayes,
Assemble and attend your Fathers Sayes:
My first borne Ruben, thou that art the might,
And first beginning of my strength by right,
Thou shouldst haue all my Power and Dignitie,
Which thou hast lost by thine iniquitie:
Vnstable water! thou shalt not be head,
Because thou wentst vp to thy fathers bed,
For then indeed thou didst my couch defile,
And thy true right of first-borne lost the while:
And first beginning of my strength by right,
Thou shouldst haue all my Power and Dignitie,
Which thou hast lost by thine iniquitie:
Vnstable water! thou shalt not be head,
Because thou wentst vp to thy fathers bed,
For then indeed thou didst my couch defile,
And thy true right of first-borne lost the while:
Simeon and Leui, Brethren, instruments
Of cruelty, neare to your fathers tents,
My soule come not neare to their congregations,
Mine honour ioyne not in their machinations,
Who in their Wrath the Sichemites slew all,
And in their Fury digged downe a wall:
Curst be their wrath, for it was voyd of shame,
And Fiercenesse which was cruelly to blame,
Lo! I their seede in Iacob will diuide,
And them abroad in Israel scatter wide.
Of cruelty, neare to your fathers tents,
My soule come not neare to their congregations,
Mine honour ioyne not in their machinations,
Who in their Wrath the Sichemites slew all,
And in their Fury digged downe a wall:
Curst be their wrath, for it was voyd of shame,
And Fiercenesse which was cruelly to blame,
Lo! I their seede in Iacob will diuide,
And them abroad in Israel scatter wide.
Iudah is next, whom all his brethren praise,
Thine hand be in thine enemies necke alwayes,
Thy Fathers Children thee shall stoupe before,
Lo Iudah like a Lyons whelpe shall rore,
My sonne comes like a Lion from the spoile,
Who laid him downe, and couch'd himselfe awhile,
Eu'n like a Lion or a Lionesse,
Who dares awake him from his sleepinesse?
The Scepter from his race shall neuer start,
Nor a Law giuer from his feete depart,
Till the Messias come, who to him shall
By his great powre the Nations gather all;
Lo! he shall binde his Foale vnto the Vine,
His Colt vnto the Branch, His Cloke in Wine
Is washt; His Cloths with bloud of grapes bedight,
Eyes red with wine; His Teeth with milke are white.
Thine hand be in thine enemies necke alwayes,
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Lo Iudah like a Lyons whelpe shall rore,
My sonne comes like a Lion from the spoile,
Who laid him downe, and couch'd himselfe awhile,
Eu'n like a Lion or a Lionesse,
Who dares awake him from his sleepinesse?
The Scepter from his race shall neuer start,
Nor a Law giuer from his feete depart,
Till the Messias come, who to him shall
By his great powre the Nations gather all;
Lo! he shall binde his Foale vnto the Vine,
His Colt vnto the Branch, His Cloke in Wine
Is washt; His Cloths with bloud of grapes bedight,
Eyes red with wine; His Teeth with milke are white.
Like a strong Asse shall Isachar couch low
Betweene two burthens, And for he doth know,
That rest is good in such a pleasant Land,
Shall stoupe and be anothers to command.
Betweene two burthens, And for he doth know,
That rest is good in such a pleasant Land,
Shall stoupe and be anothers to command.
Dan shall be Iudge and one of Israels Tribes,
A serpent by the way him well describes,
Or Adder in the path, horse-heeles to gall,
Vntill he make the rider backward fall:
To be a Iudge's a dangerous Vocation,
Lord I haue waited long for thy Saluation.
A serpent by the way him well describes,
Or Adder in the path, horse-heeles to gall,
Vntill he make the rider backward fall:
To be a Iudge's a dangerous Vocation,
Lord I haue waited long for thy Saluation.
Ioseph's like plant by well, whose boughs are small,
Yet run vp flourishing vpon the wall:
With shooting many Archers haue him harm'd
And with sharpe Darts to's hindrance him disarm'd;
But he stands fast, his armes are made so strong
By God, to whom all strength and powre belong,
His glory all his Brethrens doth excell,
And hee's become a stone in Israel:
His Fathers God shall helpe him from aboue,
And the Almightie with his Blessings proue:
With Blessings that from hight and depth shall come,
With Blessings of the Breasts and of the Wombe,
To thee thy Fathers Blessings be more strong,
Then those that doe from mine, to me belong:
From th' vtmost hils they light on Iosephs head,
That from his Brethren once was seuered.
Yet run vp flourishing vpon the wall:
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And with sharpe Darts to's hindrance him disarm'd;
But he stands fast, his armes are made so strong
By God, to whom all strength and powre belong,
His glory all his Brethrens doth excell,
And hee's become a stone in Israel:
His Fathers God shall helpe him from aboue,
And the Almightie with his Blessings proue:
With Blessings that from hight and depth shall come,
With Blessings of the Breasts and of the Wombe,
To thee thy Fathers Blessings be more strong,
Then those that doe from mine, to me belong:
From th' vtmost hils they light on Iosephs head,
That from his Brethren once was seuered.
Beniamin like a Wolfe shall spoile: The prey
He shall diuide by night, and eate by day:
Thus Iacob of each seuerall prophecide,
What should to their Posteritie betide:
Some call it his last will: Then to them all,
He dying spake these words in generall.
He shall diuide by night, and eate by day:
Thus Iacob of each seuerall prophecide,
What should to their Posteritie betide:
Some call it his last will: Then to them all,
He dying spake these words in generall.
We all are Pilgrims on the way, our home
Is Heau'n; as all men enter by the Wombe,
So through the Gate of Death, we all must driue,
Before we at this Citie faire arriue:
Lusts of our youth, Infirmities of age,
Make few and ill our daies of Pilgrimage,
All spend like Lamps, some blowne out with a blast,
Some waste, some melt, some hold out till the last:
Like fruit all blow, bud, grow greene, ripe, then fall;
Bud, blossome, greene, or ripe, we perish all:
And turn'd to dust, are vnder Deaths subiection
In Graue, vntill the day of Resurrection.
Eu'n as our Ages, so we change our minde,
For those things we doe most delightfull finde
To Child-hood, Youth disdaines; our Youth-full fires
Accord not with our riper yeares desires:
Old-age in none of all the three delights,
The reason's plaine, we serue our appetites:
Truth and Religions path we leaue to treade,
And follow as our Lusts and Pleasures leade;
Which alter with our bodies constitutions,
And these are sensuall, beastly resolutions:
But who doth his affections measure by
Right rules of Reason, and of Pietie,
Them neuer alters, but is still the same,
All tending to the glory of Gods name:
No change of state, age, health, wealth, constitution,
Can alter such desires and resolution.
Is Heau'n; as all men enter by the Wombe,
So through the Gate of Death, we all must driue,
Before we at this Citie faire arriue:
Lusts of our youth, Infirmities of age,
Make few and ill our daies of Pilgrimage,
All spend like Lamps, some blowne out with a blast,
Some waste, some melt, some hold out till the last:
Like fruit all blow, bud, grow greene, ripe, then fall;
Bud, blossome, greene, or ripe, we perish all:
And turn'd to dust, are vnder Deaths subiection
In Graue, vntill the day of Resurrection.
Eu'n as our Ages, so we change our minde,
For those things we doe most delightfull finde
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Accord not with our riper yeares desires:
Old-age in none of all the three delights,
The reason's plaine, we serue our appetites:
Truth and Religions path we leaue to treade,
And follow as our Lusts and Pleasures leade;
Which alter with our bodies constitutions,
And these are sensuall, beastly resolutions:
But who doth his affections measure by
Right rules of Reason, and of Pietie,
Them neuer alters, but is still the same,
All tending to the glory of Gods name:
No change of state, age, health, wealth, constitution,
Can alter such desires and resolution.
This Life's a minute to Eternitie,
Like mite vnto the Globes immensitie,
Like droppe compard vnto the Ocean Maine,
Yet here we either all must lose or gaine;
Vpon this mite, droppe, minute doth depend,
All Blisse, we aye continue as we end.
Like mite vnto the Globes immensitie,
Like droppe compard vnto the Ocean Maine,
Yet here we either all must lose or gaine;
Vpon this mite, droppe, minute doth depend,
All Blisse, we aye continue as we end.
All Gods most gracious, glorious promises,
But types and Shadowes are of future Blesse;
Phari on Land, vs to the Port to light;
And guide our Barkes through worlds darke misty night,
In all our voiage, through worlds Ocean-wast,
Are many Rockes and dangers to be past;
Without are Satan and the Worlds infections,
Within, our Lusts, vaine, fraile, and vile affections,
Which like so many Traitours readiely
Against the Pilot ay to mutiny;
But most in danger of them all we stand,
When nearest we approch vnto the Land:
So some escape the boistrous raging Sea,
And neere the Port doe wrecke vpon the Lea:
I looking backe my span like daies behold,
Like a fantastique Dreame or tale new told,
And were I now them to begin againe,
I should all worldly vaine delights refraine,
Yea could you see heau'ns Ioyes by Faiths cleare eyes,
You would with me Worlds Pleasures vaine despise,
And runne fast to the marke you set before
Your end; to liue with God for euermore.
As th' aire is hottest neerest to the Sunne,
Brookes deeper, neerer to the Sea they runne,
So nearer to your end; doe you aspire
To grow in grace, and glow with heaun'ly fire;
Now goe I hence, and shall be seene no more,
Haue mine examples alwaies you before,
So Isaack followed faithfull Abraham,
I holy Isaack, from whose lomes I came,
What we did well doe you the like: But when
We did amisse, obserue we were but men.
Oh let your wisedome shine with your gray haires,
Most of you now draw neere to seu'nty yeares,
Ioseph is fifty seu'n, a child eu'n when
The most of you, were growne vp to be men.
But types and Shadowes are of future Blesse;
Phari on Land, vs to the Port to light;
And guide our Barkes through worlds darke misty night,
In all our voiage, through worlds Ocean-wast,
Are many Rockes and dangers to be past;
Without are Satan and the Worlds infections,
Within, our Lusts, vaine, fraile, and vile affections,
Which like so many Traitours readiely
Against the Pilot ay to mutiny;
But most in danger of them all we stand,
When nearest we approch vnto the Land:
So some escape the boistrous raging Sea,
And neere the Port doe wrecke vpon the Lea:
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Like a fantastique Dreame or tale new told,
And were I now them to begin againe,
I should all worldly vaine delights refraine,
Yea could you see heau'ns Ioyes by Faiths cleare eyes,
You would with me Worlds Pleasures vaine despise,
And runne fast to the marke you set before
Your end; to liue with God for euermore.
As th' aire is hottest neerest to the Sunne,
Brookes deeper, neerer to the Sea they runne,
So nearer to your end; doe you aspire
To grow in grace, and glow with heaun'ly fire;
Now goe I hence, and shall be seene no more,
Haue mine examples alwaies you before,
So Isaack followed faithfull Abraham,
I holy Isaack, from whose lomes I came,
What we did well doe you the like: But when
We did amisse, obserue we were but men.
Oh let your wisedome shine with your gray haires,
Most of you now draw neere to seu'nty yeares,
Ioseph is fifty seu'n, a child eu'n when
The most of you, were growne vp to be men.
Seau'nty seau'n yeares a single life I led,
God since hath seau'nty to them numbred;
The youngest nor the strongest haue no power,
To adde a minute to their fatall hower.
Deferre not of Repentance then the date,
Now is the time, tomorrow is too late,
Count all mens ages that on earth remaine,
More die before, then to your daies attaine,
And should you old Mathuselaes surmount,
The longer life, the greater your account:
God since hath seau'nty to them numbred;
The youngest nor the strongest haue no power,
To adde a minute to their fatall hower.
Deferre not of Repentance then the date,
Now is the time, tomorrow is too late,
Count all mens ages that on earth remaine,
More die before, then to your daies attaine,
And should you old Mathuselaes surmount,
The longer life, the greater your account:
I will not exprobrate offences past,
Repent, amend, and turne to God at last,
Leaue off to sinne, his Promises beleeue,
You cannot aske so much as God will giue,
You are a chosen seede, a holy race,
Not by desert, or worthinesse, but Grace.
Oh make it knowne to all your Generations,
God vs hath chose before all other Nations,
To walke here worthy of this Grace diuine,
And like to purest heau'nly Tapers shine,
In this worlds mistie darke obscured night,
Whose euill workes abhorre to see the light.
Repent, amend, and turne to God at last,
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You cannot aske so much as God will giue,
You are a chosen seede, a holy race,
Not by desert, or worthinesse, but Grace.
Oh make it knowne to all your Generations,
God vs hath chose before all other Nations,
To walke here worthy of this Grace diuine,
And like to purest heau'nly Tapers shine,
In this worlds mistie darke obscured night,
Whose euill workes abhorre to see the light.
Expect not worlds vaine glory, Pompe and state,
Those that liue Godly here, the world will hate,
But God doth euer them most highly prize,
Who here are meanest in the wickeds eyes.
The World will you deride, and say that this,
But some vaine, peeuish, single humor is,
Or some light idle motion, which doth rise
From some meane, ignorant, conceited wise,
Despise their censures, for I certaine know
The spirit, whence such heau'nly motions flow:
What care I how their worldly wisdome deeme,
Of them, So they with God be in esteeme?
Oh! were my words now written in a booke,
That who, so list to learne, on them might looke,
Or with a Diamonds point engrauen plaine,
On Adamant, for euer to remaine.
Those that liue Godly here, the world will hate,
But God doth euer them most highly prize,
Who here are meanest in the wickeds eyes.
The World will you deride, and say that this,
But some vaine, peeuish, single humor is,
Or some light idle motion, which doth rise
From some meane, ignorant, conceited wise,
Despise their censures, for I certaine know
The spirit, whence such heau'nly motions flow:
What care I how their worldly wisdome deeme,
Of them, So they with God be in esteeme?
Oh! were my words now written in a booke,
That who, so list to learne, on them might looke,
Or with a Diamonds point engrauen plaine,
On Adamant, for euer to remaine.
I know that my Redeemer true and iust
Liues, and shall raise vs at the last from dust,
And though the wormes my skin and flesh destroy,
I God shall in my body see with ioy,
Eu'n with mine owne; and with no other eyes:
But now my spirit begins so high to rise,
As if she meant to leaue this habitation,
And flye to heau'n, by holy contemplation;
Oft hath she striu'd to rise before this day,
As weary of her brittle Tent of Clay,
But hath beene by the weight thereof deprest,
But now shee feeles her selfe from thence releast,
I cannot last, my Lampe so fast doth spend,
And now burnes clearest, nearest to the end,
Farewell deare sonnes; my Blessing on you all
Continue to your after-Ages shall.
Oh God of Life; now thou dost me denie,
The Powre to liue, me willing make to die.
Liues, and shall raise vs at the last from dust,
And though the wormes my skin and flesh destroy,
I God shall in my body see with ioy,
Eu'n with mine owne; and with no other eyes:
But now my spirit begins so high to rise,
As if she meant to leaue this habitation,
And flye to heau'n, by holy contemplation;
92
As weary of her brittle Tent of Clay,
But hath beene by the weight thereof deprest,
But now shee feeles her selfe from thence releast,
I cannot last, my Lampe so fast doth spend,
And now burnes clearest, nearest to the end,
Farewell deare sonnes; my Blessing on you all
Continue to your after-Ages shall.
Oh God of Life; now thou dost me denie,
The Powre to liue, me willing make to die.
These all are those twelue Tribes of Israel,
Which good old Iacob blest and wished well,
Besides the blessing to each seuerall,
Wherein he told them what should after fall:
And now as Ioseph erst he made to sweare,
So chargeth he eu'n all his Children there,
To lay him in that place of Buriall,
Where his fore-fathers were interred all:
Thus when his swan-like song was at an end,
And all commanded that he did intend,
He plucked vp his feete into the Bed,
And was vnto his people gathered.
Which good old Iacob blest and wished well,
Besides the blessing to each seuerall,
Wherein he told them what should after fall:
And now as Ioseph erst he made to sweare,
So chargeth he eu'n all his Children there,
To lay him in that place of Buriall,
Where his fore-fathers were interred all:
Thus when his swan-like song was at an end,
And all commanded that he did intend,
He plucked vp his feete into the Bed,
And was vnto his people gathered.
Oh happy man! saith Pharoh, God me send
Eu'n such a life, and such a happy end.
Eu'n such a life, and such a happy end.
Lo, farther Pharoh did that day command,
That all his Peeres and Nobles of the Land,
Should goe with Ioseph and his Brethren all,
To honour holy Iacobs funerall:
Where they seu'n dayes made so great Lamentation,
They draue the Cananites to admiration:
And after he was buried in this sort,
Ioseph returnes againe to Pharohs Court,
His Brethren vnto Goshen, where in peace,
They Liued, and did mightily increase,
Till Ioseph was an hundred ten yeares old,
So that he Ephraims children did behold,
To their third Generation, and the seede
Of Machir, eldest of Manasses Breed,
Sate on his knees: Then saith he, lo I die,
But God will visit you assuredly,
And in that Land, a place for you prepare,
As he to Abram, Isaack, Iacob sware,
Then, as I sware to Jacob, to me sweare,
Thither my Bones with you from hence to beare,
His Brethren sware: So Ioseph, as I told,
Dide honourably being very old,
Whose Body they imbalmed in a Chest,
And after carryed to the land of Rest:
Where they erect a Pillar on his graue,
And thereupon this Epitaph engraue:
That all his Peeres and Nobles of the Land,
Should goe with Ioseph and his Brethren all,
To honour holy Iacobs funerall:
Where they seu'n dayes made so great Lamentation,
They draue the Cananites to admiration:
And after he was buried in this sort,
Ioseph returnes againe to Pharohs Court,
His Brethren vnto Goshen, where in peace,
They Liued, and did mightily increase,
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So that he Ephraims children did behold,
To their third Generation, and the seede
Of Machir, eldest of Manasses Breed,
Sate on his knees: Then saith he, lo I die,
But God will visit you assuredly,
And in that Land, a place for you prepare,
As he to Abram, Isaack, Iacob sware,
Then, as I sware to Jacob, to me sweare,
Thither my Bones with you from hence to beare,
His Brethren sware: So Ioseph, as I told,
Dide honourably being very old,
Whose Body they imbalmed in a Chest,
And after carryed to the land of Rest:
Where they erect a Pillar on his graue,
And thereupon this Epitaph engraue:
| Ioseph | |