The Betraying of Christ Ivdas in despaire. The seuen Words of our Sauior on the Crosse. With Other Poems on the Passion [by Samuel Rowlands] |
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The Funerals of Iesus.
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 | The Betraying of Christ |  |
The Funerals of Iesus.
When
Iosephs suite had got the Iudges leaue,
To take sweet Iesus from the bloodie crosse,
VVhose blessed life Iewes blindnesse did bereaue,
To our eternall gaine, their endlesse losse:
Christs night-disciple aidfull did agree,
To take his bodie from that guiltie tree.
To take sweet Iesus from the bloodie crosse,
VVhose blessed life Iewes blindnesse did bereaue,
To our eternall gaine, their endlesse losse:
Christs night-disciple aidfull did agree,
To take his bodie from that guiltie tree.
The Virgine mother cheefe in mournefull teares,
VVith holy Maries twaine that stintlesse wept,
To Caluarie both sheet and odours beares,
There must the sacred funerall be kept,
VVhō hearts did loue, him vvith their feet they sought,
Teares in their eies, hands myrrhe and aloes brought.
VVith holy Maries twaine that stintlesse wept,
To Caluarie both sheet and odours beares,
There must the sacred funerall be kept,
VVhō hearts did loue, him vvith their feet they sought,
Teares in their eies, hands myrrhe and aloes brought.
Their greefes and labours they deuide in parts,
Partaking each t'affoord some needfull thing,
True faith and loue, vvas seated in their hearts,
On shoulders ladders, armes the shroud doe bring,
Their hands haue ointments, eies with teares abounds,
Teares well imploi'd to wash his bloodie wounds.
Partaking each t'affoord some needfull thing,
True faith and loue, vvas seated in their hearts,
On shoulders ladders, armes the shroud doe bring,
Their hands haue ointments, eies with teares abounds,
Teares well imploi'd to wash his bloodie wounds.
With tired steps they ouertooke the place,
Where store of vveeping dew moistned the ground,
The Sunne vvas bid, nights darke approcht apace,
Greefes did surprise, dolours increase abound,
Whom infidels nail'd vp, did pierce and crowne,
Faithfull, from Crosse, act holy taking downe.
Where store of vveeping dew moistned the ground,
The Sunne vvas bid, nights darke approcht apace,
Greefes did surprise, dolours increase abound,
Whom infidels nail'd vp, did pierce and crowne,
Faithfull, from Crosse, act holy taking downe.
Before the same (to signe a perfect zeale)
They cast themselues so low as earth gaue leaue,
In reuerence of those vvounds that only heale
All feauer'd soules, blood-salue from thence receaue;
Which vvorship vvell perform'd, they sighing rise,
And towards the crosse all guide plaint-pouring eies.
They cast themselues so low as earth gaue leaue,
In reuerence of those vvounds that only heale
All feauer'd soules, blood-salue from thence receaue;
Which vvorship vvell perform'd, they sighing rise,
And towards the crosse all guide plaint-pouring eies.
The honourable two old aged men,
Aduis'd the rest respect vvhat scanting time
Remain'd to annoint, and shroud, and burie, then
Their ladders raising, vp the crosse they clime;
Teares, sighs, and sobs, descend ech step they goe,
While eies (wet Orators) repli'de below.
Aduis'd the rest respect vvhat scanting time
Remain'd to annoint, and shroud, and burie, then
Their ladders raising, vp the crosse they clime;
Teares, sighs, and sobs, descend ech step they goe,
While eies (wet Orators) repli'de below.
On Iacobs ladder ioifull Angels sing,
No iarre their heav'nly musicke did restraine,
On Iosephs ladder teares to top they bring,
And mournefull sobs send sorrowes downe againe,
Those heav'nly quires partake no tunes like this,
Christs bitter death, vvas faultie mans amisse.
No iarre their heav'nly musicke did restraine,
On Iosephs ladder teares to top they bring,
And mournefull sobs send sorrowes downe againe,
Those heav'nly quires partake no tunes like this,
Christs bitter death, vvas faultie mans amisse.
When hands and feet they carefull did vn-naile,
Letting the body downe conieal'd in gore,
This vvas the obiect, Visage wan and pale;
Eies turn'd in head, his flesh all rent and tore,
Scull boared through, thornes spurting out his braines,
Bones out of ioint, and full of broken vaines.
Letting the body downe conieal'd in gore,
This vvas the obiect, Visage wan and pale;
Eies turn'd in head, his flesh all rent and tore,
Scull boared through, thornes spurting out his braines,
Bones out of ioint, and full of broken vaines.
Vpon the ground the holy corpes being laid,
Most reuer'nt vvhere the shrouding sheet was spred,
His blessed Mother full of vvoes dismaid,
Renew'd her plaints vvith showers of teares she shed:
Whom Iudas sold for thirty pence aliue,
To buy him dead, her pearled drops did striue.
Most reuer'nt vvhere the shrouding sheet was spred,
His blessed Mother full of vvoes dismaid,
Renew'd her plaints vvith showers of teares she shed:
Whom Iudas sold for thirty pence aliue,
To buy him dead, her pearled drops did striue.
The taske of Sorrowes equall to deuide,
At Iesus head laments his pensiue mother,
Ioseph with Nichodemus at one side,
And both the Maries place them at the other,
Thus bout the mangled corpes these mourners stands
With teares in eies, with ointments in their hands.
At Iesus head laments his pensiue mother,
Ioseph with Nichodemus at one side,
And both the Maries place them at the other,
Thus bout the mangled corpes these mourners stands
With teares in eies, with ointments in their hands.
Wken kneeling round, the bodie they inclose,
Prepar'd with baulme, and readie to annoint it,
Viewing blew wales, that came of Iewish blowes,
Rupture of nailes, wan flesh, how they disioint it:
Compassion, pittie, loue, with true remorse,
Inuited all their eies to wash the corse.
Prepar'd with baulme, and readie to annoint it,
Viewing blew wales, that came of Iewish blowes,
Rupture of nailes, wan flesh, how they disioint it:
Compassion, pittie, loue, with true remorse,
Inuited all their eies to wash the corse.
Their knees vvith humble seruice lowly bowing,
Their hands embaulme him, vvounded, rent and tore,
Their eies no mangled part vnwasht allowing,
Their hearts vvith vvorship, God and man adore,
Both knees and hands, vvith hearts and vvatry eies,
All sorrow laden, tir'd vvith sighs and cries.
Their hands embaulme him, vvounded, rent and tore,
Their eies no mangled part vnwasht allowing,
Their hearts vvith vvorship, God and man adore,
Both knees and hands, vvith hearts and vvatry eies,
All sorrow laden, tir'd vvith sighs and cries.
For deepe-made vvounds, and torturing cruell blowes,
No small expence of ointments could suffise:
But bountie on that holy worke bestowes
Plentie of odours in such liberall vvise,
Their baulme to couer him inough had bin,
And teares might serue to haue baptis'd him in.
No small expence of ointments could suffise:
But bountie on that holy worke bestowes
Plentie of odours in such liberall vvise,
Their baulme to couer him inough had bin,
And teares might serue to haue baptis'd him in.
His glorious bodie shrouded in the sheet
On vvhich to be embaulmed they did lay him,
With binding clothes, vvrapt vvhole from head to feet,
To be inter'd, his seruant Saints conuay him
Only in armes good Iesus dead they haue,
Within their hearts he liues being borne to graue.
On vvhich to be embaulmed they did lay him,
With binding clothes, vvrapt vvhole from head to feet,
To be inter'd, his seruant Saints conuay him
Only in armes good Iesus dead they haue,
Within their hearts he liues being borne to graue.
O mournefull trod, where comforts paths are failing,
Deaths bed must haue eternall life in keeping,
Joseph goes sighing, Magdalen bewailing,
Ther's Iohn laments, and Nichodemus weeping,
The blessed virgins eies like fountaines run,
Left vvofull vviddow to her murdred son.
Deaths bed must haue eternall life in keeping,
Joseph goes sighing, Magdalen bewailing,
Ther's Iohn laments, and Nichodemus weeping,
The blessed virgins eies like fountaines run,
Left vvofull vviddow to her murdred son.
What pens report can tell her sorrowing heart
That saw her sonne, the only of her vvombe,
Before her eies pay death, mans foule desert,
And vvith her armes assist him to the tombe?
What sorrowes mappe like sorrow ere exprest?
What eies like teares, what teares like greefes profest.
That saw her sonne, the only of her vvombe,
Before her eies pay death, mans foule desert,
And vvith her armes assist him to the tombe?
What sorrowes mappe like sorrow ere exprest?
What eies like teares, what teares like greefes profest.
Her liquid eies stroue each t'exceed the other,
By sighs her mone, by teares her vvoe appeares,
She vveepes, yet is the mirth of heav'ns mother,
Virgine in office, young in tender yeares,
Filled vvith grace, eternities Princesse,
Excelling in perfections holinesse.
By sighs her mone, by teares her vvoe appeares,
She vveepes, yet is the mirth of heav'ns mother,
Virgine in office, young in tender yeares,
Filled vvith grace, eternities Princesse,
Excelling in perfections holinesse.
O Sunne vvhose shine is heav'ns eternall bright,
Of funerall pompe why art thou destitute,
Borne to thy graue, vvithout one candles light,
Or Clergie, night precedent institute:
Thy birth was simple, void of wordly pride;
And in thy buriall, cost vvas laid aside.
Of funerall pompe why art thou destitute,
Borne to thy graue, vvithout one candles light,
Or Clergie, night precedent institute:
Thy birth was simple, void of wordly pride;
And in thy buriall, cost vvas laid aside.
Oh heav'ns riches, mercies fountaine head,
When thou vvast borne, no house thy parents haue,
Thy life vvas poore, thy death vvithout a bed,
Thy buriall vvas in Iosephs borrowed graue,
Thou didst indure our paines, sinnes purchase, hell;
Thou louedst soules, lost soules, so vvondrous vvell.
When thou vvast borne, no house thy parents haue,
Thy life vvas poore, thy death vvithout a bed,
Thy buriall vvas in Iosephs borrowed graue,
Thou didst indure our paines, sinnes purchase, hell;
Thou louedst soules, lost soules, so vvondrous vvell.
Though Salomon vvas Israels crowne successour,
And gain'd his kingly fathers state and throne;
Of Dauids mercy seemes he no possessour,
Funerall cost, or teares vve read of none:
But Scriptures recommend the honour done
In Iacobs buriall, by his gratefull sonne.
And gain'd his kingly fathers state and throne;
Of Dauids mercy seemes he no possessour,
Funerall cost, or teares vve read of none:
But Scriptures recommend the honour done
In Iacobs buriall, by his gratefull sonne.
The great Priest Simon caused to bee made,
A monument of curious carued stones,
Wherein his bodie after life vvas laid,
And eke his brethren Machabes their bones:
But tombe for Christ vvas in his life vnknowne,
And for him dead his mother knew of none.
A monument of curious carued stones,
Wherein his bodie after life vvas laid,
And eke his brethren Machabes their bones:
But tombe for Christ vvas in his life vnknowne,
And for him dead his mother knew of none.
No earthly care, soules loue to him vvas sweeter,
When vnto Iohn the virgine was commended,
His enemies to Mercie, church to Peter,
His soule to Father, saying All is ended:
No speech he vs'd, nor any order gaue
For costly funerals or a sumptuous graue.
When vnto Iohn the virgine was commended,
His enemies to Mercie, church to Peter,
His soule to Father, saying All is ended:
No speech he vs'd, nor any order gaue
For costly funerals or a sumptuous graue.
With greefes, attaining to the garden place,
From which oft staies to weepe and vvipe did let,
Pensiue distrest, in most perplexed case,
The shrouding sheet all moistned, slacke and wet
(Not vvith the dew descending from the skies)
With teares that rained from their shouring eies.
From which oft staies to weepe and vvipe did let,
Pensiue distrest, in most perplexed case,
The shrouding sheet all moistned, slacke and wet
(Not vvith the dew descending from the skies)
With teares that rained from their shouring eies.
Oh glorious hearbes this garden plot did beare,
Oh holy ground trod in this iournies paines,
Not for the oile of Oliues growing there,
But sanctified by blood from Iesus vaines,
O earth vvhereon true loue and greefes combine,
Blood from the sonne, teares from the mothers eyen.
Oh holy ground trod in this iournies paines,
Not for the oile of Oliues growing there,
But sanctified by blood from Iesus vaines,
O earth vvhereon true loue and greefes combine,
Blood from the sonne, teares from the mothers eyen.
The tombe prepar'd vvherein hee should bee laid,
From which although great paine the stone remooued,
Yet farre exceed the suites intreatie made
Before his mother yeelds her deere beloued,
Still they solicite, still her loues denie him,
Vntill on knees with price of teares, they buy him.
From which although great paine the stone remooued,
Yet farre exceed the suites intreatie made
Before his mother yeelds her deere beloued,
Still they solicite, still her loues denie him,
Vntill on knees with price of teares, they buy him.
The brothers sonne intreats his holie aunt,
Persuasiue reasoning humbly dooth beseech,
Times breuitie, good Ladie, mooues your graunt,
Let eies doe more with teares then tongues vvith speech;
Vpon detaining, now no longer stand,
Darke sable night leads dangers by the hand.
Persuasiue reasoning humbly dooth beseech,
Times breuitie, good Ladie, mooues your graunt,
Let eies doe more with teares then tongues vvith speech;
Vpon detaining, now no longer stand,
Darke sable night leads dangers by the hand.
If foes should vvrong vs, bootlesse vve to striue,
How can poore three our Lords dead corse defend,
Twelue could not guard him when he vvas aliue,
Giue license this last seruice take an end,
Much troubles cease, vvhen by free vvill is done,
That vvhich constraint vvell nere dispence to shunne.
How can poore three our Lords dead corse defend,
Twelue could not guard him when he vvas aliue,
Giue license this last seruice take an end,
Much troubles cease, vvhen by free vvill is done,
That vvhich constraint vvell nere dispence to shunne.
Thou friend of God incline to vs at length,
Let our vveake vvords o'recome thy loues the stronger,
Our hearts vvant comforts, all our members strength,
Our teares are spent, eies dri'de can vveepe no longer,
Sorrow that holds vs for her lawfull prize,
Hath left not one poore teare to taske our eies.
Let our vveake vvords o'recome thy loues the stronger,
Our hearts vvant comforts, all our members strength,
Our teares are spent, eies dri'de can vveepe no longer,
Sorrow that holds vs for her lawfull prize,
Hath left not one poore teare to taske our eies.
Wearie vvith importunitie and vveeping,
A most vnwilling leaue the Virgine gaue,
Yeelding her sonne to the sepulchres keeping,
Her sweetest loue to deaths most bitter graue,
Like as from Golgotha, they brought him thether,
All helpe, all sigh, all put him in together.
A most vnwilling leaue the Virgine gaue,
Yeelding her sonne to the sepulchres keeping,
Her sweetest loue to deaths most bitter graue,
Like as from Golgotha, they brought him thether,
All helpe, all sigh, all put him in together.
Thus being laid into his bed of stone,
By liquid eies, and hearts of sorrowing flesh,
Instead of earth their teares vvere poured on,
A last farewell greefes cesternes yeeld afresh:
There left they Iesus that sinnes burden beares,
Wept, vvrapt, annointed, bath'd in streames of teares.
By liquid eies, and hearts of sorrowing flesh,
Instead of earth their teares vvere poured on,
A last farewell greefes cesternes yeeld afresh:
There left they Iesus that sinnes burden beares,
Wept, vvrapt, annointed, bath'd in streames of teares.
FINIS.
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