The Hymnes and Songs of the Chvrch Diuided into two parts. The first part comprehends the Canonicall Hymnes, and such parcels of Holy Scripture, as may properly be sung, with some other ancient Songs and Creeds. The second part consists of Spirituall Songs, appropriated to the seuerall Times and Occasions obserueable in the Church of England. Translated and Composed by G. VV. [i.e. George Wither] |
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| I. |
| III. |
| V. |
| VI. |
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| XXIIII. |
| XXV. | SONG. XXV. Lament. 2. |
| XXVI. |
| XXVII. |
| XXVIII. |
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| XXXVII. |
| XXXVIII. |
| XXXIX. |
| XL. |
| XLI. |
| XLII. |
| XLIII. |
| XLIIII. |
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 | The Hymnes and Songs of the Chvrch |  |
SONG. XXV. Lament. 2.
[1]
How darke, and how beclowded (in his wrath)The Lord hath caused Sion to appeare!
How Isr'els beautie he obscured hath,
As if throwne downe from heau'n to earth he were!
Oh, why is his displeasure growne so hot?
And why hath he his Foot-stoole so forgot?
2
The Lord all Sions dwellings hath laid wast;80
For, in his anger to the ground he cast
The strongest holds that Iudah's Daughter had:
Them, and their Kingdome he to ground doth send,
And all the Princes of it doth suspend.
3
When at the highest his displeasure was,From Isr'el all his horne of strength he broke;
And from before his aduersaries face,
His Right-hand (that restrained him) he tooke;
Yea, he in Iacob kindled such a flame,
As round about hath quite consum'd the same,
4
His Bow he as an Aduersarie bent,And by his Right-hand he did plainely shew,
He drew it with an Enemies intent:
For, all that were the fairest Markes he slew:
In Sions Tabernacle this was done;
Eu'n there the fire of his displeasure shone.
5
The Lord himselfe was he that was the Foe:By him is Isr'el thus to ruine gone:
His Palaces he ouerturned so;
And He his Holds of strength hath ouerthrowne:
Eu'n He it is, from whom it doth arise,
That Isr'els Daughter thus lamenting lies.
6
His Tabernacle, Garden-like that was,The Lord with violence hath tooke away:
He hath destroyed his Assembling place;
And there, nor Feasts, nor Sabboths now haue they:
81
He both their King and Priests reiected hath.
7
The Lord his holy Altar doth forgoe;His Sanctuarie he hath quite despiz'd.
Yea, by his meere assistance hath our Foe
The Bulwarkes of our Palaces surpriz'd;
And in the Lords owne House rude Noises are
As loud as heretofore his Praises were.
8
The Lord, his thought did purposely encline,The Walls of Sion should be ouerthrowne:
To that intent he stretched forth his Line,
And drew not backe his hand till they were downe,
And so the Turrets with the bruised Wall,
Did both together to destruction fall.
9
Her Gates in heaps of Earth obscured are;The Barres of them in pieces, broke hath he:
Her King, and those that once her Princes were,
Now borne away among the Gentiles be.
The Law is lost, and they no Prophet haue,
That from the Lord a Vision doth receiue.
10
In silence, seated on the lowly ground,The Senators of Sions Daughter are:
With Ashes they their carefull heads haue crown'd,
And mourning Sack-cloth girded on them weare;
Yea, on the Earth, in a distressed wise,
Ierusalem's young Virgins fixe their eies.
11
And for because my People suffer this,82
Each part within me out of quiet is;
And on the ground my Liuer forth I throw;
When as mine eies with so sad Obiects meet;
As Babes halfe dead, and sprawling in the street.
12
For, to their Mothers called they for meat;Oh where shall we haue meat and drinke! they crie:
And in the Citie, while they food entreat,
They swone, like them that deadly-wounded lye:
And some of them their Soules did breath away,
As in the Mothers bosome staru'd they lay.
13
Ierusalem, for thee what can I say?Or vnto what maist thou resembled be?
Oh! whereunto, that comfort thee I may,
Thou Sions Daughter, shall I liken thee?
For, as the Sea's, so great thy Breaches are:
And to repaire them then; Ah who is there!
14
Thou by thy Prophets hast deluded beene;And foolish Visions they for thee haue sought.
For, they reuealed not to thee thy sinne,
To turne away the thraldome it hath brought:
But lying Prophesies they sought for thee;
Which of thy sad exile the Causes be.
15
And those, thou Daughter of Ierusalem,That on occasions passe along this way,
With clapping hands, and hissings, thee contemne;
And nodding at Thee, thus in scorne they say;
83
The Flowre of Beautie, and the Worlds Delight?
16
Thy Aduersaries (eu'ry one of them)Their mouths haue open'd at thee, to thy shame:
They hisse, and gnash at Thee, Ierusalem;
We, we (say they) haue quite destroi'd the same:
This is that day hath long expected beene,
Now commeth it, and we the same haue seene.
17
But, this the Lord decreed, and brought to passe:Hee, to make good that Word which once he spake,
(And that which long agoe determin'd was)
Hath hurled downe, and did no pittie take:
He thus hath made thee scorned of thy Foe,
And rais'd the Horne of them that hate thee so.
18
Oh Wall of Sions Daughter, cry amaine,Eu'n to the Lord set forth a heartie Cry:
Downe, like a Riuer, cause thy teares to raine,
And let them neither Day nor Night be dry.
Seeke neither sleepe, thy body to suffice,
Nor slumber for the Apples of thine eies.
19
At night, and when the Watch is new begun,Then rise, and to the Lord Almightie Crie:
Before him let thy Heart like water runne,
And lift thou vp to him thy Hands on high,
Eu'n for those hunger-starued Babes of thine,
That in the Corners of the Streets doe pine.
84
20
And thou, oh Lord; Oh be thou pleas'd to see,And thinke on whom thy iudgments thou hast thrown
Shall women fed with their owne Issue be,
And Children that a span are scarcely growne?
Shall thus thy Priests and Prophets, Lord, be slaine,
As in thy Sanctuarie they remaine?
21
Nor Youth, nor Age, is from the slaughter free;For, in the Streets lye Young and Old, and all:
My Virgins, and my young men, murthered be;
Eu'n both beneath the Sword together fall.
Thou, in thy Day of Wrath such hauocke mad'st,
That in deuowring thou no pittie had'st.
22
Thou, round about hast call'd my feared Foes,As if that summond to some Feast they were:
Who in thy Day of Wrath did round enclose,
And shut me so that none escaped are:
Yea, those that hate me them consumed haue,
To whom I nourishment, and breeding gaue.
| The Hymnes and Songs of the Chvrch | |