 | Poems by Robert Gomersall |  |
Who having enter'd, all the people bow'd:
(For 'twas not yet as perfect zeale allow'd
To be irreverent to their Priest, that name
Which now is prov'd a title but of shame,
Then was the badge of glory) he indeares
Himselfe, more by his office, then his yeares,
To those, who thinke thinke these two can ne'r agree,
To scorne the Priest, and serve the Deitie.
(For 'twas not yet as perfect zeale allow'd
To be irreverent to their Priest, that name
Which now is prov'd a title but of shame,
Then was the badge of glory) he indeares
Himselfe, more by his office, then his yeares,
To those, who thinke thinke these two can ne'r agree,
To scorne the Priest, and serve the Deitie.
Before the Altar his weake knees he bends,
Which age before, but now devotion sends
Vnto the ground, where with a voice so low,
That he could onely heare it, who could know
What it would have before it spake, he thus
Whisper'd a prayer;
Respect heav'ns beares us! Scarcely had he done,
Scarce finisht his impos'd devotion,
When on the sudden ere you could have said
The Priest had sacrificd, or he had pray'd,
Through all the Campe a light was spread, to this
Compar'd, the Sunn but a darke body is:
And in respect of so divine a light
Our day is honor'd, if he be tearmd night,
Nor this alone, but that they there might see
And feare their God in his full Majesty,
Such voyces and such thunders fright tho Ayre,
That they suppose they want another prayer
To be assur'd from them; so they declar'd
They were afraid to heare, that they were heard.
Downe on the pavement every knee is fixt,
Some groveling on their faces, when betwixt
Astonishment and hope, whilst yet they doubt
What all this preface meanes, and whilst the rout
Fear'd judgements which they merited, they heare
A voice for which they wish a larger eare,
It was so sweetly mercifull: Once more
Goe up (it sayes) and though that heretofore
Y'ave had the worst: yet thus my sentence stands
Ile now deliver them into your hands.
Have you beheld how some condemn'd to dy,
When they were fitted for Æternity,
When life they did despise, and all below,
Receiv'd a pardon, when they fear'd the blow
That should unman them, have you seene them then
Almost forgetting that they were but men;
How to expresse their mind they want a word,
Ioy having done the office of the sword,
And made them speechlesse? then you may in part
Conceive the wonder of their joy; which Art
Confesseth it exceeds her power to show
At full, which onely they that have can know.
Which age before, but now devotion sends
66
That he could onely heare it, who could know
What it would have before it spake, he thus
Whisper'd a prayer;
King of Heaven, of Earth, of Seas,
And of men exceeding these:
Thou that when thy people ranne
From the proud Ægyptian,
Leadst them through a liquid path
Safe, and scarce wet, when thy wrath
Wonderfully made them know,
Twas a Sea unto the foe.
Thou that when the heat, the sand
Of a barren thirsty land,
Made our tongues be so confin'd
To our roofes, they scarce repin'd,
But in secret, so that we
Onely fear'd a blasphemy.
Thou then by a powerfull knocke
Mad'st a Sea within a Rocke,
And gav'st Israel to know
For them drought should overflow:
Thou art still the same, and we
Stand in the same need of thee,
Pardon then if we presume
To an hope, and so assume
Courage to us, when we joyne
Our wants to that power of thine.
Yes our wants, for we can find
None of merit, w'ave declin'd
Ev'ry good way, and have still
Beene ambitious of ill,
So that when we are exact,
And have all our good deeds rackt
To the highest rate, ther's snone
Dares appeare before thy throne:
Onely this desert we see,
Continuance of adversity.
Nay such monsters have we bin,
Such proficients in each sinne,
That we durst not looke on heav'n,
Nor intreat to bee forgiv'n.
Hadst not thou vouchsaf'd to doe
What our wishes reacht not to:
Hadst not thou vouchsaf'd to be
Tutor to our Infancy:
And bestow'd when we were mute
Both our prayer and our sute.
O the Courteous
And of men exceeding these:
Thou that when thy people ranne
From the proud Ægyptian,
Leadst them through a liquid path
Safe, and scarce wet, when thy wrath
Wonderfully made them know,
Twas a Sea unto the foe.
Thou that when the heat, the sand
Of a barren thirsty land,
Made our tongues be so confin'd
To our roofes, they scarce repin'd,
But in secret, so that we
Onely fear'd a blasphemy.
Thou then by a powerfull knocke
Mad'st a Sea within a Rocke,
And gav'st Israel to know
For them drought should overflow:
Thou art still the same, and we
Stand in the same need of thee,
Pardon then if we presume
To an hope, and so assume
Courage to us, when we joyne
Our wants to that power of thine.
Yes our wants, for we can find
None of merit, w'ave declin'd
Ev'ry good way, and have still
Beene ambitious of ill,
So that when we are exact,
And have all our good deeds rackt
67
Dares appeare before thy throne:
Onely this desert we see,
Continuance of adversity.
Nay such monsters have we bin,
Such proficients in each sinne,
That we durst not looke on heav'n,
Nor intreat to bee forgiv'n.
Hadst not thou vouchsaf'd to doe
What our wishes reacht not to:
Hadst not thou vouchsaf'd to be
Tutor to our Infancy:
And bestow'd when we were mute
Both our prayer and our sute.
Respect heav'ns beares us! Scarcely had he done,
Scarce finisht his impos'd devotion,
When on the sudden ere you could have said
The Priest had sacrificd, or he had pray'd,
Through all the Campe a light was spread, to this
Compar'd, the Sunn but a darke body is:
And in respect of so divine a light
Our day is honor'd, if he be tearmd night,
Nor this alone, but that they there might see
And feare their God in his full Majesty,
Such voyces and such thunders fright tho Ayre,
That they suppose they want another prayer
To be assur'd from them; so they declar'd
They were afraid to heare, that they were heard.
Downe on the pavement every knee is fixt,
Some groveling on their faces, when betwixt
Astonishment and hope, whilst yet they doubt
What all this preface meanes, and whilst the rout
68
A voice for which they wish a larger eare,
It was so sweetly mercifull: Once more
Goe up (it sayes) and though that heretofore
Y'ave had the worst: yet thus my sentence stands
Ile now deliver them into your hands.
Have you beheld how some condemn'd to dy,
When they were fitted for Æternity,
When life they did despise, and all below,
Receiv'd a pardon, when they fear'd the blow
That should unman them, have you seene them then
Almost forgetting that they were but men;
How to expresse their mind they want a word,
Ioy having done the office of the sword,
And made them speechlesse? then you may in part
Conceive the wonder of their joy; which Art
Confesseth it exceeds her power to show
At full, which onely they that have can know.
| Poems by Robert Gomersall | |