University of Virginia Library

Columna Fidei.

Our Senses are bewitch'd, and seem to grow
So to the Creature, and on things below,
That all our busied Fancy can devise,
Serves more to sink them, than to make them rise:
For out of sight and minde, at once agree
To blind-fold Nature from Eternitie;
And leave her groveling, for to groap her way
Here in This Transitory bed of Clay,
Till Faith steps in; and in the stead of wings,
Unto Beleef, a lofty Pillar brings,
Whereby we should be raised up; And thus
Ascend to Him, descended once for Us.

ΚΑΡΔΙΑΓΝΩΣΤΗΣ. On the Title Page.

There is a Fowle wont hide its head,
To Passe so undiscovered:
Judging it self exempt from eyes
Of others, whilst it none descryes.
Not much unlike are such to these,
Who commit Closet-trespasses
And Chamber-dalliance; and then
Goe for unseen, 'cause so of Men.
If They my Pillars top attein,
They'l finde an eye tryes heart and rein:
But Natures Pur-blinde sight short is;
Nor can she rise alone to this,
Till Grace assist, which will such vertue yield,
As both t'ascend the Pillar, gain this Shield.

Ad Libellum suum.

Goe without Dedication, for that might
Imply I sought to Shelter what I write
Under some Patronage: I can afford
None Sharers in this Offering with my Lord:
His are both Line and Leisure, which mis-spent,
The fault lyes on th' unhappy Instrument
That should improve both better: But 'tis done,
And Thy fate is decree'd, thy woof is spun;
Censure must passe: Yet Blush not since thy Strings
Are onely consonant with holy things.

In Unitate Trinitas.

That Number 'bove the rest,
For ever Blest,
Which God Himself doth daign
To Branch into, yet Re-unites again,
For as His Prescience could tell
When Angels fell
That Man would follow, and there should be On
Sent for to make Redemption:
So from our Misery did He Infer
Th' necessity of a Comforter.
This doth inspire, That did Create,
The second did Regenerate:
Thus though Distinct, They are
Yet singular,
And One wise-ever Power it is doth Tie
This Triple Knot into a Unitie.

[Let me not tread the Broad highway to Sin]

Let me not tread the Broad highway to Sin,
But being Elect declare my Call therein.

A Morning Thought.

Psalm 19.

Cœli enarrant Gloriam Dei.

My Countrey Audit.

Blest Privacie, Happy Retreat, wherein
I may cast up my Reck'nings, Audit Sin,
Count o'r my Debts, and how Arrears increase
In Natures book, towards the God of Peace:
What through perversness hath been wav'd, or don
To My first Covenants contradiction:
How many promis'd Resolutions broke
Of keeping touch (almost as soon as spoke.)
Thus like that Tenant who behind-hand cast,
Intreats so oft forbearance, till at last
The sum surmounts his hopes, and then no more
Expects, but Mercy to strike off the score.
So here, methinks, I see the Landlords Grace
Full of Compassion to my drooping Case,
Bidding me be of comfort, and not griev'd,
My Rent his Son should pay if I believ'd.

Cui in calamitatibus soli sit fidendum.

When first the Towring Hills, the loftier Pine,
Exchang'd to ride upon the swelling brine
Neptune prepar'd, and with more Active skill
Grew sometimes in the Vale, sometimes on th' Hill:
Whilst Floating in a compleat tackle drest,

Juv. Sat. 10.

She's taught to Sayl from Cadis to the East
Where Ganges runs, and from those coasts being come,
To steer a course back to Illyrium:
Then was that coward Fear banish'd the Mind
And Heart of Man, ambitious still to find
More worlds and works of wonder, wherein He
Might trace the Greatness of the Deitie.
Then as if fortify'd with steel and brass,

Hor. Od. 3.

Ventur'd his Bottom on this field of glass,
So brickle and unconstant, as contrives
A nearness unto Death, yet with reprives.
A small Gale over-fils the sayls, a leak
Is sprung, in shorter time than I can speak.
Then being o'r-set above, o'r-charg'd beneath,
What can expected be but present Death?
Unless we seek to Him, at whose command
Becalm'd into Obedience, Tempests stand,
Rising when He so pleases, and are gon
When He Planes o'r their rugged Motion:
Whose Power at life's exprest, when weight ascends,
And almost to the Crystall Skie extends:

Psalm 107.

And then again, when Nature on't doth enter,
It is permitted for to wash the Center.
Then are such troubled as on it doe ride,
Rowling and Tottering from side to side,
Being drunk through fear and sorrow; nor can tell
How many Sands shall knowl their Passing-bell.
Thus in a Trance dismay'd, and quite bereft
Of sense, save of a little spark that's left
To kindle hopes, They to their Maker Cry,
Who straight releases them from Misery,
Sending a Calm; whereat the Liquid plain
Becomes to them a Looking-glass again:
So They in mind restor'd, have quick access
Unto the Haven of their Happiness.

My Carroll.

To overcome by Contraries.

In humane things 'tis held a Maxime wise,
To seek to Overcome by Contraries:
And in Diviner, if we will express
Obedience to God, it holds no less;
For t'conquer Pride whereby we fell, no Art
Is comparable to a Contrite-Heart.

To Improve Afflictions.

If David found it good He'd been in Trouble,
What would it teach Me am a sinfull Bubble;
But that th' Afflictions we meet with heer,
Are sent to Steer Us to our God more neer?
Who thus improves his thoughts on things goe cross,
Without a Riddle, makes Great gains of Loss.

They that sow in Tears, shall reap in Joy.

As in the Countrey-Parable it's found,
God's meant by Husbandman, and Man by ground,
His Word the pretious Seed, that doth excell
All other grain; Our hearts the Arable:
So would't inform We should our soil prepare,
To recompence so Great a Seedsmans care;
And neither prickt with Pride, stupid like Stones,
Laid Common to all wicked Motions:
Be unprovided t'save, much less t'afford
Increase against the Harvest of the Lord:
Wherefore as Earth 'thout Culture sithence mans fall
Is of fruits barren, Thistles Prodigall:
So doe the dispositions and desires
Nature brings forth, abound with Thorns and Briers;
Which to correct, the Masters strict Command
Is to break up again the Fallow-land:
And by Contritions Coulter and Plough-shares
To dress our Minds, furrow our Cheeks with teares
Of true Repentance. And those thus destroy
The Weeds of Sin, shall surely reap in Joy.

Ascensus Gratiarum, Descensus Gratiarum.

If there be any Vertue left that can
Pull Blessings down, 'tis Gratitude in Man;
And to be humbly thankfull, that alone
Makes Him true subject for Compassion.
All Other Graces as Assistants sit
Upon the Wool-sacks for to farther it;
In representing how the Law concludes
On Gods Rich Bounties, Our ingratitudes:
So thereupon Impeachment's drawn to show
Delinquencies, and what He gives, we ow.
First then unless dejected Care possess
The Heart and Soul for by-past wickedness,
And stir up Resolution to become
Henceforth more righteous, ev'n to Martyrdome:
In vain it is to hope, or yet surmize
The acceptation of such Sacrifize
From Him, whose all-discerning eye doth pierce
The very Center of the Universe,
And knows before we think: Let our thoughts flye
To overtake His Providentiall eye;
Then we shall straight be conquered, and confess
His Bounties, but our own Unworthiness.
And like the Eagle, first such flight begin
From the low contemptible Vale of sin,
Untill Confession and Amendment raise
Our stretcht out Pinions to the clouds in praise.
And then when all is done that we are able,
Still we must know, we're but Unprofitable.

Contemplatio Diurna.

When we behold the Morning Dew
Dissolve ith' rising Sun: What would it shew?
But that a Sun to us did rise,
Our Fathers hoary sin to Atomise.
And when the Flowers display'd appear,
To entertain the mounting Charettier:
What would they speak in that fair dress?
But Man's redemption out of wretchedness.
For the shade-shortning Noon can tell
The Proud, and such as with Ambition swell;
That whilst upon Opinions wing
They seek to sore, they work their lessening.
And the Prognostick Western set,
May Our Conditions rightly counterfeit;
For if we rise, shine, and set Cleer,
The Day-Star from on high's our Comforter:
If Sin beclowd us as we fall,
Our next dayes rise will prove our Funerall:
Et quid lachrymabilius?

Ubi desinit Medicus, incipit Theologus.

Where the Physitians skill can doe no more,
Divinity must best of health restore.

Annus annulus, &c. Diminutione largimur.

My Observation at Sea.

Upon Moses put young to Sea, or hid in an Ark of Bulrushes.

This son of Amram, soon as born did find
Pharaoh a Tyrant, but the Midwives kind:
So being from that bloody Doom set free,
Becomes His Mothers Care and Huswifrie;
Who to His safety, that She might confer
More hopes. She makes him first a Mariner:
A good presage; whereby it was implide,
His People He through the Red-Sea should guide.

The Contempt of this World, raises the Others Esteem.

When all the Vertue we can here put on,
Is but refined Imperfection,
Corruption Calcin'd: A Minerall vain,
Where Clay (to be more priz'd) some Ore doth gain:
Why should we not employ the best of Care,
To learn wherein Truest Contentments are,
And how attain'd? The Jewellers command
O're Art, is how to Foyle the Diamond
As may add Lustre to it: So, who tries
Less to Esteem of This worlds Flatteries,
Sets higher Value on the Other, where
Perfection proves th' Eternall Jeweller.

To Kisse Gods Rod; occasioned upon a Childs Sickness.

My Penthouse against the Storm of Grief, occasioned upon the Death of a dear Friend.

Man Levens the Batch.

God makes all things for good; 'tis Man
Sowers and worsts Creation:
Who Leven'd by his Father, thence
Becomes all Disobedience;
No thought, no word, no action He
Contrives, can own Integrity
To Him that made Him, for by Deeds
As Words and Heart, his growth's in weeds,
Which whilst neglected doe express
Gods Grace, but Man's unfruitfulness:
Now if again man would bear Corn,
He must himself a Weeder turn.

The Attributes of true Love.

We call that Patience, when provok'd we can
Deferr revenge, but 'tis true love in Man:
And when with open hand we would express
Our Bounties Tribute, some style't Lavishness:
But They mistake, as farr as those despise
All steps whereby an Other Man doth rise;
Yet think they have Love too; and boast no less
Than that She is their constant Patroness:
If Her Decrees be not to seek her own
Praise, (as not seemly) whither are such blown,
As thus would tempt Her anger, when 'tis taught
She is not to be mov'd to an ill thought,
But's ever pleas'd, and doth rejoyce to see
Truth sit in Triumph o're Iniquitie:
As She sustains, and is contented still
With what wind blows, so doe her hopes sails fill,
When from the windows of Beleef doth breath
A steady Gale, t'advance her course beneath:
Till by the Saints transplanted, and above,
She's Moor'd within that Port, and call'd True Love.

Contraria juxta se posita

Like Night to Day, or foyles that Raise
The Lustre of the Diamonds praise:
Such, and no other Vertue Lies
Hid in th' approach of Contraries.

Love begets Fear.

'Twas of Thy Goodness (Lord) at first I had
Knowledge of what was Good, and what was bad:
Yet through the Ill of Nature become blinde,
I followed Sin, and left thy Fear behind:
By which I forfeited a Blessing, till
Thou of thy Mercy, free and Gracious will
Sign'st me a Pardon in that style, Repent,
That so I might avoid all Punishment.
Thus then rows'd up and wak'ned, I began
Thy Judgments, Blessings, Love, and Fear to skan:
And in a Scoale when I them all had waigh'd,
Methought I lov'd Thee still, still was afraid.

My Invocation

Misericordia Dei splendidissima.

Gods Mercy shines 'bove all His works, as farr
As doth the Cyprian-Queen out-light a Starr.

To Man. Epig.

Hard-Hearted Man! what canst thou say,
That Thou thy self hast turn'd to Brick thy Clay:
But that Thy Hopes are built upon
His Promise once sent Fountains out of Ston:
Wherefore to Sacrifice to Gods desire,

Psalm 51. 17.

Mans Heart must be the Altar, Sighs the fire.

My Pool of Bethesda, or the Effusion of Christs Merits to heal our Miseries.

When Children would goe, or Cripples stand,
Crutches and Stools are fram'd for Arm and Hand
To rest upon, lest such attempting shall
Without like Props occasion them to fall.
What are the Sons of Adam? if we try,
Condemn'd to Lamenesse and to Infancy
Through Sin, and so disabled to Pace
The Paths of Vertue, tread the Steps of Grace;
Till God of's Mercy pleased to Confer
A standing stool, as if from th' Carpenter,
Though He himself was Artist, and did frame
This Remedy for Those were Weak and Lame:
So that without a farther Inquisition,
We All were, and are such, Christ's the Physition.

The Five Porches to Bethesda.

Man is Bethesda, and's five Senses be
Porches unto that Great Infermery,
Where Divers Cures are sought for; yet not one
Attain'd but through an Angels Motion,
Grace powred on the Heart; which who so can
Improve, becommeth straight a perfect Man:
But Those who Opportunity neglect,
Must not an other Saving help expect.
For as the Cripple Thirty eight years lay,
And had done more, had not Christ come ith' way:
So whilst these powr'd out waters we would try,
Others step in, Prophane their Sanctity.
Lusts both our Ears, and Eyes, and Palates charm:
Through Nostrils and by Fingers we doe harm;
And 'cause all over Leprous and defil'd,
We'd fain be cleans'd, to health be reconcil'd,
Yet cannot get so soon into this Tide,
Afford us of that Jordan from Thy side.

A Carroll.

(If nothing else) may not this season move,
Or Time become true Chronicle of love?
And so allay the Fury, stint the Rage
Or madness doth predominize this age?
When for to Ransome Man, whose least Offence
Was character'd in Disobedience,
He who knew no Sin came, that, to fulfill
The Mercy Statute of His Fathers will:
Thus He forgave, and gave, to let us know
What to our Very Enemies we ow,
By His Example; and decrees this fate
To the Posterity unfortunate
Of too-beleeving Adam, That They must
Give themselves over to no other Trust
Than what His Word assures; nor to make less
That first of Sins, Create them numberless,
In Envie, Malice, and Ambition,
But joyn to Charity Contrition
For by-past faults, and resolutions raise
To spend the future in our Makers praise:
Obey Him first, then Those His Glorious Powers
Shall substitute for our Superiours:
And with our own Condition whatsome're
Content, enjoy a full Harmonious Sphere;
Leaving no Orb for Discords fond increase,
Sithence He that's born for us was Prince of Peace.

A Quid Retribuam.

Poor sin-bound-naked-creature Man, ne're knows
What to return for that His God bestows;
But as Prosperities increase, goes less
I'th' retribution of Thankfulness:
His eyes not open but with Clay made dim,
Renders that Miracle, not wrought on Him,
Remains so stupid, but where Faith's declin'd
Int' unbeleef, such are for ever blind:
Now that I may like Judgment still prevent,
By entertaining True-Souls-Nutriment,
Not Poyson: let Example spurr me on
To take the Cup fill'd with Salvation;
And t'praise his holy Name that did prepare
Such Cates for those heavie and Laden are,
Sins Dromidaries swift by Nature led
To run to Evil, here unburthened
By One who bore both Crosse and shame, to free
The Pliant branch of Eves posterity:
(So have I tender Saplings seen unbroak,
When Tempests have o'r-turn'd the sturdier Oak:)
And if in Sacrifice we'd passe degrees,
The best for acceptation's from the knees,
Outward and inwardly exprest; whereby
To notifie unfeign'd Humility;
For such deny to shew repentance thus,
Surely forget Christ came from Heaven to us:
And those of that short memory may know
Their Portion's here; They shall not to Him go,
Who's Riches, Rayment, Food, and all Relief
To them Contemn this World, make Him their Chief.

EVCHARISTIA

Though All must truly say, They've done amiss,
Yet there Goes more than Ord'nary to This:
For He that would not make the banquet sower,
Must form His Relish to his Saviour.

A Pelican feeding her young with blood out of her own Brest, a type of our Saviour.

PELICANUS

Behold Here from the Pelicans Brest sprung
A stream of precious blood to feed her young.

In Sanctam Cœnam Domini, Epig.

Wash and be clean; Eat, Drink this, and 't will save:
So easie is the suit our Lord doth crave:
Yet with the healed Creeple, back He'll call thee,
And bid Thee, Sinn no more, lest worse befall thee.

A Dedication of my first Son.

In Quadragesimam.

When all the Dayes w'have borrowed are mis-spent,
Had we not need to beg more time were Lent;
And not to suffer This too, to be gon,
Because abus'd through superstition?
A knife to cut with's good, but if to kill
It be abus'd, why then we deem it ill.
All things are made for use; Abuses came
But as Usurpers to deprave the same:
And in some kinde or other all we do,
Speak, think, or have, those have their morals too.
Our Pampred Bodies oft such thoughts put on,
That they become like to proud Iessuron:
And when our minds from full Cups are exprest,
They're like to Baltashazzer's at His Feast:
Our Actions too, laden with Temporall good,
Cannot permit t'aspire at Spirituall food;
But over-fed, we surfet, and becom
Like to the Beast in all things, save being dumb:
Tongue-tide we are not, when we would express
Our Enmity, from th' root of Bitterness:
Nor yet uncharitable, unless in this,
To judge that those who hunger doe amiss,
And such as thirst too, whilst our Cups run o're,
And Bellies are made Magazines of store.
It should be otherwayes, if we would shun
The heavie doom of sad Temptation;
And as the Meat and Drink of Faith, prepare
A Holy-Fasting-sanctifying Prayer,
Cook'd from our Corner'd hearts, and not the streets,
A Sacrifice Incens't with Love for sweets.
And thus performing what is Lent aright,
We'l fear no Schismatick, nor Anchorite.

A Hymm occasioned upon going to receive the blessed Sacrament when it was a snow.

A Reveille Mattin, or Good morrow to a friend.

Trium Gratiarum maxima Charitas.

Matth. 13.

El Sembrador, or, the Sower.

A Carroll.

Upon the birth of a Childe.

When I (O Lord) Thy Mercies scan,
Stooping unto the Publican,
Who stood afar off; and didst daign
To give, that He might ask again:
(For not the Outward-beaten-brest,
Nor down-cast-look could make Him blest;
But 'twas thine own Power did controul
His former Vice, stamp New His soul.)
Methinks I am so far set free
From all Sins bonds and Tyrannie,
As that rais'd up in hopes; no More
I need Zacheus Sycamore:
But (though a Dwarf in Grace) conclude
I see Christ 'bove the Multitude
Calling me down; as if to say,
He meant to be my Guest to day;
And (though a Sinner) crown My wish,
Bringing an Olive-branch for's Dish.

This is a true saying, That Christ came, &c.

Tim. 1. 1, 15.

Be a thing true or false, our Nature lies
Alwayes so prone to Novelties,
That we are caught: and what is done or said,
Tickle, till we have uttered;
Yet are asleep whilst this True saying's come,
(Or else with Zachary struck dumbe

Luk. 1. 20.

Through incredulity) although 't express
In it the height of our unworthiness:
And this the Scope, That He was 'nointed King
Although he govern'd every thing,
Contented was of's footstool t'make a throne
Where He might work Salvation,
And so is a true Jesus; nor doth thus

Mat. 9. 13. Mark 2. 17.

Become unto the Righteous,
But to Those likewise who through sins decree
Condemned were to Miserie,
Amongst whom the Apostle, whilst he'averrs
Himself as chief, so little errs:
What should we Judge our selves to be, whose all
Of Life is but Apocryphall,
Less than the least of Mercies: yet again
When in our ills we not remain,
Goodness shall cause that Scepter to distill
All saving Grace into the will;
So that repair'd by this, forgiv'n by that,
We may thus far be Consolat,
That Princely Clemency, and wonted love,
May both the Crime and guilt remove:
Then though the chiefest of the Chief we bee,
If we repent, this Verse may set us free.

My Looking-Glass.

Foe to Ill-faces for thy truth, be free
And Shadow back my Souls Deformitie,
Thou'lt please me better far, than that which can
Return a Raven White, or black a Swan:
For if thou shouldst like to thy self, rubb'd ore,
Give All for Moteless that comes Thee before,
I might suspect, (that justly) whilst thou'rt set
To me 'n Diameter for Counterfeit,
So horrid black my Conscience doth present
My Guilt-complexions Night Firmament,
Not Tincel'd with one Star of Grace, or Spark
Of Goodness, but Sin-clouded o'r and Dark.
How shall I then presume to Claim a right
In any Dawn of Mercy and of light?
Unless My Faith give credit for the Loan;
And so Gods Son lend from th' Reflection
Of His Bright Merits, so much power to say,
My Pardon's seal'd, and Night is turn'd to Day:
And then, and not before, I may seem drest,
When His Great Favour, my Great Sin's confest.

Sham'd by the Creature.

The Thankfull Soil Manur'd and Winter Drest,
Returns the Hinde an Autumn interest
For all His care and Labour: nor denies
To be uncloath'd, to deck his Grainaries:
So doth the Youthfull Vine those Prunings own,
When as her Blossomes are to Clusters grown;
Nor (to shew thanks) doth spare her blood to spill,
That so the Planters Vessels She may fill.
This Vegetable Lecture may indeed
Cast a Blush o'r me, whose return for seed
So far fals short, as not for every one
To bring an Ear; but for a whole Season none,
No not that Corn again was left in trust,
And Harrowed up under My barren Dust:
But pregnant Nature doth so rule and raign,
That with wilde Oats She Choaks the better Grain;
And where My Gratefull Heart should dye my Press,
It's all Besmeared with unthankfulness.
Nor can a Thought, a Word, or Act proceed
Out of My Clay, that turns not straight to Weed:
And for My Fruits, ere Ripeness is begun,
Abortive-like, They wither in the Sun
Of Self-Conceit: Lord prune once more this Vine,
And Plow this Ground, lest the Figtree's doom be Mine.

Luk. 13. 7.

To Man, on his frail Condition.

What permanence to Earth or Clay is due,
Fond Man consider, for that Emblems you:
This Day brings humane flesh under Death's yoke,

Hodie vidi, heri vidi, &c.

And yesterday I saw a Pitcher broke.
Our Forms are different, Substances the same:
The subtil Artist doth both Vessels frame
For Honor and the Contrary; and thus
Our great Creator moulds and fashions us.
If we would then our Makers praise set forth,
We should take Care to become Those of worth.

The Fallacy of the outward Man.

Upon the Times.

My Reformation.

My Close-Committee.

Humiliation without Reformation, a foundation without a Building; Reformation without Humiliation, a Building without a foundation.

A Carroll.

Awake dull Soul, and from thy fold of Clay
Receive the blessed Tydings of the Day:
Not of a Foxes Cubb, whose guile might be
A promise of successive Tyrannie.
Nor o'th' Victorious Eagles farr-spread wing,
The chiefest of the Worlds parts covering:
But of a Lamb that's yean'd, a Childe that's born,
No Spectacle of Glory, but of Scorn;
For in the house of bread, This Bread of life,
For us, is come to Ioseph and his wife:
And though the City David's were, therein
His Son no Throne Possesses, but an Inn.
There thou maist finde him, at whose mean, low birth,
The mightiest Potentates of all the Earth,
Nay Oracles, are silenced and gon,
Nor longer serve the Devils delusion.
The Delphian Fiend confesses, He's o'rcome.
And by an Hebrew-born-Childe stricken dumb.

Dion, Suidas, Nicepho.

The Letters of th' Old Law effaced are,
Down falls the Statue of great Jupiter,
With th' Twins, and their nursing Beast: which shour
Of Prodigies, rouse up the Emperour,
Who thus farr in the dark could see, t'erect
In honor of th' Almighty Architect,
An Altar in the Capitoll to's Son.
First-born, with the sole dedication.
If Light thus thorow darkness shone, why is't,
That thou who hast the Gospels beams, the mist
Of errors canst not dissipate, but still
Becom'st Idolater in doing ill?
How doth thy Pride and Envie hatch deceit,
And fond Ambition raise thee in conceit
Of thine own worth, when all such honors can
But dress thee up more stately Beast, no Man?
The Serpents brood like Twins doe alwayes Pare,
Which by Thy beastly humors fostered are:
Thy tongue no more thy hearts cross-row doth spell,
Than if thou were't an Other Oracle:
Be silent then, nor longer more prophane
That Holy Temple, for which thou art tane;
But let the Lambs blood wash away the stains
And Characters were written in thy veins
By thy first Parents, and which sithence thou hast
By thy Endevours into Volumes cast,
Throw down thy self for Him who meekly came
Into the world for thee, a Childe, a Lamb,
Born to be Slain for thee, yet slain before,
To make the Victory and Conquest more.
Humility's a Childe; a Giant, Pride;
Goliah from the hand of David dide:
So though like Foes, thy ill Affections grow
Unto immensity, a Powerfull throw,
Out of the Sling of Faith, of Hope, and Love,
May all that Monstrous-uncouth-brood remove.
Then maist thou raign without suspition, free
As Pharaoh did, till this Nativitie:
Then shall Thy Conscience Oraclise thy Fate,
Than was Augustuses more Fortunate;
Nor in the Capitoll, but in thy Hart
Erect an Altar to Him, let each Part
Express thou art awake, and seeing canst tell,
That now Salvation's come to Israel.

My Handkerchief to dry my eyes after the losse of a most dear Friend.

On the Proto-Martyrs Death.

They w'r of Deucalions race, could be of no other,
Who ston'd St. Stephen, Pyrrha was their Mother.

A Morning Fancy upon recovery from sickness, and the birth of a Son at the same time.

Psalm 82. 6, 7.

From God to all Princes for moderation in taxing their Subjects.

Though styled Gods, yet must ye die like men,
Saith God the Lord: Hear what he speaks agen,
Whose Children if you'ld all accounted be,
(O Israels Princes) leave off cruelty:

Ezek. 45. 9.

And let your judgments, Justice so put on,
That there be no room for Oppression:
Neither exact from those who call you Lord,
More than your needs require, their powers afford.

Ut sit & Cogitationibus, Verbisque, Factisque propitius Omnipotens.

Times Mintage.

Upon the Rich Glutton, and Poor Begger.

Parable.

A Reveille Mattin to my best Friend.

Quid Amabilius.

If I must needs Discover
I am in Love: be Christ again my Lover,
And let His Passion bring
My Actions to their touch and censuring:
Who in this world was born,
Liv'd in it, and was put to death with scorn,
That I to Sin might die
Being born again, so live eternally:
Thus I'l no longer make
Addresses to my Glass for this Curles sake,
Or that quaint garb, whereby
I may enchanted be with flattery:
Nor on Luxurious vow,
Becircling Rose-buds seek to Gird my brow;
But with a melting thought
Bring home that Ransom whereat I was bought,
In Contemplation
Of that same Platted Crown He once had on.
And when my Glove or Shoo
Want Ribbond, Call for th' Nails that pierc'd Him too:
Else farther to be drest,
Borrow the Tincture of His naked brest:
Nor wash, but in Soul Pride,
Then use no other bason than His Side:
So, up and ready, think
How He, for Me, low in the grave did sink,
That I again might rise
With Him, who was both Priest and Sacrifice,
To make atonement in
The Difference 'twixt his Fathers wrath, Mans sin;
Whereto it must remain,
That I through Faith requite this love again.

The necessity and grounds of Faith.

Man in the state of Innocency, knew
Nothing to fear (whom all things were set under)
But was Created by perfections pattern,
And so above all hopes: till he whose Pride
Sent him like Lightning from the place of Bliss,
To become Prince of Darkness, (which alone
Proves Nurse to Envie and Maliciousness:)
Drownd in his hopeless Fortunes, seeks all means
To make fond Man partaker of his woe
By Deprivation, not of Paradise
Alone, but of the glorious Makers presence;
And of those Visions Beatificall,
The Banishment from which, is Held to be
The Chief of Torments threatned for degree:
So 'twas decreed, to sharpen Satans Crime,
Sweeten Gods Mercy: t'cause his Comforts less,
Gods glory to appear by much the more;
And therefore mark how't fals out; Man's alone,
So God provides him for Companion
Part of himself, a help, but such, whose skill
Fit to receive the subtil Serpents guile,
And help to cheat too, when the subject's, Pride,
Ambition, or the like, what ere's forbidden;
As straight betrayes him to the greatest offence
He could have faln in, Disobedience.
Now whilst he seeks to know, hee's Ignorant,
Yet knows more than he should, That he was nak'd,
And so provides him Leaves to Cover that
Which without Leave he thus was stript into,
Nor rests he there secure; it seems the guilt
Of what he had done, presented as a glass
His Souls deformity through Nakedness,
In not beleeving God, (whose Voice but heard)
They Boldly enter Thickets, though afraid:
Hence may that Passion count its age, and then,
What antidote prescribable, save hope,
That still Looks forward, 'less in Promises
Which calls the thoughts back, to see what shall come:
And this must work by Faith, and Faith recall
The first Seducers Doom, (to be o'rcome
By the same sexes Issue, was o'rcome first,
Which is the substance of our wish'd Desires,
And Evidence of what each soul admires,
Yet sees not, though thereby Salvation's wrought,
And Grace to win it; Absence prompts the minde
To Incredulity; till faithfulness,
Grounded upon those Promises ne'r fail)
Assures it self of Pardon and forgiveness,
Through him that was accus'd, condemn'd and died,
Yet Lives to try, and Judge hereafter all.
By whose alone sufficiency of Merits,
And intercession as our Mediator,
There is found ground and Ankerage for Hope
To Stretch the Justifying Cable on;
When all that ever from our selves proceeds,
Avails us nothing, but t'increase misdeeds:
Yet as a Body without motion,
Or spirits quickening, so Faith alone,
Without some operative concurrences
Is Dead, not Lively, but a Dream or Shadow,
Chimera, or such like, wherein we seem
To have some fancy-glimmerings of the truth,
Yet not beleeve it, nor so much awake
As t'apprehend Christ and his benefits:
So suit our works according to his will,
Whose will it was to suffer that which we
Deserved had: and t'undergo the wrath
We justly had pull'd down upon our selves.
The outward sense prevails much with our nature,
And every one is apt to apprehend
Some wonders thence: from Lightning, Thunder, Hail,
The stormie Winds and Tempests (without doubt,
Gods warning-peece) laden with Natures Cartridge,
Whereat the very Heathen fear and tremble,
And the Meer worldling is convinc'd thereby
To think there is a God, whilst all the fruits
And benefits the earth repays him with
For all his sweat and labour, he ascribes
Solely to th' Seasons temperature and bounty,
Not thinking in whose Fist the deeps and hills are;
And Both (for Nature couples them) impute
What ever good successes they obtain,
Or health, strength, wealth enjoy, to Casualty,
Chance, or Good Fortune, (as they call it) born
To tread a few steps here, and then return
They know not whither, they beleeve still well:
So how they should beleeve well, scorn to Learn;
When on the contrary, that Soul subdues
The motions of the sensuall appetite,
Which causes surfet upon outward means,
And fixes all Imagination
Up to the Throne from whence all blessings rain,
And Chastisements but drop, (yet so, as when
They mollifie, not with their often fall,
They surely doe confound and break withall,
Is in pursuance of the Makers praise,
And contemplation of that work of Wonders,
Made the Centurion first think of God:
It doth beleeve the Sampler, and endevour
To work it stitch by stitch, whereof such Love
Was never shewn before, begins the Thred,
Humility and Meekness seconds it;
Charity, Patience, and Long-sufferance
Winde up the Bottom: for these well Cast o're,
Will perfect Faith, so that it need no more,
To Rise to him that did descend for Us,
And bring his Mercies down to take that rise by,
Craving his Healing Wings to Impe our Feathers,
That so we flagg not through Lasiness
Towards what good is, nor yet make a plain-
Discovery that our quarry still is earth,
But like the true-bred Chicken of the Eagle,
With rais'd up Beak behold the glorious Sun,
That Sun of Righteousness, till all the Dark
And misty Vapours that our sins had rais'd
Dispell and vanish at his Merits Rayes.
No Balm from Gilead may refresh and heal
The festered sores of our Corruptions,
But such as that Samaritan applyes:
For as our Leprousie through sin was grown
To a more cankered Infection
Then Naman, the Assyrian's, and Gahezies:
There must another Iordan be found out
To work the cure; a Purple stream of blood
Flowing out of a precious saving Side,
To wash our Souls white, when apply'd by Faith;
Not onely Seven times, but all that Time
Alots us here to breath in: That Disease
Compar'd to snow, being cur'd, resumes the flesh
Of a young Infant: Here an Infants flesh
And blood not spar'd, procures so bright a tincture,
As that no snow can parallel for whiteness,
The Lambs blood-washed Robes, wherein the Saints
Are clad here, first by Christian faith and Grace,
And therein drest, hereafter enter glory;
So thenceforth shall we promise happiness
Unto our selves in each condition;
When our Assurance, for foundation,
Hath the try'd Corner-stone, and all the fabrick
Is pedestall'd upon those precious piles
He bore, and bore him, bidding us bear after.
And by which plenall satisfaction,
The Vials of his Fathers wrath were stopt.
God by reproof sends Sluggards to the Ant,
Proud Courtlings to th' Riches of the fields:
And why should we not think that we are taught
By Love, to love again? were our hearts iron,
A Loadstone might attract them, and (such Love is)
Doe the milde Turtles so engage themselves
By Natures mandate, That the loss of one,
Denies the other benefit of Like?
And shall we not resent that benefit
Our Saviour purchas'd for us, quitting Life,
To make ours sure for ever? Or, how is't
We can survive, not droop and pine away,
For our offence (which was the cause) we ought,
And the Dominion that sin hath o'r us,
Else 'tis an other lesson Grace instructs,
And that's to entertain his Sufferings
As our enlargement, his Stripes, for our healings;
Embracing all those Bounties with such Souls,
May ready be to melt and to dissolve
In tears contritionall for their Corruptions;
Yet rais'd with Comfort of such Mercies, Riches,
Be fruitfull in the works of Piety
Henceforth, and praises of his holy Name
Who is the Fountain, and must give the same,
Unless with Bartimeus we were blinde,
How doe we not perceive the Clay we tread on,
To be the substance whereof we were made:
And by the Sun that Attom'd into Dust,
Tells us but what we must dissolve into:
Or like the Shadow represents us, see
We not what 'tis, and what we all shall bee?
That in observance of our bubble Thoughts,
We still aspire, and make our Fancies dance
Within the Imaginary pool of Pride,
Or sea of Self-conceit; This not of Eyes,
But dimness of the Minde is too too bad,
Wherewith bemisted in our apprehensions,
We dream we fathom all perfections,
And yet but grope after the least of truths,
It may be in the twilight of our reason,
We offer at obedience to instruction,
And seek to be inform'd: If what we hear
Fly not beyond our pitch, (a great Professor,
Master of Israel, once was gravelled
Upon that Shelf) and 'twas through lack of Faith;
Had he but had so much, as t'have compar'd
With that least Grain of all, no Mountain could
Have bragg'd of firmness 'gainst his moving power.
But to shew truly what esteem we ought
To set upon our selves, 'tis here set down,
When the prophetick Prince, and Prince of Prophets,
Compares his Royalties but to a Worm;
And by the best Authority can vouch,
An innocent, and little harmless Childe
Is plac'd for us to imitate: And those
Who would aspire great blessings of salvation,
For to be Last is First, and First but Last,
Least greatest, greatest Least: Epitomise
Our selves, and we become voluminous
In Graces Library: when if we swell
With pride of our own Worth, the smallest vent
Un-winds that blather, blasting our intent:
And that we may once more Example scan,
Consider th' Pharisee and Publican.
But if all these not serve to break our ston
And iron hearts; mark what he Rode upon
Into the City, who Salvation brings,
And when he lists rides on the Winds swift wings.
Doth the least cross or rubb we meet withall,
Set our whole little world afire, and raise
Tempestuous motions to disturb the rest
And quiet of our Souls: Prompting revenge?
And yet behold, our Food and Raiments friend
Led to the slaughter, Dumb, and to the Shearers
Without an angry Bleat to shew distaste!
Are we so frozen-handed, that we fear
To open any help to those that need,
Upon this scruple, lest thereby we seem
To break the Ice for Merit to start out at,
So seek to share with him in whom all Lies,
As if we knew not that our Faith were lame,
Without this Grace for to support the same;
And that if in his Name who fed the hungry,
Cur'd the diseased, heal'd both Lame and Blinde,
Administring (whilst here he was amongst us)
All comforts, for our imitation
And pattern to walk by) we doe refresh
Any the sons of Abraham with water,
A Mite or Ragg may help necessity,
He will accept it, as to him 'twere given,
And the reward or recompence is Heaven.
Call we to Minde when mov'd to any wrath,
How many wayes we daily doe transgress
Our gracious Gods decrees, who as the sarcell
Or master Feather of his Mercies wings,
To raise them above all his other Works,
Abounds in Patience, and delays due Judgment,
To favour our Repentance with more time,
Never forgetting, how He bore the Taunt
That whited Wall cast on him, nor the Buffet,
Scourging, or Spittings on, all that disgrace,
Envie, and Malice could contrive for us
Who had deserv'd no less; and then perchance
Such Lessons may procure our temperance.
To suffer is a double kinde of phrase,
For so he did that died for us, yet still
'Tis through his sufferance that we are alive,
And suffered to enjoy one benefit;
Whilst by our Evil wayes, what in us lies
We crucifie the Lord of Life each houre:
As when our thoughts forge mischief on our beds,
Are not his temples Crown'd anew with thorns?
Our hands that should be open to Relieve,
If that they graspe more than our own, so thieve
Or work oppression: and our feet are swift
In shedding Blood too: how doe such again
Nail his unto the Cross? our tongues are tipt
With poyson'd Envies and Maliciousness,
False lying, slanders, all that's impious,
Tuning our Lips to Blasphemy, and loose
Unsavoury talk. Doe they not seem to spit
On him afresh? tearing that window open
With our spear-pointed Discord, that let in
The Gall-less Dove brought the true branch of Peace
And Reconcilement, whilst from thence did flow
A Crimson shower of pure Compassion,
And satisfying Mercy in the height,
His Side (I mean) that like Noes Ark had been
Our safeties from the Deluge wrought by him,
And now Remains our pledg, that those that flie
Unto that Sanctuary never Die.
We through our Natures weakness, not of power
To give the Least of Sufferings resistance,
Although we promise fair, as Peter did,
May here be taught to trust so far to Faith,
Not that proceeds from vain security,
Lest then the Crowing-Cock give us the lie;
But such whereby we are Regenerate,
And Justify'd, more than bare Law could promise,
As to o'rcome the great'st temptation,
And judge the Buffetings of Satan Blessings;
The World, the wilderness, and Every high
Conceit of our own worths we are tickled with,
To be the Mount: Superlative designes,
As when we pry too far into Gods Ark,
And sift those Mysteries, 'neath the Cherubs wings,
We seem upon the Temples Pinnacles.
Thus travailing like Pilgrims here a while,
Nothing but dangers and vexations,
Allurements through enticing change, betrays
Us to the snares of His precipit ways,
Whose Art destructive by enchantments power,
Seeks to encompass us within that circle
He fell himself into through presumption:
Which to eschew, whilst Gods long-suffering, patience,
And charity shewn to his handy work:
His meek Humility, and chief of graces,
Favours us with forbearance; Let's come home
Whilst 'tis to Day, (for who can tell to whom
The morrow shall belong?) and in that way,
Tract by the Prodigall i'th Parable,
Seek out our Fathers face with love and meekness,
And we are sure of his embracing Armes.
For though through Natures subtilty we have been,
As 'twere, hid deep within the caves of Earth,
Buried in Worldly cogitations;
The Merchant of our Souls did spare no pains
Nor cost in myning through the earths dark vains
To purchase us, so brings again to light.
Yet as pure Gold requires the Finers art,
And Diamonds polishing, and to be cut:
So here He past the Furnace, and became
Chief Jeweller, for 'twas the Blood o'th Lamb,
Not of he-Goats could serve; and if we grinde
Our selves for Sin to powder, we'r Refin'd

The sacrifices of the Old, but shadows of the New. A Diamond dissolvable by Goats blood, and to be cut with the help of its own powder.

So as at first we were, unman'd by her
Should be our help; that still she might so prove
God brings't about, no other Vessell serves
To entertain a ghest of so great price,
As that must Ransome all the world besides,
But of that Sex; and though the news at first
Strook terrour and amazement, afterwards
It was sole Remedy against fear: for as
The name of Cæsar to the Seaman once,
Prov'd of security, sufficient
To make him put to Sea: So here the Virgin
Assured that 'twas Emmanuel she carryed,
Gave Ioseph courage not t'abandon Her;
But casting Anchor on those promises,
To become full of Faith, and by what ere
The Lord suggested In that Course to steer.
Thus was time brought abed of what its young
And tender Infancy had onely shewn
By Revelation to the Patriarchs,
Prophets, and men of God; and which now past,
Upon these latter Times by Faith is cast:
So he that was before all time begun,
Came in the fulness, and remains a Son
To mediate with the Father, that our fears
Cancell'd by Faith, we might become Coheirs.

[Joyes Flitting Pleasures, Transitory Lie]

Joyes Flitting Pleasures, Transitory Lie,
Accompanied with much Infirmitie
Below here: whilst without th' allay of wo,
Heav'n for eternity doth those bestow.

The Brazen Serpent.

The world's a Wilderness, and Man therein
Exposed to the bite and sting of Sin,
Whose wages, Death, from that same curse began,
Ushering in need of a Physitian:
Then did the Great Creator of Mankinde
(And all things else) a ready Balsame finde
To cure those wounds, corrupted Nature so
Contracted had for its own overthrow:
Whose Mercy by a Type, at first invites
Unto belief the stiff-neck'd Israelites,
Brings Moses into credit as they pass,
By setting up a Serpent made of Brass,
To foil Sin at's own weapon, and to bring
The future hopes of our recovering
By Him alone who lifted on the Tree,
A cursed Death endur'd to set us free;
His goared Head, Pierc'd Side, and Hands and Feet,
With Crown of Thorns, and Spears, and Nails did meet,
That we might tread on Carpets, and become
Coheirs with Him in truest Elizium:
That bitter Cup he did vouchsafe to pledg,
For us whose teeth by sower grapes set on edg,
Were almost helpless; must incite us on,
To seek the liquor of salvation.
Taste Vineger and Gall here first, and be
Greatly Ambitious of humilitie;
Cast down our selves for him was rais'd for us,
If we desire to rise Glorious.
Bear Crosse, be rob'd and hurt, shame undergo,
Passe from Ierusalem to Iericho,
There meet with theeves, no healing hopes we can
Expect, but from This true Samaritan.

Good Fridays Reveille, or on the Passion.

Salutis Cataplasmus.

May we call this Dayes task to minde,
And prove we to each other still unkinde?
Doth Passion bear o'r Reason sway,
Making us quite neglect this Passion day?
Why are we suffer'd so to err,
As not t'remember our Great Sufferer
In Praises due? who whilst he dies,
Shews what He'd have us doe for Enemies,
Forgive them first; for thus He sues
Unto His Father for the cursed Jewes:
Next, whatsoever Crosses come,
To be like Sheep before the Shearers, dumb;
Or Lambs unto the Slaughter led
In Meekness, not with fury hurryed:
Then through that Conflict he endur'd,
If humbly we beleeve we shall be cur'd;
For it falls short in other art,
To frame a remedy for such a smart,
As from the sting of doing amiss,
In following Sin to death here heap'd up is;
And to apply this Plaister, lay it on,
There needs no Others hand, save Faith's alone.

On Easter-day. 1648.

Each thing below here hath its day,
As in the Proverb's said;
And so it comes to pass that they
Conquer are Conquered.
For He who for mans fault assign'd
Death, and a Graves reward,
Was pleas'd those bands for to unbind,
And so himself not spar'd,
But issuing forth his heav'nly throne,
Vouchsafes the Earth to bless,
And became here a little One
To make our Crimes goe less:
Not that our disobedience can
In weight or measure shrink;
But that this Great Physitian
Before us takes the drink,
That bitter Potion we had
Deserv'd to quaff, and thus
He weeps Himself, and becomes sad
To purchase Joy for us.
And more than so: for every one
Will for his friend lay down
Some spark of love: but he alone
His Enemies to crown
Refus'd not Death; so deep from high
His Mercies did extend;
And if you ask the reason why,
'Twas meer for Mercies end.
Yet that grim Death and mouldy Grave
No longer be His Prison,
Than He himself alone would have,
He 'bides not there, but's risen.
And if we would as Conquerors rise
With him who vanquish'd those,
We must not fear where danger lies,
For Him all to expose:
But though the Grave doe open stand,
And persecutions reign,
At Hels desire and Deaths command,
Look on our Sovereign,
His Banner doth present the Cross
He bore, and bare Him too
For us; and we must count it loss
To fail what he did do.
Thus Sin and Hell, the Grave and Death
Must quit the field and fly,
Whilst in contempt of borrow'd breath,
We'd live Eternally.
Thrice happy day whereon the Sun
Of Righteousness did rise,
And such a glorious Conquest won,
By being our Sacrifice:
And as unhappy He, that shall
Not finde the white and best
Of Stones to mark the same withall,
And priz't above the rest.

To Prince CHARLES, in Aprill, 1648.

Upon the hopes of his Return.

Seems not the Sun more Glorious in his ray,
When as the Cloud that shadowed's blown away?
Is not each beam He darts then truly said,
Of triple heat after being sequestred?
The Crimson streaks belace the Damaskt West,
Calcin'd by night, rise pure Gold from the East,
And cast so fair a Dapple o'r the Skies,
That all the Air's perfum'd with Spiceries:
And shall we think when Jealousie and fear
Are out of Breath, the Day of hope's not near?
Doth it not bloom already, and untie
That stubborn knot of Incredulity?
When blossomes fall, we say our Trees are set,
But so, as may a womb of fruit beget.
Thus when the clumsie Winter doth incline
His candid Icicles, for to resigne
To Flora's beauty, and the Spring drives on,
T'oretake Maturity's perfection,
The Cold so tyrannised had o'r blood,
Is thaugh'd, and each enjoyes new livelyhood:
The Mariner meeting a stress of weather,
That with his Shrowds and Tackle shakes together
His apprehensive thoughts, till they are spent,
And nought but Death and danger represent:
With what a full Sea of content doth he
Making a Coast embrace security?
These, and much more, Illustrious Sir, become
The Issues of your little Martyrdome,
With whom all good and Loyall hearts did bring
Ambitious heat to joyn in suffering;
For Seas prove calm when as the storm is ore,
And after Cold, warmth is of Comfort more.
Best Diamonds may have foyles; mistakes have gon
To blemish; yet rais'd disposition
More splendid in esteem; no more to say,
You are the Aprill to our future May.

To Easter Day.

The true Bread of Life.

Bread is the staff of life, and life's the scope

Lev. 26. 26

Of every mans desier, aime, and hope;
Yet He who was the spoil of Death (for so

Gen. 5. 25.

The Syriack renders him) yeelded thereto.
And after more than any else e're saw
Of Years and Dayes, did at the last withdraw,
To shew the frail condition here beneath
Of those who in their Nostrills bear their breath:
So that compar'd unto Eternall bliss,
A Shadow, Bubble, Span, all Emblem This.
Why then should Thoughts be tost to Court such Clay,
But that Our natures mandate we Obay?
And may doe so, whilst appetite puts on
No other garb 'save Moderation:
The bounty Ceres from her Golden Ear
Scatters to bless the painfull Labourer,
Comes from above too, yet when ground and bread,
'Tis but our Tabernacle's nourished,
And that but for a while; the Soul must be
Beholding to an Other Grainarie;
Not that which Moses Prayer caus'd to fall
To satiate the Israelites withall;

2 Kings 4. 42, 43.

Nor of such Barley-loaves grew once on earth,
Wherewith Elisha fed some in a Dearth:
These might have hunger after; but Those blest
With the True batch of Life may ever rest
So satisfi'd, as with the height of store,
For such shall never need to hunger more,
But an Eternall life enjoy, wherein
No dearth or famine is, save that of Sin:
Plenty and Joyes for evermore dispose
Themselves to be the Comforters of those.
And whilst our Faith makes that a life indeed,
The other seems to trust a broken reed.
Afflictions sowre that Temporall bread with Leaven,
Which this is freed of, for it comes from Heaven.

A Carroll.

The Tragicomedie of Mans life.

Here One is born, and there an Other dies,
Nativity and Obsequies
Enter at once; What then is all
This worlds Pomp, but Theatricall?
For to come out, and to goe in
Hath evermore the Custom been,
And will be till the latter scene
Summons us all at once again.
Then shall the Left-hand file in Miserie,
Shut up the story of their Tragedie:
Whilst with a Chorus the Right wing
The Bridegrooms Epithalamie doth sing,
Both giving a Catastrophe
Unto this Tragicomedie.

Upon a Clock.

The swifter lying Wheel o'r-runs the Day,
Would make it seem as guilty of Delay;
And the wing'd hour out-stretch as conquered
In swiftness, by the Plummets weight of lead:
The fallacy is easie, for admit
That weight were off, then time would out-fly it.
O let my flitting dayes so numbred be
By a wise heart, they prove of weight to me:
So may I life dispose, that in the end
By setting bright, it may a clear Day send.

Upon a very wet S. Stephens day.

God would his Saints should be bemoan'd,
So the day weeps for Stephen ston'd.

Upon Easter day.

Christ alone the Author and finisher of our Faith.

Whilst we beleeve (no more) we but resemble
The Devils, for Those doe so too, and tremble.
He who for Mans redemption was sent,
Will be of true Faith the accomplishment,
As well as framer; and assurance gives,
Though yet unseen, of Large Prerogatives,
As to become Coheirs in that estate
Which He did purchase for th' regenerate:
No Others to be quoted are, but all
Authors besides This One, Apocryphall:
He opens to's the door to true Beleef,
Who seeks t'come in another way's a Theef.

Upon a Thanksgiving day for a Victory.

Opera

This difference in works is known,
The first is Gods, t'others our Own.

Catena Caularum ad Salutem pertinentium

Mans Hart's soe linkt to Sin wedded to Vice
It needs a Chayne to bring it unto Christ.

A Carroll.

Luke 2.

Was all the world by Cæsar tax'd to know,
What wealth each Country, City, house could show?
Did that Decree extend but just so far
As where Cyrenius was Governor?
Yes sure, where e'r the Roman power bore sway,
None could decline the Doom of Syria.
So cam't to pass, that He of David's stem,
Hast'ned from Nazareth to Bethlehem
With his espoused Mary, and got there
Of what's before time, Time's th' accomplisher:
Nor would the Darkness of those Dayes confess
A currency unto such Preciousness;
But house and City, Countrey, all three seem
To cast upon those Guests the Low'st esteem;
And so the other Strangers well may be,
Shuffle these Friends into the Ostlerie.
What doe we less, whilst Emperour-like each one
Bears o're his lesser world Dominion,
And freedome hath to tax each Sense, to bring
Its best of treasure to this Offering:
Yet as asleep, or blinde with Natures light,
We learn to court all Objects save the right:
And whilst those houses should 'been tricked ore
For Him alone, they'd let in Sin before:
The Cities of our hearts possest with vice,
Will not change garison at any price;
So what the Region of our Souls can grant,
Is, t'appear rich in ill, all good to want:
Yet though this Province, Fort, and Sconces all
Taken, betray'd, and under Satans thrall;
'Tis not presum'd, but that by Faith being led,
All these may eas'ly be recovered,
Nay, all are won already to that brest,
Prepared is to welcome this new guest.

To New-years Day.

If Eagles shifting but their Bills, have made
Their youth return, so years seem retrograde;
And if't be true, that every change of Skin
To th' creeping brood, doth a new age begin:
Or whilst th' eleven Months like food appeer
To satiate the hungry Ianivere.
Why should not man this Riddle too unfold,
And be renew'd by putting off the Old?

[In stead of Jacobs Ladder heer is one]

In stead of Jacobs Ladder heer is one
To teach thee how to goe to heav'n upon,
His in a Dream did Angels represent
Passing both from and to the Firmament
But this applide unto thy Heart will guide
Thee broad awake, to thy Redeemers side.

Ad quendam tam Potentia quàm Intelligentia & Doctrina, Divitiis æquè ac Nobilitate & honoribus præditum.

English'd:

Thou art a witty man, nor's every one
I'th' world for Power thy Companion;
In Birth and Riches all thou dost outfly,
And exc'lent Parts back'd with Authority.
On Thy arrears this only now may fall,
Thou spend these to His praise who gave them all.

A Threefold Cord is not easily broken.

[All other Crosses may disquiet rest]

All other Crosses may disquiet rest,
But this was that by which Mankinde is blest.

Spectaculum veræ Humilitatis.

CHRISTVS SIMON

If in a glass one would descry
Perfect and true Humility;
Then goe no farther, but observe
He bore the Cross which we deserve.

Pilat's Inscription.

Joh. 19. 19

INRI

1 Pet. 3. 18

What Pilate wrote, He wrote, and did refuse
To alter for the High-Priest of the Jewes:
This Just mans birth with Prophesie suits well,
Who came to save the lost of Israel.

Mat. 9. 13.

PIIREGIS COMPASSIO

Of All the Vertues happiness Create,
None out-shines this, To be Compassionate:
Mercy the God of Glory doth prefer,
Although All's other works are singular.
This Kingly Pattern here before us set,
Should teach us to forgive, and to forget.

La Citta Improvida.

JERUSALEM

A Building that is Tight and free from weather,
Hath all its parts well Cymented together;
For where such Unity In it self's away,
That structure falls under some quick decay.
This City bore but name of Peace alone,
Whose Builders did refuse their Corner stone.

Il vero monte Testaccio.

GOLGOTHA

Memento mori, or a Deaths-head worn
Upon a finger, oft becomes a scorn;
For what through use familiar is grown,
Nature counts less by apprehension.
Yet be advis'd, this Mount of dead mens skuls,
A greater dread and terror on thee puls,
Who durst by Sins, and loose desires below,
Make him again pay that which thou didst ow.

Easter dayes Resurrexit.

In Diem Natalem etiam & Jejunalem quoniam Mercurialem Mensis ultimam.

English'd:

A Holiday thou wast, and art so still;
For Holy Fasting saves, when Riots kill.

To my Gracious God.

Retir'd into a Calm of Leisure, Led
By Providence thus: grant me busied
Here after for My King and Countreys good,
The Church and State where I took Livelihood:
That in my Calling I may never falter,
But hew wood and draw water for thine Altar.

The Object of Love and Power.

JESVS

Lost Man, when to be sav'd cannot devise
To expiate His guilt by Sacrifice;
Till Priest and Prophet, King, and all agree
In One, to offer and winn Victory;
This for what's past; the other act of power
He gain'd for us, who is our Saviour.

Use and Memory Parents to VVisdome.

Vse out of Date, and to Remember
Our Saviours Birth, wont bless December,
Cry'd down: What may we judge by these?
But this, That Wisdome's in decrease,
And certainly must Folly own,
When other Parents are not known.