Hymn LXXVIII. A Lamentation and Petition of the Soule, for and against her flesh.
[_]
By this Hymn, we are put in mind to be so watchfull
over the Infirmities and Corruptions of our
Flesh; that we take heed, lest our Sensualitie
bring Soul and Body to destruction; and that we
beseech
Gods assisting Grace, to help the Soule
govern as she ought, and to subdue the Flesh, to the
Law of
Grace, and
Reason.
Sing this as the 43. Psalme.
[1]
Ah me! where may I seek a Friend?
Or, where have hopes to finde
One that is Faithfull to the end;
And never proves unkinde?
Since mine own Flesh, (and for whose sake,
My Self I oft forget)
Doth with my cruelst Foe partake;
And, is against me set?
2
She, in whose Bosome, I have laid,
And, who hath slept in mine;
She, with whom, I have often plaid,
And, lov'd with Love-divine:
She that made show, as if my Grief,
Her greatest Grief would be;
(And called me, her Ioy, her Life)
Is carelesse, now, of me.
3
The more I trust, the more I love,
The more my love I show;
The more unfaithfull She doth prove:
The more she works my woe.
Yet, still, my heart upon her dotes;
And (through her wanton wiles)
My Reason, still, she so besots,
That, still, She me beguiles.
4
Sometime, these wrongs I so revolve,
That, her I much condemn:
And, in my Iudgement, can resolve,
Her Fawnings to contemn.
I take her Pleasant-things away,
Her Longings I restrain;
I make her watch, and fast and pray,
Vntill she Teares doth fain.
5
To see her grieve, then grieve I too,
And loving words apply;
Lest to her self, she wrongs may do,
Or of the Sullens, dye.
And, She no sooner feels my heart
Her Freedome to restore;
But, she begins to play her part,
As falsly, as before.
6
Teach me, my God! teach me the way
To make her more sincere;
Lest, She, her Selfe, and Me, betray
To Him, whose Hate I fear.
For, so I love (though plain I see
Of me, she carelesse is)
That Heav'n would seem a Hell to me,
If Her, I there should misse.
7
To be my Darling, she was born:
And Nature did provide
That, t'wixt us, Friendship should be sworn,
Which, nothing shall divide;
And, therefore, on each other, so
Our welfare doth depend;
That, if the One to ruine go,
Such is the Others end.
8
Therefore, oh Lord! unlesse thy love
Prevent what much I fear,
We, to each other, Foes may prove,
The worst that ever were.
Because, if they who love as we,
Their Passions guid not well:
On Earth each others plagues they be,
And greater plagues in Hell.
9
My God! therefore, thy help again,
Thy help, I do implore,
That I my Fleshly part, to rein,
May be inabled more.
My Soul, instruct thou so to guid;
So make my flesh obey;
That, we true-Lovers may abide,
In Vertues harmles Way.
10
And, though all Vertues we had got
(Where of the best may boast)
Vnto our selves, Lord, leave us not:
Lest all, again, be lost.
For, till the Flesh be mortifi'd,
Her nature, will return;
Though she was partly sanctifi'd,
When she, anew, was born.
