 | Poems, Elegies, Paradoxes, and Sonets |  |
124
The Woes of Esay.
VVoe to the worldly men whose covetous
Ambition labours to joyn house to house,
Lay field to field, till their inclosures edge
The Plain, girdling a countrey with one hedge:
That leave no place unbought, no piece of earth
Which they will not ingross, making a dearth
Of all inhabitants, untill they stand
Unneighbour'd as unblest within their land.
Ambition labours to joyn house to house,
Lay field to field, till their inclosures edge
The Plain, girdling a countrey with one hedge:
That leave no place unbought, no piece of earth
Which they will not ingross, making a dearth
Of all inhabitants, untill they stand
Unneighbour'd as unblest within their land.
This sin cryes in Gods ear, who hath decreed
The ground they sow shall not return the seed.
They that unpeopled countreys to create
Themselves sole Lords, made many desolate
To build up their own house, shall find at last
Ruine and fearful desolation cast
Upon themselves. Their Mansion shall become
A Desart, and their Palace prove a tombe.
Their vines shall barren be, their land yield tares;
Their house shall have no dwellers, they no heires.
The ground they sow shall not return the seed.
They that unpeopled countreys to create
Themselves sole Lords, made many desolate
To build up their own house, shall find at last
Ruine and fearful desolation cast
Upon themselves. Their Mansion shall become
A Desart, and their Palace prove a tombe.
Their vines shall barren be, their land yield tares;
Their house shall have no dwellers, they no heires.
125
Woe unto those that with the morning Sun
Rise to drink wine, and sit till he have run
His weary course; not ceasing untill night
Have quencht their understanding with the light:
Whose raging thirst, like fire, will not be tam'd,
The more they poure the more they are inflam'd.
Woe unto them that onely mighty are
To wage with wine; in which unhappy war
They who the glory of the day have won,
Must yield them foil'd and vanquisht by the tun.
Men that live thus, as if they liv'd in jest,
Fooling their time with Musick and a feast;
That did exile all sounds from their soft ear
But of the harp, must this sad discord hear
Compos'd in threats. The feet which measures tread
Shall in captivity be fettered:
Famine shall scourge them for their vast excess;
And Hell revenge their monstrous drunkenness;
Which hath enlarg'd it self to swallow such,
Whose throats nere knew enough, though still too much
Rise to drink wine, and sit till he have run
His weary course; not ceasing untill night
Have quencht their understanding with the light:
Whose raging thirst, like fire, will not be tam'd,
The more they poure the more they are inflam'd.
Woe unto them that onely mighty are
To wage with wine; in which unhappy war
They who the glory of the day have won,
Must yield them foil'd and vanquisht by the tun.
Men that live thus, as if they liv'd in jest,
Fooling their time with Musick and a feast;
That did exile all sounds from their soft ear
But of the harp, must this sad discord hear
Compos'd in threats. The feet which measures tread
Shall in captivity be fettered:
Famine shall scourge them for their vast excess;
And Hell revenge their monstrous drunkenness;
Which hath enlarg'd it self to swallow such,
Whose throats nere knew enough, though still too much
Woe unto those that countenance a sin,
Siding with vice that it may credit win.
By their unhallow'd vote: that do benight
The truth with errour, putting dark for light,
And light for dark; that call an evil good,
And would by vice have vertue understood:
That with their frown can sowre an honest cause,
Or sweeten any bad by their applause.
That justify the wicked for reward;
And void of morall goodness or regard,
Plot with detraction to traduce the fame
Of him whose merit hath enroll'd his name
Among the just. Therefore Gods vengeful ire
Glows on his people, and becomes a fire
Whose greedy and exalted flame shall burn,
Till they like straw or chaffe to nothing turn.
Because they have rebell'd against the right,
To God and Law perversly opposite,
As Plants which Sun nor showres did ever bless,
So shall their root convert to rottenness;
And their successions bud, in which they trust,
Shall (like Gomorrahs fruit) moulder to dust.
Siding with vice that it may credit win.
126
The truth with errour, putting dark for light,
And light for dark; that call an evil good,
And would by vice have vertue understood:
That with their frown can sowre an honest cause,
Or sweeten any bad by their applause.
That justify the wicked for reward;
And void of morall goodness or regard,
Plot with detraction to traduce the fame
Of him whose merit hath enroll'd his name
Among the just. Therefore Gods vengeful ire
Glows on his people, and becomes a fire
Whose greedy and exalted flame shall burn,
Till they like straw or chaffe to nothing turn.
Because they have rebell'd against the right,
To God and Law perversly opposite,
As Plants which Sun nor showres did ever bless,
So shall their root convert to rottenness;
And their successions bud, in which they trust,
Shall (like Gomorrahs fruit) moulder to dust.
Woe unto those that drunk with self-conceit,
Value their own designs at such a rate
Which humane wisdome cannot reach; that sit
Enthron'd, as sole Monopolists of wit:
That out-look reason, and suppose the eye
Of Nature blind to their discovery,
Whil'st they a title make to understand
What ever secret's bosom'd in the land.
But God shall imp their pride, and let them see
They are but fools in a sublime degree:
He shall bring down and humble those proud eyes,
In which false glasses onely they lookt wise:
That all the world may laugh, and learn by it,
There is no folly to pretended wit.
Value their own designs at such a rate
127
Enthron'd, as sole Monopolists of wit:
That out-look reason, and suppose the eye
Of Nature blind to their discovery,
Whil'st they a title make to understand
What ever secret's bosom'd in the land.
But God shall imp their pride, and let them see
They are but fools in a sublime degree:
He shall bring down and humble those proud eyes,
In which false glasses onely they lookt wise:
That all the world may laugh, and learn by it,
There is no folly to pretended wit.
Woe unto those that draw iniquity
With cords, and by a vain security
Lengthen the sinful trace, till their own chain
Of many links form'd by laborious pain,
Do pull them into Hell; that as with lines
And Cart-ropes drag on their unwilling crimes:
Who, rather then they will commit no sin,
Tempt all occasions to let it in.
As if there were no God, who must exact
The strict account for e'ry vicious fact;
Nor judgement after death. If any be,
Let him make speed (say they) that we may see.
Why is his work retarded by delay?
Why doth himself thus linger on the way?
If there be any judge, or future doome,
Let It and Him with speed together come.
With cords, and by a vain security
Lengthen the sinful trace, till their own chain
Of many links form'd by laborious pain,
Do pull them into Hell; that as with lines
And Cart-ropes drag on their unwilling crimes:
Who, rather then they will commit no sin,
Tempt all occasions to let it in.
As if there were no God, who must exact
The strict account for e'ry vicious fact;
128
Let him make speed (say they) that we may see.
Why is his work retarded by delay?
Why doth himself thus linger on the way?
If there be any judge, or future doome,
Let It and Him with speed together come.
Unhappy men, that challenge and defie
The coming of that dreadful Majestie!
Better by much for you, he did reverse
His purpos'd sentence on the Universe;
Or that the creeping minutes might adjourn
Those flames in which you with the earth must burn;
That times revolting hand could lag the year,
And so put back his day which is too near.
The coming of that dreadful Majestie!
Better by much for you, he did reverse
His purpos'd sentence on the Universe;
Or that the creeping minutes might adjourn
Those flames in which you with the earth must burn;
That times revolting hand could lag the year,
And so put back his day which is too near.
Behold his sign's advanc'd like colours fly,
To tell the world that his approch is nigh;
And in a furious march, he's coming on
Swift as the raging inundation,
To scowre the sinful world; 'gainst which is bent
Artillery that never can be spent:
Bowes strung with vengeance, and flame-feather'd darts
Headed with death, to wound transgressing hearts
His Chariot wheeles wrapt in the whirlewinds gyre,
His horses hoov'd with flint, and shod with fire:
In which amaze where ere they fix their eye,
Or on the melting earth, or up on high
To seek Heavens shrunk lights, nothing shall appear
But night and horrour in their Hemisphere:
Nor shall th' affrighted sence more objects know
Then darkned skies above, and Hell below.
To tell the world that his approch is nigh;
And in a furious march, he's coming on
Swift as the raging inundation,
To scowre the sinful world; 'gainst which is bent
Artillery that never can be spent:
Bowes strung with vengeance, and flame-feather'd darts
Headed with death, to wound transgressing hearts
129
His horses hoov'd with flint, and shod with fire:
In which amaze where ere they fix their eye,
Or on the melting earth, or up on high
To seek Heavens shrunk lights, nothing shall appear
But night and horrour in their Hemisphere:
Nor shall th' affrighted sence more objects know
Then darkned skies above, and Hell below.
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