The poems of Alexander Hume ... Edited from the text of Waldegrave (1599) with notes, appendices, and glossary by Alexander Lawson |
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| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IIII. | IIII. TO HIS SORROWFULL SAULL, CONSOLATION. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
 | The poems of Alexander Hume |  |
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IIII. TO HIS SORROWFULL SAULL, CONSOLATION.
Immortall Spirit, my best, maist perfite part,
Why dois thou thus thy selfe consume with caire?
O noble chieftain of my manly harte,
Why art thou thus with thought ou'r-set sa saire?
Why is thy greefe augmented mair and mair?
Why art thou sad, and sorrie to the dead?
Why art thou almaist drowned in deepe dispaire,
And comfort nane can finde, nor na remeid:
Heare in the flesh thou taistis the paines of hell,
Thou vthers helps (my saull) now cure thy sell.
Why dois thou thus thy selfe consume with caire?
O noble chieftain of my manly harte,
Why art thou thus with thought ou'r-set sa saire?
Why is thy greefe augmented mair and mair?
Why art thou sad, and sorrie to the dead?
Why art thou almaist drowned in deepe dispaire,
And comfort nane can finde, nor na remeid:
Heare in the flesh thou taistis the paines of hell,
Thou vthers helps (my saull) now cure thy sell.
My hart is faint, my flesh consumes away,
Within my vaines the bloud is skant and cald,
My bains thay bow, my strength dois cleane decay,
My haires are schyre and gray, yer I be ald,
My march it melts, my febill limbs thay fauld,
My skin is drie, my hide hes lost the hew,
My force it faillis to do the thing I wald,
My bewtie faids, my face is paill and blew,
My sight is dim, forsunken ar mine eies
How in my head, and all throw thy diseis.
Within my vaines the bloud is skant and cald,
My bains thay bow, my strength dois cleane decay,
My haires are schyre and gray, yer I be ald,
My march it melts, my febill limbs thay fauld,
My skin is drie, my hide hes lost the hew,
My force it faillis to do the thing I wald,
My bewtie faids, my face is paill and blew,
My sight is dim, forsunken ar mine eies
How in my head, and all throw thy diseis.
Into this lyfe thow knawis their is na rest,
But daylie paine, inconstancie and grief,
For quhen thow alwayis dois attend the best,
Perchance sall come the greatest new mischief:
Thow knawis thy stay, and onely trew reliefe,
Quhair thou in thrall hes comfort fund before,
Imbrace thy God with prayer and beleife,
And in the end thow sall triumph with glore:
Be ware and wise thy fais thee nocht begile,
Losse not thy right for suffring heare a quhile.
But daylie paine, inconstancie and grief,
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Perchance sall come the greatest new mischief:
Thow knawis thy stay, and onely trew reliefe,
Quhair thou in thrall hes comfort fund before,
Imbrace thy God with prayer and beleife,
And in the end thow sall triumph with glore:
Be ware and wise thy fais thee nocht begile,
Losse not thy right for suffring heare a quhile.
Thow hes not yet bein threttie yeirs and ane,
Into this fleshlie prison resident,
And lo the halfe neereby the space is gane,
Quhilk to remaine heere nature hes thee lent,
Yee natures course the Lord he will prevent,
And call thee hame, if that he thinke it good:
Or if he length this life, hald thee content,
And be commander of the flesh and blood:
While thou art heare (my saull) see thou contend,
This point of time in worthie warks to spend.
Into this fleshlie prison resident,
And lo the halfe neereby the space is gane,
Quhilk to remaine heere nature hes thee lent,
Yee natures course the Lord he will prevent,
And call thee hame, if that he thinke it good:
Or if he length this life, hald thee content,
And be commander of the flesh and blood:
While thou art heare (my saull) see thou contend,
This point of time in worthie warks to spend.
Though thou a stranger be, and thinks great lang,
Anone thou sall pas to thy natiue land,
The hiest iudge he will reuenge thy wrang,
His sentence sure the earth can nocht gainstand,
The day is neare, the hour it is at hand,
The mightie God will come without delay,
Deliuer sall his awin afflicted band,
And from thine eyes sall wipe the teares away:
Hope and reioise, for in the midds of strife,
Thou sall be sure of comforte in this life.
Anone thou sall pas to thy natiue land,
The hiest iudge he will reuenge thy wrang,
His sentence sure the earth can nocht gainstand,
The day is neare, the hour it is at hand,
The mightie God will come without delay,
Deliuer sall his awin afflicted band,
And from thine eyes sall wipe the teares away:
Hope and reioise, for in the midds of strife,
Thou sall be sure of comforte in this life.
And in the ende when deathe would thee devore,
Hir mortall stang sall nocht take halde on thee,
Bot be hir meanes she sall thee quite restore,
Unto thine awin eternall libertie,
With little paine thou sall dissolued be,
Furth of the bands of flesh where thou art bound,
Sine like a foull aloft sall swiftlie flie,
And leaue the bodie breathles on the ground:
With agile wings thou sall transcend the sky,
In sepulchree the corps sall sleiping ly.
Hir mortall stang sall nocht take halde on thee,
Bot be hir meanes she sall thee quite restore,
Unto thine awin eternall libertie,
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Furth of the bands of flesh where thou art bound,
Sine like a foull aloft sall swiftlie flie,
And leaue the bodie breathles on the ground:
With agile wings thou sall transcend the sky,
In sepulchree the corps sall sleiping ly.
The angels sall with singing thee convoy,
Throw aire and fire vp to the heauens sa bright,
Where thou sall dwell in blis and perfite ioy,
With happie sauls and messengers of light,
Free from the thoughts and sorrowes of the night,
Uoide of all care, calamitie and feare,
For of the Lord thou sall inioy the sight,
In whome all grace, and pleasour sall appeare.
With Christ thy head thou happie sall remaine,
To iudge the dead, while he returne againe.
Throw aire and fire vp to the heauens sa bright,
Where thou sall dwell in blis and perfite ioy,
With happie sauls and messengers of light,
Free from the thoughts and sorrowes of the night,
Uoide of all care, calamitie and feare,
For of the Lord thou sall inioy the sight,
In whome all grace, and pleasour sall appeare.
With Christ thy head thou happie sall remaine,
To iudge the dead, while he returne againe.
O happie death to life the readie way,
The ende of greefe, and salue of sorrowes all,
O pleasant sleepe thy paines they are bot play:
Thy coup is sweete, although it taste of gall,
Thou brings the bound, and wretched out of thrall,
Within the port sure from the stormie blast,
For after death na mischiefe may befall,
Bot wo, wan-chance, and perrels all are past,
Of kindely death nane suld affraied be,
Bot sick as hope for na felicitie.
The ende of greefe, and salue of sorrowes all,
O pleasant sleepe thy paines they are bot play:
Thy coup is sweete, although it taste of gall,
Thou brings the bound, and wretched out of thrall,
Within the port sure from the stormie blast,
For after death na mischiefe may befall,
Bot wo, wan-chance, and perrels all are past,
Of kindely death nane suld affraied be,
Bot sick as hope for na felicitie.
The day sall come when all the planets seauen,
Sall lose their light, and mightie influence,
The glistering starnis, and powers of the heauen,
Their force sall faile, and haill magnificence,
The saincts of God sall suffer violence,
The common course of mortall things sall stay,
The liuely word sall get na audience,
For pittie, loue, and lawtie sall decay:
Then sall the Sonne of man be sene descend,
Quhilk to all things sall put a finall ende.
Sall lose their light, and mightie influence,
The glistering starnis, and powers of the heauen,
Their force sall faile, and haill magnificence,
The saincts of God sall suffer violence,
The common course of mortall things sall stay,
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For pittie, loue, and lawtie sall decay:
Then sall the Sonne of man be sene descend,
Quhilk to all things sall put a finall ende.
It sall be then as in the dayes of Noy,
When mortall men continued in their sin,
They builde, they wed, thay drinke, they liue in ioy,
Into the arke while godlie Noy went in:
Yet feare sall fall to heare the awfull din,
To see the ende and suddaine change of all,
The giltie minds abaisedly sall rin,
And wish the hils for feare on them to fall,
Bot vppright men shall clearelie vnderstand,
Their sure releefe, and comforte is at hand.
When mortall men continued in their sin,
They builde, they wed, thay drinke, they liue in ioy,
Into the arke while godlie Noy went in:
Yet feare sall fall to heare the awfull din,
To see the ende and suddaine change of all,
The giltie minds abaisedly sall rin,
And wish the hils for feare on them to fall,
Bot vppright men shall clearelie vnderstand,
Their sure releefe, and comforte is at hand.
The heauens aboue with noise shall passe away,
And be dissolued with hett consuming fire,
The elements sicklike that latter day,
Shall melt with heat and tyne their faire attire,
The sea and earth, and all this haile impire,
Sall be brunt vp, and euerie thing shall burne,
Contain'd theirin, flesh, bodie, bain, and lyre,
Man maid of ashe to ashes sall returne:
Bot God the Lord, whose promissis are trew,
For heauen and earth hes height vs vthers new.
And be dissolued with hett consuming fire,
The elements sicklike that latter day,
Shall melt with heat and tyne their faire attire,
The sea and earth, and all this haile impire,
Sall be brunt vp, and euerie thing shall burne,
Contain'd theirin, flesh, bodie, bain, and lyre,
Man maid of ashe to ashes sall returne:
Bot God the Lord, whose promissis are trew,
For heauen and earth hes height vs vthers new.
Who can devise? or yet be words expres?
What hart can think? or high ingine invent?
The maiestie the perfite holines,
The glorie great, the beautie excellent,
The shining light, the heauenly ornament,
The day, the way, or yet th'appointed place,
Of Christs descense, downe throw the firmament,
When all his foes shall fall before his face?
No (Lord) our wit na higher can atteine,
Nor be thy word is set before our eine.
What hart can think? or high ingine invent?
The maiestie the perfite holines,
The glorie great, the beautie excellent,
The shining light, the heauenly ornament,
The day, the way, or yet th'appointed place,
Of Christs descense, downe throw the firmament,
When all his foes shall fall before his face?
No (Lord) our wit na higher can atteine,
Nor be thy word is set before our eine.
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As fierie flauches with suddaine thundring thuds,
And glansing gleims, shines all the world throughout:
Sa sall the Lord appeare into the cluds,
With leaming light, and with a suddaine shout,
The angels cleare shall compas him about,
With mightie sound the trumpets blast sall blaw,
The dead sall heare, and rise all in a rout,
And all that sleepe in Christ sall thether draw:
Then thow (my saull) this body sall resume,
To meet the Lord and see the day of dume.
And glansing gleims, shines all the world throughout:
Sa sall the Lord appeare into the cluds,
With leaming light, and with a suddaine shout,
The angels cleare shall compas him about,
With mightie sound the trumpets blast sall blaw,
The dead sall heare, and rise all in a rout,
And all that sleepe in Christ sall thether draw:
Then thow (my saull) this body sall resume,
To meet the Lord and see the day of dume.
Sum sayis that Pyrrha women made of stains,
And men were formed be Deucalion.
But certainely of deid corrupted bains:
A livelie corps that day sall rise anone,
Yea be the word, and wark of God alone,
As kindly corne cummes of the rottin seid,
Or flowres reverts that withered were and gon:
Sa sall all flesh reuiue that taisted deid,
Be sea or land, sen first the warld began:
This may the Lord, quhilk of dust creat man.
And men were formed be Deucalion.
But certainely of deid corrupted bains:
A livelie corps that day sall rise anone,
Yea be the word, and wark of God alone,
As kindly corne cummes of the rottin seid,
Or flowres reverts that withered were and gon:
Sa sall all flesh reuiue that taisted deid,
Be sea or land, sen first the warld began:
This may the Lord, quhilk of dust creat man.
Quhen all the dead obeyed hes the blast,
And clad themselues with immortalitie,
Then sall proceid the liuing at the last,
Quhilks sall not sleip, nor yet dissolued be,
But in ane clap and twinkling of ane eye,
They sall be chang'd, and all transformed new,
In substance pure, apt for eternitie,
Cleane, incorrupt, and of ane heauenly hew:
Swa baith the quick and dead sall them prepare,
Syne mount and meit Christ Iesus in the air.
And clad themselues with immortalitie,
Then sall proceid the liuing at the last,
Quhilks sall not sleip, nor yet dissolued be,
But in ane clap and twinkling of ane eye,
They sall be chang'd, and all transformed new,
In substance pure, apt for eternitie,
Cleane, incorrupt, and of ane heauenly hew:
Swa baith the quick and dead sall them prepare,
Syne mount and meit Christ Iesus in the air.
The iudge maist Iust with iustice sall proceid,
Quhair na defence, nor cautele, sall availl,
Na butie, blude, nor riches sall remeid,
But welth and wit, friends, force, and all sall faill:
Quhen all the warld sal be convened haill,
Before the throne, that feirfull sight to se,
His awin elect the Lord sall then out-waill,
At his right hand quhilks sall all planted be.
Then sall he say: Cum haue your right reward,
My blessed flock, quhilk was for you prepard.
Quhair na defence, nor cautele, sall availl,
Na butie, blude, nor riches sall remeid,
But welth and wit, friends, force, and all sall faill:
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Before the throne, that feirfull sight to se,
His awin elect the Lord sall then out-waill,
At his right hand quhilks sall all planted be.
Then sall he say: Cum haue your right reward,
My blessed flock, quhilk was for you prepard.
But at the left, and on the vther hand,
In quaiking dread, in miserie and wo,
The dulefull troup of criminals sall stand,
To whome the dume sall be pronounced so:
O ye accurst into the hels ye go:
For vglie devils a iust prepared byre,
Ye knew me not, therefore I know ye no,
Pas to be cast in euerlasting fire:
In dying death ye weeping sall remaine,
And gnashing teeth, into the endles paine.
In quaiking dread, in miserie and wo,
The dulefull troup of criminals sall stand,
To whome the dume sall be pronounced so:
O ye accurst into the hels ye go:
For vglie devils a iust prepared byre,
Ye knew me not, therefore I know ye no,
Pas to be cast in euerlasting fire:
In dying death ye weeping sall remaine,
And gnashing teeth, into the endles paine.
O tyrants proud, O stinking wormes and dust,
O infidels and libertines prophain,
Ye obstinate and Iudges maist vniust,
Remord ye nocht to heare this speiking plain?
Or think ye not that Christ shall cum again,
Though for a time he patiently you spair:
O brutall beists, your thoghts are false & vain,
Your punishment it is reserued thair:
Watch and beware the dyet is vnkend,
Stoup and repent while ye haue grace to mend.
O infidels and libertines prophain,
Ye obstinate and Iudges maist vniust,
Remord ye nocht to heare this speiking plain?
Or think ye not that Christ shall cum again,
Though for a time he patiently you spair:
O brutall beists, your thoghts are false & vain,
Your punishment it is reserued thair:
Watch and beware the dyet is vnkend,
Stoup and repent while ye haue grace to mend.
Then thou my saull with great triumph and glore,
With saincts assembled on the vther side,
Sall take the corps quhair thou was first before,
Unto the high and holie cietie wide,
With melodie we sall all thither glide,
Sing and reioyce even as the Lord hes said,
Into that blis and lasting life to bide,
Prepaird for vs before the earth was laid:
So when the Sun hes finisht everie thing,
To God maist high he sall remit the ringe.
With saincts assembled on the vther side,
Sall take the corps quhair thou was first before,
Unto the high and holie cietie wide,
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Sing and reioyce even as the Lord hes said,
Into that blis and lasting life to bide,
Prepaird for vs before the earth was laid:
So when the Sun hes finisht everie thing,
To God maist high he sall remit the ringe.
Bot now my hart within my bowdin breist
I feill revert and wondrously reveif,
My saull sicklike hir sorrowing she hes ceist,
And of my sang a perfite Ioy can preif:
The life to come so firmely I beleeue,
That though all flesh to death were redy boun
I should be sure the Lord wald me releeue.
Thought all the warld were turned vp-side downe:
Lord, hallowed be thy haly name diuine,
For power, praise, the reigne, and all is thine.
I feill revert and wondrously reveif,
My saull sicklike hir sorrowing she hes ceist,
And of my sang a perfite Ioy can preif:
The life to come so firmely I beleeue,
That though all flesh to death were redy boun
I should be sure the Lord wald me releeue.
Thought all the warld were turned vp-side downe:
Lord, hallowed be thy haly name diuine,
For power, praise, the reigne, and all is thine.
| The poems of Alexander Hume | |