University of Virginia Library

[The first Booke.]

1. On the Musique of Organs.

Observe this Organ: Marke but how it goes:
'Tis not the hand of him alone, that blowes
The unseene Bellowes; nor the Hand that playes
Vpon th'apparent note-dividing Kayes,
That makes these wel-composed Ayres appeare
Before the high Tribunall of thine eare:
They both concurre: Ech acts his severall part:
Th'one gives it Breath; the other lends it Art.
Man is this Organ: To whose every action
Heav'n gives a Breath (a Breath without coaction)
Without which Blast we cannot act at all;
Without which Breath, the Vniverse must fall
To the first Nothing it was made of: seeing
In Him we live, we move, we have our Being:
Thus fill'd with his Diviner Breath, and back't
With his first powre we touch the Kayes and act:
He blowes the Bellowes: As we thrive to skill,
Our Actions prove like Musicke, Good or Ill.

2. On the contingencie of Actions.

I saw him dead; I saw his Body fall
Before Deaths Dart; whom tears must not recall:
Yet is he not so dead, but that his Day
Might have been lengthen'd, had th'untrodden way
To life beene found: He might have rose agin,
If something had, or somthing had not bin:
What mine sees past, Heav'ns eye foresaw to come;
He saw, how that contingent Act should summe
The totall of his Dayes: His knowing Eye
(As mine doth see him dead) saw he should die
That very fatall howre; yet saw his death,
Not so so necessary, but his Breath
Might beene enlarg'd unto a longer date,
Had he neglected This, or taken That:
All times to Heav'n are now, both first and last;
He sees things present, as we see them past.

3. On the Sacraments.

The Loaves of Bread were five; the Fishes, two,
Whereof the Multitude was made partaker.
Who made the Fishes? God: But tell me, who
Gave being to the Loaues of Bread? the Baker:
Ev'n so these Sacraments, which some call seaven,
Five were ordain'd by Man, and two, by Heaven.

4. On the Infancie of our Saviour.

Hayle blessed Virgin, full of heavenly Grace,
Blest above all that sprang from humane race;
Whose Heav'n-saluted Womb brought forth in One,
A blessed Saviour, and a blessed Son:
O! what a ravishment t'had beene, to see
Thy little Saviour perking on thy Knee!
To see him nuzzle in thy Virgin Brest!
His milke white body all unclad, undrest;
To see thy busie Fingers cloathe and wrappe
His spradling Limbs in thy indulgent Lappe!
To see his desprate Eyes, with Childish grace,
Smiling upon his smiling Mothers face!
And, when his forward strength began to bloome,
To see him diddle up and downe the Roome!
O, who would thinke, so sweet a Babe as this,
Should ere be slaine by a false-hearted kisse!
Had I a Ragge, if sure thy Body wore it,
Pardon sweet Babe, I thinke I should adore it,
Till then, O grant this Boone, (a boone far dearer)
The Weed not being, I may adore the Wearer.

5. On Iudas Iscariot .

We raile at Iudas, him that did betray
The Lord of life; yet doe it day by day.

6. On the life and death of Man.

The World's a Theater; The Earth, a Stage
Plac'd in the midst; wheron both Prince & Page,
Both rich and poore; foole, wiseman; base, and high;
All act their Parts in Lifes short Tragedy:
Our Life's a Tragedy: Those secret Roomes
Wherein we tyre us, are our Mothers Wombes;
The Musicke ush'ring in the Play, is Mirth
To see a Manchild brought upon the Earth:
That fainting gaspe of Breath which first we vent
Is a Dumb-Shew, presents the Argument:
Our new-born Cries that new-born Griefes bewray,
Is the sad Prologue of th'ensuing Play:
False hopes, true feares, vaine ioyes, and fierce distracts
Are like the Musicke that divides the Acts:
Time holds the Glasse, and when the Hower's run,
Death strikes the Epilogue; and the Play is done.

7. On the Seaven liberall Sciences of a Christian.

8. Christs foure houses.

His first house was the blessed Virgins Wombe;
The next, a Cratch; the third, a Cross; the fourth a Tombe.

9. Of Light and Heate.

Mark but the Sun-beames, when they shine most bright,
They lend this lower world both heat & light:
They both are Children of the selfe same Mother,
Twinnes; not subsisting one without the other;
They both conspire unto the Common good,
When, in their proper places, understood:
Is't not rebellion against Sense to say,
Light helps to quicken: Or, the Beames of day
May lend a Heat, and yet no Light at all?
'Tis true, some obvious Shade may chance to fall
Vpon the quickned Plant, yet not so great,
To quench the operation of the Heate:
The Heate cannot be parted from the Light,
Nor yet the Light from Heate; They neither might
Be mingled in the Act, nor found asunder:
Distinguish now fond man; or stay and wonder: Know then;
Their vertues differ though themselves agree;
Heat vivifyes; Light gives man powre to see
The thing so vivifyed: No Light, no Heate;
And where the heat's but small the light's not great:
They are inseparable, and sworne Lovers,
Yet differing thus; That quickens; This discovers:
Within these lines a sacred Myst'ry lurkes:
The Heat resembles Faith: the Light, Good-workes.

10. On Iudas Iscariot .

Some curse that traytour Iudas life and lim;
God knows, some curse thēselves, in cursing him.

11. On the possession of the Swine.

When as our blessed Saviour did un devill
The Man possest, the Spirits in conclusion,
Entred the Swine (being active still in evill)
And drove them headlong to their owne confusion,
Drunkards, beware, and be advised then,
They'l find you as y'are Swine; if not, as Men.

12. On a Sun-Dyall.

This Horizontall Dyall can bewray,
To the sad Pilgrim, th'hower of the Day:
But if the Sun appeare not his Adviser,
His eye may looke, yet he prove ne're the wiser:
Alas, alas; there's nothing can appeare,
But onely Types, and shadow'd Figures there:
This Dyall is the Scripture; and the Sun,
Gods holy Spirit; Wee, the Lookers on:
Alas, that sacred Letter, which we read,
Without the Quickning of the Spirit's dead:
The knowledge of our Peace improves no better,
Then if our Eye had not beheld a Letter:
I, but this glorious Sun shines alwayes bright:
I, but we often stand in our owne light:
Vse then the day, for when the day is gon,
There will be darkenes: there will be no Sun.

13. On the three Christian Graces.

Faith.

14. On a Feast.

The Lord of Heav'n and Earth ha's made a Feast,
And ev'ry Soule is an invited Guest:
The Word's the Food; the Levits are the Cookes;
The Fathers Writings are their Dyet-Bookes;
But seldome us'd; for 'tis a fashion growne,
To recommend made Dishes of their owne:
What they should boyle, they bake; what rost, they broyle,
Their lushious Sallats are too sweet with Oyle:
In briefe, 'tis now a dayes too great a fault,
Th'ave too much Pepper, and too little Salt.

15. On Dives.

That drop-requesting Dives did desire
His Brothers might have warning of that Fire,
Whose flames he felt: Could he, a Fiend, wish well
To Man? What, is there Charity in Hell?
Each Soule that's damned is a Brand of fire,
To make Hell so much hotter; And the nigher
In blood or love they be, that are tormented,
The more their paines & torments are augmented:
No wonder then, if Dives did desire,
His Brothers might have warning of that Fire.

16. On outward shew.

Ivdge not that Feild, because 'tis Stubble,
Nor Him that's poore, and full of trouble:
Though t'one looke bare; the tother thin;
Iudge not; Their Treasure is within.

17. On the reading of the Scriptures.

In reading of the Sacred Writt, beware,
Thou climbe no Stile, when as a Gapp stands faire.

18. On the life of Man.

Ovr Life's the Modell of a Winters Day;
Our Soule's the Sun, whose faint and feeble Ray
Gives our Earth light; a light but weak, at strongest,
But low, at highest; very short, at longest:
The childish Teares, that from our eyes doe passe,
Is like the Dew that pearls the morning grasse:
When as our Sun is but an hower high,
We goe to Schoole, to learne; are whip't, and cry:
We truant up and downe; we make a spoyle
Of precious Time, and sport in our owne Toyle:
Our Bed's the quiet Graue; wherein we lay
Our weary Bodyes, tyred with the Day:
The early Trumpet, like the Morning Bell,
Calls to account; where they that have learnd well
Shall find Reward; And such as have mis-spent
Their Time, shall reape an earned punishment:
No wonder, then, to see the Sluggards eyes,
So loath to goe to Bed; so loth to rise.

19. On the Crowing of a Cocke.

The Crowing of a Cocke doth oft foreshow
A change of Weather: Peter found it so:
The Cocke no sooner crew, but by and by
He found a Change of weather in his Eye:
T's an easie thing to say, and to sweare too,
Wee'l dye for Christ; but tis as hard to doe.

20. On Mammon.

Mammon's growne rich: Does Mammon boast of that?
The Stalled Oxe, as well may boast, Hee's fat.

21. On Church-contemners.

Those Church-contemners, that can easly waigh
The profit of a Sermon with a Play;
Whose testy stomacks can digest, as well,
A profer'd Iniury, as a Sermon-bell;
That say vnwonted Pray'rs, with the like wills,
As queazy Patients take their loathed Pills:
To what extremity would they be driven,
If God, in Iudgement, shold but give them Heauen.

22. On Morus.

He is no Flemming; For he cannot swill:
No Roman; for his stomacke's fleshly still:
He cannot be a Iew; he was baptiz'd:
Nor yet a Gentile; he was circumciz'd:
He is no True man; for he lyes a trot:
Prophane he is not; for he sweares ye not:
What is he then? One Feast without a Bill
Shall make him all; or which of all yee will.

23. On the Hypocrite.

No mans condition is so base as his;
None more accurs'd than he: For Man esteems
Him hatefull, cause he seemes not what hee is:
God hates him, 'cause he is not what he seemes;
What griefe is absent, or what mischiefe can
Be added to the hate of God and Man?

24. On a Pilgrime.

The weary Pilgrime, oft, doth aske, and know,
How farre hee's come; how far he has to goe:
His way is tedious, and his hart's oppprest,
And his desier is to be at Rest;
Our life's a Wayfare; yet fond Man delaies
T'enquier out the number of his Daies;
He cares not, Hee, how slow his howers spend;
His Iourney's better then his Iourneies end.

25. On the Needle of a Sun-diall.

Behold this needle; when the Arctick stone
Hath toucht it, how it trembles vp and downe;
Hunts for the Pole; and cannot be possest,
Of peace, vntill it finde that poynt, that rest:
Such is the heart of Man; which, when it hath
Attayn'd the virtue of a lively faith,
It findes no rest on earth, makes no abode
In any Obiect, but his heav'n, his God.

26. On Affliction.

When thou afflict'st me, Lord, if I repine,
I show my selfe to be mine owne, not thine.

27. On a Sun-dyall.

Goe light a Candle: By that light, make tryall,
How the night spends it selfe, by the Sun-dyall:
Goe, search the Scripture; Labour to encrease
In the diviner knowledge of thy Peace
By thy owne light, derived from thy mother:
Thou maist as eas'ly doe the one, as t'other.

28. On Peter .

When walking Peter was about to sinck
Into the sea; In what a case d'ye thinke,
H'ad bin; if he had trusted his complaint
To th'intercession of some helpfull Saint?
Beleeve it; if Romes doctrine had bin sound,
And soundly follow'd, Peter had bin drown'd.

29. On Merits.

Fie, Rome's abus'd: Can any be thought able
To merit heaven by workes? Tis a meere fable:
If so; stout Rome had never bin so faint
To move her suit by a Collaterall Saint.

30. On Servio .

Servio serves God: Servio has bare relation.
(Not to Gods Glory) but his owne salvation:
Servio serves God for life: Servio, tis well:
Servio may finde the cooler place in Hell.

31. A Soliloquie.

[Where shall I find my God! O where, O where]

Where shall I find my God! O where, O where
Shall I direct my steps, to finde him there?
Shall I make search in swelling Baggs of Coyne?
Ah no; For God and Mammon cannot ioyne:
Doe Beds of Down containe this heavenly stranger?
No no; Hee's rather cradled in some Manger:
Dwells he in wisedome? Is he gone that rode?
No no; Mans wisedome's foolishnes with God:
Or hath some new Plantation, yet vnkowne,
Made him their King, and adorn'd him with their Crown?
No, no, the kingdomes of the earth thinke scorne
T'adorne his Browes with any Crown but Thorn.
Wher shall I trace; or wher shal I goe winde him?
My Lord is gone; and O! I cannot finde him:
Ile ransack the dark Dungeons: Ile enquire
Into the Furnace, after the sev'nth fire:
Ile seeke in Daniels Den, and in Pauls prison;
Ile search his Grave, and see if he be risen:
Ile goe to th'house of mourning; and Ile call
At every Almes-abused Hospitall:
Ile goe and ask the widow, tha'ts opprest;
The heavy laden, that enquiers rest:
Ile search the Corners of all broken hearts;
The wounded Conscience, and the soule that smarts;
The contrite spirit fill'd with filiall feare;
I, there he is; and no where else, but there:
Spare not to scourge thy pleasure, O my God,
So I may finde thy presence, with thy Rod.

32. On Daniel in the Den.

Fierce Lyons roaring for their prey? and then
Daniel throwne in? And Daniel yet remaine
Alive? There was a Lyon, in the Denne,
Was Daniels friend, or Daniel had bin slaine:
Among ten thousand Lyons, Ide not feare,
Had I but only Daniels Lyon there.

23. On those that deserve it.

O when our Clergie, at the dreadfull Day,
Shal make their Audit; when the Iudge shal say
Give your acompts: What, have my Lambs bin sed?
Say, doe they all stand sound? Is there none dead
By your defaults? come shephards, bring them forth
That I may crowne your labours in their worth:
O what an answer will be given by some,
We have bin silenc'd: Canons strucke vs dumbe;
The Great ones would not let vs feed thy flock,
Vnles we plai'd the fooles, and wore a Frock:
We were forbid vnles wee'd yeeld to signe
And crosse their browes, They say, a mark of thine.
To say the truth, great Iudg, they were not fed,
Lord, here they be; but, Lord, they be all dead:
Ah cruel Shepheards! Could your conscience serve
Not to be fooles, and yet to let them sterve?
What if your Fiery spirits had bin bound
To Antick Habits; or your heads bin crownd
With Peacocks Plumes; had yee bin forc'd to feed
Your Saviours dear-bought Flock in a fools weed;
He that was scorn'd, revil'd; endur'd the Curse
Of a base death, in your behalfs; nay worse,
Swallow'd the cup of wrath charg'd vp to th'brim,
Durst yee not stoope to play the fooles for him?

34. Doe this and live.

Doe this and live? Tis true, Great God; then who
Can hope for life? for who hath power to Doe?
Art thou not able? Is thy Task too great?
Canst thou desier help? Canst thou intreat
Aid from a stronger Arm? Canst thou conceive
Thy Helper strong enough? Canst thou beleeve,
The suffrings of thy dying Lord can give
Thy drooping shoulders rest? Doe this and live.

35. On Ioseph and his Mistris.

When as th'Egyptian Lady did invite
Wel-favor'd Ioseph to unchast delight,
How well the motion and the place agreed?
A beastly Place, and twas a beastly Deed:
A place well season'd for so soule a sin;
Too sweet to serve so foule a Master in.

36. On Scriptum est.

Some words excell in virtue, and discover
A rare conclusion, thrice repeated over:
Our Saviour thrice was tempted: thrice represt
Th'assaulting tempter with thrice Scriptvm Est:
If thou would'st keepe thy soule secure from harm,
Thou know'st the words: It is a potent Charme.

37. On the flourishing of the Gospell.

How doe our Pastures flourish, and refresh
Our uberous Kine, so faire, so full of flesh!
How doe our thriving Cattell feed our young
With plenteous Milk; & with their flesh the strong!
Heav'n blest our Charles, and he did our late Iames,
From Pharohs troubles, and from Pharohs Dreames.

38. On Ioseph's Speech to his Brethren.

Goe, fetch your Brother (said th'Egyptian Lord)
If you intend our Garniers shall afford
Your craving wants their so desir'd supplies;
If He come not, by Pharoes life, y'are Spies:
Ev'n as your Suits expect to find our Grace,
Bring him; or dare not to behold my face:
Some little food, to serve you on the way,
We here allow, but not to feed delay;
When you present your Brother to our Hand,
Ye shall have plenty, and possesse the Land;
Away; and let your quicke obedience give
The earnest of your Faiths; Do this and live:
If not; your wilfull wants must want supply,
For ye are Spies, and ye shall surely dye:
Great God, th'Egyptian Lord resembles Thee;
The Brother's Iesus; and the Suitors Wee.

39. Of common Devotion.

Ovr God and Souldiers we alike adore,
Ev'n at the Brink of danger; not before:
After deliverance, both alike requited;
Our God's forgotten, and our Souldier's slighted.

40. On the Day of Iudgement.

O when shal that time come, whē the loud Trump
Shall wake my sleeping Ashes from the Dump
Of their sad Vrne! That blessed Day, wherein
My glorifi'd, my metamorphiz'd Skin
Shall circumplexe and terminate that fresh
And new refined substance of this flesh!
When my transparent Flesh, dischargd frō groanes,
And paynes, shall hang upon new polisht Bones!
When as my Body shall re-entertaine
Her clensed Soule, and never part againe!
When as my Soule shall, by a new Indenture,
Possesse her new-built house, come down and enter!
When as my Body and my Soule shall plight
Inviolable faith, and never fight
Nor wrangle more, nor altercate, agin,
About that strife-begetting question, Sin!
When Soule and Body shall receive their Doome
Of O yee Blessed of my Father, Come!
When Death shall be exil'd and damn'd to dwell
Within her proper and true Center, Hell!
Where that old Tempter shal be bound in Chaynes,
And over-whelm'd with everlasting paynes;
Whilst I shall sit, and, in full Glory, sing
Perpetuall Anthems to my Iudge, my King.

41. On Death.

Why should we not, as well, defier Death,
As Sleep? No diffrence, but a little Breath:
'Tis all but Rest; 'tis all but a Releasing
Our tyred lims; Why then not alike pleasing?
Being burthen'd with the sorrowes of the Day,
We wish for night; which, being come, we lay
Our Bodies downe; yet when our very Breath
Is yrk some to vs, w'are affraid of Death:
Our Sleepe is oft accompanied with Frights,
Distracting Dreames and dangers of the nights;
When in the Sheets of Death, our Bodie's sure
From all such Evils, and we sleepe secure:
What matter, Doune, or Earth? what boots it whether?
Alas, Our Bodye's sensible of neither:
Things that are senslesse, feele nor paynes nor ease;
Tell me; and why not Wormes as well as Fleas?
In Sleepe, we know not whether our clos'd eyes
Shall ever wake; from Death w'are sure to rise:
I, but 'tis long first: O, is that our feares?
Dare we trust God for Nights? and not for Yeares?

42. On the Body of Man.

Mans Body's like a House: His greater Bones,
Are the maine Timber; And the lesser Ones,
Are smaller Splints: His Ribs are Laths, daubd ore,
Plaister'd with flesh & bloud: his Mouths the Doore:
His Throat's the narrow Entry: And his Heart
Is the Great Chamber, full of curious Art:
His Midreife, is a large partition Wall,
'Twixt the Great Chamber, and the spacious Hall:
His Stomacke is the Kitchin, where the Meate
Is often but halfe sod, for want of Heate:
His Spleen's a Vessell, Nature does allott
To take the skimme, that rises from the Pott:
His Lungs are like the Bellowes that respire
In ev'ry office, quickning ev'ry Fire:
His Nose, the Chimney is, whereby are vented
Such Fumes, as with the Bellowes are augmented:
His Bowels are the Sinke, whose part's to dreine
All noysome filth, and keepe the Kitchin cleane:
His Eyes like Christall Windowes cleare and bright
Lets in the Obiect, and lets out the sight:
And as the Timber is, or great or small,
Or strong or weake; 'tis apt to stand, or fall:
Yet is the likelyest Building sometimes knowne,
To fall by obvious Chances; Overthrowne,
Oft-times by Tempests, by the full mouth'd Blasts
Of Heav'n; Somtimes by Fire; Somtimes it wasts
Through unadvis'd neglect: Put case, the Stuffe
Were ruin-proofe; by nature, strong enough,
To conquer Time and Age: Put case, it should
Ne're know an end, Alas, Our Leases would:
What hast thou then, proud flesh and bloud, to boast?
Thy Dayes are ev'll, at best; but few, at most;
But sad, at merryest; and but weake, at strongest;
Vnsure, at surest; and but short, at longest.

43. On the Young man in the Gospell.

How well our Saviour and the landed Youtk
Agreed a little while? And, to say truth,
Had he had will and power in his hand,
To keepe the Law, but as He kept his Land;
No doubt, his soule has found the sweet fruition
Of his owne choyce desires without Petition:
But he must Sell, and Follow; or else, not
Obtaine his heav'n: O now his heav'ns too hot:
He cannot stay; He has no businesse there:
Hee'l rather misse, then buy his heav'n too deare:
When Broth's too hot for hasty hounds, how they
Will licke their scalded lips, and sneake away!

44. On Mans goodnesse and Gods love.

God loves not Man, because that Man is good;
For Man is sinfull, because Flesh and Blood:
We argue false: It rather may behove us,
To think us good, 'cause God thinks good to love us,
Hee that shall argue up from Man to God,
Takes but the paines to gather his owne Rod:
Who from such Premisses, shal drawe's Conclusion,
Makes but a Syllogisme of his owne confusion.

45. On Mans Plea.

Mans Plea to Man, is, That he never more
Will begge, and that he never begg'd before:
Mans Plea to God, is, That he did obtaine
A former Suit, and therefore sues againe.
How good a God we serue; that when we sue,
Makes his old gifts th'examples of his new!

46. On Furio .

Fvrio will not forgive; Furio beware:
Furio will curse himselfe in the Lords Prayer.

47. On Martha and Mary .

48. On our Blessed Saviour.

We often read our blessed Saviour wept;
But never laught; and seldome that he slept:
Ah, sure his heavy eyes did wake, and weepe
For vs that sin, so oft, in Mirth, and Sleepe.

49. On Sinnes.

Sinnes , in respect of Man, all mortall be;
All veniall, Iesu, in respect of Thee.

50. On Mans behaviour to God.

We use our God, as Vs'rers doe their bands;
We often beare him in our hearts, our hands;
His Paths are beaten, and his Wayes are trod,
So long as hee's a profitable God:
But when the Money's paid, the Profit's taken,
Our Bands are cancel'd, and our God's forsaken.

51. On Mans Cruelty.

And dar'st thou venture still to live in Sin,
And crucifie thy dying Lord agin?
Were not his Pangs sufficient? must he bleed
Yet more? O, must our sinfull pleasures feed
Vpon his Torments; and augment the Story
Of the sad passion of the Lord of Glory!
Is there no pitty? Is there no remorse
In humane brests? Is there a firme divorse
Betwixt all mercy, and the hearts of Men?
Parted for ever? ne're to meet agen?
No mercy bides with us: 'Tis thou, alone,
Hast it, sweet Iesu, for us, that have none
For Thee: Thou hast fore-stal'd our Markets so,
That all's Above, and we have none Below:
Nay, blessed Lord, we have not wherewithall
To serve our shiftlesse selves, vnlesse we call
To thee, that art our Saviour, and hast power
To give, and whom we Crucifye, each hower:
W'are cruell (Lord) to thee, and our selves too;
Iesv forgive's; we know not what we doe.

52. Mans Progresse.

The Earth is that forbidden Tree that growes
Ith' midst of Paradise; Her Fruit that showes
So sweet, so faire, so pleasing to the eyes,
Is worldly pleasure in a faire disguize:
The Flesh suggests: The Fruit is faire and good
Apt to make wise, and a delicious Food;
It hath a secret vertue, wherewithall
To make you Gods; and not to dye at all.
Man tasts, and tempts the frailty of his Brother;
His Brother eats; One bit cals on another:
His guilty Conscience opes his eyes; He sees,
He sees his empty nakednesse, and flees;
Hee stitches slender Fig-leaves, and does frame
Poore Arguments t'excuse his Sin, his Shame:
But in the cooler evening of his Dayes,
The voyce calls Adam: Adam's in a Maze:
His Conscience bids him run: The voyce pursues;
Poore Adam trembles, ere hee knowes the newes:
Adam must quit the Garden, lest he strive
To tast the saving Tree of life, and live;
Poore Man must goe; But whether is he bound?
Ev'n to the place from whence he came, the Ground.

53. On the two great Flouds.

Two Flouds I read of; Water, and of Wine;
The first was Noahs; Lot, the last was thine:
The first was the Effect; The last, the Cause
Of that soule Sin, against the sacred Lawes
Of God and Nature, incest: Noah found
An Arke to save him, but poore Lot was drownd;
Good Noah found an Arke; but Lott found none:
W'are safer in Gods hands then in our owne:
The former flood of waters did extend
But some few dayes; this latter ha's no end;
They both destroy'd, I know not which the worst:
The last is ev'n as Gen'rall, as the first:
The first being ceas'd; the world began to fill;
The last depopulates, and wasts it still:
Both Flouds orewhelm'd both Man and beast together;
The last is worst, if there be best of either:
The first are ceas'd: Heav'n vow'd it by a Signe;
When shall we see a Raine bow after Wine?

54. On Fuca .

Fvca , thou quot'st the Scriptures on thy side,
And makst Rebecca patronize thy pride;
Thou sayst that she wore Ear-rings: Did she so?
Know this withall, She bore the Pitcher too:
Thou mayst, like her, weare Ear-rings, if thy pride
Can stoope to what, Rebecca did beside.

55. On Abrahams servant.

This faithfull Servant will not feed, vntill
He doe his trust-reposing Masters will:
There's many, now, that will not eat before
They speed their Masters work: They'l drink the more;

56. On Alexander.

No marvell, thou great Monarch, did'st complaine
And weep, ther were no other worlds to gaine;
Thy griefes and thy complaints were not amisse;
H'as Griefe enough, that findes no world but this.

57. On rash Iudgement.

Ivdge not too fast: This Tree that does appeare
So barren, may be fruitfull the next yeare:
Hast thou not patience to expect the Hower?
I feare thy owne are Crabs they be so sower:
Thy Iudgment oft may tread beside the Text;
A Saule to day, may prove a Paul, the next.

58. On Iacobs purchase.

How poore was Iacobs motion, and how strange
His Offer! How unequall was th'exchange!
A messe of Porrage for Inheritance?
Why could not hungry Esau strive t'enhaunce
His price a little? So much underfoot?
Well might he give him Bread and drink to boot:
An easie price! The case is even our owne;
For toyes we often fell our Heaven, our Crowne.

59. On Esau.

What hast thou done? Nay what shal Esau do?
Lost both his Birthright, and his Blessing too!
What hath poore Esau left, but empty teares,
And Plaints, that cannot reach the old mans eares?
What with thy Fathers Diet, and thine owne
Thy Birthright's aliend, an'd thy Blessing's gone:
How does one mischiefe ouertake an other?
In both, how overtaken by a Brother?
Could thy imperious stomack but have stay'd,
And if thy Fathers had not bin delay'd,
Thou had'st not need have wept and pleaded so,
But kept thy Birthright, and thy Blessing too:
Had thy vnprosp'rous, thy vnlucky hand
Dispatch'd thy Ven'zon, as it did thy Land,
Thy sorrowes had not made so great a Heape,
That had not bin so deare; nor this, so cheape:
Had thine given place but to thy Fathers will,
Thad'st had thy Birthright; and thy Blessing still.

60. On the absence of a blessing.

The blessing gon, what do's there now remaine?
Esau's offended; Iacob must be slaine:
The heart of Man once emptyed of a Grace,
How soone the Devill jostles in the place!

61. On the yonger Brother.

I know, the Elder and the Yonger, too;
Are both alike to God; Nor one, nor other
Can plead their yeares, But yet we often doe
Observe, the Blessing's on the yonger Brother:
The Scripture notes it, but does spare to show
A reason; therefore, I despaire to know.

62. On Kain.

Before that Monster spilt his Brothers blood,
w'are sure the fourth part of the world was good:
O, what a dearth of goodnes did there grow,
When the Fourth part was murd'red at a blow!

63. On the righteous man.

Promise is dett: And Dett implies a payment:
How can the righteous, then dout food, & raymēt?

63. On Faith, Love, and Charity.

By nature Faith is fiery, and it tends
Still upward: Love, by native course, descends:
But Charity, whose nature doth confound
And mixe the former two, moves ever round:
Lord, let thy Love descend, and then the Fire
Of sprightly Faith shall kindle, and aspire:
O, then, my circling Charity shall move
In proper motion, mixt of Faith and Love.

64. On Iacobs Pillow.

The Bed, was Earth: The raised Pillow, Stones,
Whereon poore Iacob rests his head, his Bones;
Heav'n was his Canopy; The Shades of night
Were his drawne Curtaines, to exclude the Light:
Poore State for Isacks heyre! It seemes to me,
His Cattell found as soft a Bed, as Hee:
Yet God appeared there, his Ioy, his Crowne;
God is not alway seene in Beds of Doune:
O, if that God shall please to make my Bed,
I care not where I rest my Bones, my Head;
With Thee, my wants can never prove extreame;
With Iacobs Pillow, give me Iacobs Dreame.

65. On Faith.

Faith do's acknowledge Gifts, altho we gave not;
It keeps vnseene those Sins, Confession hid not;
It make us to enioy the Goods we have not;
It counts as done, those pious deeds, we did not;
It workes; endowes; it freely 'accepts; it hides:
What Grace is absent where true Faith abides?

66. On Zacheus .

Me thinks, I see, with what a busie hast,
Zacheus climb'd the Tree: But, O, how fast
How full of speed, canst thou imagine (when
Our Saviour call'd) he powder'd downe agen!
He ne're made tryall if the boughes were sound,
Or rotten; nor how far 'twas to the ground:
There was no danger fear'd: At such a Call,
Hee'l venture nothing, that dare feare a fall:
Needs must he downe, by such a Spirit driven;
Nor could he fall, vnlesse he fell to Heaven:
Downe came Zacheus, ravisht from the Tree;
Bird that was shot, ne're dropt so quicke as he.

67. On the Thiefe and Slanderer.

The Theife, and Sland'rer are almost the same;
T'one steals my goods; the tother, my good name:
T'one lives in scorne; the other dies in shame.

68. On Abrams pleading for Sodome.

How loth was righteous Abraham to cease,
To beat the price of lustfull Sodoms peace!
Marke how his holy boldnesse intercepts
Gods Iustice; Brings his Mercy downe, by steps:
He dare not bid so few as Ten, at first;
Nor yet from Fifty righteous persons, durst
His Zeale on sudden make too great a fall,
Although he wisht salvation to them all.
Great God: Thy dying Son has pow'r to cleare
A world of Sinnes, that one shall not appeare
Before thine angry eyes: What wonder then,
To see thee fall, from Fifty downe to Ten!

69. On Mans goodnes.

Thy hand, great God, created all things good;
But Man rebell'd, and in defiance stood
Against his owne Creation, and did staine,
Nay lost that goodnesse which the Beasts retaine;
What hap ha's Man, poore Man, above the rest,
That hath lesse goodnes left him, then a Beast!

70. On Zacheus.

Short-legg'd Zacheus, 'Twas the happiest Tree
That ever mortall climb'd; I meane, to Thee:
Thy paynes in going up, receiv'd the Crowne
Of all thy labour, at thy comming downe:
Thy Statures lownesse gave thee faire occasion
To mount that Tree; that Tree, to find Salvation:
But was't the Tree, Zacheus? No, t'was Hee,
Whose bleeding Body dy'd upon the Tree.

71. On the Roman, Turke, and Atheist.

The Roman worships God upon the wall;
The Turke, a false God; Th'Atheist, none at all

72. On Babels Building.

Great God, no sooner borne, but we begin
Babels accurs'd Foundation, by our Sin:
Our thoughts, our words, our deeds are ever yeelding
The sad materials of our sinfull Building:
Should not thy Grace prevent it, it would even
Rise, and rise up, vntill it reach'd to heaven:
Lord, ere our Building shall begin to show,
Confound our Language, and our Building too.

73. On the Theife and the Lyer.

The Lyer and the Theife have one Vocation;
Their difference is but onely in their Fashion:
They both deceive; but diversly proceed;
The first deceives by Word; the last, by Deed.

74. On the Egyptians Famine.

Marke but the course the pin'de Egyptians run:
When all their coyn, when all their corn is done,
They come to Ioseph, and their stomacks plead;
They chāge their beasts for corn, their stocks for bread,
Yet still they want: Observe what now they doe;
They give their Lands, and yeeld their Bodyes too:
Now they have Corne enough; and now, they shall
Have seed to sowe their barren soile withall;
Prouided that the fift of their encrease
Be Pharoe's: Now their stomacks are at peace:
Thus when the Famine of the Word shall strike
Our hungry Soules; our Soules must doe the like:
We first must part with, (as by their directions)
Our Flocks, our Beasts, our Bestiall Affections;
When they are gone, what then must Sinners doe?
Give up their Lands, their Soules, and Bodies too:
O, then our hearts shall be refresht and fed,
Wee shall have seed to sowe, and present Bread:
Allowing but the fift of our encrease,
Wee shall have plenty, and our Soules have peace:
How art thou pleas'd, good God, that Man shold live!
How slow art thou to take! how free to give!

75. On Zacheus.

Well climb'd, Zacheus; 'Twas a step well given;
Frō hence to th'Tree; & frō the Tree to Heaven!

76. On the Plough-man.

I heare the whistling Plough-man, all day long,
Sweetning his labour with a chearefull song:
His Bed's a Pad of Straw; His dyet, course;
In both, he fares not better then his Horse:
He seldome slakes his thirst, but from the Pumpe,
And yet his heart is blithe; his visage, plumpe;
His thoughts are nere acquainted with such things,
As Griefes or Feares; He onely sweats, and sings:
When as the Landed Lord, that cannot dine
Without a Qualme, if not refresht with Wine;
That cannot iudge that controverted case,
'Twixt meat & mouth, without the Bribe of Sauce;
That claimes the service of the purest linnen,
To pamper and to shroud his dainty skin in,
Groanes out his dayes, in lab'ring to appease
The rage of either Buisnes, or Disease:
Alas, his silken Robes, his costly Diet
Can lend a little pleasure, but no Quiet:
The vntold summes of his descended wealth
Can give his Body plenty, but not Health:
The one, in Paynes, and want, possesses all;
T'other, in Plenty, finds no peace at all;
'Tis strange! And yet the cause is easly knowne;
Tone's at Gods finding; t'other, at his owne.

77. On a happy Kingdome.

That Kingdome, and none other, happy is,
Where Moses, and his Aron meet, and kisse.

78. On Gods appearance to Moses .

God first appeard to Moses, in the Myre;
The next time he appeard, h'appeard in Fire;
The third time, he was knowne to Moses eye
Vpon mount Sinai, cloath'd in Maiestie.
Thrice God appeares to Man: first, wallowing in
His foule Pollution, and base Myre of Sin;
And like to Pharoes daughter do'es bemone
Our helples State, and drawes us, for his owne:
The next time, he appeares in Fyre, whose bright
And gentle flames consume not, but give light;
It is the Fire of Grace; where man is bound
To d'off his Shooes, because 'tis holy ground:
The last apparance shall be in that Mount,
Where every Soule shall render an Account
Of good or evill; where all things Transitory
Shall cease; & Grace be crownd with perfect Glory.

79. On Gods Law.

Thy Sacred Law, O God,
Is like to Moses Rod:
If wee but keepe it in our hand,
It will doe Wonders in the Land;
If wee slight and throw it to the Ground;
'Twill turne a Serpent, and inflict a Wound;
A Wound that Flesh and Blood cannot endure,
Nor salve, untill the Brazen Serpent cure:
I wish not, Lord, thou sholdst withold it;
Nor wold I have it, and not hold it:
O teach me then, my God,
To handle Moses Rod.

80. On Pharoe's Bricke.

Ovr God's not like to Pharoh; to require
His tale of Bricke, and give no Straw for Fire:
His Workmen wanted Straw, and yet were lasht,
For not performance: We have Straw unthrasht,
Yet we are idle, and we winch, and kicke
Against our Burthens, and returne no Bricke:
We spend our Straw, for Litter in the Stable,
And then we cry; Alas, We are not able;
Thinke not on Israels suffrings, in that day,
When thy offended Iustice shall repay
Our labours; Lord, when thou upheav'st thy Rod,
Thinke, Pharoh was a Tyrant; Thou, a God.

81. On the insatiablenesse of Mans heart.

This Globe of earth ha's not the pow'r to fill
The Heart of Man, but it desiers still:
By him that seekes, the Cause is easly found;
The Heart's Triangular; The Earth is Round;
He may be full; but, never to the brim
Be fill'd with Earth, till earth be fill'd with him.

82. On Pharoe's hard-heartednes.

Plagues after Plagues? And yet not Pharoh yeeld
T'enlarge poore Israel? Was thy heart so steel'd,
Rebellious Tyrant, that it dare withstand
The oft repeated Iudgements of Heav'ns hand?
Could neither Mercies oyle, nor Iudgements thunder
Dissolve, nor breake thy flinty heart in sunder?
No, no, what Sun-beames soften not, they harden;
Purpos'd Rebellions are asleepe to Pardon.

83. On the change of Pharoe's fortunes.

Observe what peace great Pharo's kingdom found
while Ioseph liv'd; what prosprous blessings cround
His happy dayes! Heav'ns plague-inflicting hand
Was then a stranger to his peacefull Land:
Peace was entayl'd upon his Royall Throne;
His Land had Plenty, when the World had none;
His full desiers over-flowd their Brim,
Favours came downe unask't, unsought by Him:
His Scepter flourish'd, from a God unknowne,
No need to trouble any of his owne:
While Ioseph liv'd, his Blessings had no end;
That God was his, whilst he was Iosephs Frend:
These temp'rall Blessings heav'n doth, often, share
Vnto the wicked, at the Good-mans Prayer:
But Ioseph dyes: And Iosephs Sons must fall
Beneath their Burthens, and be scourg'd withall;
Whilst Tyrant Pharoh's more severer hand
Keeps them laborious Pris'ners in his Land:
God oft permits his Children to be hurld
Into distresse, to weane them from the world:
But Pharohs Blessings alter with his Brow;
The budding Scepter's turn'd a Serpent now:
His Land must groan; her plagues must stil encrease,
Till Iacobs Off-spring shall find Iacobs peace;
Gods Children are the Apples of his Eye,
Whose touch is death, if being toucht, they cry:
Now Tyrant Pharoh dares no longer chuse,
Israel must goe: Pharoh repents, pursues;
Pharoh wants Brick; Pharoh, ere long, I feare,
Will find the purchase of his Brick too deare:
Moses holds forth his Rod: The Seas divide;
The Waves are turn'd to Walls on either side:
They passe secure; Pharoh pursues them still:
God leaves his Children to the brunt of Ill:
The Chariot-Wheeles flye off, the Harnesse cracks;
One wants a Nayle; the next, a Hammer lacks:
How Man is cross'd and puzzel'd in that Plott,
Where Heav'n denyes successe, and prospers not!
Moses holds forth his Rod: The Easterne wind
Calls backe the Tydes: The parted Waters ioynd,
And overwhelmd great Pharo' and Pharoes Host;
Mohe scapd to tell the newes: All drownd, and lost:
Thus thrives Rebellion: Plagues not doing good,
Oft-times conclude their Ceremony' in Blood:
Thus hardned hearts grow more and more obdure;
And Heav'n cuts off, when Earth is most secure.

84. On the First borne.

The First-borne of th'Egyptians all were slaine,
From him that holds the Scepter to the Swayne:
But all that are First-borne in Israel, be
Accepted, Lord, and sanctifide to Thee:
Thy lookes are alwayes turn'd upon the Prime
Of all our Actions, Words, our thoughts, our time;
Thy pleased Eye is fixt upon the First;
And from the Womb w'are thine, or else accurst.

85. On baptized Infants.

I dare not iudge those Iudgements, ill advis'd,
That hold such Infants sav'd, as dye, baptiz'd:
What hinders Life? Originall hath bin
New washt away; There's yet, no Actuall Sin:
Death is th'Effect of Sin: The Cause being gon,
What ground is left for Death to worke vpon?
I know not: But of Israels sons, 'tis found,
Moses was sav'd; I read that none was drownd.

86. On the grumbling Israelites.

No sooner out, but grumble? Is the Brick
So soone forgotten? 'Tis a common trick:
Serve God in Plenty? Egypt can doe thus;
No thankes to serve our God, when God serves us:
Some sullen Curres, when they perceive a Bone,
Will wagg their Tayles and faune; But snarle, if none.

87. On Mans rebellion.

O, how perverse is Flesh and Blood! in whom
Rebellion blossomes from the very Wombe!
What Heav'n commands, how lame we are to do!
And things forbid how soone perswaded to!
We never read rebellious Israel did
Bow to strange Gods, till Israel was forbid.

88. On Israel.

Had Israel, in her want but truely humbled,
Isr'el had prayd, & grond to heav'n; not grumbled:
But Isr'el wanted food: Isr'els complaint
Could not be fervent, Isr'el being saint:
Isr'el gets food: Now Isr'el is so full,
That her Devotion, and her Zeale is dull:
Lord when art thou in season? When's the time,
To doe thee service? When's our Zeale in prime?
'Tis alwayes either not full ripe or wasting:
We can not serve our God nor Full nor Fasting.

89. On the Sinners Refuge.

He that shall shed, with a presumptuous hand,
The blood of Man; must, by thy iust command
Be put to death: The Murtherer must dye;
Thy Law denyes him refuge where to flye:
Great God our hands have slain a Man; nay further,
They have committed a presumptuous murther,
Vpon a guiltles Man; Nay, what is worse,
They have betraid our Brother to the Curse
Of a reproachfull death; Nay, what exceeds,
It is our Lord, our dying Saviour bleeds:
Nay more; It is thy Son; thy only Son;
All this have we, all this our hands have done:
On what deare Obiects shall we turne our eye?
Looke to the Law? O, by the Law, we dye:
Is there no Refuge, Lord? No place that shall
Secure our Soules from Death? Ah, none at all:
What shall poore Mortals do? Thy Lawes are just,
And most irrevocable: Shall we trust
Or flye to our owne Merits, and be freed
By our good Workes? I; there were helpe indeed!
Is there no City for a Soule to flye,
And save it selfe? Must we resolve to dye?
O Infinite! O (not to be exprest?)
Nay, not to be conceived by the brest
Of Men or Angels! O transcendent Love!
Incomprehensible! as farre above
The reach of Man, as mans deserts are under
The sacred Benefit of so blest a Wonder!
That very Blood our sinfull hands have shed,
Cryes loud for Mercy, and those Wounds do plead
For those that made them: he that pleads, forgives;
And is both God and Man; both dead, and lives:
He, whom we murther'd, is become our Guarden;
Hee's Man, to suffer; and hee's God to pardon:
Here's our Protection; Here, our Refuge City,
Whose living springs run Piety and Pitty:
Goe then, my Soule, and passe the common Bounds
Of Passion: Goe, and kneele before his Wounds;
Go touch them with thy lips: thou needst not feare;
They will not bleed afresh, though Thou be there:
But if they doe, that very Blood, thou spilt,
Beleev't, will plead thy Pardon, not thy Guilt.

90. On the deposing of Princes.

I know not by what vertue Rome deposes
A Christian Prince: Did Aaron command Moses?
If sacred Scriptures mention such a thing,
Sure Rome has colour to depose a King.

91. On Peters Keyes.

The pow'r of Peter does all pow'r excell;
He opens Heav'n; He shuts the Doores of Hell:
The Keyes are his: In what a case were they,
Should Peters Successors mistake the Key?

92. On Offrings.

Are all such Offrings, as are crusht, and bruis'd,
Forbid thy Altar? May they not be us'd?
And must all broken things be set apart?
No, Lord: Thou wilt accept a Broken Heart.

93. On Vsurers.

Of all men, Vs'rers are not least accurst;
They robb the Spittle; pinch th'Afflicted worst:
In others greife they'r most delighted in;
Whilst Givers suffer for the Takers sin:
O how uniust a Trade of life is that,
Which makes the Lab'rers, leane; and th'idle, fatt!

94. On Repentance.

Canst thou recover thy consumed Flesh,
From the well-feasted Wormes? Or put on fresh?
Canst thou redeeme thy Ashes from the dead?
Or quit thy Carkas from her sheet of Lead?
Canst thou awaken thy earth-closed eyes?
Vnlock thy Marble Monument, and rise?
All this thou mayst performe, with as great ease,
As to Repent thee mortall, when thou please:
It is thy Grave, not Bed that thou art in:
Th'art not asleepe, but thou art dead in Sin.

95. On Wine and Water.

Nature , and Grace, who ever tasted both,
Differ as much, as Wine, and Water doth:
This clenses, (if not grosly stayn'd with Sin)
The outward Man: but scowers not, within:
That cheares the heart, & makes the Courage bold,
Quickens and warmes dead spirits that are cold:
It fires the Blood, and makes the Soule divine:
O that my Water, Lord, were turnd to Wine!

96. On Balams Asse.

The Asse, that for her slownesse, was forbid
To be imployed in Gods service, did
Performe good service now, in being slow:
The Asse received stripes, but would not goe:
She baulkd the way, and Balam could not guid her:
The Asse had farre more wisedome then the Rider:
The Message being bad, the Asse was loth
To be the Bearer: 'Twas a happy sloth;
'Twas well for Balam: Had his Asse but tryde
Another step, Balam had surely dy'd:
Poore Asse! And was thy faithfull service payd
With oft-repeated strokes? Hadst thou obayd,
Thy Lord had bought thy travell, with his blood:
Such is Mans payment, often bad for Good:
The Asse begins to question with his Master,
Argues the case, pleads why he went no faster:
Nay, shewes him Myst'ries, far beyond his reach;
Sure, God wants Prophets, when dull Asses preach:
The Asse perceives the Angel, and fals downe;
When Balam sees him not; or sees, unknowne:
Nor is't a wonder: for Gods Spirit did passe
From blindfold Balam, into Balams Asse.

97. On some raw Divines.

Some raw Divines, no sooner are Espous'd
To their first Wives, and in the Temple hous'd,
But straight the Peace is broke: They now begin
T'appoint the Field, to fight their Battailes in:
School-men must war with School-men; text with text:
The first's the Chaldee's Paraphrase; the next
The Septuagints: Opinion thwarts Opinion;
The Papist holds the first; The last, th'Arminian:
And then the Councels must be call'd t'advice,
What this, of Lateran sayes; what that, of Nice:
And here the poynt must be anew disputed;
Arrius is false; and Bellarmine's confuted:
Thus with the sharpe Artill'ry of their Witt,
They shoot at Random, carelesse where they hit:
The slightly studied Fathers must be prayd,
Although on small acquaintance, in to ayd,
Whose glorious Varnish must impose a glosse
Vpon their Paint, whose gold must gild their drosse:
Now Martine Luther must be purg'd by them,
From all his Errors, like a School-boyes Theame;
Free-wil's disputed, Consubstantiation;
And the deepe Ocean of Predestination,
Where, daring venter, oft, too far into't,
They, Pharo-like, are drownd both Horse and Foot:
Forgetting that the Sacred Law enioynes
New-married men to sit beneath their Vines,
And cheare their Wives: They must not venter out
To Warre, vntill the Yeare be run about.

98. On Buying of the Bible.

Tis but a folly to reioyce, or boast,
How smal a price, thy wel-bought Pen'worth cost:
Vntill thy death, thou shalt not fully know,
Whether thy Purchase be good cheape, or no;
And at that day, beleev't, it will appeare,
If not extreamely cheape, extreamly deare.

99. On the buying of the new Testament.

Reader , If thou wilt prove no more
Then what I terme thee, ev'n before
Thou aske the price, turne back thine eye;
If otherwise, vnclaspe, and buy:
Know then, the Price of what thou buy'st,
Is the deare Blood of Iesus Christ;
Which Price is over-deare to none,
That dares protect it with his owne:
If thou stand guilty of the price,
Ev'n save thy purs-strings, and be wise:
Thy mony will but, in conclusion,
Make purchase of thy owne Confusion:
But if that guilt be done away,
Thou mayst as safely buy, as pay.

100. To my Booke.

My Little Pinnace, strike thy Sayles,
Let slippe thy Anchor; The Winde fayles
And Sea-men oft, in Calmes doe feare
That foule, and boystrous weather's neare:
If a robustious Storme should rise,
And bluster from Censorious Eyes,
Although the swelling Waves be rough,
And proud, thy Harbour's safe enough:
Rest, Rest a while, till ebbing Tides
Shall make thee stanch, and breme thy sides;
When Winds shall serve, hoyst up thy Sayle,
And flye before a prosp'rous Gale;
That all the Coasters may resort,
And bid thee welcome to thy Port.