Fons Lachrymarum or a fountain of tears: From whence doth flow Englands Complaint, Jeremiahs Lamentations paraphras'd with Divine Meditations and an elegy Upon that Son of Valor Sir Charles Lucas. Written by John Quarles |
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Chap. II.
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Chap. II.
Fons Lachrymarum |  |
Chap. II.
Contents.
1 Jeremiah lamenteth, the misery of Jerusalem. 20 He complaineth thereof to God.
Behold!
Heav'ns Metropolitan hath spread
His gloomy clouds of anger on the head
Of sad Jerusalem: He hath destroy'd
Those bounteous treasures Israel injoy'd;
And from his mem'ry hath his footstool thrown,
VVhen he with floods of anger was o'reflown.
And Jacobs habitations he unfram'd,
And wrathfully consum'd them: Thus inflam'd
The strongest castles Judahs Daughter had,
He tumbled down, and made her people sad:
And he, to shew what his grand power could do,
Defil'd the Kingdom and the Princes too.
His two-edged passion hath cut off the horn
And Chief of Israel, made him a scorn
To his deriding Foes, and also stayd,
Yea and withdrawn his right hand from his ayd.
His fury like an all-consuming flame
Burn'd against Jacob, and devour'd his name.
His wrestless arm hath bent his yeelding bow;
He stood resolved like a dauntless foe:
And in the Tabernacle he hath slew
The eyes delight, like fire his anger flew.
He threw down Israels strongest situations,
And fill'd Jerusalem with lamentations.
And like a fruitless garden hath layd voyd
Th'infected Tabernacle, and destroy'd
Th'assemblies structures; and an angry wind
Hath blown their Feasts and Sabbaths from his mind;
Both Kings & Priests in anger he forgot,
And look'd on them as if he saw them not.
His holy places, and his Altar he
Abhor'd: and gave unto the Enemie
Her fairest palaces: their ill-tun'd voyces,
As on a feast day, fill'd the Church with noises.
His hand stretch'd forth a line, when he intended
To ruine Sion that so much offended:
He hath resolv'd destruction; therefore all
The rampart languish'd with the gliding wall.
He hath destroy'd, and batter'd down her grates
The gaping Earth imbowell'd all her Gates:
Her King and Princes dwell with Gentiles; and
Her Laws are banish'd from her lawless Land:
Her Prophets gaze about; the frowning skies
Do represent no vision to their eyes.
Her mournful Elders on the ground repose,
And silently consent unto their woes:
They cloth'd themselves with sackcloth, and they crown'd
Their heads with dust, they borrowed from the ground:
No joys were pleasing to the eys of them
That were the Virgins of Jerusalem.
My bowels yern, my tear-distilling eyes
Are sore with gazing on the miseries
Of frail Jerusalem: Alas the feet
Of her dear sucklings stagger in the street!
And like the wounded in the City send
Their sighs for food, unto their dearest friend:
And whilst they slumbred on their mothers brest,
They pour'd their souls into eternal rest.
What shall I witness for thee, Oh thou gem,
Thou pining Daughter of Jerusalem?
To what shall I compare thee? What can be
Oh Sions Daughter, equal unto thee?
Let all the world recure thee, if they can:
For Ah, thy breach is like the Ocean!
Alas, thy purblind Prophets all have been
Hoodwink'd with folly, & vain things have seen:
But ne'er discover'd thine iniquity,
Which was the cause of thy captivity.
Their mis-informed senses were content
To see false Reasons for thy Banishment.
All that past by, and saw thee thus decaying,
Clapt their rude hands, yea hist at thee, thus saying;
Is this the City that the worldlings call
Beauties perfection? This the joy of all?
Thy foes revile thee, and as they pass by
They gnash their teeth against thee; thus they cry
This is the day we look'd for, now we know
She is destroy'd, we see her overthrow.
That which the King of Heav'n devised, now
He hath enacted and fulfill'd his vow:
He hath thrown down without remorse, O see,
Thy adversaries triumph over thee.
This hath th'Almighty done for them, at length
He made thē strong, yea & advanc'd their strength
They mov'd the Lord with their uncessant cries;
O wall of Sions daughter, let thine eyes
Run down like rivers, give thy self no sleep;
Forget to smile, and practice how to weep.
Arise, and in the silent night bemoan
Thy grief; O cry unto th'Almighty one:
In the beginning of the watch implore
Thy growing sorrows; make a flood before
Th'Eternals face: O crave that he would please
To send thy young, faint, hungry children ease.
His gloomy clouds of anger on the head
Of sad Jerusalem: He hath destroy'd
Those bounteous treasures Israel injoy'd;
And from his mem'ry hath his footstool thrown,
VVhen he with floods of anger was o'reflown.
And Jacobs habitations he unfram'd,
And wrathfully consum'd them: Thus inflam'd
The strongest castles Judahs Daughter had,
He tumbled down, and made her people sad:
And he, to shew what his grand power could do,
Defil'd the Kingdom and the Princes too.
His two-edged passion hath cut off the horn
And Chief of Israel, made him a scorn
38
Yea and withdrawn his right hand from his ayd.
His fury like an all-consuming flame
Burn'd against Jacob, and devour'd his name.
His wrestless arm hath bent his yeelding bow;
He stood resolved like a dauntless foe:
And in the Tabernacle he hath slew
The eyes delight, like fire his anger flew.
He threw down Israels strongest situations,
And fill'd Jerusalem with lamentations.
And like a fruitless garden hath layd voyd
Th'infected Tabernacle, and destroy'd
Th'assemblies structures; and an angry wind
Hath blown their Feasts and Sabbaths from his mind;
Both Kings & Priests in anger he forgot,
And look'd on them as if he saw them not.
His holy places, and his Altar he
Abhor'd: and gave unto the Enemie
Her fairest palaces: their ill-tun'd voyces,
As on a feast day, fill'd the Church with noises.
His hand stretch'd forth a line, when he intended
To ruine Sion that so much offended:
He hath resolv'd destruction; therefore all
The rampart languish'd with the gliding wall.
He hath destroy'd, and batter'd down her grates
The gaping Earth imbowell'd all her Gates:
Her King and Princes dwell with Gentiles; and
Her Laws are banish'd from her lawless Land:
Her Prophets gaze about; the frowning skies
Do represent no vision to their eyes.
39
And silently consent unto their woes:
They cloth'd themselves with sackcloth, and they crown'd
Their heads with dust, they borrowed from the ground:
No joys were pleasing to the eys of them
That were the Virgins of Jerusalem.
My bowels yern, my tear-distilling eyes
Are sore with gazing on the miseries
Of frail Jerusalem: Alas the feet
Of her dear sucklings stagger in the street!
And like the wounded in the City send
Their sighs for food, unto their dearest friend:
And whilst they slumbred on their mothers brest,
They pour'd their souls into eternal rest.
What shall I witness for thee, Oh thou gem,
Thou pining Daughter of Jerusalem?
To what shall I compare thee? What can be
Oh Sions Daughter, equal unto thee?
Let all the world recure thee, if they can:
For Ah, thy breach is like the Ocean!
Alas, thy purblind Prophets all have been
Hoodwink'd with folly, & vain things have seen:
But ne'er discover'd thine iniquity,
Which was the cause of thy captivity.
Their mis-informed senses were content
To see false Reasons for thy Banishment.
All that past by, and saw thee thus decaying,
Clapt their rude hands, yea hist at thee, thus saying;
Is this the City that the worldlings call
Beauties perfection? This the joy of all?
40
They gnash their teeth against thee; thus they cry
This is the day we look'd for, now we know
She is destroy'd, we see her overthrow.
That which the King of Heav'n devised, now
He hath enacted and fulfill'd his vow:
He hath thrown down without remorse, O see,
Thy adversaries triumph over thee.
This hath th'Almighty done for them, at length
He made thē strong, yea & advanc'd their strength
They mov'd the Lord with their uncessant cries;
O wall of Sions daughter, let thine eyes
Run down like rivers, give thy self no sleep;
Forget to smile, and practice how to weep.
Arise, and in the silent night bemoan
Thy grief; O cry unto th'Almighty one:
In the beginning of the watch implore
Thy growing sorrows; make a flood before
Th'Eternals face: O crave that he would please
To send thy young, faint, hungry children ease.
Consider Lord to whom thou'st done this great,
This unrepented ill: Shall women eat
Their span-long Children? Shall thy slain Priests lie
Tomb'd with thy Prophet in thy Sanct'ary?
The young and old have shar'd in equal harms,
They lie and tumble in each others arms:
Upon the flinty streets my virgins fall,
With my young men; the sword disliv'd them all:
Thus in thine anger hast thou struck them dead,
Thus hast thou kill'd, and never pittied.
As in a solemn day my terrors round
About thou'st called, so that none was found
In the Lords day of anger to remain:
Those that I swadled and brought up, in vain
I brought them up; the enemy infum'd
Envy'd this off-spring, and their days consum'd.
This unrepented ill: Shall women eat
Their span-long Children? Shall thy slain Priests lie
Tomb'd with thy Prophet in thy Sanct'ary?
The young and old have shar'd in equal harms,
They lie and tumble in each others arms:
Upon the flinty streets my virgins fall,
With my young men; the sword disliv'd them all:
Thus in thine anger hast thou struck them dead,
Thus hast thou kill'd, and never pittied.
41
About thou'st called, so that none was found
In the Lords day of anger to remain:
Those that I swadled and brought up, in vain
I brought them up; the enemy infum'd
Envy'd this off-spring, and their days consum'd.
Meditatio in Capitulum.
See , see, my Soul, what Heav'n hath done! O seeWhat 'tis t'offend a pow'rful Majestie!
Go, go, and quickly tell the sons of men
What 'tis to rouze a Lion from his Den:
Bid them keep peace and quietness in Sion;
Bid them turn Lambs, or Heav'n will turn a Lion.
Bid them take notice, she that was the stem
Of honor, now is poor Jerusalem.
Alas! Alas! experience made her know
Griefs abstract, and the quintescence of wo.
And ah my Soul! who knows the course of sorrow?
There 'tis to day, it may be here to morrow.
Then have a care, let thy well tutor'd grief
Know rather how to purchase a relief,
Than plagues and torments; Let thy sober will
Be sway'd by reason: let thy reason still
Lead thee to meditation: then begin
To search thy self, and cypher up thy sin.
42
Thy grief, and where th'imperious humors lie
And having found them out, let no delay
Damage thy Soul, but quickly haste away;
And from the bottom of thy heart confess
Thy greatest sins; so Heav'n may make them less.
O kiss the Son; for if his anger be,
Yea but a little kindled; blest is he
Whose groping Soul his seal'd up mercies found,
And cast his anchor in so firm a ground.
Heav'n smiles on them whose oft-repeated pray'r
Expands their sins, & makes their God their care
But when revolting negligence shall call
Confounding ruine from th'imperial hall
Of Heav'ns high-seated Palace, and invite
A dreadful vengeance, to eclipse the light
Of a resplendent happiness; and double
The lab'ring Soul with interposing trouble:
Ah, then our pleasures shall be turn'd to toys,
And sudden grief shall expiate our joys!
And like Jerusalem, confus'd shall we
Wander and languish in obscuritie:
Then, then, our down-cast spirits shall lament,
And moan their just-deserved punishment:
Then shall our Peace be drawn unto an end,
Then shall we look for, but shall find no friend
Then shall our sad Embassadors prepare,
And mount to Heav'n, but find no audience there.
Then shall our blubber'd eyes in vain let slide
Innumerable tears: then shall the Tide
43
And dash against our sin-polluted shore:
Then shall we run, and in our running meet
Th'obvious sword in the blood-streaming street:
Then shall our hasty trembling feet retire
To our sad houses; there shall Death require
Th'arrears of sorrow: Lingring Famine shall
Like to a lean-cheek'd fury grasp us all:
And from our strouting veins shal squeez a flood,
A luke-warm deluge of diffused blood.
Then shall our children with their midnight cries
Lament for food; Then shall their mothers eyes
Bedew their bosoms with the falling showres
Of dribling tears: Then shall their loathed hours
Haste to an end; And having thus exprest
Their woes, shall creep into Eternal rest.
Then shall the early melancholly Bells
Sound mournful peals for their sad last farewels.
Ah now my Soul! Can any griefs out-vie
Such griefs as these? Can any heart deny
The justness of these Judgments? If they do,
May they feel Sodoms and Gomorrahs too.
Heav'n cannot be unjust; No, no, 'tis we
Provoking sinners are unjust, not he.
Shall we offend, and shall we every day
Hale down his judgments on our backs, then lay
The burthen of our faults on him, and cry,
Like Traytor Judas, Master is it I?
No, no, we must not; but let every one
Unbosom all his actions, and make known
44
Plead himself guiltless, he's a happy man.
Find out but ten good men, and for their sake
Heav'n will deduct a thousand plagues, and shake
Ten thousand more from his incensed brest,
And for their sakes will give ten thousand rest.
Sodom can witness Heav'n brookes no denyal,
He had sav'd all, had ten been found but loyal.
Oh blind and foolish is that City, when
Ten thousand doubled cannot number ten.
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Chap. II.
Fons Lachrymarum | |