Halelviah or, Britans Second Remembrancer, bringing to Remembrance (in praisefull and Poenitentiall Hymns, Spirituall Songs, and Morall-Odes): Meditations, advancing the glory of God, in the practise of Pietie and Vertue; and applyed to easie Tunes, to be Sung in Families, &c. Composed in a three-fold Volume, by George Wither. The first, contains Hymns-Occasionall. The second, Hymns-Temporary. The third, Hymns-Personall. That all Persons, according to their Degrees, and Qualities, may at all Times, and upon all eminent Occasions, be remembred to praise God; and to be mindfull of their Duties |
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Hymn LVIII. A Thanksgiving after a dangerous Sicknesse; by
one, who was unprepared for Death.
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 | Halelviah |  |
Hymn LVIII. A Thanksgiving after a dangerous Sicknesse; by one, who was unprepared for Death.
[_]
This Hymn serves to bring to minde, how terrible Death will be to those who are not ready for it; and personates, by exemplary expressions of Fear and Thankfulnesse, what may be the condition of others, who live unprepared; and how thankfull they ought to be for mercy obtained.
[1]
Lord! from Death's forgetfull shade,Since I had
By thy pow'r, my preservation;
I will both with Heart and Tongue,
Tune a Song,
To thy mercies, exaltation.
For, to Thankfulnesse inclinde,
So I minde
104
That, thy Favour, shall of me,
Ever be
With my chiefest cunning, praised.
2
And, my Fellow-Creatures, all,When you shall
Heare what grace, to me, he showeth;
Daign, your Thankfulnesse, to joyn,
Vnto mine,
To discharge the dues it oweth.
And, ô Lord! enable mee
Vnto Thee,
So to render praises-giving;
That, all may, who heare the same
Blesse thy name,
That I breath'd among the living.
3
For, (as yet) me thinks, I seeLife in mee,
In Her powrs and Senses failing:
And my shortned-panting Breath,
Yeelding Death,
All the Symptoms of prevailing.
But, for Death, not well prepared,
So I fared,
That, much terrour I sustained:
And, Vain-longings having, still,
Thrall'd my Will;
Thus, I fearefully complained.
4
VVhere is now? where is, alas?Time, that was?
105
And those pleasing Dayes, wherein,
I have bin
Youths beguiling Pleasure showed?
Must I! must I, now (thought I)
Helplesse Die?
And, be carelesse left, to morrow;
In a dark, and lonely grave?
VVhere none have
Sense of Comfort, Joy, or Sorrow?
5
VVill no mortall Wit, or Powre,From this Howre,
My Despairing Soul, release?
But must ev'ry earthly Thought,
Come to nought,
And my Hopes for ever cease?
Shall I never! never-more,
(As before)
View the Daies approching Glory?
But, must this black Night, nigh past,
Be my last?
And conclude my mortall-Story?
6
Such, my foolish fancies were,As you hear;
And, thus fruitlesly I mourned.
But, at last (by Terrors taught)
Him I sought,
Whose free Grace my Death adjourned.
Lord! said I; observe the grones,
Hear the moanes,
106
And, my humble suit allow,
Lest I, now,
In an endlesse terror languish.
7
Sins, I have, which numberlesse,Me oppresse.
And, so strongly overlay me:
That, if yet I should appear,
Much I fear
Down to Hell, their weight might weigh me.
And, Alas! can trembling Dust,
So unjust,
Stand before the Lord of Thunder?
Whilst that Guiltinesse abides,
Which divides,
Me, and Comforts, far asunder?
8
Lord! I dare not to appear,Till I hear
That I am to favour taken.
Therefore, thy sad Servant, now,
Comfort Thou,
Whom all Comfort hath forsaken.
Let not thy Compassion, be
Lesse to me,
Then my Foes despight hath proved.
But, oh! let my Fear, and Pain,
Once again,
Be abated, and removed.
9
Iesu, for thy passion-sake,Daigne to take,
107
That, my naturall estate
I may hate
And delight in thy perfections.
Spare; ô blest Redeemer, spare!
Let my Fear
To so firm a Faith be turned,
That it may true Joyes beget;
And, oh! let
Death be, till that houre, adjourned.
10
Lord! if this, for which I pray,Gain I may;
(If to health I may be raised)
Of thy Love, my Song shall be:
Thou, of me,
Shalt, for evermore, be praised.
In deep sighs (that spake aloud)
Thus I vow'd;
With a heart, at large distressed;
And, the Spirit, help'd my mones,
With such Grones,
As may never be expressed.
11
Those Complaints my Saviour heardWith regard:
As I pray'd, right so befell it:
From those Fears, which on me ceas'd,
I was eas'd.
And, alive I am to tell it.
For which Mercy, let no day
Passe away,
108
But till I in earth embra'st,
Sleep my last,
Let thy Goodnesse be my Ditty.
12
And, although a Slave to Sin,I have bin,
Make me truly now abhor it.
And, when Death next summons me,
Let me be
Ev'ry way prepared for it.
So, no false, no vain delight,
No Affright,
From her blisse, my Soul shall sever:
But, so love, so live shall I,
(Live or die)
That, I blest shall be for ever.
| Halelviah | |