A Triple Paradox
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The source of this document is the Early English Books Online (EEBO-TCP) website. Those books were transcribed in a character for character manner and can be very cumbersome to read since there was no standard spelling during that time. Many spelling variations such as "unlesse", "vnlesse", and "vnles" regularly appear.
This project was conceived to clean up those books as much as possible and make them more accessible to the interested reader, leading to the creation of a massive list of variant spellings and their corrections. This was used to clean up the text, but is of course only as complete as the list itself. Because of the nature of the original transcription, some words have missing characters or places where the original language (e.g., Greek) was not transcribed. This effort does not change that. Be aware that the original transcription can also be faulty and in some cases entire sentences may be missing.
Although this is no substitute for a properly compared, proofed, and scholarly edition, I believe that the result is a document which is far more accessible, particularly for searching for terms using standard spelling. The document has been cleaned and presented in what I hope is a pleasing and useful format for the vast majority of Christian brothers and sisters who just want access to read these spiritually nourishing works.
However, a word of warning: The Puritans were a very diverse group of people and their age was characterized with godliness, but also much upheaval, disputation and strife. They disagreed on many doctrines and some of these works contain less orthodox or Scriptural views than others. The reader is strongly advised to read with discernment, particularly if it is unknown whether author is trustworthy.
This project took a huge amount of time and skill to bring to fruition. I would particularly like to thank David Jonescue for the initial list of Puritans he found on EEBO and the concept behind this project as well as the continuous, unceasing efforts toward seeing this complete. Without his labor, this would not be available. Alex Sarrouf was invaluable in providing the initial list of over 7,000 spelling variations he had identified and corrected, as well as continuing to review more than 16,000 additions to that list for any typos.
Logan West
(with David Jonescue and Alex Sarrouf)
www.puritansearch.org
A Triple Paradox: Affixed to a COUNTER-MURE Raised against the Furious Batteries of Restraint, Slander and Poverty, The three Grand Engines OF The World, the Flesh and the Devil.
By Major GEORGE WITHER, Who, now beleagured by their Forces, throws out unto them this DEFIANCE.
The said PARADOX maintains these Particulars.
- That Confinement is more safe than Liberty,
- Slander more advantageous than Praise,
- Poverty more profitable than Riches.
Nusquam, non potest esse virtuti locus.
Seneca.
LONDON, Printed for the Author. 1661.
The Author, to all those who have relieved him in his Beleagurement.
IT is a more Blessed thing to Give, than to Receive; Therefore, having hitherto been a Receiver only, I am now desirous to be a Giver also, though it be but of a Mite, or of a Cup of cold water; For, we are not to expect Benedictions or Acceprations, strictly answerable to the quantity or quality of our Gifts considered in themselves, but according to our Purposes and Abilities; which encourages me to send you a handful of such Fruit as grows upon my WITHERD-Tree, now almost past bearing, that if you find it as pleasant and as wholesome, as I conceived it to be, you having therewith refreshed yourselves, may if you please, pick out some of the Kernels, and by sowing and replanting them in your Orchards, preserve the kind for future use, when my Tree is rotten.
I make not tender of this Diminutive Present, by way of R • tribution; For, GOD is your reward: but to be a testimonial of my Gratitude, and of my willingness, to have done more, if I had been able; or rather, that it may be a memorial of GOD'S Mercy to me vouchsafed by your hands when I was deserted of the World; which ought never to be by me forgotten: For, I confess, I have thereby lived to produce this, and whatsoever I shall do hereafter in discharge of my duty, and had else, ere this day perished from the Earth, for ought I know to the contrary, though in my greatest wants and uncertainty of Supplies I was always as far from a despairing Distrust, as if I had then possessed a Vault filled with hidden Treasures, which no man could take from me: And (though I am yet in no more certainty in respect of External Supplies) GOD preserves in me the same confidence, and I believe he will always preserve it in me.
This, is so great, and so extraordinary a Mercy, considering the many terrors, distrusts & necessities, wherewith many thousands of better men are daily exercised & proved, that I conceive myself obliged in conscience, openly to acknowledge it both to glorify him who vouchsafes it, and to confirm in myself and other men, our Christian hopes, by delaring what GOD hath done for my soul, who have nothing in myself to deserve it, but what is of his gift, and who have much more of my own, which rather deserves the contrary. I am, and I hope shall ever be so far from being ashamed of my preservation by mere Charity, that I do esteem it a greater honor & happiness, than to have the most plentiful subsistence which the world can confer upon me by a constant Revenue, with an eminent dignitary annexed: For I have seen the best Provisions of that kind, not only to fall but to bring their Possessors also to be worse than nothing.
I had superscribed your Names (or hereto added a Catalogue of them:) but many of you are personally unknown, and, the rest having discovered themselves unto me, for our mutual comfort and conversation only (without any desire that notice might be taken by other men of what hath been communicated, and passed between them and me) I do forbear making your Names public, for that and other considerable respects. You are my friends by the surest side: For you were not made mine by my industry, merit, solicitation, or in respect of any carnal Relations, but merely by GOD'S Mediation who inclined your hearts to that voluntary compassion, whereof I had fruit in due season, sufficient to preserve me, without sordid want or dejection, in that condition wherein I am likely to be continued to fit me for that service, which I have yet to do; and I am confident that he who made you my Friends, will so keep you; and make me thankful to him and you, whilst we live in this world. Your Acceptation I doubt not of, nor of assistance by your prayers to the end of my Pilgrim • ge: For, though some of us may circumstantially differ in our Judgments, we are one in him and with him, in his Essential Truth, and in that love which knits all the Saints into one blessed and everlasting Communion. I am
Your humble Beadsman, GEORGE WITHER.
For an INTRODUCTION, the AUTHOR flings this Express to the WORLD.
A
Parlie,
unto thee disdainful WORLD,
I sound; and have to thee this
Paper
hurled.
Yet, neither for a
Treaty
or
Compliance,
But, rather, still, to bid to thee
Defiance;
For, what thou
wert,
thou
art;
and I yet am
And will be, whilst I live, to thee the same.
Thou art become the
Mistress of the Field;
Hast me beleaguered, summond me to yield
My
Fortress,
and thou so proceedest on,
As if thou wert assured, it should be wonn:
But, thereon thou perhaps, mayst yet attend
As long as did th'
Infanta
for
Ostend;
And as she nothing had at last but Stones,
Get nothing but dead flesh, and rotten bones.
I see thine insolence, and every day
Hear what thy favorites are pleased to say,
How they extol thy
Power,
how they debase
My succors, and my helpers would disgrace.
I well observe, thou round begirt me hast;
That, having all my
Outworks
quite laid waste,
Thou, to complete a
Conquest,
dost begin
A fierce assault to ruin all
within.
That, to prevent the sending of supplies,
Thou fright'st my friends with slanders and with lies.
My
Accusatrix
too, become thou art;
And, justly (I acknowledge) in some part,
But, not in all: for, chiefly, thy
temptations
Inducements were to those prevarications
Whereby, my Talents were sometime abused:
Though therefore, I seem worthily reduced
To what I am; thou undeservedly
Hast me pursued with malignity;
Because the love which I once bore to thee
Was more, than thou deservedest it should be;
Thou most injuriously requited hast
That love, which in my youth on thee I placit;
For, though I never totally was thine,
Thou hadst (when least) more of me then was mine:
And, him, of his right, to whom all was due
I robbed then, thy service to pursue.
But, he, now gives me grace, thy wiles to hate,
And to observe them ere it is too late,
That what thou by thy falsehoods dost intend,
Shall cross thine own
Designments
in the end.
Thou, having into many errors run me,
Thought'st by undoing me, to have undone me,
But art deceived: for, that which thou hast done
Hath brought me to the knowledge of that
Stone,
Which turneth dross to gold; and from offenses
Instructs me to extract those
Quintessences,
Which will preserve my
Freedom
in all places,
Supply all
Wants;
Convert all my
Disgraces
To honors; and in every estate,
With all things needful, me accommodate.
The
Devil
by thine aid, hath long time sought
How, he his ends upon me might have wrought;
But, neither
Thou
nor
He,
nor both conjoin'd,
Had power to bring to pass what was designed,
Untill the FLESH, my
Delilah,
you got
To be a third Associate in the Plot;
And then, both to her damage, and to mine
You, such progression made in your design,
That by deluding her, you soon prevailed,
In that, whereof you otherwise had failed;
So, by her
Frailty,
more than by your
Power,
(I, being in your clutches at this hour)
Am openly exposed (in some sort)
Like
Sampson
for a while, to make you sport;
But, stretched your malignity so far
That your own
Actings,
your own works will mar:
For, though my
Delilah
your Vassal be,
And you by her means have surprised me,
Your Cords and Chains will off again be flung,
So that, we shall redeemed be ere long
From our
Captivities,
and in conclusion
Your own contrivements will be your confusion.
When thou pretendedst kindnesses to me
(And by them, didst intend to ruin me)
Thou gavest me then, one of
Pandora
's Boxes,
Which, I return thee full of
Paradoxes
That shall uncharm thy
Witchcrafts,
and destroy
Those
Gins
which thou against me dost employ:
For, if thou open it, (as it is sed
Prometheus
opened what she's fabuled
To have bestowed on him) from thence will flow
Those
Truths,
which will thy falsehoods overthrow,
And make some who admire them, to contemn
Those
Iuglings
wherewithal thou foolest them:
As likewise all those Bugbear-Tyrannies,
Which thy oppressing-Instruments devise
To fright us from our duties, and adhere
To thy allurements, out of love or fear.
To batter down my petty single
Sconce,
Thy three greatest
Engines
thou hast raised at once,
And so surrounded me within my
Fort,
That, I have scarce one little Sally-port
Whereby I may have egress to offend
My
Foes,
or to give ingress to a friend.
Thy
Ragged Regiment
of
POVERTY,
(And they which by
RESTRAINT
of
LIBERTY,)
Commanded are) enclose me so about
With
double Trenches,
that, here can to naught
For my Relief, admittance now be given,
Except it comes immediately from Heaven:
Moreover, at the
four Winds,
raised high,
Are four
Mounts,
whereupon thy
Batteries
lie
So diligently man'd by Major SLANDER
(An old and well experienced Commander
In such like services) that, several ways
His great Artillery upon me plays.
At me perpetually his tongue-shot flies,
And his whole
Culverings
charged full with
Lies,
Send poisoned Bullets, which I often hear,
Making loud cracks, or whizzing by mine ear.
But, I, at last, shall rout all this
Brigade,
Quite frustrate those attempts which thou hast made
And raise again thy
seige,
or do as well
By dying nobly in my
Citadel,
And, that it will to thee (when battered down)
Prove like the House by
Sampson
overthrown.
Then, those things, plainly will to thee appear,
Which thou at present, wilt not see nor hear;
And I shall be the same to thee and thine,
Which thou hast lately been to me and mine;
For, then, my
Ghost,
arrayed in white sheets
Shall haunt thy houses, walk about thy streets,
And fright thee day and night with repetition
Of what is hasting on, for thy perdition,
And will descend upon thee at those times
Wherein thou fill'st the measure of thy Crimes.
Mean while, to comfort others, and prevent
The tediousness of my
Beleagurement,
I will draw a Map, wherein I will so express
The vanity of thy maliciousness,
That, they who list shall know how much I slight
Thy
Triple-Forces,
and contemn thy spite;
And I to thee, their weaknesses apart
Will so declare, that, unless blind thou art
Thou shalt perceive, I cannot be destroyed,
By those whom thou against me hast employed
Although in one united: for, these three
SLANDER, IMPRISONMENT and POVERTY,
To fall upon me, all at once began
Before, thou didst repute me for a
Man;
And though they charge me all at once agen,
Grown weaker by
old age,
than I was then,
My
Helper
is the same; and suffering long
Hath by his Grace, now made my power more strong.
I know thy pride this
Confidence
contemns:
For,
faith
and
hope,
are now thought but the dreams
Of those men, whom thou dost
Fanatics
call:
But, whatsoev'r thou thinkest, proceed I shall.
And, if thou heedst what follows, thou shalt hear
How little, either
thee,
or thine I fear.
With that part of thy
Forces
I will begin
Which, with the first
Trench
hath now shut me in.
Thou knowest, what
outwardly,
thou hast bereft;
Now, thou shalt know, what is within me left
But, never shalt attain to apprehend
How far my hidden storehouse doth extend.
Confinement is more advantageous than Liberty.
RESTRAINT, which is an Engine, right or wrong,
Made use of, (first, or last, short time or long)
By most Oppressors, hath been oft my lot;
And, at this present, I escape it not:
For, (though not in the ordinary way
It seemeth now inflicted) I might say,
I am imprisoned, and so confined
That, I am no way free, except in
mind.
Of most enjoyments I am quite deprived
Which from external things may be derived,
Yet thereby not undone; for I possess
My whole essential Freedom neretheless.
My toys are lost, but by their deprivations
I furnished am with real consolations,
Which, though they to the world-ward make no shows
Yield sweeter comforts than the things I lose,
And make my hidden Freedoms to be more
Than those the world vouchsafed heretofore:
For, to her
Freedoms,
when respect I gave
I was then only free to be a slave,
Whereas, this, doth from nothing me restrain,
Which, to true Liberty, doth appertain.
That, which gives most content to flesh and blood
I find to be the basest servitude;
And that we nothing have whereof to boast
Till what the world calls
Liberty
is lost.
What
Freedom
want I, save what being had
makes many
Free-men
slaves, and wise men mad?
None, have upon themselves, and others, brought
More plagues than they have done, who would be thought
The freest men: for
Freedoms
mis-employ'd
Have lately all our Liberties destroyed;
And, most, whom we much reverence as our betters
Are but our fellow-slaves in golden fetters.
What
Liberty
had I, whereof to vaunt
By those Infranchisements I seem to want?
I was at Liberty to roll in dust,
To prosecute my fancies and my lust;
And therein joy'd, when I could walk abroad;
But, now, I find the
Services
of GOD
Are
Perfectst Freedom.
That, I am debar'd
Of nothing, which deserveth my regard;
And, that the
Liberty
I did possess,
Was not true
Freedom,
but
Licentiousness;
At which experiment I am arrived,
By losing that whereof I am deprived.
This (though foreseen it was) to me befell
Before I for it was prepared well,
And, I confess, at first it made a change
Within me,
and without, that seemed strange:
But, not long after, at the second sight,
That, which appeared the
wrong-side,
proved the
right;
And I am well contented therewithal:
For, I could see GOD'S
Mercies
through the wall;
Discern'd, when inwardly, I turned mine eyes,
Much more of Heaven, than when I saw the skies.
And, that, from very little I was bar'd,
Which I have reason greatly to regard.
What can I see abroad, which hath not been
By me before, almost to loathing seen,
Or, heard not so described, that being shown
It will not seem a thing already known?
Both Changes and Rechanges I have viewed;
Seen
new things
old become, old things renewed;
Princes
petitioning disdainful Grooms
Great
Kings
dethron'd, & Peasants in their rooms;
Laws out-law'd,
Out-Laws
raised to be Judges
Of Laws, Lives, Goods, and of our Privileges,
By Law and Conscience; Loyaltie made Treason,
And Treason Loyaltie; Non-sense for Reason
Allow'd, and Reason thought irrational:
Yea,
Meteors
I have seen rise, and Stars fall;
Foundations
that immovable appeared
Thrown down, and Castles in the Air uprear'd.
I have seen
Heads
and
Feet
exchange their places,
Wealth make men poor, and honor bring disgraces;
Beauties,
which ravished beholders eyes
Wax more deformed than
Anatomies,
Or, no more lovely to be looked upon,
Than
Rawridge,
Mumble-crust, or
Bloody-bone,
But, truth to say, they who most lovely be,
Now, no more pleasureful appear to me
Than
Pictures,
nor so much as ugly faces
Whose hearts are beautifi'd with inward graces,
Although to
Beauty
very few were more
A Servant, than I have been heretofore,
And if that please not, which I once liked best,
What pleasure is there to behold the rest?
That, at this present, and all other sights
Afford so little which my heart delights,
That, all the earth, and one poor little room
Are so equivalent to me become,
That I know nothing any other where
More to be prized than my enjoyments here;
And, that which makes me so indifferent
Nor melancholy is, nor discontent.
Confinement, in a house of strength doth dwell,
A homely, and sometimes a nasty Cell,
In furnitures, and in attendance poor,
A
Cerberus
lies always at the door
Fawning a little, when we entering are
But ever snarls while we continue there:
Yet, I so quickly had found out his diet,
That, I knew either how to keep him quiet,
Or order so myself, that when I please,
I can lie down and sleep in
LITTLE-EASE;
Enlarge
within,
that which
without
hath bound,
Contrive conveniences, where none I found;
And, every whit as much content receive
In what I have not, as in what I have.
I view not here the pleasures of the fields
Or what a Garden, Grove, or Meddow yields
Which were of late my daily recreation,
But, I have
Visions
by my contemplation,
Which hither, during my Confinement brings
Not only sights of more essential things
But an assurance of enjoyments too,
Whereof I doubted more a while ago.
I could not be at that
Solemnization
Which honored my
Sovereigns
Coronation,
Nor saw his Royal Train in their late Marches
Through LONDON, under their
Triumphant Arches;
Yet in my solitariness, alone,
What they were doing, I did think upon,
With what should else be done, that's not done yet
And, which I wish we may not quite forget,
Nor so long, that there, may at length be lost
Much real honor, and no little cost;
And which, perhaps, to bring now into mind
By this expression, I am thus confined;
For Providence, did neither me restrain
At this time, nor infuse these thoughts in vain.
Ionick, Dorick,
and
Corinthians
works,
In which, an
Architectors
cunning lurks
Apart, or inter-wove (with that applied
Whereby it may be richly beautifi'd)
I can conceive, as if I saw it made,
And all which paintings thereunto can add.
I know, as well as they who did behold
That costly
Show,
what Silver, Silk and Gold,
Pearls, Diamonds, and precious Rubies, can
Contribute to adorn a horse or man.
I have seen all materials which were thither,
To make up that great triumph, brought together.
Princes and Dukes, and Marquesses and Earls,
Plebeians, Men and Women, Boys and Girls,
As many thousands as then present were
I did as well imagine to be there
As if I them had seen; and can suppose
Not only what is acted at such Shows,
But also, more than was at any one
Since first the
Roman
Triumphs were begun,
And fancy by myself such glorious things
As would quite beggar Emperors and Kings
To represent them. So, by being there
I had but seen a meaner Show than here
My fancy could have made; and what had I
Been then, I pray, advantaged thereby?
What had I gained then, by sitting long
And paying, to be crowded in a throng?
What great contentment could I have derived
From what Mechanic Artists had contrived,
Compar'd to that which my imagination
Contriv'd in honor of that Coronation?
At which the Trophies cost, at most, no more
Than would have made some needy persons poor?
I seldom took, at any time much pleasure
In
Shows,
which every vulgar eye can measure;
And time and cost require to make them gay,
Yet in a moment vanish quite away,
Behind them leaving nothing that conduces
To Pious, Moral, or to Civil uses.
What though I did not see the
King
that day?
I did in my
Confinement,
for him pray
As heartily as any person there,
And, GOD, perhaps, as soon the same will hear,
Although my
Tongue
was not then heard among
Those Acclamations of the vulgar throng,
Which did salute his ear; my silent
Voice
Wing'd with Devotion (though it made no noise)
Ascended Heaven, and may bring blessings down,
Which will conduce to settling of his Crown,
If he unfix it not by mis-endeavor,
Or, valuing of the
Gift
more than the
Giver.
I do presume his duties on that day
He did discharge; and (wishing others may
Perform their dues to him) do not envy
The glory of that day's Solemnity
To him, for whom 'twas purposed, nor the sight,
Thereof, to those who took therein delight;
But wished, both might be perfectly contented
In what was at that present represented;
And hope, naught was to him ascribed then,
Which rather appertains to GOD than
Men:
For, when to
Hereds
eloquent Orations
The people gave blasphemous Acclamations,
And he that honor to himself applied,
Whereby, GOD ought to have been glorified,
The Doom, which that offense did on him bring,
Made him a lifeless, and a louzie King.
Of these things my confinement did produce
Some thoughts, which are perhaps of some good use.
I, likewise exercised my Meditation,
That day, on other things which have relation
To what was then in act; and mus'd upon
That, which occasion gave of things then done,
On some now past, and upon other some
Which probably will be in time to come.
I mus'd upon the
Changes,
and the Chances,
The Public Troubles, and Deliverances
Which I have seen. I seriously did ponder
GOD'S, and
Men's
actions jointly and asunder;
Our foolish Projects, his wise Providences,
Both in their Progress, and their Consequences.
I thought both on the
People
and the
King,
What good or evil possibly might spring
From their deportments towards one another
Now by GOD'S mercy they are brought together.
On those too, in particular, I thought
Whom, GOD into his power hath lately brought:
How great, erewhile, his wants and sufferings were,
What, his enjoyments at this present are;
And, on some other matters, not a few,
Which these, to my consideration drew,
And which perhaps, that day had been by none
Mus'd on, so much, had I not been alone.
Moreover it occasioned thoughts of that
Which to a Nobler Object doth relate;
Even to that Kingdom, King, and Coronation,
That should be thought on with more veneration
Than all the
Monarchs
in their greatest glory,
Who now live, or are memoriz'd in story.
My
Contemplation,
with as much content,
As others had, to me did represent
That
DAY
wherein
CHRIST
through
Jerusalem
Rode meekly on an
Ass,
whilst after him
The people thronged or laqued by his side,
And voluntarily
HOSANNA
cried,
Yet afterward pursuing him with scorns
Cry'd
Crucify,
and crowned him with Thorns;
And this, me thought, was so considerable,
That it made all our Pomp seem despicable.
For, then my Muses drew me by degrees,
To meditate on what my soul fore-sees
Concerning them, who, whilst they do pretend
CHRIST's
Kingdom,
do pursue another end;
And that, which for his glory was bestowed,
Make use of, for advancement of their own.
Not seldom, likewise, I then thought upon
Those many thousand families undone,
Who sit and weep through want of what that day
Was wastefully and vainly, thrown away,
At such a time, wherein both Man and GOD,
Proceedings looked for in another mode,
And when, our public hazards and distress,
Requir'd another way of thankfulness.
Upon that solemn day, (not without wonder)
I saw and heard, the Lightning, rain, and thunder
Wherewith GOD seemed to answer and out-vy
Our Guns and fire-Works, (though I was not nigh)
And such-resemblance had the works of
Art,
To Nature's, that they could not be apart
Distinguish'd; but that, to prevent our error,
The last was loudest, and infused more terror.
This, I observed well; and furthermore
Took special heed, that nigh two Moneths before,
And likewise ever since, from Rainy weather
We were not oft free, one whole day together,
Until that Royal Triumph was begun,
Nor till that moment wherein it was done:
Yet, durst I not be so profane, to say
(As one hath writ)
it dared not rain that day.
Nor at that time,
Flaminian like,
durst I
Conjecture by a
Heathenish Augurie
What GOD thereby intended: but, with awe
Consider'd upon what I heard and saw:
And I confess, the
Lightning, Rain,
and
Thunder
At this our
Seed-time,
caused me to ponder
On that, which
Sumuel
prayed GOD to send
In Harvest-time, and what that did portend;
Which I conceive to be a Meditation
Not then improper, for my Contemplation.
And, though some peradventure may suspect
That these expressions, may some way reflect
On what concerns them, it concerns him more
Whose cause and honor I prefer before
All earthly things; and can be not afraid,
Who ere shall be displeased with what I have said;
For, I was bar'd from seeing what is done
By men; that, GOD'S works might be mused on.
Such things, although we then much mind them not,
Should not amidst our Triumphs be forgot;
And, that, (which then by me was thought upon)
Much more effectually, perhaps, was done
In this condition which I now am in,
Than could in that state, wherein I have been:
Forgot therefore, by others, if it be
It will seem no great wonderment to me;
For, who remember
Joseph's
in their sports,
Or in the jollities at Princes Courts?
Confinement
(which I once a damage thought)
To me, hath other privileges brought.
It manifests apparently to me
Who are my
Kinsmen,
who my
Neighbors
be;
And whether he who passeth by me than,
Be
Levite, Priest,
or a
Samaritan:
For, Neighbourhood and Kindred, he best tries
That's robbed, wounded, or imprisoned lies.
In
Liberty,
I sometimes doubted whether
They, who then came to visit me, were either
My
Friends
or
Foes,
for, I found other while
They whom I trusted most, did most beguile.
But, few or none my
Visitants
now are
Save they, whose Visitations are sincere;
The
Friends
I got, when I did walk abroad
I gained myself: These, are made mine by GOD.
These were acquired without pains or cost;
Not won by merit, nor by small faults lost.
The first, were for prosperity decreed,
The latter, for my help, in time of need,
And sought my Body out, unknown before
Because, they heard it was distrest, and poor;
Which hath to me, Confinement sweeter made,
Than all the Freedoms which I lately had;
And, me, with that
Communion
of the
Saints,
Experimentally, it now acquaints,
Which, in this life enjoyed is, by all,
Who, in the life to come, enjoy it shall,
A
Prison,
cannot dreadful seem to me,
For, there I first was taught my
A, B, C,
In
Sufferings:
There, when I had scarcely past
Mine
Nonage,
to be schooled I was placeit.
And, so long as the Providence of GOD,
Was pleased, that, to instruct me with that
Rod,
I should continue my abiding there,
Princes,
my
Tutors,
and Correctors were.
A
Prison,
is that
House of Discipline,
Wherein the
MARTYRS
usually begin
To be
Probationers;
it is the
College
Of
SAINTS,
wherein experimental knowledge
Is first acquired by a carnal sense
Of that, which tries their Christian patience.
Prisons,
to them, are sanctified
Temples,
Wherein, they by their meekness and examples
Preach to the world by
Deeds
(a powerful way)
What, many other do but merely
say.
And, as our
Prelates,
in each
Cathedral
Have several places, which they please to call
More or less holy: so, there likewise be
Imprisonments
of differing degree:
The
Outer-ward,
an entertainment gives
Most commonly to Murderers and Thieves,
Or, such like malefactors, who displease
The world sometimes, and interrupt her ease,
For which they are confined, till their just guerdon
They shall receive, or bribe her for a pardon;
And whereto she gives all advantages
That may in
Prisons
granted be to these.
But, all her
Prisoners
are not confined
To Wards, and Receptacles of one kind.
The
Inner-wards,
which do to me appear
The same that
Chancels
unto
Churches
are,
Are not made use of (except now and then)
But for most holy and
Religious men.
The deepest
Dungeons
be reserved for those
Who dare our
Vices,
or her
Lusts
oppose;
Or, things repugnant to our ends profess,
(When moved thereto by conscientiousness)
And, whosoere presumes to plead their cases,
As
Innocents,
doth hazard in like places
His own
Restraint;
or else unto suspects,
Which peradventure may have worse effects.
Yet,
Freedom
yields to none so much content,
As these enjoy, by such
Imprisonment.
For, they with inward comforts are delighted,
Whilst they with outward darkness are benighted:
And sweet
Refreshments,
in amongst them come
When they are thronged up in a nasty Room.
When, they of their familiars are deprived,
They are by those, who knew them not, relieved;
When they from
earthly men,
fast locked have been,
Celestial Angels
have sometime broke in;
Knockt off their chains; the gates and doors unbar'd
The
Prison
shook; the sturdy
Jailor
scarr'd
And made him (falling down before them too)
Cry,
Men and Brethren, say, what shall we do?
A
Prison
is the best
retiring Room
That can be got; the best
Museolum
For him, wherein to contemplate, that would
Those Objects without fallacy behold,
Which most concern him; or would notions have
Of what he ought to
do, hope
or
believe;
For, most of those things, which abroad he spies,
Either delude his ears, or blind his eyes,
Pervert his
Judgment,
or withdraw his mind
From that, wherein his welfare he might find.
A
Prison
is a place; which he that can
Make use of, as becomes a prudent man,
Findes there, more lasting, and more perfect solace
Than in the greatest earthly Princes Palace,
And, when he knows what
Privileges
are
In this condition, will scorn all that's there.
In
Prison,
quickly, understand he shall
The worst that can to him, at last, befall.
There, he may notice take, how most men pother
Themselves; what plagues they are unto each other.
How, causelessly men terrified are
By those, to whom they dreadful would appear;
And, peradventure, if they patient be
That, they pursued by their
Foes
will see,
By which their self-destruction shall be wrought,
And those freed, whom, they into bondage brought.
There,
they may learn, that to make black or white,
One hair, or add one straws-breadth to their height
Care
naught avails; and in that poor estate
To laugh at all the worlds despite and hate:
For, over them, no power then left she hath,
Except of prosecuting them to death,
Which them ten thousand fold will happier make
Than all, that she can either
give
or
take.
These are such benefits as I enjoy,
By what, now seems my
Freedom
to destroy.
In
Prison,
too, this Privilege I have,
That,
living,
I descend into my
Grave,
And by my
Contemplation
can fore-see
What my condition in that place will be.
I search it to the bottom, by that spark
Of Light, which shineth brightest in the dark.
The terrors of that Dungeon I fore-stall,
I, (as it were) pre-act my
Funeral,
And in a manner also, see and hear
What will be said and done, when I am there;
Which are advantages not to be known,
Whilst in the world I flutter up and down.
In
Prison
also, when least room I have,
And close am kept, I, far beyond the Grave
Do
Prospects
view; and can see pretty well
What may concern men, both in
Heaven
and
Hell;
Whereof, if here I should my knowledge speak
Them, for Fanatic dreams, the world would take;
And not believe the things I could declare,
Because, she knows that I was never there;
And, therefore, I will proceed again to show
What, my
Experiments
are here below.
Restraint,
from me, hath totally shut out
That frivelous, and that offensive
Rout,
Which interrupts my
Musings
with discourse
That's either wholly vain, or somewhat worse:
For, to naught else, it for the most part tends
But fruitless complements, or graceless ends;
And, what among us, is at meetings blown,
Wrongs other men's affairs, or else our own,
Whereas, our words whilst here we are together,
Tend to the edifying of each other,
In
Faith
or
Manners;
or else, to improve
That
Hope,
that
Meekness, Constancy
and
Love
Which may enable, patiently to bear
Those Burthens, wherewith we oppressed are:
And, when our
Bodies
are asunder gone,
We never leave each other quite alone;
For, we (even when corporeally apart)
Are present, both in
Spirit
and in
Heart.
Though this
Fraternity
did often mind me,
Till my
Imprisonment
they could not find me,
Nor did I know their persons. Thou, therefore
Oh
foolish world,
to my content add'st more
By my
Restraint,
than if to me were given
All carnal Freedoms on this side of Heaven;
And, if this be the greatest harms thou canst do,
Prethee, let every spite thou dost be two.
But, all the comforts which best friends afford,
(As they are men) may prove like
Jonah
's Gourd,
For, as next morning, that, did wither quite
Which GOD did cause to spring up in one night,
So, when the
Sun
burns, or a
sharp wind
blows,
This may as quickly fade, as it arose:
For, Death or Injuries, do every day
Take those men's lives, or, their estates away
Who are most charitable, and, of bread
They may have need, by whom I have been fed,
For, unto all men underneath the Sun
That may betide which doth befall to one.
Not therefore, upon those things which GOD sends,
But, on
himself
alone, my soul depends:
Here, all my confidence,
vain world,
is placeit,
Or else I might be ruined at last;
And all my present hopes, as vain would be,
As if I had repos'd my trust in thee.
By this
Restriction,
not a few temptations
Will be repelled; many deviations
Of mine prevented; duties better done;
Things which have been forgot, more thought upon;
It peradventure may prepare me too,
For what I am yet to
suffer
and to
do,
Much better than that
Freedom
did, or could,
Which, by the
Common Tenure
I did hold:
And who knows, but some corporal mis-hap
I may or did by this Restraint escape,
Which might have else befell me when together
The people thronged and trod upon each other.
Which, though no more but shunning so much harm,
As breaking of a
neck,
a
leg,
or
arm,
Were considerable, and ten to one
Such mis-adventures daily fall upon
Some persons unconfin'd, when they least dread them,
Because, where dangers are, they little heed them.
Scap'd I no more here, than that slavish load
Of
Complementings,
wherewithal abroad
Men tire themselves, and others; that, alone
Sufficient were, if well considered on,
To make amends for all the sufferings
Which my confinement now upon me brings.
For, as to pay this
life,
I am a debtor
To
Nature,
and then hope to have a better,
My
Wants, Restraints,
and
Poverty
do less
Afflict my
Body,
by all that distress
Now laid upon it, than my soul hath been
To
hear
and
see,
what I have
heard
and
seen,
Whilest I had liberty abroad to go,
And hear and see, what many
say
and
do:
With what dissembling
Complements, Caresses,
Affected
Speeches, flattering Addresses,
And false
Pretendings,
men of every sort
Do cheat, fool, claw, and one another court,
As if they did
Realities
intend
When, in mere
Nullities,
at last they end.
How,
Letters, Promises, Vows, Declarations,
Orders, Oaths, Covenants,
and
Protestations
Annihilated are, and turn to smoke
Or stinks, which rather poison us, and choke
Than truly nourish; and how they go on
In acting still, such things as they have done
Who are destroyed; and yet, nere the less,
Dream they pursue the ways of
Happiness.
I am, as well pleased, with my sad condition,
As others, with what they have in fruition,
And, if desire a longer life I could,
For nothing else the same desire I should,
Except it were that I might live to see
What GOD will do, and what their end will be.
Frequent I cannot, with conveniency
(As lately, when I had my Liberty,
I might have done) the
Public Congregation;
But, I, upon GOD's
Word,
by meditation,
(To exercise myself) may set apart
The time they dedicate; and both my heart
And my best
Faculties,
employ that day,
In preaching somewhat to the world
my way
Which will advance GOD's glory, and improve
My Brethren in good life, hope, faith, and love:
Or, that prepare, which thereunto may tend,
When
Daies
and
Times,
with me will have an end:
And, GOD (I know) confines not
Saving Graces
To ordinary
Means, Forms, Times,
or
Places,
Nor is displeased when his services
Endeavor'd are, without contentiousness,
As we are able, and with upright heart,
Though of our duties we may fail in part.
Some other
Notions,
which in this estate
Are apprehended, I might now relate,
Which further may illustrate those mis-haps
That man by an
Imprisonment
escapes
But, they are Trifles to what I possess,
In my constrained
Solitariness.
For, though it be not what I might have chose
(Had I been left unto mine own dispose)
It proves much better: and for that respect
What I most naturally do affect
I dare not absolutely to request,
(Much less make choice of) but to him that best
Knows what's best for me, wholly have resigned
Both mine own
self,
and things of every kind.
'It is he, who hath assigned this lot, and all
What ere it be, which thereby doth befall;
And, this Restraint, not only makes him dearer
To me, but also, to
him,
draws me nearer,
So that the more my troubles do increase,
The nearer unto him is my access.
He, fortifies my confidence in him,
And heartens me, the
World
thus to contemn,
As boldly as if doubtless cause there were
For her to fear me, more than I fear her.
I have my fears, but they are nothing else
Save what
Perdues
and
Scouts,
and
Sentinels
Are to an
Army:
they do not dis-heart
A valiant
Soldier;
though they make him start
At first
Alarm;
but cause him to prepare
For those assaults, which nigh approaching are.
When I am judged, in an undone-case,
Because, confined, in wants, and in distress;
When all my outward Comforters are gone,
And, I lie musing on my bed alone
Of what I knew before, or heard that day;
Of what my
Friends
fear, and my
Foes
do say;
What men they are, who seem with me offended,
What is already
done,
and what
intended;
Sometimes a little shuddring doth begin,
As if a panic-fear were breaking in,
Which he marks, ere to me it doth appear
Forthwith, steps down betwixt me and that fear
Supplies defects, expelleth doubts and sadness,
Replenisheth my heart with sober gladness,
About me sets his
Angels,
watch to keep,
And (as to his beloved) gives me sleep.
These things considered,
Prisons
and
Restraints
(Which have been long, the portion of the
Saints)
Are not alone things little to be feared,
But also many times to be prefer'd
Before those
Liberties,
and all those things
That can be found in Palaces of Kings;
What ere their flatterers are pleased to say,
By fruitless hopes, to drive their fears away.
For, more are there endangered, more destroyed:
There, many times, is less content enjoyed,
Less outward safety, and a great deal less
Of what conduceth to true happiness,
Than in a
Prison:
And who ere well heeds
What, there is done, and what thereon succeeds
Will find cause, their condition to bewail
Sometimes, much more, than his that's in a Gaol.
For, errors flowing from
Prosperity
Endanger more, because unseen they lie.
Men may by their Afflictions be prepared
For whatsoever can follow afterward,
And are oft fitted by a lingering grief,
For future happiness in death or life:
But, while corrupted by excessive Treasures,
Befool'd with honors, and bewitched with pleasures,
The cause of
self-destruction
still they nourish;
They grow as brutish as the beasts that perish;
And, daily so besotted, by degrees
That, sense of their
humanity
they leese;
So long dream, they are GOD's (or somewhat greater,
Till they are
Devils,
or but little better;
And suddenly, when they think all goes well,
Sink from supposed
Happiness
to HELL.
Most men, (yea very many of the best)
Their
Talents,
till they Palm-like down are pressed,
Improve not; nor their Duties truly do,
Till by Afflictions they are whipt thereto.
A
Prison,
was long time the School, wherein
Chast
Joseph
those progressions did begin,
Which, him forth from obscurity did bring
To be the second person to a
King.
Jonah
was not obedient to GOD'S
Call
Till he, both by a
Storm,
and by a
Whale,
Was disciplined: And, if I had a thought
My duties were performed as they ought
In anything, affirmed it should be
That, thereto my Afflictions fitted me:
For, such like
Simples,
as I am, require
To make them yield forth Oil, the
Press,
or
Fire,
My
Flinty-nature
gives not out one spark
To light myself, or others in the dark,
Till knocked with
Steel.
This knowledge I have gained
Of mine own temper, and it is unfain'd.
To be
imprisoned, slander'd,
or made
poor,
Shall therefore, henceforth, frighten me no more,
Nor make me, whilst I live ashamed of either
Of those three
Lots,
nor of them altogether.
Priests, Prophets, Kings
and
Saints,
yea (whilst abode
He made on earth) the glorious Son of GOD
Was pleased to submit to all of them
(But to the latter two in an extreme)
And, with such Company, I will undergo
My share, and think, I am thereby honor'd too.
To this effect, much more might here be said,
But, this will be sufficient, if well weighed,
Which, I suspect; for, very few men heed,
Or mind, long, what they
hear,
or what they
read.
SLANDER is more Beneficiall than PRAISE.
WHo, can express the pain of being stung
With such a
fiery Serpent
as the
TONGUE?
Or, what can cure it, but his being ey'd,
Whom, once, the
Brazen Serpent
typifi'd?
'It is far more sharp than Arrows, Darts or Spears;
Down to the heart, it pierces through the ears;
Not only wounds, but frighteth also more
Than murthring
Canons,
when they loudest roar;
Afflicteth us, whilst here we draw our breath,
And,
Gangreeve-like,
so spreadeth after death
(Even to posterity upon our
Names)
That it destroys the life of
honest Fames.
This fury
SLANDER,
hath been quartered long,
In
Rotten-Row,
and
Hart-street,
at the
Tongue;
Her
Magazeens
and
Forges
are all there,
The
Shop
at which she vents them, is the
Ear,
In every Town and City; and no places
Or persons, her aspersions and disgraces
Can long avoid: For, everywhere she scatters
That shot wherewith the Forts of
Fame
she batters.
So venomous it is, that every touch
Proves mortal, or endangers very much,
And nothing shooteth more empoisoned pellets,
Except it be the flatteries of
Prelates.
I must confess, that many years ago
I therewith have been often wounded so
That, very well, content I could have been
To lie down, where I might no more be seen;
And, my stupidity is not, yet, such
As not to feel indignities as much
As any man: But, I have learned how
To change my
Sicknesses
to
Physic,
now:
And when the world intendeth me a shame
By retroversion to convert the same
To that, which from be spattrings purifies,
And makes me both her
Blame
and
Praise
despise,
No more displeased, or pleased therewithal
Than if a
whibling Cur,
should fawn or bawl.
For, unto those Oppressions, heretofore
And now laid on me, whatsoever more
The world shall add; though they a while oppress,
Will, shortly, make them, not alone much less
But, also none at all; and wheel about
Upon herself, as soon as my Turn's out.
Praise,
is a pleasing thing, to flesh and blood,
Yet, often doth it much more harm than good;
Puffs up with Pride, ore-weening and vain glory,
Or, with affection to things transitory
Beyond a safe
Mean;
and makes men suppose
Themselves to be, what every neighbor knows
They are not; yea, what they themselves do see
They neither are, nor possibly can be.
Whereas, to be without a cause despised,
Disprais'd, reproached, scoffed, jeered and scandalized,
An undue self-opinion doth remove
True Meekness and Humility improve;
Brings Constancy and Patience to their trial,
And, at the last, to such a
Self-denial,
As in the close will more contentment give us
Than all, whereof a
Slander
can deprive us.
The
flatteries
of his
Lord's,
made
Joash
stumble,
Reviling speeches,
made King
David
humble,
Good men,
by
praises,
oft, are evil made,
But, by
Reproaches
harm they never had.
The
World,
which best is pleased with her own
baubles
For that false titulary honor scrabbles,
Which is composed of aiery Attributes,
Or, which opinion only constitutes:
And, all her happiness, dependant seems
On vulgar approbations and esteems,
Which are, indeed, her
Portion:
but, to those,
Who can look both beyond, and through the
Shows,
That such
Toies
make, naught therein doth appear
To merit their desire, love, hate or fear:
And, therefore, they respect them, (come, or go)
As Reason them obliges thereunto,
Or, as things, which (if grace divine be granted) them,
Indifferently, may be possessed or wanted;
Make such use as they serve to, whilst they have
And yield them, when resum'd, to those who gave them.
For, had
external honors
in this place,
Been truly more essential than
disgrace,
To
happiness eternal;
CHRIST had waved
The scandals of the
Cross;
we had been saved
And sanctified should be without those troubles,
Scorns and reproaches, which the world now doubles
And may redouble: yea, in vain had he
A promise made, that they should blessed be
Who in his sufferings do with him partake,
And are reproached and slander'd for his sake.
These things considered, I am at full rest;
Slanders
infringe not my chief interest.
Good
or
Ill Words
will me no more concern
When I am dead, than when I was unborn.
And, whilst I live, (as is infer'd before)
They harm a little, and they profit more.
If
Scandals
neither mend nor mar my health,
Increase not troubles, nor decrease my wealth,
Save in opinion only; all those lostes
Are cured, if my vote, that opinion crosses.
And (prare who list) I will as merry be
As is a
Pye
upon a Cherry-tree.
Praise,
or
dispraises,
if so be my heart
Assures, that neither of them by desert
To me belongs, my own
Fanatic brain
Is cause of all, where of I do complain,
Or take delight in:
praise, blame, bless,
or
curse,
I am no whit the better, or the worse;
And, all men are as much concerned as I
In what's then spoken be it
Truth,
or
Lye.
If
of a hundred
Crimes I
guilty were,
All which, as evidently did appear,
As in a cloudless day, the
Sun
at noon;
The world, but as the spots within the
Moon,
Would look upon them, if, for my defense
I
have a
face
well braz'd with impudence;
An Oily
Tongue,
a
Crocodiles
moist eye,
Can find great
Friends,
bribe, flatter, fawn and lie,
Ore-awe my neighbors, or, myself express
A friend to them, in their licentiousness.
But, were
I,
both in
words
and
deeds,
as free
From just reproof, as mortal man may be,
Had
I,
but one great neighbor, who envies
All men supposed more honest, or more wise,
Than he is thought; therewith a neighbourhood,
Which takes delight in nothing that is good;
Abhorring all, as their injurious foes,
Who, them, in their unrighteous ways oppose;
Or, if
I
be constrained to have dealing,
With such, by some relation, or nigh dwelling,
Who think, there's nothing rational or just,
But, what tends to their
profit,
or their
lust;
It is impossible to scape the wrongs
Of wicked hands, or of malicious tongues:
And, therefore, he, with whom it thus doth fare
Must study
patience,
how his lot to bear;
And in this case, can look for no defense
But from GOD'S Justice, and his
Innocence,
Which is sufficient unto them that know
What consolations from those fountains flow.
What, is there to be feared in
Slandrous Tales,
Whether, they shall be either true or false?
A
false Report
more mischieves those who spread it,
Than harmeth me. If it impairs my credit,
I may recover it again ere long,
And also peradventure, by that wrong
Improve some
Virtue,
or abate some
Pride,
Within myself till that time, unespy'd.
Although hard words, give harder knocks than stones,
And crack our
Credits,
yet, they break no
Bones;
And, if unjustly thrown, by spiteful fingers,
They prove most mischievous unto their flingers.
One fault which
Conscience
finds, afflicts me more
Than twenty slanders, yea than twenty score:
So long as that lies quietly in me,
I shall not care who my
Accusers
be;
And, when that shall accuse me (as sometime
It doth) I sue out an Appeal to him
Who straight acquits me; else I must confess
I should as much fear mine own
Righteousness
As all my
Sins;
for, I esteem them both
Alike impure, and as a menstruous clothe.
If I am justly blamed for things misdone,
Or, for faults wherein I am going on,
It doth by bringing on me shame of face,
Repentance
bring, and to that, state of Grace
From which I falling was; and stay the course
Which might have drawn me on from bad to worse,
Until, that by habituated sin,
Endless Impenitency
had broke in:
Much more, therefore, to these I am a debtor
Who speak ill, than to those men who speak better
Than I deserve: And, though that in their ends
They differ, they may be as useful friends
Who speak of me opprobriously, sometimes,
As they, who praise me, or excuse my crimes.
For, I have long observed that all
Relations,
Nigh or far off (what ever Obligations
Have nearly joined them, or whatsoever
Their
Quarrels, Bonds,
or
Disobligements
are)
Be (for the most part) either friends or foes,
But, as a prosp'rous, or a cross wind blows;
Or, as their inter'st or Expectancy
May be secured, or doth at hazard lie.
The
Love
or
Hatred,
which I find in them,
Differs but in the
Measure,
or the
Time,
Or, in th'
Occasions,
which have them inclined,
To friendliness, or else to be unkind.
They frown or smile they praise, or they disgrace,
Destroy and save, and stab, or else embrace,
Even as the fit which comes upon them, takes them,
And either pleased, or displeased makes them.
Such will their words and deeds be then to thee,
What ere thou art to them, or they to thee.
As bitter Language, I have heard 'twixt those
That were dear Lovers, as 'twixt greatest Foes,
Yea, and more bitter too, in some respects
Considering their
Causes
and
Effects.
A
Foes
Revilings very sharp appear,
But, when our
Friends
exasperated are
With, or
without Cause given of offense,
There is between them greater difference
(Or at the least, but very little less)
Than tasted is between the bitterness
Of unpeel'd
Wallnut-kernels,
and
strong Gall,
When with our tongues distinguish them we shall.
Moreover,
I
have sometimes also seen
That, they, who have unto each other been
Most mischievous, so reconciled together
(Though little virtue hath appeared in either)
So kind in
words
and
deeds,
for outward ends,
And, so engaged mutually as friends
In their Concernments, as if they had never
At variance been; but, hearty friends forever.
Which, when
I
mind,
I
neither pleasure have
In
Praises,
nor do slanders me bereave
Of much content, from whom soe're they come,
So long as I find
Innocence
at home;
Nor, in my own respect at any time,
So grieved am I, as otherwhile for them
Who have mis-censured me; because I know
From what distempers usually they flow;
And that the sob'rest and the wisest men
Have some
Deliriums
on them now and then.
Exception is not always to be took
By what shall by a
Friend
or
Foe
be spoke:
For, men in passion, whether they appear.
Pleas'd or displeased, speak few things as they are,
Nor always as they think, but, rather say
That, which the passion bearing then chief sway
Transports them to; although a wound it give
To their own souls, which pains them whilst they live.
But,
Friends
and
Foes,
both
good and ill report,
And, all terrestrial things of every sort,
Will shortly have an end (with me at least.)
The worst, as well as that whereof the best
Esteem I had, will into
nothing
fly:
My
Slanders,
and my
Slanderers
will die.
At present, therefore them no more I dread
Than if I saw they were already dead;
And, that which dead or living, shall to me
Befall, will equally forgotten be.
By living, I, their scandals may out-live,
And good proofs of my innocence give.
When I am dead, what ever men shall please
To speak or do, it cannot me disease:
And, they who after death do men defame,
Or shall expose their bodies unto shame,
Bring that dishonor which they did intend
To others, on themselves, at latter end:
Yea, make some question, and suspect their merits;
Repute them persons of ignoble spirits;
And, what they hoped should confirm their peace,
Their terrors and their dangers will increase.
Slanders
(though poison in themselves) have been
To me a precious
Antidote
for sin,
Preventing, not a few times more than one,
That, wherein else perhaps I had mis-done,
(And I, thereby, effects like his have found
Who had a
Sickness
cured by a
wound)
Whereas, contrariwise, a vain
Applause
Of sins or follies, are a frequent cause.
I well remember, that, when I was young
(And in both kinds an Object of the
Tongue,
As now I am) I reaped, many ways,
By
Slanders,
much more profit than by
Praise.
For,
Praises
made me sometimes over-ween,
And (as if no defects in me had been)
Neglect the means, that, supplements might add
To what, I more in
Show,
than
Substance
had.
It, likewise, me to envy did expose,
From which great disadvantages arose,
And scandals, without cause: But
Grace divine
Cross'd thereby, what the
Devil
did design:
For,
Defamation,
so soon was begun,
That, what it charged me with, was never done.
That, sin prevented was, and many more
By sending of the
Scandal
forth before
The
Crime
was acted; So, into a
Blessing
A
Curse
was turned, which merits this confessing;
And also, me obliges, all my days,
On all occasions, to give GOD the praise;
For, if, perhaps it had over-flowed then,
The stream had never kept his bounds again.
The scoffs and jeers, cast on me by the Rimes
Of some reputed
Poets
in these times
Have been my great advantage: for, th' esteem
Which in my youthful days I had of them
Had else perhaps, from my simplicity
Drawn me, by their familiarity
To those affected
Vanities
with which
They have infected fools, and claw'd their itch.
Were I but as ambitious of that name
A POET, as they are, and think I am,
It might a little vex me, when I hear
How often, in their
Pamphlets
me they jear,
Because, Truth seasonably I convey
To such as need it, in a homely way,
Best pleasing unto those who do not care
To crack hard
shells
in which no
kernels
are;
Or for
strong Lines,
in which is little found,
Save an affected phrase, and empty sound.
But, I do read them with a smiling pity
To find them to be wicked, who are witty.
At their
Detractions,
I do not repine;
Their
Poems
I esteem as they do mine:
Their
Censures,
I with slighting overpass,
Who, like
words
without
sense, wit
without
grace;
And, better am contented, without cause
To hear their
mis-reports,
than their
Applause.
As also, that, they should by
Pantaloons
Admired be, and honor'd by
Buffoons.
Yea, as
Job
said, should they a
Book
compile
Against me (as they may, and did erewhile)
I would receive it, on my shoulders bear it,
And as a Crown, upon my head would wear it.
My fearleness of SLANDERS doth not flow
From Ignorance, which hinders me to know
How, I am scandalized: for it appears
In Print and I have heard it through both ears.
I daily hear what ignominious lies
Detraction,
to defame me doth devise.
I know, whence they proceed; whereto they tend,
In what likewise they possibly may end:
And it would stagger and affright me too,
Unless I knew the worst, all this could do
For, they, who Idolize the
Prelacy
Impute to me no less than
Blasphemy,
And
Sacrilege:
And, I may well expect
That, when their hopes have taken full effect,
Though they with me at present, do but dandle,
They then will curse me with
Bell, Book
and
Candle.
How ever, for their persons I will pray:
For, malice hath not moved me to gain-say
Their
Prelacy;
nor hope to get again
What they usurp, and doth to me pertain:
But, merely conscientiousness of that
Which in my place I vowed to vindicate.
Some, call me
Traitor
too; but well I wot,
They do not so believe, or know me not.
I never did betray my trust to any,
Though I myself have been betrayed by many.
With Traitors I have numbered beenf or one,
And served their ends, yet I myself was none:
For, if like
Absolone
they did pretend
To
Sacrifice,
and had another end,
I went on in simplicity of heart,
And did not from my Principles depart.
If they intended, or committed
Treason,
I wronged not my
Conscience,
or my
Reason.
By ought mis-done, except it were, perchance,
Through
over-sight,
or else through
Ignorance;
For which, the
Plagues now Epidemical,
To me, as unto other men befall.
I never was in any factious Plot,
Nor likely seems it, by what I have got,
That, with them in their Actings,
I
was one
Who, thriv'd by those designs they carried on,
Though being subject to the present Law,
I
now do suffer, like
Jack Fletchers
Daw.
But, howsoere,
I
seem to merit blame
None, to the King, are truer than
I
am.
Yet, if in
Fame,
we credit may repose,
I
am designed to be one of those,
Who shall not be vouchsafed that
Common grace,
Which at his
Coronation
granted was.
GOD's will be done: Perhaps, the King well knows
I
need not, what on others he bestows;
Or, to me, singly, will his favor show,
That
I
his Magnanimity may know;
And, that he will more gracious be to those
Who, him did not maliciously oppose,
Than they, whom
I
did serve, were to their friends,
Because they did not serve them, to their ends.
But, if
Report
hath not divulged a
Lye,
What, can
I
lose, or others get thereby?
My whole estate, already is bereft,
And, what will there be found, where's nothing left?
My life, you will say; Alas! that's little worth,
It hath been wasting, ever since my birth;
And (when it was at best) too poor a thing,
To satisfy the
Vengeance
of a King.
It will to most men seem ridiculous,
To hear a
Lion Rampant,
killed a
Mouse,
Or, see an Eagle stoop down from on high,
To truss a
Titmouse,
or a Butterfly.
The dread of such a loss will not come near me,
For,
Age
will shortly kill me, though he spare me;
And, when there's no conveniency of living,
Life, neither is worth
asking
or the
giving.
But GOD's intentions, and the hearts of
Kings,
Are such inscrutable and hidden things,
That, none can search their bottoms; then much less
Can they be fathom'd by maliciousness.
Their ways of working their own pleasures out,
Are, many times, by wheeling round about,
By cross and counter-actings, and by those
Which seemed their own
Designments
to oppose.
The faithful'st men, they do expose ofttimes
To hazards; or with such as are for crimes
Condemn'd, they number them; or, prove them by
Desertions,
dis-respects, and
Poverty;
And, frequently, do fit them for those places
Wherein they best may serve them, by disgraces;
But principally, at those times, wherein,
Hypocrisy,
becomes the
Reigning-sin.
More things I might insert, which have relations
In this kind, to my own prevarications,
And, to th' Improvements, which have oft ensu'd
By
Scandals,
which I then would have eschew'd.
But, my
Experiments
will work on none,
Who cannot by their own, be wrought upon.
Consider therefore all ye unto whom
This Writing,
by GOD's providence doth come,
What, in yourselves and others, you have heeded,
Which hath from
Slanders,
and from Praise proceeded;
And, you shall find more by the last undone
Than by the former, at least, ten to one.
According to our
Proverb,
the Bell clinketh
Just so, as in his fancy, the fool thinketh
And, they who flattring praises love to hear,
Immediately, such to themselves appear,
As represented by their
Parasite,
Though no more like than Black-swans are to white.
Such
Panegyrics
I have sometime seen
That, hard to be resolved, it had been,
By him, whose judgment you therein should crave,
Whether, the
Panegyrist
were more
knave
Than he was
Fool,
for whom, the same was made:
But, of their equal
Impudence
I had
No doubt at all, when wistly I had heeded
What one
gave,
tother
took,
and what
succeeded.
For, I have oftentimes observed, thereby,
Good Men
depraved;
Great Men,
to Tyranny
Incouraged; That, which is due to men
By Natures Law, at first, they seize and then
Those Attributes, at last, intrude upon
That ought to be ascribed to GOD alone.
Which evidences, that,
Immodest Praise
Is worse than
Slander,
and a ground-work lays,
Whereon a superstructure may be built,
To sink the Builders, down to shame and guilt.
SLANDERS, and
Persecutions
of the
Tongue
A portion likewise is, which doth belong
Unto the
Saints;
and sanctified they are
By him, with whom, an individual share
Each must expect; we, do but only sup
At brim, he drunk the bottom of the Cup:
We altogether merited the blame,
He underwent the sorrow and the shame.
False witnesses against him were suborn'd;
His Glory was to his dishonor turned;
His nearest friends forsook him, and forswore him,
His foes prefer'd a Murderer before him;
His Innocency not alone reproaching,
But, likewise most injuriously encroaching:
Upon his righteous person, him pursued
Till by a shameful death, he death subdued,
And breaking from the grave, to Heaven ascended,
By Angels to Immortal Life attended;
Where, now inthron'd, he Thrones prepared hath
For all, who follow him in that rough path;
And every slander, scorn, reproach and shame,
He suffr'd here, adds glory to his
Name.
This is the way, and hath been ever since,
Through which all men must pass, who go from hence
To that
Eternity,
where shall be worn
The Robes of
honor,
when the Rags of scorn
Shall off be thrown. On him I fix mine eyes,
And, that, will me enable to despise
Terrestrial shame and honor: That, makes all
My troubles, when at greatest, seem but small.
That, makes me, whilst my
Body
is confined,
Take pleasure, in the freedoms of the
Mind;
Not dreading present, or ensuing wrongs,
Of wicked hands, or of malicious tongues.
This
Paradox,
it helps me to maintain,
That, where the Grace of GOD is not in vain,
More profit, bitterest reproach affords,
Than all the worlds
Applauses,
and
fair words.
Poverty is more profitable than Riches.
ANother
Black-Guard
hath beleagur'd me,
That, seems to be the worst of all the three
For, therewith, whosoever hath to do,
Still is in danger of these other two,
Imprisonment
and
Slander,
who attend
On
Poverty
unto her latter end.
Yet, whatsoever in herself she seem,
She merits not a total dis-esteem:
For, 'tis an instrument of good and evil,
Oft-times employ'd against us by the
Devil,
And, oft by GOD himself, to such effects
As may prevent the mischief he projects,
By tempting to those manifold abuses
Which
Riches
being mis-employed produces.
There are two sorts of
Poverty,
that spring
From diffring Roots; effects they likewise bring
Both diffring and alike: for, providence
Maugre all human wit and diligence,
Makes many poor, and all their industries
Rendreth successeless by
Contingencies,
Which no man can fore-see, or wholly shun
Who shall be thereby outwardly undone.
This
Poverty,
afflicts, at first, as much
As any, but, disparages not such
As bear it well; and though it grieveth many,
(Except by their own fault) destroys not any.
The other sort, is sordid, vile, and base,
Yet, draws her
Pedigree,
from such a Race,
As doth in
Country, City,
and in
Court
Still bear an extraordinary port:
For, by the Fathers, or the Mothers side,
It sprung from
Prodigality
or
Pride,
Or, from
Improvidence
or
Idleness,
And, is indeed, near kin to all
Excess,
Though her
Alliance,
these, now scorn and wave,
Because, that she is ragged, and they brave.
She, at this present time, both against me
And others is employed: But, though she be
Made use of by the
world;
yet, I well know
The
World itself
abhors her as a foe,
And, with a slavish dreadfulness doth fear her,
On whatsoever occasion, she comes near her.
Yea, till this
Bug-bear,
was more known to me,
I, dreaded her almost as much as she,
And, did the best I could, to keep her from
That
nearness
whereunto she now is come.
For, he that would disgrace, and bring us to
That
State,
which questionless might us undo,
Let him but justly say that we are
poor,
And, to destroy us, he need say no more.
Whereas disgraced thereby we shall be much
If, we continue to be very rich,
Of whatsoever crime or crimes, we stand
Convicted by the known
Laws,
of this Land.
For,
Wealth
cannot alone our
Pardons
buy
And blot out every former Infamy;
But, in a short time also, make us capable
Of
Trusts
or
places
that be honorable;
Yea though they be those
places
which dispence
To all the people,
Law
and
Conscience;
And marry
Ladies
(neither nor poor, nor painted)
As if our bloods had with no crimes been tainted.
But, to be
poor,
implieth every whit,
As if we had nor
honesty,
nor wit,
And, everything, which since our lives begun,
We
honestly,
nor
prudently
have done,
Shall so traduced be as if that naught
Had e're by us, been
well done, spoke,
or
thought.
There, where we have been kindly entertained,
A civil usage, hardly shall be daign'd.
There, where we have been honor'd in times past,
Neighbors
and
Kinsmen
will their doors make fast;
Our old familiars will our persons shun,
Like Rats, our Servants from the house will run,
Which, then, will be a place of desolation,
And few thenceforth approach our habitation,
But,
Serjeants, Shreeves,
or
Bailiffs
(beasts of prey)
That little, which is left, to fetch a way:
And, when there doth remain nor sticks nor stones,
Dead or alive, they'll take our
Flesh
and
Bones.
If all I should express, that might be said
In this kind, you would think me still afraid
Of
Poverty;
and, that which I should speak,
In some, perhaps, would such impressions make
That, they with difficulty would believe
What benefits I now thereby receive:
Forbearing therefore, that which I might add
I will tell what profits may thereby be had;
That, others (who can think I do not lie)
May be no more afraid thereof than I:
That, also, they who thereby grieved are,
May in my Consolations have a share,
To bear those burchens without discontent,
Which are now on them, or seem imminent:
For, little I will mention which was brought
By
reading,
or by
hearsay
to my thought;
But, that
Philosophy,
which
Reason
teaches,
(Experience
hath confirmed, and GOD's
Grace
Unto my heart; that, it may sympathize
With their hearts, who the same shall not despise: preaches
Which, though expressed in language rude and plain,
Will, peradventure, to good use remain,
When they, who of their
Elegancies
boast,
Are, with their
Kickshaws,
in oblivion lost.
When most are also, quite forgot, whom they
Now dream, shall by their
Poems,
live for aye;
And, when, that, which they despicable deem,
With
wise
and
honest men,
shall find esteem.
In my
Restraint,
I therefore, do not whine;
At my
Reproaches,
I do not repine,
Nor murmur at my
losses;
nor want sense
Of that is in them, which may give offense.
My
seeming-friends,
I must confess, are fewer,
But, they whom now God gives me are much truer;
For, these that now I have, I find more willing
To
give
a pound, than those to
pay
a shilling.
Yet, some of these are so poor, that, I am fain
Them, from their free
Donations
to restrain,
Because, that of my
Sufferings
they are grown
More sensible, than they are of their own.
And this, an
evidence
of that doth give,
Which pleaseth better than what I
receive;
Since it demonstrates, GOD, hath in this
Nation
A people, capable of his
compassion.
I am not ignorant how much disgrace
Is thrown on
Poverty,
nor in what base
Account they are, who, thereby are constrained
Meerly, by
Charity,
to be maintained:
Yet naught ashamed am of that estate
Which most so scorn, and so abominate.
For without loss of
honor,
men of merit,
This
Portion
very many times inherit.
Great
Consuls,
and renowned
Generals
(In such an exigent as oft befalls
To very many thousands in this
Nation)
Have had relief without dis-reputation
By
Common Charity:
and,
Antient Story
Hath kept memorials of it to their glory.
But, I refer that which I might express
(To take this
Blur
off) to another place.
To have
subsistence
by mere
Charity
Is, to subsist by GOD, immediately,
And, they are wicked, or, vain fools, at least,
By whom those
Exhibitions
are disgracit.
For, very many of GOD's favorites
Have been oft, thereby, from the worlds despights
Preserv'd: yea, to the
World,
it would appear
If she would heed it, that, her
Minions
are
Expos'd to such a
Lot,
and (without shame)
Have been by
Alms
preserved as I am:
And, not in those necessities alone,
Which by mis-accidents are undergone,
Are they relieved; but, very many be
Thereby likewise upheld, in that degree,
Which much is honor'd; yea, even to Excess,
In outward splendor, and vain pompousnesse.
For, this way, not alone are Monks and Friers
Maintained, with their Abbots and their Priors,
But, even the great
Prelates,
all their lives,
By
Charities
abused
Donatives;
And, yet as loftily advance their crest
As if they had been Barons born, at least,
Precedency
usurping above those,
By whom, they from obscurity arose.
By most men,
Poverty
is thought so base,
That, they repute it for the greatest disgrace
Which can betide them, by what way soever
It comes; or howsoere they shall endeavor
To keep it off; and think it not their least
Dishonor, when enforced to subsist
By
Charity,
although it shall be used
With thankfulness, and in no wise abused.
And, many seek to turn it to my shame
That I now brought to this condition am.
Yet, what's to me befallen worse or more
Than to
good, wise,
and
great men
heretofore?
Renowned
Princes
in preceding ages,
Have sought, and had Supplies and Patronages.
From
Forein Kings
and
States,
in their distresses
Without reproach: yea, he that now possesses
These three great
Kingdoms
was by indigence
Constrained (not a very long time since)
By
Charity,
to be both clothed and fed;
To slake his hunger with a poor man's bread,
And, to accept it, not alone from those
Who were his
friends,
but also from his
soes,
(Whose gifts were baits, whose Table was a snare,
And, of whom, if he do not well beware,
More mischief, and, dishonor will be done him
Than by the
Poverty
then brought upon him.)
Some other persons also, of great birth,
From place to place have wandr'd through the earth
Maintain'd by the Charity alone,
Sometime by many, and sometimes by one;
And other while, have seemed so left by all,
That they into great poverty did fall.
Yet n'eretheless, whilst they have Preservation
Retain still in the world some Reputation.
They are mere fools, or worse, who do believe
That, more disgrace, than these I can receive
From such an
In-come:
for (by what I gather
From thence) it is a
real honor
rather,
That, GOD supplieth (as it were) from Heaven,
When earthly
wealth
and
honors
are bereaven.
When
Israel
had been Captiv'd sev'nty year,
He made, even those, by whom inslav'd they were
Them, from their tedious thralldom to redeem,
When there was none to help or pity them.
It was their honor, that their preservation
Should be vouchsafed, so to admiration,
That
Nations
all, might in all times to come,
By heeding it, consider well, from whom
They must in such like cases aid expect;
And, that, though by a long delayed effect
They seem forgot, and outward hopes quite past,
There will be a
Deliverer
at last,
By whom, those wants for which they have been scorned
Shall, to their honor, certainly be turned.
What is it more to my Dis-reputation
That GOD provideth for my preservation
By
Charity,
than 'tis disgrace to those
Who their Estates by
Fire
or
Water
lose
And, thereupon the State vouchsafes a
Breef,
Whereby to ask, and to receive releef?
Nay, what supply can be so honorable
As that, which from hearts, by hands charitable
Is raised and confer'd, (unaskt, unsought)
By them, of whom I never heard, or thought?
This way (which without shame I do confess)
GOD hath vouchsafed releef in my distress,
To me, as he to men in like estate,
Hath done in former times, and now of late.
E're while at
Piedmont
in their persecutions
Our Brethren he relieved by contributions;
And, should I think it my disgrace can be
That, he doth for my family and me
Provide, as for a
Nation?
I believe
It blame deserved, if so I should conceive.
Though I had asked; what without asking came,
None could impute it justly to my blame
All things considered: for, a
Public Score,
Demonstrates, that this
Nation
owes me more
Than Food and Rayment; and that, in the fine
My
Want,
will more be their disgrace than mine.
My
beggarly condition,
is a Portion
More noble, than
Wealth
gotten by Extortion,
Bribes, projects, and those cheats whereby some be
Advanced to great wealth, and high degree,
Thought honorable: yea Benevolences,
And forced Loans, which otherwhile by Princes
Exacted be, much more disgraceful are
Than what my
Benefactors
do confer;
For, at my need, it giveth me releef,
And, to the
Givers,
is no wrong or grief.
I hear that is disgracefully objected
Which by my
Poverty
is now effected:
My house, they say, is desolate become,
And, I confined am to a single room;
My wife is of her Dowry quite despoil'd;
I cannot give the portion of a child
To Son or Daughter, which a while ago
I offered, and was able to bestow:
And, that, where lately we had good respect
Scoffs, flouts and jeers, are added to neglect;
And, though these hardships possibly I may
With patience bear, yet, certainly, say they,
These his
Relations
cannot: yes, they can
And have done, ever since the storm began:
For, we fore-saw it, and we did prepare
A
stock of Patience, those events to bear.
My
Spouse
is CHRIST's Spouse, by a
Law Divine,
More his, than she by
Human Law
is mine.
Our
Children
(though the world usurps a power
O're them) are likewise, much more his than our;
And, of her scorn, though she an Object makes them
He neither helpless leaves them, or forsakes them.
He made this
Globe,
with all that therein is;
All things that are in Heaven and Earth are his;
We know it, and therefore do not despair
That here on Earth; our loss he will repair,
Or, give us better
Portions,
where, they never
Shall be impaired, but enjoy'd forever.
Yea, I am confident, that, if it may
But add unto GOD's glory any way,
Or, make for their Advancement in that path
Which, to
Eternity,
a tendance hath,
He'l either keep them
Virgins
to attend
The LAMB, when he brings
Babel
to an end,
Or, marry them ere long, without my cost,
And, give them better
Portions
than they lost,
Or, at the worst, they shall content be made
With (be it more or less) what may be had.
This, without wavering, believe I do,
And, others will perhaps, believe it too,
When they consider Marriages in Heaven
By GOD himself are made, and Portions given,
In
Love
and
Virtue,
without prepossessing
Of any other
Medium,
but his blessing.
Wealth,
in itself, is neither good nor bad,
Nor
Poverty,
nor
takes from,
nor doth
add
To
Happiness Essential,
but, as they
Are sanctified, and as our games we play:
And, of the two, in that, least danger lies,
Which we most seek to shun, and most despise.
Wealth,
makes men wasteful, dissolute and lazy,
In manners rude, in
Mind
and
Body
crazy;
Makes
bold-men
cowards,
Free-men
doth enslave;
Many, to lose themselves, their wealth to save.
It so befools them, that Ass-like, some bear
Their golden-load, till, meat for worms they are,
Enjoying no more profit by their Treasure,
Save merely, an imaginary pleasure
Whilst here they live; and, as if hope it gave
It would be useful to them in the grave
They hug it, hoard it, and do lock it fast,
(As long as living breath in them doth last)
Not sensible of any detriment
Which they do thereby cause, or might prevent.
And, I believe, three Families, for one,
That thereby thrive, by
Riches
are undone,
Through those debauchments whereto they allure,
Till, soul or bodies ruin, they procure.
Contrariwise, despised
Poverty,
Incites to courage, and to industry,
Breaks thraldoms Yoaks; cures often, those diseases
Which
Luxury
engenders, or increases;
For, 'tis an Antidote against the
Gout,
And helps to purge all those ill humors out,
That, send men to their graves, by an excess
Either in gluttony, or drunkenness.
Exorbitant desires it doth restrain,
An empty belly makes a witful brain:
A crosseless purse, to him small danger brings
Who bears it; for,
before the Theef he sings.
And, when he dies, that which makes those men sad,
Who, whilst they lived, things in abundance had,
Afflicts not him that's poor; for he's deprived
Of naught, but what oppressed him whilst he lived.
A very poor man also, scapes their fates,
Who are
beloved,
or
hanged
for their
Estates,
And, some at this time,
(I believe)
will judge
The last of these, to be a
privilege.
Though many, not a little do rejoice
In that rude, loud, and everlasting noise
Which, in most rich men's houses you shall hear,
Where every Room is made a
thorough-fare;
Or, where, so many
servants
help to do
Their works, as make
one Bus'ness,
more than
two;
Where, for each man who faithfully obeys him,
The Master feeds another, who betrays him
And, thrice as many, who, by night or day
Do steal, perhaps, or spoil, or waste away
More (oftentimes) than would the charges bear
Of paying twice their wages, for that year:
Though many like this; 'tis to me an ease
That
Poverty
hath freed me quite from these.
I, now, find much more joy, than in much pelf,
That, I have learned how to serve myself;
To brush my Cloak, my garments to unloose,
Put on and off, my stockings and my shoes,
And, that, without my
Servants,
I can be
As well content, as they are without me;
I know both how to want, and to abound;
And much more pleasure, I, in this have found,
Than in choice meats, that in a time of need,
On bread alone, I savourly can seed,
Or; on as scanty, and as homely fare
(In my old age) as men that poorest are:
Yet, be both more in health, and no less able,
Than when GOD gave a fully furnished table,
With meat so well cookit, that it did invite
At every meal, a
double-Appetite.
And, I, whose worst apparel used to be
As good as any man's of my degree,
Can in those garments, without shame, appear
Which, I, but lately was ashamed to wear;
Unto which confidence, till want had brought me,
Philosophy,
that lesson never taught me.
I, must likewise, ingenuously confess
That, my distractions have been ten times less
Since I had nothing left, than whilst I had
What, in opinion, me a
rich man
made:
And, this is gained by losing what is gone,
That, now, 'twixt having
wealth,
and having
none,
I know the difference to be so small,
That, upon neither of them, dote I shall:
For, as much
certainty,
I do perceive
In that
uncertainty,
at which I live
As is in any temporal estate
Of
Goods
or
Lands
(especially of late)
Now, therefore, I desire not to be
Rich,
Or to be
Poor,
because (not knowing which
Will best advantage me) I to his pleasure
Have left it, who, knows what
Estate,
and
Measure
Of
Wealth
and
Poverty,
best fit me shall
To do that, whereto he vouchsafes a
Call.
I neither
Wealth
nor
Poverty
will choose;
Nor, which soere he gives will I refuse.
But, most men would have somewhat of their own,
As if supplies by
Charity
bestowed,
Would sooner fail them; yea, although their Father
Well clothes and feeds them, they desire much rather
To finger their whole
Portion,
that they might
Pursue their own desires, out of his sight.
Some other, altogether do rely
On their own prudence, and self-industry,
And, of
Contingencies,
are so afraid
That, thus within themselves their hearts have said;
We possibly, into such wants may fall,
And, so deserted likewise be of all
By whom we have been harbor'd, clothed and sed,
(Some of them being ruined, and some dead)
That, unless we can some
Reserve
provide,
Whereby, what e're haps, we may be supplied,
We may become exceeding miserable;
Especially, if us to dis-enable,
Old Age, Restraint,
and Sickness should increase,
And, to
Necessities,
add
Helplesness.
Should this befall (as possibly it may)
Our
Poverty
would be too great, they'll say,
With patience to be born: Alas!
poor men,
I will grant all this may happen: but, what then?
Did ever you yet know, or see, or hear,
That Lands or goods freed any from this fear?
If not, how can you hope to bring to pass
That, which by no man, yet effected was?
Have you not still a GOD? and, is not he,
A Refuge,
though all other failing be?
Your
Trust
was never placed on him alone,
If him, you cannot trust, when all is gone.
While somewhat's left, whereby subsist we may,
As
David
said, we boast of him all day,
But, be assured, that e're from hence ye go,
He'l make proof, whether it be thus or no.
Him,
and our
own Cause,
we do much mistake,
When 'tis at
best,
the same at
worst,
we make,
And, so much on his
Gifts
our hearts are set,
That, him, who did bestow them, we forget.
To GOD,
be therefore, praise, who, by this trial
Gives me both
proof
and
means
of
Self-denial.
I, am as worthless as the worst of you,
I, nothing know by mine own merits due,
But, that which now I suffer, and much worse,
(The wages of an everlasting curse)
My frailties are as great, my sins as many
As yours; worse than myself I know not any,
Though some so seem: and, yet, GOD's promises
Make way through all these disadvantages,
So well to know
him,
that I do believe
My trust in him, he never will deceive;
And, that it would for my advantage be
If all that may be feared, should fall on me.
Were that
condition
(as it may be) mine,
I, then, should have no more cause to repine
Than any other man, who to the doom
Of
Death
submitteth, when his time is come:
For, he who feels this day nor want nor sorrow,
May be in worse estate than I tomorrow.
So long, as I, have any
work
to do,
I shall have what is needful thereunto.
And when 'tis at an end, no matter whether
The stroke of Death shall be received, either
By Axe or Halter, (so I merit not,
What is by Law the Malefactors Lot.)
Or,
starving,
or, by one of those diseases
Which, ordinarily, the body ceizes.
For, that shame, which men fear, whilst they have breath
By suffering, what they count a shameful death
Is shar'd among mankind, and everyone
Bears part thereof with me, when I am gone.
And, whilst I live, what e're can suffered be,
May fall as well to any, as to me.
Upon my
death-bed,
or, upon a Rack,
When flesh and bones, and all my sinews crack,
I may be therewithal, as blithe and frolic,
As, when a
burning Feaver,
or, the
Collick
Age,
or
Consumptions,
or the
Pestilence
Shall be the means to carry me from hence.
The pains of these, are oftentimes as strong,
They do continue every whit, as long;
And, at a
Rich man's
door, a
Lazar
dies
Sometimes as easily, as he that lies
Upon a bed of Down, and who till death
All necessaries in abundance hath.
This, being well observed, it may appear
That, we are fooled with false hope, or fear,
When we shall dream to be secured more
From all events, by being
rich,
than poor,
Or, that, there any state on earth can be,
Which may not have the same
Catastrophe.
When GOD vouchsafes to make men's
Poverties
To glorify him, he doth send supplies,
Even by unlikely means; and makes that nourish
Whereby, they, who are fed with dainties perish.
Them, on whom
Tyrants
no compassion have,
He, in the fiery furnaces can save;
When they are cast into a Lions den,
He maketh beasts more merciful than men.
He, (when to manifest his Power Divine
It pleaseth him) turns
Water
into
Wine
Which, at a poor man's wedding once was done
More to his honor, than when
Conduits
run
With Sack and Claret; which magnificence
Adds honor to the marriage of a
Prince.
He, when men hungering after
Righteousness
Wait on him in a hungry
Wilderness,
Feeds thousands with a few loaves, and two fishes,
As full, as if they had ten thousand dishes.
The bottom of a
Barrel,
and a
Cruse
Shall Meal and Oil sufficiently produce,
To keep a family in time of
Dearth,
Until he sends a
Plenty
upon earth.
He, when the
Creditor,
for payment asks
(With rigor) doth fill many empty Casks,
Out of one pot of Oil, until there be
A competence, to set the
Debtor
free,
And, for his livelihood, in time to come.
Yea, by devourers, he doth nourish some:
For, daily, that
Elias
might be fed
The
Ravens
brought unto him flesh and bread.
This hath been; and some things I can aver
Of this kind, in mine own particular.
Once, twice,
nay, oftener I have been distrest
As, I now am; and three times at the least,
Have had repair vouchsafed me by GOD,
In such an extraordinary mode,
That, many did admire, at my supply;
As very well they might; for, so did I.
And, when it seasonably may be shown,
The manner of it will perhaps be known.
At, this time, that, which many did suppose
Would me, ere now, have ruined; on my foes
Hath cast a bridle, and will keep me from
What they intend, until my hour is come;
And, peradventure, then, restrain them too,
From acting all, that they intend to do.
That, which both my
Estate
and
Reputation
Should have destroyed, is my preservation
Another away; and an advantage brings,
In better and more profitable things.
For,
Slanders,
gain me credit; that, doth glad me
Which was intended to deject and sad me;
That, which pursued, is, to make me poor
Makes my wants less, and my contentments more.
And, as if GOD had purposed to bestow
A
sign
upon me, plainly to fore-show
That, those Afflictions, and abhorred places,
Which add to others,
torments
and
disgraces,
Should comfort me, when
common comforts
fail,
NEW GATE, supposed an ignomineous
Jaile
To me, hath (as it were a
Patroness)
Contributed releef in my distress,
Perhaps, from some of them, whose pressures were
Either as great, or greater, than, mine are:
Which (as I am obliged) to GOD's praise
I do, and shall acknowledge all my days
To be an action, which doth signify
A greater
Mercy,
than that bare supply;
For, it informs, and well assureth me
A
Prison,
shall no damage bring to me,
And, that those places, which, make many poor,
Will make me richer than I was before.
These things, I thus express, that others may
Perswaded be, I do not write or say
What I have read or heard, or whereof I
Have no more in me, save the
Theory;
And, knowing, this, which into words I spin
Flows forth from what is really, within,
And, by experience learned, it might effect
That operation which I do expect.
Most men, suppose them signs they are beloved
Of GOD, and all their ways by him approved,
(How negligent soe're of his commands)
When outward things do prosper in their hands.
They count them marks of his
especial Grace
If their Cows casts not Calf; if he doth bless
Their Oxen; if their flocks of Sheep increase;
If none doth in their persons them oppress;
If their new-purchased Titles be made good;
If, by their Trades and Rents, they to their
Brood
May leave great Portions; if, they may at
Court
Find favor; and, if blessings of this sort
Be multiplied upon them, they suppose
God is their
Friend,
and foe unto their foes.
Indeed, these, blessings are; But signs to me
Of GOD's especial Grace, these, rather be;
That, when of Land and Goods I am bereft,
And, no external comfort seemeth left,
I can depend on him, and be more glad,
In his love, than in all that e're I had:
That, I am freely justified by him
In that, for which the world doth me condemn:
That, I perceive, he deigneth me releef,
By that, which usually augmenteth grief;
And, that, when most inrag'd oppressors are,
Of their displeasure, I am least in fear:
That, things which threaten troubles to prolong
(Till they are helpless) make my faith more strong,
My fear as little, whilst the
Fight
doth last,
As at the
Triumph,
when all danger's past;
And, that, their ways, who do most malice me,
Neither the ways of GOD, or good men be.
These things, are of GOD's
love
a truer sign
Than an increase of Corn, of Oil and Wine,
And, I do smile to think, how like
poor slaves
They will e're long, sneak down into their graves,
Who, make false boast of GOD, when they with shame
Shall know, that, by their spite I bettered am.
And, when my
Country
hears the next Age tell
How, me they used, who always loved it well;
What, better men have suffered; what, in vain
Was
said;
what
done, undone,
and
done again;
How,
Truth's
bely'd; how
Lies
upheld for
Truth;
How much the
heart
dissented from the
mouth;
Their
Deeds
from what they seem to think and say;
And, how, at
fast
and
loose,
we now do play;
It will be thought, perhaps, this
Generation
Had lost
Faith, Reason, Justice,
and
Compassion,
And, they, who shall by strict examination,
Search out the cause of this prevarication
Will find an hypocritical Devotion
Sprung from the love of
Riches
and
Promotion,
(Dis-robing Piety of her plain
Dresse,
To be dis-figured with that pompousness
Which is affected by the
Man of Sin)
Of all that is amiss, chief cause hath been.
I must not scribble all that might be pend
Upon this
Subject,
lest I more offend
Than profit, or, lest, for want of speed,
Be hindered, in my purpose to proceed.
But, one more
Argument,
I will therefore add
Whereby, it out of question may be made,
That, to be very
Rich,
endangers more
A
real Happiness,
than to be
poor;
And, proved it shall be by a
Demonstration,
That, will admit no future confutation.
Because, it shows that
Wealth
hath not alone
More hurt to many single persons done
Than
Poverty,
but, also to the Race
Of all
mankind;
and unto GOD's
Free-Grace
Injurious been; dishonor brought to CHRIST,
And, set up his opposers Interest.
Observe it, for, I, nothing will allege
But, that, whereof, the meanest wit may judge.
I need not tell you, we more easily
May drive a
Camel
through a needles eye,
Or, thread it with a
Cable,
than, to heaven
Rich men
ascend, or thither may be driven.
For, most have heard, he spake to that effect
Whose judgment none have reason to suspect;
Yet, I will show to you what way he went,
And how, by his example to prevent
That difficulty; For, he did not say,
One thing to us, and walk another way
As many do, and did, who would be thought
To follow him, and teach us what he taught.
In plain expression I will let you see
Who, those
Impostors
and
Apostates
be
Who speak sometimes his
words,
and do profess
His
Truth,
yet are in practice nothing less.
CHRIST, knowing well, that,
Avarice, Ambition,
Wealth
and
Preferments
ripen to perdition,
And, that, they so insensibly deprave
The best and wisest men, if way they give
To their Allurements; that, although he were
The Son of GOD, and needed not to fear
The frailties of his flesh, he, to the Law
Conformed, and preserved it in awe
By true obedience; mortifi'd that nature
Which he assumed from the
Human-creature.
Both by an unconstrain'd
Humility,
And, by a
voluntary Poverty:
And, did for our example, and our sake
Forbear, of things indifferent to partake,
Lest, we, who know not how aright to use
Our
Liberty,
things lawful might abuse
By taking that for
food,
which was provided
For Physic rather, when a
Cure
we needed.
When, first, from Heaven he came (though Lord of all
In Heaven and Earth he was) within a
stall
He took up his first
Lodging;
passed on
Throughout his
Child-hood,
as he had begun;
And, to the world, no better did appear
Than Son to
Joseph,
a poor Carpenter.
When to man's age he came (for ought we know)
He lived by labor, as such poor men do.
And, when he did begin to manifest
Himself to be
the Savior
JESUS CHRIST,
His Royalty was furnished out no more
With
Earthly Riches,
than it was before;
He had nor Lands, nor Goods, to find him bread,
Nor any House, wherein to rest his head.
He had, for what was needful, no supplies
But, pious men and women's Charities.
Poor despicable
Fisher-men
(or such)
And, those, who neither Noble were, nor Rich
He those for his
Disciples;
and when these
〈◊〉
〈◊〉
abroad on his Ambassages,
They were forbidden either to take care
Wher
•
with they might be fed, or what to wear,
Or, m
••
y to provide for their expense,
But, le
•
ve those things unto GOD's providence.
To them his Gospel-principles he gave,
And, taught them how themselves they should behave
In their
Discipleship,
both where neglect
They found, and also where they had respect.
〈◊〉
them enjoined, to be meek and humble,
〈…〉
likeli'st block to make them stumble
〈…〉
, to
Precedency,
not to aspire,
〈…〉
Lordly Attributes
desire:
〈…〉
Disciples
in their low'st condition
Began to be infected with
Ambition.
The Sons of
Zebede,
when they were poor,
Were tainted therewithal; And, how much more
It doth deprave men when they wealthy grow
CHRIST did fore-see, and we have lived to know
By that, wherein the
Prelacy
hath varied
From his Example; and, by him who carried
The
Bag
in his time, we have learned too,
What
Avarice
may make a
Bishop
do.
Moreover, when by public Acclamation
CHRIST had a visible inauguration
Into that
Kingdom,
whereto he was born,
No rich or Royal Robes by him were worn;
Nor sought he to be honor'd with such things
As are affected by terrestrial Kings,
But, meekly, through
Jerusalem
did pass
Not on a barbed Steed, but, on an Ass,
(Which none had backed before) & which nor Pad,
Nor saddle, trappings, or a foot-cloth had,
Save what the people on his back had thrown,
And, to that purpose taken from their own.
When he was crowned, no golden
Crown
he wore
Lin'd with soft Fur, but, one much worse than poor:
A
Wreath of Thorns,
he wore upon his head;
He, had no better
Scepter
than a
Reed;
A Purple Robe, was cast on him in scorn,
To be at that sad
Coronation
worn.
For him, there was prepared no other
Throne,
Except a
Cross,
to be advanced upon.
Nor
Fun'ral Rites,
nor
Monument,
nor
Grave,
Had he when dead, but, what some lent or gave.
Thus, poorly was his
Kingdom
here begun;
Thus, his
Affairs of State
were carried on.
So long, as he a life on earth retaind,
Like no terrestrial
Monarch,
here he reigned;
But, glorified his
Kingdom
in this mode:
And, when that he ascended up to GOD,
He, by his
Holy Spirit,
so did mind,
(And so inspire those whom he left behind)
To propagate the same, that they pursued
The Discipline and
Paterne,
which he showed.
From SATANS
Kingdoms,
to distinguish it,
He added whatsoever did befit
A Righteous
Government,
in everything
Which might advance the Throne of such a King,
Without those
Baubles
which do more oppress
Their
Subjects,
than promote the
Common Peace.
To this end, and preserve with purity
The
Church
and
Saints
in their integrity,
They left behind them precepts, counsels, cautions,
And, many (not ambiguous) declarations,
Both to inform us of the mind of CHRIST,
And, of the wiles of that great
Antichrist
Which was to come, and should foundationslay
To set a
Kingdom
up,
another way;
That, might (if possible) be thought to be
CHRIST's
Kingdom,
as now thousands live to see
The world reputes what they erected have,
And, with her Ornaments, made rich and brave.
Moreover, that CHRIST's
Vineyard
and
Cornfield,
Might fruits both nourishing and pleasant yield,
No needful diligence, at first was wanting,
In digging, dressing, sowing, or in planting;
Or, so to beautify it, that none might
Despise it, or not therein take delight.
And, that, none should by Pride, or Avarice
Intrude upon their
Brethren's
Legacies,
They, truly, his
Last Tstament
recorded;
The same into a
Gospel-Law
they worded,
Which hath sufficiency, without additions
By
human policies,
or new Traditions,
To constitute his
Kingdom,
and prevent
Prevarications, by mis-government.
To bar out
Innovations,
they by
Deed
Confirmed, what they had in
words
decreed.
From no true principles of Faith they swerved,
Devotions
reverence they well preserved,
With ut new-sangles, and those trincketings,
That
Superstition
to adorn it brings.
The
Sacrament
(by which the death of
Christ
Should be remembered) they made not the
Test
Of things, no way relating to that end,
For which, that
Mystery
he did intend,
Or, rendering, what should be by his intention,
The
Band of Love,
a means to breed
dissention:
Nor was the
Bread
or
Wine,
then Idoliz'd;
But, that
Love-feast,
was duly solemniz'd,
In decency, without vain pomp of State;
Altars,
Court-cubbord like, beset with
Plate;
Wax-lights
at noon, in
Silver-Candlesticks,
Or, any other of those needless tricks,
Which were first introduced, in those days
When
Wooden-Priests,
got silver
Chalices.
They used no superstitious Adorations,
Cringings, ridiculous gesticulations,
Or mimick Actions: nor these, or those,
postures
Of
Body;
neither
places, times,
or
vestures,
Were so essential made, or necessary
To
holy Duties,
that, none ought to vary
From those
Formalities:
nor,
painted walls,
Nor
Pictures
had they,
Supplices,
nor
Palls,
Chimers, hoods, Rochets,
nor rich
Copes,
nor
Tippets,
Nor was their
Service
cut out into sippets,
For, such toys (then unknown) did not begin
Till
Ancichrist
arose and brought them in;
And, till with
Wealth
and
Dignities
inricht
The
Presbyters,
and
Bishops
were bewitched.
To have prevented this (as I have said)
A good
Foundation
CHRIST himself had laid,
And, at the first, that
Structure
was begun,
Which, he intended should be built thereon.
Such as were then, by sacred Ordination,
Call'd
Bishops,
watchful were, and took occasion
From every slip, to travel, preach, and write,
That, errors and mis-deeds prevent they might.
As soon as
Demas
and
Diotrephes,
With such like, were observed in their days
To innovate, and labor to begin
That
Prelacy
which, afterward crept in,
They so opposed it, that, till from his chain,
The Devil (then confined) was loos'd again,
None could setup what a faction begun,
Though many were then working thereupon;
For, CHRIST's
Apostles,
and their true successors
(In spite of
Innovators,
of
Oppressors
And
Heretics)
by that simplicity
Of
Truth,
which was professed in
Poverty,
Did so distinguish it, from what by those
Advanc'd would be, when
Antichrist
arose,
That, they inviolate maintaind thereby
Her honor, and her native purity,
Without that carnal Pomp, and costly Pride
With which, the STRUMPET, now seems glorified.
And wherewith, she hath half the world enchanted,
Since
Heathenish Deities,
were first supplanted.
That
Miracle,
was wrought by GOD, through them
Whose
Poverty
the world did then contemn:
Even when their
Worshippers
were in full power,
And, when inrag'd at height, sought to devour
Their scorned
Opposers,
they withal that odds
Were not then able to support their God's.
But, when the
Saints
were as distrest and poor,
As they, who seek their bread from door to door,
When, they broke through a tenfold
persecution,
To put their
Masters
will in execution;
When in despised habits through each
Nation
They preached the blessed means of our salvation;
Were counted
Fools,
and as much dis-esteemed
As any, who are now
Fanatics
deemed;
When, they had neither
Academic Halls,
Schools, Colleges,
or sumptuous
Cathedrals,
Nor
Universities,
nor
Deans,
nor
Doctors,
Prebends, Archdeacons, Chancellors
or
Proctors,
Nor
Rents,
nor
Tythes,
nor
Pensions,
nor
Oblations,
Excepting only good men's
free-donations;
When they, nor
Bishops
had, nor
Presbyters,
Save, such as
holy Scripture
characters,
(Who claimed no
Precedence,
or
Submission,
From those, authorized by the same
Commission;
When, they were meek and lowly, in their places,
Poor in their
Temporalties,
and rich in
Graces;
When, they (as necessary to salvation)
On no man, did impose an Observation
Of
days, times, forms,
or
Ceremonious Rite,
But, as to edifying, tend it might;
And, left them to be practice'd, or omitted,
As, either they might, or might not be fitted
To
holy Duties,
without just offenses,
To other men's, or their own consciences:
(In which
case,
none that hath Sobriety,
Will bar another of his
Liberty.)
When
Pastors
meddled not at all, or little,
With
Sovereigns,
whether
they themselves,
or
Title
Were
good
or
bad;
excepting in those cases
Which did concern the duties of their places;
But, in the fear of GOD, obedient were
To that
Power,
which did visibly appear
Impowered to protect them (whilst it stood
With that obedience, which they owe to GOD;
And, did by suffering, render satisfaction,
For what they dared not perform in action.)
When,
Emperors
nor
Kings
did them esteem,
Nor
flattered
were, or
fawn'd
upon, by them;
Even then by these, men's
Doctrines
and
Examples,
Were all the
Gentiles
great and glorious
Temples
Throughout the world destroyed: their
Superstitions
(From which
New Rome
retrived her
Traditions)
Were then by those expel'd: Their
Oracles,
Then silenced were; Their juggling
Miracles
Were proved
Impostures:
Then, the
Sophistries
Of those whom former ages thought most wise,
Were found but fallacies; their
wisdom
folly;
Unsound their
Manners,
their
belief
unholy;
Their books of
Curious Arts,
whereby great fame
They had acquired, were cast into the flame;
And, then, their
Flamins,
and
Archflamins
too,
(Who domineered as the Prelates do)
Were (as these, in the time appointed shall)
Brought to those
dooms,
which on
Impostors
fall.
The
Worship
also, wherewithal the
Jews,
The
worlds
credulity sought to abuse,
As well as her
Philosophy,
was foiled
At their own
weapons;
of that glory spoiled
Whereof they boasted; and all this was done,
Without the
Outward Pomp,
now doted on.
And, if the
Prelates,
can with all the glory,
Which they have gotten by things Transitory,
And, by the help of all the Kings on earth,
To such another
Miracle
give birth,
I will think, that they as great Impostors are,
As
Jannes,
and as
Jambres
long since, were;
Yet, still believe, that, maugre all their power,
The
Rods
of these, will their
charmed Rods
devour.
That, which the
Prelates
take to be a
sign
Of
Sanctity,
the most becoming
shrine
Of sacred
Piety,
and true
Devotion,
I mean, that
Pomp,
whereby (for self promotion)
They seek to trim and paint it, forth hath brought
(Compar'd to this) not anything worth ought
But mere contempt: for, by the zeal of those,
Who, made such poor, and despicable shows,
More honor to the
Church
of
Christ
is done,
Than all their
wealth
and
honors,
have thereon
Conferr'd, in more than fifteen hundred years,
By all their great and potent
Favourers.
They, whom the
Churches Poverty
brought forth,
Though
poor externally,
had
inward worth;
Good life
was practice'd, sacred
Truth
professed
Religion,
with sincerity imbracit,
In her poor
Driss,
by many an
humble Saint,
Without the fucus of a
Whorish paint;
And, till men leaving their plain sober way,
Sought by external
wealth,
to make her gay,
The
Church,
in Piety, did still increase
Though outward
persecutions
did not cease.
But, what hath followed since her
Poverties,
Are changed for temporal
wealth
and
dignities?
Since
Princely Prelates
sought for carnal things,
Had learned to flatter
Emperors
and
Kings,
And, cheat them with a
seeming Loyalty,
Made credible by
feigned Piety?
Since they, an
Ambodexters
part could play,
Had got
two Masters,
and a
double pay,
Topt
wreathes Imperial
with a
Triple crown,
Made
Rebels
Martyrs, trod
Allegiance
down
And, had on so much
wealth
and
honor
ceased,
That they could turn the
scale
which way they pleased,
What, hath ere since that time, proceeded thence
But, products of Destructive consequence?
And those
Confusions,
for which (without shame)
Some, to the
Saints
of GOD, impute the blame,
As heretofore, the
Heathen Tyrants
did
To them, whose blood they innocently shed?
And, though that in their
public declamations,
(As also, in their private exultation.)
The
Prelates,
to a joy transported seem,
Like (as they say themselves) men in a dream,
To see that
Wealth,
and
Pomp
restored again,
Whereof, small hope they did erewhile retain;
Though, of a golden
Hierarchy
dreaming,
They (still the
Poverty
of CHRIST blaspheming)
Do think, the
Angels
are as glad as they
Of that, wherein they triumph at this day;
And, say (which I conceive to be a lie)
That, they, could well content have been to die,
The next day after they restored had been
To that condition, which they now are in;
Yet, I believe, it will not, in the cloze,
Make them so happy, as they now suppose;
Or, give much cause unto this
Generation,
To be well pleased in their restauration.
For, to these
Nations,
or unto our
King,
What, can I think, these
golden Calves
will bring
Save, at the last, what followed upon that,
Which
Jereboam's
policy of State
Produc'd in
Israel,
when he (as it were
Inspight of GOD) set
golden Calves
up there?
And, his
Successors
walked on in that way,
What ere those
Prophets,
from thenceforth, could say
Whom GOD, in
Justice,
or in
Mercy,
sent
Their threatened
desolation
to prevent?
What, is more likely, if th'
abominations
Of, almost every Good-man, in these
Nations
Shall be indulged? (and, though it ever since
It first begun, produced naught but offense?)
For,
Observation
daily finds it plain,
That,
fear of losses,
or the
hope of gain,
Or, of
Promotion,
will root out apace
The seeds and plants, of
Piety
and
Grace.
And, since, already, it so multiplies
Apostates,
and augments
Hypocrisies,
What can be thought, but, that, those days, we see
Wherein, th'
Elect
shall hardly saved be,
Unless GOD shorten them for, whatsoever
Men
say,
or
do,
they fall into a
snare;
And, those
Deceivers,
whereof last I spoke,
To blind men's eyes, have raised such a smoke,
That, few, know which way safely turn they may;
Or, what to
think, believe, hope, do,
or
say.
Such
Histories,
as are approved by those,
Who never did the
Prelacy
oppose,
Affirm, that when the
Churches
Augmentation
Of
wealth
and
honor,
by the free donation
Of
Constantine,
was first on them confer'd,
A
voice,
was in the Air distinctly heard,
Which did these words, articulately say,
Into the Church is poison poured this day:
And, thereupon, that, quickly did ensue,
Which, manifests the
Saying
to he true:
For, they, who read Historical Relations,
Of what hath been in former Generations,
(As also, in their times) discreetly heeding
What, their
Experience
addeth to their
reading,
Will find, that, here, and, almost everywhere,
The
Prelates
cause of many mischieves were.
Yea, that the greatest troubles on the earth,
Sprung indirectly, or directly, forth
From their
Ambition, Avarice
and
Pride.
When
Gold
and
Silver
they had multipli'd.
How many troubles, have been here of late,
Occasion'd by what they did innovate?
How many thousand
Families
undone
In these three
Kingdoms
are, since they begun,
Those
Whimzies,
which the prime occasion were
Of all the
Civil Wars
and discords here?
And, what more will ensue, GOD only knows,
For, we, already see ill boding shows.
Their
Avarice,
and matchless greediness,
Of hoarding Treasure up, to an excess
At such a time as this, wherein the
State
Is straitened; (and when much it doth abate
That,
Trading,
whereby, our necessities
Public, and Private, should have their supplies)
Produceth ill effects; and how by these
Both in their
Civil Peace,
and
Consciences,
Men may disturbed be, there's cause of fear,
By what in their
deportments
doth appear.
And, I observed this (which I will now record)
That, when they first begun to be restored,
With them, returned, (God grant there come no
May-poles, Maid-marian,
& the
hobby-horse,
(worse)
Beside, some other heathenish
Prophanations,
Maugre the
Kings
late pious Proclamations.
It would fill many volumes to collect
What
Prelacy
did heretofore effect;
How troublesome in other
Common-weals,
And
Kingdoms,
it hath to GOD's
Israel's,
And, other people been: how oft have they
Endeavoured their
Sovereigns
to betray,
Unto the See of
Rome?
how oft, to bring
The
People
into bondage to their
King,
That, when their purpose they had wrought on him
Both
King
and
people,
might be slaves to them?
How insolent and impudent a power,
Was then usurped when an
Emperor
Did hold the Stirrup? when an English king
They to so great a slavery did bring,
(And foolery to boot) as to decline
His
Royal Person,
at
Tom Beckets
shrine?
Do penance there, and be so much befoold,
That, school-boy-like, he was with Rods there school'd,
By
Canterbury
Monks? when, he, that trod
Upon his
Liege Lord's neck
(blaspheming GOD)
That piece of scripture, to himself applide
Which could in none, but CHRIST, be verifide?
Intolerable was his arrogance,
But, such are oft effects of their advance;
And, thus, have
Kings
and
Emperors
been rewarded,
Who, their lean Gammons, had with fat inlarded.
These, are the blessed and the holy fruits,
Of their great
wealth,
and
Lordly Attributes;
Yet, these are not the worst; for
Kings
and
Princes,
Were not alone by
Prelates
insolencies,
Abus'd like other men, in what relates
Unto their lives, their honors and estates;
But, GOD, is also, thrust out of his
Throne:
Even his
Peculiars
are usurped upon;
And, such Intrusions are now made, by these
Upon men's
Faiths,
and on their
Consciences,
That, they make many
Prostites
for the
Devil,
Expose them to an everlasting evil,
And, causes are of mischiefs and offense,
Which all the world can never recompense:
For,
Bonds
they lay, where GOD doth none impose;
Unbinde,
from what he never will
unlose;
And, whatsoever he speaks, his
words,
by these,
Are made to mean, what ever they shall please.
But, let the
Saints
in patience persevere;
For, though these arrogantly domineer,
And in their hopes grow every day more strong,
Their time of standing, will not now be long:
The Kings, who with the
Cup of Fornications
Have been made
Drunk,
for many Generations,
Will at the last grow
sober,
or else
mad,
To see what power on them, these
Jugglers
had,
And, help to bring that fatal
Judgment
on,
Which must reward them for what they have done:
Great
Babylon
itself, will shortly fall,
And, they shall have their
Portion
therewithal.
To do us harm, they had not been so able,
If in those
Principles,
men had been stable
Which constitute CHRIST's
Church;
nor to assist
As they have done, the Throne of Antichrist.
Had these been still content to seek no more
(As
Bishops
were in ages heretofore)
Than might supply things needful in their place,
For
Nature
to promote the works of
Grace,
(Nor stretched their
Precedency
ought further,
Than did conduce to
Decency,
and
Order)
It had not such ill consequents produced:
And, could they but, yet, timely be reduced,
To that
Bound; Discords,
would ere long be ended,
And, much, that is amiss would be amended.
(GOD
Bless the
King,
and open so his eyes,
That, he may see in what his safety lies;
And prosper me, as I desire he may
Walk and continue, in that blessed way,
Which truly to his glory doth redound;
Whom he so kind, and merciful hath found.
My prayers are, that GOD would make him strong
Against the
Charms
of every glossing Tongue;
In
Grace
and
Virtues,
daily so improve him,
That,
GOD
and
Men,
forever more may love him:
And, that, I may find favor in his sight,
According as I am in heart, upright:
For, whatsoever, he shall be to me;
To him, I am true, and so will ever be.
GOD, pardon all that I have done amiss,
And, so, I finish this
Parenthesis.)
Here, I have shown you, by plain
demonstration,
Which (as I said) admits no confutation,
That,
Poverty
(though much despised) is better
Than
Riches;
and, that, I thereto am debtor
Much more, for what concerns my happiness,
Than, by what can be got by an excess
In
Wealth
and
Honor:
And, what's here rehearst,
Will be approved, when
Synods
have reversed
Their
Votes;
and be by
Wisest men
upheld
When
Acts of Parliament
shall be repealed,
That, were confirmed, by
Commons, Lord's
&
King,
When, GOD, shall to effect, his purpose bring,
And, those men to their
wits,
who, little heeded,
What, would ensue that, wherein they proceeded.
Now I have done.
If this you can believe,
And, GOD, his blessing thereunto shall give,
I have what, I desired for my pain;
And, what's here
writ,
shall not be writ in vain:
for, all that's in my
words,
is in my
heart,
In every circumstance, and every part.
Perhaps, this despicable
Barly-cake,
May tumble, till a fatal breach it make
Into the Tents of
Midian:
but, thereon
What ere else follows, let GOD's will be done.
Though no man living, should the same regard,
A
good work,
to itself gives full reward;
And, there is nothing, that can make it less,
Than what it is, or, bar it from increase:
For, though such
Accidents,
may oft befall,
As, that, it will not so appear to all,
Nor
Poverty, Imprisonment, Disgrace,
Life, death, good, bad condition, time
nor
place,
Praises, Privations,
nor ought that hath name,
Makes
real Virtue,
not to be the same.
Glory be to GOD.
A Word on the behalf of Mr. Zacharias Crofton Prisoner in the Tower.
Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye the same unto them; for this is the Law and the Prophets,
Matth. 7. 12.
SInce all men err, and one way, or another,
Occasion what mis-happens to each other,
I cannot but be sensible of that,
Which may be mine, and every man's estate.
CROFTON's a Prisoner, and, some say, must die;
Yet, I, from none, can learn the reason why.
If his declaring for the COVENANT,
Be all his
Crime,
a reason I shall want,
To satisfy me, by what
Law
we shall
Conclude that his
Offence
is Capital;
Or, how, that can imputed be for
sin,
Which, by no
Law,
hath yet forbidden been.
GOD, bless the
King
and
State;
and so men's reason
Preserve, that, we may once know
Truth
from
Treason,
Lest we at last be brought into a snare,
And, be uncertain, when we Traitors are:
For, though it safely might be justified
That, rather than GOD,
Men
should be obeyed;
Such, may not be their own
Friends,
who condemn
That man, who pleaded both for GOD, and
them,
And, to the hazard of his life persists,
In vindicating their Joynt-Interests,
To no man's disadvantage, except those,
Who, are to GOD and
Men,
apparent foes.
Mee thinks, it is great pity, that, a man
Who, to GOD,
King
and
Church,
both may, and can
Be serviceable; and, who doth profess
His
Judgment,
in mere conscientiousness
Without designed contempt, unto the
State,
Or, purposing a mutinous debate,
And, never gave just cause to be suspected,
He was to either of them disaffected,
(But, unto both of them, good service did,
When they of
Faithful Servants
had most need;
And, hath but done his duty, to oppose
Those
Harpies,
which to all
Good men
are foes)
Should by mistake, or, by mis-information,
As one, who had deserved no compassion,
A
Sufferer
with
Malefactors
be
Because, he sees not, what he cannot see;
Or, else, because he cannot credit give
To what, he finds no reason to believe;
For, who will care for life, where
Prelacy
Attains to such a height of
Tyranny,
That, it inslaves both
Soul
and
Body
too?
And, where, of what we should
believe
and
do,
No certainty, can by their LIGHT be known,
Nor leave obtained, to make use of our own,
Though voluntarily the King engaged
To let the
Conscience
be so privileged;
And,
Mercy,
in some other things, did show
Whereof, the
Prelacy
will not allow,
Whether the COVENANT, by
right,
or
wrong,
Were
made,
or
burnt,
it doth not now belong
To private men to question: For, when dooms
Are past in
Parliament,
the
Case
then comes
Before GOD's
Judgment-Seat;
and, woe to them,
Who, that, which he approves of, shall condemn.
Till, therefore, he, thence answers their
appeal
Wise men,
their private thinkings will conceal,
And, him implore, to whom refer'd it is,
To
right
what's wrong, and pardon what's amiss.
What,
Fame
reports by
Crofton
to be done
I, singly and sincerely musing on,
Do find, by that; whereof informed I am,
That, he more merited
reward
than
blame,
Unless, that, wherein other men have erred
(Without his fault) may be to him transferred.
The
Covenant
he took, but did not
make
it;
Nor forced any one to
take,
or break it;
But, in his place alone, the same maintained
(To his own hazard) as it appertain'd
Unto the
honor, peace,
and
preservation
Both of the
Royal persons,
and the
Nation,
As he thought it obliged; and as it stood
In force, relating to the
Will
of GOD
And, no jot further; unless, we suppose
He erred, in pressing it, to bar out those
Who,
have been,
still
are,
and
will be
agen,
Foes unto GOD, to
Kings,
and
Common men,
As soon as they themselves enabled find,
To do the
work,
for which they were designed.
For, that, which CROFTON most insisted on,
(As purposed by the
Covenant
to be done)
Is an exploding of the
Hierarchy
Brought in, by
Antichristian-Prelacy,
(To whose support, his
Oath
cannot extend
Who, CHRIST's
Faith,
is obliged to defend.)
And, if that, be a fault, GOD, me forgive,
For, therein, I resolve, to die, and live.
The
stress
of his
Case,
as appears to me,
Lies there; if, he of ought else guilty be,
I, leave him to excuse himself; for, never
Saw I his face, nor shall perhaps forever.
But, he's in durance, and I fain would do
As, in his
Case,
I would be done unto;
And, peradventure, it will needful be
That, some, ere long, should do as much for me.
There are, besides those actings, which do fall
Within the duties of our
Common-call,
Some, having so peculiar Relation,
To GOD's
Designments
in our
Generation,
That, they not only do the force abate
Of what is called,
The Reason of the State,
But, of those
Precepts
also, at sometimes,
Whose violations are most
heinous Crimes,
In any other case; as may appear,
By many proofs, which I will now forbear.
GOD, doth a
Generation-work
design;
For, every man: These, are a part of mine,
And, I had rather die
ten deaths
for one
Than take
ten lives,
to let it be undone.
Till that is done, me, Lord vouchsafe to keep;