Davids Heinous Sin - Hearty Repentance - Heavy Punishment
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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.
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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
DAVIDS
- HAINOVS SINNE.
- HEARTIE Repentance.
- HEAVIE Punishment.
EXODVS 35. 23.
And every man, with whom was found—Goats • air, and red skins of Rammes, and Badgers skins, • rought them. [to the building of the Tabernacle]
Ad Zoilum.
Thy Laies thou vtt'rest not, yet carpest mine,
Carpe mine no longer, or else utter thine.
By THOMAS FVLLER Master of Arts of Sidnye College in Cambridge.
LONDON, Printed by Tho. Cotes, for John Bellamie, dwelling at the three Golden Lions in Cornehill. 1631.
To the Honorable M r . Edwar • M r . William, and M r . Christopher Montague, Sons to the Right Honorable, Edward Lord Montague, of Boughton.
FAire Branches of a Stock as fair
Each a son, and each an heir:
Two
Joseph
-like, from Sire so sage,
Sprung in Autumn of his age;
But a
Benjamin
the other,
Gain'd with losing of his Mother.
This fruit of some spare hours I spent
To your Honors I present.
A King I for my subject have,
And Noble Patrons well may cra
•••
Things tripartite are fit for three,
With Youths, things youthful best
〈◊〉
Take thē therefore in good part,
Of him that ever prayeth in heart,
That as in height ye wax apace,
Your Souls may higher grow
〈◊〉
Whilst your Father (like the green
Eagle in his Scutcheon seen,
Which with bill his age doth cast)
May longer still and longer last:
To see your Virtues over increase
Your Yeares, ere he departs in Peace.
Thus I my Book, to make an end,
To You: and you to God commend.
Your Honors in all service Tho. Fuller.
DAVIDS Hainous Sin.
1.
H
Ow
Zion's
Psalmist grievously offended,
How
Israel's
Harper did most foully slide,
Yet how that Psalmist penitent amended,
And how tha
•
Harper patient did abide
Deserved chastisement, (so fitly stilled,
Which wrath inflicted not, but love most mild,
Not for to hurt, but heal a wanton child.)
2.
How one by her own Brother was defiled;
And how that Brother by a Brother slain;
And how a Fa
•
her, by his Son ex
•
led:
And by a Subject, how a Sovereign:
How Peace procured after Battels fierce,
As
Sol
at length doth sullen clouds dispierce;
My Muse intends the subject of her Verse.
3.
Great God of might, whose power most Sovereign,
D
•
pends of none, yet all of thee depend,
Time cannot measure, neither place contain,
Nor wit of man thy Being comprehend:
For whilst I think on Three, I am confined
To One, and when I One conceive in mind
I am recalled to Three, in One combined.
4.
Thy help I crave, thy furtherance I ask,
My head, my heart, my hand direct and guide,
That whilst I undertake this weighty task,
I from thy written lore start not aside:
Alas, 'tis nothing Lord with thee to break
The strong, 'tis nothing to support the weak,
To make men dumb, to make an Infant speak.
5
EAch one begotten by immortal seed,
Becomes the pitched field of two deadly foes,
Spirit and Flesh, these never are agreed,
With trucelesse war each other doth oppose;
And though the Spirit oft the Flesh doth quell,
It may subdue but can it not expel,
So stoutly doth the Jebusite rebel.
6
Now
David
when on
Bathsheba
loose eyes
He fixed, his heavenly half did him dissuade;
Turn, turn away thy sight from vanities,
Exchange thy object, else thou wilt be made
Vnmindfull of thy Soul, her corps to mind,
Made for to lose the truth, such toys to find,
By looking long, made at the last, stark bli
•
de.
7.
What though her face, and body be most fair,
Behold, the Sun her beauty doth surpass;
His golden beams surmount her yellow hair,
As far as purest Cristall, dyrtie glass:
Her skin, as is the sky, not half so clear,
Her curious v
•
ines, for color come not near
Those azure streaks, that in the Heavens appear,
8.
There let thy hungry sight her famine feed,
Whereon it cannot surfeit with excess:
Whilst tongue, heart, harp are tuned up with speed,
The grand-contrivers glory to express:
Framing with words, to raise his mighty name,
That with a mighty word, did raise this frame,
And by his providence preserves the same.
9.
〈◊〉
let no lustful thoughts lodge in thy mind,
••
fore that they be borne, they must be killed,
Or else the man is cruel that is kind,
To spare the foes, wherewith his Soul is spill'd▪
And if a wanton motion may request,
Leave for to lodge a limb, th'encroaching guest,
Will soon command room to receive the rest.
10.
Look towards the midday Sun, and thou shalt see,
That is the birth place of thy pedygree:
Full oft there hast thou fed thy fathers sheep,
And kept his flocks upon the flowery plain.
But now the Sheep-hook of a country swaine,
Is turned the Scepter of of a Sovereign.
11
God made thee great, oh do not him disgrace,
And by his weighty Statutes lightly set,
He honor'd thee, oh do not him debase,
He thee remembered, do not him forget:
As at his Masters head, his heels to throw?
Master; that all his feeding did bestow.
12
Behold high Cedars in the valley set,
They in thy eyes like little shrubbs do show,
Whilst little shrubbs upon mount Olivet,
Seeme lofty Cedars; men whose states are low
Their sins are not so obvious to sense,
In Princes persons of great eminence,
A smaller fault doth seem
•
a great offense.
13
But grant, no man thy wickedness espies,
Surely the Searcher of the reins doth mark
Even infant luft, can fig-leaves blear his eyes?
Or can thy shame be shrouded in the dark?
Darknes shall then be turned into light,
Yea Darknes, is no Darknes, in his sight,
But seem the same to him, both day and night.
14
The Spirit had resolved more to speak,
But her half-spoken words, the Flesh confounds,
Nor wonder is it, she so us'd to break
God's Laws, not passing for to pass their bound
•
,
Against man's rules of manners should offend,
Which now impatient longer to attend,
Began before her Rivall made an end.
15.
If ever Nature la
•
ishly did throw
Her gifts on one, which might have served more,
Yet make them comely, if she e're did show,
The prime, and pri
•
e, and plenty of her store.
Loe, there's the form wherein she hath expressed
Her utmost power, and done the very best,
Her master-piece surpassing all the rest.
16.
〈◊〉
if
•
hose careless tresses were attired?
Sure then her face for comeliness tra
•
scends,
What now seems lovely, then woe
•
ld be admired▪
If Art might but begin, where Nature ends.
Alas, ten thousand pities 'tis indeed,
That Princes, on so common fare should feed,
Whilst Common men, on princely meat exceed.
17.
Always the same doth glut the appetite,
But pleased is our palate, with exchange,
Variety of dishes doth delight,
Then give thy loose affections leave to range:
Forbidden things are best, and when we eat
What we have slily gotten by deceit,
Those morsels only make the daynty meat.
18.
But oh, reserve thyself, my maiden Muse,
For a more modest subject, and forbear
To tune such wanton toys, as may abuse,
And give distaste unto a Virgins ear:
Such rotten reasons first from Hell did flow,
And thither let the same in silence go,
Best known of them, that did them never know.
19
Thus he that conquered men, and beast most cruel,
(Whose greedy paws, with fellon goods were found)
Answer'd
Goliath's
challenge in a duel,
And laid the Giant groveling on the ground:
He, that of
Philistines,
two hundred slue:
No whit appalled at their grisly hue,
Him one frail woman's beauty did subdue.
20
Man is a Ship, affections the Sayle,
The world the Sea, our sins the Rocks and Shelves,
God is the Pylot, if he please to sail,
And leave the stearing of us, to ourselves,
Against the ragged Rocks we run amaine,
Or else the winding Shelves do us detain,
Till God the
Palinure,
returns again.
21
YEt
Da
•
id
bold to sin, did
•
ear the shame,
He shunned the sheath, that ran upon the knife,
With a fine fetch, providing for his fame,
•
ee fetcheth home
Uriah
to his wife:
So under his chaste love, to cloak his own
Vnlawfull lust, to fault most careless grown,
Most careful that his fault should not be known.
22
〈◊〉
in their plots, God doth befool the wise,
〈◊〉
ways that none can trace, all must admire:
〈◊〉
of his house that nigh
Uriah
lies,
〈◊〉
David
so came short of his desire:
The man a nearer l
•
dging place did use,
(Which made the King on further plots to muse)
And sent home, home to go, did thus refuse.
23.
The pilgrim Ark doth so journe in a tent,
In open fields,
Joab
my Lord dothlye,
And all the soldiers of his Regiment,
Have Earth their beds, the Heaven their Canopy:
Where bitter blasts of stormy winds are rife.
Shall I go feast, drink, dally with my wife?
Not, as I live, and by your Lordships life.
24.
Then by his servants
David
did conspire,
Uriah's
lust so dull, with wine to edge
•
:
(
Venus
doth freeze, where
Bacchus
yields no fire)
By their constraint, he condescends to pledge
One common cup that was begun to all
Captains encamped nigh to
Rabba
wall;
O
•
e specially, unto the General.
25
Abishay
next is drunk to,
Joab's
brother,
And this cup, to a second paves the way,
That orderly doth vsher in another;
Thus wine once walking, knows not where to stay▪
Yea such a course methodical they take,
In ordering of cupps, the same did make
Uriah
quite, all order to forsake.
26
His false supporters soon begin to slipp,
And if his faltring tongue, doth chance to light
On some long word, he speedily doth clip
〈◊〉
train thereof; yea his deceitful sight,
All objects paired doth present to him:
As double faces, both obscure and dim▪
Seeme in a lying looking-glass to swim.
27.
My prayers for friends prosperity, and wealth,
Shall never be wanting, but if I refuse;
To hurt myself, by drinking others health,
Oh let ingenious natures me excuse:
If men bad manners this esteem, then I
Desire to be esteemed unmannerly,
That to live well, will suffer wine to die.
28.
Well did blind
Homer
see, for to express
This vice, that spawnes all other; when he faines,
Dame
Circe,
an enchanting Sorceresse,
Who
•
e cupps, made many men forgo their brains▪
Whilst with the witless Ass, one purely doats,
Others mishaped are, like lustful Goats,
Or swil-ingrossing Swine, with greedy throats.
29
Though bad, yet better was
Uriah
left,
Not quite a beast, though
〈◊〉
a man, disturbed
In mind, but not distracted, nor bereft
Of wit, though
〈◊〉
, yet sob
••
lie h
•
e curbed
His lust, being wise, though ignorant, to cross
The Kings designs, who now new thoughts doth toss,
Finding his former project at a loss.
30.
The Night with mourning weeds, the world be
•
ladd,
When re
•
tlesse
David,
for to mend his matter,
Did make it worse; his na
•
ed sin was bad,
More Monstrous being mas
•
t; they oft do scatter
The chain, that of God's laws unloose a link:
He swam before in sin, nigh to the briuke,
But now he means in midst thereof to sink.
31
Then for a light, he speedily did call,
(Thou Dark
•
es with his project best agree'd)
For paper, pen, and ink, to write withal,
Though sure a poniard, might have done the deed,
Better if he in blood had dipped it,
And on a sheet of paper what he writ,
A winding sheet far better did befit.
32
This certs I know, as Sepian juice did sink
Into his spongy paper, sabling over
The same, with various-formed specks of ink,
Which was so pure and lilly-white before:
So spots of sin the writers soul did stain,
Whose so ylie tincture did therein remain
Till brinish tears had washed it out again.
33
Next day, when day was scarce an infant grown,
Uriah,
(that no mischief did mistrust,
As none he did deserve, but by his own
Did measure all men's dealings to be just)
Bearing this letter, on his journey past
With speed, who needed not to make such hast
Whose death, had he gone slow, did come too fast.
34
Thus crafty Masters, when they mind to beat
A ca
•
elesse boy, to gather birch they send him;
•
he little lad, doth make the rod complete,
•
hinking his Master therefore will commend him:
B
•
t busily employ'd, he little t
•
ough
•
,
He made the net, wherein himself was caugh
•
And must be b
••
ten, with the birch he brought.
35.
His journey came well to the welcome end,
Town which to force,
Joab
his force did bend,
(Nought is so hard, but vincible by pains)
Some with their heads did plot, some with
〈◊〉
Did practice, yea as ready was the band
To serve, as was the Captain to command.
36.
So busy Bees, some fly abroad at large,
Of f
•
owry Nectar for to fetch their fill,
Some stay at home, for to receive their charge,
And
〈◊〉
•
stily, the liquor do distill:
Or bottle it in wax, whilst others strive,
Like
••
urdy Martialls, far away to drive
The drowsy Droanes, that harbor in the hive.
37
The strong-armed Archer, from his crooked Bow,
Made a strait shaft, with dismal news to speed
Into the town which never returned to show,
The sender, how his message did succeed:
Yea heavy bodies, mounted were on high,
Dull ston
•
s, to which Dame Nature did deny
Feet
•
for to go, Art made them wings to fly.
38
Whilst i
•
the town, one with his friend did talk,
A sudden stroke did take his tongue away,
Some had their legs arrested, as they walk,
By Martial law, commanding them to stay:
Here falls a massy beam, a mighty wall
Comes tumbling there, and many men doth ma
•
le,
Who were both slain, and buried by the fall.
39.
Were there not used in the days of yore,
Enough men-murdering Engines
•
But our age,
Witty in wickedness, must make them more,
By new found plots, men's malice to enrage:
So that fire-spitting Canons, to the cost
Of Christian blood, all valor have ingrost.
Whose finding, makes that many a life is lost.
40.
Whilst thus the well appointed array sought,
Winding in worm-like trenches near the wall,
To humble the proud towers,
Uriah
brought
The speaking paper to the General.
Who when such language he therein did find,
H
•
e thought himself, or else the king was blind,
Himself in body, or the king in mind.
41
Then he the letter did peruse again,
The words, the words of
David
could not be,
And yet the hand, for
Da
•
ids
hand was plain,
He thought it was, and thought it was not he:
Each little line, he thoroughly did view,
Till at the length, more credulous he grew,
And what he thought was false, he found too tr
•
e.
42
Now
Joab
let thy valor be displayed,
Act not a midwife, to a deed unjust,
•
y fear or favor, be not ouersway'd,
•
o prove a Pandar, to a Princes lust;
Return a humble answer back again,
Let each word breath submission, to obtai
••
By prayers, a conquest of thy Sovereign.
43.
Shew how when God and countries good requires,
Then substance, soul and body to engage,
Is the ambition of thy best desires,
Foes foreign to resist, to quell their rage,
How willingly wouldest thou thyself despise,
Count losing of thy goods, a gainful prize,
Lavish thy blood, and thy life sacrifice?
44
But when God's lore, directly doth withstand,
And where his laws, the contrary convince,
We must not break the heavenly kings command,
Whilst we do seek to please an earthly Prince:
The burdens they impose on us to bear,
Our duty is to suffer them; but where
Kings bid, a
•
d God forbids, we must forbear.
45
Behold the man, whose valor o
•
ce surmoun
•
ed
In sacking Zion's mount, (mount not so high
As men therein were ha
•
ghty) and accounted,
Of Worthies chief, doth most unworthily:
He
•
that to sum the people of the land
Withstood the King, now with the King doth stand
Too buxome for to finish his command.
36
Next morne, when early
Phoebus
first arose,
(Which then arose last in
Uriah's
sight)
Him
Joab
in the forfront did dispose,
From whom, the rest recoyled in the fight:
Thus of his friends, betrayed by subtle train,
Assaulted of his foes, with might and main,
He lost his life, not conquered, but
•
lain.
47
His mangled body, they expose to scorn,
And now each cravin coward dare defy him,
Outstaring his pale visage, which beforne
Were palsy-struck, with trembling to come nigh him▪
Thus heartless hares, with purblind eyes do pee
••
In the dead Lions paws, yea dastard Deere,
Over his breathless corps dare domineer.
David's hearty Repentance.
1
THE tongue of guiltless blood is never ti'd
In the earth's month, & though the greedy ground
Her gaping crannies quickly did provide,
To drink the liquor of
Uriah's
wound,
Yet it with moans, be scattered the skies,
And the revoicing Echo, with replies,
Did descant on the plain song of the cries.
2
Hereat the Lord, perceiving how the field,
He sowed with grace, and compassed with an heap,
Of many mercies, store of sins did yield,
Where he expected store of thanks to reap,
With flames of anger, furnace-like he burned
For patience long despised, and lewdly spurn'd
Is at the length to raging fury turned.
3
Then all the Creatures, mustered their train,
From Angels unto worms, the biinde did see
Their Lord disgracit, whose honor to maintain
Things wanting life, most lively seem to be;
R
•
fusing all to serve Man, that refused:
To serve his God, all striving to be used,
To punish him, his maker
•
hat a bus'd:
4
Please it your Highnes, for to give me leave,
I will scorch the wretch to cinder
•
, said the
Fire;
Send me, said
Air,
him I will of
•
reath bereave;
No, quoth the, earnest
Water,
I desire
His soylie sins with del
•
ges to scour;
Nay, let my Lord quoth
Earth;
employ my pow
••
With yawning chapps, I will him quick deuou
••
5
Soone with a word, the Lord appeased this strife,
Injoyning silence, till he did unfold
That precious volume, called The book of life,
Which the the Printer, priuiledg'd of old,
Containing those he freely did embrace,
Nor ever would I wish an higher grace,
Than in this Book to have the lowest place.
6
Within this Book, he sought for
David's
name,
Which having found, he prof
•
ered to blot,
(And
David
surely well deserved the same,
That did his nature so with sin bespot,
Though none are blotted out, but such as never
Were written in, nothing God's love can sever,
Once written there, are written there forever.)
7
Strait from his throne, the Prince of peace arose,
And with embraces did his Father bind,
Imprisoning his arms, he did so close,
(As loving
〈◊〉
on an oak did wind,
And with her curling flexures it betraile)
His father glad, to find his force to fail,
Strugled, as one not willing to prevail.
8
Thus then began the Spotlesse lamb to speak,
(One woe
•
d of whom, would rend the sturdy rock;
Make
〈◊〉
-scorning Adamant to break,
And unto
〈◊〉
, persuade the senseless stock,
Y
•
a God hims
••
f
•
, that knows not to repent,
Is made by his petitions, penitent,
Hi
•
••
stice made, with Mercy to relent)
9
Why doth my Fathers fury burn so fierce?
•
hall
Persian
laws unalterable stand?
And shall my Lord decree, and then reverse,
•
nact, and then repeal, and countermand?
Tender thy credit, gracious God, I crave,
And kill not him, thou didst conclude to save,
Can these hands blot, what these hands did engrave?
10.
Hath not thy wisdom, from eternity,
Before the worlds foundation first was laid,
•
ecree'd, the due time once expired, that I
•
hold Flesh become, and Man borne of a Maid?
To live in poverty, and die with pa
•
ne,
That so thy Son, for sinners vilely slain,
Might make vile Sinners b
•
e thy Sons again.
11.
Let me, oh let me, thy fierce wrath asswage,
And for this sinner, beg a full di
•
charge,
What though he justly doth provoke thy rage?
Thy Justice I will satis
•
ie at large.
If that the Lord of life must murdered be,
Let
〈…〉
, this murd'rer may go free,
My Meritts cast on him, his Sins on me.
12.
Thus speaking, from his fragrant clothes there went
A pleasant breath, whose odour did excel,
Myrrh
•
, Al
••
s, and Cassia for sent,
〈◊〉
all perfumed his Father with the smell,
Whereat his smoothed face most sweetly smiled,
And hugging in his arms, his dearest child,
Return'd these welcome words, with voice
〈◊〉
mild
•
13
Who can so pleasing violence withstand?
Thy craving, is the having a request,
•
uch mild entreaties, do my heart command,
The 'mends is made, and pacifi'd I rest:
As far as Earth, from Heaven do distant lie,
As Ea
•
t is parted from the Western skye,
So far his sins, are severed from mine eye.
14
•
ereat the heavenly Choir, lift up their voice,
Angels and Saints imparadis'd combine,
Upon their golden Violls, to rejoice,
•
o raise the praise of the celestial Trine,
All in their so
•
gs a sacred strife expressed,
Which should sing better, and surpass the rest,
All did surpass themselves, and sang the best.
15.
Then said the
Fire,
my fury I recant,
Life-hatching warmth, I will
•
or him provide:
I
•
David's
breathless lungs do chance to pant,
Said
Air,
I will fan them with a windy tide:
With moisture, I will said
Water,
quench his heat,
And I his hunger, quoth the
Earth,
with meat,
Of marrow, fatness, and the flower of Wheat.
16
Thus when a Lord, long buried in disgrace,
A King
•
o former favor doth restore,
With all respect the Court doth him embrace,
Fawning as fast, as they did flowte before:
Whose smiles, or frowns, are but the bare reflex
•
Of the Kings face, and like to this direction,
Where he affects, they settle their affection.
17
PLaine-dealing
Natha
•
,
prese
•
tly was sent:
Nathan,
than whom, was none more skilled to launch
〈◊〉
festered soul, and with a se
•
rching tent,
〈◊〉
sound the sore; more cunning none to stanch
A bleeding-hearted sinner, nor more kind,
With swaddling clothes of comfort, for to bind
Vnjoynted members, of a troubled mind.
18
〈◊〉
did not flow with wealth, which envye breeds,
••
or yet was he with pe
•
ury oppressed;
••
ant is the cause, from which co
•••
mpt proceeds:
〈◊〉
means were in the mean, and that's the best.
High hills are parched with h
••
te, or hid with snow,
And humble dales, soon drowned, that lie too low,
Whilst happy grain, on hanging hills doth grow.
19.
For sundry duties, he did days devide,
Making exchange of work, his recreation,
For prayer, he set the precious morne aside,
The midday he bequeathed to meditation:
Sweet sacred stories, he reserved for night▪
To read of
Moses
meekness,
Samson's
might,
These were his joy, these on
•
lie his delight.
20.
But now dispensing with his daily task,
To court he comes, and wisely did invent,
Under a parable, his mind to mask,
Seeming to me
•
ne naught less, than what he meant▪
And Lapwing-like, round fluttering a while,
With
〈…〉
preface and a witty wile,
He made
〈◊〉
King himself for to beguile,
21
Thus he that thought all mortal men to cheat,
And with false shows, his secret sins to shade,
Was couzned by the innocent deceit,
Of one plain Prophet, and directly made,
As he a Judge sat on the bench, to stand,
22
Go
•
fond affectors of a flanting strain,
Whose sermons strike at sins with slenting blows,
Give me the man that's power
•
ull and plain,
The Monste
•
Vice, unmasked to expose:
Such Preachers do the soul, and marrow part,
And cause the guilty conscience to smart,
Such please no itching ears, but pierce the heart.
23.
This made King
David's
marble mind to melt,
And to the former temper to return,
•
hawing his frozen breast, when as he felt
The lively sparks of grace therein to burn,
Which under ashes cold, were choked before;
And now he weeps, and wayles, and sighs full sore,
Though sure such sorrow, did his joy restore.
24.
So have I seen one slumber'd in a swound,
Whose sullen soul into his heart did hye,
His pensive frien'ds, soon heave him from the ground▪
And to his face life-water do apply:
At length, a long-expected sigh doth strive
To bring the welcome news, the man's alive,
Whose soul at last, doth in each part ariue.
25
•
hen to his Harp, he did himself betake,
•
His tongue-tide harp, long grown out of request,)
•
nd next to this his glory must awake,
•
he member he of all accounted best:
Then with those hands, which he for grief did wring,
He also lightly strikes the warbling string,
And makes one voice serve both to sob and sing.
26
•
hat heavenly voice to hear, I more desire,
•
han
Syren's
sweetest songs, than music made
•
y
Philomele
chief of the winged quire;
Or him, whose Lays so pleasing, did persuade
Stones for to lack
•
y, when he went before,
Or that brave harper, whom unto the shore,
His hackny Dolphin safely did restore.
David's Heavy Punishment.
1
MOst true it is, when Penitents by grace
Acquitted are, the pardon of their sins,
And punishments release, do
•
oth embrace,
Like to a pair of vndivided twinns,
Parted they cannot be, they cleave so fast,
Yet when the tempest of God's wrath is past,
Still his afflicting honey-shower doth last.
2
But let the Schools, these thorny points dispute,
Whose searching sight can naked truth descry,
Sculking in Errors arms, and are acute,
•
ine-
•
ingred with distinctions to
•
ntye
Knotts more than Gordian, these men never mist
There did so much dexterity consist.
3
Mean time, my Muse, come see how prettily
The patient Infant doth it self behave,
That from the cradle, posted to the grave,
See with what silent signs, and sighs full fain,
Poor heart, it would express where lies the pain,
Complaining, that it knows not to complain.
4
Stay cruel Death thy hand for pity hold,
Against some aged grand-fire bend thy bow,
That now hath full, twice forty winters told,
Whose head is silver'd or'e, with ages snow:
Dash out this Babe, out of thy dismal bill,
And in exchange, let him thy number fill,
So may be life, his friends enjoy him still.
5.
Those hands to hurt another, never sought,
Which cannot help themselves, they are so weak;
His heart did never hatch a want on thought,
His tongue did never lie, that cannot speak:
By wrong and violence, he never did wrest
The goods, wherewith his Neighbor is possessed,
Whose strength scarce servs to suck his nurse's breast
6
•
ut ah, this Infant's guilt from him proceeds,
T
•
at knew the least, when most he sought to know,
Who was most nakit, when clothed in his weeds,
Best clothed then, when naked he did go:
In vain the wit of wisest men doth strive,
To cut off this intayle, that doth derive
Death unto all, when first they are alive.
7
As when a tender Rose begins to blow,
Yet scarce unswadled is, some wanton maid
Pleas'd with the smell, allured with the show,
Will not reprive it, till it hath displayed
The folded leaves, but to her breast apply's
Th'abortive budd, where coffined it lie's
Losing the blushing Dye, before it die's▪
8
So this babes life, newly begun, did end
Which sure received the substance, though not signed
With graces seal; God freely doth attend
His ordinance, but will not be confined
Thereto, when'ts not neglected, nor despised,
They that want
Water
are by
Fire
baptized,
Those sanctified, that never were circumcised.
9
Sweet Babe, one Sabbath thou on earth didst see,
But endless Sabbaths, doest in heaven survive,
Grant, Death of joyful hours deprived thee,
Thou hadst seen years of sorrows, if alive:
True, thou we
•
t borne a Prince, but now art crowned
A
•
ing by Death, sleep therefore in the ground
Sweetly, until the Tr
•
mpet last shall sound.
10
By this child's death, King
David
did sustain
One loss; but wh
•
re this misery did end,
More miseries began: as in a chain,
One link, doth on another link depend:
His l
•
st, with lust, his slaying with a slaughter
Must punishit be: proportioned thereafter
To Mother sin, is punishment the Daughter.
11.
AMnon
advised by
Jonadab,
a fit
Of sickness faines: Men wickedly inclined,
Worse counselors, (that with great store of wit
Have dearth of grace) most easily may find;
Ah happy age, when Ladies learned to bake,
And when Kings Daughters knew to knead a cake.
12
Rebecka
was esteemed of comely hew,
Yet not so
•
ice
•
er comeliness to keep,
But that she wa
•
er for the cammells drew;
Rachel
was fair,
•
et fedd her fathers sheep,
But now for to supply
Rebeck'as
place,
Or doc as
Rachel
did, is counted base,
Our dainty dames, would take it in disgrace.
13
But quickly did his
•
ea
•
tly lust declare,
That he, to eat her daynties, had no need,
He for the cook, not for the cates did care,
She was the dish, on whom he meant to feed:
Oh how she prayed, & strove with might & main
And then from striving, fell to prayers again,
But prayers, and striving, both alike
•
in vain.
14
Thus a poor Lark imprisoned in the cage
Of a Kites claws, most sweetly sings at large
Her own Dirge whilst she seeks to calm his rage,
And from her jailor, sue's for a discharge;
Who passing for no music that surpast,
To feed his
•
ares, whilst that his gutts do fast,
On her that prayed so long, doth prey at last.
15
Then with dust-powdre'd hair she sore bewayles,
And punished on he
•
self, her brothers sin,
Parting her maiden livery with nails,
That parted was with colors, and wherein
White
streaks, their owners innocence did show;
The bashful
Red,
her modesty; the row
Of
Sable,
sorrowed for the wearers woe.
16
Comfort thyself more virtuous, than fair,
More fair, than happy virgin, mourn with measure,
Sins unconsented to, no souls impair,
That must be done perchance with bodies pleasure,
Which with the grief of soul may be constrained
The casket broke, the jewel still remained,
Vntoucht, which in the casket was contained.
17.
Out of our minds, good turns do quickly pass,
But injuries there in remain too long,
Those scraul'd in dust, but these ingrav'd in brass,
One Sun-set for our anger should suffice,
Which in his wrath set oft, oft did arise,
With yearly race, surrounding twice the skies.
18.
Now when his fruitful flocks, which long had wor
•
Their woolen coats, for to make others hot,
Were now to forfeit them, and
•
o be shorn,
(Sure from the silly sheep, his
•
ivelish plott,
Their owner never learned) he finds a way,
To work revenge, and called on that day,
His brothers to a feast, which pro'vd a fray.
19
What
Amnon
drunk in wine, in blood he spilled,
Which did the dainties mar▪ and meat defile,
Cupps▪ carpetts, all with goary streakes were gilt,
Seeming to blush, that cruelty so vile▪
So foully savage, should the banquet stain:
Thus he that being well, did sickness fain▪
Not being sick, was on a sudden slain▪
20
The rest refused on the meat to feed,
Whose bellies were so full with grief, and fear
To feel, what they had seen; away they speed
To ride: but Fame did fly, fame that doth wear
An hundred listening ears, an hundred eyes,
An hundred prating tongues, she daily plies,
Tongues, that both tell the truth, and tattle lies▪
21.
She gets by going, and doth gather strength,
As balls of snow, by rolling more do gain,
She whispr'd first, but loudly blaz'd at length,
All the Kings Sons, all the Kings sons are slain:
The pensive Court, in doleful dumps did rue
This dismal case, till they the matter knew,
Would all bad news, like this, might prove untru
•
22.
Go silly souls, that do so much admire,
Court-curious incertainment, and fine fare,
May you for me obtain what you desire,
I for your fowls of
Phasis
do not care,
If that such riots at your feasts be rife,
And all your meat, so sowrely sauc'd with strife▪
That guests to pay the shot, must lose their life.
23
Happy those Swaines, that in some shady bower,
Making the grass th
•
i
•
clothe, the ground their board,
Do feed on mellow fruit, or milks fine flower,
Vsing no wine, but what their wells afford:
At these did malice never bend her bow,
Their state is shot f
••
e, it is set so low,
They overlook, that would them overthrow.
24
FAst unto
Geshure,
flies the fatricide,
To shelter there himself, the sentence sore
O
•
angry justice, fearing to abide,
Oh happy turn had he returned no more,
Who wonted guise, kept in a country strange,
Those that abroad, to foreign parts do range,
Their climate, not conditions do exchange:
25.
If any suitors there he chancit to find,
He steals their hearts, by taking of their hands,
And sucked out their soul, with kisses kind:
He of their name, cause, city cloth inquire,
Proud men prove base, to compass their desire,
They lowest crouch, that highest do aspire.
26.
Before such kisses come upon my face,
Oh, let the deadly Scorpion me sting,
Yea rather than such arms should me embrace,
Let curling Snakes about my body cling:
Than such fair words, I'd rather hear the fowl
Vntuned schreeching of the doleful Owl,
Or hear the direful mountain Wolf to howl.
27
Some men affirm, that
Absalom
doth sound
In the worlds oldest tongue [of peace a father]
But certs I know that such mistake their ground▪
[Rebellious son] sure it importeth rather:
And yet why so? since since I call to mind,
Than the
Clementes
none were more unkind,
Then
Innocent,
more nocent none I find.
28
Then borrowing the plausible disguise
Of holiness, he mas'kt his plot so evil,
Under the good pretence of sacrifice,
(A Saint dissembled is a double Devil.)
But sure were these the vows, he went to pay▪
His Sire, that harmless sheep he vowed to slay,
Who over mount
Olives
weeping fled away.
29.
This makes me call my Savior's grief to mind,
So wicked, those that said they saw, so blind,
Mourn'd for their sins, that mourned not for their own:
Much did he weep for others that forbad,
Others to weep for him, whose being sad
Hath made his Saints, forever since, full glad.
30.
Down comes the King to
Jordan:
on the sand
•
f that the saylors chance to ground the boat,
•
flood of tears they straitwayes did command,
Whos
•
large accession, made the vessel float:
And if a blast of wind, did chance to fail,
So grievously the people did bewail,
Their very
•
ighs might serve to stuff the sail.
31
Thus was the King▪ in his own land exiled,
His subjects were his host, and he their guest,
Whose place was ill supplied by his child,
(Vnhappy Bird defiling his own nest)
That took his fathers wives, in open
•
ight,
Those that do want of grace the shun-shine bright,
Extinguish oft dim Natures candle light.
32▪
The blushing Sun, no sooner did behold
•
o beastly lust, but sought his face to shroud,
And shrinking in his beams of burnishit gold,
Was glad to sculke within a sullen cloud:
The shamefacit birds, with one wing fain to fly,
Did hold their other fan before their eye,
For fear they should such filthiness espy.
33
What needed he, to keep alive his name,
Erect a pillar? Sure this damned deed,
Makes us remember, and detest the same,
That in the worlds last doting age succeed:
Yea when that Brasse, that seemeth time to scorn,
Shall be by all-devouring time out-worn,
His name they'se bear in mind that are not borne▪
34▪
Who speeding home on witless asse amaine,
(Ass that for wit, his rider did exceed,)
'Cause he his will at Court could not obtain,
Did make his Will at home: the peevish el
•
e
Amongst his household parts his cursed pel
•
e,
Carefull of that, but careless of himself.
35
Oh sudden thought of thy mortality!
Thou art not yet so thorough worn with age,
None in thy sace such Symptoms can espy,
Which should so near approaching death praesage:
Thy state is not distempered with heat,
Thy working pulse doth moderately beat,
All outward things seem whole, seem all complete.
36
But ghostly is thy g
•
iefe: thou that by treason,
Against thy Liege, so lately wast combined,
Thy passions now rebel against thy Reason▪
Reason, that is the Sovereign of thy mind,
And seek for to disturb it from the throne:
Strive, strive to set these civil broils at one,
Order thyself, and let thy house alone.
37
A chain of hempe, he to his neck made fast,
By tying of which knot, he did vntye
The knot of Soul and Body, and at last
Stopping the passage of his breath, thereby
A passage for his Soul, wide opened he:
Thus traitors, rather than they should go free,
Themselves the hangmen of themselves will be.
38
His friends, to balm his body spare no cost,
With spices seeking to perfume a sink,
For certs I know, their labor was but lost,
His rotten memory, will ever stink,
His soul thereby was nothing bettered,
Because his corps were bravely buried,
Tombes please the living, profit not the dead.
39
How many worthy Martyrs vilely slain,
Made meat for fowls, or for the fire made fuel,
Though ground, they could not for a grave obtain,
Were not less happy, but their foes more cruel,
Vnburied bodies made not them unblest,
Their better half, did find an heavenly rest,
And doth enjoy, joys not to be expressed.
40
Leave we the Traitor thus, upon whose hearsse,
My Muse shall not a precious
•
ear mis-spe
•
d,
Proceeding to bemoan in doleful verse,
Whole clouds of arrows, made the skye to lowre,
Dissolv'd at length, into a bloody shower,
Till Steele killed many, wood did more devo
•
re.
41
Oh, let it not be publishit in the path▪
That leads unto th' incestuous seed of
Lot▪
Tell not these tidings in the town of
Gath,
In
Askelon,
see ye proclaim it not,
Least these rejoice at this calamity,
Who count your fame, their greatest infamy,
Your woeful jars, their welcome melody.
42
Had
Rachel
now revived, her sons to see,
Their bloody hands, would make her heart to bleed,
Each a
Benoni
unto her would be;
Had
Lea
•
lived to see herself agree'd
To fall out with herself, with tears most sure,
She would have made her tender eyes past cure,
Who ever wonn, she must the loss endure.
43
The conquest (which her verdict long suspended)
Hover'd aloft, not knowing where to light;
But at the last, the lesser side befreinded
With best success; the other put to flight,
More trusted a swift foot, than a strong fist,
Most voices oft of Verity have mist,
Nor in most men, doth Victory consist.
44
The graceless son was plunged in deep distress,
For earth his weight, no longer would endure,
The angry heavens denied all access,
Unto a wretch so wicked, so impure:
At last the heavens and earth with one consent,
A middle place, unto the monster lent,
Above the earth, beneath the firmament.
45
His skittish Mule, ran roving in the fields,
And up high hills, down dales, over woods did prance,
Seeming with neighing noise, and wanton heels,
In token of great joy to sing and dance,
That now her master, she should bear no more,
(An heavy bulk, whose sins did weigh so sore)
Now rid of him, that rid on her before.
46
Cry
Absalom,
cry
Absalom
amaine,
And let thy winged prayers, pierce the skye,
Oh to the spring of pity, soon complain,
That never is dammed up, not drained dry,
Thy fault confess, his favor
〈◊〉
implore,
Much is thy misery, his mercy more,
Thy want is great, but greater is his store.
47
Condemne thyselfe, and he shall thee acquit,
Do thou but pray, he'le pity thy estate,
Confess thy debt, he will the same remit,
It never was too soon, its never to late:
Alas; long sinners scarce at last relent,
He gives not all offenders to repent,
That granteth pardon to all penitent.
48
Whilst thus his life suspended was on high,
Bold-venturous
loab
opened his heart,
(Heart, where much treason lurked privily)
And peir'ct his body with a triple dart:
Then Crimson blades of grass, whereon he bleeds,
Did straitwayes die, and in their room succeeds
A fruitful wilderness, of fruitless weeds.
49.
When
David
heard the Victory was gained,
But his son lost (as Jordan waxing rank,
Or'e flows the land, and scorns to be restrained,
To have his Tide, ti'de in a narrow bank)
Surges of sorrow in his heart did rise,
And brake the watery sluices of his eyes,
Who lightened thus himself, with heavy cries▪
50
My son, whose body had of grace the fill,
My son, whose soul was so devoid of grace,
Without my knowledge, and against my will,
My son, in cause so bad, so strange a place:
My son, my son, for which I most complain▪
I fear in soul, as in the body slain,
Would I might die, that thou migh'st live again▪
51
Now when this grief was swallowed, not digested,
The subjects
•
lockit, King
David
to restore,
Who in an instant, love what they detested,
Detest in th'instant▪ what they lo
•
'd before:
People like weather-cocks wav'd with the wind▪
We constant, in inconstancy may find▪
As time counts minutes, so they change their mind.
52
Amongst the rest, that came the King to meet,
Lam
•
-
•
egd
Mephibosheth,
but loyal hearted,
Was one, that never washed his clothes, or
•
eete
(Except with tears) since
David
first departed▪
Feet, which by fall from nur
•
e
•
arms began
To halt, with him a child▪ so fast she ran,
That he could never go, when grown a man▪
53.
Not much unlike, if it give no distaste,
That real truths. I do with trifles match,
Whilst that my posting Muse, with headlong haste
Doth strive her rural Lays for to dispatch,
Halting Invention, for the want of heed,
And lame unjoynted lines from her proceed,
And seldom things done speedily, do speed.
54.
But here an unexpected jar arose,
Whilst people, for most part in Prince contended▪
Which grew from bitter words to bloody blows,
The King, quoth
Judah,
of our Tribe descended,
He of our flesh is flesh, bone of our bone:
Nay, answered
Israel,
in the King we own
Ten parts, a single share is yours alone.
55
Whilst sparks of discord thus began to smoke,
To
•
inde the bellows,
Sheba
did conspire,
And blowing of a trumpet, blew the fire:
Then those that claimed ten, disdained all part
In
David,
taught by his seducing art,
They discontented to their tents depart▪
56
This Rebell,
Joab
whilst to quell he strives,
A nameless woman (in the book of life
Her name is kept, that kept so many lives)
Procur'd that he, who stirred up the strife,
The body of the Common-wealth to rend
From Prince the head, whereon it did depend,
With head, from body rent, his life did end.
57
By his death many Citizens surviv'd,
The loss of Traitors blood, did prove their gain,
Soone cea'st the flood of Discord, thence derived,
When they the factious fountain did restrain.
Unto his shame, which to her endless praise,
58
So in our land, a noble Queen arose,
As we have heard our fathers oft relate,
A Maid, yet Manly to confound her foes,
A Maid and yet a Mother to the State:
Which she weak, like to crumbling brick did find,
Which strong, as lasting marble she resigned,
Gold and God's worship, both by her refined.
59
She having flourished in great renown,
In spite of power, and policy of
Spain,
Did change her earthly, for an heavenly crown,
And cea'st to rule over men, with God to reign:
Fourty and four
Novembers
fully past,
(Aie me that winged time should post so fast)
To Christ her love, she wedded was at last.
60
This Sun thus set, there followed no Night
In our Horizon, strait another Sun,
Most happily continued the light,
Which by the first was hopefully begun:
And, what might most amaze all mortal eyes,
Never before out of the
Northen
skies,
Did men behold bright
Phoebus
to arise.
61.
Arts did increase his fame, he did increase
The fame of Arts, and counting twice eleven
Twelve months upon his throne, this Prince of peace,
By falling to the Earth, did rise to Heaven:
Then down our chee
•
stears hot & cold did flow,
Those for the Sire decea'st, expre'st our woe,
Those joy, for his succeeding Son did show.
62.
Live gracious Liege, whose Virtues do surmount
All flattery, and Envy them admires,
C
•
nter of grace and greatness, liv
•
•
o Cou
•
t,
Till that thy kingdom with the world expires:
We subjects wish thee worst, that love thee best,
Who here long to enjoy thee,
•
oe request,
That late thou mayst enjoy an heavenly rest.
63
And thou young Prince, hope of the future age,
Succeed to Fathers Virtues, Name, and Crown,
A new Star did thy Savior's birth praesage,
His death, the Sun eclipsed did renown:
But both of these conjoined to adorn
Thy welcome birth, the Sun with ag
•
so worn,
Did seem half dead, and a young starr was borne.
64▪
But what dost thou, my venturous Muse, praesume
So far above thy dwarf-like strength to strain?
Such soaring soon will melt thy waxen plume,
Let those heroike sparks, whose learned brain,
Doth merit chapletts of victorious bayes,
Make Kings the subjects of their lof
•
y lays,
Thy worthless praising doth their worth dispraise
65
Strike sails, and to thy matter draw more near,
And draw thy matter nearer to an end▪
Though naught praise-worthy in thy verse appear,
Yet strive that shortness may the same commend:
Return to see, where
Ioah
homeward goes,
To see his Friends, that had subdued his foes;
His soldiers, and himself there to repose.
66
Thus when two adverse winds, with strong command,
Summon the Sea, the waves that both do feel,
Dare follow neither, but in doubt do stand,
Whilst that the shipps with water drunk do reel
With men, for grief of drowning, drowned in grief,
Until at length, a Calme brings them relief,
And stills the storm, that had so long been brief.
67
Oh that I might but live to see the day,
Day, that I more desire, than hope to see)
When all these bloody discords done away,
Our Princes, in like manner might agree:
When all the world, might smile in perfect peace,
And these long-lasting broils, at length might cease
Broyles, which (alas) do daily more increase.
68
•
he
Neatherlands,
with endless wars are tost,
•
ike in success, to their inconstant tide,
•
osing their gettings, gaining what they lost.
•
enmarke
both sword, and
Ba
•
tick
seas divide:
More blood, than juice of grape nigh
Rhine
is shed;
And
Brunswicke
Land will not be comforted,
But cries, My Duke, alas, my Duke is dead.
69
The wars in
France,
now laid aside, not ended,
Are only skinned over with a scar,
Yea haughty
Alps,
that to the clouds ascended,
Are over-climbed with a bloody War:
And
Maroes
birth place
Mantua,
is more
Made famous now for
Mars,
and battle sore,
Than for his Muse, it famed was before.
70
Sweden
to stop th'Imperial flood provides,
(May his good cause, be crowned with like success,
And they, that now please none, to please both sides
May they themselves, his trusty friends express.)
But
Turks
the Cobweb of their Truce, each howr
•
Do break, they wait a time, but want no pour
Nor will, war-wearied Christians to devour.
71
But let the cunning
Chymicke,
whose exact
•
kill, caused Light from darkness to proceed,
Out of disorder order can extract,
Make in his due time all these jars agree'd,
Whose greiuances may be bemoan'd by men,
By God alone redressed; and till then
•
hey more befitt my Prayers than my Pen.
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
.
FINIS.