English Puritan & Reformed
A Prophecy Written for the Year 1641

George Wither (1588-1667) · 22,241 words · 99 min
The source for this document is https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A66774.0001.001
Project Note

This is licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND. This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
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 PROPHESIE WRITTEN LONG SINCE FOR THIS YEARE, 1641.
       
        Wherein Prelate-policy is proved to be folly.
       
        AS ALSO, Many notable Passages Concerning the fall of some great Church-men.
       
        Written by a modern Poet.
       
         LONDON,
        
        Printed in the Yeare, 1641.
       
       A PROPHESIE WRITTEN LONG SINCE FOR THIS YEARE, 1641.
      
       I Do not wonder, as I erst have done,
      
       That when the Prophet
       
        Jonah
       
       should have gone
      
       To
       
        Nineveh,
       
       God's word he disobey'd▪
      
       And would himself to
       
        Tharsus
       
       have conveyed:
      
       For, I have now a sense how flesh and blood
      
       The motions of the
       
        Holy Ghost
       
       withstood,
      
       And feel (me thinks) how many a likely doubt
      
       The Devil, and his frailty, found him out.
      
       He was a man, (though he a
       
        Prophet
       
       were)
      
       In whom no little weakness did appear:
      
       And, thus he thought, perchance,
       
        What shall J do?
       
        A strange attempt my heart is urged to
       
       :
      
        And, there is somewhat, earnestly incites
       
        That I should hasten to the
       
       Ninevites,
      
        And, preach, that if they alter not their ways,
       
        Their time of standing,
        
         〈◊〉
        
        but forty days.
       
        My soul persuadeth God enjoins me to it;
       
        And, sleep in peace, I cannot, till I do it:
       
        But common
       
       Reason
       
        striveth to restrain
       
        This
       
       motion,
       
        and persuadeth me tis vain.
       
        It saith, I am a sinner, and so frail,
       
        That many times, my best endeavors fail
       
        To rectify myself. How shall I then
       
        Be hopeful of reclaiming other men?
       
        To
       
       Israel
       
        J have threatened many years
       
        God's judgments: yet, no fruit thereof appears
       
        Although they have some knowledge of the Lord,
       
        And are within his
       
       League,
       
        they slight his word
       
       :
      
        What hope then is there, that a heathen Nation
       
        Will prove regardful of my exhortation?
       
        The style of
       
       Prophet,
       
        in this land I carry
       
       ;
      
        And such a
       
       Calling,
       
        here, is ordinary
       
        But, in a foreign State, what warranty
       
        Have I, to publish such a
       
       Prophesy?
      
        How may the King and people take the same,
       
        If I shall in the open streets defame
       
        So great ae
       
       City?
       
        and, condemn for sin,
       
        A place wherein I never yet have been▪
       
        If I shall say, the Lord commanded me▪
       
        Then, they phehaps, will answer:
       
       What is he?
      
        For, they profess him no
        
         •
        
        ▪ Nay, some suspicion
       
        They may conceive, that I to move sedition
       
        Am sent among them. Or, if otherwise
       
        They shall suppose; how can they but despise
       
        My person, and my counsel, who shall from
       
        So far a place, so mere a stranger come,
       
        That no man knows, or what, or who I am,
       
        Or, from what Country, or from whom I came?
       
       Such thought (belike) delayed and feared him so;
      
       And, so the
       
        Spirit
       
       urged him still to go
      
       For
       
        Nineveh
       
       ; that nor to go, nor stay,
      
       Could he resolve; but, fled another way.
      
       From which rebellious course, God fetceth him back
      
       With such a vengeance, that he did not lack
      
       Sufficient proofs, how Reason did betray him,
      
       And, in his
       
        Calling,
       
       causelessly affray him,
      
       Yea (mark heavens providence) though
       
        Jonah
       
       went
      
       Another way, it crossed not God's intent,
      
       But furthered it. For, doubtless, e▪re he came
      
       To
       
        Ninveh,
       
       the miracle and fame
      
       Of his
       
        Deliverance,
       
       was sent before;
      
       And, made his preaching work on them the more.
      
       Now, though I do not arrogate, nor dare
      
       My self (except in frailties) to compare
      
       With blessed
       
        Jonas
       
       : yet I may behold
      
       To say, our
       
        Causes
       
       a resemblance hold.
      
       My heart (and when that moves, as one avers,
      
       It more prevails then many Counsellers,
      
       My heart (I say) persuaded me e're while,
      
       To read a warning Lecture to this
       
        I will.
       
       And in such manner moved; that, to say
      
       It came from God, me thinks, behold I may.
      
       Yet, my own nat'rall frailty, and the world,
      
       Among my thoughts so many doubtings hurld,
      
       That every step had rubs. I level'd some
      
       In my last
       
        Canto.
       
       Yet, I could not come
      
       To even ground, till I had overtopped
      
       Some other Mountains which my passage stopped,
      
       Beware said
       
        Reason,
       
       how thou undertake
      
       This hazardous adventure, which to make
      
       Thou hast resolved For, this wise age denies
      
       That God vouchsated any
       
        Prophesies
       
       Concerning them▪ or, that the application
      
       Of ought foretold, pertaineth to this Nation.
      
       She saith, my
       
        Constancy
       
       is no true sign
      
       That God first moved this intent of mine;
      
       Since Heretics, and Traitors, oft are seen
      
       As bold in all their causes to have been
      
       As
       
        Martyrs
       
       be. And, that for what they do,
      
       They can pretend the holy Spirit too.
      
       And she persuades, tis likely I shall pass
      
       (At best) for one that much deluded was.
      
       She says, moreover, that if these times be
      
       Indeed, so wicked, as they seem to me,
      
       I shall instead of moving to repent,
      
       Nought else but stir their fury, and be rent
      
       Perhaps in pieces, by their hasty rage,
      
       For, what's more likely in a wicked age?
      
       When people in their sins grow hardened once,
      
       She says I may as well go talk to stones,
      
       As tell them ought. For, they are in the dark;
      
       And, what they see and hear, they do not mark.
      
       She urged that the Prophets in old times
      
       Did speak in vain against the people's crimes;
      
       And if in them their words begat no faith,
      
       Much less will such as mine, my
       
        Reaeson
       
       saith.
      
       She tells me also, that this
       
        I will
       
       hath store
      
       Of
       
        Prophets,
       
       and of
       
        Preachers
       
       never more:
      
       She says, that though their calling none neglect,
      
       Their pains appear to take but small effect:
      
       And, if such men authorized as they,
      
       Do cast their words, without success, away;
      
       In vain my
       
        Muse
       
       (whose warrant most contemn)
      
       Doth seek to work more piety in them.
      
       A thousand things unto the like effect;
      
       Yea, all and more then any can object,
      
       (Who shall peruse this Book) my Reason brought
      
       Before me, and objected to my thought,
      
       And, as a
       
        Pilgrim
       
       (who occasions hath
      
       To take some extraordinary path)
      
       Arrivall making at a double way,
      
       Is doubtful whether to proceed or stay:
      
       So fared I; I was nigh tired quite,
      
       Before I could be certain of the right.
      
       Yea, twixt my doubtings, and all those replies
      
       Which in my meditations did arise;
      
       I so amazed grew, I could not know
      
       Which way it best befitted me to go▪
      
       But▪ at the last, God brought me thorough all
      
       My doubts and fears; as though the
       
        Storm
       
       and
       
        Whale,
       
       Once
       
        Jonas
       
       came: That so▪ all they, who are
      
       Ordained for their good, these lines to hear,
      
       The more may profit, when they think upon
      
       What straights I passed, e're this work was done.
      
       To that intent my frailties I have so
      
       Insisted on, as in this book I do.
      
       Yea, I am hopeful also, they that read
      
       These lines of mine (and mark with how much heed
      
       And Christian awfulness, my heart was won
      
       To censure and reprove as I have done)
      
       Will plainly see, these
       
        Numbers
       
       flow not from
      
       Fantastick rashness; nor from envy come▪
      
       Nor spring from faction; neither were begot
      
       By their distracted zeal, who (knowing not
      
       What
       
        Spirit
       
       guides them) often are beguiled
      
       With shows of truth; and madly have reviled
      
       Both good and ill: and whose unsavory
       
        Rimes
       
       Defames men's persons more then check their crimes.
      
       Dishonor Kings; their sacred names blaspheme;
      
       And having gained some notions in a dream,
      
       Or by report (of what they know not well)
      
       Desire their giddy thoughts abroad to tell
      
       In hope to merit; as in deed they do,
      
       Sometime the pillory, and gallows too.
      
       I trust, I say, these lines will seem no such;
      
       Or, if they do, truth is, I care not much,
      
       Because I certain am what power infused
      
       Those matters whereupon I now have muzed▪
      
       And know, that none will these or me condemn,
      
       But they whose rage and follies I contemn.
      
       Yet, that they may be sure I never care
      
       Who censures me, nor what their censures are,
      
       (When honest things I do) here, somewhat more
      
       I will add to what is mentioned before▪
      
       And give thee,
       
        Britain,
       
       a more perfect sight
      
       Of thy distempers, and thy sickly plight.
      
       Yea, thou shalt know, I have not seen alone
      
       A bodily
       
        Consumption
       
       stealing on,
      
       And wasting of thy
       
        Temporalties
       
       ; but, that
      
       I also have discovered of late,
      
       A
       
        Lethargy
       
       upon thy soul to steal
      
       And that as well the
       
        Church
       
       as
       
        Commonwealth
       
       Doth need a cure. Oh! do not quite neglect,
      
       The good of both; but, one (at least) respect▪
      
       Though
       
        Judah's
       
       sicknesses unheeded be,
      
       (Although thy temporal wounds afflict not thee▪)
      
       Yet look on
       
        Zion
       
       : yea, behold and see
      
       Thy Spiritualties how much impaired they be▪
      
       The
       
        Churches
       
       Patrimony
       
        •
       
       s decayed▪
      
       And many a one is in her spoils draid
       
        •
       
       o
      
       Those
       
        Patrons
       
       (as we term them in this age)
      
       Who of her Dowries have the patronage,
      
       Do rob and cheat her, many times of all;
      
       And, their
       
        Donations
       
       basely set to sale.
      
       Those
       
        Canaanites,
       
       whom thou preservest here,
      
       (And by thy laws to be expelled were)
      
       Are in thy borders now so multiplied,
      
       That they are thorns and thistles in thy side.
      
       They are become a
       
        Serpens
       
       in thy path,
      
       Which bites unseen; and nigh unhorsed hath.
      
       Some able
       
        Riders.
       
       On thy
       
        Places-high
       
       Thy people do commin idolatry,
      
       And rear strange
       
        Altars.
       
       In thy Fields are found
      
       Those cunning harmful
       
        Foxes
       
       to abound,
      
       That spoil thy
       
        Vines.
       
       And, some I have espy'd,
      
       Twixt whose opposed tales, are firebrands tied,
      
       Which wastes thy fruits. Thy
       
        Harvest
       
       seemeth fair;
      
       But secret blastings do so much impair
      
       And blite the Corn: that when it comes to bread,
      
       Thy Children oft unholsomly are fed.
      
       Men use
       
        Religion
       
       as a stalking-horse
      
       To catch preferment; yea, sometimes to worse
      
       And baser uses they employ the same;
      
       Like that bold
       
        Harlot,
       
       who quite void of shame,
      
       Did of her
       
        Vowes,
       
       and of her
       
        Peace-offerings
       
       make
      
       A Ginn, lascivious customers to take.
      
       Yea, some (resembling him, from whom was cast
      
       One Devil) when one sin thy have displacit,
      
       Of which the world took notice, sweep and cleanse
      
       Themselves (in show) from all their other sins;
      
       Yet secretly, let
       
        Satan
       
       repossesse,
      
       And foul them with a seven-fold wickedness.
      
       An universal dullness will benum
      
       Thy senses, if thou do not soon become
      
       More heedefull of thy state, then thou art yet:
      
       For, every part hath felt an ague▪fit.
      
       Thy
       
        Academs,
       
       which are the famous places
      
       In which all pious knowledges and graces
      
       Should nourished be, and whence thy chief supply
      
       Of
       
        Teachers,
       
       come, (as from a Nursery)
      
       Even those fair
       
        Fountaines
       
       are much tainted grown,
      
       With doctrine hardly sound, which thence are blown
      
       Through every quarter. In their
       
        Schools
       
       are heard
      
       Vain jiggs and janglings, worthless of regard.
      
       Their very
       
        Pulpits,
       
       and their
       
        Oratories,
       
       Are Stages, whereupon their own vain glories
      
       Men often act. Yea, many a vain conceit,
      
       Is brought instead of arguments of weight
      
       And (which is worse) disorder is so rise
      
       Among them; and the weeds of evil life
      
       Have so o'regrowne those
       
        Gardens,
       
       that (unless
      
       Good government shall speedily redress
      
       That spreading mischief) it will overtop
      
       The plants of
       
        Zion,
       
       and destroy her crop.
      
       To be thy
       
        Shepherds,
       
       wolves are stolen in;
      
       And thou hast chose who even by day begin
      
       To sow their Tares among thy purest Seed;
      
       And, with mixed
       
        Craines
       
       thy Lands pollutions breed.
      
       For hire, and money, prophesies the
       
        Prophet:
       
       The
       
        Priest
       
       doth preach to make a living of it,
      
       Even merely for a living; and▪ but few
      
       Their
       
        holy charge,
       
       for conscience sake pursue
      
       Which I by many signs could make apparent,
      
       But that it is not yet within my
       
        Warrant.
       
        Loquntur Curae leves
       
       ; little
       
        Cures
       
       Do make men preach, whilst poverty endures.
      
        Ingentes stupent
       
       ; but, large livings make
      
       Our
       
        Doctors
       
       dumb: condemn not my mistake
      
       For, though I do the Latin sentence wrong,
      
       That's true I tell you in the
       
        English
       
       tongue.
      
       Our Nation, which of late profaneness hated▪
      
       Is in that sin almost
       
        Italionated.
       
       The
       
        Scriptures
       
       without reverence are used:
      
       The holy phrase, in jesting, is abused:
      
       To flout, or praise, or curses we can apply
      
       God's holy word, most irreligiously:
      
       Instead of
       
        Emblemes,
       
       moving thoughts divine,
      
       The filthy pictures of lewd
       
        Ar
        
         •••
        
        ne,
       
       Are found in many Closets. Foolish lies,
      
       Profane and most lascivious
       
        Elegies.
       
       Are public made. Yea, those whom heretofore
      
       A heathen
       
        Emperor
       
       did so abhor,
      
       That he, for them, their wanton
       
        Author
       
       sent
      
       To undergo perpetual banishment:
      
       Even these, we read; and worse then those, by far▪
      
       Allowed pass, and unreproved are.
      
       Nay, their vain
       
        Authors
       
       often cherished be:
      
       At least, they have the favor to go free.
      
       But, if a graver
       
        Muse
       
       reprove their sin,
      
        Lord,
       
       with what a hasty zeal they call it in!
      
       How libellous they make it! and how vile,
      
       Thou knowest; and at that folly thou dost smile.
      
       Full warily, the politick
       
        Divine,
       
       (Who should allow it) scanneth every Line
      
       Before it pass▪ each phrase he doth suspect;
      
       Although he findeth nothing to be chekt,
      
       He fears to Licence it. And if by chance
      
       It pass abroad, forthwith doth ignorance
      
       Mistake or misapply; and false and bade
      
       Constructions are, of good expressions made▪
      
       Yea, they who on the fears of
       
        Judgment
       
       sit,
      
       Are oft, most ready, to miscensure it.
      
       I would they were as forward to disgrace
      
       Those
       
        Authors,
       
       who have filled ev'ey place
      
       With fruitless volumes. For dispersed are
      
       Even quite throughout this
       
        Land
       
       every year,
      
       Even many thousand
       
        Reames
       
       of scurrill toys,
      
       Songs, Rimes and Ballads, whose vain use destroys
      
       Or hinders Uertuous knowledge and Devotion,
      
       And this they do to further the promotion
      
       Of our
       
        Diana▪
       
       Yet, behold, if we
      
       To publish some few sheets required be,
      
       Containing pious
       
        Hymns,
       
       or Christian
       
        Songs.
       
       Or ought which to the praise of God belongs:
      
       We do so fear the hindrance of our gain,
      
       That like th'
       
        Ephesian
       
       Silver-smiths, we fain
      
       A great complaint. As if to have enlarged
      
       A little Book, had grievously o'recharged
      
       The Common wealth. Whereas if it were weighed,
      
       How much of late this Land is ove
       
        •
       
       aid
      
       With trivial Volumes or how much they do
      
       Corrupt our
       
        Manners,
       
       and
       
        Religion
       
       too,
      
       By that abusive matter they contain?
      
       I should not seem unjustly to complain.
      
       These times do swat me with
       
        Pamphlets,
       
       which be far
      
       More dangerous, then mortal poisons are.
      
       Even in those books, whereby the simple thought
      
       To find true▪ knowledge, they their bane have ought
      
       For, thence, strong
       
        Heresies
       
       (there being hid
      
       Amid some doubtless Truths, a while unspid)
      
       Steal out among the people, by degees;
      
       More mischief working then each
       
        Reader
       
       sees:
      
       And, so, to ruin knowledge, that is made
      
       An instrument▪ whereby it rising had.
      
       For (by their lucre, who the Churches peace
      
       Disturb, their private profit to increase)
      
       Those
       
        Doctrines
       
       which are unauthorised,
      
       Are so promiscuously divulged▪ and spread,
      
       Among approved
       
        Verities,
       
       that some
      
       Are in those
       
        Labarinths
       
       amazed become:
      
       And, such a contradiction is in that
      
       Which their confused
       
        Pamphlets
       
       do relate;
      
       That, common Readers, known not which to leave,
      
       Nor, which the
       
        Church of England
       
       doth receive.
      
       And, from this mischief many others flow,
      
       Which will, in future times, more harmful grow
      
       This, spins vain
       
        Controversies
       
       to their length;
      
       By this, most
       
        Heresies
       
       receive their strength.
      
       And what distraction it already makes,
      
       Our grieved
       
        Mother
       
       woeful notice takes.
      
       Instead of active knowledge, and her fruit;
      
       This filleth men with itching of
       
        dispute,
       
       And empty words; whereby are set abroach
      
       A thousand quarrels, to the
       
        Truths
       
       reproach.
      
       The
       
        Sectaries,
       
       the
       
        Munkeyes,
       
       and the
       
        Apes,
       
       The
       
        Cubs
       
       and
       
        Foxes,
       
       which do mar our Grapes;
      
       The
       
        Wolves
       
       in sheep-skins▪ and our frantic rabble
      
       Of
       
        Worship-mongers,
       
       are innumerable▪
      
       And, as the
       
        Churches
       
       quiet they molest.
      
       So they each other spitefully infest.
      
       We have some
       
        Papists
       
       ▪ some that half way go:
      
       Some
       
        Semi-puritans
       
       ; some wholly so;
      
       Some
       
        Anabaptists
       
       ; some who do refuse
      
       Black puddings; and good porke, like arrant
       
        Jews:
       
       Some also termed
       
        Arminians
       
       are among
      
       Our
       
        Priests
       
       and
       
        People,
       
       very lately sprung.
      
       What most, so called, profess, I stand not for:
      
       And what some say they teach, I do abhor.
      
       But, what some other, so misnam'd, believe▪
      
       Is that whereto best Christians credit give,
      
       For, as we see the most reformed man,
      
       By
       
        Libertines,
       
       is termed a
       
        Puritan
       
       :
      
       So (by our purblind
       
        Formalist
       
       ) all those
      
       Who new fantasticke crotchets do oppose,
      
       Begin to be mis-termed
       
        Arminians
       
       now,
      
       And, hence e're long will greater mischieves grow
      
       Then most imagine. For, the foolish fear,
      
       Lest they to be
       
        Arminians
       
       may appear,
      
       Or else be termed
       
        Puritans,
       
       will make
      
       Great multitudes
       
        Religion
       
       quite forsake.
      
       And, I am half persuaded, this will one
      
       Of those great
       
        Schisms
       
       (or earthquakes) cause which
       
        John
       
       Foretold in his
       
        Apocalypse
       
       ; and they
      
       Are blest, who shall not thereby fall away.
      
       Some
       
        Brownists,
       
       and some
       
        Famalists
       
       hove we;
      
       And some, that no man can tell what they be;
      
       Nor they themselves. Some, seem so wondrous pure
      
       They no man's conversations can endure,
      
       Unless they use their plaistrings; and appear
      
       In every formal garb which they shall were.
      
       There be of those, who in their words deny,
      
       And hate the practice of
       
        Idolary,
       
       Yet make an
       
        Idol
       
       of their formal zeal,
      
       And underneath strict holiness, conceal
      
       A mystery of evil, which deceives them,
      
       And, when they think all safe, in danger leaves them.
      
       Their whole
       
        Religion,
       
       some do place in heating▪
      
       Some, in the outward action of
       
        forbearing
       
       Ill deeds; or in
       
        well doing,
       
       though the heart
      
       In that performance bear no real part.
      
       Some others, of their mor
       
        •
       
       all actions make▪
      
       Small conscience: and, affirm that God doth take
      
       No notize how in body they transgress,
      
       If him in their inward man confess:
      
       As if a soul beloved could reside
      
       Within a body quite unsanctifide.
      
       Some not contented in the act of sin.
      
       Aare grown so impudent, that they begin
      
       To joustifie themselves in wickedness;
      
       Or, by quait arguments, to make it less:
      
       And, by such Monsters, to such ends as this,
      
       The
       
        Christians liberty
       
       de
       
        •
       
       amed is.
      
       Newfanglednesse,
       
        Religion
       
       hath o'rethrowne;
      
       And, many as fantastical are grown
      
       In that, as in apparel. Some, delight
      
       In nothing more then to be opposite
      
       To other men: Their zeal they wholly spend
      
       The present government to reprehend;
      
       The Churches discipline to villify;
      
       And rail, at all, which pleads antiquity.
      
       They love not peace: and therefore have suspicion
      
       Of Truth it self, if out of persecution:
      
       And are so thankelesse, or so heedless be
      
       Of God's great love, in giving such a free
      
       And plenteous means of pulishing his word▪
      
       That, what his Prophets of the
       
        Jews
       
       record,
      
       Some verefie in us. Much praise is given
      
       To that blind age, wherein the
       
        Queen of Heaven
       
       Was worship hear. And falsely we extol
      
       Those days, as being much more plentiful.
      
       Some, at the frequency of
       
        Preaching
       
       grutch,
      
       And, tired with it, thick we have too much:
      
       Nay, impudently practice to suppress
      
       That Exercise, and make our plenty less.
      
       And, that their doing may not want some fair
      
       Or goodly color, they do call for Prayer,
      
       Instead thereof; as if we could not pray,
      
       Until our
       
        Preaching
       
       we had sent away.
      
       As these are foolishly, or lewdly, wise;
      
       We have some others wantonly precise.
      
       So waywardly disps'd, amidst our plenty,
      
       And through their curiosity, so dainty,
      
       That, very many cannot well digest
      
       The Bread of life, but in their manner dressed.
      
       Nor will God's
       
        Manna,
       
       or that measure serve,
      
       Which he provides; But, they cry out they starve,
      
       Unless they feed upon their own opinions,
      
       (Which are like
       
        Egypt's
       
       Garlike and her Onions)
      
       Some like not Prayer that's extempory;
      
       Some not any that set form noth carry:
      
       Some think there's no devotion, but in those
      
       That howl, or whine, or snuffle in the nose;
      
       As if that God vouchsafed all his Graces
      
       For feigned gestures, or for sour faces.
      
       Some think not that the man, who gravely teacheth;
      
       Or hath a sober gesture when he preacheth,
      
       Or gentle voice: hath any zeal in him,
      
       And therefore, such like
       
        Preachers
       
       they contemn.
      
       Yea, they suppose that no man's doctrine saves
      
       The soul of any one, unless he raves,
      
       And roars aloud, and flings, and hurleth so
      
       As if his arms he quite away would throw;
      
       Or over-leap the
       
        Pulpit
       
       ; or else break it:
      
       And this (if their opinion true may make it)
      
       Is to advance their voices
       
        Trumpet-like,
       
       As God commands: yea this (they say) doth strike
      
       Sin dead. Whereas indeed, God seldom goes
      
       In whirlewinds: but is in the voice of those
      
       Who speak in meekness. And it is not in
      
       The power of noise to shake the walls of sin:
      
       For clamors, antique actions, writhed looks
      
       And such like mimmick Rhetoric none brooks
      
       That hath discretion: neither doth it move
      
       The heart of any, when we so reprove;
      
       Excpt it be in some contrary motion,
      
       Which interupts the hearts good devotion.
      
       The well affected Christian pities it;
      
       It makes profanest men at naught to set
      
       God's Ordinance. Mere moral men despise
      
       Such affatection: much it terrifies
      
       The ignorant: but very few from thence
      
       Receive sound knowledge, or true penitence.
      
       Some relish nothing, but those points that are
      
       In controversy: some would nothing hear
      
       But songs of Mercy, some delight in none
      
       But
       
        Songs of Thunder
       
       ; and scarce any one▪
      
       Is pleased in what he hears. Nay of their Preachers,
      
       Mechanics, arrogate to be the teachers.
      
       Yea, most of us, what e're our
       
        Pastor
       
       shyes,
      
       Keep still our own opinions and our ways.
      
       To hear and know God's word, to some among
      
       Our Nation, seemeth only to belong
      
       To
       
        Clergymen
       
       ; and, their implicit
       
        Faith
       
       Is built on what the common rumour saith.
      
       Some others filled with curiosity
      
       Affirme that every sev'rall mystery
      
       Within God's
       
        Book
       
       included, doth concrne
      
       Even each particular Christian man to learn:
      
       Whereas they might as well affirm, each guest
      
       That is invited to each Feast,
      
       Is bound the sev'rall dishes there to heed,
      
       And upon every meat before him feed▪
      
       Nay, some have almost this imagination,
      
       That there is hardly hope of their salvation
      
       Who speak not
       
        Hebrew.
       
       And, this nowadays,
      
       Makes foolish women, and young Prentises
      
       To learn that holy Tongue; in which they grow
      
       As cunning as do those who nothing know,
      
       Save to be arrogant, and to contemn
      
       Those
       
        Pastors,
       
       who have taken charge of them.
      
       The appetite of some grows dull, and fails,
      
       Unless it may be pampered with Quails;
      
       High flying crotchets, which we see do fill
      
       Not half so many souls as they do kill.
      
       We cannot be content to make our flights,
      
       For that which God exposeth to our sights,
      
       And search for that which he is pleased to show,
      
       But, we must also pry, what God doth know.
      
       Which was indeed an ancient fallacy
      
       Of
       
        Satan's
       
       ; and the very same whereby
      
       He cheated
       
        Eave
       
       ▪ From seeking to disclose
      
       Beyond our warrant, what God only knows,
      
       Proceedeth many errors. Thence doth come
      
       Most questions that have troubled
       
        Christendom.
       
       Yea, searching things concealed, hath overthrown
      
       The comfortable use of what is known.
      
       Hence flows their fruitless fond asseveration,
      
       Who blundred on
       
        Eternal-Reprobation,
       
       And many groundless whimsies have invented,
      
       Whereby much better musings are prevented.
      
       Of
       
        Reprobation
       
       I no doubt have made;
      
       Yet, those vain quarrellings which we have had,
      
       Concerning her, and her antiquity,
      
       (But that the world hath wiser fools then I)
      
       Appears to me to bring so little fruits,
      
       That I suppose it fitter for disputes
      
       In hell, (among the reprobrated crew)
      
       Then for for a Church of
       
        Christians
       
       to pursue:
      
       At least to brawl about with such hot rage,
      
       As hath possessed some Spirits of this age.
      
       For, some have urged this point of
       
        Reprobation,
       
       As if the chiefest groun-work of salvation
      
       Depended on believing, just, as they
      
       (Deluded by their fancies) please to say.
      
       And, though they never found God's holy word
      
       Did any mention of the same offord,
      
       But, as of that which did begin since
       
        Time
       
       ;
      
       And with respect to some comshitted crime:
      
       They, nevertheless, their strengths together guther,
      
       To prove the
       
        Child
       
       is older then the
       
        Father.
       
       And, since that fatal thread, there, finds her spinning,
      
       But from
       
        Of
       
       ; at farthest from
       
        Beginning
       
       :
      
       They
       
        Reprobation,
       
       otherwhile confound
      
       With our
       
        Predestination
       
       : which is found
      
       No where in all the Scripture, to respect
      
       The
       
        Reprobates,
       
       but only God's Elect.
      
       And then they are compelled to prove the sense
      
       Of their dark
       
        Tenet,
       
       by an inference;
      
       And to affirm (from reason) that
       
        Election
       
       Eternal, doth infer the like rejection.
      
       (As if an action of
       
        Eternity,
       
       Were fit to square out shallow reasons, by)
      
       Which Argument because it hath not taken
      
       True Faith, to ground on, may with ease be shaken.
      
       Their tottering structure, therefore, up to keep,
      
       They into God's foreknowledge boldly peep,
      
       Beyond his warrant; searching for
       
        Decrees
       
       And
       
        secrets,
       
       farther then an
       
        Angel
       
       sees:
      
       Presuming then, as if all things they knew,
      
       And had
       
        Eternity
       
       within their view.
      
       But, that hath such an infinite extension,
      
       Beyond their narrow-bounded comprehension,
      
       That, there, they wander on, till they are mad:
      
       And loose that little knowledge, which they had:
      
       For what are they but mad-men who maintain
      
       The giddy fancies of their own weak brain,
      
       For
       
        Theses
       
       of
       
        Religion,
       
       which we must
      
       Believe as they affirm them, or be thrust
      
       Among the
       
        Reprobates?
       
       What less, I pray,
      
       Are they then mad, who fool their wits away
      
       In wheeling Arguments which have no end?
      
       In Straines which man shall never apprehend?
      
       In seeking what their knowledge doth exceed?
      
       In vain disputings, which contentions breed.
      
       In strange
       
        Chymera's,
       
       and fantastic notions,
      
       That neither stir us up to good devotions,
      
       Nor mend our manners? But our
       
        ways
       
       pervert,
      
       Distract the
       
        Judgment,
       
       or puff up the heart.
      
       If this I may not madness call, or folly,
      
       It is (at the best) religious-melancholy.
      
       What shall we judge of those who strive to make
      
       God's Word (whose
       
        Termes
       
       and
       
        Scope
       
       they much mistake
      
       Their proofs for that whereof no proofs they are,
      
       And sleight those
       
        Truths,
       
       for which the Text is clear:
      
       What shall we deem of those, who quite mistaking
      
       Good Authors, (and their Volumes guilty making
      
       Of what they never meant) do preach and write
      
       Against those Books, with rancorous despite,
      
       Which being well examined, say the same
      
       Which they affirm, and check what they do blame.
      
       Such men there be, and they great noise have made
      
       By fighting furiously with their own shade.
      
       What may be thought of them, who likely, ever,
      
       In their perverse opinions to persevere,
      
       Take knowledge up on trust. and follow those
      
       Who lead them on, as wild-geese fly in rouse▪
      
       And when their multitude is waxen great,
      
       Do then so willfully prejudicate,
      
       Become so confident of that they hold,
      
       And in their blind assurance, so are bold,
      
       That they can brook no trial, neither see
      
       Their oversights, how plain so ere they be?
      
       But fondly think (though we believe it not)
      
       That they infallibitie have got?
      
       Some pious men; yea, some great Doctors tread,
      
       Such
       
        Laborinths
       
       ; and often are misled
      
       By holding that which they at first were taught,
      
       Without due proving all things as they ought;
      
       And vulgar men are often led awry,
      
       By their examples, and for company.
      
       For, as a Traveler, that is to come
      
       From some far Country, through large deserts, home;
      
       (Not knowing well the way) is glad to take
      
       His course with such who shows of cunning make,
      
       And walks along, depending still on them,
      
       Through many a wood, and over many a stream,
      
       Till he and they are lost: there to remain
      
       He finds no safety, nor means back again,
      
       Nor list to leave his company; because
      
       He hopes that nearer homeward still he draws,
      
       And that his guides full sure of passage are,
      
       Although they cannot well describe it, there.
      
       So, when plain men do first attempt the way
      
       Of knowledge, by their guides, they walk astray,
      
       Without distrust: and when arrived they be
      
       Where many troublesome windings they do see,
      
       And where no certainty they can behold,
      
       Yet, on their leaders knowledge they are bold,
      
       Or on their multitude: yea, though they know,
      
       And, see them err, and turn, and stagger so,
      
       (In darksome paths) that well suppose they may▪
      
       They rove and wander in an uncouth way;
      
       Yet, still they are unwilling to suspect
      
       The wisdom of the
       
        Fathers
       
       of their Sect.
      
       Yea, though no satisfaction they can find,
      
       Though fears and doubtings do afflict their mind,
      
       They still impute it rather to their own
      
       Infirmities, or to the depths unknown
      
       Of those mysterious points, to mention brought;
      
       But never call in question what is taught:
      
       Lest being by those Teachers tertifide,
      
       They might forsaken in despair abide.
      
       Their
       
        Doctors,
       
       also, failing to devise
      
       Strong Arguments, their hearers to suffice;
      
       This course, to salve their credits, late have got;
      
       They say (forsooth)
       
        Faiths
       
       doctrine settles not
      
       With natural capacities; and that
      
       The
       
        Spirit
       
       must those men illuminate
      
       Who shall receive them. And, indeed in this,
      
       They do both say the truth, and say amiss:
      
       This is a Jesuitish juggling trick,
      
       And, if allowed it be, each lunatic,
      
       And every brain sick
       
        Dreamer,
       
       by that way,
      
       May foist upon us all that he can say.
      
       For, though God's holy
       
        Spirit
       
       must create
      
       New hearts within us, and regenerate
      
       Depraved nature, e're it can be able
      
       To make our outward hearings profitable;
      
       We must not think that all which fancy saith
      
       (In terms, obscure) are mysteries of Faith.
      
       Nor make the hearers want of power to reach
      
       Their meanings, to be proofs of what they teach.
      
       There is twixt men, and that which they are taught▪
      
       Some natural proportion, or tis naught.
      
       The deepest mystery of our profession,
      
       Is capable of literal expression,
      
       As well to
       
        Reprobates,
       
       as men
       
        elected
       
       ;
      
       Or else it may of error be suspected.
      
       Yea wicked men a power granted have
      
       To understand, although they misconceive.
      
       And can of darkest points make plain relations,
      
       Though to themselves they fail in applications.
      
       God never yet did bid us take in hand
      
       To publish that which none can understand:
      
       Much less affecteth he a man should mutter
      
       Rude sounds of that, whose depth he cannot utter;
      
       Or in uncertain terms, as many do,
      
       Who preach Non-sense, and oft
       
        non entia
       
       too.
      
       For those which man to man is bound to show,
      
       Are such plain Truths, as we by word may know;
      
       Which when the hearer can express again,
      
       The fruit hath equalled the Teachers pain.
      
       Then, though the soul doth many times conceive
      
       (By Faith, and by that Word which we receive)
      
       Deep mysteries, and that which far transcends
      
       A carnal knowledge: though she apprehends
      
       Some glimmerings of those
       
        Objects,
       
       that are higher
      
       Then human Reason ever shall aspire;
      
       Though she hath tastings of that blessedness,
      
       Which mortal tongue could never yet express;
      
       And though the soul may have some earnest given
      
       On earth, of what it shall enjoy in heaven;
      
       Though God may when he list (and now and then
      
       For cause not ordinary) to some men
      
       Vouchsafeth (for their secret satisfactions)
      
       A few reflections from eternal actions:
      
       Though this be so, let no man arrogate
      
       That he such secrets can by word relate:
      
       For, they are things, of which no voice can preach;
      
       High flights, to which no mortal wing can reach;
      
       It is God's own work, such raptures to convey,
      
       To compass them there is no other way,
      
       But by his blessed
       
        Spirit.
       
       And, of those
      
       Most can we not; some must we not disclose.
      
       For, if they only touch our private state,
      
       They were not sent, that we should them relate;
      
       But daigned that the soul they strengthen might
      
       Amid the perils of some secret fight;
      
       When men to honor God, or for their sin,
      
       The terrors of this life are plunged in.
      
       And, as it is reputed of those things,
      
       Which foolish people think some
       
        Fairy
       
       brings,
      
       So, of
       
        Enthusiasmes
       
       speak I may;
      
       Discover them, and straight they fly away.
      
       For, thus they fare who boast of
       
        Revelations.
       
       Or of the certainty of their
       
        Salvations,
       
       Or any ghostly gift, at times or places,
      
       Which warrant not the mention of such graces:
      
       Yea, by revealing things which they should hide,
      
       They entrance make for over-weening pride:
      
       And that quite mars the blessing they possessed,
      
       Or, for a while, obscureth it, at best:
      
       And yet, if any man shall climb so high,
      
       That they attain unto a
       
        Mystery,
       
       Conceiv'd by few; they may, if they be able,
      
       Disclose it where it may be profitable.
      
       But, they must know, that (if it be, indeed,
      
       Of such transcendency, as doth exceed
      
       Mere natural reaches) it should be declard
      
       To none, save unto those who are prepared
      
       For such conceptions; and more apt to know them
      
       By their own thoughts, then are our words to show them.
      
       Else, all they utter will in clouds appear,
      
       And errors, men, for truths, away will bear.
      
       Would this had been observed a little more,
      
       By some who in our
       
        Congregations
       
       roar
      
       Of God's unknown
       
        Decrees, Eternal-Callings,
       
       Of
       
        Perseverance,
       
       and of
       
        Final Fallings,
       
       And such like
       
        Mysteries.
       
       Of else, I would
      
       That they t
       
        •
       
       eir meanings better utter could,
      
       (If well they meant.) For, though those points afford
      
       Much comfort and instruction (as God's word
      
       Hath mentioned them) and may applied be,
      
       And opened, when we just occasion see;
      
       Yet, as most handle them, who nowadays
      
       Do pass for Preachers, with a vulgar praise,
      
       They profit not: for, this ripe age hath young
      
       And forward wits, who by their fluent tongue,
      
       And able memories, a way have found
      
       To build a house, e're they have laid the ground.
      
       With common places, and with notes purloin'd,
      
       (Not well applied, and as ill conjoin'd)
      
       A garb of preaching these have soon attained,
      
       Which hath, with many, approbation gained
      
       Beyond their merit. For, they take in hand
      
       Those mysteries, they neither understand,
      
       Nor studied on. And, they have much distracted
      
       Some hearers, by their doctrines ill compacted:
      
       Yea, by enquiring out what God
       
        fore-sees,
       
       And meddling much with his unknown Decrees,
      
       The
       
        Churches
       
       peace so much disturbed have they;
      
       So foul and crooked made
       
        Faiths
       
       plainest way;
      
       Such scandals raised; and interrupted so,
      
       By doubts impertinent, what men should do;
      
       And, their endeavors nullifide, so far,
      
       That many of them at a nonplus are.
      
       I am not of their minds, who take from this
      
       And other things, that are performed amiss,
      
       Occasion to disparage frequent preaching;
      
       Or, to abate our plentiousnesse of teaching:
      
       For, of our
       
        Harvest,
       
       Lord, I humbly pray,
      
       The store of
       
        Laborers
       
       continue may.
      
       And, I could also wish, that none were chose
      
       To be a seed-man, till he truly knows
      
       The Wheat from Tares; and is indu'd with reason,
      
       And grace, to sow in order, and in season.
      
       And that those artless workmen may be staid,
      
       Who build before foundations they have laid:
      
       Lest, when our
       
        Church
       
       well built, suppose we shall,
      
       It sink, and overwhelm us in the fall.
      
       It pities me to mark what rents appear
      
       Within our
       
        Zion
       
       ; and what daubings are
      
       To hide the ruins; and I fear the frame
      
       Will totter, if we long neglect the same.
      
       Our
       
        Watchmen,
       
       for the greater part, are grown
      
       Less mindful of God's honor, than their own:
      
       For either almost wholly we omit
      
       That work, or undiscreetly follow it.
      
       Some, speak the truth, without sincere intention,
      
       As they who preach the
       
        Gospel
       
       for contention.
      
       Some, by their wicked lives do give offense,
      
       And harden men in their impenitence.
      
       As if nor hell nor heaven they did believe,
      
       They riot, game, drink drunk, and whore, and theeve,
      
       For avarice, and envy, none are worse;
      
       They are malicious, and blaspheme, and curse,
      
       As much as any others. None are more
      
       Regardlesse of the soul that's mean and poor;
      
       Among their neighbors, none more quarrelsome,
      
       Or, that more hardly reconciled become,
      
       Then many
       
        Clergy-
        
         •
        
        en.
       
       And as we see
      
       They are the best of men, when good they be;
      
       So, there are none that wander more astray,
      
       When they have left a sanctified way.
      
       Some Pastors are too hot; and some too cold;
      
       And, very few the golden temper hold.
      
       Some, at the
       
        Papist
       
       with such madness fling,
      
       As if they could not utter anything
      
       Of them too vile; though never so false it were:
      
       And, we so used by their
       
        Jesuits
       
       are.
      
       Some others at the
       
        Puritan
       
       do strike,
      
       So furiously, that they are often like
      
       To wrong the
       
        Protestants:
       
       for, men impose
      
       That name, sometime, upon the best of those;
      
       Yea, they who are profane, that name mis-lay
      
       On all who make a conscience of their way.
      
       Some
       
        Shepherds,
       
       on their Flocks are gorg'd at full,
      
       And sumptuously arrayed in their wool.
      
       But, those that are diseas'd, they make not strong;
      
       Their sickliest sheep they seldom come among;
      
       They take no care, the broken up to bind,
      
       The Sheep that's lost, they do not seek to find;
      
       They let such wander as will run astray;
      
       And, many times their fury so doth fray
      
       The tender conscience; that their indiscretion
      
       Doth fright their hearers headlong to perdition.
      
       God's bounty hath large pastorage provided;
      
       But, they have not his flocks with wisdom guided:
      
       For, in the midst of plenty, some be ready
      
       To starve in ignorance. Some sheep are headdy;
      
       Some get the staggers; some the scab; and they
      
       Infect their fellows. Some, the wantons play
      
       Among the thorns and briars, which have torn
      
       The marks and fleeces, which they should have worn.
      
       Some straggle from the flock; and they are straight
      
       Surpriz'd by Wolves, which lie for them in wait.
      
       Some, sought large feeding, and rank pastures got,
      
       Which proved not wholesome; & they caught the Rot▪
      
       For, many preach themselves, and fancies broach,
      
       That scandal preaching, to the Truths reproach.
      
       Yea, some term that (forsooth) God's word divine,
      
       Which would half shame me, should they term it mine.
      
       And they we see, that longest pray and speak
      
       Are prized of most (though head nor foot they make)
      
       Because the common hearers of this Land,
      
       Think best of that, which least they understand.
      
       Some, also, by their feet disturb the Springs;
      
       Or trample and defile God's pasturings;
      
       And they are either such who make obscure
      
        Faiths
       
       principles; or, such whose lives impure,
      
       Profane their Doctrines. Other some have we,
      
       Who (like the beasts that over-gamesome be)
      
       Do push their weaker brethren with their homes;
      
       And hunt them from the flock, by wrongs, or scorns▪
      
       God's
       
        houses,
       
       also, much neglected are;
      
       And of his
       
        Sanctuaries,
       
       few have care.
      
       A barn, or any common house, or room,
      
       Is thought as well God's worship to become,
      
       As in the
       
        Churches
       
       infancy; or there,
      
       Where wants, and wars, and persecutions are.
      
       Amidst our peace and plenties, we do grutch
      
       Our
       
        Oratories
       
       should be trimmed as much
      
       As are our vulgar dwellings; and repine
      
       That exercises which are most divine,
      
       Should with more
       
        Rites,
       
       or
       
        Ornaments,
       
       be done,
      
       Then when the troublous times afforded none.
      
       As if a
       
        Garden,
       
       when the flow'rs are blown,
      
       Were still to look as when it first was sown.
      
       To worship so in spirit, we pretend
      
       That, in our bodies, we do scarcely bend
      
       A leg, or move a cap, when there we be,
      
       Where God's most holy
       
        Mysteries
       
       we see.
      
       Yea, many seem so careful to have been,
      
       To let no
       
        Superstition
       
       enter in,
      
       That they have, almost, wholly banished hence,
      
       All
       
        Decency,
       
       and pious
       
        Reverence.
       
       The
       
        Church,
       
       by
       
        Lukewarme Christians,
       
       is neglected,
      
       By brutish
       
        Atho'sts,
       
       it is disrespected;
      
       By greedy
       
        Worldlings,
       
       robbed of her fleeces;
      
       By self-willed
       
        Schismatics,
       
       nigh torn in pieces;
      
       By
       
        Tyrants,
       
       and by
       
        Infidels
       
       opposed;
      
       By her
       
        blind Guides,
       
       to hazard oft exposed;
      
       By
       
        Hypocrites,
       
       injuriously defamed;
      
       And, by the frailties of the best, oft shamed.
      
       A power ecclesiastical is granted
      
       To them, full often, who those minds have wanted
      
       Becomming such Authority: and they
      
       Play fast and loose, even with the
       
        Churches
       
       Key▪
      
       They censure and absolve, as best shall make
      
       For their advantage; not for conscience sake.
      
       As they shall please, they punish or connive;
      
       And, by the people's follies they do thrive.
      
       Of evil customs, many are we see
      
       Insinuated, and so strict are we
      
       To keep them, that we sottishly deny
      
       To leave them, for what more would edify:
      
       And we so much do
       
        Innovations
       
       fear,
      
       That needful
       
        Reformations
       
       none appear.
      
       We have profaned every holy thing;
      
       Even our most Christian
       
        Feasts,
       
       which are to bring
      
       God's
       
        Mercies
       
       to our thought; and memorize
      
       Of
       
        Saving-Grace,
       
       the sacred
       
        Mysteries:
       
       Some have even those gain-said; and, in that
      
       Have evil spoken, of they know not what.
      
       Some others keep them; but, as heathenishly,
      
       As
       
        Feasts
       
       of
       
        Bacchus
       
       ; and impiety
      
       Is then so rife, that God is rarely named
      
       Or thought upon, except to be blasphemed.
      
       By these, and other ways, the
       
        Church
       
       doth lose
      
       Much honor, to the glory of her foes,
      
       And our great shame, and loss: for, her decays
      
       Shall be this
       
        Realms
       
       disprofit, and dispraise.
      
       God hath a Controversy with our
       
        Land
       
       ;
      
       And, in an evil plight affairs do stand.
      
       Already we do smart for doing ill;
      
       Yet, us the hand of God afflicteth still,
      
       And many see it not; as many be
      
       So willful, that his hand they will not see.
      
       Some, plainly view the same, but nothing care:
      
       Some, at the sight thereof amazed are
      
       Like
       
        Balthazar
       
       ; and have a trembling heart;
      
       Yet, will not from their vanities depart.
      
       About such matters, other some are loath
      
       Their thoughts to busy (merely out of sloth)
      
       Like him, who rather would in hazard put
      
       His life, than rise from bed the door to shut.
      
       Some, dream that all things do by chance succeed,
      
       And that I prate more of them than I need.
      
       But, Heaven and Earth, to witness I invoke,
      
       That, causelessly, I nothing here have spoke.
      
       If this, oh sickly
       
        Island,
       
       thou believe,
      
       And for thy great infirmity shalt grieve,
      
       And, grieving of thy follies make confessions;
      
       And so confess thine infinite transgressions:
      
       That thou amend those errors: God shall then
      
       Thy manifold distempers cure agen;
      
       Make all thy scarlet sins as white as snow,
      
       And cast his threatened judgment on thy foe.
      
       But, if thou (fondly thinking thou art well)
      
       Shalt sleight this
       
        Message,
       
       which my
       
        Muse
       
       doth tell,
      
       And scorn her counsel; If thou shalt not rue
      
       Thy former ways; but, frowardly pursue
      
       Thy willful course: then, hark what I am bold,
      
       (In spite of all thy madness) to unfold.
      
       For, I will tell thy
       
        Fortune
       
       ; which, when they
      
       That are unborne, shall read, another day;
      
       They will believe God's mercy did infuse
      
       Thy
       
        Poets
       
       breast with a prophetic
       
        Muse.
       
       And know, that he this
       
        Author
       
       did prefer,
      
       To be from him, this
       
        Isles Remembrancer.
       
       If thou, I say, oh
       
        Britain
       
       ! shalt retain
      
       Thy crying sins, thou dost presume in vain,
      
       Of God's protection. If thou stop thine ear,
      
       Or burn this
       
        Rowle,
       
       in which recorded are
      
       Thy just
       
        Indictments
       
       ; it shall written be
      
       With new additions, deeply stamped on thee
      
       With such
       
        Characters,
       
       that no time shall race
      
       Their fatal image, from thy scarred face.
      
       Though haughtily thou dost thyself dispose;
      
       Because the Sea thy borders doth enclose.
      
       Although upon the Rocks thy nest is placed;
      
       Though thou among the Stars thy dwelling hast;
      
       Though thou increase thy ships; and unto that
      
       Which is thine own, with King
       
        Jehoshaphat,
       
       Joyne
       
        Ahab's
       
       forces. Though thou watch and ward,
      
       And all thy Ports and Havens strongly guard;
      
       Although thou multiply thy inland forces,
      
       And muster up large troops of men and horses;
      
       Though like an
       
        Eagle,
       
       thou thy wings display'st,
      
       And (high thyself advancing) proudly sayest;
      
        I sit aloft, and am so high, that none
       
        Can fetch me from the place I rest upon.
       
       Yea, though thou no advantages didst want,
      
       Of which the glorioust
       
        Emperies
       
       did vaunt;
      
       Yet, sure, thou shalt be humbled and brought low;
      
       Even then, perhaps, when least thou fear'st it so.
      
       Till thou repent, provisions which are made
      
       For thy defense, or others to invade,
      
       Shall be in vain; and still, the greater cost
      
       Thou shalt bestow, the honor that is lost
      
       Shall be the greater; and thy wasted strength,
      
       Be sick of a
       
        Consumption,
       
       at the length.
      
       Thy
       
        Treaties,
       
       which for peace or profit be,
      
       Shall nether peace, nor profit, bring to thee.
      
       Or, if thy Counsels prosper for a while,
      
       God will permit it, only to beguile
      
       Thy foolishness; and tempt thee on, to run
      
       Some courses, that will bring his Judgments on.
      
       Yea, all thy winnings shall but fuel be,
      
       To feed those follies that now spring in thee;
      
       And make (with vengeance) those the more enraged
      
       Who shall for thy correction be engaged.
      
       What ever threatened in God's Book hath been,
      
       Against a wicked people for their sin,
      
       Shall come on thee: His hand shall be for ill,
      
       On every Mountain, and high-raised Hill.
      
       Thy lofty
       
        Cedars,
       
       and thy sturdy
       
        Oaks,
       
       Shall feel the fury of his thunder-strokes.
      
       Upon thy ships, thy Havens, and thy Ports,
      
       Upon thy Arms, thy Armies, and thy Forts,
      
       Upon thy pleasures and commodities,
      
       Thy Crafts mechanic, and thy Merchandize;
      
       On all the fruits, and cattle in thy fields,
      
       On what the Air, or what the Water yields,
      
       On Prince and People; on both weak, and strong,
      
       On Priest, and Prophet; on both old, and young;
      
       Yea, on each person, place, and everything,
      
       The plague it hath deserved God shall bring.
      
       What ever thou dost hope, he frustrate shall;
      
       And, make what e're thou fearest, on thee fall.
      
       This pleasant soil, wherein such plenty grows,
      
       And where both milk and honey overflows,
      
       Shall for thy people's wickedness be made
      
       A Land as barren, as what never had
      
       Such plenties in it. God shall drive away
      
       Thy pleasant Fowls, and all those Fish that play
      
       Within thy waters; and for whose great store
      
       Some other Nations would have praised him more.
      
       Those Rivers, that have made thy Valleys rich,
      
       Shall be like streams of ever-burning Pitch.
      
       Thy dust, as Brimstone; fields as hard and dry
      
       As iron is; the Firmament, on high,
      
       (Like Brasse) shall yield thee neither rain nor due.
      
       The hope of wasted blessings to renew.
      
       A leanness, shall thy fatness quite devour;
      
       Thy Wheat shall in the place of wholesome flower,
      
       Yield naught but bran. Instead of grass and corn,
      
       Thou shalt in times of harvest, reap the thorn,
      
       The thistle, and the briar. Of their shadows
      
       Thy
       
        Groves
       
       shall robbed be. Thy flowery
       
        Meadows
       
       Shall sterile wax. There shall be seldom seen
      
       Sheep on thy Downes; or
       
        Shepherds
       
       on the green▪
      
       Thy walks, thy gardens, and each pleasant plot,
      
       Shall be as those where men inhabit not.
      
       Thy
       
        Villages,
       
       where goodly dwellings are,
      
       Shall stand as if they unfrequented were.
      
       Thy
       
        Cities,
       
       and thy
       
        Palaces,
       
       wherein
      
       Most neatness and magnificence hath been,
      
       Shall heaps of rubbish be, and (as in those
      
       Demolisht
       
        Abbeys,
       
       wherein Daws, and Crowes,
      
       Now make their nests) the bramble, and the nettle,
      
       Shall in their halls, and parlours, root, and settle.
      
       Thy Princes houses, and thy wealthy Ports,
      
       Now filled with men of all degrees and sorts,
      
       Shall no inhabitants in them retain,
      
       But some poor Fisherman, or Country Swain,
      
       Who of thy glories, when the marks they see,
      
       Shall wonder what those mighty ruins be▪
      
       As now they do, who old foundations find,
      
       Of Towns and Cities, perished out of mind.
      
       The places where much people meetings had,
      
       Shall vermin holes, and dens for beasts be made.
      
       Or walks for
       
        Sprights,
       
       who from those uncouth rooms
      
       Shall fright the passenger, which that way comes.
      
       Instead of
       
        mirth
       
       and
       
        laughter, lamentation
       
       Shall there abide: and▪ loathsome
       
        desolation▪
       
       Instead of
       
        company.
       
       Where once was heard
      
       Sweet melody, men shall be made afeard
      
       With hideous cries, and howlings of despair.
      
       Thy very
       
        Climate,
       
       and thy temp'rate air,
      
       Shall lose their wholsomnesse▪ for thy offenses;
      
       And breed hot
       
        Fevers, Murraines, Pestilences,
       
       And all diseases. They that now are trained
      
       In ease, and with soft pleasures entertained;
      
       Instead of idle games, and wanton dances,
      
       Shall practice how to handle guns, and launces:
      
       And be compel'd to leave their friends embraces,
      
       To end their lives in divers uncouth places;
      
       Or else, thy face, with their own blood defile,
      
       In hope to keep themselves, and thee, from spoil.
      
       Thy beauteous
       
        Women
       
       (whose great pride is more
      
       Than theirs, whom
       
        Isaiah
       
       blamed heretofore)
      
       Instead of paintings, and of costly sents,
      
       Of glittering gems, and precious ornaments,
      
       Shall wear deformity about their faces;
      
       And, being robbed of all their tempting graces,
      
       Feele wants, diseases, and all such like things,
      
       Which to a wanton
       
        Lover
       
       loathing brings▪
      
       Thy God, shall for thy overflowing vices,
      
       Scourge thee with
       
        Scorpions, Serpents, Cockatrices,
       
       And other such; whose tails with stings are armed,
      
       That neither can be plucked forth, nor charmed.
      
       Thou shalt not be suffiz'd when thou art fed;
      
       Nor shalt thou suffer scarcity of bread
      
       And temp'rall food alone; but, of that meat,
      
       Whereof the faithful soul desires to eat.
      
       That curse of
       
        Ravenous beasts,
       
       which God hath said,
      
       Upon a wicked kingdom shall be laid,
      
       He will inflict on the. For though there be
      
       No Tigers, Lions, Wolves, or bears in th
       
        •
       
       e,
      
       By beastly minded men (that shall be far
      
       More cruel then those bloody spoilers are)
      
       Thou shalt be torn: for, each man shall assay
      
       His fellow to devour as lawful prey.
      
       Instead of
       
        Lions, Tyrants
       
       thou shalt breed,
      
       Who nor of conscience, nor of Law take heed;
      
       But, on the weak man's portion lay their paw,
      
       And, make their
       
        Pleasures,
       
       to become their
       
        L
        
         •
        
        w.
       
       Instead of
       
        Tigers,
       
       men of no compassion,
      
       A furious, and a willful generation,
      
       Shall fill thy borders. Thieves, and outlawes vile,
      
       Shall hunt the ways, and haunt the woods for spoil,
      
       As
       
        Bears,
       
       and
       
        Wolves.
       
       A subtle cheating crew
      
       (That will with tricks and cousenages pursue
      
       The simpler sort) shall here increase their breed;
      
       And, in their subtleties the
       
        Fox
       
       exceed.
      
       That hoggish herd, which always rooting are
      
       Within the ground, and never upward rear
      
       Their grunting snouts; nor fixe their eyes on heaven,
      
       To look from whence their daily food is given:
      
       Those filthy swinish livers, who desire
      
       To feed on dra
       
        •
       
       fe, and wallow in the mire;
      
       Those, who affect rank pudles, more then springs;
      
       To trample and despise most precious thing;
      
       The holy to profane; God's herbs of
       
        grace
       
       To nouzle up, his Vineyard to deface;
      
       And such like harms to do: these shall thy fields,
      
       Marre worse, then those wild
       
        Boars
       
       the d
       
        •
       
       sart yields.
      
       If thou remain impenitent, thou ar
       
        •
       
       Like
       
        Egypt
       
       ; and so stony is thy heart.
      
       For which obduratenesse, those plagues will all
      
       Descend on thee, which did on
       
        Egypt
       
       fall.
      
        Blood, Frogs,
       
       and
       
        Lice,
       
       great swarms of uncoth
       
        Flies▪
       
       Th' infectious
       
        Murraine,
       
       whereof Cattle dies;
      
        Boils, Scabs,
       
       &
       
        Blaines
       
       ; fierce
       
        Hail,
       
       &
       
        Thunder-storms,
       
       The
       
        Locust,
       
       and all fruit devouring
       
        Wormes.
       
       Cross
       
        Darkness,
       
       and the
       
        Death
       
       of those that be
      
       Thy Darlings; all those
       
        Plagues
       
       shall fall on thee,
      
       According as the
       
        Letter
       
       doth imply,
      
       Or, as in
       
        mystick
       
       sense they signify.
      
       Thy purest Rivers God shall turn to blood▪
      
       With every Lake, that hath been sweet and good.
      
       Even in thy nostrils he shall make it stink,
      
       For▪ nothing shall thy people eat or drink,
      
       Until their own, or others blood it cost;
      
       Or, put their lives in hazard to be lost.
      
       Most loathsome
       
        Frogs
       
       ; that is, a race impure,
      
       Of base condition, and of birth obscure,
      
       (Even in unwholesome fens, and ditches, bred)
      
       Shall with a clownish rudeness over-spread
      
       Thy pleasant'st fields; thy fairest rooms possess;
      
       And make unwholesome (by their sluttishnesse)
      
       Thy kneading troughs, thy ovens, and that meat,
      
       Whereof thy people, and thy Princes eat.
      
       This hateful brood, shall climb to croake and sing,
      
       Within in lodging chambers of the
       
        King.
       
       Yea, there make practice of those natural notes,
      
       Which issue from their evil-sounding throats:
      
       To wit, vain brags, revilings, ribaldries,
      
       Vile slanders, and unchristian blasphemies.
      
       The
       
        Land
       
       shall breed a nasty
       
        Generation,
       
       Vnworthy either of the reputation
      
       Or name of men. For, they as
       
        Lice
       
       shall feed
      
       Even on the body whence they did proceed;
      
       Till poverty, and sloventy, and sloth,
      
       Have quite disgraced them, and consumed them both,
      
       There shall moreover, swarms of divers
       
        Flies,
       
       Engendred be in thy prosperities,
      
       To be a plague: the
       
        Flesh-fly
       
       shall corrupt
      
       Thy savory meats;
       
        Musketoes
       
       interrupt
      
       The weary traveler; thou shalt have
       
        Drones,
       
        Dores , Hornets, Wasps,
       
       and s;uch like angry-ones,
      
       Who represent that swarm whose buzzing tongues
      
       (Like stings) are used in their neighbors wrongs:
      
       And, still are flying, and still humming so,
      
       As if they meant some weighty work to do,
      
       When as, upon the common stock they spend;
      
       And naught perform of that which they pretend.
      
       Thy
       
        Butter-flies
       
       shall plague thee too; even those,
      
       Who waste their Lands and Rents, in gaudy clothes,
      
       Or idle flutterings; and then spawn their seed,
      
       Upon thy goodli'st flow'rs, and herbs to feed.
      
       As
       
        Beasts
       
       destroyed by the
       
        Murraine
       
       be,
      
       So, they th
       
        •
       
       y that are of beastly life in thee,
      
       By lewd example shall infect each other;
      
       And in their foul diseases rot together.
      
       On all thy people, or what sort soe're,
      
       Shall
       
        Scabs,
       
       and
       
        bile,
       
       and running
       
        sores
       
       appear,
      
       The fruits of their corruption. Yea, with pains
      
       (Within their conscience, and with scars and blaines
      
       Of outward infamy) they shall be grieved.
      
       And, in their tortures perish, unrelieved.
      
       Tempestuos
       
        storms,
       
       upon this
       
        I will
       
       shall fall,
      
       Hot
       
        Thunder-bolts,
       
       and
       
        Hail-stones
       
       therewithal;
      
       Men either too too hot, or too too cold;
      
       Or else luke warm. But, few or none shall hold
      
       A rightful temper: and, these
       
        meteors
       
       will
      
       Thy borders with a thousand mischieves fill.
      
       The
       
        Locust
       
       also and the
       
        Palmer worms,
       
       Shall prey on what escapeth from the
       
        Stormes
       
       :
      
       Not they alone, which on the grass do breed;
      
       But, also, they who from the
       
        pit
       
       proceed
      
       Which hath no bottom: and, when anything
      
       Doth by the dew of heaven begin to spring,
      
       They shall devour the same, till they have left thee,
      
       Nor leaf nor blossom; but, of all bereft thee,
      
       Then shall a
       
        darkness
       
       follow, far more black,
      
       Then when the light coporeall thou dost lack.
      
       For, grossest
       
        Jgnorance,
       
       o'reshadowing all,
      
       Shall in so thick a darkness thee enthrall,
      
       That thou a blockish people shalt be made,
      
       Still wandering on in a deceiving shade;
      
       Mistrusting those that safest paths are showing,
      
       Most trusting them, who counsel thy undoing;
      
       And aye tormented be with doubts and fears,
      
       As one that outeries, in dark places hears.
      
       Nor shall the hand of God from thee return,
      
       Till he hath also smote thine
       
        eldest-borne.
       
       That is, till he hath taken from the quite,
      
       Even that whereon thou setst thy whole delight;
      
       And filled every house throughout this Nation,
      
       With deaths unlooked for, and lamentation.
      
       So great shall be thy ruin, and thy shame,
      
       That when the neighbor kingdoms hear the same
      
       Their ears shall tingle. And when that day comes,
      
       In which thy follies must receive their dooms;
      
       A day of clouds, a day of gloominesse,
      
       A day of black despair, and heaviness,
      
       It will appear. And, then thy vanities,
      
       Thy gold, thy silver, thy confederacies,
      
       And all those reeds on which thou hast depended;
      
       Will fail thy trust, and leave thee unbefriended.
      
       Thy
       
        King,
       
       thy
       
        Priests
       
       &
       
        Prophets,
       
       then shall mourn;
      
       And, peradventure, feinedly return
      
       To beg of God to succor them: but, they
      
       Who will not hearken to his voice today,
      
       Shall cry unheeded: and he will despise
      
       Their vows, their prayers, and their sacrifice:
      
       A sea of troubles, all thy hopes shall swallow:
      
       As waves on waves, so plague on plague shall follow:
      
       And, everything that was a blessing to thee,
      
       Shall turn to be a curse, and help undo thee.
      
       Thy
       
        Sov'reigns
       
       have to thee thy
       
        Fathers
       
       been;
      
       By means of them hath peace been kept within
      
       Thy sea-girt limits: they, thy weal befriended,
      
       The blessed Faith they stoutly have defended:
      
       And, thou hast cause of goodly hopes in him,
      
       Who hath, of late, put on thy
       
        Diadem.
       
       But know, that (till thou shalt repent) no part
      
       Belongs to thee of what is his desert
      
       His princely virtues, to his own avail,
      
       Shall profit much: but they to thee shall fail.
      
       To thee his clemency shall seem severe,
      
       His favors all, shall injuries appear;
      
       And when thy sin is fully ripe in thee,
      
       Thy Prince and people, then▪ alike shall be.
      
       Thou shalt have
       
        Babes
       
       to be thy
       
        Kings
       
       ; or worse,
      
       Those
       
        Tyrants
       
       who by cruelty and force
      
       Shall take away thy ancient
       
        freedoms
       
       quite,
      
       From all their Subjects; yea themselves delight,
      
       In their vexations: and, all those that are
      
       Made slaves thereby, shall murder, yet not dare
      
       To stir against them. By degeers they shall
      
       Deprive thee of thy patrimonies all;
      
       Compel thee (as in other Lands, this day)
      
       For thine own meat, and thine own drink▪ to pay.
      
       And, at the last begin to exercise
      
       Upon thy sons, all heathenish tyrannies,
      
       As just
       
        Prerogatiues
       
       To these intents,
      
       Thy Nobles shall become their instruments.
      
       For they who had their birth from noble races,
      
       Shall (some and some) be brought into disgraces
      
       From offices they shall excluded stand:
      
       And all their virtuous offspring from the Land,
      
       Shall quite be worn instead of whom shall rise
      
       A brood advanced by impieties,
      
       By flattery by purchase, and by that
      
       Which every truly-noble one doth hate.
      
       From stems obscure, and out of mean professions,
      
       They shall ascend and mount by their ambtions,
      
       To seats of
       
        Justice
       
       ; and those
       
        Nam
        
         •
        
        s
       
       to bear▪
      
       Which honored most within these Kingdoms are.
      
       And being thither got, shall make more strong
      
       Their new-built
       
        Greatness,
       
       by increasing wrong▪
      
       To those▪ will some of these themselves unite,
      
       Who by their births to Lordly
       
        Stil
        
         •
        
        s
       
       have right;
      
       But, viciously consuming their estate,
      
       Did from their fathers worths degenerate.
      
       By this
       
        Confederacy▪
       
       their nobler bloods▪
      
       Shall countenance the others ill-got goods;
      
       The others wealth again shall keep from scorn
      
       Their beggary, who have been nobly borne:
      
       And, both together, being else unable,
      
       (In this ill course to make their standing stable)
      
       Shall seek how they more great, & strong, may grow
      
       By compassing the public over-throw.
      
       They shall abuse thy
       
        Kings,
       
       with tales, and lies;
      
       With seeming love, and servile flatteries.
      
       They shall persuade them they have power to make
      
       Their
       
        Wills,
       
       their
       
        Law
       
       ; and as they please to take
      
       There people's goods, their children and their lives,
      
       Even by their just and due
       
        Prerogatives.
       
       When thus much they have made them to believe,
      
       Then they shall teach them practices to grieve
      
       Their subjects by; and, instruments become
      
       To help the screwing up, by some and some,
      
       Of
       
        Monarchies
       
       to
       
        Tyrannies.
       
       They shall
      
       Abuse
       
        Religion, Honesty,
       
       and all.
      
       To compass their designs. They shall devise
      
       Strange projects; and with impudence, and lies,
      
       Proceed in settling them. They shall forget
      
       Those reverent usages, which do befit
      
       The majesty of
       
        State
       
       ; and rail, and storm,
      
       When they pretend disorders to reform.
      
       In their high
       
        Counsels,
       
       and where men should have
      
       Kind admonitions, and reprovings grave,
      
       When they offend, they shall be threatened there,
      
       Or scoffed, or taunted, though no cause appear.
      
       It is unseemly for a
       
        Judge
       
       to sit
      
       And exercise a jibing School-boys wit
      
       Upon their trades, or names, who stand before
      
       Their judgment seats: bu
       
        •
       
       who doth not abhor
      
       To hear it, when a Magistrate objects,
      
       Birth, poverty, or personal defects
      
       In an upbraiding wise? Or, who with me
      
       Derides it not, when in our
       
        Courts
       
       we see
      
       Those men, whose bodies are both old and weak,
      
       (Forgetting grave and useful things to speak)
      
       Uent Giants words, and bristle up, as though
      
       Their very breath could armies overthrow:
      
       Whereas (poor weaklings) were there in their
       
        places
       
       No more authority, then in their faces,
      
       Their persons, or their language, all their chasing,
      
       And threatening, nothing would effect but laughing.
      
       For unto me big looks, and crying
       
        ho
        
         ••
        
        ,
       
       As dreadful seems, as when a child cries
       
        boh
       
       To fright his Nurse, yea such a bugbear fashion
      
       Eff
       
        •
       
       cteth naught but scornful indignation.
      
       But in those times (which nearer are then some
       
        •
       
       Suppose perhaps) such Rhetoric will come
      
       To be in use; and arguments of
       
        Reason,
       
       And just proceeding, will be out of season.
      
       Their
       
        Wisdom
       
       shall be folly; and, go nigh
      
       To bring con
       
        •
       
       empt on their Authority.
      
       Their
       
        Council Fable
       
       shall a snare be made,
      
       And those 'gainst whom they no just matter had,
      
       At first appearance shall be urged to say
      
       Some word or other, e're they part away,
      
       Which will betray their innocence to blame,
      
       And bring upon them detriment and shame:
      
       Yea, many times (as
       
        David
       
       hath of old,
      
       Concerning such oppressors well foretold)
      
       To humble crouchings, and to feigned shows,
      
       Descend they shall, to work men's overthrows:
      
       And what their subtlety doth fail to gain,
      
       They shall by rigor, and by force obtain.
      
       What ever from thy people they can tear,
      
       Or borrow, they shall keep, as if it were
      
       A prize which had been taken from the Foe:
      
       And they shall make no conscience what they do
      
       To prejudice
       
        Posterity.
       
       For, they
      
       To gain their lust, but for the present day,
      
       Shall with such love unto themselves endeavor,
      
       That (though they knew it would undo forever
      
       Their own posterity) it shall not make
      
       Those
       
        Monsters
       
       any better course to take.
      
       Nay, God shall give them up for their offenses,
      
       To such uncomely reprobated senses:
      
       And blind them so, that (when the axe they see
      
       Even hewing at the root of their own tree,
      
       By their own handy strokes) they shall not grieve
      
       For their approaching fall: no, nor believe
      
       Their fall approacheth; nor assume that heed
      
       Which might prevent it, till they fall indeed.
      
       Thy
       
        Princes, Britain,
       
       in those days, will be
      
       Like roaring
       
        Lions,
       
       making prey of thee.
      
       God shall deliver thee into their hand.
      
       And they shall act their pleasure in the Land;
      
       As one his
       
        Prophet
       
       threatened to that Nation,
      
       Which doth exemplify thy
       
        Desolation.
       
       Thy Kings (as thou hast wallowed in excess)
      
       Shall take delight in drink, and wantonness.
      
       And, those who thou dost call thy
       
        Noble-ones
       
       Shall to the very marrow, gnaw thy bones.
      
       Thy
       
        Lawyers
       
       fulfully shall wrest thy
       
        Laws,
       
       And (to the ruin of the common Cause)
      
       Shall mis-interpret them, in hope of grace
      
       From those, who may dispoyle them of their place.
      
       Yea, that whereto they are obliged both
      
       By
       
        Conscience,
       
       by their
       
        Calling,
       
       and their
       
        Oath
       
       To put in execution, they shall fear,
      
       And, leave them helpless, who oppessed are.
      
       Thy
       
        Prelates
       
       in the spoil of thee shall share;
      
       Thy
       
        Priests,
       
       as light shall be, as those that are
      
       The meanest persons. All their Prophecies,
      
       Or preachings, shall be herisies and lies.
      
       The word of truth in them shall not remain,
      
       Their lips no wholesome knowledge shall retain,
      
       And all his outward means of
       
        saving Grace,
       
       Thy God shall carry to another place.
      
       Mark well oh
       
        Britain
       
       ! what I now shall say,
      
       And do not sleihhtly pass these words away;
      
       But, be assured that when God begins,
      
       To bring that vengeance on thee, for thy sins,
      
       Which hazard will with total over-throw,
      
       Thy
       
        Prophets,
       
       and thy
       
        Priests
       
       shall sliely sow
      
       The seeds of that dissention and sedition,
      
       Which time will ripen for thy sad perdition.
      
       Even they, who formerly, were of thy peace
      
       The happy instruments, shall then increase
      
       Thy troubles most. And, even as when the
       
        Jews
       
       God's truth-presaging
       
        Prophets
       
       did abuse,
      
       He suffered those who preached in his
       
        Name,
       
       Such falsehoods as the chiefest cause became
      
       Of their destruction: so if thou go on
      
       To make a scorn (as thou hast often done)
      
       Of them who seek thy welfare, he will send
      
       False
       
        Prophets,
       
       that shall bring thee to thine end▪
      
       By saying all things thou wouldest have them say:
      
       And lulling thee asleep in thine own way.
      
       If any brain-sick
       
        Fellow,
       
       whom the Devil
      
       Seduceth to inflict, on thee some evil,
      
       Shall coin false Doctrines, or persuade thee to
      
       Some foolish course that will, at length, undo
      
       The
       
        Common-weal
       
       :
       
        •
       
       his counsel thou shalt follow▪
      
       Thou, covered with his bait, a hook shalt swallow
      
       To rend thine entrails: and thine ignorance
      
       Shall also for that mischief, him advance.
      
       But if that any love
       
        •
       
       of thy weal,
      
       Inspir'd with truth, and with an honest zeal,
      
       Shall tell thee ought pert
       
        •
       
       ining to thy good,
      
       His
       
        Messages
       
       shall stiffly be withstood:
      
       That
       
        Seer
       
       shall be charged not to see;
      
       His word shall slighted as a potsherd be
      
       His l
       
        •
       
       fe shall be traduced, to disgrace
      
       His Counsels; or, his errant to debase:
      
       Instead of recompense he shall be sure,
      
       Imprisonments, or threatenings to procure:
      
       And peradventure (as those Prophets were,
      
       Who did among the
       
        Jewish
       
       Peers declare
      
       Their States enormities) his good intention,
      
       May be so rong'd, that he, by some invention,
      
       May loose his life, with public shame and hate,
      
       As one that is a troubler of the
       
        State.
       
       But not unless the
       
        Priest
       
       thereto consent▪
      
       For in those days shall few men innocent
      
       Be grieved (through any quarter of the Land)
      
       In which thy
       
        Clergy
       
       shall not have some hand.
      
       If ever in the Fields (as God forbid)
      
       The blood of thine own
       
        children
       
       shall be shed
      
       By civil discord, they shall blow the flame,
      
       That will become thy ruin, and thy shame.
      
       And thus it shall be kindled. When the times,
      
       Are nigh at worst; and thy increasing crimes
      
       Almost complete; the Devil shall begin
      
       To bring strange crotchets, and opinons in
      
       Among thy
       
        Teachers,
       
       which will breed disunion,
      
       And interrupt the visible communion
      
       Of thy established
       
        Church.
       
       And, in the steed
      
       Of zealous
       
        Pastors,
       
       (who God's flock did feed)
      
       There shall arise within thee, by degrees▪
      
       A
       
        Clergy,
       
       that shall more desire to fleece,
      
       Then feed the flock. A
       
        Clergy
       
       it shall be,
      
       Divided in it self: and they shall thee
      
       Divide among them, into sev'rall factions:
      
       which rend thee will, and fill thee with destructions:
      
       They all in ourward seeming shall pretend
      
       God's glory, and to have one pious end:
      
       But, under color of sincere devotion,
      
       Their study shall be temporal promotion;
      
       Which will among themselves strange quarrels make
      
       Wherein thy other children shall pe
       
        ••
       
       take.
      
       As to the
       
        Persons,
       
       or the
       
        Cause,
       
       they stand
      
       Affected, even quite throughout the
       
        Land.
       
       One part of these will for preferment strive,
      
       By li
       
        •
       
       ting up the
       
        King's
       
       prerogative
      
       Above it self. They shall persuade him to
      
       Much more then
       
        Law
       
       or
       
        Conscience
       
       bids him do;
      
       And say, God warrants it. His holy
       
        Law
        
         •
        
        s
       
       They shall pervert, to justify their cause;
      
       And, impudently wrest, to prove their ends,
      
       What God, to better purposes, intends.
      
       They shall not blush to say, that every
       
        King,
       
       May do like
       
        Solomon,
       
       in everything,
      
       As if they had his warrant: and shall dare
      
       Ascribe to
       
        Monarchs,
       
       rights that proper are
      
       To none but Christ; and mixed their flatteries,
      
       With no less gross and wicked blasphemies▪
      
       Then
       
        Heathens
       
       did: yea, make their
       
        Kings
       
       believe,
      
       That whosoever they oppress or grieve,
      
       It is no wrong; nor fit for men oppressed,
      
       To seek by their own
       
        Laws
       
       to be redressed,
      
       Such council shall thy
       
        Princes
       
       then provoke,
      
       To cast upon thee
       
        Rehoboams
       
       yoke.
      
       And, they not caring, or not taking heed
      
       How ill that ill-advised
       
        King
       
       did speed,
      
       Shall multiply thy causes of distraction.
      
       For, then, will of thy
       
        Priests,
       
       the other faction
      
       Bestir themselves. They will in outward shows,
      
       Those whom I last have mentioned, oppose.
      
       But, in thy ruin, they will both agree,
      
       As in one
       
        Center,
       
       though far off they be
      
       In their
       
        Diameter.
       
       With lowly zeal,
      
       An envious pride they sl
       
        •
       
       lie shall conceal:
      
       And, as the former to thy
       
        Kings
       
       will teach
      
       Mere
       
        Tyranny
       
       : so shall these other preach
      
       Rebellion to the people; and shall strain
      
       The word of God, Sedition to maintain.
      
       They shall not fear to say, that if thy
       
        King
       
       Become a
       
        Tyrant,
       
       thou mayest also fling
      
       Obedience off; or from his Crown divorce him;
      
       Or, by the terror of drawn swords enforce him.
      
       Which false
       
        Divinity,
       
       shall to the Devil
      
       Send many souls, and bring on thee much evil.
      
       Oh! be thou therefore watchful; and when e're
      
       These
       
        Lambs
       
       with
       
        Dragons
       
       voices do appear,
      
       Repent thy sin, or take it for a token,
      
       That some great
       
        Bulwark
       
       of thy peace is broken,
      
       Which must be soon repaired; or else, all
      
       The greatness of thy glory, down will fall.
      
       Take heed of those
       
        false prophets,
       
       who will strive
      
       Betwixt thy
       
        Prince
       
       and
       
        people
       
       to contrive
      
       A disagreement. And, what ever come,
      
       Thy due
       
        Allegeance
       
       never start thou from.
      
       For (their oppressions though we may withstand
      
       By pleading
       
        Laws,
       
       or
       
        Customs
       
       ) not a hand
      
       Must move against them, save the hand of God,
      
       Who makes a
       
        King,
       
       a
       
        Bulwark,
       
       or a
       
        Rod,
       
       As pleaseth him. Oh! take ye therefore heed
      
       Ye
       
        People,
       
       and ye
       
        Kings
       
       (that shall succeed)
      
       Of these
       
        Impostors.
       
       Of the last beware
      
       Ye
       
        Subjects
       
       : for, their Doctrines hellish are.
      
       And though they promise
       
        Liberty
       
       and
       
        Peace,
       
       Your Thraldome, and your Troubles they'll increase.
      
       Shun oh! ye
       
        Kings
       
       the first; sor, they advise
      
       What will your Crowns and honors prejudice.
      
       When you do think their
       
        Prophecies
       
       befriend you,
      
       They do but unto
       
        R
        
         •
        
        moth-Gilead
       
       send you,
      
       Where you shall perish; and poor
       
        Micah's
       
       word,
      
       Though less esteemed more safety will afford.
      
       They will abuse your
       
        piety,
       
       and all
      
       Your
       
        virtues.
       
       For their wicked ends they shall
      
       Apply the Sacred Story; or what ever
      
       May seem to further their unjust endeavor.
      
       Even what the son of
       
        Hannah
       
       told the
       
        Jews,
       
       Should be their scourge (because they did refuse
      
       The sov'raignty of God, and were so vain
      
       To ask a
       
        King
       
       which over them might reign
      
       As heathen
       
        Princes
       
       did) that curse they shall
      
       Affirme to be a Law
       
        Monarchical
       
       Which God himself established to stand
      
       Throughout all ages, and in every land.
      
       Which is as good
       
        Divinity,
       
       as they
      
       Have also taught, who do not blush to say
      
       That Kings may have both
       
        Wives
       
       and
       
        Concubines
       
       ;
      
       And, by that Rule whereby these great Divines
      
       Shall prove their
       
        Tenet,
       
       I dare undertake
      
       (If found it hold) that I like proof will make
      
       Of any
       
        I
        
         •
        
        wish
       
       Custom, and devise
      
       Authority for all absurdities.
      
       But, false it is. For might all Kings at pleasure
      
       (As by the right of royalty) make seasure
      
       Of any man's possessions: why i pray
      
       Did
       
        Ahab
       
       grieve, that
       
        Naboth
       
       said him nay?
      
       Why made he not this answer thereunto,
      
       (If what the
       
        Prophet
       
       said some
       
        Kings
       
       would do,
      
       Were justly to be done)
       
        Thy vineyards mine
       
       ;
      
        And at my pleasure,
       
       Naboth,
       
        all that's thine
       
        Assume I may,
       
       like a Turkey-chick,
      
       Did he so foolishly grow sullen-sick,
      
       And get possession by a wicked fact
      
       Of what might have been his by royal act?
      
       If such Divinity, as this were true,
      
       The
       
        Queen
       
       should not have needed to pursue
      
       Poor
       
        Naboth,
       
       as she did; or, so contrive
      
       His death; since by the Kings
       
        Prerogative,
       
       She might have got his
       
        Vineyard.
       
       Nor would God
      
       Have scourged that murder with so keen a rod▪
      
       On
       
        Ahab,
       
       had he asked but his due.
      
       For, he did neither plot, nor yet pursue
      
       The murder; nor (for ought that we can tell)
      
       Had knowledge of the deed of
       
        Jezebel,
       
       Till God revealed it by the Prophet to him,
      
       Nor is it said, that
       
        Naboth
       
       wrong did do him,
      
       Or disrespect; in that he did not yield,
      
       To sell, or give, or to exchange his Field.
      
       The Jewish
       
        Commonwealth
       
       did so instate,
      
       That, their possessions none could alienate,
      
       But for a time; whoever, for his money,
      
       Or in exchange, desired their patrimony.
      
       And, doubtless, we offend, who at this day
      
       Those fredomes give, or lose, or sell away,
      
       Which were in common right possessed of old,
      
       By our Forefathers; and, continue should
      
       To all their after comers. For, altho
      
       We may dispose of what pertains unto
      
       Our persons: yet, those dues which former ages have left unto us for our heritages,
      
       (And whereunto, the child that borne must be,
      
       Hath every whit as good a right as we)
      
       Those dues we should preserve with all our might,
      
       By pleading of our just and ancient rgiht,
      
       In humble wise, if so the Sovereign state
      
       Our freedom shall attempt to violate.
      
       But, when by peaceful means we cannot save it,
      
       We to the pleasure of the King must leave it,
      
       And unto God our Judge: for all the power
      
       In us, consists in saying,
       
        This is our.
       
       A King is for a blessing, or a curse;
      
       And therefore (though a
       
        Fool
       
       he were, or worse,
      
       A
       
        Tyrant,
       
       or an
       
        Ethnic
       
       ) no man may
      
       So much as in their private closets, pray
      
       Against his person; though they moy petition
      
       Against the wickedness of his condition.
      
       Nor, is this suffrance due to those alone,
      
       Who subject are unto a
       
        Monarchs
       
       throne,
      
       But, from all those who either subjects are
      
       To mixed Government, or popular.
      
       For, though irregularities appear
      
       In every State; because but men they are
      
       Whom God's exalts to rule: yet, it is he
      
       By whom all Governments ordained be.
      
       And every
       
        Goverment
       
       (although the
       
        Name
       
       Be different) is in effect the same.
      
       In
       
        Monarchies,
       
       the
       
        Counsel
       
       (as it were
      
       An
       
        Aristocracy
       
       ) one while doth bear
      
       The sway of all; and though they name the King,
      
       Yet, him they over-rule in everything.
      
       Sometime again, the pop'lar voice we see,
      
       Doth awe the
       
        Counsel,
       
       when in them there be
      
       Some pop'lar
       
        Spirits▪ Aristocracies
       
       Are otherwhile the same with
       
        Monarchies,
       
       For, one great man among them gets the power,
      
       From all the rest, and like an
       
        Emperor,
       
       Doth act his pleasure. And we know tis common
      
       To have some foolish
       
        Favorite▪
       
       or
       
        Woman,
       
       To govern him. So in a pop'lar State,
      
       Affaires are managed by the self same fate;
      
       And either one or more, away do steal
      
       The people's hearts, and sway the Commonwealth.
      
       Thus God is pleased, to humble and to raise▪
      
       Thus, he by sev'rall
       
        names,
       
       and sev'rall
       
        ways,
       
       The world doth govern. Yea, thus, even in one nation,
      
       And in one State, he makes much alteration
      
       In forms of
       
        Goverment
       
       ; of changing that
      
       Which is but accidental to a
       
        State.
       
       And, such his
       
        Justice,
       
       and his
       
        Wisdom
       
       is,
      
       That he preserveth by the means of this,
      
       Those things which do essentially pertain
      
       To that great
       
        Power,
       
       which over all doth reign▪
      
       Nor is he pleased thus it should be done
      
       In
       
        States
       
       that merely civil are alone;
      
       But, also, in the
       
        Churches
       
       governments,
      
       Allowes the change of outward accidents.
      
       Yea, they to whom he gives the oversights
      
       Of some particular
       
        Church,
       
       may change old
       
        Rites,
       
       The
       
        Customs, Forms,
       
       or
       
        Titles,
       
       as occasions
      
       Are offered them; or, as the Times, or Nations,
      
       Require a change: provided so, that they
      
       Take nothing which essential is, away;
      
       Nor add what shall repugn or prejudice
      
        God's Laws,
       
       his
       
        Kingdom,
       
       or the
       
        Liberties
       
       Of them that are his people. For, in what
      
       Hath any
       
        Church
       
       a power, if not in that
      
       Which is indifferent? Or, in what I pray
      
       Will men the
       
        Church
       
       authority obey,
      
       If not in such like things? Or, who should be
      
       The
       
        Judge
       
       what is indifferent, if not she?
      
       A private
       
        Spirit
       
       knows what best agrees
      
       With his own fancy; but, the
       
        Church
       
       best sees,
      
       What fits the
       
        Congr
        
         •
        
        gation.
       
       From what gives
      
       Offence to one, another man receives
      
       Much comfort: and, his conscience edifies,
      
       By disciplines, which many do despise.
      
       A
       
        Parish
       
       is a little
       
        Diocese
       
       ;
      
       And, as of Cities, Towns, and Villages,
      
       A
       
        Bishopric
       
       consists: so, that doth rise
      
       By Tythings, Hamlets, and by Families.
      
       And little difference would be in the same,
      
       (Excepting in the largeness and the name)
      
       If their opinions were allowed of all,
      
       Who favor not the style
       
        Episcopal:
       
       For, every
       
        Priest
       
       would then usurp the same
      
       Authority, whereof some hate the name.
      
       Yea, many a one would then his Parish make
      
       A little
       
        Popedom,
       
       and upon him take
      
       (Considering his mean power) as much as he
      
       That
       
        Universal Bishop
       
       claims to be:
      
       And prove more proud, and troublesome, then they
      
       Against whose
       
        Lordlinesse
       
       they now inveigh.
      
       This therefore is my
       
        Rule
       
       ; that
       
        Govern
        
         •
        
        meant
       
       (What e're it be) in which to me God lent
      
       My birth and breeding; that, until my end,
      
       I will obey, and to my power defend.
      
       Yea, though it tyrannize, I will denay
      
       No more obedience, then by law I may:
      
       Even by those
       
        Laws
       
       and
       
        Customs
       
       whirh do stand
      
       In force, and unrepealed in that land.
      
       What right another had, e're I was borne
      
       Or how, or for what sin, God's hand hath torn
      
       His Kingdom from him, I will never care;
      
       Let them go answer that who
       
        Subjects
       
       were,
      
       (When lost it was) and had that means, and calling,
      
       And years, which might prevented have his falling.
      
       Or should another
       
        Country
       
       take me home
      
       As one of hers; when thither I did come
      
       I would not seek, nor wish to innovate
      
       The
       
        Titles,
       
       or the
       
        Customs
       
       of that
       
        State,
       
       To what some other Countries better thought:
      
       But, leave such things to those to whom I ought.
      
       And, there, if any
       
        Faction
       
       shall contstrain
      
       That I one part must take, I will maintain
      
       What bore the Sov'raignty when I came thither;
      
       And, I and that will stand and fall together.
      
       The same obedience, also, keep I shall,
      
       To governments
       
        Ecclesiastical
       
       Where e're I come; if nothing they command
      
       Which doth God's word, essentially, withstand:
      
       Or, indirectly, or directly, thwart
      
       His glory, or the purity pervert
      
       Of Christian Principles, nor further strife,
      
       Nor cause, nor countenance an evil life.
      
       The
       
        Hyerarchy,
       
       here, I will obey,
      
       And reverence, while I in
       
        England
       
       stay.
      
       In
       
        Scotland
       
       if I lived, I would deny
      
       No due respect to their
       
        Presbyterie.
       
        Geneva
       
       should I visit, I would there
      
       Submit myself to what their customs were.
      
       Yea, wheresoe're I am, I will suppose
      
       The
       
        Spirit
       
       in that
       
        Church
       
       much better knows
      
       What best that place befitteth, then I do:
      
       And, I will live conformed thereunto,
      
       In everything that's merely politick,
      
       And injuries not the Doctrines
       
        Catholic.
       
       To every temp'rall power I will be the same,
      
       By whatsoever cognizance, or name,
      
       Men please to call it. If I should be sent
      
       To
       
        Poland,
       
       where a mixed government
      
       Establisht is; I would not tell them, there,
      
       That any other Custom better were
      
       Were I in
       
        Switzerland,
       
       I would maintain
      
        Democrity
       
       ; and, think to make it plain,
      
       That for these
       
        Times,
       
       those
       
        Cantons,
       
       and that
       
        Nation,
       
       There could not be a better
       
        Domination.
       
       In
       
        Venice,
       
       far before a
       
        Monarchy
       
       I would prefer an
       
        Aristocratie.
       
       In
       
        Spain,
       
       and
       
        France,
       
       and in great
       
        Britain
       
       here
      
       I hold no Goverments more perfect are
      
       Then
       
        Monarchies.
       
       And, if God's will should be,
      
       Beneath a
       
        Tyrant
       
       to envassaile me,
      
       I would persuade myself, that heavy yoke
      
       Were best, for some respects; and, to the stroke
      
       Even of an iron Mace would subject be,
      
       In
       
        Body
       
       ; with a
       
        mind
       
       that should be free
      
       From his enforcement, (if he did withstand,
      
       Or bid me what God's
       
        Law
       
       doth countermand.)
      
       There is, I know, a
       
        middle-way
       
       that lies
      
       Even just betwixt the two extremities,
      
       Which to
       
        sedition,
       
       and to
       
        saction
       
       tend.
      
       To find which tract, my whole desire I bend;
      
       And wish it followed more. For, if we tread
      
       That harmless path, we cannot be misled;
      
       Nor shamed, though blamed we be. To every man
      
       I fain would give his due; and all I can
      
       I do endeavor it. I would not wrong
      
       My
       
        Country
       
       ; neither take what doth belong
      
       To
       
        Caesar
       
       : nor infringe, or prejudice,
      
       The vnivesall
       
        Churches
       
       liberties;
      
       Nor for her outward
       
        Discipline
       
       prefer
      
       Or censure, any
       
        Church
       
       particular;
      
       Or any
       
        State,
       
       but as befit it may,
      
       His
       
        Muse,
       
       which naught but needful truths doth say.
      
       Nor have I any purpose to withdraw
      
       Obedience, or respect from any
       
        Law
       
       That's positive; or, to dishearten from
      
       Those
       
        Customs,
       
       which a Christian state become.
      
       Nor have I any thought to scandalize,
      
       Or speak a miss of Principalities;
      
       Or, to traduce men's persons▪ but, I fall
      
       On errors of men's lives in general,
      
       And, on those great abuses, which I see
      
       To blemish every
       
        Calling
       
       and
       
        Degree
       
       Of
       
        Dignities
       
       and
       
        Persons,
       
       I observe,
      
       All means I can, their honors to preserve,
      
       When I reprove their faults. And, even as he
      
       That hunteth
       
        Foxes,
       
       where
       
        Lambes
       
       feeding be,
      
       May fright that harmless flock, and suffer blame
      
       Of some
       
        By-standers,
       
       (knowing not his Game)
      
       When from his Dogs, those innocents are free,
      
       And none but their devourers bitten be.
      
       So, though my reprehensions, often are
      
       Mistooke by foolish Readers; they are far
      
       From reprehending those, or taxing that
      
       Which is unfitting for my shooting at.
      
       I speak those things which will advantage rather
      
       Then harm: and hence this blinded age may gather
      
       Much light. Thich little volume doth relate
      
       Nought else but what is like to be our fate,
      
       If sin increase; and what in former times
      
       Did fall on other
       
        Nations
       
       for their crimes.
      
       I utter what our welfare may increase,
      
       And help confirm us in a happy peace;
      
       Which they will never compass, who pursue
      
       To speak what's pleasing, rather then what's true,
      
       How ever, here my thoughts deliv'red be:
      
       Let God, as he shall please, deliver me.
      
       And if what here is mentioned, thou dost heed
      
       (Oh
       
        Britain
       
       !) in those times that shall succeed,
      
       It may prevent much loss, and make thee shun
      
       Those mischiefs, whereby Kingdoms are undone.
      
       But, to thy other sins, if thou shalt add
      
       Rebellions (as false
       
        Prophets
       
       will persuade)
      
       Which likely are to follow, when thou shalt
      
       In thy profession of
       
        Religion
       
       halt:
      
       Then, will thy
       
        Kings
       
       and
       
        People
       
       scourge each other,
      
       For their offenses, till both fall together:
      
       By weakening of your pow'rs, to make them way,
      
       Who seek and look for that unhappy day.
      
       Then, shall disorder everywhere abound
      
       And neither just nor pious man be found
      
       The best shall be a
       
        Br
        
         •
        
        er
       
       or a
       
        Thorn,
       
       By whom their neighbors shall be scratched and torn.
      
       Thy
       
        Princes
       
       shall to nothing condescend
      
       For any merit, just, or pious end;
      
       But either for increasing of their treasure,
      
       Or for accomplishing their willful pleasure:
      
       And unto what they sell or daine for meede,
      
       There shall be given little trust or heed.
      
       For, that which by their words confirm they shall,
      
       (The royal Seals uniting therewithal)
      
       A toy shall frustate; and a gift shall make
      
       Their strictest
       
        Orders
       
       no effect to take.
      
       The
       
        Judge,
       
       without a bribe, no
       
        cause
       
       shall end:
      
       No man shall trust his brother, or his friend:
      
       The parents and the children shall despise
      
       And hate, and spoil each other: she that lies
      
       Within her husbands bosom, shall betray him:
      
       They who thy people should protect, shall slay them:
      
       The aged shall regarded be of none:
      
       The poor shall by the rich be trodden on:
      
       Such grievous insolencies, everywhere
      
       Shall acted be, that good and bad shall fear
      
       In thee to dwell; and, men discreet shall hate
      
       To be a
       
        Ruler,
       
       or a
       
        Magistrate
       
       ;
      
       When they behold (without impenitence)
      
       So much injustice, and such violence.
      
       And, when thy wickedness this height shall gain,
      
       To which (no doubt) it will e're long attain,
      
       If thou proceed: Then, from the bow that's bent
      
       (And half way drawn already) shall be sent
      
       A mortal arrow: and it pierce thee shall
      
       Quite through the head, the liver, and the gall.
      
       The Lord shall call, and whistle from afar,
      
       For those thy enemies that fiercest are:
      
       For those thou fearest most; and they shall from
      
       Their Countries, like a whirlwind hither come,
      
       They shall not sleep, nor stumble, nor untie
      
       Their garments, till within thy field they lie,
      
       Sharpe shall their arrows be, and strong their bow,
      
       Their faces shall as full of horror show
      
       As doth a Lions. Like a bolt of thunder
      
       Their troops of horse shall come, and tread thee under
      
       Their iron feet. Thy foes shall eat thy bread,
      
       And with thy flocks both clothed be and fed.
      
       Thy
       
        Dwellers,
       
       they shall carry from their own,
      
       To
       
        Countries
       
       which their fathers have not known.
      
       And, thither shall such mischiefs them pursue,
      
       That they who seek the pit-fall to eschew,
      
       Shall in a snare be taken. If they shall
      
       Escape the sword, a serpent in the wall
      
       To death shall sting them: yea (although they hap;
      
       To shun a hundred plagues) they shall not scape;
      
       But, with new dangers, still be chac'd about,
      
       Until that they are wholly rooted out.
      
       The
       
        Plowman,
       
       then, shall be afraid to sow;
      
        Artificers
       
       their labor shall forgo;
      
       The
       
        Merchant
       
       man shall cross the Seas no more,
      
       (Except to fly and seek some other shore)
      
       Thy
       
        ablest-men
       
       shall faint: thy
       
        wise-ones,
       
       then
      
       Shall know themselves to be but foolish men.
      
       And they who built and planted by oppression,
      
       Shall leave their gettings to the foes possession.
      
       Yea, God will scourge thee,
       
        England,
       
       seven times more
      
       With seven times greater
       
        Plagues
       
       then heretofore,
      
       Then▪ thy
       
        Allies
       
       their friendship shall withdraw;
      
       And, they that of thy greatness stood in awe,
      
       Shall say (in scorn) Is this the valiant Nation,
      
       That had throughout the world such reputation,
      
       By
       
        victories
       
       upon the shore? are these
      
       That people, which were master of the seas,
      
       And grew so mighty? yea that petty Nation,
      
       That were not worthy of thy indignation,
      
       Shall mock thee too; and all thy former fame,
      
       Forgot shall be, or mentioned to thy shame.
      
       Mark how God's
       
        Plagues
       
       were doubled on the
       
        Jews
       
       When they his mild corrections did abuse▪
      
       Mark what, at last upon their Land he sent;
      
       And, look thou for the self same punishment,
      
       If them thou imitatest. I or their sin,
      
       At first, but eight years
       
        Bondage
       
       they were in.
      
       Their wickedness grew more; and God did then,
      
       To
       
        Eglon,
       
       make them slaves, eight years and ten
      
       They disobeying, still, the God of heaven;
      
       Their year of
       
        Servitude
       
       were twenty seven,
      
       To
       
        Jabin
       
       and to
       
        Midian.
       
       Then, prevailed
      
        Philistia
       
       forty years; and, when that failed,
      
       To make them of their evil ways repent;
      
       There was▪ among themselves▪ a fatal rent;
      
       And, they oft scourged each other. Still, they trod
      
       The selfsame path; and, then the hand of God
      
       Brought
       
        Ashur
       
       on them; and, did make them bear
      
       His heavy yoke, until the seventeenth year.
      
       And last of all the
       
        Roman
       
       Empire came,
      
       Which from their
       
        Country
       
       rooted out their
       
        Name
       
       That foolish project which they did embrace,
      
       To keep them in possession of their
       
        place,
       
       Did loose it. And, like
       
        Cain,
       
       that vagrant
       
        Nation,
       
       Hath now remained in fearful
       
        Desolation
       
       Nigh sixteen hundred years: and, whatsoever
      
       Some lately dream) in vain, they look for here
      
       A temp'rall
       
        Kingdom.
       
       For, as long ago
      
       Their
       
        Psalmist
       
       said;
       
        No Prophet doth foreshow
       
        This thraldoms end.
       
       Nor shall it end until
      
       The
       
        Gentiles
       
       their just number do fulfill:
      
       Which is unlike to be until that hour,
      
       In which there shall be no more temporal power,
      
       Of temporal
       
        Kingdom.
       
       Therefore gather them
      
       (Oh Lord!) unto thy new
       
        Jerusalem,
       
       In thy due time. For, yet unto that place
      
       They have a promist right, by thy mere grace.
      
       To those who shall repent, thy firm
       
        Election
       
       Continues in this temporal rejection.
      
       Oh! show thy mercy in their desolation,
      
       That thou mayest honored be in their salvation
      
       Yea, teach us also, by their fearful fall,
      
       To hearken to thy voice, when thou dost call;
      
       (Lest thou in anger, unto us protest,
      
       That we shall never come into thy rest)
      
       For, we have followed them in all their sin:
      
       Such, and so many, have our warnings been:
      
       And if thou still prolong not thy compassion,
      
       To us belongs the selfsame
       
        Desolation.
       
       And it will shortly come, with all those terrors
      
       That we on them inflicted, for their errors.
      
       Then, woe shall be to them that heretofore
      
       By joining house, to house expel'd the poor;
      
       And field have into field incoporated,
      
       Until their
       
        Township
       
       were depopulated.
      
       For, desolate their dwelling shall be made:
      
       Even in their blood the Lord shall bathe his blade:
      
       And they that have by avarice, and wiles,
      
       Erected Palaces and costly Piles;
      
       Shall think, the stones and timbers in the wall,
      
       Aloud, to God, for vengeance on them call.
      
       Then, woe shall be to them who early rise
      
       To eat and drink, and play, and wantonnize;
      
       Still adding sin to sin: for, they the pain
      
       Of cold, and thirst, and hunger, shall sustain;
      
       And be the servile slaves of them that are
      
       Their foes, as to their lusts they captives were.
      
       Then woe to them who darkness more have loved
      
       Then light; and good advice have disapprov'd:
      
       For, they shall wander in a crooked path,
      
       Which neither light, nor end, nor comfort hath.
      
       And, when for
       
        Guides,
       
       and
       
        Counsel
       
       they do cry▪
      
       Not one shall pity them, who passeth by.
      
       Then, woe to them that have corrupted been▪
      
       To justify the
       
        wicked
       
       in his sin;
      
       Or, for a bribe, the
       
        righteous
       
       to condemn:
      
       For, flames (as on the chaff) shall seize on them:
      
       Their bodies to the dunghill shall be cast:
      
       Their flower shall turn to dust; their stock shall wast,
      
       And all the glorious titles they have worn,
      
       Shall but increase their infamy and scorn,
      
       Then woe to them that have been raised aloft
      
       By good men's ruins; and by laying soft
      
       And easy pillows, under great men's arms,
      
       To make them pleased in their alluring charms.
      
       Then, woe to them who being grown afraid
      
       Of some nigh peril, sought unlawful aid;
      
       And, setting God's protection quite aside,
      
       Upon their own inventions have rely'd.
      
       For, God their foolish hopes will bring to naught;
      
       On them, their feared mischief shall be brought;
      
       And, all their wit and strength, shall not suffice,
      
       To have their sorrow off, which on them lies.
      
       Yea, then, oh
       
        Britain
       
       ! woe to everyone,
      
       That hath without repentance evil done:
      
       For, those who do not heed, nor bear in mind
      
       His visitings, God's reaching hand will find;
      
       And they with howling cries and lamentation,
      
       Shall sue and seek, in vain, for his compassion.
      
       Because they careless of his Mercies were,
      
       Till in consumming wrath he did appear▪
      
       But, still, we set far off that evil day;
      
       In dull
       
        security
       
       we pass away
      
       Our precious time; and with vain hopes and toys,
      
       Build up a trust which every puff destroys.
      
       And therefore, still when healing is expected,
      
       New and unlookt for troubles are effected.
      
       We gather
       
        Armies,
       
       and we
       
        Fleets
       
       prepare;
      
       And, then▪ both strong and safe we think we are.
      
       But, when we look for victories, and glory,
      
       What follows, but events that make us sory?
      
       And tis God's mercy that we turn our faces
      
       With so few losses, and no more disgraces.
      
       For, what are most of those whom we commend
      
       Such actions to; and whom we forth do send
      
       To fight those
       
        Battles,
       
       which the
       
        Lord's
       
       we call,
      
       But, such as never fight for him at all?
      
       Whom dost thou make thy
       
        Captains,
       
       and dispose
      
       Such
       
        Offices
       
       unto, but unto those
      
       (Some few excepted) who procure by friends,
      
       Command and pay, to serve their private ends?
      
       Their language, and their practices declare,
      
       That entertained by God's
       
        Foe
       
       they were.
      
       Their whoring, swearing, and their drunkenness,
      
       Do far more plainly to the world express
      
       What
       
        General
       
       they do belong unto,
      
       Then all their
       
        Feathers
       
       and their
       
        Ensigns
       
       do.
      
       These by their unrepented sins, betray
      
       Thy
       
        Cause.
       
       By these, the honor, and the day
      
       Is lost: and when thou hopest that thy trouble
      
       ▪Shall have and end, thy danger waxeth double.
      
       We wisht for
       
        Parliaments
       
       ; and them we made
      
       Our Cod: for, all the hope that many had
      
       To remedy the public discontent,
      
       Was by the wisdom of a
       
        Parliament.
       
       Well;
       
        Parliaments
       
       we had; and what in being,
      
       Suceedeth yet, but greater disagreeing,
      
       With greater
       
        grievances
       
       then heretofore?
      
       And reason good: for, we depended more
      
       On outward means, then on God's will that sends
      
       All punishments; and all afflictions ends.
      
       Believe it, should our
       
        Parliaments
       
       agree
      
       In every motion: should our
       
        Sovereign
       
       be
      
       So gracious, as to condescend to all
      
       Which for his weal and ours, propose we shall;
      
       Even that
       
        Agreement,
       
       till our sins we leave,
      
       Shall make us but secure; and help to weave
      
       A snare, by whose fine threads we shall be caught,
      
       Before we see the mischief that is wrought.
      
       Whilst we by
       
        Parliament
       
       do chiefly seek
      
       Mere temp'rall ends, the King shall do the like:
      
       Yea, till in them we mutually agree
      
       To help each other; and unfeigned be
      
       In lab'ring for a Christian
       
        Reformation
       
       ;
      
       Each Meeting shall beget a new vexation.
      
       This
       
        Island
       
       hath hath some sense of what she ail
      
       And very much, these evil times bewails:
      
       But, not so much our sins do we lament,
      
       Or mourn, that God for them is discontent,
      
       As that the
       
        Plagues
       
       they being disturb our pleasures,
      
       Encrease our dangers, and exhaust our treasures.
      
       And, for these causes, now and then we
       
        fast,
       
       And
       
        pray,
       
       as long as half a day doth last.
      
       For, if the Sun do hut a little clear
      
       That cloud, from which a tempest we do fear,
      
       What kind of grief we took, we plainly show
      
       By those rejoicings which thereon ensue:
      
       For, in the stead of such due thankfulness,
      
       As Christian zeal obligeth to express;
      
       To pleasure (not to God) we sacrifice;
      
       Renew our sin; revive our vanities;
      
       And, all our vowed gratitude expires,
      
       In Games, in Guns, in Bels, in Healths, or Fires.
      
       We fain would be at peace; but few men go
      
       That way, as yet, whereby it may be so.
      
       We have not that humility which must
      
       Effect it: we are false, and cannot trust
      
       Each other; no nor God with true confessions:
      
       Which shows that we abhor not our transgressions.
      
       It proves, that of our errors, we in heart
      
       Repent not, neither purpose to depart
      
       From any folly. For all they that are
      
       Sincerely penitent, do nothing fear
      
       So much as their own guilt; nor seek to gain
      
       Ought more, then to be reconciled again:
      
       And they that are thus minded▪ never can
      
       Be long unreconcil'd to God, or man.
      
       When we should stoop, we most ourselves exalt
      
       And (though we be) would not be thought in fault.
      
       Nay, though we faulty be, and though and known,
      
       And proved so, and see that we are thro
       
        ••
       
       e
      
       By our apparent errors, into straits,
      
       From which we cannot get by all our sleights
      
       Yet, still ourselves we vaunt and justify,
      
       And struggle, till the snare we faster tie.
      
       We sin, and we to boast it have no
       
        •••
       
       ame,
      
       Yet storm when others do our follies name:
      
       And rather then we will so much as say
      
       We did amiss (though that might wipe away
      
       The stain of all) I think that some of us
      
       So willful are, so proud, and mischievous,
      
       That we ourselves, would ruin, and our
       
        Nation,
       
       To keep our shadow of a
       
        Reputation.
       
       Oh! if we are thus headstrong tis unlike
      
       We any part of our proud sails will strike
      
       Till they have suncke our vessel in the Sea,
      
       Or by the furious winds, are torn away.
      
       Twere better, though, we did confess our wound,
      
       Then hide it till our state grew more unsound.
      
       Twere better we some wealth, or office lost,
      
       Then keep them, till our lives, and all, it cost▪
      
       And therefore, let us wisely be advised,
      
       Before we by a tempest be surprised.
      
       Down first with our
       
        Top-gallants,
       
       and our
       
        Flags
       
       ;
      
        In storms the skillful'st Pilots make no brags.
       
       Let us (if that be not enough) let fall
      
       Our
       
        Misn
        
         •
        
        -yeard,
       
       and strike our top-sails all.
      
       If this we find be not enough to do,
      
       Strike Fote-sails, Sprit-sails yea and Main-sails too.
      
       And, rather then our
       
        Ship
       
       should sink or rend;
      
       Let's over-board, goods, mast and tackling send.
      
       Save but the
       
        Hull,
       
       the
       
        Master,
       
       and the
       
        Men
       
       ;
      
       And we may live to scour the seas agen.
      
       Believe it
       
        England,
       
       howsoever some
      
       (Who should foresee thy
       
        plagues
       
       before they come)
      
       Endeavor to persuade thee that thou hast
      
       A hopeful time, and that the worst is past.
      
       Yet I dare boldly tell thee, thou hast nigh
      
       Worne out God's patience by impiety.
      
       And, that unless the same we do renew
      
       By penitence, our folly we shall rue.
      
       But, what am I, that me thou shouldest believe?
      
       Or, unto what I tell thee, credit give?
      
       It may be this adultrous
       
        Generation
       
       Expecteth tokens of her desolation;
      
       And therefore I will give them signs of that
      
       Which they are now almost arrived at.
      
       Not signs, so mystical as most of those
      
       Which did the ruin of the
       
        Jews
       
       disclose;
      
       But,
       
        signs
       
       as evident as are the day.
      
       For, know ye
       
        Britain's,
       
       that what God did say
      
        Jerusalem's
       
       destruction should foreshow,
      
       He spake to every
       
        State
       
       that should ensue.
      
       And, that he naught of her, or to her spake.
      
       For hers alone, but also for our sake.
      
       One
       
        sign
       
       that God's longsuffering we have tired,
      
       And that his patience is almost expired.
      
       Is this; that many judgments he hath sent.
      
       And still removed them e're we did repent.
      
       For, God (even by his
       
        Holiness
       
       ) did swear,
      
       (Saith
       
        Amos
       
       ) such a Nation he will tear
      
       With briars, and with Fish hooks rend away
      
       The whole posterity of such as they.
      
        Cleane teeth
       
       (saith God)
       
        I gave them; and with bread
       
        In many places, them I scantly fed
       
       ;
      
        And yet they sought me not: Then I restrained
       
        The dew of heaven; upon this Field I rained,
       
        And not on that; yea, to one City came
       
        Some two or three, to quench their thirsty flame
       
       ;
      
        Yet, to return to me, no care they took
       
       ;
      
        With Blastings then, and Mildewes, I them struck
       
       ;
      
        And mixed among their Fruits the Palmer-worm
       
       ;
      
        Yet, they their lives did not a jot reform
       
       :
      
        Then did I send the Pestilence
       
       (said he)
      
        Devoured by the Sword, their young men be
       
       ;
      
        Their Horse are slain, and up to heaven ascends
       
        Their stink; yet I discover no amends
       
       The self same things thy God in thee hath done▪
      
       Oh
       
        England
       
       ! yet, here follows thereupon
      
       So small amendment, that they are a
       
        sign
       
       To thee; and their sharp Judgment, will be thine.
      
       The second
       
        Token
       
       which doth fore-declare
      
       When
       
        Cities States,
       
       and
       
        Realms,
       
       declining are▪
      
       Even
       
        Christ
       
       himself hath left us: for, (saith he)
      
        When Desolation shall approaching be,
       
        Of wars, and warlike rumors ye shall hear
       
       ;
      
        Rare signs and tokens will in heaven appear
       
       ;
      
        Down from the Firmament the stars shall fall
       
       ;
      
        The hearts of many men, then, fail them shall
       
       ;
      
        There will be many scandals and offenses
       
       ;
      
        Great earthquakes, Schisms, Dearths, and Pestilences,
       
        Realm, Realm; and Nation, Nation shall oppose
       
       ;
      
        The nearest friends, shall be the greatest foes.
       
        Against the Church shall many tyrannize
       
       ;
      
        Deceivers, and false Prophets, shall arise
       
       ;
      
        In every place shall wickedness abound;
       
        And, Charity shall very cold be befound.
       
       This Christ himself did Prophecy: and we
      
       Are doubtless blind, unless confessed it be,
      
       That at this hour, upon this Kingdom here,
      
       These marks of Desolation viewed are.
      
       How often have we seen prodigious
       
        lights,
       
       O'respread the face of heaven in moonlesse nights?
      
       How many dreadful
       
        Meteors,
       
       have there been
      
       In this our
       
        Climate,
       
       lately heard and seen?
      
       Who knoweth not that but a while ago
      
       A
       
        Blazing-Star
       
       did threat, if not foreshow
      
       God's Judgments▪ In what age, tofore did hear
      
       So many, who did
       
        Saints
       
       and
       
        Stars
       
       appear,
      
       Fall (as it were) from heaven? Or who hath heard
      
       Of greater
       
        Earthquakes▪
       
       then hath lately scared
      
       These quarters of the world? How oft, the touch
      
       Of
       
        Famine
       
       have we had? But, when so much
      
       Devoured by the
       
        Pestilence
       
       were we,
      
       As in this present year our people be?
      
       Of
       
        Wars,
       
       and martial rumors, never more
      
       Were heard within these confines heretofore;
      
       When were all Kingdoms, and all Nations through
      
       The world, so opposite as they are now▪
      
       We know no Country, whether nigh or far,
      
       But is engaged, or threatened with some
       
        War.
       
       All places, either present woes bewail;
      
       Or else things feared make men's hearts to fail.
      
       False
       
        Prophets,
       
       and
       
        Deceivers
       
       we have many;
      
       We scarcely find integrity in any:
      
       The Name of
       
        Christ,
       
       begins in every place
      
       To suffer persecution and disgrace;
      
       And, we the greatest jeopardies are in,
      
       Among our neighbors, and our nearest kin.
      
       Strange
       
        Heresies
       
       do everywhere increase,
      
       Disturbing
       
        Zion,
       
       and exiling peace.
      
       Impiety doth multiply. True love
      
       Growes cold. And, if these
       
        tokens
       
       do not prove
      
       Our fall draws on, unless we do amend:
      
       I know not when our folly shall have end.
      
       A third apparent
       
        sign
       
       which doth declare
      
       When some devouring
       
        Plague
       
       approacheth near,
      
       Is when a Nation doth anew begin
      
       To let Idolatry to enter in;
      
       And openly, or secretly give place
      
       To
       
        Heresy,
       
       where
       
        Truth
       
       established was:
      
       Or when like
       
        Jeroboam,
       
       to possess
      
       An outward profit, or a temporal peace,
      
       They either change
       
        Religions,
       
       or devise
      
       A worship which doth mixe Idolatries
      
       With truth. For this, even for this very crime,
      
       The King of
       
        Ashur,
       
       in
       
        Hosea's
       
       time
      
       Led
       
        Israel
       
       captive And, both from the sight
      
       Of God; and from the house of
       
        David
       
       quite,
      
       They were cut off forever, and did neither
      
       Serve
       
        God
       
       nor
       
        Idols
       
       ; but even both together;
      
       In such a mixed
       
        Religion
       
       as is-that
      
       Which some among us, now, have aimed at.
      
       Mark
       
        England
       
       ; and I prithee mark it well,
      
       If this offense which ruined
       
        Israel,
       
       On thee appear not: and, if so it be,
      
       Amend; or look for what it threatens thee.
      
       The fourth true
       
        token
       
       which doth fore-express
      
       The ruin of a Land for wickedness,
      
       Is when the
       
        Priests▪
       
       and Magistrates begin,
      
       To grow extremely impudent in sin.
      
       This
       
        Sign,
       
       the Prophet
       
        Micah
       
       giveth us;
      
       And he (not I) to you cries loudly thus:
      
        Heaere, O ye house of Jacob, and all ye
       
        That Princes of the house of Israel be:
       
        Ye Justice hate; and ye pervert what's good
       
       ;
      
        Ye build the walls of Zion up with blood
       
       ;
      
        Jerusalem with sin, ye up have reared,
       
        Your Judges pass their censures for reward
       
       ;
      
        Your Priests do preach for hire, your Prophets do
       
        Like them; and prophecy for money too.
       
        And, for this cause shall
       
       Zion
       
        mount
       
       (saith he)
      
        Even like a plowed field become to be
       
       ;
      
        And like a Forest hill where bushes grow.
       
        The City of Jerusalem shall show.
       
       Change but the names, oh
       
        Britain,
       
       and that token
      
       Of desolation, unto thee is spoken.
      
       For, what this day thy
       
        Priests
       
       and
       
        Princes
       
       are,
      
       Their actions, and the people's cries declare.
      
       A fifth sure
       
        evidence
       
       that God among
      
       Thy ruins will entomb thy same e're long,
      
       (If thou repent not) is even this, that thou
      
       Dost every day the more ungodly grow,
      
       By how much more the blessed means of grace
      
       Doth multiply it self in every place.
      
       God sends unto thee many learned Preachers,
      
        Apostles, Pastors,
       
       and all kind of teachers;
      
       His
       
        Visions,
       
       and his
       
        Prophecies
       
       upon thee
      
       He multiplies. And (that he might have won thee
      
       To more sincerity) on all occasions,
      
       By counsel, by entreaty, and persuasions,
      
       He hath advised, allured, and befought thee:
      
       With precept upon precept, he hath taught thee;
      
       By line on line; by miracle; by reason;
      
       In every place; in season, out of season;
      
       By little and by little; and by much
      
       (Sometime) at once: yet is thy nature such,
      
       That still thou waxest worse; and in the room
      
       Of pleasant Grapes, more Thistles daily come:
      
       And, thou that art so haughty, and so proud,
      
       For this, shalt vanish like an empty cloud;
      
       And, as a Lion, Leopard, or a Bear,
      
       Thy God, for this, shall thee in pieces tear.
      
       If thou suppose my
       
        Muse
       
       did this devise,
      
       Go take it from
       
        Hosea's
       
       Prophesies
      
       The sixth undoubted
       
        signal
       
       when the last
      
       Good days of sinful
       
        Realms
       
       are almost past,
      
       Is when the people near to God shall draw
      
       In word, to make profession of his
       
        Law
       
       :
      
       And by their tongues his praises forth declare;
      
       Yet, in their hearts from him continue far.
      
       To such a
       
        Land,
       
       their destiny displays
      
        Isaiah:
       
       for even thus the Prophet says:
      
        God will produce ae marvel in that state
       
        And do a Work that men shall wonder at;
       
        The wisdom of their wisest Counselor,
       
        Shall perish, and their prudent men shall err.
       
        On their deep Counsels, sorrow shall attend
       
       ;
      
        Their secret plots shall have a dismal end
       
       ;
      
        Their giddy projects which they have devised,
       
        Shall as the Potters clay be quite despised.
       
        Like Carmel, Lebanon shall seem; and he
       
        Like Lebanon, shall make mount Carmel be.
       
        Their pleasant Fields like Desarts shall appear
       
       ;
      
        And, there shall Gardens be, where Desarts are.
       
       God keep (thou
       
        British I will
       
       ) this plague from thee;
      
       For, signs thereof upon thy Body be.
      
       Thou of the purest worship makest profession;
      
       Yet, waxest more impure in thy condition.
      
       Thou boastest of the knowledge of God's word,
      
       Yet, thereunto in manners to accord
      
       Thou dost refuse. Thou makest protestation
      
       Of piety; yet hatest reformation.
      
       Yea, when thy tongue doth sing of praise divine,
      
       Thy heart doth plot some temporal design.
      
       And, some of those, who in this wise are holy,
      
       Begin to show their wisdom will be folly.
      
       For, when from sight their snares they deepest hide.
      
       By God Almighty's eyes they are espide.
      
       The seventh
       
        Symptom
       
       of a dreadful blow,
      
       (If not a perpetual overthrow)
      
       Is when a slumbering Spirit doth surprise
      
       A nation; and hath closed up their eyes:
      
       Or when the
       
        Prophets
       
       and the
       
        Seers
       
       are
      
       So clouded, that plain truths do not appear:
      
       Or when the
       
        Visions
       
       evidently seen
      
       Are passed by, as if they had not been:
      
       Or when to Nations who can read, God gives
      
       His
       
        Book
       
       ; and thereof doth unseal the leaves,
      
       And bids them read the same, which they to do
      
       Deny▪ or plead unablenesse thereto.
      
       Black
       
        signs
       
       are these. For if that
       
        Book
       
       to them,
      
       Still dark; or as a Book unsealed seem;
      
       Or, if they heed no more what here is said,
      
       Then they that have the
       
        Books▪
       
       and cannot read;
      
       The
       
        Judgments,
       
       last repeated, are the doom,
      
       That shall on such a stupid
       
        Nation
       
       come.
      
       This
       
        sign
       
       is come on us, for, loe, unsealed
      
       God's
       
        Book
       
       is now amongst us, and revealed
      
       Are all the
       
        Mysteries
       
       which do concern
      
       The children of this present age to learn.
      
       So well hath he instructed this our land,
      
       That we not only read, but understand
      
       The secrets of his
       
        Word.
       
       The prophecies
      
       Of his chief
       
        Seers,
       
       are before our eyes,
      
       Vnveiled▪ true interpretations
      
       Are made, and many proper applications
      
       Even to ourselves, yet is our heart so blind,
      
       That what we know and see we do not mind.
      
       We hear, and speak, and much ado we keep▪
      
       But we as senseless are as men asleep.
      
       What then we do. Yea, while that we are talking,
      
       What snares are in the way where we are walking,
      
       We heed not what we say, but pass along;
      
       And, many times, are fast ensnared among
      
       Those mischiefs, and those faults we did condemn,
      
       Before our tongues have left to mention them.
      
       For our neglect of God in former times,
      
       (Or for some present unrepented crimes)
      
       A slumbering
       
        Spirit
       
       so possesseth us,
      
       That our estate is wondrous dangerous.
      
       We see and hear, and tell to one another
      
       Our perils, yet we headlong haste together
      
       To willful ruin: and are grown so mad,
      
       That when our friends a better course persuade,
      
       Or seek to stop us (when they see we run
      
       That way in which we cannot ruin shun)
      
       We persecute those men with all our soul,
      
       That we may damn ourselves without control.
      
       The eight plain
       
        Sign,
       
       by which I understand
      
       That some devouring mischief is at hand,
      
       Is that maliciousness which I do see
      
       Among
       
        Professors
       
       of one Faith to be.
      
       We that have but one
       
        Father,
       
       and one
       
        Mother,
       
       Do persecute, and torture one another.
      
       So hotly, we oppose not
       
        Antichrist,
       
       As we our fellow-brethren do resist.
      
       The
       
        Protestant,
       
       the
       
        Protestant
       
       defies;
      
       And, we ourselves, ourselves do scandalize.
      
       Our
       
        Church
       
       we have exposed to more scorn;
      
       And her fair seamlesse
       
        Vest
        
         •
        
        ent
       
       rent, and come,
      
       By our own fury, more then by their spite
      
       Who are to us directly opposite.
      
       To save an Apple, we the Tree destroy;
      
       And, quarrels make for every needless toy:
      
       From us, if any brother differ shall
      
       But in a crochet, we upon him fall
      
       As eagerly, and with as bitter hate,
      
       As if we knew him for a
       
        Reprobate.
       
       And, what ever all this doth signify,
      
       Saint
       
        Paul
       
       (by way of caveat) doth imply.
      
        Take heed
       
       (saith he)
       
        lest while ye bite each other,
       
        You, of yourselves, consumed be together.
       
       Another
       
        Sign
       
       which causeth me to fear
      
       That our confusion is approaching near,
      
       Are those
       
        Disunions
       
       which I have espide,
      
       In
       
        Church,
       
       and
       
        Common-wealth,
       
       this present tide.
      
       We cannot hide these rents; for they do gape,
      
       So wide, that some their Jawes can hardly scape.
      
       Would God, the way to close them up we knew,
      
       Else, what they threaten, time will shortly show;
      
       For, all men know, a
       
        City
       
       or a
       
        Land,
       
        Within it self divided, cannot stand.
       
       The last black
       
        Sign
       
       that here I will repeat,
      
       (Which doth to Kingdoms desolation threat)
      
       Is when the hand of God Almighty brings
      
       The people, into bondage, to their Kings.
      
       I say, when their own
       
        King
       
       shall take delight,
      
       Those whom he should protect, to rob, and smite.
      
       When they who fed the Sheep, the Sheep shall kill,
      
       And eat them; and suppose they do no ill.
      
       When God gives up a Nation unto those
      
       That are their neighbors, that they may, as foes,
      
       Devoure them. When (oh
       
        England!
       
       ) thou shalt see
      
       This come to pass, a sign it is to thee
      
       That God is angry; and a certain token
      
       That into pieces thou shalt quite be broken:
      
       If not by foreign strength, by force at home;
      
       And, that thy greater torment will become.
      
       This
       
        Vengeance,
       
       and this fearful preparation,
      
       Of bringing ruin on a sinful Nation,
      
       (If they remain impenitent) the Lord
      
       Doth menace; and, by
       
        Zacharias
       
       record,
      
       To make us wise. Oh! let us therefore learn,
      
       What now is coming on us, to discern.
      
       For, (well considered if all things were)
      
       From this
       
        Captivity
       
       we seem not far.
      
       It now already seems to be projected;
      
       Nay, little wants of being quite effected.
      
       For, they that are our
       
        Shepherds,
       
       now, are they
      
       That fleece us, and endeavor to betray
      
       Our lives and freedoms. Those great men that be
      
       Our neighbors (and can claim no more then we)
      
       Would sell us: and, attempt to gain a power,
      
       Whereby they may, at pleasure, us devour:
      
       And had not we a King, as loath to make
      
       His people slaves, as from himself to take
      
       His lawful right; (or, were there not some lett
      
       Vnheeded, which is unremoved yet)
      
       E're this (and justly too) the hand of heaven
      
       Into perpetual bondage us had given.
      
       And, if we do not more God's will regard,
      
       That mischief is but for a time defer'd.
      
       Our
       
        King
       
       is just and merciful; and though
      
       Some may (with loyal, and a gilded show
      
       Of pious equity) a while assay
      
       To lead his judgment in his youth astray;
      
       Yet, God (I hope) will keep him so, that he
      
       Shall still be just, (though we ungodly be)
      
       And make him in the fittest hour express
      
       His royal
       
        Judgment,
       
       and his
       
        Righteousness.
       
       But, if God should from us (as God forbid)
      
       Take him, as once he good
       
        Josiah
       
       did,
      
       He also will (unless we mend) perchance,
      
       In times to come, a
       
        Shepherd
       
       here advance,
      
       Who shall not plead for what his
       
        Young men
       
       say
      
       Is just; but, take the same, perforce, away.
      
       An Idol
       
        Shepherd,
       
       who shall neither care
      
       To find or seek, for those that strayed are;
      
       Nor guard the
       
        Lambs
       
       ; nor cure what hath a wound;
      
       Nor cherish those that firm to him are found;
      
       But, take the fat, and rob them of their fleeces;
      
       And eat their flesh; and break their bones in pieces.
      
       More
       
        Signs
       
       I might, as yet, commemorate,
      
       To show God's
       
        patience
       
       is nigh out of date.
      
       But, these are signs enough, and so apparent,
      
       That twenty more will give no better warrant
      
       To what I speak. Yet, if these false appear,
      
       That's one sign more, our
       
        fall
       
       approacheth near.
      
       Be mindful, therefore, while it is
       
        to Day
       
       ;
      
       And, let no good occasion slip away.
      
       Now rend your hearts, ye
       
        Britain's,
       
       wash & rinse them
      
       From all corruption: from all evil cleanse them.
      
       Go offer up the pleasing sacrifice
      
       Of
       
        Righteousness:
       
       from folly turn your eyes.
      
       Seek peace, and follow it, with strict pursuit:
      
       Relieve the needy; Judgment execute:
      
       Refresh the weary; right the fatherless:
      
       The strangers, and the widows wants redress:
      
       Give praise to God; depend with lowly faith,
      
       On him; and what his holy
       
        Spirit
       
       saith:
      
       Remember what a price thy ransom cost;
      
       And, now redeem the time that thou hast lost.
      
       Return, return thou (oh back sliding Nation)
      
       And, let thy tears prevent thy desolation.
      
       As yet, thou mayest return; for, God's embrace
      
       Is open for thee, if thou hast the grace,
      
       To give it meeting. Yet, repentance may
      
       Prevent the mischiefs of that evil day,
      
       Which here is menac'd: yet, thou mayest have peace,
      
       And by discreet endeavoring, increase
      
       Each outward grace, and every inward thing,
      
       Which will additions to thy comfort bring.
      
       If this thou do; these fearful threatenings all,
      
       (Repeated here) to mercies change he shall.
      
       We cannot say, it will excuse thee from.
      
       All chastisement; or that no blow shall come.
      
       For, peradventure, thou so long hast been
      
       Unpenitent, that some
       
        loud crying sin
       
       Hath wak'd that
       
        Vengeance,
       
       which upon thy crimes
      
       Must fall (as once in
       
        Jeremiah's
       
       times)
      
       Without prevention; to exemplify
      
       God's hate of sin to all posterity,
      
       But, sure we are, that if he doth not stay
      
       His threatened hand, the stroke that he doth lay
      
       Will fall the lighter; and become a blessing,
      
       Thy future joys, and virtues more increasing,
      
       Than all that large prosperity and rest
      
       Which thou, so long together, hast possessed.
      
       God (with a
       
        Writers ink horn
       
       ) one hath sent,
      
       To set a
       
        mark
       
       on them that shall repent;
      
       And bids him promise in his
       
        Name,
       
       that they
      
       Who shall (recanting) leave their evil way,
      
       And in their hearts, bewail the grievous crimes,
      
       And miseries of
       
        Zion,
       
       in their times;
      
       That they shall be secure, and saved from
      
       The hand of these
       
        Destroyers,
       
       which must come:
      
       Or else by their destruction find a way
      
       To that repairing which will never decay.
      
       Yea, thou, oh
       
        Britain
       
       ! if thou couldst reform
      
       Thy manners, mightest expel the dreadful storm
      
       Now threatened; and thy foes (who triumph would▪
      
       The ruin of thy glory to behold.
      
       And jeer thee when thou fallest) soon shall see
      
       Thy God returning, and avenging thee
      
       On their insultings: yea, with angry blows
      
       He would effect their shameful overthrows▪
      
       Or turn their hearts. For when from sin men cease,
      
       God makes their enemies, and them, at peace.
      
       Moreover, thou shalt have in thy possessing,
      
       Each inward grace, and every outward blessing;
      
       Thy fruitful
       
        Herds
       
       shall in rich pastures feed;
      
       Thy soil shall plenteously increase thy seed;
      
       Thy Flock, shall neither Shepherds want, nor meat;
      
       Cleane provander, thy stabled beast shall eat;
      
       There shall be Rivers in thy Dales; and Fountaines
      
       Upon the tops of all thy noblest Mountains:
      
       The
       
        Moon
       
       shall cast upon thee beams as bright
      
       As now the
       
        Sun,
       
       and with a sevenfold light
      
       The
       
        Sun
       
       shall bless thee. He that reigns in thee,
      
       To all his people reconciled shall be;
      
       And they shall find themselves no whit deceived,
      
       In those good hopes which are of him conceived:
      
       But he, (and they, who shall his throne possess
      
       When he is gone) shall reign in righteousness;
      
       And be more careful of thy weal (by far)
      
       Then parents of their children's profits are.
      
       Thy
       
        Magistrates,
       
       with wisdom shall proceed
      
       In all that shall be counsel'd or decreed.
      
       As
       
        Harbours,
       
       when it blows tempestuously;
      
       As
       
        Rivers,
       
       unto places over-dry;
      
       As
       
        Shadows
       
       are to men oppressed with heat;
      
       As to a hungry stomach, wholesome meat;
      
       To thee, so welcome, and as much contenting,
      
       Thy
       
        Nobles
       
       will become, on thy repenting.
      
       Thy
       
        Priests
       
       shall preach true doctrine in thy
       
        Temples
       
       ;
      
       And make it fruitful by their good examples.
      
       Thy God, with righteousness shall them array,
      
       And hear and answer them, when they do pray.
      
       Thy eyes, that much are blinded, shall be clear;
      
       Thy ears, that yet are deafened, then shall hear;
      
       Thy tongue, that stammers now, shall then speak plain;
      
       Thy heart shall perfect understanding gain;
      
       The preaching of the
       
        Gospel
       
       shall increase;
      
       Thy God shall make thy comforts and thy peace,
      
       To flow as doth a River; they who plant,
      
       The blessing of their labor shall not want;
      
       Thy poorest people shall at full be fed;
      
       The meek, shall of no tyrant stand in dread;
      
       Thou shalt have grace and knowledge, to avoid
      
       Those things, whereby the rest, may be annoid;
      
       Thou shalt possess thy wished blessings all;
      
       And, God shall hear thee still before thou call.
      
       But, as a
       
        Chime,
       
       whose frets disordered grow,
      
       Can never cause it self in tune to go,
      
       Nor chime at all, until some cunning hand
      
       Doth make the same again in order stand:
      
       Or, as the
       
        Clock,
       
       whose plummets are not weight,
      
       Strikes sometimes one for three, and fix for eight;
      
       So fareth it with men and kingdoms all,
      
       When once from their integrity they fall.
      
       They may their
       
        motion
       
       hurry out of frame,
      
       But have no power to rectify the same.
      
       That curious hand which first those pieces wrought▪
      
       Must mend them still; or they will still be naught.
      
       To thee I therefore now my speech convert,
      
       Thou famous
       
        Artist,
       
       who Creator art
      
       Of heaven and earth, and of those goodly
       
        Sphe
        
         •
        
        res,
       
       That now have whirled many thousand years,
      
       (And shall until thy pleasure gives it ending)
      
       In their perpetual
       
        motion,
       
       without mending.
      
       Oh! be thou pleased, by thy pow'rfull hand,
      
       To set in order this depraved
       
        Land.
       
       Our whole
       
        foundation, Lord,
       
       is out of course;
      
       And everything still groweth worse and worse;
      
       The way that leads quite from thee, we have took;
      
       Thy
       
        Covenant,
       
       and all thy
       
        Laws
       
       are broke▪
      
       In mischiefs, and in folly, is our pleasure;
      
       Our crying sins have almost filled their measure;
      
       Yet, every day we add a new transgression,
      
       And still abuse thy favor and compassion.
      
       Our
       
        Governor,
       
       our
       
        Prelates,
       
       and our
       
        Nobles
       
       ▪
      
       Have by their sins increase, encreast our troubles.
      
       Our
       
        Priests,
       
       and all the
       
        People,
       
       have misgone;
      
       All kind of evil deeds, we all have done.
      
       We have not lived as those means of grace
      
       Require, which thou hast granted to this place▪
      
       But rather worse than many who have had
      
       Less helps than we, of being better made.
      
       No Nation under heaven so lewd hath been,
      
       That had so many warnings for their sin,
      
       And such perpetual
       
        callings
       
       on, as we,
      
       To leave our wickedness, and turn to thee.
      
       Yet, we instead of turning, further went;
      
       And when thy
       
        Mercies
       
       and thy
       
        Plagues
       
       were sent
      
       To pull us back; they seldom wrought our stay,
      
       Or moved to repentance one whole day.
      
       No blessing, no affliction, hath a power
      
       To move compunction in us, for one hour▪
      
       Unless thou work it. All that I can speak
      
       (And all that I have spoken) till thou break
      
       And mollify the heart, will fruitless be,
      
       Not only in my hearers, but in me.
      
       If thou prepare not way for more esteem,
      
       All these
       
        Remembrances
       
       will foolish seem.
      
       Nay these, instead of moving to repent,
      
       Will indignation move and discontent;
      
       Which will men's hardened hearts obdurate more,
      
       And make their fault much greater than before.
      
       Unless thou give a blessing, I may strive
      
       As well to make a marble stone alive,
      
       As to effect my purpose: yea, all this
      
       Like wholesome counsel to a mad man is,
      
       And, I for my good meaning shall be torn
      
       In pieces, or exposed be to scorn.
      
       For, they against thy word do stop their ear;
      
       And wild in disobedience, will not hear.
      
       In this, we all confess ourselves to blame,
      
       And that we therefore have deserved shame.
      
       Yea, Lord, we do acknowledge, that for this
      
       There nothing else to us pertaining is,
      
       (Respecting our own worth) but desolation▪
      
       And final rooting out, without compassion.
      
       But gracious God, though such our merit be,
      
       Yet, mercy still pertaineth unto thee.
      
       To thee the act of pard'ning and forgiving,
      
       As much belongs (oh Father everliving)
      
       As plagues to us: and it were better far
      
       Our sins had less than their deservings are,
      
       Then that thy Clemency should be outgone,
      
       By all the wickedness that can be done.
      
       As well as theirs whose lives now left them have,
      
       Thou canst command those bodies from the grave,
      
       Who stink, and putrefy, and buried be
      
       In their corruption. Such, oh Lord! are we.
      
       Oh! call us from this grave; and show thy power
      
       Upon this much polluted
       
        Land
       
       of our,
      
       Which is not only sick of works unholy,
      
       But almost dead and buried in her folly.
      
       Forgive us all our slips, our negligences,
      
       Our sins of knowledge, and our ignorances;
      
       Our daring wickedness; our bloody crimes;
      
       And all the faults of past and present times.
      
       Permit not thy just wrath to burn forever;
      
       In thy displeasure do not still persevere;
      
       But, call us from that pit of
       
        Death,
       
       and
       
        Sin,
       
       And from that path of Hell which we are in.
      
       Remember, that this
       
        Vineyard
       
       hath a
       
        Vine,
       
       Which had her planting by that hand of thine.
      
       Remember, when from
       
        Egypt
       
       thou remov'dst it,
      
       With what entire affection, then, thou lov'dst it.
      
       How thou didst weed and dress it heretofore;
      
       How thou didst fence it from the Forest Bore;
      
       And think how sweet a vintage then it brought,
      
       When thy first work upon her thou hadst wrought:
      
       Remember, that without thy daily care,
      
       The choicest plants, sone wild and fruitless are;
      
       And, that as long as thou dost prune and dress,
      
       The sourest
       
        Vine
       
       shall bring a sweet increase.
      
       Remember, also
       
        Lord,
       
       how still that
       
        Foe,
       
       Who first pursued us, doth seek to sow
      
       His tares among thy wheat; and to his power,
      
       Break down thy fence, and trample, and devour
      
       The seeds of grace, as soon as they do sprout;
      
       And is too strong, for us to keep him out.
      
       Oh! let not him prevail, such harm to do us,
      
       As he desires, but, Lord, return unto us.
      
       Return in mercy. Though thou find us slack
      
       To come ourselves, fetch, draw, and pull us back
      
       From our own courses, by thy grace divine,
      
       And set, and keep us, in each way of thine.
      
       We from our foes have saved been by thee;
      
       And in thy love, oh Lord ! triumphed we.
      
       But now behold, disgraced thou throw'st us by,
      
       And we before our adversaries fly.
      
       At us our neighb'ring Nations laugh and jeer,
      
       And, us they soome, whom late we made to fear.
      
       Oh God arise, reject us not for aye;
      
       No longer hide from us thy face away:
      
       But, come, oh come with speed to give us aid,
      
       And let us not be lost though we have straid.
      
       Vouchsafe that everyone in his degree,
      
       The secret errors of his life may see;
      
       And, in his lawful calling all his days,
      
       Performe his Christian duty, to thy praise.
      
       Give peace this troublous age; for, perilous
      
       The times are grown, and no man fights for us
      
       But thou oh God! nor do we seek or crave,
      
       That any other
       
        Champion
       
       we may have.
      
       Nay, give us troubles, if thy will be so,
      
       That we may have thy strength to bear them too;
      
       And in affliction thee more glorify;
      
       Then heretofore in our prosperity.
      
       For when thy countenance on us did shine,
      
       Those Lands that boasted of their corn and wine,
      
       Had not that joy which thou didst then inspire,
      
       When we were boyld and fryde, in blood and fire.
      
       Oh! give again that joy▪ although it cost us
      
       Our lives. Restore thou what our sin hath lost us▪
      
       Thy
       
        Church,
       
       in these Dominions, Lord preserve
      
       In purity: and teach us thee to serve
      
       In holiness and righteousness, until
      
       We shall the number of our days fulfill.
      
       Defend these
       
        Kingdoms
       
       from all overthrows,
      
       By foreign enemies, or home-bred foes,
      
       Our
       
        King
       
       with every grace and virtue bless,
      
       Which may thine honor and his own increase.
      
       Inflame our
       
        Nobles
       
       with more love and zeal,
      
       To thy true
       
        Spouse,
       
       and to this
       
        Common-weal.
       
       Inspire our
       
        Clergy
       
       in their several places,
      
       With knowledge, and all sanctifying graces;
      
       That by their lives and doctrines they may rear
      
       Those parts of
       
        Zion,
       
       which decayed are▪
      
       Awake this
       
        People,
       
       give them souls that may
      
       Believe thy Word, and thy commands obey.
      
       The
       
        Plagues
       
       deserved already, save them from.
      
       More watchful make them, in all times to come.
      
       For blessings past, let hearty thanks be given.
      
       For present ones, let sacrifice to heaven
      
       Be daily offered up. For what is needing
      
       (Or may be useful in the time succeeding)
      
       Let faithful prayers to thy throne be sent,
      
       With hearts and hands upright and innocent:
      
       And let all this the better furthred be,
      
       Through these
       
        Remembrances,
       
       now brought by me.
      
       For which high favor, and emboldning thus
      
       My spirit, in a time so dangerous;
      
       For choosing me, that am so despicable,
      
       To be employed in this honorable
      
       And great employment (which I more esteem,
      
       Than to be crowned with a
       
        Diadem
       
       )
      
       For thy enabling me in this
       
        Embassage
       
       ;
      
       For bringing to conclusion this my
       
        Message
       
       ;
      
       For sparing of my life, when thousands died,
      
       Before, behind me, and on every side;
      
       For saving of me many a time since then,
      
       When I had forfeited my soul agen;
      
       For all those griefs and poverties, by which
      
       I am in better things made great, and rich,
      
       Then all that wealth and honor brings man to,
      
       Wherewith the world doth keep so much ado:
      
       For all which thou to me on earth hast given;
      
       For all, which doth concern my hopes of heaven;
      
       For these, and those innumerable graces,
      
       Vouchsafed me, at sundry times, and places,
      
       (Unthought upon) unfeigned praise I render:
      
       And, for a living sacrifice, I tender
      
       To thee (oh God) my body, soul, and all,
      
       Which mine I may, by thy donation, call.
      
       Accept it blessed
       
        Maker,
       
       for his sake
      
       Who did this offering acceptable make,
      
       By giving up himself. Oh! look thou not
      
       Upon those blemishes which I have got
      
       By natural corruption; or by those
      
       Polluted acts which from that ulcer flows.
      
       According to my skill, I have enroll'd
      
       Thy
       
        Mercies
       
       ; and thy
       
        Justice
       
       I have told.
      
       I have not hid thy workings in my breast;
      
       But as I could, their power I have expressed
      
       Among our great assemblies, to declare
      
       Thy will and pleasure, loe, I do not fear:
      
       And though by Princes I am checked and blamed;
      
       To speak the truth, I am no whit ashamed.
      
       Oh! show thou, Lord, thy mercy so to me,
      
       And let thy Love and Truth, my guardians be.
      
       Forgive me all the follies of my youth;
      
       My faulty deeds; the errors of my mouth;
      
       The wanderings of my heart, and everyone
      
       Of those good works that I have left undone.
      
       Forgive me all wherein I did amiss,
      
       Since thou employd'st me in performing this:
      
       My
       
        doubtings
       
       of thy calling me unto it;
      
       My
       
        fears,
       
       which oft disheartened me to do it;
      
       My
       
        sloth,
       
       my
       
        negligences,
       
       my
       
        evasions,
       
       And my deferring it, on vain occasions,
      
       When I had vowed that no work of mine,
      
       Should take me up, till I had finished thine.
      
       Lord, pardon this; and let no future sin,
      
       Nor what already hath committed been,
      
       Profane this
       
        Work
       
       ; or cause the same to be
      
       The less effectual to this Land, or me.
      
       But to myself (oh Lord) and others, let it
      
       So moving be, that we may never forget it.
      
       Let not the evil, nor the good effect
      
       It takes, or puff me up, or me deject:
      
       Or make me think that I the better am,
      
       Because I tell how others are to blame:
      
       But, let it keep me in a Christian fear,
      
       Still humbly heedful what my actions are.
      
       Let all those
       
        observations
       
       I have had,
      
       Of others errors, be occasions made
      
       To mind me of mine own. And, lest I err,
      
       Let every man be my
       
        Remembrancer
       
       ;
      
       With so much charity, as I have sought
      
       To bring their duties more into our thought.
      
       And, if in any sin I linger long,
      
       Without repentance; Lord, let every tongue
      
       That names me, check me for it: and, to me
      
       Become, what I to others fain would be.
      
       Oh! let me not be like those busy
       
        broomes,
       
       Which having cleansed many nasty rooms,
      
       Do make themselves the fouler: but sweet
       
        Father,
       
       Let me be like the precious
       
        Diamond
       
       rather,
      
       Which doth by polishing another stone,
      
       The better shape and luster, set upon
      
       His own rough body. Let my life be such,
      
       As that man's ought to be, who knoweth much
      
       Of thy good pleasure. And, most awful God,
      
       Let none of those who spread of me abroad
      
       Unjust reports, the Devils purpose gain,
      
       By making these my warnings prove in vain
      
       To those that hear them: but let such disgraces,
      
       Reflect with shame, upon their Authors faces,
      
       Till they repent. And let their scandal serve
      
       Within my heart true
       
        meekness
       
       to preserve;
      
       And that
       
        humility,
       
       which else, perchance,
      
        Vain-glory,
       
       or some natural arrogance
      
       Might overthrow, if I should think upon
      
       (With carnal thoughts) some good my lines have done.
      
       Restraine, moreover, them who out of pride,
      
       Or ignorance, this Labor shall deride.
      
       Make them perceive, who shall prefer a story
      
       Composed for some temporal friends glory,
      
       Before those Poems which thy works declare,
      
       That vain and witless their opinions are:
      
       And, if by thee I was appointed, Lord,
      
       Thy
       
        Judgments
       
       and thy
       
        Mercies
       
       to record,
      
       (As here I do) set thou thy mark on those,
      
       Who shall despitefully the same oppose:
      
       And let it publicly be seen of all,
      
       Till of their malice they repent them shall.
      
       As I my conscience have discharged here,
      
       Without concealing ought for love, or fear;
      
       From furious men let me preserved be,
      
       And from the scorn of fools deliver me.
      
       Vouchsafe at length some comforting reflection,
      
       According to the years of my affliction.
      
       On me, for good, some
       
        token
       
       please to show,
      
       That they who see it, may thy bounty know;
      
       Rejoice, with fellow-feeling of the same,
      
       And join with me, in praising of thy
       
        Name.
       
       And lest (oh Lord!) some weak ones may despise
      
       My words, because of such necessities,
      
       As they have brought upon me, by their spite,
      
       Who to my
       
        Studies
       
       have been opposite:
      
       Oh! give me that which may sufficient be;
      
       To make them know that I have served thee.
      
       And that my labors are by thee regarded,
      
       Although they seem not outwardly rewarded.
      
       Those
       
        Honors,
       
       or that
       
        Wealth,
       
       I do not crave,
      
       Which they affect, who most endeavored have
      
       To please the
       
        World.
       
       I only ask to gain,
      
       But
       
        food
       
       and
       
        raiment,
       
       Lord, for all my pain;
      
       And that the slanders, and the poverties,
      
       Wherewith my patience thou shalt exercise,
      
       Make not these
       
        Lines,
       
       or me, become a scorn,
      
       Nor leave me to the world-ward, quite forlorn.
      
       Yet, in preferring of this humble
       
        Suit,
       
       I make not my request so absolute,
      
       As that I will capitulate, or tie
      
       To such conditions, thy dread
       
        Majesty.
       
       For, if to honor but an earthly
       
        Prince
       
       My
       
        Muse
       
       had sung; it had been impudence
      
       To prompt his bounty; or, to doubt he might
      
       Forget to do my honest Labors right.
      
       Do therefore as thou pleasest: only give
      
       Thy
       
        Servant
       
       grace contentedly to live,
      
       And, to be thankful, whatsoever shall
      
       In this my weary
       
        Pilgrimage
       
       befall.
      
       Such things thou dost command me to require,
      
       With earnest, and an absolute desire:
      
       With which I come: beseeching I may find
      
       Thy love continue, though none else be kind;
      
       That blessedness eternal I may get,
      
       Though all I lose on earth, to compass it;
      
       And that, at last, when my accompt is even,
      
       My payment may be summoned up in heaven.
      
        Lord,
       
       this will please me: call me quickly thither,
      
       And pay me there my wages all together:
      
       Not that which mine by merit seems to be;
      
       But, what by thy mere
       
        grace
       
       is due to me.
      
       FINIS.