FATHER of Heaven, and him, by whom

It, and us for it, and all else, for us

Thou madest, and govern'st ever, come

And re-create mee, now growne ruinous:

  5My heart is by dejection, clay,

And by selfe-murder, red.

From this red earth, O Father, purge away

All vicious tinctures, that new fashioned

I may rise up from death, before I'am dead.

10O Sonne of God, who seeing two things,

Sinne, and death crept in, which were never made,

By bearing one, tryed'st with what stings

The other could thine heritage invade;

O be thou nail'd unto my heart,

15And crucified againe,

Part not from it, though it from thee would part,

But let it be, by applying so thy paine,

Drown'd in thy blood, and in thy passion slaine.

O Holy Ghost, whose temple I

20Am, but of mudde walls, and condensed dust,

And being sacrilegiously

Halfe wasted with youths fires, of pride and lust,

Must with new stormes be weatherbeat;

Double in my heart thy flame,

25Which let devout sad teares intend; and let

(Though this glasse lanthorne, flesh, do suffer maime)

Fire, Sacrifice, Priest, Altar be the same.

O Blessed glorious Trinity,

Bones to Philosophy, but milke to faith,

30Which, as wise serpents, diversly

Most slipperinesse, yet most entanglings hath,

As you distinguish'd undistinct

By power, love, knowledge bee,

Give mee a such selfe different instinct

35Of these; let all mee elemented bee,

Of power, to love, to know, you unnumbred three.

For that faire blessed Mother-maid,

Whose flesh redeem'd us; That she-Cherubin,

Which unlock'd Paradise, and made

40One claime for innocence, and disseiz'd sinne,

Whose wombe was a strange heav'n, for there

God cloath'd himselfe, and grew,

Our zealous thankes wee poure. As her deeds were

Our helpes, so are her prayers; nor can she sue

45In vaine, who hath such titles unto you.

And since this life our nonage is,

And wee in Wardship to thine Angels be,

Native in heavens faire Palaces,

Where we shall be but denizen'd by thee,

50As th'earth conceiving by the Sunne,

Yeelds faire diversitie,

Yet never knowes which course that light doth run,

So let mee study, that mine actions bee

Worthy their sight, though blinde in how they see.

55And let thy Patriarches Desire

(Those great Grandfathers of thy Church, which saw

More in the cloud, then wee in fire,

Whom Nature clear'd more, then us Grace and Law,

And now in Heaven still pray, that wee

60May use our new helpes right,)

Be satisfy'd, and fructifie in mee;

Let not my minde be blinder by more light

Nor Faith, by Reason added, lose her sight.

Thy Eagle-sighted Prophets too,

65Which were thy Churches Organs, and did sound

That harmony, which made of two

One law, and did unite, but not confound;

Those heavenly Poëts which did see

Thy will, and it expresse

70In rythmique feet, in common pray for mee,

That I by them excuse not my excesse

In seeking secrets, or Poëtiquenesse.

And thy illustrious Zodiacke

Of twelve Apostles, which ingirt this All,

75(From whom whosoever do not take

Their light, to darke deep pits, throw downe, and fall,)

As through their prayers, thou'hast let mee know

That their bookes are divine;

May they pray still, and be heard, that I goe

80Th'old broad way in applying; O decline

Mee, when my comment would make thy word mine.

And since thou so desirously

Did'st long to die, that long before thou could'st,

And long since thou no more couldst dye,

85Thou in thy scatter'd mystique body wouldst

In Abel dye, and ever since

In thine; let their blood come

To begge for us, a discreet patience

Of death, or of worse life: for Oh, to some

90Not to be Martyrs, is a martyrdome.

Therefore with thee triumpheth there

A Virgin Squadron of white Confessors,

Whose bloods betroth'd, not marryed were,

Tender'd, not taken by those Ravishers:

95They know, and pray, that wee may know,

In every Christian

Hourly tempestuous persecutions grow;

Tentations martyr us alive; A man

Is to himselfe a Dioclesian.

100The cold white snowie Nunnery,

Which, as thy mother, their high Abbesse, sent

Their bodies backe againe to thee,

As thou hadst lent them, cleane and innocent,

Though they have not obtain'd of thee,

105That or thy Church, or I,

Should keep, as they, our first integrity;

Divorce thou sinne in us, or bid it die,

And call chast widowhead Virginitie.

Thy sacred Academic above

110Of Doctors, whose paines have unclasp'd, and taught

Both bookes of life to us (for love

To know thy Scriptures tells us, we are wrote

In thy other booke) pray for us there

That what they have misdone

115Or mis-said, wee to that may not adhere;

Their zeale may be our sinne. Lord let us runne

Meane waies, and call them stars, but not the Sunne.

And whil'st this universall Quire,

That Church in triumph, this in warfare here,

120Warm'd with one all-partaking fire

Of love, that none be lost, which cost thee deare,

Prayes ceaslesly,'and thou hearken too,

(Since to be gratious

Our taske is treble, to pray, beare, and doe)

125Heare this prayer Lord: O Lord deliver us

From trusting in those prayers, though powr'd out thus.

From being anxious, or secure,

Dead clods of sadnesse, or light squibs of mirth,

From thinking, that great courts immure

130All, or no happinesse, or that this earth

Is only for our prison fram'd,

Or that thou art covetous

To them whom thou lovest, or that they are maim'd

From reaching this worlds sweet, who seek thee thus,

135With all their might, Good Lord deliver us.

From needing danger, to bee good,

From owing thee yesterdaies teares to day,

From trusting so much to thy blood,

That in that hope, wee wound our soule away,

140From bribing thee with Almes, to excuse

Some sinne more burdenous,

From light affecting, in religion, newes,

From thinking us all soule, neglecting thus

Our mutuall duties, Lord deliver us.

145From tempting Satan to tempt us,

By our connivence, or slack companie,

From measuring ill by vitious,

Neglecting to choake sins spawne, Vanitie,

From indiscreet humilitie,

150Which might be scandalous,

And cast reproach on Christianitie,

From being spies, or to spies pervious,

From thirst, or scorne of fame, deliver us.

Deliver us for thy descent

155Into the Virgin, whose wombe was a place

Of middle kind; and thou being sent

To'ungratious us, staid'st at her full of grace;

And through thy poore birth, where first thou

Glorifiedst Povertie,

160And yet soone after riches didst allow,

By accepting Kings gifts in the Epiphanie,

Deliver, and make us, to both waies free.

And through that bitter agonie,

Which is still the agonie of pious wits,

165Disputing what distorted thee,

And interrupted evennesse, with fits;

And through thy free confession

Though thereby they were then

Made blind, so that thou might'st from them have gone,

170Good Lord deliver us, and teach us when

Wee may not, and we may blinde unjust men.

Through thy submitting all, to blowes

Thy face, thy clothes to spoile; thy fame to scorne,

All waies, which rage, or Justice knowes,

175And by which thou could'st shew, that thou wast born;

And through thy gallant humblenesse

Which thou in death did'st shew,

Dying before thy soule they could expresse,

Deliver us from death, by dying so,

180To this world, ere this world doe bid us goe.

When senses, which thy souldiers are,

Wee arme against thee, and they fight for sinne,

When want, sent but to tame, doth warre

And worke despaire a breach to enter in,

185When plenty, Gods image, and seale

Makes us Idolatrous,

And love it, not him, whom it should reveale,

When wee are mov'd to seeme religious

Only to vent wit, Lord deliver us.

190In Churches, when the'infirmitie

Of him which speakes, diminishes the Word,

When Magistrates doe mis-apply

To us, as we judge, lay or ghostly sword,

When plague, which is thine Angell, raignes,

195Or wars, thy Champions, swaie,

When Heresie, thy second deluge, gaines;

In th'houre of death, the'Eve of last judgement day,

Deliver us from the sinister way.

Heare us, O heare us Lord; to thee

200A sinner is more musique, when he prayes,

Then spheares, or Angels praises bee,

In Panegyrique Allelujaes;

Heare us, for till thou heare us, Lord

We know not what to say;

205Thine eare to'our sighes, teares, thoughts gives voice and word.

O Thou who Satan heard'st in Jobs sicke day,

Heare thy selfe now, for thou in us dost pray.

That wee may change to evennesse

This intermitting aguish Pietie;

210That snatching cramps of wickednesse

And Apoplexies of fast sin, may die;

That musique of thy promises,

Not threats in Thunder may

Awaken us to our just offices;

215What in thy booke, thou dost, or creatures say,

That we may heare, Lord heare us, when wee pray.

That our eares sicknesse wee may cure,

And rectifie those Labyrinths aright,

That wee, by harkning, not procure

220Our praise, nor others dispraise so invite,

That wee get not a slipperinesse

And senslesly decline,

From hearing bold wits jeast at Kings excesse,

To'admit the like of majestie divine,

225That we may locke our eares, Lord open thine.

That living law, the Magistrate,

Which to give us, and make us physicke, doth

Our vices often aggravate,

That Preachers taxing sinne, before her growth,

230That Satan, and invenom'd men

Which well, if we starve, dine,

When they doe most accuse us, may see then

Us, to amendment, heare them; thee decline:

That we may open our eares, Lord lock thine.

235That learning, thine Ambassador,

From thine allegeance wee never tempt,

That beauty, paradises flower

For physicke made, from poyson be exempt,

That wit, borne apt high good to doe,

240By dwelling lazily

On Natures nothing, be not nothing too,

That our affections kill us not, nor dye,

Heare us, weake ecchoes, O thou eare, and cry.

Sonne of God heare us, and since thou

245By taking our blood, owest it us againe,

Gaine to thy self, or us allow;

And let not both us and thy selfe be slaine;

O Lambe of God, which took'st our sinne

Which could not stick to thee,

250O let it not returne to us againe,

But Patient and Physition being free,

As sinne is nothing, let it no where be.

Two that make one Iohn Baptists holy voyce,

And who that Psalme, Now let the Iles rejoyce,

Have both translated, and apply'd it too,

20Both told us what, and taught us how to doe.

They shew us Ilanders our joy, our King,

They tell us why, and teach us how to sing;

Make all this All, three Quires, heaven, earth, and sphears;

The first, Heaven, hath a song, but no man heares,

25The Spheares have Musick, but they have no tongue,

Their harmony is rather danc'd than sung;

But our third Quire, to which the first gives eare,

(For, Angels learne by what the Church does here)

This Quire hath all. The Organist is hee

30Who hath tun'd God and Man, the Organ we:

The songs are these, which heavens high holy Muse

Whisper'd to David, David to the Iewes:

And Davids Successors, in holy zeale,

In formes of joy and art doe re-reveale

35To us so sweetly and sincerely too,

That I must not rejoyce as I would doe

When I behold that these Psalmes are become

So well attyr'd abroad, so ill at home,

So well in Chambers, in thy Church so ill,

40As I can scarce call that reform'd untill

This be reform'd; Would a whole State present

A lesser gift than some one man hath sent?

And shall our Church, unto our Spouse and King

More hoarse, more harm than any other, sing?

45For that we pray, we praise thy name for this,

Which, by this Moses and this Miriam, is

Already done; and as those Psalmes we call

(Though some have other Authors) Davids all:

So though some have, some may some Psalmes translate,

50We thy Sydnean Psalmes shall celebrate,

And, till we come th'Extemporall song to sing,

(Learn'd the first hower, that we see the King,

Who hath translated those translators) may

These their sweet learned labours, all the way

55Be as our tuning; that, when hence we part,

We may fall in with them, and sing our part.

THOU, whose diviner soule hath caus'd thee now

To put thy hand unto the holy Plough,

Making Lay-scornings of the Ministry,

Not an impediment, but victory;

  5What bringst thou home with thee? how is thy mind

Affected since the vintage? Dost thou finde

New thoughts and stirrings in thee? and as Steele

Toucht with a Loadstone, dost new motions feele?

Or, as a Ship after much paine and care,

10For Iron and Cloth brings home rich Indian ware,

Hast thou thus traffiqu'd, but with farre more gaine

Of noble goods, and with lesse time and paine?

Thou art the same materials, as before,

Onely the stampe is changed; but no more.

15And as new crowned Kings alter the face,

But not the monies substance; so hath grace

Chang'd onely Gods old Image by Creation,

To Christs new stampe, at this thy Coronation;

Or, as we paint Angels with wings, because

20They beare Gods message, and proclaime his lawes,

Since thou must doe the like, and so must move,

Art thou new feather'd with cœlestiall love?

Deare, tell me where thy purchase lies, and shew

What thy advantage is above, below.

25But if thy gainings doe surmount expression,

Why doth the foolish world scorne that profession,

Whose joyes passe speech? Why do they think unfit

That Gentry should joyne families with it?

As if their day were onely to be spent

30In dressing, Mistressing and complement;

Alas poore joyes, but poorer men, whose trust

Seemes richly placed in sublimed dust;

(For, such are cloathes and beauty, which though gay,

Are, at the best, but of sublimed clay.)

35Let then the world thy calling disrespect,

But goe thou on, and pitty their neglect.

What function is so noble, as to bee

Embassadour to God and destinie?

To open life, to give kingdomes to more

40Than Kings give dignities; to keepe heavens doore?

Maries prerogative was to beare Christ, so

'Tis preachers to convey him, for they doe

As Angels out of clouds, from Pulpits speake;

And blesse the poore beneath, the lame, the weake.

45If then th'Astronomers, whereas they spie

A new-found Starre, their Opticks magnifie,

How brave are those, who with their Engine, can

Bring man to heaven, and heaven againe to man?

These are thy titles and preheminences,

50In whom must meet Gods graces, mens offences,

And so the heavens which beget all things here,

And the earth our mother, which these things doth beare,

Both these in thee, are in thy Calling knit,

And make thee now a blest Hermaphrodite.

I sacrifice this Iland unto thee,

10And all whom I lov'd there, and who lov'd mee;

When I have put our seas twixt them and mee,

Put thou thy sea betwixt my sinnes and thee.

As the trees sap doth seeke the root below

In winter, in my winter now I goe,

15Where none but thee, th'Eternall root

Of true Love I may know.

Nor thou nor thy religion dost controule,

The amorousnesse of an harmonious Soule,

But thou would'st have that love thy selfe: As thou

20Art jealous, Lord, so I am jealous now,

Thou lov'st not, till from loving more, thou free

My soule: Who ever gives, takes libertie:

O, if thou car'st not whom I love

Alas, thou lov'st not mee.

25Seale then this bill of my Divorce to All,

On whom those fainter beames of love did fall;

Marry those loves, which in youth scattered bee

On Fame, Wit, Hopes (false mistresses) to thee.

Churches are best for Prayer, that have least light:

30To see God only, I goe out of sight:

And to scape stormy dayes, I chuse

An Everlasting night.

1  HOW sits this citie, late most populous,

Thus solitary, and like a widdow thus!

Amplest of Nations, Queene of Provinces

She was, who now thus tributary is!

  52   Still in the night shee weepes, and her teares fall

Downe by her cheekes along, and none of all

Her lovers comfort her; Perfidiously

Her friends have dealt, and now are enemie.

3   Unto great bondage, and afflictions

10Juda is captive led; Those nations

With whom shee dwells, no place of rest afford,

In streights shee meets her Persecutors sword.

4   Emptie are the gates of Sion, and her waies

Mourne, because none come to her solemne dayes.

15Her Priests doe groane, her maides are comfortlesse,

And shee's unto her selfe a bitternesse.

5   Her foes are growne her head, and live at Peace,

Because when her transgressions did increase,

The Lord strooke her with sadnesse: Th'enemie

20Doth drive her children to captivitie.

6   From Sions daughter is all beauty gone,

Like Harts, which seeke for Pasture, and find none,

Her Princes are, and now before the foe

Which still pursues them, without strength they go.

257   Now in her daies of Teares, Jerusalem

(Her men slaine by the foe, none succouring them)

Remembers what of old, shee esteemed most,

Whilest her foes laugh at her, for what she hath lost.

8   Jerusalem hath sinn'd, therefore is shee

30Remov'd, as women in uncleannesse bee;

Who honor'd, scorne her, for her foulnesse they

Have seene; her selfe doth groane, and turne away.

9   Her foulnesse in her skirts was seene, yet she

Remembred not her end; Miraculously

35Therefore shee fell, none comforting: Behold

O Lord my affliction, for the Foe growes bold.

10   Upon all things where her delight hath beene,

The foe hath stretch'd his hand, for shee hath seene

Heathen, whom thou command'st, should not doe so,

40Into her holy Sanctuary goe.

11   And all her people groane, and seeke for bread;

And they have given, only to be fed,

All precious things, wherein their pleasure lay:

How cheape I'am growne, O Lord, behold, and weigh.

4512   All this concernes not you, who passe by mee,

O see, and marke if any sorrow bee

Like to my sorrow, which Jehova hath

Done to mee in the day of his fierce wrath?

13   That fire, which by himselfe is governed

50He hath cast from heaven on my bones, and spred

A net before my feet, and mee o'rthrowne,

And made me languish all the day alone.

14   His hand hath of my sinnes framed a yoake

Which wreath'd, and cast upon my neck, hath broke

55My strength. The Lord unto those enemies

Hath given mee, from whom I cannot rise.

15   He under foot hath troden in my sight

My strong men; He did company invite

To breake my young men; he the winepresse hath

60Trod upon Juda's daughter in his wrath.

16   For these things doe I weepe, mine eye, mine eye

Casts water out; For he which should be nigh

To comfort mee, is now departed farre;

The foe prevailes, forlorne my children are.

6517   There's none, though Sion do stretch out her hand,

To comfort her, it is the Lords command

That Iacobs foes girt him. Ierusalem

Is as an uncleane woman amongst them.

18   But yet the Lord is just, and righteous still,

70I have rebell'd against his holy will;

O heare all people, and my sorrow see,

My maides, my young men in captivitie.

19   I called for my lovers then, but they

Deceiv'd mee, and my Priests, and Elders lay

75Dead in the citie; for they sought for meat

Which should refresh their soules, they could not get.

20   Because I am in streights, Iehova see

My heart o'rturn'd, my bowells muddy bee,

Because I have rebell'd so much, as fast

80The sword without, as death within, doth wast.

21   Of all which heare I mourne, none comforts mee,

My foes have heard my griefe, and glad they be,

That thou hast done it; But thy promis'd day

Will come, when, as I suffer, so shall they.

8522   Let all their wickednesse appeare to thee,

Doe unto them, as thou hast done to mee,

For all my sinnes: The sighs which I have had

Are very many, and my heart is sad.

1  HOW over Sions daughter hath God hung

90His wraths thicke cloud! and from heaven hath flung

To earth the beauty of Israel, and hath

Forgot his foot-stoole in the day of wrath!

2   The Lord unsparingly hath swallowed

All Jacobs dwellings, and demolished

95To ground the strengths of Iuda, and prophan'd

The Princes of the Kingdome, and the land.

3   In heat of wrath, the horne of Israel hee

Hath cleane cut off, and lest the enemie

Be hindred, his right hand he doth retire,

100But is towards Iacob, All-devouring fire.

4   Like to an enemie he bent his bow,

His right hand was in posture of a foe,

To kill what Sions daughter did desire,

'Gainst whom his wrath, he poured forth, like fire.

1055   For like an enemie Iehova is,

Devouring Israel, and his Palaces,

Destroying holds, giving additions

To Iuda's daughters lamentations.

6   Like to a garden hedge he hath cast downe

110The place where was his congregation,

And Sions feasts and sabbaths are forgot;

Her King, her Priest, his wrath regardeth not.

7   The Lord forsakes his Altar, and detests

His Sanctuary, and in the foes hand rests

115His Palace, and the walls, in which their cries

Are heard, as in the true solemnities.

8   The Lord hath cast a line, so to confound

And levell Sions walls unto the ground;

He drawes not back his hand, which doth oreturne

120The wall, and Rampart, which together mourne.

9   Their gates are sunke into the ground, and hee

Hath broke the barres; their King and Princes bee

Amongst the heathen, without law, nor there

Unto their Prophets doth the Lord appeare.

12510   There Sions Elders on the ground are plac'd,

And silence keepe; Dust on their heads they cast,

In sackcloth have they girt themselves, and low

The Virgins towards ground, their heads do throw.

11   My bowells are growne muddy, and mine eyes

130Are faint with weeping: and my liver lies

Pour'd out upon the ground, for miserie

That sucking children in the streets doe die.

12   When they had cryed unto their Mothers, where

Shall we have bread, and drinke? they fainted there,

135And in the streets like wounded persons lay

Till 'twixt their mothers breasts they went away.

13   Daughter Ierusalem, Oh what may bee

A witnesse, or comparison for thee?

Sion, to ease thee, what shall I name like thee?

140Thy breach is like the sea, what help can bee?

14   For thee vaine foolish things thy Prophets sought,

Thee, thine iniquities they have not taught,

Which might disturne thy bondage: but for thee

False burthens, and false causes they would see.

14515   The passengers doe clap their hands, and hisse,

And wag their head at thee, and say, Is this

That citie, which so many men did call

Joy of the earth, and perfectest of all?

16   Thy foes doe gape upon thee, and they hisse,

150And gnash their teeth, and say, Devoure wee this,

For this is certainly the day which wee

Expected, and which now we finde, and see.

17   The Lord hath done that which he purposed,

Fulfill'd his word of old determined;

155He hath throwne downe, and not spar'd, and thy foe

Made glad above thee, and advanc'd him so.

18   But now, their hearts against the Lord do call,

Therefore, O walls of Sion, let teares fall

Downe like a river, day and night; take thee

160No rest, but let thine eye incessant be.

19   Arise, cry in the night, poure, for thy sinnes,

Thy heart, like water, when the watch begins;

Lift up thy hands to God, lest children dye,

Which, faint for hunger, in the streets doe lye.

16520   Behold O Lord, consider unto whom

Thou hast done this; what, shall the women come

To eate their children of a spanne? shall thy

Prophet and Priest be slaine in Sanctuary?

21   On ground in streets, the yong and old do lye,

170My virgins and yong men by sword do dye;

Them in the day of thy wrath thou hast slaine,

Nothing did thee from killing them containe.

22   As to a solemne feast, all whom I fear'd

Thou call'st about mee; when his wrath appear'd,

175None did remaine or scape, for those which I

Brought up, did perish by mine enemie.