Medice Cura teipsum.
WHilest on the Worlds brave
Theatre I looke,
And
Times and
Mans Vicissitudes bemoane;
My musing Thoughts in Error grosse I took,
That of those
bad my self not mended
one:
For
Ills one should be lesse, If I were none.
O let me rather my self Rectifie,
Then
sympathize thus in
Antipathie.
'Tis true, I lived in the Golden dayes
Vnder the
Candor of a fulgent Sphaere,
Where seldom Sun obscur'd his Brightest Raies:
If
now it shines not Radiantly so cleare,
Or that moe
Clowdes or
mistie fogges We feare:
If I, THOV, HE, return that are estranged,
We need not cry
O How the World is changed.
Estrang'd I meane from HIM that Ruleth All,
Both
Sun and Its subordinated
Starres;
Let I, THOV, HE, before Him prostrate fall,
Imploring Him
to set in tune the Jarres;
For I, THOV, HE, 'tis, all the Fabrik marres.
And I, first person of the
Three and Worse,
Purpose by
Grace Divine to change my Course.
Lament. Ierem. 5.21. ‘Turne us O Lord, and we shall be turned.’
NOw to begin my
change the surest Way,
Ile use that
forme This Prophet us'd before;
Turne me O Lord, that Wholly turne I may:
I cannot turne one foot, but
wrong goe more;
Thou must both bring me back, and in at dore.
THY SELF'S the Dore, Lord let me in by Thee▪
And give me
all that Thou Commandest me.
Some thinke they can convert and turne at pleasure,
Repentance is at hand and in ther Power:
Poore
Adams Sons, what is your weight and measure?
LORD turne Thou me,
first, second, and last houre;
If Thou holdst off, Then downe
droupe I and
lowre.
Therefore (as
Austens was) my Prayer is,
Lord
DA QVOD JVBES, JVBE then
QVODVIS.
Non est Mortale quod opto.
THen stay not there, for wishes not availe thee,
If but to mortall Glory thou aspire;
Sauns Fortitude and
Labour They will faile thee:
Immortall is ten thousand Grees yet higher,
Who aymes at that shrinks not at blood nor fier.
Clog not thy self for this lives brevitie,
But spend thy spirits for Eternitie.
Nugas Luge.
NOw mourn my cheerfull Heart, abandon mirth,
It makes my
Mind more triviall then ought.
The sapid speech that hath a pleasant birth
Sowreth by night (me thinks,) and savours nought:
That
Sweetly lasteth, which is
Sober wrought.
Gravely passe time, Thou wert not merry born:
Mourn in thy life, thou mayst not dye to mourn.
To one that asked why he oft times was so sad.
Nunquam minus tristis quam cum pertristis.
MY Fancies driv'n and snared in a Toyle,
My
Mind within as Lady Empresse sits,
But Metorlike,
They whirle and keep a coile,
And are too nimble for my swiftest wits,
Turning my calme Thoughts, into flashing fits:
My Theories doth
Sadnesse safest keep;
My
Mind works best when
Sence and
Fancie sleep.
Nor is't a
Paradox, for mark thine Eye,
Thine Eare, thine Hand, thy dainty Tast and Smelling;
How ev'ry object meeting to complie
Its proper sence, in
Fancie sets a swelling,
Right reason
Wildly to and fro dispelling,
Most in their strength is both my
Mind and wit,
When most of
Sence and
Fancies vigour quit.
Vita petit mortem repetit quia mors mihi vitam.
LIght heart, my life (more then I like) makes longer,
Nor sad hart shortens much, the strings are stronger:
Then live, but dayly dye, that so deaths hower
May be (when't comes) than sweetest life, lesse sower.
I will not digge for Death, but life so carry,
That I for Death, not Death for me shall tarry.
Faxit Deus.
Homo Microcosmus.
AM I a little World, what is my Fraught?
Pride, Folly, Lusts, Humours, and surging Broiles,
Changes, Chances, Purpose, and Project naught:
Plenty, Want, Sorrowes, Pleasures, Ease, and Toyles;
Honours, Disgrace, Conquests, Contempt, and Foiles.
Thus balast is This
little World for store,
As is the Great, though in the greatnesse more.
But Piety, Love, Wisedome, Grace, and Peace;
Sanctity, true Glory, Vertue Divine:
Fulnesse of Ioy, which needeth no increase.
High Felicities, never that Decline,
Are of the
Christall World, Are not of
mine.
LORD
Almoner of Heaven, Deale me Thy Dole,
Some pieces Heere as
Symbols of the Whole.
Periculum probat.
SOme Boast afore-hand
Confidence in God
In times of troubles, and their Great distresse,
How quietly
They will embrace His Rodde;
And beare all
Crosses stoutly do professe:
Be not to Bold, I thought my self no lesse.
So
Peter on his Courage set a
Etiam si moriar &c.
Mat. 26.35.
price,'Till
Chantecler had checkt him once or twice.
In
Calmes no
Cares, No
Trialls where no
Crosses;
Jobs messengers when
they beset thee round,
When
Storms within,
Tempests without thee
tosses.
If then in
peace Thou
manly stand'st thy Ground,
Thou giv'st some proof, thy
Faith and Hope is sound.
Lord
Awe me in my largest Liberties,
Thou maist enlarge my straightest miseries.
What i'st to know how to abound or want
Philipp. 4.11.12.
More then to be all ONE in Cases all?
In Plenty not to
full, in Need
content;
This tott'ring World gives not
That man a fall:
For as
he was
he is, and so
he shall.
For in each Change, by Christ he holdeth fast,
O Lord (though late,)
Now teach me This at last.
Vpon sad tydings.
‘Ecce me, faciat mihi pro ut bonum videtur in occulis suis.’
Sam. 2, 15.26.
BEsieg'd with Troupes of feares as with an Hoaste,
Tumults of Thoughts Irrushing on my mind:
Plagues of ill Happs posting from ev'ry Coast;
Like blustring Storms, more comming, more behind.
And when no End, nor hope of End I find:
I say as
He who in the like Case stood,
LORD Here I am, Doe with me what think'st good.
Video meliora probo
(que), Deteriora sequor.
DImme-sighted man Canst see and not avoide?
Cloze up those eyes that lead thy foot awry;
Those Carnall
Sights leave not till all be stroyde,
And in their Roome get one
Spirituall Eye;
One
Single Heart, which may with
it Complie.
Then look thine
Heart keep clean, and clear thy sight,
So shalt thou
see, approve, and
follow Right.
‘Remember me my GOD for This, ’
Nehemiah 13.22.
MY GOD saith
Nehemie Remember me:
I dare not call GOD (
mine) my Soules's afraid,
Yet I have found GOD Good in my degree;
As largely Good as
he that (My GOD) sayd,
Why then to cry My GOD am I dysmaid?
I cannot say Remember me for
This,
That
This makes odde between my Case and
His.
Josua 14.15, in versus calce.
Iosue Protesteth he would serve the LORD,
Though none else would, yet
He and
His alone:
Exhorteth All in generall accord;
He with the first Cont endeth to be one,
And in GODS Courts will
Second be to none,
Place of precedence in
Iosues Condition,
Strive for in GODS Name,
'Tis a safe Ambition.
The love of GOD to Man.
MAn more then
Angels Thou didst love O LORD,
Thou talk'st with
him when he did disobey:
Thou threwst
Them downe, vouchsafst
Them not a Word,
But chain'd
Them up untill the Iudgement day.
The
Man Thou chid'st, but sav'dst another way.
O Depth of Mercy to this Man of Dust,
When to those Angells Thou wert onely Iust.
O GOD what's Man, whom Thou didst so Regard?
Thou mad'st Him twice (
as't were) to make him sure,
Renewd'st Thine Image He so fowly mar'de:
Stampt in
Thy self that so It mought endure,
Wert Man
Thy self that Manhood mought be pure.
Thus GOD the Man sets full at Libertie,
Steps in his stead, And is his
Suerty.
O Second person in the Trinity,
Lord Jesus Christ, the Horn of our Salvation;
That wroughst in Man by
Theoanthropie,
More Integrall then at his first Creation:
Keep me within the Tower of that Station.
Then stronger mine shalbe then
Adams Case,
For He stood by himself,
I stand by Grace.
Deo Gloria.
Tremor Cordis.
THine Holinesse, O GOD, I apprehending,
And Iustice so Exact for least Transgression:
How Thou from Heav'n threw'st Angels down offending.
And cast out Man from Paradise his Session,
O then my Soule comes trembling to Confession.
I am a
Lump of Sinne, not one spot free,
All over sinfull, what becomes of me.
Recording then Thy self becam'st a man,
And wer't made Sinne for Mans sinnes Expiation;
Didst die for Sinne in Sinners Roome: O than
'Gainst
Devil and
Hell I get Refocillation.
And calling
Faith to this high Admiration,
Beleeve GOD made Himself a Man to Dye
For Greatest Sinners, Sinners such as I.
Spiritus, ubi vult spirat.
WHat's Spirit Spirit is, what's Flesh is Flesh,
Thou Breathest where thou please,
O Holy Breath.
GOD breathed Life at first, Breath
Thou afresh:
Else all Life long I do but live in Death.
So is all Life, (but what's from The) Beneath.
Draw me O GOD to CHRIST, O Draw me still,
Me-thinks I come like one against his Will.
‘Etiam Pater, quia Tibi ita placuit, ’
Math. 11.26, et
Luke 10.21.
EV'n so O Father, for it
pleas'd Thee so,
The Sonne of GOD on GODS own
Will doth rest:
The Sonnes of Men will farder Reasons know,
As though GODS
Will of Reasons were not Best;
Cause of first
Cause Thou seek'st to have exprest.
For still thou sayst There's Reason of that
Will,
Be't so: But farre beyond thy Reach and Skill.
Luke 21.19. ‘Possesse your Soules in Patience.’
THy Soule in Patience labour to possesse,
The LORD His own Disciples Counsail'd so.
This fluctuant World is busie more ore lesse
By
change or
chance to machinat thy woe;
Tumbling thy best Endeavours to and fro.
To Patience then Lay
Anchor in Her
Roade,
Then Let thy
Ship float where it will abroad.
O Sonne of GOD that wer't the Sonne of man,
Poorest of All, Yet Lord of Allwert borne,
First laid in Cratch, so basely life began;
Hunted by
Herod, felt the Scourge and scorn,
Thy
shoulders bare the Crosse, Thy
Head the Thorn.
O CHRIST (whose patience did more encrease:
In most Extremes,)
Binde me unto Thy Peace.
‘I will shew mercy, on whom J will shew mercy. ’ Exod. 33.19.
THou wilt shew mercy, Lord, on whom thou wilt.
Remember me then in Thy mercies
Will,
And though most Monstrous be my Sin and guilt
My Pardon shall with Glory, mercy fill,
Mong'st Those Thou pardon'st, Lord, then me imbill
To put my name into Thy Mercy-rolles
Above the third Heavens Mercy it extolls.
IVstice as Great as
Mercy is. How than?
Thy Iustice, LORD, Thy
Sonne hath fully paid;
(GOD answers GOD, No man nor Angel can)
And in His
Blood hath all my Score defraid
And doth
quite claime what can by Law be laid.
Then Thou O GOD maist seale my Pardon sure,
Iustice and
Mercy Both kept Even and pure.
‘Come unto me All ye that are laden, And I will refresh you, ’
Math. 11.28.
LAden (O LORD) laden I am with Sinne,
The heaviest Weight that ever Earth did beare:
Crusht down without, contunded more within;
Nothing but
Wrath and
Horrour doth appeare;
My trembling Soule in shivers shakes for feare.
I come to
Thee, thus laden (LORD) thus broken,
Ease me, as in Thy Gospell Thou hast spoken.
Luke 10.34.
O deere
Samaritane Binde up my Wounds,
My Soules Soare runneth like a Rotten Boile:
In
Thee such Vertue and such Grace abounds,
As Thou canst heale me with a Drop of Oile,
Poure it into me and my Soule assoile.
Thy Blood's the Oyle, LORD Bathe me in that Vnction,
And wash me cleane *
Heb. 9, 14.15, & 10, 12.14.
It is Thy Blessed function‘How unsearchable are the Judgemens of GOD, and His Wayes past finding out, .’ Romanes 11.33
GOD drowns the World, yet spareth
Noe and
his,
Esau He hates, But Iacob dearely loveth:
Who dares find fault or Reason aske of
this?
If He rejecteth
me and
thee approveth;
Ile silence keepe, for so it me behooveth.
Submit thy self to GODS own Sacred Will,
Not medling, Why He sends
here Good
there Ill.
And (for no Angell dares make Indagation
Into GODS
Arke, where His close Counsailes lye:)
Get thou a Copy of thine own Salvation.
Why others shall not study not to prie,
GOD can and Will His own Wayes Iustifie.
What thou must learn is wrot in GODS own
Story,
What is conceal'd, is seal'd up to
his Glory.
I nothing LORD deserve but
wrath and
Ire,
(Let not my
Humblings make me worse to fare:)
Most Iust of all must
Mercy needs Require,
And
Me most vile, if Thou beest pleas'd to spare?
What's He that murmer 'gainst that
Mercy dare.
Quit me O CHRIST, no more but speak the Word,
For of thy Mercies
Thou Thy Self art LORD.
His Soules phancie.
IF that my Catyffe
Soule did walk on Ground,
And visibly were from the body known;
Which GOD at first Infus'd so purely Sound:
Now by my flesh so vild and loathsome grown,
My
Phancy is, GOD could not know his own.
Expurge (O CHRIST) my Soules fowle
Inquination,
Then GOD againe will know
His owne Creation.
His Soules comfort,
Math. 18.21, & Luke 17.4.
NOt seav'n, but seav'nty seav'n times
Peter shall
Forgive his Brother by
His Masters Will;
And if seav'n times a day
he sinnes, and call
Seav'n times for pardon,
he must pardon still.
When all Hopes flag▪
This Hope (LORD) mounts the Hill.
Thou wilt forgive as oft, and much more too,
Then what Thou bidst Thy Servant Peter
doe.
His Soules Rest. Deus Tranquillus tranquillat omnia.
IF Thou bee'st pleas'd O GOD to be at peace,
With Thy poore Creature, in Thy Blessed Sonne;
Then shall my Faintings, Doubts, and Terrors cease,
And Combat with that
Horrid Hoast be done,
And towards Heav'n my Soule walk safely on.
Speak peace then LORD, and Resecat by Grace,
My fleshly fetters that Implex my pace.
‘Or despisest thou the Riches of His Mercy that leadeth thee to Repentance, .’ Rom. 2.4
☞WHo not observes how by
Sweet Mercies side
Iustice close standeth, gyrded with its Sword;
May sodenly into
Presumption slide:
Daunger of Daungers all, to be abhor'd;
As which
Indulgence, to all Sinnes affor'd.
Mercy
Right weigh'd, Repentance doth begin;
Not
Right, a
Torrent opens unto Sinne.
Not to Repent, and
Mercy to despice,
Seemes by this Text to Me, to goe as
One:
If
Mercy doth from
True Repentance rise,
Where no
Repentance, Mercy can be none:
Those
wofull Privatives goe not alone.
Who
Mercy seekes, and
Paenitence exclude,
Plainly Himself, And
would his GOD delude,
Repentance seemes in
Order first in place,
Mercy in
Nature doth praecede before:
LORD, Both
at once flow freely from
Thy Grace;
And Both
at once, my Soule on knees Implore,
Repentance
That, Repentance neede no more,
And Mercy
That, I so converted be,
Luke 15.7.
In Heaven The Angels may Rejoyce for me.Lent.
☞ IF all the sinnes, all Sinners, did Confesse,
Were to mine Eares (
to lessen mine) propounded;
As much in
weight, And not in
number lesse▪
Confesse I must, though therefore were Confounded;
Yea (LORD) sins I know not,
Thou knowst'd abounded.
Not one as I, his dayes have so mispent:
Confession must begin first part of
Lent.
Now, could I sterve my
lusts so proud within,
Barre
Adams out, And CHRIST my LORD retayne;
Worlds Courses leave, and
Hav'n on
Earth begin:
Temperance unto my Profession chayne,
For my
Soules Health Surfets in
Sinne, restraine.
Through
Faith in pure
Conscience, Repent;
Then acted is the second part of
Lent.
THe least of
these (LORD) is not in my power,
Onely from
Grace proceed both Will and action:
I can Confesse, cannot amend an hower;
Begin perhaps, assoone begun, a Fraction:
Soule and Soules faculties,
all, in distraction.
LORD, what I ought to do, and what's not done,
Set it on
him did
Do for me,
thy Sonne.
H. W.
Aetatis sua 76, 1626.
Jud. 14.
‘Ecce venit Dominus.
&c.’ Behold the Lord cometh with ten Thousand of His Saints to Judgement.
THat Heav'nly CHOIRE ô Christ that at thy
Birth
Did sing (
aloft,) Glory to God on Hie,
Mercy and Peace
(Below) to men on Earth;
Shall at thy
second coming change their Cry,
Sounding with Trumpet
Judgement through the skye.
And shake as with a mighty Rush of Thunder,
Foudations of the VNIVERSE, a sunder.
Lord, All Thou do'st is
just, and
Just is Good,
Thine Agents, Angels are Caelestiall:
Though Wicked
Ones may murmur in their Mood,
And
Cruelty Thy pure
Justice Call,
Imprecating
Mountaines on them to fall;
For what Eye can in Thy Great day of
Doome
Behold that MAIESTY wherein Thou Come?
Or what strong Words can
Blazon Thine
Assize?
Act. 2.19, 20.
The
Starres shall fall, the
Heav'ns shall melt away,All
Living must stand forth, All
Dead must rise;
The
Sunne grow dark,
Moone turn to
blood that day:
Fire, vapours, Smoake, All over
feare and fray.
Yet (Lord) in all this
Horrour, Flame and
Dread,
Thou Bid'st Th'ELECT to lift up
then their Head.
The
HOMOLOGIE.
POore is my knowledge, But I
Aym'd to know,
My
Realls are yet lesser then mine Art:
The
Theorie Infatuats me so,
I playd the
Trevant in the
practique part,
O Lord forgive, And Innovate mine Heart
To know, and
know to doe, and not to looke,
To be sav'd so, as
Felons by their
Booke.
Absit.
Mary Magdalen, Luke 7.38. ad finem usque.
IN
Magdalens Heart there a
Limbeck was,
Distil'd her Sinnes into a flood of Teares;
Which got her Pardon in such Termes to passe
As her LORDS
Mercies in the FULL appeares,
To comfort all poore Sinners Hearts and Eares:
His feet Shee washt in Paenitentiall water,
Her Memory is blest for ever after.
My stony Heart no Teares can melt nor bruise,
O Thou That out of Stones canst Children raise
To Abraham, Thy
Souppling Grace Infuse
Into my
Soule, I may my latter Dayes
(THOSE PAST O PERDON) treade in
straighter wayes:
So may with MARY
whole on CHRIST Repose,
And with those Words these papers up I cloze.
FINIS.