The PASSION of our SAVIOUR.
A PINDARICK ODE on the Suffering GOD. In Imitation of RAPINS CHRISTUS Patiens.
By Francis Bragge Gent.
Engra [...] [...] and sold by John S [...] in Golden Lion Court in Aldersgate [...]
WHAT Dark and
Dismal shade is this?
What
Gloomy Sadness spreading o'er the Skies?
What Black and Melancholy Vail,
Which Covers Mourning Natures Face?
Why has th'Affrighted Sun forsook his Place?
And why the Universe so Pale?
Why does the Trembling Moon turn back her Weeping Eyes?
Sure there was never cause of grief
like this!
The Sun beheld the DEITY,
Beheld his
Maker Hanging on a Tree.
He saw—and started back—and hid his Face,
Asham'd to shew his own
Created Rays,
When once he'd seen the
Source of Light,
Th'
Eternal GOD, involv'd in
Night.
II.
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But where should I begin? where should I end?
This
Sad, if there was
ever sad Complaint?
Shall I relate his Flesh with Scourges
[...]orn,
And how he bore the Pain, and how he bore y
e Scorn?
Or what is stranger yet that
Man could dare,
To pierce the
GOD of
Nature with a Spear?
Shall I tell how the
Softer Rock,
When cover'd ore
With Heav'nly Gore:
Unable to sustain the shock
Of so Impetuous and so just a Grief,
Burst—and its Stony Heart did into pieces cleave?
Or JESUS shall I tell thy Bloody Sweat,
When on the Flow'ry top of
Olivet,
Thou saw'st approaching near
The Dreadfull Hour,
How exquisite thy Pangs, how earnest was thy Prayer!
Then what a Flood of Gore,
Ran down and Scarlet dy'd each Briny Tear?
A wond'ring Angel saw the
Trembling GOD,
Saw all his Grief but
wonder'd more,
To see his
Love Triumphant o're his
Fear;
To see him take the Cup, and kiss his Fathers Rod.
III.
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Whither Audacious Man! O whither dost thou go?
Hold in thy Desperate hand and see.
It is the humble Deity!
O! Wound not him who Loves thee so,
All this he Suffers for
Redeeming thee.
Yet while I speak, Behold! The Armed Throng
Pours like a Mighty Torrent in
See! how they drag the
Patient GOD along
Who feels not half so quick their
Fury as their
Sin.
The
Impious Crowd upon him Press,
One tears his Hair, another wounds his Face;
And all with Eager Zeal contend,
Who shall the most abuse their
Greatest Friend.
So when with stinging hunger Mad,
Th'
Hyreanian Lions range the Forrest ore;
Terror thro' all the Flocks and Herds they spread
And ev'ry trembling Shepherd Flies before;
If e're a
Tender Lamb is left behind,
Not to
one Savage does the
Victim fall,
But with contending fierceness
all,
Tear Limb from Limb, and into
Atoms Grind.
And can the avenging Thunder hold,
And let such
Monstrous Guilt unpunishd go?
Sure
Heav'ns it self afraid to see so
Bold
And so
Triumphant Wickedness below!
As well it may, since
GOD must plead his Cause
Before a
Mortal Judge, and fall by
Human Laws.
'Twas Night
& all things hush'd in a
short liv'd repose,
Nature opprest with Grief had fall'n asleep,
Only the
Silver Moon sat up to weep,
And restless
Malice Rose.
The Raving
Jews each other call,
And Drag the wearied
JESUS to the Hall.
O! Let me ne'er Describe the Dismal Scene
Of that sad Night! How piercing was his Pain!
How many Cruel Stripes in
that sad Night he Bore,
Yet nought return'd but Tears and Gore.
All that the Maddest Fury could Invent,
All that
Revenge could
Wish, or
Guilt could
Fear;
Or Keenest
Hatred ever meant,
All this and more—
In that
one Dismal Night they made him bear;
And thought it not enough, but Crown'd the rest
With Scornful Jeers, and made their
GOD their
Jest.
V.
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Scarce had
Aurora shew'd the coming Light;
And
Phoebus from his
Watry Bed,
Rowz'd up his
Fiery Steeds, and Chas'd away y
e
Night
When all
Amaz'd he Look'd, and of a
Bloody Red.
Trembling he saw th'enrag'd Crow'd,
Athirst for their
Redeemers Blood,
Trembling he heard their Horrid Cry,
Rending the Air with
Crucify.
Crucify him, does all the Place Resound,
Crucify him, th'
unwilling Hills Rebound.
The
Judge perceiv'd his Spotless Innocence,
Try'd to Asswage
Their swelling Rage;
And gave him to be Scourg'd for no
Offence;
Away with Eager hast they bear
Th'Afflicted
GOD.
Still now and greater Torments they prepare,
Naked they tye their
Maker to a Stake,
Then with a twisted prickly Rod
The
unrelenting Soldier Tears his Back;
Again renews the stroke and opens ev'ry Wound;
Again the Ecchoing Walls y
e
Hissing Stroke rebound.
VI.
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Now thick as Summers Hail or Winter Rain
(When with a mighty Deluge Big
The teeming Clouds upon a Mountain break)
The trickling Blood pours down from ev'ry Vein,
And all the Slipp'ry Pavements cover'd o're,
With Scarlet streams and knots of
Clotted Gore.
This did th'avenging
Father See
Beheld his suffering
Son in all his Agony,
And yet in ne'er a Cloud of Thunder spoke,
Nor Crush'd 'em down to Hell with one
Almighty Stroke.
A Diadem of peircing Thorns they made,
And
Crown'd at once and
Tore his tender Head.
A
Reed they for a
Scepter bring,
Cry Hail!
& Bow the Knee,
& Mock their
Bleeding King,
They See with
Horrid Joy, the streaming Blood
Down from his wounded Temples pour,
They see his Face with Scars disfigur'd o'er,
And
Laughing say—Behold the Son of
GOD!
Now does the Workman rend the sturdy Oak,
And
Unconcern'd redoubles ev'ry stroke;
Securely He the fatal
Engine makes,
While at the Dreadful sight
Affrighted Nature shakes.
'Tis Done—and
Jesus bears away his Cross,
The Scene of all his
Triumphs, all his
Woes,
'Gainst mighty
Death he goes to take the Field
Resolv'd to
Conquer, yet Resolv'd to
Yield.
And now he sinks below th'unequal weight
Of such a Load as
Sin and
That,
Too soon they fear his Pains would cease,
And out of
Cruel Pity lend a little Ease.
Another takes the Cross, and on they go
To Lofty
Golgotha's Aspiring Brow,
Thrice did the trembling Mountain sound,
And thrice the hollow Caverns Groan'd,
All Nature into dire
Convulsions fell,
To see the
Drooping Heav'ns, & hear y
e Shouts of
Hell!
The harden'd
Jews alone with Fury Blind,
Stretch forth their Naked
GOD;
His Hands
& Feet upon the
Cross they Bind,
And fix with Nails unto the
Groaning Wood.
Aloft the
Pond'rous Trunk they rear,
And poize their Bleeding
Maker in the Air.
Amazing Sight! between two Thieves to see
Him hanging on one
Slender Tree,
Who y
e Prodigious weight—of all y
e Sins—of the whole World did bear.
VIII.
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Why
Nature dost thou Blush? why Tremble so?
It was not
Thou that wert to Blame,
Not all
thy Pow'rs th'amazing Deed could do;
'Twas
Love that
bore the Crime, 'twas
Love that
bore the
Shame.
A Daring Soldier stabs th'
Expiring GOD,
And down there pours a Rapid Stream of
Blood.
No longer could th'
Affrighted Sun Behold
So Monstrous and so sad a Sight;
But headlong to the
Ocean rowl'd,
And hid his Blushes in the Vail of Night.
Each
Trembling Mountain shook its Snowy Head,
The all Devouring Grave gave up her Dead.
The
Temples sacred
Vail was rent in Twain
And all things felt their Makers grief, but
Man.
Back to their Fountains did the Rivers flow
And falling Hills their Channels fill'd below.
The hardest Rocks in pieces broke,
And all the Earth's Foundations shook;
While o'er the City Frightful Ghosts appear,
And horrid Spectres fill the Dusky, Troubled Air.
IX.
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Thee
Jesus! did the hollow Grotts Bemoan,
And all were melted into Pearly Tears.
For thee the Lions and
Getulian Bears,
For thee th'
Armenian Tygers Groan.
Each purling Stream ran murm'ring thro' the Plain
And told in
Hollow Sighs its
Makers Pain
Ore all the World a
Pompous Sorrow spread,
All things were Sad, for GOD himself lay Dead.
And while the Savage Lions grieve,
Shall harden'd
Man alone refuse to give
His Tributary share of Flowing Tears,
Upon his Meek
Redeemer's Hearse?
O! Let him weep a Mighty Flood,
Strong as his Saviours
Love, and
Reeking as his
Blood.
Let ev'ry Distant Shore his Griefs resound,
Nor let his Sorrows ever stay,
Till he has wash'd those
Sins away
Which
Crucify'd his
GOD, and gave the
Fatal Wound.
FINIS.