Rufta' my life. 59. O Lord! do thou judge now.
Then heard' my wrong. 60. Their vengeance all they've wrought;
1. How they reproach'd thou'st heard, and what they thought;
What their lips utter'd, which againft me rofe, And what was ever whisper'd by my foes.
6 am their fong, whether they rife or fit. 4. Give them rewards, Lord! for their working fit, [thy might Sorrow of heart, thy curfe: 66. And with Paw, and from under heav'n deftroy them quite.
1. He is the gold become so dim! how is Parc and finest gold thus chang'd to this! The Bones, which were ftones of the fan&tuary, r'd in corners of each street do lie.
- The precious fons of Sion, which should be Vain'd as pureft gold, how do we fee Low-rated now! as earthen pitchers, ftand, Which are the work of a poor potter's hand.
3. Even the fea-calves draw their breafts, and give ark to their young: my people's daughter's live, by reafon of the foc's great cruelness,
As do the owls in the vaft wilderness.
4 And when the fucking child doth strive to draw, His tongue for thirft cleaves to his upper jaw ; And when for bread the little children cry, There is no man that doth them fatisfy.
They which before were delicately fed, Now in the streets forlorn have perified: And they, which ever were in fcarlet cloth'4,
and embrace the dunghills which they loth'd.
6. The daughters of my people have finn'd more That did the town of Sodom fin before, Which being at once deftroy'd, there did remain No hands amongst them to vex them again.
7. But heretofore purer her Nazarite Was than the fnow, and milk was not fo white: As carbuncles did their pure bodies shine; And all their polifh'dnefs was faphirine.
[know 8. They're darker now than blacknefs; none can Them by the face, as through the street they go; For now their skin doth cleave unto their bone, And, withered, is like to dry wood grown.
In the inhabitable world, believe That any adversary, any foe, Into Jerufalem should enter fo. 13. For the pricfts fins, and prophets, which have Blood in the freets, and the just murthered: 14. Which, when thefe men, whom they made blind, did stray
Thorough the streets, defiled by the way
With blood, the which impoffible it was Their garment fhould 'fcape touching as they pals, 15. Would cry aloud," Depart, defiled men, Depart, depart, and touch us not!" and then
They fled, and ftray'd, and with the Gentiles were, [there: Yet told their friends they fhould not long dwell 16. For this they're fcatter'd by Jehovah's face, Who never will regard theni more. No grace
Unto the old men fhall their foe afford, [fword: For that they're priests redeem them from the 17. And we as yet, for all thefe miferies Defiring our vain help, confume our eyes:
And such a nation as cannot fave, We in defire and fpeculation have,
18. They hunt our steps, that in the freets we fear To go; our end is now approached near.
Our days accomplish'd are, this the last day; 19. Eagles of heav'n are not fo fwift as they Which follow us; o'er mountains tops they flis At us, and for us in the defert lie.
20. The Lord's anointed, breath of our noftris, he Of whom we faid, under his fladow we
Shall with more ease under the Heathen dwell, Into the pit, which these men digged, fell.
Rejoice, O Edom's daughter! joyful be, Thou that inhabit'ft Uz; for unto thee This cup fhall pafs, and thou with drunkennefs Shall fill thyfelf, and fhew thy nakedness.
22. And then thy fins, O Sion! fhall be spent ; The Lord will not leave thee in banishment: Thy fins, O Edom's daughter! he will fee, And for them pay thee with captivity.
1. REMEMBER, O Lord! what is fall'n on us; See and mark how we are reproached thus. 2. For unto strangers our poffeffion
Is turn'd, our houfes unto aliens gone.
3. Our mothers are become as widows, we As orphans all, and without fathers be.
4 Waters, which are our own, we drink and pay, And upon our own word a price they lay.
5. Our perfecutors on our necks do fit ; They make us travail, and not intermit. 6. We stretch our hands unto th' Egyptians To get us bread, and unto th' Affyrians.
We think that Paradise and Calvary,
Chrift's crofs and Adam's tree, stood in one place; Look, Lord! and find both Adams met in me: As the first Adam's sweat surrounds my face, May the laft Adam's blood my foul embrace.
So in his purple wrapp'd receive me, Lord! By these his thorns give me his other crown; And as to others fouls I preach'd thy word, Be this my text, my fermon to mine own; [down. Therefore, that he may raife, the Lord throws
THE PROGRESS OF THE SOUL.
OTHERS at the porches and entries of their build-, out treafure for me, but that hath lighted me a ings fet their arms, I my picture, if any colours candle to the place. All which I will bid you recan deliver a mind so plain and flat, and thorough-member (for I will have no such readers as I can light as mine. Naturally at a new author I doubt and stick, and do not fay quickly good. I cenfure much and tax; and this liberty cofts me more than others: yet I would not be fo rebellious against myfelf as not to do it fince I love it, nor fo unjust to others to do it fine talione. As long as I give them as good hold upon me, they must pardon me my bitings. I forbid no reprehender but him that, like the Trent Council, forbids not books, but authors, damning whatever fuch a name hath or fhall write. None write fo ill that he gives not fomething exemplary to follow or fly. Now, when I begin this book, I have no purpose to come into any man's debt: how my ftock will hold out I know not; perchance waste, perchance increase in ufe. If I do borrow any thing of antiquity, befides that I make account that I pay it to pofterity with as much, and as good, you fhall ftill find me to acknowledge it, and to thank not him only that hath digged
teach) is, that the Pythagorean doctrine doth not only carry one foul from man to man, nor man to beast, but indifferently to plants also; and, there- fore, you must not grudge to find the fame foul in an emperor, in a poft-horse, and in a maceron, fince no unreadiness in the foul, but an indifpofition in the organs, works this. And, therefore, though this foul could not move when it was a melon, yet it may remember, and can now tell me, at what lafcivious banquet it was ferved: and though it could not speak when it was a spider, yet it can remember, and now tell me, who used it for poi- fon to attain dignity. However the bodies have dulled her other faculties, her memory hath ever been her own, which makes me fo feriously deliver you, by her relation, all her paffages, from her first making, when the was that apple which Eve ate, to this time, when fhe is the whofe life you fhall find in the end of this book. Diij
I SING the Progrefs of a deathlefs Soul,
Whom Fate, which God made, but doth not controul,
Plac'd in most shapes. All times, before the law Yok'd us, and when, and fince, in this I fing, And the great World t' his aged evening, From infant morn through manly noon I draw: What the gold Chaldee or filver Perfian faw, Greek brafs, or Roman iron, 'tis in this one, A work t' out-wear Seth's pillars, brick and ftone, And (holy writ excepted) made to yield to none.
Thee, eye of heaven, this great Soul envies not; By thy male force is all we have begot. In the first eat thou now beginn'ft to fhine, Suck'ft early balm, and island fpices there, And wilt anon in thy loofe-rein'd career
At Tagus, Po, Seine, Thames, and Danow, dine, And fee at night thy western land of mine; Yet halt thou not more nations feen than fhe That before thee one day began to be,
I launch at Paradife, and fail t'wards home: The course I there began fhall here be stay'd;
And, thy frail light being quench'd, fhall long, Sails hoifted there ftruck here, and anchors laid
In Thames which were at Tygris and Euphrates
Where fir grew the forbidden learned tree; For on that tree hung in fecurity
This Soul, made by the Maker's will from pulling free.
Prince of the orchard, fair as dawning morn, Fenc'd with the law, and ripe as foon as born, That apple grew which this foul did enlive, Till the then climbing ferpent, that now creeps For that offence for which all mankind weeps, Took it, and t' her, whom the first man did wive,
(Whom and her race only forbiddings drive) He gave it, fhe t' her husband; both did eat: So perifhed the eaters and the meat,
And we (for treafon taints the blood) thence die and sweat.
Man all at once was there by woman flain, And one by one we're here flain o'er again By them. The mother poifon'd the well-head; The daughters here corrupt us rivalers;
No fmalinefs 'fcapes, no greatnefs breaks, their
She thruit us out, and by them we are led Aftray from turning to whence we are fied. Were prifoners judges 't would feem rigorous; She finn'd, we bear: part of our pain is thus To love them whofe fault to this painful love yok'd us.
So fast in us doth this corruption grow, That now we dare afk why we should be fo. Would God (difputes the curious rebel) make A law, and would not have it kept? or can His creatures will crefs his? Of every man For one will God (and be jutt) vengeance take? Who finn'd? 'twas not forbidden to the fnake, Nor her, who was not then made? nor is't writ That Adam cropt or knew the apple; yct The worm, and fhe, and he, and we, endure for it.
Of fenfe than faith requires) fwiftly the flew T'a dark and foggy plot; her her fates threw There through th' earth's pores, and in a plant hous'd her anew.
The plant, thus abled, to itself did force A place where no place was by Nature's course, As air from water, water fleets away From thicker bodies; by this root throng'd fo His fpungy confines gave him place to grow : Just as in our streets, when the people stay To fee the prince, and fo fill up the way [near That weafels fcarce could país; when he comes They throng and cleave up, and a paffage clear, As if for that time their round bodies flatten'd were.
His right arm he thrust out towards the caft, Weftward his left; th' ends did themselves digeft Into ten leffer strings, thefe fingers were: And, as a flumb'rer, ftretching on his bed, This way he this and that way fcattered His other leg, which feet with toes up bear; Grew on his middle part, the first day, hair. To fhew that in love's bus'nefs he should still A dealer be, and be us'd, well or ill :
His apples kindle, his leaves force of conception kill.
A mouth, but dumb, he hath; blind eyes, deaf
And to his shoulders dangle fubtle hairs; A young Coloffas there he ftands upright; And, as that ground by him were conquered, A lazy garland wears he on his head Enchas'd with little fruits fo red and bright, That for them ye would call your love's lips white; So of a lone unhaunted place poffeft, Did this Soul's fecond inn, built by the guest This living buried man, this quiet mandrake, reft,
No luftful woman came this plant to grieve, But 'twas because there was none yet but Eve, And the (with other purpose) kill'd it quite : Her fin had now brought in infirmities, And fo her cradled child the moift-red eyes Had never fhut, nor flept, fince it faw light: Poppy fhe knew, fhe knew the mandrake's might, And tore up both, and fo cool'd her child's blood. Unvirtuous weeds might long unvex'd have flood, But he's fhort liv'd that with his death can do moft good.
To an unfetter'd Soul's quick nimble hafte Are falling ftars and hearts thoughts but flow pac'd,
Thinner than burnt air flies this Soul, and she, Whom four new coming and four parting funs Had found, and left the mandrake's tenant, runs, Thoughtlefs of change, when her firm destiny Confin'd and enjail'd her that feem'd fo free Into a fmall blew fhell, the which a poor Warm bird o'erfpread, and fat fill evermore, Till her enclos'd child kick'd, and pick'd itself a door.
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