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.

ETERNALL God, (for whom who ever dare

Seeke new expressions, doe the Circle square,

And thrust into strait corners of poore wit

Thee, who art cornerlesse and infinite)

5I would but blesse thy Name, not name thee now

(And thy gifts are as infinite as thou:)

Fixe we our prayses therefore on this one,

That, as thy blessed Spirit fell upon

These Psalmes first Author in a cloven tongue;

10(For 'twas a double power by which he sung

The highest matter in the noblest forme;)

So thou hast cleft that spirit, to performe

That worke againe, and shed it, here, upon

Two, by their bloods, and by thy Spirit one;

15A Brother and a Sister, made by thee

The Organ, where thou art the Harmony.

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.

1. VENGEANCE will sit above our faults; but till

She there doth sit,

We see her not, nor them. Thus, blinde, yet still

We leade her way; and thus, whil'st we doe ill,

5We suffer it.

2. Vnhappy he, whom youth makes not beware

Of doing ill.

Enough we labour under age, and care;

In number, th'errours of the last place, are

10The greatest still.

3. Yet we, that should the ill we now begin

As soone repent,

(Strange thing!) perceive not; our faults are not seen,

But past us; neither felt, but onely in

15The punishment.

4. But we know our selves least; Mere outward shews

Our mindes so store,

That our soules, no more than our eyes disclose

But forme and colour. Onely he who knowes

20Himselfe, knowes more.

I. D.

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 coelestiall 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.

IN what torne ship soever I embarke,

That ship shall be my embleme of thy Arke;

What sea soever swallow mee, that flood

Shall be to mee an embleme of thy blood;

5Though thou with clouds of anger do disguise

Thy race; yet through that maske I know those eyes,

Which, though they turne away sometimes,

They never will despise.

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.