A worthier object, our Lords feet.'
In the SANCROFT MS. also, and reads as last line 'A worthy object, our
Lord Jesus feet.' On the closing lines of st. xxxii. cf. Sospetto
d'Herode, st. xlviii.
I have not thought it needful, either in these Notes or hereafter, to
record the somewhat arbitrary variations of mere orthography in the
different editions, as 'haile' for 'hail,' 'syluer' for 'silver,' 'hee'
for 'he,' and the like. But I trust it will be found that no different
wording has escaped record. G.
SANCTA MARIA DOLORVM, OR THE MOTHER OF SORROWS
_A patheticall Descant vpon the deuout Plainsong of Stabat Mater
Dolorosa._[23]
I.
In shade of Death's sad tree
Stood dolefull shee.
Ah she! now by none other
Name to be known, alas, but Sorrow's Mother.
Before her eyes, 5
Her's, and the whole World's ioyes,
Hanging all torn she sees; and in His woes
And paines, her pangs and throes:
Each wound of His, from euery part,
All, more at home in her one heart. 10
II.
What kind of marble, than,
Is that cold man
Who can look on and see,
Nor keep such noble sorrowes company?
Sure eu'en from you 15
(My flints) some drops are due,
To see so many unkind swords contest
So fast for one soft brest:
While with a faithfull, mutuall floud,
Her eyes bleed teares, His wounds weep blood. 20
III.
O costly intercourse
Of deaths, and worse--
Diuided loues. While Son and mother
Discourse alternate wounds to one another,
Quick deaths that grow 25
And gather, as they come and goe:
His nailes write swords in her, which soon her heart
Payes back, with more then their own smart.
Her swords, still growing with His pain,
Turn speares, and straight come home again. 30
IV.
She sees her Son, her God,
Bow with a load
Of borrow'd sins; and swimme
In woes that were not made for Him.
Ah! hard command 35
Of loue! Here must she stand,
Charg'd to look on, and with a stedfast ey
See her life dy:
Leauing her only so much breath
As serues to keep aliue her death. 40
V.
O mother turtle-doue!
Soft sourse of loue!
That these dry lidds might borrow
Somthing from thy full seas of sorrow!
O in that brest 45
Of thine (the noblest nest
Both of Loue's fires and flouds) might I recline
This hard, cold heart of mine!
The chill lump would relent, and proue
Soft subject for the seige of Loue. 50
VI.
O teach those wounds to bleed
In me; me, so to read
This book of loues, thus writ
In lines of death, my life may coppy it
With loyall cares. 55
O let me, here, claim shares!
Yeild somthing in thy sad praerogatiue
(Great queen of greifes), and giue
Me, too, my teares; who, though all stone,
Think much that thou shouldst mourn alone. 60
VII.
Yea, let my life and me
Fix here with thee,
And at the humble foot
Of this fair tree, take our eternall root.
That so we may 65
At least be in Loue's way;
And in these chast warres, while the wing'd wounds flee
So fast 'twixt Him and thee,
My brest may catch the kisse of some kind dart,
Though as at second hand, from either heart. 70
VIII.
O you, your own best darts,
Dear, dolefull hearts!
Hail! and strike home, and make me see
That wounded bosomes their own weapons be.
Come wounds! come darts! 75
Nail'd hands! and peirced hearts!
Come your whole selues, Sorrow's great Son and mother!
Nor grudge a yonger brother
Of greifes his portion, who (had all their due)
One single wound should not haue left for you. 80
IX.
Shall I, sett there
So deep a share
(Dear wounds), and onely now
In sorrows draw no diuidend with you?
O be more wise, 85
If not more soft, mine eyes!
Flow, tardy founts! and into decent showres
Dissolue my dayes and howres.
And if thou yet (faint soul!) desert
To bleed with Him, fail not to weep with her. 90
X.
Rich queen, lend some releife;
At least an almes of greif
To' a heart who by sad right of sin
Could proue the whole summe (too sure) due to him.
By all those stings 95
Of Loue, sweet-bitter things,
Which these torn hands transcrib'd on thy true heart;
O teach mine too the art
To study Him so, till we mix
Wounds, and become one crucifix. 100
XI.
O let me suck the wine
So long of this chast Vine,
Till drunk of the dear wounds, I be
A lost thing to the world, as it to me.
O faithfull friend 105
Of me and of my end!
Fold vp my life in loue; and lay't beneath
My dear Lord's vitall death.
Lo, heart, thy hope's whole plea! her pretious breath
Pour'd out in prayrs for thee; thy Lord's in death. 110
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
St. i. line 10. In 1648 the reading is
'Are more at home in her Owne heart.'
In 1670. 'All, more at home in her own heart.' I think 'all' and 'one'
of our text (1652) preferable. There is a world of pathos in the latter.
Cf. st. ii. line 8.
St. ii. line 1. On the change of orthography for rhyme, see our PHINEAS
FLETCHER, vol. ii. 206; and our LORD BROOKE, VAUGHAN, &c. &c., show
'then' and 'than' used as in Crashaw.
St. vi. line 3. In 1648 the reading is 'love;' 1670 as our text (1652).
The plural includes the twofold love of Son and mother.
Line 7, ib. 'to' for 'in.'
Line 9, ib. 'Oh give' at commencement. 1670, 'to' for 'too.'
St. vii. and viii. These two stanzas do not appear in 1648 edition, but
appear in 1670.
St. vii. line 4. By 'tree' the Cross is meant. Cf. st. i. line 1.
St. ix. line 1. 1648 edition supplies the two words required by the
measure of the other stanzas, 'in sins.' They are dropped inadvertently
in 1652 and 1670. Turnbull failed as usual to detect the omission.
Line 4. 1648 spells 'Divident.'
Lines 5 and 6. I have accepted correction of our text (1652) from 1648
edition, in line 6, of 'If' for 'Is,' which is also the reading of 1670.
1648 substitutes 'just' for 'soft;' but 1670 does not adopt it, nor can
I.
St. x. line 1. 1648 reads 'Lend, O lend some reliefe.'
Line 9 reads 'To studie thee so.'
St. xi. line 3, ib. reads 'thy' for 'the.'
Line 8, ib. reads 'Thy deare lost vitall death.'
Line 10. I have adopted from 1648 'in thy Lord's death' for 'thy lord's
in death' of our text (1652).
Turnbull has some sad misprints in this poem: _e.g._ st. ii. line 4,
'sorrow's' for 'sorrows;' st. iii. line 2, 'death's' for 'deaths;' st.
vi. line 9, 'Me to' for 'Me, too;' st. x. line 2, 'in' for 'an,' and
line 3, 'a' mis-inserted before 'sad.' Except in the 'Me to' of st. vi.,
he had not even the poor excuse of following the text of 1670. G.
THE TEARE.[24]
I.
What bright-soft thing is this,
Sweet Mary, thy faire eyes' expence?
A moist sparke it is,
A watry diamond; from whence
The very tearme, I think, was found, 5
The water of a diamond.
II.
O, 'tis not a teare:
'Tis a star about to dropp
From thine eye, its spheare;
The sun will stoope and take it up: 10
Proud will his sister be, to weare
This thine eyes' iewell in her eare.
III.
O, 'tis a teare,
Too true a teare; for no sad eyne,
How sad so 'ere, 15
Raine so true a teare, as thine;
Each drop leaving a place so deare,
Weeps for it self; is its owne teare.
IV.
Such a pearle as this is,
Slipt from Aurora's dewy brest-- 20
The rose-bud's sweet lipp kisses;
And such the rose it self that's vext
With ungentle flames, does shed,
Sweating in a too warm bed.
V.
Such the maiden gem, 25
By the purpling vine put on,
Peeps from her parent stem,
And blushes on the bridegroom sun;
The watry blossome of thy eyne
Ripe, will make the richer wine. 30
VI.
Faire drop, why quak'st thou so?
'Cause thou streight must lay thy head
In the dust? O, no!
The dust shall never be thy bed:
A pillow for thee will I bring, 35
Stuft with downe of angel's wing.
VII.
Thus carried up on high
(For to Heaven thou must goe),
Sweetly shalt thou lye,
And in soft slumbers bath thy woe, 40
Till the singing orbes awake thee,
And one of their bright chorus make thee.
VIII.
There thy selfe shalt bee
An eye, but not a weeping one;
Yet I doubt of thee, 45
Whether th' had'st rather there have shone
An eye of heaven; or still shine here,
In the heaven of Marie's eye, a TEARE.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
It is to be re-noted that st. v. is identical in all save 'watry' for
'bridegroom' with st. xi. of 'The Weeper' as given in text of 1652, and
that st. iv. has two lines from st. xxix. of the same poem. Neither of
these stanzas appear in 'The Weeper' of 1646. As stated in relative
foot-note, I have withdrawn the former from 'The Weeper.' We may be sure
it was inadvertently inserted in 1652, seeing that the very next stanza
closes with the same word 'wine' as in it: a fault which our Poet never
could have passed. It is to be noticed too that 'The Teare' did not
appear in the edition of 1652. By transferring the stanza to 'The Teare'
as in 1646, 1648 and 1670 editions, a blemish is removed from 'The
Weeper,' while in 'The Teare' it is a vivid addition. The 'such' of line
1 links it naturally on to st. iv. with its 'such.'
Our text follows that of 1648 except in st. v. line 4, where I adopt the
reading of 1652 in 'The Weeper' (there st. xi.) of 'bridegroom'
(misprinted 'bridegrooms') for 'watry,' and that I correct in st. vii.
line 6, the misprint 'the' for 'thee,'--the latter being found in 1646
and 1670. With reference to st. v. again, in line 5 in 'The Weeper' of
1648 the reading is 'balsome' for 'blossom.' The 'ripe' of line 6
settles (I think) that 'blossom' is the right word, as the ripe blossom
is = the grape, to the rich lucent-white drops of which the Weeper's
tears are likened. 'Balsome' doesn't make wine. I have adopted from st.
xi. of 'The Weeper' of 1652 the reading 'the purpling vine' for 'the
wanton Spring' of 1646, 1648 and 1670. The SANCROFT MS. in st. i. line
2, reads 'expends' for 'expence;' st. iv. line 4, 'that's' for 'when;'
st. v. line 4, 'manly sunne' for 'bridegroome,' and line 5, 'thine' for
'thy;' st. viii. line 6, 'I' th'' for 'In th'.' G.
THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY CROSSE.[25]
Tradidit semetipsum pro nobis oblationem et hostiam Deo in odorem
suauitatis. _Ad Ephe._ v. 2.
THE HOWRES.
FOR THE HOVR OF MATINES.
_The Versicle._
Lord, by Thy sweet and sailing sign!
_The Responsory._
Defend us from our foes and Thine.
_V._ Thou shalt open my lippes, O Lord.
_R._ And my mouth shall shew forth Thy prayse.
_V._ O God, make speed to saue me. 5
_R._ O Lord, make hast to help me.
Glory be to the FATHER,
and to the SON,
and to the H[oly] GHOST.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and euer 10
shall be, world without end. Amen.
THE HYMN.
The wakefull Matines hast to sing
The unknown sorrows of our King:
The Father's Word and Wisdom, made
Man for man, by man's betraid; 15
The World's price sett to sale, and by the bold
Merchants of Death and Sin, is bought and sold:
Of His best freinds (yea of Himself) forsaken;
By His worst foes (because He would) beseig'd and taken.
_The Antiphona._
All hail, fair tree, 20
Whose fruit we be!
What song shall raise
Thy seemly praise,
Who broughtst to light
Life out of death, Day out of Night! 25
_The Versicle._
Lo, we adore Thee,
Dread LAMB! and bow thus low before Thee:
_The Responsor._
'Cause, by the couenant of Thy crosse,
Thou hast sau'd at once the whole World's losse.
_The Prayer._
O Lord IESV-CHRIST, Son of the liuing God! 30
interpose, I pray Thee, Thine Own pretious death,
Thy crosse and passion, betwixt my soul and Thy
iudgment, now and in the hour of my death. And
vouchsafe to graunt vnto me Thy grace and mercy;
vnto all quick and dead, remission and rest; to Thy 35
Church, peace and concord; to vs sinners, life and
glory euerlasting. Who liuest and reignest with
the Father, in the vnity of the Holy Ghost, one
God, world without end. Amen.
FOR THE HOUR OF PRIME.
_The Versicle._
Lord, by Thy sweet and sailing sign! 40
_The Responsor._
Defend vs from our foes and Thine.
_V._ Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord.
_R._ And my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise.
_V._ O God, make speed to save me.
_R._ O Lord, make hast to help me. 45
_V._ Glory be to, &c.
_R._ As it was in the, &c.
THE HYMN.
The early Prime blushes to say
She could not rise so soon, as they
Call'd Pilat vp; to try if he 50
Could lend them any cruelty.
Their hands with lashes arm'd, their toungs with lyes
And loathsom spittle, blott those beauteous eyes,
The blissfull springs of ioy; from whose all-chearing ray
The fair starrs fill their wakefull fires, the sun him-
self drinks day. 55
_The Antiphona._
Victorious sign
That now dost shine,
Transcrib'd aboue
Into the land of light and loue;
O let vs twine 60
Our rootes with thine,
That we may rise
Vpon thy wings, and reach the skyes.
_The Versicle._
Lo, we adore Thee,
Dread Lamb! and fall 65
Thus low before Thee.
_The Responsor._
'Cause by the couenant of Thy crosse
Thou hast sau'd at once the whole World's losse.
_The Prayer._
O LORD IESV-CHRIST, Son of the liuing God!
interpose, I pray Thee, Thine Own pretious death, 70
Thy crosse and passion, betwixt my soul and Thy
iudgment, now and in the hour of my death. And
vouchsafe to graunt vnto me Thy grace and mercy;
vnto all quick and dead, remission and rest; to
Thy Church, peace and concord; to vs sinners, 75
life and glory euerlasting. Who liuest and reignest
with the Father, in the vnity of the Holy Ghost,
one God, world without end. Amen.
THE THIRD.
_The Versicle._
Lord, by Thy sweet and sauing sign,
_The Responsor._
Defend vs from our foes and Thine. 80
_V._ Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord.
_R._ And my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise.
_V._ O God, make speed to save me.
_R._ O Lord, make hast to help me.
_V._ Glory be to, &c. 85
_R._ As it was in the, &c.
THE HYMN.
The third hour's deafen'd with the cry
Of crucify Him, crucify.
So goes the vote (nor ask them, why?),
Liue Barabbas! and let God dy. 90
But there is witt in wrath, and they will try
A hail more cruell then their crucify.
For while in sport He weares a spitefull crown
The serious showres along His decent Face run sadly down.
_The Antiphona._
Christ when He dy'd 95
Deceiu'd the Crosse;
And on Death's side
Threw all the losse.
The captiue World awak't and found
The prisoners loose, the iaylor bound. 100
_The Versicle._
Lo, we adore Thee,
Dread LAMB, and fall
Thus low before Thee.
_The Responsor._
'Cause by the couenant of Thy crosse
Thou hast sau'd at once the whole World's losse. 105
_The Prayer._
O Lord IESV-CHRIST, Son of the liuing God!
interpose, I pray Thee, Thine Own pretious death,
Thy crosse and passion, betwixt my soul and Thy
iudgment, now and in the hour of my death. And
vouchsafe to graunt vnto me Thy grace and mercy; 110
vnto all quick and dead, remission and rest; to
Thy Church, peace and concord; to vs sinners,
life and glory everlasting. Who liuest and reignest
with the Father, in the vnity of the Holy Ghost,
one God, world without end. Amen. 115
THE SIXT.
_The Versicle._
Lord, by Thy sweet and sauing sign!
_The Responsor._
Defend vs from our foes and Thine.
_V._ Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord.
_R._ And my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise.
_V._ O God, make speed to save me! 120
_R._ O Lord, make hast to help me!
_V._ Glory be to, &c.
_R._ As it was in the, &c.
THE HYMN.
Now is the noon of Sorrow's night:
High in His patience, as their spite, 125
Lo, the faint Lamb, with weary limb
Beares that huge tree which must bear Him!
That fatall plant, so great of fame
For fruit of sorrow and of shame,
Shall swell with both, for Him, and mix 130
All woes into one crucifix.
Is tortur'd thirst itselfe too sweet a cup?
Gall, and more bitter mocks, shall make it vp.
Are nailes, blunt pens of superficiall smart?
Contempt and scorn can send sure wounds to
search the inmost heart. 135
_The Antiphona._
O deare and sweet dispute
'Twixt Death's and Loue's farr different fruit!
Different as farr
As antidotes and poysons are.
By that first fatall tree 140
Both life and liberty
Were sold and slain;
By this they both look vp, and liue again.
_The Versicle._
Lo, we adore Thee,
Dread Lamb! and bow thus low before Thee. 145
_The Responsor._
'Cause by the couenant of Thy crosse,
Thou hast sau'd the World from certain losse.
_The Prayer._
O Lord IESV-CHRIST, Son of the liuing God!
interpose, I pray Thee, Thine Own pretious death,
Thy crosse and passion, betwixt my soul and Thy 150
iudgment, now and in the hour of my death. And
vouchsafe to graunt vnto me Thy grace and mercy;
vnto all quick and dead, remission and rest; to
Thy Church, peace and concord; to vs sinners,
life and glory euerlasting. Who liuest and reignest 155
with the Father, in the vnity of the Holy Ghost,
one God, world without end. Amen.
THE NINTH.
_The Versicle._
Lord, by Thy sweet and sauing sign,
_The Responsor._
Defend vs from our foes and Thine.
_V._ Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord. 160
_R._ And my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise.
_V._ O God, make speed to save me!
_R._ O Lord, make hast to help me!
_V._ Glory be to, &c.
_R._ As it was in the, &c. 165
THE HYMN.
The ninth with awfull horror hearkened to those groanes
Which taught attention eu'n to rocks and stones.
Hear, Father, hear! Thy Lamb (at last) complaines
Of some more painfull thing then all His paines.
Then bowes His all-obedient head, and dyes 170
His own lou's and our sins' GREAT SACRIFICE.
The sun saw that, and would haue seen no more;
The center shook: her vselesse veil th' inglorious Temple tore.
_The Antiphona._
O strange, mysterious strife
Of open Death and hidden Life! 175
When on the crosse my King did bleed,
Life seem'd to dy, Death dy'd indeed.[26]
_The Versicle._
Lo, we adore Thee,
Dread Lamb! and fall
Thus low before Thee. 180
_The Responsor._
'Cause by the couenant of Thy crosse
Thou hast sau'd at once the whole World's losse.
_The Prayer._
O Lord Iesv-Christ, Son of the liuing God!
interpose, I pray Thee, Thine Own pretious death,
Thy crosse and passion, betwixt my soul and Thy 185
iudgment, now and in the hour of my death. And
vouchsafe to graunt vnto me Thy grace and mercy;
vnto all quick and dead, remission and rest; to
Thy Church, peace and concord; to vs sinners,
life and glory euerlasting. Who liuest and reignest 190
with the Father, in the vnity of the Holy Ghost,
one God, world without end. Amen.
EVENSONG.
_The Versicle._
Lord, by Thy sweet and sauing sign!
_The Responsor._
Defend vs from our foes and Thine.
_V._ Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord! 195
_R._ And my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise.
_V._ O God, make speed to save me!
_R._ O Lord, make hast to help me!
_V._ Glory be to, &c.
_R._ As it was in the, &c. 200
THE HYMN.
But there were rocks would not relent at this:
Lo, for their own hearts, they rend His;
Their deadly hate liues still, and hath
A wild reserve of wanton wrath;
Superfluous spear! But there's a heart stands by 205
Will look no wounds be lost, no deaths shall dy.
Gather now thy Greif's ripe fruit, great mother-maid!
Then sitt thee down, and sing thine eu'nsong in the sad tree's shade.
_The Antiphona._
O sad, sweet tree!
Wofull and ioyfull we 210
Both weep and sing in shade of thee.
When the dear nailes did lock
And graft into thy gracious stock
The hope, the health,
The worth, the wealth 215
Of all the ransom'd World, thou hadst the power
(In that propitious hour)
To poise each pretious limb,
And proue how light the World was, when it weighd with Him.
Wide maist thou spred 220
Thine armes, and with thy bright and blissfull head
O'relook all Libanus. Thy lofty crown
The King Himself is, thou His humble throne,
Where yeilding and yet conquering He
Prou'd a new path of patient victory: 225
When wondring Death by death was slain,
And our Captiuity His captiue ta'ne.
_The Versicle._
Lo, we adore Thee,
Dread LAMB! and bow thus low before Thee.
_The Responsor._
'Cause by the couenant of Thy crosse 230
Thou hast sau'd the World from certain losse.
_The Prayer._
O Lord Iesv-Christ, Son of the liuing, &c.
COMPLINE.
_The Versicle._
Lord, by Thy sweet and sauing sign!
_The Responsor._
Defend vs from our foes and Thine.
_V._ Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord! 235
_R._ And my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise.
_V._ O God, make speed to save me!
_R._ O Lord, make hast to help me!
_V._ Glory be to, &c.
_R._ As it was in the, &c. 240
THE HYMN.
The Complin hour comes last, to call
Vs to our own lives' funerall.
Ah hartlesse task! yet Hope takes head,
And liues in Him that here lyes dead.
Run, Mary, run! Bring hither all the blest 245
Arabia, for thy royall phoenix' nest;
Pour on thy noblest sweets, which, when they touch
This sweeter body, shall indeed be such.
But must Thy bed, Lord, be a borrow'd graue
Who lend'st to all things all the life they haue. 250
O rather vse this heart, thus farr a fitter stone,
'Cause, though a hard and cold one, yet it is Thine own. Amen.
_The Antiphona._
O saue vs then,
Mercyfull King of men!
Since Thou wouldst needs be thus 255
A Saviour, and at such a rate, for vs;
Saue vs, O saue vs, Lord.
We now will own no shorter wish, nor name a narrower word;
Thy blood bids vs be bold,
Thy wounds giue vs fair hold, 260
Thy sorrows chide our shame:
Thy crosse, Thy nature, and Thy name
Aduance our claim,
And cry with one accord
Saue them, O saue them, Lord! 265
THE RECOMMENDATION.[27]
These Houres, and that which houers o're my end,
Into Thy hands and hart, Lord, I commend.
Take both to Thine account, that I and mine
In that hour, and in these, may be all Thine.
That as I dedicate my deuoutest breath 270
To make a kind of life for my Lord's death,
So from His liuing and life-giuing death,
My dying life may draw a new and neuer fleeting breath.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
In the original edition of this composition, as _supra_ (1648), it is
entitled simply 'Vpon our B[lessed] Saviour's Passion.' What in our text
(1652) constitute the Hymns, were originally numbered as seven stanzas.
A few various readings from 1648 will be found below. Our text is given
in full in 1670 edition, but not very accurately.
_Various readings of the Hymns in 1648 'Steps.'_
I. Line 1. 'The wakefull dawning hast's to sing.'
" 2. The allusion is to the petition in the old Litanies,
'By all Thine _unknown_ sorrows, good Lord, deliver us.'
" 8. 'betray'd' for 'beseigd:' the former perhaps superior.
II. " 1. 'The early Morne.'
" 2. 'It' for 'she.'
III. " 5. 'ther's' for 'there is.'
IV. " 6. 'The fruit' instead of 'for'--a misprint.
V. " 6. 'our great sins' sacrifice.'
VII. " 1. 'The Nightening houre'--a curious coinage.
In the 'Prayer,' 'unto all quick and dead' is dropped, and reads 'the,'
not 'Thy,' Church. In line 55 Turnbull reads 'weakful,' and, line 243,
'heed' for 'head,'--two of a number of provoking blunders in his text.
G.
VEXILLA REGIS:
THE HYMN OF THE HOLY CROSSE.[28]
I.
Look vp, languisting soul! Lo, where the fair 1
Badge of thy faith calls back thy care,
And biddes thee ne're forget
Thy life is one long debt
Of loue, to Him, Who on this painfull tree 5
Paid back the flesh He took for thee.
II.
Lo, how the streames of life, from that full nest
Of loues, Thy Lord's too liberall brest,
Flow in an amorous floud
Of water wedding blood. 10
With these He wash't thy stain, transferred thy smart,
And took it home to His own heart.
III.
But though great Love, greedy of such sad gain,
Vsurpt the portion of thy pain,
And from the nailes and spear 15
Turn'd the steel point of fear:
Their vse is chang'd, not lost; and now they moue
Not stings of wrath, but wounds of loue.
IV.
Tall tree of life! thy truth makes good
What was till now ne're understood, 20
Though the prophetick king
Struck lowd his faithfull string:
It was thy wood he meant should make the throne
For a more than Salomon.
V.
Large throne of Loue! royally spred 25
With purple of too rich a red:
Thy crime is too much duty;
Thy burthen, too much beauty;
Glorious or greiuous more? thus to make good
Thy costly excellence with thy King's own blood. 30
VI.
Euen ballance of both worlds! our world of sin,
And that of grace, Heaun-way'd in Him:
Vs with our price thou weighed'st;
Our price for vs thou payed'st,
Soon as the right-hand scale reioyc't to proue 35
How much Death weigh'd more light then Loue.
VII.
Hail, our alone hope! let thy fair head shoot
Aloft, and fill the nations with thy noble fruit:
The while our hearts and we
Thus graft our selues on thee, 40
Grow thou and they. And be thy fair increase
The sinner's pardon and the iust man's peace.
Liue, O for euer liue and reign
The Lamb Whom His own loue hath slain!
And let Thy lost sheep liue to inherit 45
That kingdom which this Crosse did merit. Amen.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
These variations &c. as between 1648 and 1652, deserve record:
St. i. line 1. 'Languishing,' which is the reading in 1648.
Ib. line 2. Here, and in v. line 1, I have added 'e' to 'badg' and
'larg' respectively from 1648.
St. vi. line 2. Our text (1652) corrects a manifest blunder of 1648,
which reads 'wag'd' for 'way'd' = weighed. In 1648, lines 3-4 read
'Both with one price were weighed,
Both with one price were paid.'