And apoplexies of fast sin may die,-
That music of thy promises,
Not threats in thunder, may
Awaken us to our just offices,
What in thy book thou dost, or creatures say, That we may hear, Lord, hear us, when we pray.
THAT out ears' sickness we may cure,
And rectify those labyrinths aright,-
That we by hearkening not procure
Our praise, nor others' dispraise so invite,-
That we get not a slipperiness,
And senselessly decline,
From hearing bold wits jest at kings' excess,
To admit the like of majesty divine, -
That we may lock our ears, Lord, open thine.
THAT living law, the magistrate,
Which, to give us and make us physic, doth
Our vices often aggravate, —
That preachers, taxing sin before her growth,
That Satan, and envenomed men,
Which will, if we starve, dine,
When they do most accuse us, may see then
Us to amendment hear them thee decline,
That we may open our ears, Lord, lock thine.
THAT learning, thine ambassador,
From thine allegiance we never tempt, -
That beauty, paradise's flower,
For physic made, from poison be exempt, -
That wit, born apt high good to do,
By dwelling lazily
On Nature's nothing, be not nothing too,
That our affections kill us not, nor die,-
Hear us, weak echoes, O, thou ear,
SON OF GOD, hear us; and since thou, By taking our blood, ow'st it us again,
Gain to thyself and us allow;
And let not both us and thyself be slain.
O Lamb of God, which took'st our sin,
Which could not stick to thee,
() let it not return to us again;
But patient and physician being free,
As sin is nothing, let it nowhere be.
UPON THE TRANSLATION OF THE PSALMS BY SIR PHILIP SYDNEY, AND THE COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE HIS SISTER.
ETERNAL God, (for whom whoever dare
Seek new expressions, do the circle square,
And thrust into strait corners of poor wit
Thee, who art cornerless and infinite,)
I would but bless thy name, not name thee now;
(And thy gifts are as infinite as thou ;)
Fix we our praises therefore on this one,
That as thy blessed Spirit fell upon
These psalms' first author in a cloven tongue,
(For 'twas a double power by which he sung,
The highest matter in the noblest form,)
So thou hast cleft that Spirit, to perform
That work again, and shed it here upon
Two by their bloods, and by thy Spirit one;
A brother and a sister, made by thee
The organ, where thou art the harmony;
Two, that made one John Baptist's holy voice,
And who that psalm, Now let the Isles rejoice,
Have both translated, and applied it too,
Both told us what, and taught us how to do.
They show us islanders our joy, our king,
They tell us why, and teach us how to sing.
Make all this all, three choirs, heaven, earth, and
spheres ;
The first, Heaven, hath a song, but no man hears;
The spheres have music, but they have no tongue,
Their harmony is rather danced than sung;
But our third choir, to which the first gives ear,
(For angels learn by what the church does here,)
This choir hath all. The organist is he,
Who hath tuned God and Man; the organ we:
The songs are these, which heaven's high holy
Whispered to David, David to the Jews,
And David's successors in holy zeal,
In forms of joy and art do re-reveal
To us so sweetly and sincerely, too,
That I must not rejoice as I would do,
When I behold, that these psalms are become
So well attired abroad, so ill at home;
So well in chambers, in thy church so ill,
As I can scarce call that reformed, until
This be reformed. 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 harsh than any other, sing?
For that we pray, we praise thy name for this,
Which by this Moses and this Miriam is
Already done; and as those psalms we call
(Though some have other authors) David's all,
So though some have, some may some psalms
translate,
We thy Sydnean psalms shall celebrate;
And, till we come the extemporal song to sing, (Learned the first hour that we see the king Who hath translated those translators,) may These, their sweet learned labors, all the way Be as our tuning; that, when hence we part, We may fall in with them, and sing our part.
We lead her way; and thus, whilst we do ill,
Unhappy he, whom youth makes not beware
Of doing ill :
Enough we labor under age and care;
In number the errors of the last place are
The greatest still.
Yet we, that should the ill we now begin,
As soon repent,
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