And, though he seeks in churches for to croak, He neither loveth Jesus nor his yoke.
THE WHIPPING OF A TOP.
"TIs with the whip the Boy sets up the top, The Whip does make it whirl upon its toe; Hither and thither makes it skip and hop: 'Tis with the Whip the top is made to go.
Our Legalist is like this nimble top.
Without a Whip, he will not duty do.
Let Moses whip him, he will skip and hop;
Forbear to whip, he'll neither stand nor go.
MUST we unto the Pismire go to school,
To learn of her in summer to provide,
For winter next ensuing? man's a fool,
Or silly ants would not be made his guide.
But, sluggard, is it not a shame for thee
To be outdone by Pismires? Pr'ithee hear:
Their works (too) will thy condemnation be,
When at the judgment-seat thou shalt appear.
But since thy God doth bid thee to her go,
Obey, her ways consider, and be wise:
The Pismires will inform thee what to do,
And set the way to life before thine eyes.
He wants, he asks, he pleads his poverty;
They within doors do him an alms deuy;
He doth repeat and aggravate his grief;
But they repulse him, give him no relief.
He begs; they say begone; he will not hear;
He coughs and sighs, to shew he still is there:
They disregard him; he repeats his groans;
They still say nay, and he himself bemoans.
They call him vagrant, and more rugged grow;
He cries the shriller; trumpets out his woe.
At last, when they perceive he'll take no nay,
An alms they give him, without more delay.
This Beggar doth resemble them that pray To God for mercy, and will take no nay; But wait, and count that all his hard gainsays Are nothing else but fatherly delays: Then imitate him, praying souls, and cry: There's nothing like to importunity.
THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.
THERE'S one rides very sagely on the road,
Shewing that he affects the gravest mode:
Another rides tantivy, or full trot,
To shew such gravity he matters not.
Lo, here comes one amain, he rides full speed, Hedge, ditch, or miry bog, he doth not heed. One claws it up hill, without stop or check, Another down, as if he'd break his neck.
Now ev'ry Horse has his especial Guider: Then by his going, you may know the Rider,
Now let us turn our Horse into a Man,
The Rider to a Spirit, if we can:
Then let us, by the methods of the Guider,
Tell ev'ry Horse how he should know his Rider.
Some go as Men direct, in a right way,
Nor are they suffer'd e'er to go astray:
As with a bridle they are govern'd well,
And so are kept from paths that lead to hell.
Now this good Man has his especial Guider;
Then by his going, let him know his Rider.
Another goes as if he did not care,
Whether of heaven or hell he should be heir.
The rein, it seems, is laid upon his neck,
And he pursues his way without a check.
Now this Man too, has his especial Guider;
And by his going, he may know his Rider.
Again, some run as if resolved to die,
Body and soul to all eternity.
Good counsel they by no means can abide;
They'll have their course, whatever them betide,
Now these poor Men have their especial Guider,
Were they not fools, they soon might know their
Rider.
There's one makes head against all godliness,
Those too that do profess it, he'll distress:
He'll taunt and flout, if goodness doth appear
And those that love it, he will mock and jeer.
Now this Mau too, has his especial Guider,
And by his going, he may know his Rider.
A POUND OF CANDLES FALLING TO
THE GROUND.
BUT are the candles down, and scatter'd too;
Some lying here, some there? What shall we do?
Hold, light the candle there that stands on high,
The other candles you may find thereby.
Light that, I say, and so take up the pound,
Which you let fall, and scatter'd on the ground.
The fallen candles to us intimate,
The bulk of God's elect, in their lapsed state.
Their lying scatter'd in the dark may be,
To shew by man's lapsed state his misery.
The candle that was taken down and lighted,
Thereby to find them fallen and benighted,
Is Jesus Christ: God by his light doth gather
Whom he will save, and be to them a Father.
A PENNY LOAF.
THY price one penny is, in time of plenty;
In famine, doubled 't is from one to twenty.
Yea, no man knows what price on thee to set,
When there's but one Penny Loaf to get.
This Loaf's an emblem of the Word of God,
A thing of low esteem; before the rod
Of famine smites the soul with fear of death:
But then it is our all, our life, our breath.
THE BOY AND WATCH-MAKER.
THIS Watch my father did on me bestow,
A golden one it is, but 'twill not go,
Unless it be at an uncertainty:
But as good none as one to tell a lie.
When 't is high day my hand will stand at nine; I think there's no man's Watch so bad as mine. Sometimes 't is sullen, 't will not go at all, And yet 'twas never broke nor had a fall.
Your Watch, tho' it be good, through want of skill, May fail to do according to your will.
Suppose the balance, wheels, and spring be good, And all things else, unless you understood
To manage it, as Watches ought to be,
Your Watch will still be at uncertainty.
Come, tell me, do you keep it from the dust?
And wind it duly, that it may not rust?
Take heed (too) that you do not strain the spring;
You must be circumspect in ev'ry thing,
Or else your Watch will not exactly go,
"Twill stand, or run too fast, or move too slow.
This Boy resembles one that's turn'd from sin;
His Watch the curious work of grace within.
The Watch-maker is Jesus Christ our Lord..
His counsel, the directions of His word;
Then, Convert, if thy heart be out of frame,
Of this Watch-maker, learn to mend the same.
Do not lay ope' thy heart to worldly dust,
Nor let thy graces over-grow with rust;
Be oft' reuew'd in the spirit of thy mind,
Or else uncertain thou thy Watch wilt find.
A LOOKING-GLASS.
In this, see thou thy beauty, hast thou any;
Or thy defects, should they be few or many.
Thou may'st (too) here thy spots and freckles see,
Hast thou but eyes, and what their numbers be,
But art thou blind? There is no Looking-glass.
Can shew thee thy defects, thy spots, or face.
Unto this Glass we may compare the Word,
For that to man assistance doth afford,
(Has he a mind to know himself and state)
To see what will be his eternal fate.
But without eyes, alas! how can he see?
Many that seem to look here, blind men be.
This is the reason they so often read
Their judgment there, and do it nothing dread.
THE LOVE OF CHRIST.
THE love of Christ! poor I may
may touch
upon;
But 'tis unsearchable. Oh! there's none
Its large dimensions can comprehend,
Should they dilate thereon world without end.
When we had sinn'd, He in His zeal did swear,
That He upon His back our sins would bear.
And since to sin there is entailed death,
He vow'd, that for our sins He'd lose His breath.
He did not only say, vow, or resolve
But, to astonishment, did so involve
Himself in man's distress and misery,
As for and with him both to live and die.
To His eternal fame, in sacred story,
We find that He did lay aside His glory;
Step'd from the throne of highest dignity,
Became poor man, did in a manger lie;
Yea, was beholden upon His for bread;
Had, of His own, not where to lay His head :
Though rich, He did, for us, become thus poor,
That He might make us rich for evermore.
|