My father's palace shall be thine;
Yea, in it thou shalt sit and sing: My little Bird, if thou'lt be mine,
The whole year round shall be thy spring.
I'll teach thee all the notes at
Unthought-of music thou
And all that thither do resort
Shall praise thee for it every day.
I'll keep thee safe from cat and cur;
No manner o'harm shall come to thee:
Yea, I will be thy succourer,
My bosom shall thy cabin be.
But lo, behold, the Bird is gone!
These charmings would not make her yield. The Child's left at the bush alone,
The Bird flies yonder o'er the field.
This Child, of Christ an emblemn is,
The Bird to Sinners I compare:
The thorns are like those sins of his,
Which do surround him every where
Her songs, her food, and sun-shine day,
Are emblems of those foolish toys,
Which to destruction lead the way,
The fruit of worldly empty joys.
The arguments this Child doth choose,
To draw to him a Bird thus wild,
Shews Christ familiar speech doth use,
To make him to be reconciled.
The Bird in that she takes her wing,
To speed her from him after all,
Shews us vain Man loves any thing
Much better than the heavenly call.
MOSES AND HIS WIFE.
THIS Moses was a fair and comely man;
His wife a swarthy Ethiopian:
Nor did his milk-white bosom change her skin,
She came out thence as black as she went in.
Now Moses was a type of Moses' Law,
His Wife likewise of one that never saw
Another way unto eternal life;
There's mystery then in Moses and his Wife
The law is very holy, just, and good;
And to it is espoused all flesh and blood;
But yet the Law its goodness can't bestow
On
any that are wedded thereunto.
Therefore, as Moses' Wife came swarthy in,
And went out from him without change of skin,
So he that doth the Law for life adore,
Shall yet by it be left a black-a-moor.
This homely Bush doth to mine eyes expose
A very fair yea, comely ruddy Rose.
This Rose doth always bow its head to me,
Saying, Come, pluck me, I thy Rose will be:
Yet offer I the gather Rose or bud,
Ten to one but tne bush will have my blood.
This looks like a trepan, or a decoy,
To offer, and yet snap who would enjoy ;
Yea, the more eager on't, the more in danger,
Be he the master of it, or a stranger.
Bush, why dost bear a rose, if none must have it ;
Why dost expose it, yet claw those that crave it:
Art become freakish? dost the wanton play,
Or doth thy testy humour tend this way?
This Rose God's Son is with his ruddy looks;
But what's the Bush, whose pricks, like tenter-hooks,
Do scratch and claw the finest lady's hands,
Or rend her clothes, if she too near it stands?
This Bush an emblem is of Adam's race,
Of which Christ came, when He his Father's grace Commended to us in His crimson blood,
While He in sinners' stead and nature stood.
Thus Adam's race did bear this dainty Rose,
And doth the same to Adam's race expose:
But those of Adams race which at it catch
Them will the race of Adam claw and scratch.
THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN.
WHAT, hast thou run thy race? art going down?
Why, as one angry, dost thou on us frown?
Why wrap thy head with clouds, and hide thy face,
As threatening to withdraw from us thy grace?
O leave us not! When once thou hidest thy head,
Our horizon with darkness will be spread.
Tell, who hath thee offended; turn again:
Alas! too late, intreaties are in vain!
The Gospel here has had a summer's day,
But in its sun-shine we, like fools did play
Or else fall out, and with each other wrang.e,
And did, instead of work, not much but jangle.
And if our Sun seems angry, hides his face
Shall it go down, shall night possess this place
Let not the voice of night-birds us afflict,
And of our mispent summer us convict.
'THE Frog by nature is both damp and cold, Her mouth is large, her belly much will hold
She sits somewhat ascending, loves to be
Croaking in gardens, though unpleasantly.
The Hypocrite is like unto this Frog;
As like as is the puppy to the dog.
He is of nature cold, his inouth is wide,
To prate, and at true goodness to deride.
And though the world is that which has his love,
He mounts his head, as if he lived above.
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? Fri'thee 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
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 deny;
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 every Horse has his especial Guider:
Then by lus going, you may know the Rider.
Now let us turn our Horse into a Man.
The Rider to a Spirit, if we can:
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