A Prayer-Song, Poem 34
2 Pet. 3.
10. But the day of the Lord ſhall come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens ſhall paſs away, with great noiſe, and the elements ſhall melt with fervent heat; the earth alſo, and the works that are therein, ſhall be burnt up.
11. Seeing then, that all theſe things ſhall be diſſolved what manner of perſons ought we to be in all holy converſation and godlineſs?
12. Looking for and haſting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire ſhall be diſſolved, and the elements ſhall melt with fervent heat.
1.
Thus learn'd,
Let 's be fore-warn'd;
And thus aſtoniſh'd,
In time let 's be admoniſh'd.
In vain our brains we pump,
To tell the terrours of that trump:
Cloud-rending thunders are but ſoft,
Quiet as night, and ſilent as a thought;
Or as the noiſleſs muſick of the Spheres,
To this ſound that ſhall deaf our ears.
No vapours bellowing from the ground
At all are like this ſound.
And if that Trump ſhall make
The dead t' awake;
Where ſhall it drive
Th' alive?
If ſhall the ſenſleſs graves and th' earth obey,
Shall we not quake and tremble worſe then they?
2.
I wonder,
If that the Thunder
Makes beaſts to flee
For ſafety to ſome tree:
Let 's think then with what terrour
Shall that loud Trump wake ſin and errour!
How do we tremble if we meet
The eager flaſhes of a lightning ſheet?
How do we wiſh to quench a burning City,
If poſſible, with tears of pitie?
If with our fev'riſh friend we fry
In hearty ſympathy;
How ſhall we melt as faſt
As th' heavens waſt,
When I and you
Shall view
The heavens to diſſolve, the skies to ſwelter,
And ſtars in melting elements to welter,
3.
We count,
At Sinai 's mount,
When God propounded
The Law, all were confounded:
God 's thunder-rhetorick
With lightning flaſh'd, made Nature ſick:
Sinai like ſome Veſuvius ſeem'd;
Its trembling womb with conſtant earth-quakes teem'd,
As if the feigned Cyclops there were under,
And there did forge and frame their thunder:
His Law God with ſuch terrour ſpake,
It made the juſt to quake:
How will he then impeach
His ſtatutes breach!
And ſin how ſtrict
Convict?
Shall they not feel thoſe terrours of the Law.
Which they at Sinai onelyonly heard and ſaw?
4.
The torrid
Zone 's not ſo horrid
As ſome do feign;
Nor is the dog-ſtars reign:
Our wits foment more fuel
Then Nature gave; they 're not ſo cruel:
But who hath ſo his thoughts indulg'd,
To think theſe flames leſs then they are divulg'd,
May fear to be caſt from this burning frame,
Into an everlaſting flame,
'Mong thoſe contemners of that Prophet
Who did denounce that Tophet,
Whereon a forc'd belief,
Shame pain and grief,
Shall without end
Attend:
Where ſighs ſhall ſerve but to blow up the flame,
And tears the oil, which ſhall foment the ſame.
5.
And thus
We now diſcuſs,
The world of old
By Noah was foretold;
And as they at his Ark,
Some at our preparations bark:
The Atheiſt 's ready to ask whether
Our Chriſt and Mahomet will come together;
Since both have been expected long, t' inveſt
Theirs in a Paradiſe of reſt.
There 's none but both upbraids and pities
Wretch'd Sodom and her Cities:
Ev'n they were thus ſurpris'd,
When unadvis'd
They reck'ned not
Juſt Lot.
And who knows Sodom 's fate, but counteth it
Th' world 's future in a leſſer volume writ?
6.
But gheſs
To what diſtreſs
Was th' old world brought,
Beyond conceit or thought,
When void of Ark or Boat,
They ſaw juſt Noah's Ark afloat!
Gheſs one upon a rock that ſnores,
While the wild Sea hath drown'd all neighb'ring ſhores.
Anon awaking, caſts his frighted eyes
Upon a ſhip which ſcorns his cries;
Now looks each minute for ſome wave,
To waft him to his grave:
Such even was their fate,
When they too late.
Like Pharaoh's hoſt,
Were loſt.
And now what ſaving knowledge will diſſever
From ſerious thoughts, that dropſie and this ſever?
7.
Oh how
Methinks I now
See that day dawn,
Tombs ſplit, and graves to yawn!
Methinks I hear no noiſe,
But ſeems to accent forth that voice,
Some have let looſe the Torrid Zone;
The skie 's one fiery element alone;
Th' earths veins and minerals run in one ſtream,
At th' heavens all-diſſolving beam:
All waters (as thoſe that did drench
Divine Elijah 's trench)
The fire doth ſeem to ſup,
And ſwallow up.
What flames diſplay
The day!
Now let nor Daedalus truſt to his wing,
Nor Gyges walk inviſibly in 's Ring.
8.
This wee
May all foreſee:
Hear we not rumours
Of war, revenge, and humours?
As if we would th' earth 's fall
With flames of rage and luſt foreſtal:
Some ſtars are fallen, and long ſince,
That they were flaſhie Meteors convince.
The fixed ſtars ſeem Planets, and, God knows,
Meet in conjunction but t' oppoſe:
They who did pillars ſeem, and props,
Prov'd Egypts reeds t' our hopes.
And if theſe are not ſignes
How th' world declines.
I to juſt Zeal
Appeal.
Our Goſpels ſun in darkneſs hath been urn'd,
And into blood the Moon our Church been turn'd.
9.
What men
Should we be then?
How faithful we
In meaſure and degree:
How watchful, wiſe, and wary,
He that comes, will come, and not tarry.
How ought we now to heav'n exhale
Our timely ſighs in a repentant gale?
How ought we now, againſt this day of fears,
Gods bottle fill with mourning tears?
That in this day, when air nor pool
Shall not refreſh nor cool;
When waters ſhall not drench,
And much leſs quench,
Nor ought refreſh
Our fleſh:
We may be cheared by that North and South,
Which ſhall refreſh our ſcorchings, cool our drouth.
10.
Dread God,
This Period
Cannot be far;
Though thou wilt ſend no ſtar
Before thee now, as when
Thou didſt at firſt to thoſe Wiſe-men:
Yet Wiſe-men now, with eyes as ſteady,
View in the eaſt thy ſtar there fix'd already.
O ſend thy Spirit, by a privie Seſſion,
T' arraign and ſentence each tranſgreſſion:
Let 's now condemn our ſelves, that we
May then b' abſolv'd by thee.
O let 's now for each fault
Our hearts aſſault;
Our ſelves contemn,
Condemn:
Then ſhall that flame our joyful Bonefire be,
And that Trump ſound our happie Jubilee.