Death was at first inflicted as a curse
But woman’s Seed hath broke the serpent’s head,
His bitter death for us hath gained life,
His agony hath freed His own from dread.
Death is that guest the godly wish to see;
For when it comes, their troubles ended be.
All things do work together for the best
To those that love and are beloved of God;
If all things, then must also sin and death,
Sickness and sorrows, world’s own scourging rod:
For in despite of flesh, the world, and devil,
Good to His children brings good out of evil.
First, we by death are freed from present woe,
And such God’s Spirit hath pronounced blest,
As in the Lord depart this irksome life;
For from their labours they for ever rest.
‘Tis death conducts us to the land of peace;
Then welcome death, which doth all sorrows cease.
If man were fettered in a loathsome gaol,
Without one spark of hope to come from thence,
Till prison walls were level with the ground,
He would be glad to see their fall commence.
The body’s ruin then rejoice to see,
That out of gaol thy soul may loosed be.
What worse bocardo for the soul of man,
Than is this body, which with filth is fraught;
Witness the sinks thereof, through which doth pass
The excrements, appointed for draught.
Evacuations, loathsome to the smell,
Egested filth, unfit for tongue to tell.
From out of prison bring my soul, O Lord,
Was David’s earnest and sincere desire,
Eliah in the anguish of his heart,
Did death in stead of irksome life require.
Vile, live, and evil, have the selfsame letters,
He lives but vile whom evil holds in fetters.
___
Yet some afflictions in this irksome life
Good doth in mercy to His children send,
Thereby to wean them from the love of that
Which is but noisome, and will soon have end.
That so their liking may be set above
Upon those pleasures which shall never move.
Which made the chosen vessel of the Lord,
That he might be with Christ, desire to die,
And Join to wish his days were at an end,
Because his life was nought but misery.
The godly man is tired with his breath,
And finds no rest till he be free by death.
—-
Death corporal in fine is as a door,
Through which our souls do pass without delay
Into those joys which cannot be conceived;
This truth is proved plain, where Christ doth say,
Today thou shalt be with me to that thief,
Which at last gasp did beg his soul’s relief.
___
Yet some afflictions in this irksome life,
God doth in mercy to His children send,
They to wean them from the love of that
Which is but noisome, and will soon have end.
That so their liking may be set above
Upon those pleasures which will never move.
Which made the chosen vessel of the Lord,
That he might be with Christ desire to die,
And Job to wish his days were at an end,
Because his life was nought but misery.
The godly man is tired with his breath,
And finds no rest till he be free by death.
—-
The dove, which Noah sent forth from the ark,
Could find no rest, till she returned again;
Nor can the faithful till they go to Christ
True rest and quiet without grief obtain:
Heaven is the haven of the faithful wight,
Christ’s love the object of their soul’s delight.
The soul of David panted after God,
And thirsted oft His presence to obtain;
The Father of the faithful lived in tents
And stranger-like in Canaan did remain.
That he might nowhere settle his abode
But in the city of the living God.
___
Into that place prepared for God’s elect
Afore the world, the Lord conducts us still,
And grant that we the measure of our days
To His good pleasure may on earth fulfill;
That when we to our period do attain
We may with Christ in glory ever reign.
Amen.
Lord Jesus come quickly.
FINIS.
Stanzas 14-19, 25, 51-52, 110-112, 126.
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