GOD Almighty's CALL To the Healthy and to the Sick, To which are added, The Authors and a Renowned Bishops Verses upon the Holy Bible.
GOD Almighty's CALL to the Healthy.
O ye, whose Benefits from me are not Narrow,
Whose Brests are full of Milk, and Bones of Marrow.
Quest. 1.
DOth Sloth become you, Sirs? Or don't you fear
The wicked slothful Servants doom to bear?
Q.2.
Doth luxury of Sleep become? O then
Of Life-time's shortness ne'er complain agen.
Q.3.
Doth Body-pampering you become? Alas!
Deny then if you can, your Flesh is Grass!
Q.4.
Doth Worldly Pomp become you? If it do,
Then Grace and Glory cann't become you too!
Q.5.
Doth Gluttony become you? Sirs, if so,
Say plainly you no GOD but Belly know!
Q.6.
Doth Idle Chat become you? VVon't your Lord
Require account, for every Idle Word?
Q.7.
Doth Company lewd become? Of such is Hell;
And would you chuse indeed, with such to dwell?
Q.8.
Doth Gaming you become? O don't mistake,
Though Games make Sports, yet Sports do Torments make.
Q.9.
Doth Worldly Care become you? Sirs 'tis true,
That GOD and Mammon cann't be served too.
Q.10
Doth use of Thoughts unbridled you become?
Is't nothing to be Divelish, so you are dumb?
Q.11.
Doth Reading paltry Books become? Your Eyes
Were made to Read the Books that make you Wise.
Q.12.
O what becomes you! But to seek your Peace,
And Holiness, and Vertues true Encrease.
Answer, O ye, whose Benefits are not Narrow;
Whose Breasts are full of Milk, and Bones of Marrow.
GOD Almighty's Call to the Sick.
O ye, whose strings of Eyes and very Heart,
Are, to your feeling, ready break apart.
Quest. 1. WHat say ye now?
Is there a God or no?
Atheists, in dying hours, Believers grow.
Q.2. What say ye now?
Are God and You now Friends?
For now the Reconciling Season ends.
Q.3. What say ye now?
Is time a Price or not?
The truest Knowledge, is on Sick-beds got.
Q.4. What say now?
Do not your Hopes now Shrink?
For Sick Men see, though Healthy use to wink.
Q.5. VVhat say ye now?
Is Sin a Load now Light?
Sin's least in Thought, when Death is least in Sight.
Q.6. VVhat say you now?
Is World Pearl in your Eye?
All dying Lips call world a deadly Lye.
Q.7. VVhat say ye now?
Now's Godliness great Gain?
No dying Saint, e're thought his Labour vain.
Q.8. VVhat say ye now?
Now will ye shape to dye?
O where's your Plea! for Lo your Judge draws nigh!
Q.9. VVhat say ye now?
Now will ye Elders call?
VVhen too much can't be done; who'd not do all?
Q.10. VVhat say ye now?
Now list ye to Convert?
Repentance late, need be with all the Heart.
Q.11. VVhat say ye now?
Vows holy will ye make?
Sin most renounce; but very few forsake.
Q.12. This therefore say:
Shall not these Vows be Vain?
If I shall Heal, and Raise you up again.
Answer O ye, whose strings of Eye and Heart,
Be, to your feeling, ready break apart.
Upon the HOLY BIBLE.
MEthinks 'twas witty that
Minerva's Fowls,
The
Greeks would make to be the very
Owls;
Sure 'twas to shew, that
Natural Learning's blind,
Till Light from Revelation, it did find
Let other Merchants, into
Toads-Heads look,
For Pearls of
Wisdom: But give me
God's Book.
Mens Books, the best, shall never fit my Head;
VVith God's, I'll
Rise; with God's, I'll
go to Bed.
Ah empty
Bodley! Emptyer
Vatican!
Bible makes
Saint; your Books scarce make a Man;
God's Book's more Bright then
Sun, more loud then
Thunder;
'Tis Light and Law from
Heaven, to all that's under.
Gaze on
Astronomers, on your splended
Trains;
In
Starry-Houses, Stable all your Brains!
My Bible's
Sun and
Moon and
Stars to me;
The
Star that Leads, to all I care to see!
Away, ye
Sons of Physick! True, your
Steel
Opens my disaffected
Spleen, I feel!
Castoreum relieves my
Brain when't akes,
And Sulphur from my Lungs their Loading takes:
But
Bible's
Food, and
Feast, and
Physick too;
Feeds, Chears, and
Cures, as nought of yours can do!
Bible makes
Lightsom still, and never
Light;
Still
Merry, never
Vain; Down, and
Ʋpright!
Verses found written in the BIBLE of the Right Reverend Bishop Prideaux.
THis is the
Volumn, in whose precious
Leaves,
Mysterys of Heavenly
Treasure, God bequeathes;
Objects and
Subjects, of each Christian Eye:
By these who
Lives, by
Death shall never
Dye!
Here Shines the
Sun of Grace, diffusing wide
His
Quickning Beams on all, from side to side!
Here
God and Man do both Embrace each other;
Met in one
Person, Heaven and
Earth do Kiss:
Here a
Pure-Virgin doth become a
Mother;
And bear a
Son, that the World's Father is.
Here comes
True Bliss
[...], flying from on high;
To hale us out of
Hells dar
[...] Misery.
LONDON, Printed by George Larkin, at the Two Swans without Bishopsgate, 1687. With Allowance.