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| GOD, 1 th’ æternal God, noe doubt is good to the godly, | |
| Giuing grace to the pure, and mercy to Israel holy: | |
| And yet, alas! my feete, my faynte feet gan to be slyding, | |
| And I was almost gone and fall’n to a dangerous error. | |
| For my soul did grudg, my hart consumed in anger, | 5 |
| And myne eyes disdayng’d, when I saw that such men abounded | |
| With wealth, health, and joy, whose myndes with myschif abounded, | |
| Theyr body stowt and strong, theyr lyms still lyuely apearing, | |
| Neyther feare any panges of death, nor feele any sicknes: | |
| Some still mourne, they laughe: some lyue unfortunate euer, | 10 |
| They for ioy doe triumphe, and taste aduersity neuer; | |
| Which makes them with pryde, with scornful pryde to be chayned, | |
| And with blood-thirsting disdaigne as a roabe to be cou’red. * * * * * * * | |
| Tush! say they, can God from the highest heauens to the lowest | |
| Earth vouchsaulf, thinck you, those prince-like eyes be bowing? | 15 |
| ’Tis but a vaine conceipt of fooles to be fondly referring | |
| Euery jesting trick and trifling toy to the Thundrer: | |
| For loe these be the men whoe rule and reign with aboundance; | |
| These, and who but these? Why then, what meane I to lift up | |
| Cleane handes and pure hart to the heu’ns? what meane I to offer | 20 |
| Praise and thanksgeuing to the Lord? what meane I to suffer | |
| Such plagues with patience? Yea, and almost had I spoken | |
| Euen as they did speake, which thought noe God to be guyding. | |
| But soe should I, alas! haue iudged thy folk to be luckless, | |
| Thy sons forsaken, thy saints vnworthily haples. | 25 |
| Thus did I thinck and muse, and search what might be the matter: | |
| But yet I could not, alas! conceaue so hidden a woonder, | |
| Vntil I left myself, and all my thoughts did abandon, | |
| And to thy sacred place, to thy sanctuary, lastly repayred. | |
| There did I see, O Lord, these men’s vnfortunate endings; | 30 |
| Endings mute, and fit for their vngodly beginnings. | |
| Then did I see how they did stand in slippery places, | |
| Lifted aloft, that their downefalling might be the greater. | |
| Lyving Lord, how soone is this theyr glory triumphant | |
| Dasht, confounded, gone, drownd in destruction endless! | 35 |
| Their fame’s soone outworne, theyr names extinct in a moment, | |
| Lyke to a dreame, that lyues by a sleep, and dyes with a slumber. | |
| —Thus my soule did greeue, my hart did languish in anguish; | |
| Soe blynde were myne eyes, my minde soe plunged in error, | |
| That noe more than a beast did I know this mystery sacred. | 40 |
| Yet thou heldst my hande, and kepst my soule from the dungeon; | |
| Thou didst guyde my feete, and me with glory receauedst. | |
| For what in heau’n or in earth shall I loue, or woorthyly wonder, | |
| But my most good God, my Lord and mighty Jehova? | |
| Though my flesh oft faint, my hart’s oft drowned in horror, | 45 |
| God neuer fayleth, but will be my mighty protector. | |
| Such as God forsake, and take to a slippery comfort, | |
| Trust to a broken staffe, and taste of woorthy reuengement. | |
| In my God, therefore, my trust is wholly reposed, | |
| And his name wil I praise, and sing his glory renowmed. | 50 |
