| |
| A HUNDRED yeares the arke in building was, | |
| So long the time ere he could bring to passe | |
| This worke intended: all which time iust Noy | |
| Cry’d that th’ Almighty would the world destroy. | |
| And as this good man vsed many a day | 5 |
| To walke abroad his building to survay, | |
| These cruell gyants comming in to see, | |
| (In their thoughts wond’ring what this worke should be) | |
| He with erected hands to them doth cry:— | |
| “Either repent ye, or ye all must die; | 10 |
| Your blasphemies, your beastlinesse, your wrongs, | |
| Are heard to heauen, and with a thousand tongues | |
| Showt in the eares of the Almighty Lord, | |
| So that your sinnes no leasure him affoord | |
| To think on mercy; they so thickly throng, | 15 |
| That when he would your punishment prolong, | |
| Their horrour hales him on, that from remorce | |
| In his own nature you doe him inforce, | |
| Nay, wrest plagues from him vpon human kinde; | |
| Who else to mercy wholly is inclinde. | 20 |
| From Seth, which God to Eva gave in lew | |
| Of her sonne Abel, whom his brother slue, | |
| That cursed Cain—how hath th’ Almighty blest | |
| The seed of Adam, though he so transgrest, | |
| In Enos, by whose godlinesse men came | 25 |
| At first to call on th’ Almightie’s name, | |
| And Enoch, whose integritie was such, | |
| In whom the Lord delighted was, so much | |
| As in his yeeres he suffered no decay, | |
| But God to heauen tooke bodyly away; | 30 |
| With long life blessing all that goodly stem, | |
| From the first man downe to Mathusalem. | |
| Now from the loynes of Lamech sendeth me | |
| (Vnworthy his ambassadour to be) | |
| To tell ye yet, if ye at last repent, | 35 |
| He will lay by his wrathfull punishment; | |
| That God, who was so mercifull before | |
| To our forefathers, likewise hath in store | |
| Mercy for vs, their nephues, if we fall | |
| With teares before him; and he will recall | 40 |
| His wrath sent out already; therefore flye | |
| To him for mercy: yet the threat’ning skie | |
| Pauses, ere it the deluge downe will poure— | |
| For euery teare you shed he ’ll stop a shower. | |
| Yet of th’ Almighty mercy you may winne, | 45 |
| He’ll leaue to punish if you leaue to sinne. | |
| That God eternall which old Adam cast | |
| Out of the earthly heauen, where he had plac’t | |
| That first-made man, for his forbidden deed, | |
| From thence for euer banishing his seed, | 50 |
| For vs, his sinfull children, doth provide, | |
| And with abundance hath vs still supply’d: | |
| And can his blessings who respects you thus | |
| Make you most wicked, most rebellious? | |
| Still is your stubborne obstinacy such? | 55 |
| Haue ye no mercy, and your God so much? | |
| Your God, said I? O wherefore said I so? | |
| Your words deny him, and your works say ‘No.’ | |
| O see, the day doth but too fast approach, | |
| Wherein heauen’s Maker means to set abroach | 60 |
| That world of water, which shall ouerflow | |
| Those mighty mountaines whereon now you goe. | |
| The dropsied clouds, see, your destruction threat; | |
| The sunne and moone both in their course are set | |
| To warre by water, and doe all they can | 65 |
| To bring destruction vpon sinfull man; | |
| And euery thing shall suffer for your sake; | |
| For the whole earth shall be but one whole lake. | |
| Oh, cry for mercy, leaue your wicked wayes, | |
| And God from time shall separate those dayes | 70 |
| Of vengeance coming, and he shall disperse | |
| These clouds now threat’ning the whole vniverse, | |
| And saue the world which else he will destroy.”— | |
| But this good man, this terror-preaching Noy, | |
| The beares and tigers might haue taught as well: | 75 |
| They laught to heare this godly man to tell | |
| That God would drowne the world: they thought him mad, | |
| For their Great Maker they forgotten had. | |
| |
