The Crosse

Since Christ embrac'd the Crosse it selfe, dare IHis image, th'image of his Crosse deny?Would I have profit by the sacrifice,And dare the chosen Altar to despise?It bore all other sinnes, but is it fitThat it should beare the sinne of scorning it?Who from the picture would avert his eye,How would he flye his paines, who there did dye?From mee, no Pulpit, nor misgrounded law,Nor scandall taken, shall this Crosse withdraw,It shall not, for it cannot; for, the losseOf this Crosse, were to mee another Crosse;Better were worse, for, no affiction,No Crosse is so extreme, as to have none.Who can blot out the Crosse, which th'instrumentOf God, dew'd on mee in the Sacrament?Who can deny mee power, and libertyTo stretch mine armes, and mine owne Crosse to be?Swimme, and at every stroake, thou art thy Crosse;The Mast and yard make one, where seas do tosse;Looke downe, thou spiest out Crosses in small things;Looke up, thou seest birds rais'd on crossed wings;All the Globes frame, and spheares, is nothing elseBut the Meridians crossing Parallels.Materiall Crosses then, good physicke bee,But yet spirituall have chiefe dignity.These for extracted chimique medicine serve,And cure much better, and as well preserve;Then are you your own physicke, or need none,When Still'd, or purg'd by tribulation.For when that Crosse ungrudg'd, unto you stickes,Then are you to your selfe, a Crucifixe.As perchance, Carvers do not faces make,But that away, which hid them there, do take;Let Crosses, soe, take what hid Christ in thee,And be his image, or not his, but hee.But, as oft Alchimists doe coyners prove,So may a selfe-dispising, get selfe-love,And then as worst surfets, of best meates bee,Soe is pride, issued from humility,For, 'tis no child, but monster; therefore CrosseYour joy in crosses, else, 'tis double losse.And crosse thy senses, else, both they, and thouMust perish soone, and to destruction bowe.For if the'eye seeke good objects, and will takeNo crosse from bad, wee cannot scape a snake.So with harsh, hard, sowre, stinking, crosse the rest,Make them indifferent all; call nothing best.But most the eye needs crossing, that can rome,And move; To th'other th'objects must come home.And crosse thy heart: for that in man alonePoints downewards, and hath palpitation.Crosse those dejections, when it downeward tends,And when it to forbidden heights pretends.And as the braine through bony walls doth ventBy sutures, which a Crosses forme present,So when thy braine workes, ere thou utter it,Crosse and correct concupiscence of witt.Be covetous of Crosses, let none fall.Crosse no man else, but crosse thy selfe in all.Then doth the Crosse of Christ worke fruitfullyWithin our hearts, when wee love harmleslyThat Crosses pictures much, and with more careThat Crosses children, which our Crosses are.

Sleep sleep old Sun, thou canst not have repastAs yet, the wound thou took'st on friday last;Sleepe then, and rest; The world may beare thy stay,A better Sun rose before thee to day,Who, not content to'enlighten all that dwellOn the earths face, as thou, enlightned hell,And made the darke fires languish in that vale,As, at thy presence here, our fires grow pale.Whose body having walk'd on earth, and nowHasting to Heaven, would, that he might allowHimselfe unto all stations, and fill all,For these three daies become a minerall;Hee was all gold when he lay downe, but roseAll tincture, and doth not alone disposeLeaden and iron wills to good, but isOf power to make even sinfull flesh like his.Had one of those, whose credulous pietieThought, that a Soule one might discerne and seeGoe from a body,'at this sepulcher been,And, issuing from the sheet, this body seen,He would have justly thought this body a soule,If not of any man, yet of the whole.Desunt cætera.