His harpe in hande he therfore tooke,
And on his knees this noble kyng
(As it is in the Psalter booke)
This holy psalme begun to synge:
Not vnto vs, Lord, not to vs,
PSALM CXV.
Non nobis, Domine.
NOT unto us, Lord, not to us,
But to thy holy name alwayse,
For thy mercy and truthe done thus,
Ascribed be all laude and prayse.
These heathen folke that faythles be,
Why should they saye to us in spighte,
Where is their God, let us hym see,
In whom these Christians haue delyghte?
For their false gods, their chiefe and best,
Are nothing but syluer and goulde:
The handes of men, both most and lest,
Haue forged them out of the moulde.
Yet haue they for their idols made
Mouthes wherewith they can speak nothing,
And eyes also whereof the trade
Is to be blynde from all seyng.
Suche eares also in them are wrought,
And heare nothing that one can tell;
And noses whiche are likewyse nought,
For they with them can nothyng smell.
Vayne handes haue they, and fete also;
For with their handes they handle not,
Nor with their fete they can not goe,
Nor sounde no voice out of their throte.
Wherefore suche as doe idols make,
Doe their own works resemble just;
And they also that doe them take
For gods, or haue them in their truste.
Let Israell, then, in the Lorde
Set all their truste and confidence;
And Aaron's house thereto accorde ;
For he is their most sure defence.
All ye that feare the Lorde aright,
Trust in hym well, be not afrayde;
For he will surely shewe his myght
To succoure you and be your ayde.
The Lord will not forget doubtless,
But haue us in his mynde full well:
The righteous houses he wyll bles
Of Aaron and of Israell.
Ye that do feare the Lorde therefore
Are blessed, both the great and small:
The Lorde increase you more and more,
Both you and eke your children all.
For sithe ye are his chosen sorte,
And haue the Lorde whole in your thought, He wyll you blesse with greate comforte, Both heauen and earth that made of nought.
The heauens and the firmament
Are his, and at his holy wyll;
But the rounde earth he hath forth lente
The sonnes of mortal men untyll'.
The dead, O Lorde, that are gone hence,
Cannot in graue express thy wayes;
Nor such as downe are in sylence
Can honor thee or giue thee prayse.
But we, O Lorde, that be alyve,
Thy prayse wyll spreade and ramifye,
And in our hearts due thankes contryve
Unto thy name eternally.
AN HOLSOME WARNING
FOR ALL MEN THAT BEARE THE NAME OF CHRISTIANS TO LYVE CHRISTIANLY.
From the "Court of Vertue."
O HARKE a whyle vnto my style,
All ye that Christians be;
That beare that name, and doe not frame
Your liues accordingly.
Is fayth in syche as beying ryche,
Though thee doo Christ professe,
That euery houre doo Christ deuoure,
And his poore flocke oppresse?
For we are all, as sayth Saynt Paule,
Membres of one body
Of Christ Jesu, ground of vertue
And of all veritie:
When the poore man, as proue I
Is Christ his member true,
As well as he, what so he be,
That ryches so endue.
Why should ye then to symple men
Beare such despight and hate,
Syth they be all in Christ equall
With you in all estate?
Christ his kyngdome was neuer wonne
By wealth or hygh degree,
Allthough that here some doo appere
To reygne in dignitie.
Then let none thynke that Christ wyll shrynke, When he shall iudge us all,
Of all your wealth, so got by stelthe,
You to accompt to call:
When yf he fynde ye were unkynde
To your poore brethern dere,
Then wyll he say, Goo from me aye
Into eternall fyre.
When I lackt meate, and fayne would eate,
In sycknes, thyrst, and colde,
In all my nede not one good dede
That you to me doo wold.
Then wyll ye say wythout delay,
Lord, when dyd we thee see
Lacke any foode to doo thee good,
And dyd it not to thee?
And he agayne shall answer playne,
I truely say to you,
Ye styll oppreste and muche detest
The poore, my members true.
When ye therfore did them abhorre
That are of lowe degree,
To me alone, and other none,
Ye did that iniury.
Saint John doth proue we cannot loue
God whom we doe not see,
If we doe hate our brethren that
Are present to our eye.
Nowe call for grace, whyle ye haue space;
Your wycked lyues amende;
And so procede in worde and dede
True Christians to the ende.
THE FAITHFULL SOULDIOUR OF CHRISTE
DESIRETH ASSISTANCE OF GOD AGAINST
HIS GHOSTLY ENEMIES.
HEREOUT, O Lorde, the right request
Of him, that faine would haue redrest
The wronges that are so sore increst
Within my soule, so sore opprest.
O Lorde, to thee with wofull crye
I call for grace and for mercy;
And if thou helpe not then truly,
In deadly wo remayn must I.
The world, the diuell, death, and hell,
With great assaultes against me swell:
Lorde, let thy grace in me excell
Against their fury fierce and fell.
O Lorde my God, to thee I praye,
Suffer me not to goe astraye,
And haue in mynde the pryce and day
Wherewith thou didste my ransome pay.
Oh haue in mynde thine own great cost,
And let not this thy payne be lost:
In thee, O Lorde, my trust is most
To dwell among thy holy host.
Thou knowst wherin my help doth stand,
Whereuer I be on sea or lande:
Good Lorde, put to thy helping hand,
Saue me from hell, that fierce fyrebrand.
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