( 8 )
Death
Come let that paſs, the kinder to appear,
I will reveal a Secret in your Ear:
The Death of Chriſt upon the painful Croſs,
That ſeem'd to be my Gain, now proves my Loſs
All in his Hair the Strength of Sampſon lay,
All with his Hair went Sampſon's Strength away.
I have no Strength, but what I had from Sin,
I have no Sting, but what lies hid therein,
Chrift ſuffering Death to put this Sin away,
Hath made me his whom I ſuppos'd my Prey.
My Strength is now decayed, my Sting abated,
My Boldneſs check'd, and my Dominions ſtated.
And I am now both faint and feeble grown;
Much like to Sampſon when his Hair was gone.
In my own Craft I was compleatly routed,
My jaws were broken and my Holders outed,
What now I Catch, I have no Power to keep,
My very Name is changed from Death to Sleep
'Tis true, I ⟨ſeiz'd⟩ on Chriſt, and brought him down,
And bound him in a Priſon of my own;
But all my ſtrongeſt Doors, Bars, Bolts and Bands
Were but meer nothing to his mighty Hands,
He broke thro' all and left the Door quite ope,
And all his Servants Priſoners of Hope;
For tho' they die, yet with devout Affection,
They do expect a joyful Reſurrection;
And with their Maſter to be brought again,
That they with him may evermore remain.
Thus Chriſt by dying did become Victorious,
And from his Bed of Darkneſs roſe more glorious;
And I by binding him made my ſelf faſt.
And his, I know, will prove my Death at laſt.
Blind Man.
Theſe Words give Comfort and Inſtruction too,
Henceforth I ſhall be better pleas'd with you,
Decreed it is for all Men once to die,
After that Judgment, then Eternity.
To
