The Wandring Jew,
O R, the Shoo-maker of Jerusalem, who lived when our Saviour Christ was Crucified, a[nd ap]
pointed by him to live until his coming again. To the Tune of, the Ladies Fall.
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When as in fair Jerusalem,
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our Saviour Christ did live,
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And for the sins of all the world,
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his own dear life did give:
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The wicked Jews with Scoffs and Scorns,
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did daily him molest,
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That never till he left his life,
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our Saviour could not rest.
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when they had crown'd his head with thorns
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and scourg'd him to disgrace,
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In scornful sort they led him forth
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unto his dying place,
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Where thousand thousands in the street,
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beheld him pass along,
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Yet not one gentle heaat was there,
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that pittied this his wrong.
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Both Old and Young reviled him
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as in the street he went,
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And nothing found but churlish Taunts
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by every ones consent:
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His own dear Cross he bore himself;
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a burthen far too great,
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Which made him in the street to faint,
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with blood and water sweat.
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Being weary thus, he sought for rest,
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and ease his burthened soul,
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Upon a stone the which a wretch,
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did churlishly controul:
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And said away thou King of Jews,
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thou shalt not rest thee here,
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Pass on, thy Execution place,
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thou see'st now draweth near.
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And thereupon he thrust him thence,
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at which our Saviour said,
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I sure will rest, but thou shalt walk,
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and have no journey staid,
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With that this cursed Shooe-Maker,
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for offering Chist this wrong,
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Left Wife and Children, house and all,
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and went from thence along.
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Where after he had seen the blood,
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of Jesus Christ thus shed,
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And to the Cross his body nail'd,
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away with speed he fled,
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Without returning back again,
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unto his dwelling place,
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And wandring up and down the world,
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a Runnagate most base.
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NO resting could he find at all,
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no ease of heart content,
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No house, no home, no biding place,
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but wandring forth he went,
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From town to town, in forreign Lands,
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with grieved conscience still,
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Repenting for the hanious Guilt,
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of his forepassed ill.
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Thus ofter some few ages past,
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in wandring up and down,
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He much again desir'd to see,
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Jerusalems renown:
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But finding it all quite destroy'd,
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he wandred thence with woe,
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Our Saviours words which he had spoke,
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to verifie and show.
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I'le rest said he, but thou shalt walk,
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so doth this wandring Jew,
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From place to place but cannot rest,
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for seeing Countries new,
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Declaring still the power of him
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whereas he comes or goes,
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And of all things done in the East,
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since Christ his death he shows.
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The world he hath still compast round,
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and seen those Nations strange,
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That hearing of the name of Christ,
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their Idol Gods do change:
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To whom he hath told wondrous things,
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of times forepast and gone,
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And to the Princes of the World,
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declares his cause of moan.
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Desiring still to be dissolv'd
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and yield his mortal breath,
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But if the Lord hath thus decreed,
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he shall not yet see Death:
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For neither looks he old or young,
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but as he did those times,
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When Christ did suffer on the Cross,
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for mortal sinners crimes,
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[H]e passed many a forreign place,
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Arabia, AEgyp, Africa,
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Greciae, Syria, and great Thrace,
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and through all Hungaria,
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Where Paul and Peter Preached Christ,
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those blest Apostles dear,
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Where he had told our saviours words,
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in Countries far and near.
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And lately in Bohemia,
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with many a German Town
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And now in Flander, as 'tis thought,
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he wandreth up and down;
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Where learned men with him confer,
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of those his lingering days,
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And wondring much to hear him tell,
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his Journeys and his ways.
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If people gives this Jew an alms,
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the most that he will take,
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Is not above a Groat a time,
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which he for Jesus sake,
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Will kindly give unto the poor,
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and thereof make no spare,
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Affirming still that Jesus Christ,
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of him hath daily care.
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He ne'r was seen to laugh or smile,
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but weep and make great moan,
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Lamenting still his miseries,
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and days forepast and gone:
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If he hear any one Blaspheme,
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or take Gods name in vain,
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He tells them that they crucifie,
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their Saviour Christ again.
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If thou had'st seen grim death, says he,
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as these mine eyes have done,
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Ten thousand thousand times would ye,
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his torments think upon:
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And suffer for his sake all pain,
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of torments and all woes,
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These are his words and eke his life,
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whereas he comes or goes.
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