A most godly and comfortable Ballad of the glorious
Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, how he triumphed over
death, hell, and sinne, whereby we are certainly perswaded of our
rising againe from the dead. To the tune of Rogero.
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WHat faithlesse froward sinfull man,
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so farre from grace is fled,
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That doth not in his heart beleeve
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the rising from the dead:
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Or why do wicked mortall men,
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their lives on earth so frame:
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That being dead they do suppose,
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they shall not rise again?
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For why, if that the dead indeed,
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which now consuming lies,
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Shall not by God be raisd againe,
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then Christ did never rise:
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And if so be our Saviour sweet,
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did not arise from death:
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Our preaching is of no effect,
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and vaine is hope on earth.
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If Christ rose not againe, I say,
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then are we yet in sinne:
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And they that fall a-sleep in him,
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no part of joy shall winne:
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Of all the creatures living then,
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which God on earth did frame,
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Most wretched are the state of men,
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which spend their time in vaine.
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But Christ is risen up from death,
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as it was right and meet:
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And thereby trod down death and Hell,
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and sinne under his feet:
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And that the same to simple men,
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the plainer might appeare:
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The glorious rising of the Lord,
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his Word declareth here.
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When he within the Grave was laid,
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the Jewes did watchmen set,
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Lest by his friends his corps from thence
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should secretly be fet:
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A mighty stone likewise they did
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on his Sepulchre role,
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And all for fear his body should
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away from thence be stole.
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And in the dead time of the night,
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a mighty earthquake came,
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The which did shake both Sea and Land,
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and all within the same.
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And then the Angell of the Lord,
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came down from Heaven so high,
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And rold away the mighty stone,
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which on the grave did lye.
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The second part, To the same tune.
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HIs face did shine like flaming fire,
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his cloathes were white as snow,
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Which put the watchmen in great feare,
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who ran away for woe:
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And told unto the high Priest plaine,
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what I do now rehearse:
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Who hired them for money straight,
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that they should hold their peace.
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And say, quoth they, his servants came,
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which he sometimes did keepe:
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And secretly stole him away,
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while we were sound asleepe.
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And if that Herod heare thereof,
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we will perswade him so:
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That you shall have no hurt at all,
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where-ever you do goe.
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But faithfull Mary Magdalen,
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and James his Mother too,
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Had brought great store of oyntment sweet,
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as Jewes were wont to doe:
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Who rose up early in the morne,
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before that it was day:
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The body of the Lord to noynt,
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in grave whereas he lay.
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And when unto the grave they ranne,
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they were in wondrous feare:
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They saw a young man in the same,
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but Christ they saw not there:
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Then said the Angell unto them,
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why are you so afraid?
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The Lord whom you do seek, I know,
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is risen up, he said.
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Then went the Women both away,
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who told these tidings than:
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To John and Peter, who in haste,
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to the Sepulchre ran,
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Who found it as the Women said,
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and then away did goe:
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But Mary stayed weeping still,
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whose teares declard her woe.
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Who looking down into the grave,
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two Angells there did see,
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Quoth they, why weepes this woman so:
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even for my Lord, quoth she.
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And turning then her selfe aside,
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as she stood weeping so,
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The Lord was standing at her back,
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but him she did not know.
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Why doth this woman weepe, he said,
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whom seekes she in this place?
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She thought he had a gardner been,
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and thus she shewes her case:
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If thou hast born him hence, she said,
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then tell me where he is,
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And for to fetch him back againe,
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be sure I will not misse.
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What, Mary, then our Saviour said,
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dost thou lament for me?
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O Master, livest thou againe?
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my soule doth joy in thee:
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O Mary, touch me not, he said,
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ere I have been above:
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Even with my God, the onely God,
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and Father whom we love.
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And oftentimes did Christ appeare,
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to his disciples all:
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But Thomas would not yet beleeve,
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his faith it was so small:
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Except that he might thrust his hand
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into the wound so wide,
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And put his finger where the Speare
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did pierce his tender side.
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Then Christ which knew all secret thoughts,
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to them againe came he;
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Who said to Thomas here I am,
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as plainly thou maist see.
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See here the hands which nailes did pierce,
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and feel thou here my side:
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And be not faithlesse, O thou man,
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for whom these paines I bide.
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Thus sundry times Christ shewd himself,
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when he did rise againe:
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And then ascended he to Heaven,
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in glory for to raigne:
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Where he prepares a place for those,
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whom he shall raise likewise,
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To live with him in heavenly blisse,
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above the lofty skies.
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