The WANDERING JEW:
Or, the SHOEMAKER of Jerusalem.
Who lived when our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was Cru-
cified, and by him appointed to Live till his Coming again.
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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 this life,
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Our Saviour could have rest.
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Repent therefore, O England!
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Repent while you have space;
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And do not like the wicked Jews
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Despise Gods proferd grace.
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When they had crownd his head with thorns,
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And scourgd him with 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 thousands thousands in the street
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Did see him pass along;
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Yet not one gentle heart was there,
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That pityd this his wrong. Repent, etc.
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Both old and young reviled him,
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As thro the streets 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 burden far too great;
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Which made him in the streets 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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For to ease his burthend 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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You shall not rest you here:
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Pass on; your execution-place
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You see 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 shoemaker,
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For offering Christ 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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So when he had the precious blood
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Of Jesus Christ thus shed,
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And to the cross his body naild
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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 wandereth up and down the world,
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A renegade most base.
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No resting could he find at all,
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Nor ease, nor hearts content;
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No house, nor home, nor dwelling-place,
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But wandering forth he went.
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From town to town in foreign lands,
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With grieved conscience, still
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Repenting for the henious gift
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Of his fore-passed ill.
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Thus after some ages had past,
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With wandering up and down,
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He once again desired to see
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Jerusalems fair town.
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But finding it was quite destroyd,
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He wandered full of woe;
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Our Saviours words which he had spoke,
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To verify and shew:
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Ill rest, said he, but thou shalt walk,
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So doth this Wandering Jew,
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From place to place, but cannot stay,
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For seeing countries new.
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Declaring still the power of him,
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Whereer he comes or goes;
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And of all things done in the East,
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Since Christ his death did shew.
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The world he still doth compass round,
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And sees those nations strange,
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Who hearing of the name of God,
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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 time fore-past and gone;
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And to the Princes of the world
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Declard his cause of moan.
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Desiring still to be dissolvd
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And yield his mortal breath;
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But as the Lord had thus decreed,
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He must 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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He passed many foreign lands,
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Arabia, Egypt, Africa,
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Greece, Syria, and Great Thrace,
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And quite thro Hungary.
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Where Paul and Peter preached Christ,
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Those blest apostles dear,
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Where he hath told our Saviouss words,
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In the 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 Flanders, as tis thought,
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He wandereth 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 wonder much to hear him tell
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His journeys and his ways.
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If people give this Jew an alms,
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The most that he will take
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Is not above a groat a day;
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Which he for Jesus sake
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Doth kindly give unto the poor,
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And therefore makes 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 was not 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 far spent and gone.
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If he hears any one blaspheme,
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Or take Gods name in vain;
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He tells them they crucify
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Our Saviour Christ again.
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If thou hadst seen grim death, said 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 pains,
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All torments, and all woes.
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These are his words, and this his life,
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Whereer he comes or goes.
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