A Warning for all Worldlings to learn to Dye.
The Tune is, The Ladies fall.
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GOod people all repent with speed,
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high time it is to pray,
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Tempt not the just and righteous God
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with vain and long delay:
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And while it is the day indeed,
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for mercy call and cry,
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O would that men would bear in mind
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that one day they must dye.
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Thy self in thy security,
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why dost thou flatter so?
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Deferring thy repenting days,
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till age doth bring thee low;
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And further, till the sickest hour,
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that e're thou hast to lye,
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O would that men, etc.
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O dust and ashes dost thou think
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the glorious God of might,
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will take in worth these wicked things
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and wait on thy delight?
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O mark how sore and suddenly,
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his wrath on thee will lye,
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O would that men, etc.
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For what is he upon the earth,
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that can himself secure,
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Or say that for an hours space
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my life it can endure:
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No man on earth can warrant life,
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the twinkling of an eye,
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O would that men, etc.
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And after death thy self assure,
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repentance comes too late,
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Not all the wealth within the world
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that can thy pains abate;
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For as a tree doth take his fall,
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even so the same doth lye,
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Therefore in chiefest of thy health
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prepare thy self to dye.
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And seest thou not in sickness oft,
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mens memories decay,
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Who many times do rove and rage,
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when they have need to pray,
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whose hearts are bent to ban and curse,
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till death doth close their eye:
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Therefore, etc.
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The Second Part, to the same Tune.
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ANd if thou hast thy memory,
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and understanding right,
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And of thy speech the perfect use,
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and brightness of thy sight:
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Yet may the Lord withold his grace,
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and take thy Faith from thee,
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That to repent thy folly past,
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thou shalt not able be.
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But yet admit our gracious God,
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in mercy for to deal,
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That in thy sickness he vouchsafe,
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his mercy to reveal,
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Yet thou shalt have a thousand griefs,
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to wring thy mind awry;
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Therefore, etc.
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For thou shalt have thy body then,
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disquieted with pain,
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Thy head and heart will vexed be,
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and so will every vain:
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The pangs of death will fear thee sore,
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whose force thou canst not flye,
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Therefore, etc.
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The love of life will tempt thee much,
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whose favour was so sweet,
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And thou wilt muse of many things,
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that for thy health is meet:
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To think thou must forgo thy goods
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will nip thy heart full nigh;
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Therefore, etc.
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To see thy friends and neighbours all,
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thy dying hour abide,
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To see thy Wife and Children small
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cry out on every side:
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To think thou must forgoe them all,
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will nip thy heart full nigh,
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Therefore, etc.
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Besides to think upon thy sins,
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will much molest thy mind,
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The fresh remembrance of the same,
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thou shalt most bitter find;
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Despair & dread will drown thy heart,
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for living so awry;
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Therefore, etc.
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And thy accusing Conscience then,
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will witness to thy woe,
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How wickedly upon the earth,
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thou didst thy days bestow:
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And this within thy pensive breast,
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most grievously will lye:
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Therefore, etc.
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Then will the Devil most busie be,
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Gods Justice to declare,
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And of his mercy he will still,
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procure thee to despair:
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Perswading thee thy grievous Sins,
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do for hell ever cry,
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Therefore, etc.
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Here mayst thou see, oh wretched man,
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how hard a time thou hast,
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Prepared to repent thy sins,
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at this thy latter cast:
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Therefore put not repentance back,
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do not Gods grace deny,
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But in the chiefest of thy health, etc.
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Let every one pray that the Lord,
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may bless our King and Queen,
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And grant that they in all their days
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may joyfully be seen:
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And after death that they may live,
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in joy eternally,
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Then let all good people say, Amen,
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and so, Amen, say I,
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