The Wandering JEW:
OR,
The Shooemaker of Jerusalem,
Who lived when our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was Cru-
cified, and appointed by Him to live until his Coming a-
gain.
Tune, The Lady's Fall, etc.
Licens'd and Enter'd.
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WHen as in fair Jerusalem
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our Saviour Christ did live,
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[A]nd 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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[R]epent therefore, O England!
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Repent, whilst you have space;
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[A]nd do not (like this wicked Jew)
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despise God's proffered Grace.
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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 Heart was there,
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that pitty'd this his Wrong.
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Repent therefore, O England!
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Repent, whilst you have space;
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And do not (like this wicked Jew)
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despise God's proffered Grace
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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 One's 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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to 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 seest, 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 Journy stay'd.
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With that, this cursed Shooemaker,
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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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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 wandreth up and down the World,
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a Runagate most base.
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No Resting could he find at all,
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no Ease or Heart's Content,
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No House, no Home, no Dwelling-place;
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but wandring 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 hanious Guilt
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of his fore-passed Ill.
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Thus, after some few Ages past,
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in wandring up and down,
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He much again desired to see
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Jerusalem's 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 Saviou's Words, which he had spoke,
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to verifie and show:
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[I'll 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 stay,
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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 fore-past 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 O[ld] 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 a Foreign Land,
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Arabia, AEgypt, Affrica,
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Grecia, 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 Saviour's Word
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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 Flanders (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 Journies 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 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 had 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 fore-past and gone.
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If he hear any one Blaspheme,
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or take God's Name in vain;
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He tells them that they Crucifie
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our Saviour Christ again.
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If thou hadst 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 Torment think upon;
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And suffer for His sake all pain,
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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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whereas he comes or goes.
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