The KINGS
Last farewell to the World,
OR THE
Dead KINGS Living Meditations, at the ap-
proach of Death denounced against Him.
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THrough fear of sharpe and bitter paine,
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by cutting off my dayes,
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No pleasure in my Crown I take,
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Nor in my Royall Rayes.
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I shall discend with grieved heart,
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(for none my life can save)
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Unto the dismall gates of death,
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to moulder in the Grave.
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Farewell my Wife, and Children all,
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wipe off my brinish teares.
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I am deprived of my Throne,
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and from my future years.
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Farewell my people every one,
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for I no more shall see
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The wonders of the Lord on earth,
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nor with you shall I bee.
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Mine eyes doe faile, and to the earth
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to worms I must be hurl'd:
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Henceforth no more shall I behold
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the people of the world.
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My Crown and Scepter I must leave,
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my glory, and my Throne:
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Adieu my fellow Princes all,
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I from the earth am gone.
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Mine Age (which did approach to me)
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departed is away;
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And as a Shepheards tent remov'd,
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and I return'd to clay;
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And as a Weaver doth cut off
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his thrum, even so my life,
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Must be cut off, from people and
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from Children, and from Wise.
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In sighes by day, and groanes by night
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with bitternesse I moane,
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And doe consume away with grief,
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my end to think upon.
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Fear in the morning me assailes,
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Death Lion-like I see,
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Even all the day (till night) to roare
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to make an end of me.
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I chattered as the schreeking Crane,
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or Swallow that doth flye:
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As Dove forlorn, in pensivenesse,
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doth mourn, even so doe I,
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I looked up to thee, O Lord,
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but now mine eyes doe faile.
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Oh ease my sad oppressed soule,
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for death doth now prevaile.
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What shall I say, to Gods Decree,
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if he would speak, I then
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should live; it is a work for God,
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I find no help from men.
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Yet if my life prolonged was,
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my sins for to repent,
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Then softly I would goe and mourn,
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untill my life was spent.
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And all my years, that I should live,
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for mine offences foule,
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I would passe o're in bitternesse,
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of my distressed soule.
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O Lord, thou hast discovered
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to me, that by these things
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Men live; Through thee, Princes do Reign,
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thou swayest over Kings.
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In all things here Gods providence,
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and will alone commands,
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The life of my poore spirit sad,
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is only in his hands,
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Oh, that the Lord would me restore.
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my strength then I would give,
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To serve my God in humblenesse
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whilst he would let me live.
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Behold, O Lord, when I in peace,
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did look to be restor'd,
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Then was my soule in bitternesse,
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cast off, and I abhor'd,
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Yet in the love of God most good,
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his righteousnesse most just
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Hath throwne me downe into the pit,
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and to corrupted dust,
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Because that I have gone astray,
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and cherisht war and strife,
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My dayes are now cut off, and I
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am quite bereft of life,
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Oh cast my sins behind thy backe,
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good God, I humbly pray,
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And my offences with the blood
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of Christ wash clean away.
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When my dead body is interd,
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I cannot praise thee there,
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Death cannot celebrate the Lord,
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my God, most good, most deare;
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They that go down into the pit
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destructions them devoure:
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For in thy truth they cannot hope,
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but perish by thy power.
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The living, Lord, the living, they
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shall praise thy holy name.
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With all the glorious hoast above,
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and I shall do the same,
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The father to his children here,
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that are of tender youth,
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Shall them forewarn, and unto them
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make known thy glorious truth.
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Forgive my sins, and save my soule
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O Lord, I thee intreate,
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And blot out mine offences all,
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for they are very great:
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Receive my soule for Christ his sake,
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my Prophet, Priest, and King,
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That I with Saints and Angells may
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eternall prayses sing.
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