On the Life and Self-murder of Domitius Nero, with regard to God's kingdom

Front matter

on THE LIFE AND SELF-MURDER OF DOMITIUS NERO, with regard to GOB?S KINGDOM, BY THE REV. JAMES ATKINS, FORMERLY FELLOW OP ST. MARY MACDALENE COLLECJ IN CAMBRIDGE. I bask unbosom'd to the sight." The Drunkard's Looking Glass. " Or could these echoes ring upon your ear, For echoes all you know they were. Could their afar resounding song, By you be wak'd, yet itill be wrong." On Mopsa. PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR By J. Moo'e, 134, Drery.Lpne, And told by J. Coxhcad, Holy well-Street, Strand; Longman ind Co.j Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, Paternoster-Row ; Nicholson and Deigbton, Cambridge ; Parker and Co.; and Bliss, Oxford. 1814. on god's kingdom. who by his oar made the earth and sun and moon and stars and all things, is a man like other men, and has in his kingdom, besides himself, oar-usurpers, and the remainder of mankind.

For as kings and great men keep great parts of the earth, and are nearly their own masters, or are nearly as they themselves can like over them, so oar-usurpers keep their oars from God or God from his oar, and are more or less regardless of what else is due to him. On this account, since they have done .so, the kingdom of heaven may be said to have suffered vio lence, and to have let the violent take it by force; (St. Matthew, ch. xi. v. 12,) and to have endured God not to be as he can like or all in all in it. (1 Cor. chap. xv. v. 28.) For before that time we may reckon God to have been as he could like in his kingdom, and to have had all men and all things under the curb of his oar, or of his own one-way; and to have witnessed from side to side every body undoing every thing which they ever did, and doing what he himself is, according to the first article of the two tables, (Genesis, ch. iii. v. 3 and 4 ) But, after that time, when men would be bigger than they ought to be, as if they would be Gods, and would weed away or take to a distance those persons, who were bad, with re_ gard to their several one-ways, they not only gave birth outwardly and inwardly, as I have said, in heaven to a many-a-way or an every-way, but by such many-a-way or every-way caused all men to die.

A a I have hitherto spoken of oar-usurpers, as if there were many of them ; and since they die like other men, we may believe, that there are many of them, and that they are liable to every-way burdens and fall under them, whether such every-way burdens come from each other, or from the remainder of mankind, or from both. For while the remainder of mankind take leave 'to slight God's one-way, Oar-usurpers ask, what need they have to withhold themselves from slighting it"; and bribe them by making known to them, what God does not like to be made known to them, and by doing what they want internally, as far as they themselves are able to drive or browbeat externally. Yet while oar-usurpers thus seem to aid the remainder of mankind in their disregard of God's one-way, they find fault by making them their jack-catch murderers of ransoms, as if they were guilty of universal murder.

Book I

JlN the first dawn of heaven's eternal day, enlighten'd ever by the Almighty's sway, bright as the sun outshining far and near, God shed his light unborrowed every-where ; while as the moon, as stars, or planets, men such light reflected only now and then. Yet long as God thus marshall'd all his train, men like himself liv'd always free from pain; always selfpleased, never out ot tune, as if at all times morning, all times noon, and in his sight alike all undismay'd ne'er let a rival glow-worm cast a shade. Thrice happy thus in Eden's garden sped men, while they own'd the king of kings their head; while on his nod they waited always right, and looking-glasses seem'd, that shew'd his light.

But when the serpent's earthquake shook the world, and he, where'er he lik'd, himself unfurl'd ; when all men else the serpent's race had run, and every star wou'd shine another sun; when self-created Gods o'ertopp'd the skies, and where their spells o'ershaded, dying sighs c of kings, queens, princes, peasants, rung the air and let from God himself drop many a tear; when thus, east, west, north, south, in every wind, mankind lay couch'd triumphant o'er mankind, making immortals mortals, heaven a hell, no longer all in all, no longer well; when thus bewiider'd, — thus in every-ways lost, and without helm o'er idol billows tost, God bid the sky, unclouding to the view, go teach how stars yet pay their tribute due, tho' men, that cast at first such starry shade, nor spar'd to yield, like stars, their twinkling aid, then their own lords, with lightning in their hand, all as Almighties went from land to land. —Yet, while thus vying, many, loth to stray, ne'er lik'd to shine as suns or rule the day, and long as stars reflecting, long outshone, on God awaited as their one-way sun ; till Rome browbeating his oar-bearer's storm by Egypt's wisemen, — Egypt's shade or form ; and while the latter let their thunders roll, '' and like himself controul'ing wou'd controul, all in their ambush, Babel-towers high, above God's kingdom reach 'd, above the sky. — For lightnings, with and not with thunders loud, God from his quiver open'd on the proud ; while Cesar, all in all, unseen, and seen, sway'd as if nothing else cou'd e'er have been ; and at his heels had, he thought, friend and foe in heaven and in hell or nearly so; and look'd at oar-usurpers as men look, who hope to take, whene'er they bait their hook —Hence then as day by day the evening air lets go the twilight with a lover's care ; So men, while wooing for God's one-way light, let jack-o'-lantherns, in an every-way night, themselves whoremasters lose with many a whore, and, when dead, leave forsaken evermore; till they beneath oar-bearers ere they die, against and for and with each other vie. — For above God or as Almighties free, they built their Babel-towers, cap-a-pee, and without scruple, while they sought renown, bedeck'd their temples with a devil's crown. — In these heels-up wards times all-moss 'd with age, heaven but under hell its wars cou'd wage; but underneath a Cesar's banners wav'd the sceptre, which a Cesar's sceptre brav'd, uncresting, while it feign'd to crest his pride, unkind yet seem'd a bridegroom o'er his bride ; a northern-light, that playful o'er the earth, dropp'd spotted-fever tokens in its mirtb, and as seed sown in fields well-cleans'd and plough'd, men with such tokens went as if their shroud.

With vows, while many darken'd thus the sky, beyond all Jesus vow'd to kill or die, to shew a Babel-tower wizard's spell, stricken with thunders, while it thrives in hell ; to blight a Cesar's tendrils while they shoot, and his whole tree turn upwards from the root. Soon then sad whirlwinds as the lightning thence Rome's empire haunted heedless who knew whence; Till Claudius warn'd by such a wakening sight of ills thus rising towards their noontide height, shone as a western moon, with showers wan and ere he set to Nero thus began : — " A blossom, from a branch, of Coniah's tree, Augustus as his signet lik'd to seec a Tho' as a bramble, shaded many an age ; in forests planted by the Almighty's rage, such tree, howe'er outrivall'd in its suit, would all trees always rival with its fruit ; would, while they shed their mildews, shed its owit, and like the sun with daylight shine alone.

Whence as the lofty cedars or a cloud on hills, with godlike signs and honours brow'd, he o'er a kingdom as a god or king ■ ot as a humour 'd child sway'd every thing, and till Tiberius in the reddening east gleam 'd as when hunting a wild boar or beast ; none saw his garlick, eye-sore he knew where, as constellations climb the azure clear, and make the roof of Rome's horizon sow jmpoison'd spells, where'er we reap or mow. Aware once how these snares from every star, hung hovering o'er their heads and threatened war, the emperor with an angel's morning light banish'd such Jesus from the twinkling night, and as a wizard or usurping God laid him, when stript of life, beneath the clod. When once then he by our discarding spite, far thro' the air had trail 'd his meteor flight, his train already, as himself, ere dead, each a corrival sun, soon wagg'd the head.

Yet still Tiberius with avenging heat scorch'd whom he scorch'd as a dismantled cheat; and from his Romans all such vermin breed with storms of thunder ever try'd to weed ; but tho' his furnace burnt more hot than hell he only dragons gender'd, monsters fell dogs, which in ambush howl'd, which learn'd to shun, and while they lik'd to conquer durst but run. When storms, which rule the wind, thusscoop'd the waves, and open'd wide their mouths as hungry graves, the emperor with a sailor's wisdom stray'd where'er the instinctive seas his ship would dade, and mounted on the ungovernable main, dar'd ride the billows, which he could not rein. Hence he from every quarter drove the clouds tier above tier, uncrowded and in crowds. . While he in one place all tilings wrapt in night he elsewhere deign'd a gleam of sunshine bright.

While he with Jews the blood of Jesus spilt, who Babel-builded as ourselves have built, he stoop'd with Paul, alas! beneath a king, and well or ill could ne'er retrieve his wing; ne'er as he wanted staunch the bleeding wound, which sickens now our empire to the ground, which undermining saps our idol sway, higher and higher rocking every day. For tho' a Jesus roll'd in every-way dirt, around his loins a Jewish girdle girt ; yet chaos-bred, uncircumcis'd in mind the latter sails before an idol wind; and all who idols worship, likes to gain, as if by such men left we ne'er shou'd reign. — Between then both, between the old and new, heedless or which is false or which is true, go and the one will ever seek thy aid and make thee husband of a willing maid ; the other, whom thou ne'er can'st conquer, may endure an emperor with a bishop's sway.

Whence when thy right hand shall this sceptre wield, and thy left elbow bear this Cesar's shield, and the deep waters of the heathen flood disclose their naked bottom slim'd with mud, <seek shelter underneath a cross well-pearl'd, and be chief augur of the christian world." He spoke, and sometimes as a going storm behind it leaves a dog-day's sunshine warm, So Nero let his mother, wizard's witch, seem as a fowler with his setting bitch, and haunt and take the emperor with her toils, with head-achs, pinches, stiches, cholics, piles, with childish, self-abasing woman's tears, and taunting thus awaken all his fears. —The gander strays, where'er he likes or can, whence the fox sifting finds him only bran. The hound, an honest servant, in a rein outlaws the fox, to Abel always Cain. And yet the hound, howe'er the sportsman's pride, the sportsman kills for neither flesh nor hide.

The sportsman, tho' more loyal none alive, his children kills as beemen kill their hive, ' while sportsmen, dup'd from God, thou know'st by whom, self-murder'd cry, thy cut-throat kingdom come; and while their wives, how many none can tell. as feathers in the pinions wing our spell ; and altogether mourners in our train, thrilling no longer with a maiden strain, say drink like them a lecher's poison sown from Agrippina's goblet or thy own. She ceas'd, and as a threatening seamark buoy'd before him still j till Claudius thus reply'd. Thou knewest Agrippina, ere our wife, how over God, above the reach of strife, within thy bridal chamber hand in hand I and thyself our goddess wav'd our wand j and in our plighted vows beneath our feet a self-abas 'd, a ravish'd footstool meet, we search'd him waiting for a better day, and spite thereof both woo'd the Almighty sway.

Soaring above the sun our angel flight, we mov'd our wings, if fallen below our height j Till without rival hell makes known its wrong, and by its burden wakes our dearest song. Till with a father, mother, kinsman, friend, men squander, and the storm as lightening rend. Yet I and thou, born under happier stars have always given ransoms in our wars. The highest hills lie far beneath our way, on which, as stepping stones, none else can stray. Go revel there then with unerring speed, and take the fairest victims in our need, and when the oar-bearer seeks what oft is sought, buy by such ransoms what he lets be bought. He spoke; and as brooks after many a flood roll with a childhood or an old-age nud, and howsoe'er they court a whirlwind wave^r and on each side-shores, houses, all things brave, more and more low their fever pulses beat, and scarce above the tune of heakh retreat; So Claudius shew'd his wizard-stricken pride, And Agrippina thus again teply'd. — Our son, our Nero, Claudius, is a youth, whom none can praise beyond the bounds of truth His stem, branch, leaf, his blossom, and his fruit, draw all their juices from a Cesar's root : and all the atoms of our empire haste to bring what 'er can please or glut his taste.

Who then as God or even more than God will seek for shelter in the land of Nod, will knur his bark, be pimples on his skin, or if he smiles or lours, be sad or grin ? c *» Hence, as the harbinger of returning day, I shed already twilight far away ; While he outshining leers thy gloomy night, and now lets rise his dazzling glories bright. Whence bid thy urn be worse than our dispraise, and thee thyself or me to end thy days. She thus her lightning lavish 'd o'er his head, till on the earth he swoon 'd as scorch'd or dead, yet stricken still, as with a goading lance he woke at last, beneath his sleeping trance, a God, forlorn," uncrested less than man, and from such western cloud again began. Know, Agrippina, from some giant's arm, not from a woman, comes this thundering harm. Tho' thou thyself the murderer end'st our days a thousand-handed monster wears the bays, all making, he knows why, for what or whom, his tools and ransoms from their mother's womb.

I warrant, Goddess, with thy godlike son, and with a Cesar's spoils from all else won, within thy kindred bosom, as a shroud, our urn'd remains, our lightning from our cloud, will on our downy pillow lie embalm'd, till hell itself shall be for ever calm'd; till all its hidden powers, spells and sway shall be disclos'd before the face of day; and as a child, while naked from the womb, by thee be swaddled, as bees build their comb; till as the sun, about its highest noon, thy brightest beams enlighten every moon, thy ostrich feathers quicken in their beds, men, who once wrong'd, will cease to raise their heads, who faithful to thy house, as thou can'st want, will die and ever Hallelujahs chant. If then within thy nursery ere the night, our eyes shall close thro' some untimely blight, say in the morning how thy nursing care, will wake to youth and manhood, what we are ; will set, along with thee, along with thine, myself, with whatsoever else is mine.

He ceas'd, and lo! in triumph seem'd to ride the empress with her train and thus reply'd. Thy fruit-tree, Claudius, drops into my hand fruits ; which will spoil, if daub'd with dirt or sand Well hast thou sought then, as a trembling maid, the Almighty safeguard of a woman's aid. Bidden to rock thy cradle, soothe thy fears, and always guard thee with a widow's tears, I now around thy bed thy curtains draw, and ne'er henceforth can let thy thunders awe; I seal thy tomb, — I centinel thy shade, and thy renown e'er make put forth its blade. She spoke, and bid oar-bearers music play, till as an April shower, she gleam'd away ; till from her ambush, with her quiver, she made of his paunch, as bees, a hollow tree, a store-house for her hcney and her comb, a cleaning for her poison or the womb; Where he too late felt how such mischiefs ply'd, and as a dog, no longer wanted, died. — Soon as the ship of Claudius, hapless wreck, had bulg'd thro' many a fathom to the neck ; or as his stag o'erleaping all his bounds had found himself beset at last with hounds, a helpless prey, the colours, as the hind, above the waves still mantled in the wind.

So Aggrippina saw hell's thunders strike a wizard husband as a witch cou'd like ; when charming with a like inchantment she Nero cntranc'd, as if a wench was he ; and in a dream herself in Nero's eye, seem'd Paul at Malta, labcll'd— " Thus am I !" Wak'd with a start at Paul, as if a man, he saw her, as the moon, the, evening's van, above the horizon rising, moonlight clear, and listen'd while she thus wou'd greet his ear. Our husband, son, from the forsaking sky, now spares the lightning of his jealous eye; no more whene'er he sees thee in his thought will he thy mind or body parch with drought. For all men wear thee, brightening every frown, their very robe of glory and their crown; Before thy rising twilight as the stars, down on the earth they screen their twinkling scars; while in the sky outshining thou alone. — dm art making hell and heaven both thy own.

Thron'd thus, no matter how, the God of Gods, thy rivals scourge and exercise with rods, make undergo thy burdens, cleave thy logs, and fetch and carry sticks as spaniel dogs ; Be thou the man who is, the mighty spring, whose stream the mill-wheel turns of every thing. With hail, rain, thunder, hurricanes, calms with sights, such as will urn men's ashes, shed thy blights. Then darkening clouds will shun the irksome sight, and thy bright sun will shine with clearest light; and I again as springtide mornings fail. as maidens in the wanton southwind air, shall revel, (for no ill can come to me.) and as I lik'd a father, will like thee. She ceas'd, and with a mother's fondest gleam, thus let be seen these pebbles in her stream. While Nero, under waters smooth and deep, such she-wolf hail'd, as harmless as a sheep.

Thv zeal, unbosoms, mother, in a thaw, beyond the bounds, which women sometimes awe; which, whatsoe'er is sought, e'er shut the mouth, of either east or west, or north or south ; which bid the whirlwinds rive and nip the oak, and stubborn men become but cut-throa* folk. Like then the sons of Eli, in thy deeds,'- Be like their kinsfolks in their mourning weeds; and branch, and leaf, and blossom, but with tears, and seem the prey of winter or of years. Hence for thy sake an Israelitish ram must bleed, thy cut-throat shadow, cut-throat sham, and tell, engrav'd on our late emperor's urn, that such a stirk ne'er went without the turn. For howsoe'er above the world by wars above the sun, above the moon and stars, above the man, who is, above his slaves, his rebel slaves, our rebel sceptre waves; yet underneath one rebel slave unseen, who will be king if I am more than queen, who ever over, ever under God, o'erdrives me with his cat-o'-nine-tails rod, I nothing see but hahers and a knife, till with self-murder'd ram; I end the strife.

On his dread altar then, whoremonger sauce, such as suits Claudius, such as CUudius awes, thou now must bring, as I have brought before, and own, that e'en our mother keeps her whore. For some time so he whir I'd bis herculean club rallying his mother as a filbert grub. Till she as the horizon rose in state higher than God, and thus lik'd still to prate. Oft have I ask'd, yet always ask'd in vain, why any cut-throat ever crack'd his brain ? or why myself shou'd pay as tribute due, the circumcised ransom of a Jew? what man who is, or who, his rebel slave, is not thy one-way 's-man, who-is-not, knave ? along with thee all feathers of one tail, a peacock make tliy vessel with its sail. Lift then thyself o'er cut-throats, Jewish rams, save, where men's stomachs heave at thy I ams; such bid thy scullions dishclout thro' thy sink, as outcasts buried in eternal stink ; and let, what has been night now far away yield to the brightness of thy cloudless day.

As if beneath an an oak, while thunders roll, a tree oft scorch'd by lightning to a scroll, he saw her acorns drop upon the earth, and with due disregard thus rein'd his mirth, Thou know'st, alas ! how Tarquin drove, and why, Lucretia from her husband, from the sky ; and whether, while array'd in dazzling light, thy moon shone where it shone by day or night; Or if the sun's proud glories better suit, the ripening beauties of thy autumn fruit, thy winter snow in penance more or less, must be a full moon in its midnight dress; a jew, that shou'd reflect the Almighty's light, yet for himself a glow-worm shines by night. Can then, above the Almighty, cap-a-pee, ■ , usurping twinklers like or me or ihee, make thro' our graft hi«_iself with all men grieve, and lose what he and they can ne'er retrieve ?

Or while we bnild a gallows for a knave, can we but frame a highway to our grave ? Can we in brimstone level hills of hell? and levell'd be and share such brimstone smell ? Hence unimpair'd God, ever mine and thine, shall over Rome, shall over all things shine ; and as the lark, tho' wild, yet never free, we will, his servants, wait, till I am he. Then with his right hand slung, a Jewish priest, whose thummim lou'rd with a wintry mist, before them overflowing as a brook, the rod of Aaron _____ his left hand shook, and touching with an emrod's keenest pang, said, in your eyes, see, cut-throat halters hang. I made a Judas heckle, lapwing crest, over the brow of Jesus as a jest ; and Jesus thereby shew'd to all the world in guilt a cut-throat, but a cut-throat furl'd. And now from marble of a Nero's grain, streaked with many a crimson crack or vein, I carve your statues bleeding at the throat, and Claudius nibbling stirs them as our float.

Since you, as wizards in our groanings groan, I as a god requite you in your own ; and tho' your armies straying as the clouds without a foe, all careless, all in crouds, breathe with a freezing east-wind on the earth, their spells shall be their curse and ne'er their mirth; and Jews, yea even circumcised Jews, shall scape their downfall, and shall still be Jews; and when their idol glories lick the dust, we, as we shou'd, shall be without a bust. For some time thus his April blossoms blew, and as a pledge of fruit right good and true; seem'd in God's one-way air, to set and thrive, till vermin thwarted from their eastern hive ; till caterpillars in Vespasian's train, nipt, as when men will slay, ere they are slain;. and till himself with a still nearer blast, thus o'er him hovering, bid him keep the fast.

Thy cloud, priest, lightens with a rebel's threat, but without thunder, without bolls or wet. Thy wasps are maimed and without their tail; thy leaky vessels such as ne'er cou'd sail. Thy thummim cancell'd long forbodes no harm, but what has happen'd to thy wounded arm. Smitten by heaven or hell, by God or man, Jews seldom now e'er murder as they can. Tho' circumcis'd as of God's household train, they stray as topsy-turvy'd in their brain. Tho' one-way servants sworn, in God's behalf, they worship all the every-way golden calf. They let as handcuff 'd with an Egypt chain, their God give place to Cesar's loss and gain. While thus Jews shine but with a new moon's light, before the man who is, as out of sight ; while they withdrawing as with parting jeers, leave him as lost in sickness or in years, who does not clip their Witch-of-Endor wings, and set them on their legs as creeping things? who does not charm such charmers from the sky, to be but water in some slough or sty ?

Hence if the man who is, as I see, saw, and with his I i ginning, as I awe, wou'd awe ; If Nero thriving ever more and more, wou'd where I want, but let his eagles soar, the Jews should see me reap where they have sown, and shou'd in Sodom and Gomorrah groan. Their corn, instead of rotting On the earth, should as our seed, where'er we are, give birth ; should make our blushing idol hide its head, and in God's one-way every-ways drop down dead. Go home, then, priest ; as spill'd-milk maidens go with empty pails, with nothing less than woe; and under Nero, under men like me, learn what poor Jews ne'er learn'd from priests like thee; While thus Vespasian, with a frozen crust, sugar'd in Spring with Autumn's mouldering dust, stinted the fruits o'er all the Jewish land, and as a kite, that play'd from Nero's hand, or as a lark, that welcom'd in his stead the sun to mantle ever o'er his head, sought as for Nero more than Nero sought, and his tree's branch shew'd only in his thought; While he thus guarded with a mother's care where aught was foul, and naked kept where fair; Nero alike, as hungry eagles sped, and murder'd thus his child half-kill 'd in bed.

Beneath the shelter of a Roman sky, where out of sight below the horizon lie all wizards with their lightnings fast in chains, with me the man, who is, in heaven reigns. with him, beneath his own outspreading sway, where'er our conquering eagle leads the way, Jews sit in Noah's ark, with Eden laws, which ever stall as poison in their jaws ; which Adams make of all, before their eyes, by death, by casting out of paradise. For still tho' circumcis'd, in strife or war, they answer'd every-ways with an every-way jar; Till stak'd as gamesters in an every-way game, they lost it, and now wear the yoke of shame. When for God's sake we seas and rivers dry 'd, and as for conquerors open'd highways wide into our land of Canaan, into Rome, and let them there like Romans scape their doom. Let Jews then always, notwithstanding thee, be Jews, Vespasian, as along with me; as in our train array'd on God's right hand, where 1 his guarding soldier ever stand ; where he himself, with godlike sails unfurl'd, is all in all, Almighty o'er the world.

Yet Claudius, ghostly wanderer, walking shade, no more by day, by night now asks thy aid, now wants a label-emblem on his urn, or for death's forest wild a forest burn ; and dead no less than living still as I, cut-throat or not, is cut-throat hip and thigh. Let then some Jewish meteor tortur'd shine, fit mate for Claudius at his master's shrine. Let him as sailors, riding on the waves, in spirit oaring, as God's rebel slaves self-slain in waterwoman's frail disguise, for Claudius say, a woman damn'd his eyes. . But such a Jew, Vespasian, cull'd by thee, a bass for Claudius underneath his knee, will tell, that tho' the stock is crab and sour, the graft is sweeter than the sweetest flower. — As oft the husbandman, while winter awes, with frost, ice, hail, snow, rime, misgiving thaws, well seeds his ripen'd soil, however dry, beneath a thirsty and an eastwind sky ; So Nero crav'd before the gates of hell, what none e'er had, but from some hell-hound spell.

Yet never founder'd in a glow-worm flight, Vespasian as the moon with full-orb'd light. rose on his master's pinions not his own, and where himself much lik'd, thus brightly shone. Does Nero's eye, keen-sighted see its way, down to the bottom of that waving bay; or to the light'ning in that hiding storm, thro' all its veins, thro* all its branching form ? For dost thou, driven by a cut-throat's stool, court the sad bondage of a cut-throat's tool? Dost thou, executor of a cut-throat's will, the Almighty with his train controul or kill ? Do'st thou, a cut-throat's drudge, his wages earn, and as the mother o'er her bastard yearn, till as a constellation in the sky, such bastard from his God, can win the eye ; or till as clouds, brow-beating sun, moon, stars, yielding to winds and ending all their wars; he sees such father with uncresting pride, die with himself, his offspring at his side ?

Dost thou, as thro' the body to the soul, a reed's first joint by bruising, bruise the whole? Dost thou thus sweeping with a cut-throat's broom, cleanse step by step Jerusalem and Rome, and spoil the places where God likes to dwell, or there or here, in heaven and in hell ? Dost thou, now gotten into Noah's ark, among the billows as a sea dog bark? or dost thou seem beneath a mill-wheel curst, and haunted think of nothing but the worst ? art thou, as after death, cast out from men, a circumcised lion in a den? I ask thee as a midwife at a birth, thro' all the ills, which grow upon the earth, and undertake, that at God's louring shrine, some self-kill'd Jew shall bleed for thee and thine. He ceas'd, and Nero nettled at his mirth, .oos'd from his mantle thus his falling girth. D Thy Aaron's rod, Vespasian, posie sweet, greets, as when God well-pleased likes to greet, and says, that from the greatest to the least, 1 must have thee, proconsul of the east.