Page:The Works of Abraham Cowley - volume 1 (ed. Aikin) (1806).djvu/240

Or that which, if from Heaven it came,
It did but well deserve, all into bonfire turn.

We fear'd (and almost touch'd the black degree
Of instant expectation)
That the three dreadful angels we,
Of famine, sword, and plague, should here establish'd see
(God's great triumvirate of desolation!)
To scourge and to destroy the sinful nation.
Justly might Heaven Protectors such as those,
And such Committees for their Safety, impose
Upon a land which scarcely better chose.
We fear'd that the Fanatick war,
Which men against God's houses did declare,
Would from th' Almighty enemy bring down
A sure destruction on our own.
$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$We read th' instructive histories which tell
Of all those endless mischiefs that befel
The sacred town which God had lov'd so well,
After that fatal curse had once been said,
"His blood be upon ours and on our children's head!"
We know, though there a greater blood was spilt,
'T was scarcely done with greater guilt.
We know those miseries did befal
Whilst they rebell'd against that Prince, whom all
The rest of mankind did the love and joy of mankind call.

Already was the shaken nation
Into a wild and deform'd chaos brought,