INCIPIT ACTUS QUARTUS.
PATER COELESTIS. Still so increaseth the wickedness of man.
That I am moved with plagues him to confound.
His weakness to aid I do the best I can,
Yet he regardeth me no more than doth an hound.
My word and promise in his faith taketh no ground,
He will so long walk in his own lusts at large,
That nought he shall find his folly to discharge.
Since Abraham's time, which was my true elect,
Ishmael have I found both wicked, fierce, and cruel,
And Esau in mind with hateful murder infect.
The sons of Jacob to lusts unnatural fell,
And into Egypt did they their brother sell
Laban to idols gave faithful reverence,
Dinah was corrupt through Shechem's violence.
Reuben abused his father's concubine,
Judah gat children of his own daughter-in-law;
Yea, here in my sight went after a wicked line.
His seed Onan spilt, his brother's name to withdraw.
Achan lived here without all Godly awe.
And now the children of Israel abuse my power,
In so vile manner, that they move me every hour.
MOSES SANCTUS. Pacify thy wrath, sweet Lord, I thee desire,
As thou art gentle, benign, and patient,
Lose not that people in fierceness of thine ire,
For when thou hast showed such tokens evident,
Converting this rod into a lively serpent,
And the same serpent into this rod again,
Thy wonderful power declaring very plain.
For their sakes also puttest Pharaoh to pain
By ten diverse plagues, as I shall here declare:
By blood, frogs, and lice; by flies, death, blotches, and blain.
By hail, by grasshoppers, by darkness, and by care:
By a sudden plague all their firstgotten ware
Thou slewest in one night for his fierce cruelness.
From that thy people withhold not now thy goodness.
PATER COELESTIS. I certify thee, my chosen servant Moses,
That people of mine is full of unthankfulness.
MOSES SANCTUS. Dear Lord, I know it, alas! yet weigh their weakness,
And bear with their faults of thy great bounteousness.
In a flaming bush, having to them respect,
Thou appointed'st me their passage to direct:
And through the Red Sea thy right hand did us lead,
Where Pharaoh's host the flood overwhelmed indeed.
Thou went'st before them in a shining cloud all day,
And in the dark night in fire thou showed'st their way.
Thou sent them manna from heaven, to be their food.
Out of the hard stone thou gavest them water good.
Thou appointed'st them a land of milk and honey.
Let them not perish for want of thy great mercy.
PATER COELESTIS. Content they are not with foul nor yet with fair,
But murmur and grudge, as people in despair.
As I sent manna, they had it in disdain,
Thus of their welfare they many times complain.
Over Amalech I gave them the victory.
MOSES SANCTUS. Most Glorious Maker, all that is to thy glory,
Thou sentest them also a law from heaven above,
And daily showest them many tokens of great love.
The brazen serpent thou gavest them for their healing,
And Balaam's curse thou turned'st into a blessing.
I hope thou wilt not disdain to help them still.
PATER COELESTIS. I gave them precepts which they will not fulfil.
Nor yet acknowledge me for their God and good Lord,
So do their vile deeds with their wicked hearts accord,
While thou hast talked with me familiarly
In Sinai's mountain the space but of days forty,
Those sights all they have forgotten clearly,
And are turned to shameful idolatry.
For their God they have set up a golden calf.
MOSES SANCTUS. Let me say somewhat, Sweet Father, in their behalf.
PATER COELESTIS. I will first conclude, and then say on thy mind.
For that I have found that people so unkind,
Not one of them shall enjoy the promise of me,
For entering the land, but Caleb and Joshua.