"Lord, I have expelled them"

I.

My God! Thou that didst die for me,

These thy death’s fruits I offer thee;

Death that to me was life and light,

But dark and deep pangs to thy sight.

Some drops of thy all-quick’ning blood

Fell on my heart; those made it bud

And put forth thus, though Lord, before

The ground was cursed, and void of store.

Indeed I had some here to hire

Which long resisted thy desire,

That stoned thy servants, and did move

To have thee murhered for thy love;

But Lord, I have expelled them, and so bent,

Beg, thou wouldst take thy tenant’s rent.

--Henry Vaughan, from Silex Scintillans, 1655