power to die The Scripture only on the soule reflects All earthly objects it as base rejects The soule a spirit therefore only fit To read those copies by the spirit writ This Writ from heaven then summons up thy soul To heaven that Court which issu'd forth this scroule Glew not thy soule then too neare earthly things Hang no such plumets on its sublime wings Againe the Scriptures only have the art To search into the secrets of the heart They only can discover sin and prove Upon the conscience they came from above They only a beginning doe relate No humane Treatise of so ancient date They only have preserved been and shall Though ever doubtlesse envy'd most of all And in them in the sacred Writ I meane As in a glasse is only to be seen That perfect image of supernall might Which can be viewed by no other light There is I grant it in each humane frame An eye by nature fixed in the same Which doth by nature beyond nature see A pow'r there supernaturall must bee Which power no doubt hath deified been From the beginning by the race of men Though most for want of power to understand Ascrib'd that power unto some other hand As some to creatures like themselves but clay Some to the Sun as former of the day Some to the Moon some to the Stars yea know Some to the prince of hell below Yet all to something thus the infidell Beleeves there is a power that doth excell But ignorant of what it is doth faine Or forge a God out of his idle braine Thus natures pen by reasons power no doubt Doth point at God but cannot point him out Doth shew a God but what he is or where That Scriptures only fully can declare Shall then a heathen a meere Infidell Who never heard of either heaven or hell Or dreames of soule alone by natures view Discern there is a God and homage due Which is apparant all the world abroad All nations worship something as a God And shalt thou Atheist dar'st thou all alone Be worst of all men and acknowledge none Thou hast besides the wisest heathens sight Much greater aide far cleerer beames of light Gods holy and eternall word by name Eternall in the nature of the same Where thou maist its eternall author find It only gives that sight unto the blind And this thou hast not so to make thee pos'd As pretious oyntment in a box inclos'd Not only in the hidden letter teaching But open'd by the pow'rfull hand of preaching Canst thou not row then in this calmed ocean Sit'st thou in darknesse in this heav'nly Goshen Dar'st thou deny that Deitie which here Doth in such perfect characters appeare Oh do not thou degenerate so far To be more sordid then the divels are The divels do much forced duty shew To holy Scriptures and do know them true Shall divels then unto the Scriptures bow Confesse and feare them and yet wilt not thou Deluded Atheist be reform'd herein Seeke no such shadowes so to hide thy sin Because the Scriptures render thee unjust Thou dost condemne them so to save thy lust Let not thy senses thus thy soule inthrall For lose the Scriptures and thou dost lose all Both soule and body heav'n and God yea soe Dost likewise purchase everlasting woe T is then no marvell that thou art so blind Or rather desp'rate in thy carnall mind That in thy fancy thou cast apprehend No soule no heav'n nor pow'r that doth transcend How canst thou view these when thou dost in spleen Reject the glasse where these are to be seen The Scriptures are Gods tapers set up here Extinguish those no God will then appeare God in times past aid oft appeare I know In visions and in shadowes here below But when the substance his eternall Son Once shin'd here all those lesser lights had done Bright Sun indeed well might the stars give way And hid themselves in such a heav'nly day A heav'nly day when heaven it selfe we find Burst through the clouds came down to earth and shin'd And yet we find this day at last did fade This glorious Sun at length began to wade And from these nether Regions to retire Ascended to the circles that are higher Well might the world then here beneath lament And put on sackcloath weeds of discontent Bewailing deeply that earth darking day Which from the earth tooke such a light away This heavenly Sun now in the heavens again Whose glory heavens cannot alone containe Did leave some rayes below and now and then Doth dart down more amongst the sonnes of men But all that light now of that heavenly taper Is set up in a lanthorne here of paper In holy Scripture all that light doth shine That is the lanthorne which gives light divine Then thou that first in such a sable night That of this nature thou canst see no light 'T is doubtlesse cause thou dost not duly look Into that lanthorn use that heavenly book Wouldst thou have wisdome have thy sight made cleer Thy heart made gentle and thy soule appear See hell beneath and heav'n that is most high Discern thy maker and eternity Then use the Scripture thy dim feeble sight Is apprehensive of no greater light God knowes such secrets do mans sight surpasse And therefore wisely shewes them through a glasse A glasse indeed the Scripture is most faire And more transparent then the purest aire Through which the perfect Images are view'd Of objects in the highest altitude Presumptuous earth because thou canst not see By carnall reason how these things can be Thou dost conclude they cannot be in fine As if there were no greater power then thine Thou art a peece but of the Potters clay What can the peece unto the Potter say Canst thou suppose the brickle vessell made As skilfull as its maker in his trade But were this granted which were too too grosse Yet thou art vainer at a greater losse All other creatures but the divells bee The same they were created but not we Thou art far weaker worser and hast lost Much of thy Makers workmanship and cost Thy reason is corrupt thy senses soyl'd Thy nature taynted and thy soule defil'd Indeed in the perfection of estate Wherein perfection did thee first create Thy sight was such thou stood'st not then in need Of glasses or of spectacles to read Thy apprehension was not then so weake But thou hadst power to heare thy Maker speake In his owne language and couldst understand Without the helpe of any second hand But long in Adam thou hast lost that art Like Lucifer in acting of his part He would have been although in heav'n yet higher Thou wouldst although in Paradise aspire He saw Gods face yet that would not suffice Thou knew'st his voice yet thou wouldst be more wise He clyming lost the hight he had before And thou thy knowledge by desiring more Canst thou suppose then that impaired light Yet in thy understanding part so bright As
me to assigne Some meanest office though to feed the swine But all in vaine her greatnesse did abhor me Had neither place nor yet imployment for me But sternly told me of my sad subjection To wofull stocking whipping and correction Whereat amaz'd I soone was strucken mute Betwixt despair and growing resolute Unto the last bad counsell did intice Bad nature too but grace restrained vice The Authors Epigram DEceitfull world deciphering thy state Who can but erre thou art unto the great A flattering Syren but unto the small A very savage cruell Caniball Thou dandl'st youthfull Dives on thy knee Till with thy pleasures he inchanted be But having got the thing which thou wouldst have Thou mak'st him then thy most contented slave But if poor Lazarus seekes to be imploy'd Or sues for aide he is by thee deny'd Thou only cry'st he doth thy honour blemish Correct the rascall let the vermine famish Alas poore Lazarus of the world excluded Alas rich Dives by the world deluded Poore Lazarus starves his penurie is such Again rich Dives surfets with too much Dives VVHen as the world had given my will content Or I had given unto the world consent Her various beauties did me so inflame My very heart was ravisht with the same I freely drunk her pleasures with delight Whereof the more I drunk the more I might Her profits were unto my hot desire But as more fuell to increase that fire Her greatnesse with respect unto her honour Did for preferment make me wait upon her Her glories were so radiantly set forth I thought upon no other heav'n but earth On earth I only did set up my stay I gave my sences and affections sway And having treasure which might long endure I in that harbour thought my selfe secure Lazarus MOst wretched creature destitute of ayd Of all men loathed and in limmes decay'd I could not worke and therefore might not eat But griping hunger and inforce for meat Beg then I must and so I did indeed I made the world acquainted with my need I made my greefe apparant but alas I I must be punish'd for I had no passe Yet still I beg'd as to that thraldome ty'd Though oft upon my tender kneen deny'd I cry'd for succour and did shew my sores Where people passed and at rich mens dores Thus whiles I beg'd I got reliefe of some But without wofull begging not a crumme High wayes and hedges were any shrouds by day By night full glad to shroud my selfe in hay The Authors Epigram RIch Dives laughs and doth in pleasures swim As if they only were ordain'd for him Poore Lazarus weeps and makes this pitious mone I drinke the sorrowes of the world alone Rich Dives doth no earthly comfort misse By birth much wealth if not the world is his But silly Lazarus as it doth appeare Is borne to beg or borne to nothing heere Rich Dives heere is master and commands Much force if not too much is in his hands Poore Lazarus heere is but the scumme of all Must stoope to meane men downe to rich men fall Dives hath friends is spoken to most faire Dives the worlds owne darling yea her heire Lazarus is only left no love no friend Lazarus is only loath'd but marke the end Lazarus COnsum'd with hunger misery and care Decrep't with cold for want of rags to weare My pined corps and panting heart for ayd Began to languish and my health decay'd With many sighes in this my sad estate I got at length unto the rich mans gate Where in my anguish in my paine and griefe I hop'd for succour and I beg'd reliefe I cal'd I cry'd and as I durst I knock'd But all in vaine the rich mans gate was look'd No gate no doores no eares could open'd be His Curres did far more kindnes shew then he Whereat my heart within my wretched breast Was strucke as dead yea with meere death possest Thus left of man all mercy me denying God everliving shew'd me mercy dying Dives VVHat am I struck with melancholy's dart Come earthly comforts come revive my heart What have you lost your vertue or your skill Which wont to cure me Oh! I yet am ill What desperate change is now in my disease That now offendeth which was wont to please My earthly pleasures and my endlesse gaines Doe now disquiet me nor asswage mu paines Come make my will then of my wealth with speed For now I finde it failes me at my need And run to some Physitian with my state Some learned Doctor for my paines are great Come Doctor come my sicke estate behold Come shew your learning give some ease for gold Some present helpe unto my heart apply A world for life helpe helpe alas I dye The Authors Epigram IF Dives surfets and grown sicke is sad No earthly aid is wanting can be had His friends abound Physitians dare be bold To strive sometimes beyond their rules for gold But wofull Lazarus of the world neglected Lies sicke forsaken harbourlesse rejected No friends to chear no physicke for his good He surfets not but rather sterves for food Rich Dives now he feels unto his pain That all his wealth yea all the world is vain When sicknesse comes their sweetnesse is but small When death their hony then converts to gall Poore Lazarus all his life time in distresse Whose very face deciphers wretchednesse When sicknesse comes it makes him death require When death it gives him what he doth desire Dives O Death most cruell I thou hast struck my heart O wretched body I thou and I must part Thou to a rotting resting place a while I to the ruefull dungeon of exile Thou now a carkaise I a cursed soule Beset with fiends which will have no controule Out of thy prison now I see full cleare Most ugly Divels as they are appeare They seaze upon me with infernall spite They tell me I belong to them by right I have beene by them many yeeres imploy'd Although they by me have not beene discry'd And therefore now I must with them away They long have wayted but have now their prey They must unto proud Lucifer return With me that monster doth in fury burne Lazarus LOng wish'd for day most welcome death to me Which sets me thus from all my sufferings free My wither'd corps now rest in hope to rise My weary'd soul is now on wing and flies Most happy change I how is my chance amended On earth cast out with Angels now attended Who all my life did succour me distrest And now at death will carry me to rest In soule I meane which from my body freed Now viewes those Angels as they are indeed Which sight excels all earthly joyes as far As doth the Sun the most inferiour Star Which glorious spirits with delight inspir'd To see my soule thus out of thrall retir'd Doe in their fiery chariots now of love Thus in my spirit early me above The Authors Epigram HEere I must
I must appear But with what face alas I tremble here I in the body made of sin a sport I in the body then must answer for 't The Judge of all will justly then define Whether his wayes were equalest or mine Lazarus OH blessed body though a while in prison How will the soule take pleasure in thee risen And how againe will thy delights increase When as the soule returns to thee in peace How like the Turtle sent out of the Arke After the stood returning to that Barke With signes of joy shalt thou my soule my Dove Be in that day return'd with signes of love How shall my late dry scattered bones up stand When thou thus bringst a pardon in thy hand Yea with what comfort shall I be inspir'd When thus my corps is from the grave retir'd Nay with what courage shall I then appear What joy when my redemption draweth near What tongue on earth is able to expresse What joy in conscience I shall then possesse The Authors Epigram MOst fond yea most infatuated we Have ears and heare not eyes and will not see Or else how could we whiles we here remaine So blinded be in things which are so plain How could we else like men whom charms benum Be so unfeeling of the chance to come To not observe like men most sure to die What Dives lost what Lazarus gain'd thereby Here who but Dives had the cap and knee Here who came forth with greater pompe then he But lo hereafter dead and cold again Alas he comes forth trembling in a chain But blessed Lazarus who was here a scorn As out of time or most untimely born Shall when the dead are summon'd from the grave Come forth with comfort then most honour have Dives OH dreadfull dreadfull in what dreadfull terrours Am I in hell tormented with my errours By only meditating on that horrour My soule shall be in when the Judge sends for her But with what feare shall I be then possest The feare of which doth thus my soule molest When I at last shall feel the thing I feare Shall rise you dead and come to judgement here How like a prisoner in a chaine at last Shall I stand forth to heare my sentence past How like a most condemned wretch alas I am condemned ere the sentence passe My conscience which once counterfeited sleep Now in my soule a restlesse court doth keep And then shall make a Register come forth Worse then a thousand witnesses on earth Lazarus VVHat joyes are these which now so neer approch Divinest thoughts may you thereon incroach Incroach Oh! seise thereon be not deter'd They were for me before the world prepar'd For me what me who beg'd from door to door And in my selfe am to my selfe as poore Have neither birth nor worth in me whereby So mean a wretch should chalenge joyes so high Yet see and wonderd to these joyes divine I have such right that they by right are mine God did prepare Christ purchas'd I by faith Receive them due thus imputation saith But oh my sins are great but that 's no let In purchasing my joy Christ paid my debt But I must give account that 's yet to make But He that paid my debt my count must take The Authors Epigram OH happy Lazarus how maist thou stand sure How swimst thou in a sea of joyes secure Thy debt is paid which was so out of measure And paying that hath purchas'd thee a treasure What needst thou shake then at a judgement day Or of accounts who hast no debts to pay Or why shouldst feare the Judges face to see When as the Judge shall thy redeemer be But wretched Dives wretched sure indeed Thou hast a boundlesse fearfull bill to read Wherein thy debt is manifest and clear No crossing there no cancelling appear There was a time but now that time is lost Wherein thou might'st have got thy reckoning crost How wilt thou answer to the Judge of heaven Thou canst not pay nor canst thou be forgiven Dives MOst wofull I who now in wofull ruine In hell still muse of greater woes eusuing One woe doth another woe foreshew Woe endlesse woe my foresight is too true My woes againe are yet as to begin Wretch I have yet to answer for my sin Where my indictment must be found indeed Before a Judge too who will not be feed A Judge whose mercy I would not imbrace Where mercy moves not justice must take place A Judge who once cry'd gently come away But thou shalt to me goe you cursed say How will those Angells and those Saints abhor me Which I abus'd once seeking to doe for me How will those divells which I once obey'd Then cry my wages shall be duly paid Lazarus YEe Cherubins and Seraphins divine Come aid me with your tongues or teach you mine That in some measure I may so expresse My present joy in future happinesse My joy conceiv'd of my Redemption day When I shall meet my Saviour in the way Where I shall blesse the houre that I was borne When all the kind'reds of the earth shall mourn When earth and all the burden on the same Shall burne unto that nothing whence they came The skies shall melt the stars the sunne the moone Shall join to make perpetuall night at noone When out of heav'n the Judge of all most true Shall come downe riding on the clouds in view To bind the Divels and the damned down How sweetly shall He smile on me not frown The Authors Epigram MOst lambe like Lazarus thou shalt be set by Thy blood is not requir'd thou shalt not die When sacrifice for ever shall remaine In hell for sin the goats shall then be slaine Thou heer wert famish'd when the goats did feed Their hearts were cherish'd when thy heart did bleed But when they shall be sever'd from the sheep Thou shalt rejoice but they shall howle and weep But goat like Dives thou shalt pay full deer For eating up the sheep's allowance heer When they shall scape thy blood shall then be shed Thou wert but for a day of slaughter fed Fond thou who heer wouldst have the upper hand Must on the left at heav'ns tribunall stand And heare the Judge this sentence on thee passe Goe cursed goat my sheep must have the grasse Dives OH wretched I what shall of me become When wretched Goe ye cursed be my doome How shall my soule and body both affrighted Then curse the howr they were again united Then in what glory shall those Saints appeare At whom proud asse I once did slout and jeere How shall their blessing then increase my curse My conscience for abusing of them worse How shall the Divels then with fury driven Seaze me for hell thus sentenc'd out of heav'n And on me with much insultation rage As if my torments might their owne asswage Then with the hideous howling herd of hell I shall be thrown down to that dreadfull cell Where we in flames which
into natures book Run to thy mothers long made grave and look If 't be not earth thou cam'st from whence t is plaine That earth which once did live may live again What think'st thou of thy rising from thy bed Fore-tells not that thy rising from the dead In bed thou dost in earth thou shalt but sleep In both in darknesse though in earth most deep Besides when slumber doth possession take Of senses yet the soule is then a wake The soule as it can never dye at all So never sleeps though kept by sleep in thrall God could have made us when we were in making Have stood in need of neither sleep nor waking Had he not purpos'd by them to explain Our sleep in death and life from death again The deepest darkensse of the longest night At length doth vanish by the morning light Which shewes at last the resurrection day Shall chase the night of fatall death away The entercourse of autumn and the spring The winter and the summer teach this thing When plants by a vicessitude we know Both live and dye and dye and live in shew And as the seed which in the earth is sowne Like man it to its deeper furrowes thrown As dying there produceth an increase So man doth but refine there not surcease Much like the Phaenix from whose ashes breed As men much learned give us leave to read Another Phaenix to supply that roome By sun-beams dooting on her lofty tombe But yet if yet thy heart be such a flint That all this shewne takes no impression in 't But still in heart thou say'st there is no God Though with thy tongue thou dar'st not for his rod Let me yet put one question to thee more Yet to illustrate what is said before What say'st to this then sith thou art so evill To doubt of God what think'st thou of a divell Is there think'st thou no divell and no hell Thou maist deny them out of doubt as well For this is certain this from sense doth flow No God above no divell then below But this the grossest heathen doe admit They by experience and meer natures wit Discerne a power beyond the power of men Which power hath by them still admired been But in thy conscience were not such a spark Why shouldst thou be so fearfull in the darke Were there no evill spirits to be seen What do such fears then in thy fancie mean In times of danger eminent t is known There 's no mans heart more shaken then thine own Strange apparitions gastly forms and such Strike trembling in thee nothing else so much From whence proceeds those hidious shapes and sights Those hollow voices and those walking lights Which do so oft in darknesse us affright But from the Prince of darknesse in the night If this suffice not but art still in doubt I know no further meanes to help thee out Unlesse that it were lawfull in this kind To run to Endor to suffice thy mind To such as have some spirits at command Such could most clearly let thee understand Resolve thy doubt and make it to thee cleare There are such fiends yea make the same appear If all this be too little to suffice Then sure there is some divell in thine eies Who keepes thee blinded that thou canst not see Those certain truths which thus decypherd be But oh vain Atheist rest not in this state Nay rest thou canst not t is so desperate Then strive against it exercise thy strength By use it may grow operative at length There yet is eye salve to bewray this mist If that thou dost not wilfully resist There is a sacred fountaine set apart One drop whereof would molifie thy heart Despise not then those soveraign streames below Which down do from that sacred fountain flow Those healing drops which on the crosse were shed Distil'd in Scriptures from the fountaines head Then bring thy heart that cistern into frame And let those conduits run into the same That still thou mayst by turning of the cock Such fearefull doubts those brasing doores unlock Thy heart no dout in doubts the harder growes Because the milk which form the Scripture flowes Which is most pretious to dissolve such flint Is not apply'd unto that Adamant At Scriptures breasts disdaine not sucking then There 's milke for babes and meat for strongest men There 's meat for Saempson sweet meat too not gall And hony for the fainting Son of Saul There doth that tree of heav'nly knowledge grow Which God hath pleas'd to plant with men below Another tree of knowledge shall be given More glorious too but that shall be in heaven But further knowledge then is here reveal'd The more thou seekst the more t is here conceal'd And that no doubt hath been a reason why Thou dost those truths which are reveal'd deny There 's nothing hid that shall not be made known But here 's the height of thy ambition shown Thou here wouldst to that height of knowledge clime Which is reserv'd untill another time Thou here in all things much imperfect art And therefore here thou canst but know in part But when thy cloud of flesh be done away Things secret shall be manifest as day But wouldst thou wisely harbour a desire To view those secrets Angels do admire Then first beleeve for God hath made it plain We must beleeve before we do obtain Heaven is a dowery God hath to bestow Faith 's our assurance of the same below Strive then for faith thou hast a curious eye Nothing but faith can give thee full supply Faith in this vain and emptie vale I mean By faith possessing things are yet unseen That so in fine when fruitful faith shall cease Thou mayst in glory reap thy faiths increase In heaven injoy that height of joy which here Doth only to the eye of faith appear Yea foolish man couldst thou become so wise As to beleeve a heaven above the skies And such a God a gentle God therein As for his Sons sake will remit thy sin Thou thither likewise should'st be rais'd in fine For there the faithfull shall in glory shine And those same hidden secrets which have bin Thy tortures here should most delight thee then The world to come which here thou canst not view Thou there should'st finde unto by comfort true The God above which here thou dost deny Thou there should'st see and His eternity How God should be without beginning here Confounds thee quite but there it doth appeare How spirits do subsist and what they are Thou know'st not here but 't is discover'd there And how Gods word should make a world alas Such hidden things do humane sense surpasse But when that heav'n shall humane sense refine Or rather humane sense shall prove divine God with such secrets then will thee acquaint If here by faith thou wilt be first his Saint But yet if yet thou beest a sleep so fast That all this will not rouse thee up at last But still thou
Makers skill So wonderfull in working of that shell A shell indeed we may the corps affirme Which hath no soule the soule a kernell tearm The shell a chest of curious art compos'd The kirnell is the treasure therein clos'd Then of what knowledge is he like to speed Of what man is by taking up that leed Which priz'd ope once by deaths steel pointed dart Mans soule flies out which is his better part Physitians then by ripping up the dead To view the body when the soule is fâ—ed Can thereby doubtlesse not directly see At all times how the elements agree In humane bodies nor exactly tell How humors flow and hurtfull vapours swell When as the soule commanding in the same Sets every wheel a working in that frame But say by this and other helpfull means Whereon some learned wise Physitian leans He could at all times perfectly relate The ever changing temper and estate Of humane bodies which no mortall can I am resolv'd 't is past the reach of man But grant he could yet what were all his art Alas but to discover man in part The least part and inferior too as far As is a sparkle from a perfect star The soule indeed that is the only gem In search whereof the clearest sight is dim Grave Pliny Galen Aristotle all That men for skill did most renowned call In former times were failing in this kinde Yea in this eye of knowledge almost blinde The rayes of this so dazled them though wise The more they look'd the more they lost their eyes Excepting Cato and some other few Who were inspir'd with a more piercing view Nay what man living failes not in this kinde Who knowes the motions of anothers minde Or pryes so far into anothers breast To finde how his affections are at rest What endlesse windings occupie his thought And deep devices in his braine are wrought Which sinking to their centre do convert To secret resolutions in the heart Nay silly men we are our selves so far From self discerning what we truly are Within our selves that we can hardly tell What is amisse in us or what is well Our hearts in us are so deceitfull grown We cannot search those bottomes of our own Oh silly creatures silly sure at least Who beare we know not what within our breast Nay in our bosomes shrowd a serpent which To seem a Saint doth mightily bewitch 'T is then no marvell though we may complain That our affections are exceeding vain Our thoughts our wits and all with folly haunted When all comes from a fountain so inchanted Deluded be we out of question must Who have a power within us so unjust A power indeed most potent too a heart Which nature makes the over-ruling part Which force doth sure sufficient battell give And more then we can conquer whiles we live Yet whiles we live we must be ever trying Though cannot fully conquer without dying Lord what is man then still we must inquire We are to seek still raise our judgements higher How comes our hearts so evill and accurst Sith thou created'st all things good at first Or how come we unto our selves so blinde That in our selves our selves we cannot finde Lost we so much inheriting of sin That by that gaine we lost our selves therein Prodigious action racing such a tower Prevailing so on thy creating power What thou hadst form'd deform'd and form'd again A most deformed form which doth remain God Al-creating it was in thy power To have restrayn'd that enemy of our Who wrought upon thy workmanship so far As to unmake and make us what we are But this was for our exercise no doubt That thou maist crowne us when the field is fought Besides to make thy love appear the more Remaking us more glorious then before Thou mad'st man sinlesse subject though to slide But thou wilt make him sinlesse to abide Thou gav'st him here a Paradise indeed But thou wilt give him heaven which doth exceed Lord what is man then man that dares to sin Of whom thou hast so ever mindfull been A world before this present world was wrought Admired man was pretious in thy thought Pretious indeed in such a boundlesse measure As if that man should be thy only treasure And thereupon determin'd in thy breast To seat him highest and to love him best Such wonders in that Moses face foreseeing As pleas'd thee well before he had his being Wherein indeed was manifestly shown Thou wouldst unite mans nature to thine own When in thy wisdome thou didst think it meet To set that fore-known creature on his feet To give man form that little world to frame What preparation mad'st thou for the same What heart of man can truly on it ponder And not be rap'd up in any holy wonder Before thou wouldst this wonder undertake Thou sell'st to working wonders for his sake Six dayes almost expired in preparing Of wondrous things against this wonders roaring Thy powerfull hand thy Spirit was imploy'd By moving on a mighty Chaos void Of form or beauty thence to draw by art The dry and solid from the liquid part Both which thou having as it were given birth One part was waters and the other earth Both which continue hanging in a sort Unto our judgement without all support Indeed the waters do the earth surround Againe the earth is to the seas a bound But how this should uphold that globe from fall That doth exceed mans purest sense of all But ere these orbes were fixed not to move And sever'd from the orbes that are above Thou didst ordaine that ornament of light Creating day from a prodigious night In which thy wonder working hand was clear By making so thy wonders to appear For without light thy wonders wrought below Had been but like the secret winds that blow But it did please thee to set ope a door To let in light where darknesse dwelt before And here beneath injoyn'd a pleasant way Of entercourse between the night and day And further yet to furnish thy desire Thou yet mad'st greater lights and set them higher And plac'd the lesse in absence of the Sun That night might not to former darknesse run Besides for signes and tokens in our clymes As perfect rules distinguishing of times Nay further by their fervor from above To make the earth a fruitfull mother prove For till the Sun unto our regions come And warms the earth it seems a barren womb When thou hadst made the firmament thus faire Whose rayes come darting to us through the aire Extending severall curtaines as the shrouds Between the higher and the nether clouds That by a secret interposing way One element support another may When thou had'st drawne the waters here below Into one fountaine there to ebbe and flow And when thou had'st the face of earth made plaine And made its bars the bottome of the main Upon which sure and deep foundation lay'd The pillars rear'd whereon this frame is staid Thou then began'st to looke into