happy byrth A wakes the powers both of heav'n and earth In a melodious harmony to ring A peale of Hale-lu-jahs to their King And so it is for whiles these shepheard boyes Who Pan-like pipe their pastorall Oades and Joyes On oaten reeds had softly laid them down To watch their flocks from stealth's confusion Lo th'Angell Gabriel from heav'ns glorious throne Is sent t' unclasp heav'ns long clasp'd sanction And tell them that their greater Pan was borne Whose stafe and sheep-hook should be made of thorn Feare not says he my frends I come t' unfold The sweetest news that ever yet was told In heav'ns high Senat or in earths deaf-eare Let such then as have eares to heare mee heare For lo In Bethlehem there 's born to day That Hyerarchick-prince whose hands must sway The trinall-Mace of heav'n of earth and hell And all those armies in then bosom dwell Thus hath hee spoke and straight a glorious Chore Of Angels in a Diapason's loare Second his message with the sweetest sound That in D-la-sol or in E-la's found Glory say they be to the Lord on high To men all peace and all prosperity And upon earth let blessings and good-will Each hungry maw and empty cup full-fill Ne're did the fractions of a ratling thunder When first it bursts the roarid-clowd asunder Bring more affrightning terror to the eare Of some weake stripling conquered by feare Then doth this Vision wound the soule and sence Of these poore shepheards fraught with ignorance Yet up say they goe let us quickly try The truth of this so strange a Heraldry For sure hee must bee some great Potentate Of whom so great things be prognosticate And he whom these Seraphick Chores adore Must own an earthly Monarchy and more To Bethleems walls then in all haste they run Before Aurora could display the Sun And finde the Saviour of the world display'd And in poore Bethleems armes despis'd and layd Not usher'd nor attended but with wake Neglect and penury for our plenties sake Here O what find they or what find they not A Lamp of light ecclips'd with darknesse blot A new-born Babe yet got before all time A spotlesse Lamb yet spotted with our crime A King of Kings yet served as a slave A Lord of life yet vassal'd to the Grave A very God yet cloath'd with flesh and bone A Prince yet harbour'd in Confusion What 's here I pray that carnall eyes or sense Can honour with Religious reverence A Carpenter a Hand-maid and a child A Cottage and a Crib with beasts defil'd Yet loe for all that basenesse they behold They tell to Mary what the heav'ns have told To them whose heart doth all those sayings hide Till God and Time her doubtings should decide But ay me happy happy Virgin-maid Me thought of late my staggering Mase had stray'd Too farre in pointing out thy humbled station In thy Sonnes dark eclipsed Incarnation But ah I see sublunar griess doe still Renew their Tides for e'r they obbe they sill And glut themselves with our afflictions load Untill our grave become our last aboad Needs therefore must I rouze once more my quill And make her drink once more the Nectar'd rill Of divine Numbers that I may expresse Those teares that toyle and bitter wofull case With which thy harmlesse heart is pierced thorow Whilst thy deare suckling our first griefs doth borrow Seven times hath Titan now with swift Cariere Run all th'Ecclyptick of his bandilier And couching seven times in th'Atlantick deep Hath lull'd as oft Earths drowsie globe asleep Loe now his eight and new approaching Ray Hath call'd on Phaeton to proclaim the Day And by the sacred Ceremonious Rites Of Legall sanctions now the Heav'n invites The ever blessed Virgin-maid to sacre Her Sonne by Circumcision mans Peace-maker But ah great Nymph what dost thou now and why Greet'st thou thy Sonne with such a cruelty That ev'n in stead of those sweet warbling aires That should his griefes beguile and charm his cares Thou mak'st the Runnals of his pretious blood Distain the ground in so impetuous flood What hast thou quite forgot that pitious strain Which Nature wafting in affections Main On all that tender Progeny bestowes Which from her bowels and her belly flowes Or tell me dost thou think that this poor vail Of flesh wherein th'Eternall's Sonne doth dwell Although it truly was assum'd in thee Can ev'r partake thy sinfull Leprosie No no I feare dread Nymph I wrong too sore Thy Loves deep Ocean and thy Faith 's rich store For ne're a drop of that his Crimson dye Fall's to the ground but with a Sympathy Of griefes of teares and sorrow-ringing-knell Thou didst his scriechings and his teares bewail Yea what is more I finde thee Royall Dame So wrapt 'twixt Faith and Fear 's obstrep'rous flame That whilst th'intend'st by Circumcisions stroak To consecrate thy Sonne to beare our yoak No sooner dost thou precognosc his teares Or yet presage his smart by thy weak feares When loe me thinks I heare thee sweetly say My hope my help my love my life my stay Ah shall I live and be reserv'd to see My hearts delight and Soules sole balm thus be Both cut and carved by the butch'rous knife Of any Flamine who did e're take life No no my Love my Darling my Delight Love cannot so her Gordian knot bequite As once to make thee but become a pray To bloody rigour in a legall way Back Phoebus back for shame goe hide thy head And golden Tresse in Thetis watry shade Look not on such a savage sight nor see So foule a Scean presented unto thee Earth stop thy mouth and doe thou drink no more These crimson drops of blood and spotlesse gore Which my poor babe distills but rather mourne And to thy wonted Chaos straight returne And O thou Flamine whosoe're thou be Whose hand 's accustom'd to this butchery Here I adjure thee by that sumptuous All Which Heav'n or Earth doth sacred count or call Touch not my Sonne with such a bloody knife For in his wound I bleed and lose my life But rather kneeling at his De'ties throne Know that his wounds and scars should be thy own Yet whilst againe thou ruminat'st th' Abysse Of Gods unshun'd decree and Righteousnesse O how I see thee bound thy fraile desire And what thou canst not comprehend admire For since th' Eternall gives this strict command That every male inhabiting this Land Of Promise should by Circumcisions badge Be known a Co-heire of his heritage O how thou daunt'st thy thoughts and curb'st thy tongue As sacrilegious instruments of wrong And though thy flesh a while had th'upper hand Yet now I see the Spirit doth countermand The fraile suggestions of thy naturall will And to his righteous lore subject them still For thus me thinks I heare thee plead Altho 'T is hard to see my Sonne dismembred so Yet since 't is God who hath my comfort been Whose Love my life doth every way maintain
To see from whence and for what wondrous cause This radiant Torch so rich a splendor showes But all 's in vain nor Art nor Nature may I'ts scite light motion to the world display For all of those are in this subject rare Divine miraculous extraordinare But he from whom Nature first beg'd her light And hidden Science by his artlesse might Inspires those Sages and doth make them see This Star's the Prodrome of that Majestie By whom the Sonnes of Japhet now are led Within the Tents of Shem to hide their head Fie on thee Juda Salem fie on thee Why didst not thou as well as they foresee The glorious sun-shine of thy Visitation And greet the worker of this great Salvation But ah thy snorting dreams did thee deceive For thou didst still imagine thou shouldst have A Prince of such a temporall arm and power As to a honny-sweet should change thy sowre But loe whilst thou in darknesse lov'st to sleep A Nation com'th from farre and stately keep Their festivals of Joy thy Tents about Whilst thou and eke thy children are thrust out O God whence com'th't that those above the rest Have known thy Starre and so themselves addrest In paths of toyl and tedious pilgrimage To searrh thy birth as they did see thy badge Could Nature or her handmaid Art discover Thy Star or it distinguish from another No surrely no Combine them both in one And both shall teach us but confusion For without grace the naturall Man 's a foole And Arts chief Doctor when he sits at Schoole And doth investigate Heav'ns Earth and Aire And all those hoasts which Capriolls here or there In Natures precincts still the more he sees Arts hidden secrets Natures mysteries And sees not God the more his wit shall serve To glut his fancy but his soule to starve Thus they being led by the Celestiall light Through rocky Deserts and the toyls of night Doe come at last to Bethlehems walls and there This Torch stands fluttering o're them in the aire Till by thy guiding grace they doe espie The place wherein this Monarch-Prince doth lie No sooner doe they this sweet Babe behold Then by heav'ns inspiration they are bold T' unload their asses and their Camels backs T'untrusse their fardles and ungird their sacks And lay these sumptuous presents richly sweet Gold Mirhe and Incense at the Sucklings feet Whether they by Prophetick spirit did see His Kingdome Priesthood and his Prophecie Or if that by affections naturall Vain They thus doe greet him as their Soveraign I struggle not too much Let this suffice That in Religious awe they bow their knees And with a sacred sweet consorting voyce Thus doe they greet him and thus they rejoyce Thrice great thrice blessed and thrice holy Lord By whose Majestick uncontrolled Word What e're was fram'd within the point of Time Or hath a being in the aâ—â—r'd Clime Whose right hand doth from all Etern'ty bear Our clasped Issues unshun'd Kalendar Whose wisdome pow'r and deep providence guides The Delian Princesse in her sev'rall tides How boldly may we now rejoice and sing And call the carroling beav'ns thy praise to ring Who mak'st thy wondrous light to shine even there Where death made darknesse his Cubiculare Of old whilst Jacob was desir'd to blesse Josephs two sonnes with a Prophetick kisse He wisely cross'd his armes and his right hand He puts on Ephraims head where he did stand And on Manasseh made his left hand stay And so by practice he did prophecy That Japhets seed should dwell i' th' tents of Shem. And eke Manasseh bow to Ephraim This day we see that Vaticiny true Whilst we wilde prodigals our necks subdue To thee our God making Manasses share Rich as the vintage of Abiezer Since Israel therefore will not heare heare then You Heav'ns and Earth and shame the sonnes of Shem For we will praise th' Eternall and record The never failing goodnesse of the Lord. O blessed Babe how great art thou what store Of blessings girds thy Loyns for evermore For thou art he who dost exalt the horn Of Judah and his Pallaces adorn With bowls of Nectar and Ambrosian dyet And mak'st her graze in pastures of true quiet The Scepter of true Government 's on thy shoulder And thou shalt crush thy foes to dust and powder On Davids throne thou as his Sonne shalt sit In Judgment and in Truth t' establish it Yea Peace and Plenty shall thy steps attend And of thy Kingdom there shall be no end O loving Childe how lovely-faire art thou How sparkling are thy eyes how sweet thy brow How fragrant are the odours that distill On thee from Gilead and Hermonims hill Amongst the flowr's thou' rt chief the Rose the Lilly The Pink the Turn-sol and the Daffadilly Have no such odorif'rous smell or taste As thou reverb'rat'st from the West to th' East Live ' then sweet Babe the miracle of Time Earths mighty Champion Balm of humane crime Let thy great voyce in Peace resound throughout Earths flowry kirtle and Seas glassie spout That so thy favour in each part may be Immortall Nectar to Posteritie O what are we great God what 's our deserving That to confirme our faith so prone to swerving Thou dost thus shake heav'ns solid Orb and make Thy selfe a Vassall for a Vassals sake O that we could discern aright and know What duty service feare and love we owe Thee for that endlesse love wherewith thou hast Reclaim'd us from our wandrings to thy rest Teach us ô teach us so to run our race In patience and in patience to possesse Our Soules that thou at thy great day may'st clear Our Aegypt to a Goshen's hemisphear And change the tenour of our tragick story To the Catastroph ' of an endlesse glory The Massacre CANTO 7o. DIstraction tumult teares oppression jarre VVrath causlesse envy cruell murther warre Yea all those woes which Fury can forth bring Are now the Discant which my Muse must sing For whilst of late th' Eternall did invite By secret motions of his sacred Sp'rit Three Eastern Sages wisely to imbrace Th' occasion of their long long-look'd-for peace Like to Apollo's Priests intranc'd they rove From Herod's Palace to the Courts of Jove And with a thundring voyce they roare and cry Where 's Juryes King where where 's that Royall boy In whom the heav'ns have daign'd t' exalt the Throne Of Sions hopelesse Desolation His Star hath brought us from our home-bred joyes From ease from rest and from our quirks and toyes And made us tread those paths of sad exile T' imbrace the comforts of our widow-while Scarce had they breath'd those accents of unrest When vulture-feare layes hold on Herod's brest In such a sort that curs'd Erynnis crew Doe both his senses and his soule subdue What 's this I heare quoth he what threats be those Those wandring Pilgrims to the heav'ns up-throwes What brainsick tidings of a new-born King Are those which now through Jewryes Coasts do ring
Gods true Sonne then let me see Some token of it that I may believe He hath a care of thee that thou mayst live Full forty dayes thou hast been here alone Wand'ring and wond'ring in this Mansion Earth yeelds no bread the brooks doe yeeld no water The Downes no Locust Combes no honney scatter Clouds yeeld no Manna Ravens take no care To feed thee with their flesh-pots late or ear Sarepta's widow doth not breake her Cake Which for her own last dinner she did bake Is this th' Almighties care is this his love Which he of late did unto thee improve As to his Sonne that thou should'st starve and dye By famine and extream necessity No get thee up exchange these stones to bread Eat freely then and be thou satisfi'd For skin to skin and all the worlds rich choise Man will renounce before his life he lose Full forty dayes I have been here proud Clown R. Replies my Saviour and have beaten down This flesh of mine with fasting all the while That in this Lent of mine I might beguile Thy pur-blinde eyes whose chiefest aime and straine Is but to crush my flesh because humane Moses my servant neere this place before Fasted as long whil'st Sinay's tops did rore And he who Baal's folly did proclame Full forty dayes did try the same extreame Yet neither th' one nor th' other sought to thee For help in their extream necessitie But by my Fathers strengthning power they Were without outward meanes maintain'd alway My Father without bread or water can Maintain that life which he hath giv'n to man The heav'ns on Israel did Manna powre Like Coriander in a snow-white showre To some he doth lifes meanes miraculously Beyond their expectation multiply That when they look'd t' have kept nothing in store Their nothing still increas'd and grew the more Then to distrust my Fathers providence T' abuse my power and under the pretence Of working miracles t' obey thy will Were base in me and a prodigious ill Indeed man lives by bread but that 's not all Each word which from my Fathers mouth doth fall Must either blesse the bread to man or then It shall not nourish him 't shall prove his bane Thus hath the venemous snake his first dart flung Yet hath it neither wounded hurt nor stung My Saviour for his still uncharmed eare Without impression that assault did heare A second dart therefore the Traitor tryes And that it may prevaile he proudly flies Unto the top of Salems Temple there To crush by pride what 's not crush'd by dispair The first tentation's ground was starving want Now doth presumptuous plenty charm in chant For where one poore extream can never doe it He hath another and he puts us to it Jerusalem is now the worlds chiefe glory The Temple is Jerus'lems highest story The Pinacle's the loftiest step of that There is my Saviour by the Tempter set I have desir'd thee to make bread of stones Saith the proud murth'rer but behold at once Thou didst reply Thy Fathers providence Would shelter thee from Natures indigence Come then come let us try thy Fathers power Cast thy selfe down from top of this high tower For well I know what 's writ in David's book And thou mayst learn it when thou list to look That he hath giv'n his Angels astrict charge To bear thee in their armes as in a Barge To keep thee safe and sound in flesh and bone Psal 81. Lest thou shouldst dash thy foot against a stone How long shall I now suffer thee damn d dogge R. Saith my Redeemer like a wallowing hogge Disturb my sacred Cisterns by such wiles The Sonnes of Adam alwaies thou beguiles It is no new thing to heare thee blaspheme This is the program of thy Academe Grace hath abounded man may sinne the more Elected and Redeem'd trip still therefore The spirit of bondage and of feare is gone Burst then the fetters of Adoption O how it wounds me thus to heare thee tare My sacred Oracles with poysoned aire As if in them there were not couch'd such truth As could both comfort age and confound youth I know 't is written but I know as well There 's something written there thou dost conceal And dar'st not utter for it would declare The snaky sophism of thy subtile snare In all thy wayes thou dost omit this stance Yet here 's the rule of Gods great providence If man would wish or hopefully expect The safe protection of the bless'd elect He must not wander in his fancies measure Or tread the wandring path of his own pleasure But in the path of that Saint-beaten rode That 's pointed out unto him by his God If so he walke he shall be safe and sure If otherwise his death he shall procure Art not thou now asham'd so treacherously To wrest th'Eternals truth impudently To cut asunder that which God conjoyns And with an endlesse falshood gird thy loyns Take then from out that sacred Scriptures fountain A stone cut without hands from out the mountain To split thy forehead from out David's sling And curb the poyson'd venome of thy sting Behold it 's written both to man and thee Tremble and feare doe not presume too high For who so wanders from this beaten rode Doth tempt the Lord and lift his heel ' gainst God Deut. 6.16 Yet once more must this murtherer goe fling His last and finall dart against our King The blast of fainting and of black dispaire Nor of presumptions fire-ball thrown i'th'aire Have not prevail'd yet will he not be quiet But ayming at his envies richer diet He sets my Saviour on a steep high mountain From which each river and each bubling fountain Each pearly mead and shady shelt'ring grove Where either Serpents hisse or Satyrs rove Each vinyard drunk with grapes or cloi'd with clusters And ev'ry place where pleasure makes her musters And ev'ry other sense-contenting thing Which to a carnall minde content can bring Are in an eyes short twinkling set before him And promis'd to him if he would adore him See'st thou not those sayes he all those be mine View take possesse them I will make them thine And with their title I will here endow thee If thou wilt once but bow thy knees unto mee Now now and ne'er till now did my Redeemer Waxe fierce with fury ' gainst this bold blasphemer R. What Bow to thee thou foul abortive slave Thou dust eater thou canker of the grave Thou down-faln star thou filthy proud glow-worm Whose fall yet fils both Earth and Seas with storm Proud begger slave thou saist the world is thine And yet it is the Lords and all therein The treasures of the winds the cloudes of Raine The wine press'd grapes and all the sheaves of graine The fishes of the Sea the fowls o' th' aire The beasts o' th' Earth that nibble here and there The floods the rivers watry ponds and lakes Which from the clouds or ocean welspring takes
thoughts espy With a loud voyce he boldly thus doth say Alas I now perceive it for a truth This people doe draw neer me with their mouth Whil'st as their hearts are farre from me for loe Not for my Doctrine sake they doe me know But for the barlie loaves they did partake When I did feed them for my mercy sake But travell not I pray you for that meat Which is as quickly gone as it is eate But labour for that bread which lasts for ever Which I the sonne of man to you deliver Your Fathers in the deserts did eate Manna And prais'd the giver with a loud Hosanna Yet did they perish dye and eke consume In their stifnecked murmuring A mertume But he who eats the bread that I shall give him Shall never perish for it shall revive him I am the bread of life which came from heaven My father unto you this bread hath given That by his bread of life which is supernall He may your soules maintain to life Eternall As many then as come to me shall neither Have thirst nor hunger for my glorious Father Sent me from heav'n not my own will to doe But mans hard heart unto his yoak to bow That so man may eschew his burning wrath And scape the sorrows of the second death No man hath seen the Father but the Sonne Who in the Fathers bosome dwels alone He doth reveale him unto whom he pleaseth Whose crosse he lightneth and whose soule he easeth No man ascendeth unto heav'n but he Who came from heav'n and doth in Majestie Though base on earth yet when he thinketh sit Doth on his Fathers right hands glory sit And at his second comming saves his sheep From sinking in that never fathom'd deep Whereas the sulpher of th'Eternalls breath Layes hold upon the vessels of his wrath And makes the faithfull and the righteous all Be fill'd with glories endlesse festivall The Metamorphose CANTO 6o. FOre-chosen Jacob Isaac's second Swaine Jah-struggling champion and victorious man Thou royall she apheard and tresprudent Siere Whom Palestina's Princes did admire Vouchsafe me but t' approach thy dying throne And charge thee with this Gordian knot alone And like Apollo thou thy front shalt see Deckt with a garland from the Lawrell tree Whence come th' Enthusiasm and that sacred sury Which made thee all thy carnall senses bury In Lethe's lap and with religious rage Divide Chams tents to Israels heritage VVhence hadst thou wisdome and sweet inspiration To precognose and with true divination Foretell that Juda's tribe should beare the sway Till Shilo should ecclipse his Majesty How madest thou Joseph like a fruitfull Vine That doth her arms about her Bridegroom twine Drunk with the grapes of Ephraims royall cup Which weak Manasseh's hands could not beare up But above all I stand amaz'd to see Lewd Levi's scatt'rings dare t' approach so nigh To Joves Ariell offring there upon For sinne and sinners expiation Is Dinah dead or Sechem's blood gone dry That thou dost thus forget his villany And without smarting for his foule offence Exalt him to the high-Priests eminence 'T is strange that divine Justice should permit Him who i th' chaire of sinners so hath sit Without corrections rod possesse the throne And sing the carrols of exemption O now I see thy tongue was not thy own A higher power hath it rul'd and thrown Even He great He whose wayes we cannot spy Because his will 's the square he worketh by Who where he will have mercy there he pardons And where he will with draw his grace he hardens From his good pleasure then and no where else It is that Levi's tribe the rest excels And on his Ephod whiter then the snow Hath tyed his breast plate where in sumptuous show Stands Vrim and great Thummims true direction For light of knowledge and for lifes perfection So then from loyns of that unhallowed stem Which Jacob thrust from Israels diadem The Lord hath chosen a successive race Of royall Priesthood who before his face Shall in that course which David did prescribe Burn incense and their sacrifice contrive With never alter'd though alternat order Till Melchizedeck come and crush their border All those like Comets when they first appeare In our sublunar regions hemispheare Did draw mens wandring eyes and wondring hearts To scan their sequels whether smiles or smarts But all in vaine nature can ne'er unty The clasped books of heav'ns great mystery For till the Word was Flesh great Judah's throne Ne'er knew her perfect exaltation And Aarons rod did ne'er her top bow down With reverence to Melchizedecks Crown But when thou cam'st those figures types and tropes Had reall Essence for unreall hopes For where the Sun doth shine in lights aray All clouds evanish night gives place to day Since then thou art true light and since with thee Darknesse dare plead for no societie O let me but be bold this once to follow Thee to thy Tabor that my sp'rit being shallow May by the lustre of thy glories shine Taste of that light that never shall decline But aye me whil'st I see the hill so steep The gulfe of my poore misery so deep The flesh so fraile the sp'rit so soone o'retak'n The flax so quench'd the bruised reed so shak'n The load of sinne so great my faith so faint So strickt the forfeit of the Covenant I cannot choose but feare lest by the way My hasting doe defraud me of my pray Unlesse thou help who help'd the faithfull thiefe For I believe Lord help my unbeliefe Come then dread Saviour let me search the time Wherein thou didst to Tabors fastege clime Thy Scriv'ners differ many therefore doubt Thy journies Epoche how they shall finde out One sayes that it was fully six daies after That thou didst make their soules o'reflow with laughter By promising that some who stood thee by Should not see death nor taste mortality Till they being witnesse of thy raptures story Should see the Sonne of man come in his glory Another saith the dayes were almost eight After that promise that thou scal'dst this height Thus doe some weake mindes stumble whilst they spy Amidst thy truth so great variety But foolish we in vanity still wallow We straine a Gnat yet doe a Camel swallow We grope at noone day and make known our blot Whil'st in a rush we seek a Gordian knot For where the eight day's neere and six are spent By true arithmetick the seventh is meant Upon this day when heav'ns and earth were made And all their frame and fabrick finished Th' Eternall seeing all his creatures good Proclam'd the seventh dayes rest and so it stood Upon this day from Mysraims darkned Cell God did redeem his first born Israel Upon this day from Baalz phons shoare To Migdoll he his people dry-foot bore Upon this day from Syna's thundering jaw He gave the Sanctions of his sacred Law Upon this day in Cana's wedding shrine He turned fountaine water unto wine And
interpretation is thus taken My God my God why hast thou me forsaken One saith he calls Eliah stand aside And let us see what Saint in heav'n can guide Him from this crosse surely if any come We will believe him we will make him roome Not onely doe those Burreaves him revile And ' gainst that holy one lift up their heel But also that proud mastive who did at His left hand suffer as he perpetrat Calls to him and in proud luâ—ibrious manner Commands him to display his pow'rfull banner And as he had sav'd others save him selfe And him likewise from splitting on this shelfe But Jesus holds his peace to make it plaine That he revil'd did not revile again Though Jesus hold his peace yet doth that mate Which on his right hand hung thus ope the gate To his just ire and rebukes his brother He can his fury now no longer smother Proud rayling rascall saith he we be here To suffer for our sinnes as doth appeare By all the Legends of our murd'ring ditty Justly doe men therefore withdraw their pitty From us but this just man what hath he done His innocence is cleare as middayes Sun Why dost not thou feare God and in this station Beg shelter from a deeper condemnation But what thou wilt not doe behold I will Lord look upon me in thy mercy still And when thou com'st unto thy kingdome then Remember me in mercy heale my pain Jesus beholding this his faith replies Man I doe tell thee that in Paradise This night thou shalt be with me and shalt taste The glorious Nectar of my Fathers feast Father once more all thing are finshed Which thy great law requires diminished Is nothing which her Sanctions did crave And now I 'm ready to be laid in grave I therefore come to thee Into thy hands I recommend my Sp'rit let not deaths bands Triumph ore me for it I vanquish'd have Yet I 'le subject my selfe unto the grave By this he bows his head and giveth up The Ghost and so hath drunken up his cup. One of those Souldiers who did him attend Hoping to gaine some honour in the end Takes up his Speare to try if Christ were dead And in his side doth thrust it over head Straight from the wound doth flow both blood and water Whose still dissever'd streams themselves so scatter As never Tigris and Euphrates did More th' one from th' other at their sourse divide When the first Adam snorted in his sleep Great Isr'els Watchman who poore man doth keep Took from his side a rib of which he made An helpe unto the man who was her head And now the second Adam on his Crosse Lacks not a bone but to repaire that losse From out his side whereon his bride now stands Sends forth pure water first to wash her hands And that clean hands may have as clean a heart He sends her blood to purge her better part His water purgeth and refresheth more Then that which from Rephidims rock did rore His blood speaks better things then Abels did When she in Vesta's lap her head did hide And truly such a water or such blood Nor Baalzephom shoare nor Ganges flood Did ever borrow from earths bubling vain While as they pard their tribute to the Main Loe how the sonne of God in human nature Loe how for Man poore creature the Creatour Loe for the guilty how the innocent Loe how the lowly for the insolent Suffers payes covers satisfies at once Death debt shame wrath for our exemptions Come wayward Gentile come rebellious Jew Come scoffing Atheist Semichristian thou Prodigious misbeliever natures slave Blasphemous mockers of the crosse and grave Come come I say and if you needs must scorn Those hands those feet this heart that crown of thorn From whence my Saviour in such sev'rall rills Celestiall Nectar to the world distills If nothing here on earth you see below Can your hard hearts to his obedience bow Look up above your head and see what strange Commotions through th' heav'nly regions range And from their troubles learn in time to tremble Least those their palsies prove your deaths preamble For whil'st his soule doth to the heav'ns ascend Which to his Father he did recommend Straight with his last gaspe earth's round globe doth shake As if her engines axle-tree should breake The broad enameld courtaine of the sky Obfuscat with dark clouds doth droup and dye And since he whose right hand first formed Nature Hath so much suffred for a sinfull creature The frame of Nature now hath sworn to show That natures God hath suffred here below Hence hoary Saturne turns his face awry And scorns to gaze so great a butchery The bounteous Jupiter now amazed stands And scorns with Amalthaea to shake hands Blood-thirsting Mars throws down his dart and cries What Phlegra 's this whose Typhon scales our skies The wanton now betakes her to her heels And puls her Pidgeons from Apollo's wheels The witty Merc'ry throws his pen aside He cannot see to write for nights black pride And Cynthia now beholding Titans Car Ecclipsed by a brighter morning star Runs from th' Eoan to th' Hesperian coast And grapleth Titan in her arms so fast That brave Latona's son nor can nor may But through her sad imbrace take leave of day Now is the Temples vaile rent quite in twaine And Jew and Gentile reconcil'd againe Now are the flint-hard rocks found cut asunder That mans hard heart might at it's hardnes wonder Now are the graves devouring gates cast up And long interred dust drinks new lives cup That heav'ns and earth and hell and all may see That power of th'Eternalls victorie Whereby he hath as both true God and Man For man subbu'd Deaths great Leviathan The Triumph CANTO 6o. ERE Cairo's Monarch would let Isr'el goe From out the fornace of affliction loe The holy one of Israel bigge with ire Is forc'd in wrath to blow so fierce a fire Against him that a Decad of stern woes Must fall upon him ere he melt his snowes So deeply were they froze amidst his heart That nothing but deep wrath can him convert Of all those plagues which did on Misraim fall Me thinks the last save one was worst of all For what are fields or fruits or brooks or trees In respect of mans gracious faculties And life it selfe is small being compar'd With utter darknesse wherein man ensnar'd By living death and dark Cimerian mist Of Goshens childe is made a Memphytist Such were the foggy mists that now doe stand For three houres space through all Judaea's land So that th' inhabitants doe gaze with wonder To see the sun obscured from his splendor But Titan once more doth reclear his eye And shuffling off his Sisters canopy Doth joy to see his eldest brothers bed With such triumphing trophees honored Now whil'st the stern Centurion sees the damp That Christ his death hath wrought in Natures camp He shrinks away for feare and doth professe Surely this man hath
Of Peace of Mercy and of Lovesick-motion VVherewith the Man-God my Redeemer hath Releas'd my Darling both from Sin and Death But since my wit is weake my pen unable My judgment shallow and my hand unstable To give a true characterizing strain Unto thy Greatnes Goodnes Mercies-Main O grant that whilst thou openest thus my mouth T' unfold the Tenor of thy sacred Truth I bee not like those stones which by the way Unmov'd themselves the beaten rode display Nor like that Canall and that watry Spout VVhich from the fountaine to it's bubling snout Conveys pure streams of coole refreshing water For th' use of others whilst it self 's no better No first inform my mind then cleer mine eye That I may learn what depth of Deiry Thy VVisdome hath entrencht within the Vail Of flesh and made it there reside and dwell Then touch my lips and guide my babling pen That I may warble to the sons of men The sweet Hyblaean Nectar of thy Powre That brings us sweetnes from our bitter-sowre So shall I teach thy Saints thy waies aright Whilst thy all-seeing eye vouchsafes mee sight The Prodrome CANTO 2o. I Sing the wonders of that wondrous GOD Who being essentially one is Trin'ly od Not in that first born Word-begotten Mater Whose after-byrth was fire ayre earth and water From whom and to whom as their native sourse Time reconveys his childrings circled course Nor gaze I that re-colonizing Boat Wherein old Noah twelve months pent did float On steepe high Mountains and Ryphaean woods Like Neptune trampling on those swallowing floods Which from Heav'ns-sluces Earths hid vains and Seas Deep-channels did God's wrath anatomize Nor minde I now to lim that wondrous Love Which burning in Elohim's brest above Did Shem and Heber's sacred line re-bring From Shinar's soyl and fayre Euphrates spring T' attend the loadstar of th'Eternals call Amidst those plains where Jordan's course doth craule Nor shall my bubling pen those plagues expresse Which from the heav'ns in wraths enrag'd excesse On Zâ—an's field and Mizraim's flowry Tent Were as postilions of their wrath down sent Nor sing I those divine decrees and wonders VVhose voice contemper'd with a thousand thunders Breeds more respect in Israel's haughty heart VVho notwithstanding acts the truants part Then all those Lawes which Numa could afford Or yet the Spartane or Cecropian Lord L. S. No those already have in matchlesse Ore Traverst both Vestae's lap and Thetis shore And by the pencill of a glorious Gawl D. B. Have drawn the curtain of our azur'd All In such a sort that time shall never bring So sweet a draught from Hippocrene's spring Save that which Albian's Mercury Trismegist J. S. Hath quintessenc'd from Ampelonaes brest No no my care shall bee in heav'n-bred trance To gaze his more then wondrous excellence From whom all things as from their common father Doe all their essence and their being gather That true beginning midst and end of all VVho but beginning midst or end at all Is ground and top of that uncoupled chaine VVhich links poore sinners to their Soveraign The blessed Son I sing of God and Man VVho born in time yet was ere time began The Son of God th' eternall living rock And royall off-spring of great David's stock That blest Redeemer whom the Prophets old By heav'n-bred revelations oft foretold On whom their figures shadowes Types and Tropes Built all their truths moralities and hopes The God of Gods I sing and King of Kings From out whose mouth a two ed'd smyter-springs Dividing twixt the marrow and the bones And manifesting th' hearts hid motions VVhose words are misteries whose works are wonders VVhose eyes are lightnings and whose voice is thunders VVhose hayres are whiter then the new faln snow Whose sparkling eyes like flames of fire doe glow VVhose loynes are girt with gold of better fine Then Titan lusters in his mid-day shine VVhose foot 's of burning brasse and trampleth down The rage of Lethe Styx and Acharon Him him I sing Earth Earth attend my song That so the hony-suckles of my Tongue May like those showres which on the Meads doe trill Celestiall Nectar to the world distill For though my pen in peace should snort and ly The Rocks the Mountains and the Stones would cry Crant therfore ô my God Grant grant betimes Peace to my Soule and soule unto my Rhimes Yea quintessence my soule and eke advance My care-free spirit in some celestiall trance That purg'd from passion thy divine addresse May guide me through this desert wildernesse Of humane weaknesse that my Pen from thee And Lines may borrow such a dignity As may expresse in lofty quavering songs The lofty prayse which unto thee belongs But stay my Muse and lanch not to the Ocean VVhose never ebbing Tide and restles motion No Pilot yet could know aright or keep Himself from Naufrage in so vast a deep For this is sure That in this voyage stands Charybdis gulfe and Scilla 's shelf and sands 'Twixt which the whistlings of an easie gale Must guide thy Bark and not a blustrous sale Yet keep not alwaies peace my Muse for now 'T is time to cleere thy care-eclipsed brow And by the numbers of thy sacred fury To stray along th'enamel'd coasts of Jurie Goe then from Dan to Bethel thence anon To Aroer Keilah Adullam Ziff Maone To Shilo Gilgall Mizphe Ramah Nob And these sky-threatning towr's whose spires doe rob Their white from Pelops shoulder and their Ore From Peru Ganges and Hydaspes shore And while thou viewst those coasts and pleasant fields Which milk and hony in abundance yeelds Vaile vaile thy top-saile and in rev'rence greet That sacred Flamyn whose heav'n-ravish'd sp'rit Doth at Joves Altar with a zeale-bred fire Evaporat his Soules sincere desire Haile flowry Jordan then and you sweet torrents Of christall-water whose Meandring currents So many Saints have sip'd and O thou soyl Whose arms gave rest from that tumultuous toyl Wherein our Fathers forty yeers did stray And O you sacred-walls where eft-soon lay That mighty God and Man whose chrimson shower From out his side made him our Saviour Yea O you hills you dales and fields each one Where Earths-sole Phoenix Heav'ns-true Paragon Did from his Cradle to his Crosse endure Our sinnes-disease and griefs-distemp'rature Haile haile I cry you all a glad good morrow Let neither blustring winds nor rain-bred sorrow Your Meads unflowre or yet your woods disleave Or choak your torrents in their bubling grave No let nor haile nor snow nor frost nor Ice By their tumultuous violent prejudice Your brows enage or yet your Tresses scorne Till from your tops your golden fleece be shorn But rather let the heav'ns with smiling face Your Nayids and your Napa's so embrace That by the tincture of their milk-sweet raine Your floury virdure may still fresh remaine As long as Titan takes delight to post From Japan to the great Herculaean coast But above all Hail hail thou ghostly-Father
flies above the Pole And all the Stars where Charles great wain doth role And in the highest heav'ns doth steale a glance Of great Jehova's glorious countenance And with a ravish'd strain doth strive to see His one true Essence and his persons three That in the volume of his face she may The programs of his frowns and favour spy All those within thy hollow bosome dwell And yet by natures help thou canst not tell Nor when nor where nor how this bulk was made Begun advanc'd inlarg'd or finished Why dost thou then require that nature should Investigate or labour to unfold The secret footsteps and that hidden way Wherein th' Almighty doth his pow'r display Dost thou not know that in thee two men dwell The spirit and the flesh whose tides doe swell So boistrously each one against the other That cruell Cain when he had kill'd his brother Was never stuff'd with more vindictive spleen Then doe these two betwixt them entertain Water hath no more force to drown the fire Fire to drink water doth no more aspire Ayre in earths caverns hath not such a roar Earth doth no more ayres levity abhorre Heat against cold and moysture against drougth Doth not so largly ope their yawning mouth The light with darknes keeps no better coyle Death striving against life hath no such toyle As have these two whil'st their unstay'd desire To ruine one another doth aspire Hence doth arise so fierce a conflict that Unlesse the one the other subjugat With laboring Rebecca in her push Man may exclaime If so why am I thus For loe the good man would he cannot doe And th' ill he would not that he 's thrust unto Yet whosoever to the flesh shall give Obedience and in her Statutes live Shall from the flesh reape nothing but corruption And drink the bitter dregs of her destruction But he who by the spirit is made free From carnall lusts and their captivitie Shall by th' obedience of the Sp'rit have peace When all the turmoiles of the flesh shall cease But ay me now I see this world is gone And drown'd i th' deep of induration For though the light hath plentifully shin'd In all her corners yet men have repin'd Against the light and made their deeds so evill That they are slaves to Belial and the Devill Thus hath he gravell'd Nicodemus sp'rit And of a Pharisee made a Proselyte For nature being convinc'd must hold her peace And humane reason unto God give place Hence forth from Judah he doth take his way And in Samaria purposeth to stay Faint in his journey by the extream heat Which Earth to Titan did reveberat He comes to Sichars well but all in vain One drop of water he can not obtain Here down he sits straight from Samaria come A woman to draw water for her home Woman saith he I thirst extreamly pray Lend me some water this my thirst t' alay The jorney's long and eke the season hot Let me then drink some water from thy pot Some water saith she that is strange ô man That thou a Jew I a Samaritan Canst seek refreshment or a drink from me Those keep no commerce nor societie Woman saith he ô that thou couldst but know That gift of God and who it is that now Doth beg of thee some water for his thirst Surely thou shouldst have been my begger first And I to thy petition would have given A cup of better water brought from Heaven For who so drinks this water thirsts again But who tastes my unemptied Ocean Shall never thirst for from th' Eternal's throne It spring'th and tak'th eternall motion Master saith she you talk to me of water Whose bubling sourse some better streams doth scatter But to my taste I never yet could see A welspring of more pretious dignitie Our Father Jacob dig'd this well of old He drunk of it his children al 's ' were bold To fet it to their Cattels use art thou Greater then they I pray thee let me know That when I thirst hereafter I may drink And draw the waters of that better brink Goe saith he then and make thy husband come That when thou drink'st he also may have some I have no husband saith she Now I heare Thee speak the truth for it is more then clear That husbands five thou hast already had And he whom now thou hast thou hast not wed Thus hast thou sinn'd and in thy sinne dost lye Drunk with the dregs of sinnes security Yet though sinnes seed time seem a delicate Her harvest and her gleaning's desolate Master saith she a Prophet now thou art For thou display'st the secrets of my heart Messiah when he comes can doe no more But tell us all things this thou dost before I am the man saith he expect no other The only sonne of God by flesh thy brother Yea amongst many brethren the first borne And of great David's house th' exalted horne Shee hears those words and leaves her water pot Behinde her and to poore Samaria's lot She hies her self with all the speed she can And cals them from their trades each man by man Come come saith she now blessed be the Lord He hath made true the tenure of his word Which promiseth that in the end of time Messiah's blood should expiat our crime Come I have found him and what 's strange behold What I have done in all my life h' hath told Yea he hath fann'd the secrets of my heart And made my soule by griefe for sinne to smart I never heard so grave and learn'd a Preacher So strickt a schoole-man and so wise a Teacher Ne're doth the Phaenix when she first doth flie From out her Urn with self-bred infancie With richer troops attempt her first-wing'd march Along the conclave of th'ethereall Arch Than now my Saviour from Samaria â—â—th T' attend his doctrine and enrich their faith He seeth them hunger and he opes his mouth To feed them with those clusters of his truth Your fathers saith he worship'd in this mountain Here did they dig sweet water from this fountain But now the time drawes neere and is at hand When neither here nor in Judaea's land God shall be serv'd alone through all the world The chariot of his glory shall be hurl'd God is a Spirit all that doe him feare In sp'rit and truth unto him must draw neare You worship what you know not ô but we Know whom we worship in sinceritie And though salvation's to the Jewes first shown Yet shall the Gentiles for Gods sonnes be known O now say they unto the woman we Believe him not for what you testifie But having heard him with our eares our selfe On him we build our soules eternall health For now we see he is that Christ should come To ransome Israel with a pretious summe Thus turning to Judaea's coasts again Great multitudes doe follow him amain For they by him mirac'lously were fed VVhen in the desert they were hungered But whil'st he doth their hidden
as the hen sought t'over-shade Thy chicks under his wings hath be not fed Thy starving troops and thy diseases healed And unto thee his Fathers will revealed Why dost thou then disknow him O look on him And fixe thy soules affections still upon him Ask Moses what he is and he shall say The womans seed who should the Serpent slay Ask Abra'm he shall say he is the Pram Who made his Isaac scape the knife and flame Ask Jacob he will tell you that 't is be Who Shilo-like gives Judah liberties Ask David and he truly shall declare He is his Grand-childe and his righteous heire Ask Esay and his Prophecy shall tell He 's very God and man Immanuel Ask Jeremie he calls him Righteous branch Ask Daniel he tells you he did quench The fiery fomace and 's the stone that 's cut From out the mount without mans hand or foot And boldly daunteth all the worlds Empire And at his next return shall burn 't with fire Ask John the Baptist he shall tell you that He is the Lamb of God immaculat Ask God himselfe he cryes This is my Sonne Ask of the Devill he harpes the self-same tune Ask of the windes and seas and rotten grave The sun the moon and all the world can have And they shall all confesse him to be God Who in our flesh doth make his true abode Amidst this cloud of witnesse how canst thou Great Salem so disknow thy Bridegroom now Thy eyes are blinde thy eares are deaf thy heart Is hard as flint lest he should thee convert But since all things acknowledge him as God I see not how thou canst escape his rod Who in so cleer a night dost undervalue The Sonne of God and count'st his Councels shallow In this his pomp and royall acclamation He at the Temple makes his journies station And surely now his Temple hath most need Of any thing to be first purifi'd Her gold was turn'd to drosse her watchmen were Become dumb dogs and meerly secular Her builders were destroyers and her chiefe Governors lov'd to play the wolse and thiefe Her Nazarites are black as any coale Her high-Priests zeale unto the world is stole And this her hid impoyson'd sourse and spring To all the Kingdome doth corruption bring For as the brains the liver and the heart Being wholsome kept and sound in every part The body in true life and vigour standeth And every joynt it 's sev'rall use commandeth But those being once exulcerat then all The body by Tabasick tumours fall So while Gods house her purity doth keep Religion makes the land in peace to sleep But if the Altars once become impure The Common-wealth dy'th of an Imposture Here therefore doth my Saviour first dispose His fathers house in order and disclose The hidden fraud and sacrilegious straine That Priest and People there did entertain Here did the bankrup and the money-cheater Erect their reck'nings and their lew'd Theater Here did the shepheard bring his sheep to sell Here made the drover all his oxen dwell Here did the pigeons there the turtles lye And so the Temples turn'd t' a butchery And what 's the worst of ills all this is done Under the pretext of Religion Ah me how faire is the pretext but foule The practises of this Levitique Schoole When Simoon and Levi meant to slay The Sechemites Religion op'd their way When Saul saves Agag and his flocks alive Religion did to 's sinne a cloake contrive When Herod meant our Saviours blood to spill His words spoke Worship but his heart said Kill Those be the wayes of Man but ah 't is shame That when man sinneth God should bear the blame A three fold whip therefore my Saviour makes And whips their beasts from their empayling stakes Their doves and pigeons he let loose to flâ—e The Colybists proud banque ov'r turneth he And to the rod he doth this word conjoyn Take those things hence and some where else purloyn For it is writen This my fathers house Should serve for prayer not for Merchants use But where your fathers did my father feare As in a den of thieves you rob and teare But tell me Saviour wherefore flame thine eyes Whence doth this spleen and agony arise How is the Lambe now chang'd into a Lyon And who hath chang'd to Sinay our calm Syon O pardon me me my God those lashing stroaks Those whips those blows those soul-subduing yoaks Which those poore sacrilegious Ruffians beare Doe make it as a lanthorn shine most cleare That as in Justice thou dost mercy show So in thy mercy thou dost Justice know For both in thee doe from Etern'ty dwell They neither eb too much nor too much swell But by a due contemp'rature they shin'd Mercy with Judgement wrath with love combin'd Ne'er did a Planet of so milde aspect Infuse so strange an influence and effect On a sublunar or an earthly theam As doth this Reformations rapid stream Worke upon some who did behold it for No sooner hath my blessed Saviour Joyn'd to the rod and whip of his correction The salutary motto of instruction Then loe his twelve Disciples straight are led To rouze their memyr's from oblivions shade And call to minde what David doth record Thy houses zeale hath eate me up ô Lord And by beholding of that fact and place They know their Master for the Prince of peace But on the hardned heart of th' abject Jew Whose sides and backs were with his blows yet bleâ— It worketh nothing but a deep disdaine Rancor revenge and all that cursed traine Of furies which Erynnis in her Cell Can beg or borrow from the deep of hell Master say they what signe dost thou now show That thou dost those things we would gladly know By what authority or soveraign might Thou bringst thy Reformation to this height A signe saith he ô froward generation O serpent-issue of a sinfull Nation You seek a signe as if you would believe But this I tell you you no thing shall have Save that of Jonah for as three dayes he VVas swallow'd by a whale i' th' deep o' th' Sea So shall the sonne of man for mans trespasse Lye buried in the Earth for three dayes space Destroy therefore this Temple and behold Within three dayes I will the same re-build And rear it up again as free from sinne So free from all corruptions withering Thus having spoke his eyes which did of late Flash forth the flames of fury and of state Drown'd now in brinish teares doe still encall His sorrowing soule to sigh this madrigall Jerusalem Jerusalem who kills The Prophets and dost make their bloody rills Distain thy ground and grind'st their fainting face Who all the day long preach to thee thy Peace Would God thou couldst acknowledge in thy day The things that point thy peace or thy decay So desolation should not lift her hand Against this City nor against this Land But ah those things are hidden from thine eyes And thou art drunk yea drown'd
are gone His foes are fill'd with feare amaze and wonder Like Latmos rent with heav'ns high ratling thunder Seraphick Spirits bow before his face Mortality to glory now gives place And all the Children of his wedding Chamber Whose lips are Corrall and whose locks are Amber Whose eyes Carbuncles are in dark of night Gladly doe now attend this mornings light And from the grave they role away that stone Which Caiaphas had fet his seale upon 'T were strange to see that was could make that sure That heav'ns had destin'd to distemp'tature But now the Scriptures are fulfill'd which say He gives his Angels charge 〈◊〉 thy way To keep thee lest thy foot should either slip Or'gainst a stone at any time should trip Yet was it neither Angels might nor power That did return life to my Saviour But that same Godhead which in him did dwell Restor'd his life and did his death expell For though his soule was from his body cut His Godhead from his Man hood was not shut For that great tye of Hypostatick union Shall never be dissolv'd or lose communion No no Mans nature which he did assume And unite to the Word i' th' Virgins wombe Shall in no after time or taste Confusion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or by a stronger hand ' plain of Division Or by a change smell any Alteration Or by or death or life have Separation But shall for ay that union retaine Where three are one and one is three againe No sooner doth my Soules brave Sampson draw Gaza's gate-barrs asunder then his aw Maketh earths wieghty globe to reatch and reele About him like Ixyons giddy wheele The dead arise and to the Citty goe As witnesse of his great triumphing show The Lyons to their dens return apace Because great Judah's Lyon shakes his tresse And all the beasts of neighb'ring Forrests feare Whilst they this matchlesse Lyon's roaring heare The chirping birds whose sweet melodious notes Bring sweeter crotchets from their carr'ling throats Then all Apollo's nymphs can straine or sing Unto his Harps delicious fingering Betake themselves unto their wings to flie Rather then in an Earthquakes arms to die The nibling Lambs which graze on Vesta's kirtle And sips her hony suckles and her mirtle Leaving their breakfast bleat and cry and call Each one to gaze anothers festivall Great Neptune and his Thetye now sing dumbe Because the Soveraign of the Seas is come To put a hooke in their nostrills and draw Leucotheo from Achelous maw But above all the long-liv'd Phenix seems As freshly wak'd from her reviving flames To greet him with the rarest welcome that E're Lark or Finch or Linot modulat And at his foot her starry Spangled Crown As to the righteous owner she throws down For she reviv'd hath thousand years in store But he requickneth lives for evermore In end comes Titan dayes bright shining eye Who lately slept in darknesse Cannopy And from his Orient or Eoan wave Where Neptune doth his steps in pearle engrave Seeing a clearer Sun i' th' West arise To all his Naids and his Napaeis cries Look here and see the rare yea rarest wonder That ever Earth held up or Heav'ns kept under Two Suns arise at once and in one day Two Titans to the world their lights display The one wherof although he rise must fall The other knowes no Occident at all Thus is my Saviour up and mangre hell And all the pow'rs of darknesse there doe dwell A new light life and liberty is given To all that hunger for the light of Heaven 'T is true no article o' th' Christian faith More faithlesse or reluctant en'mies hath Then hath the Doctrine of the Resurrection Whil'st it stands canvass'd by humane direction Yea nature ne'er requir'd a better sport Then tosse this Ball within her Tennis-court For faith it selfe can hardly sound this deep How a scatter'd non ens to an ens can creep Although that Nature and the Scriptures both Have writ the hieroglyphicks of this truth The Phoenix spicie nest her Mistris burneth Yet she from out her fatall Urne returneth When length of time sun-staring Eagles spills They doe revive by casting off their bills Hearbs trees and plants which in the winter wither I' th' spring receive both sap and life together The Corn we sow doth first corrupt and die Yet from that death their grains doe multiply And if 't be true Medaea for the sake Of Jason made old Aesons youth t' awake But Scripture tells us that the first man hath By sinne subdu'd all mankinde unto death And that the second man doth yeeld more grace Requickning that which dy'd by our trespasse And unto Abram's seed the Lord hath said I am the livings God and not the dead Adde unto this that he who first did make All things of nothing can from something take With lesser pain this little world of Man Then when at first he from the dust it span Nor is it just that any coupled paire Who work together should not have like share Of glory after death who in their life ' Gainst Sin and Sathan kept a conjunct strife Why art thou then so sad my Soule and why Art thou cast down with such anxiety Dost not thou know that Christ is made thy head And thou by faith his living member made He is thy husband thou his wedded wife Whil'st he doth live how canst thou doubt of life He is the root and thou his ingraft-branch When thou art judg'd he sitteth on the bench He is our Main which by our faith 's hid pores Refreshing waters to our springs restores And till his never ebbing streams goe dry We need not fear to lack a new supply Naked from out our mothers wombe we come And thither naked must we once goe home Yet we believe earth shall not still enfold Us in her arms that were too base a hold For any in whose soule the sp'rit of grace Hath made his mansion or a dwelling place No sure suppose these putrid tents of clay Wherein we sojourn for a night or day Must be dissolved better buildings we In heav'n shall have For Immortalitie Shall this our Mortall swallow and devoure Our weaknes then shall be exchang'd to power Corruption shall to incorruption turne And shame shak'd off we shall no longer mourn For what by Nature we doe here inherit Shall there renew'd be by th'Eternals Sp'rit Though then the grave unto weak natures taste Relish no better then the hemlocks feast Yet from her arms we reap a richer store Then ever nature did possesse before For there the poore have peace from their oppression There earths horsleeches shrink from their possession There rich and poore the high the low and all To earthly tempest ly no more made thrall But waiting for the return of their Judge In secret for a while lye still and lodge Since then I know that my Redeemer liveth And that he shall perform what faith believeth In all the periods of my lifes poore
date I for my last and glorious change shall waite For He who was dead is alive and shall To me be Alpha and Omega All. The Trophee CANTO 7o. CHrist had not come from heav'n to earth but that He might our dying soules re-animat He had not liv'd on earth so long to try Cares watches griefes reproaches misery Had he not meant to write us an example In patience upon their necks to trample Nor had he took our flesh if not to die That by his suff'rings he might satisfie The wrath of God due unto mans offence And reconcile that sin-bred difference Nor had he dy'd were 't not to rise again And reunite us to our Soveraigne Nor did he rise but that he might ascend And so bring our Redemptions to an end Thus was he born thus did he live and thus He hath both dy'd and rose againe for us That our new birth new life and new death may By him be turn'd to an eternall day Now if that any ask who shall perswade VVeake man that he such mighty power had The trembling earth the darkned sunne the grave The quickned dead the rent vaile and that slave VVhich in earths centers dwels can all declare The Virgins sonne and eke th' Almighties heire True God and Man earths Monarch heav'ns great King Did those stupendious works t' effect forth bring But if sublunar things subject to errour Can neither work our joy nor strike with terrour Our hardned hearts let glorious Angels then Serve to extirpate misbeliefe from men For they did by their presence shake those fooles VVho by their spears and staves and murth'ring tools Sought to detaine the Lord of Life i' th' grave Let all such guardians such reward still have Then to some weaker women whose true care And love to life had quickly brought them there They furnish matter of true consolation Declaring his true life whose death and passion Had but of late their soule so pierc'd with woe That naturall comfort could not cure their blow Such as our conscience is or good or bad Accordingly we are rejoyc'd or sad When God to us his countenance doth show Or in a cheerfull smile or frowning aw The righteous Man is like the Lyon bold The wicked shrink for feare within their hold And one day when their joyes away shall fly Then shall they shrink and feare eternally One woman there was of a speciall note The Magdalen of late known by her spot But now by penitentiall tears made clean She greater grace and favour doth obtain For he whodwelleth in the heav'ns doth weigh The hearts of men in scales of Veritie And looks not on our outward carnall things But on that treasure which the heart forth brings To this poore woman then they first doe talk And with her in the way of comfort walk That she who sometime was a sinner might To after-sinners shew the wondrous hight The depth the length and breadth of mercy that Unto the penitent's accumulat For God doth not take heed to what we were But unto what we by adoption are For still his mercies supr'abound and more Where sinnes abundant plenty dwelt before If he can see our tears our cheeks distaine And bubble up from true repentance vaine Some eight dayes hence this Nymph began to weep And make her tears bedew her Masters feet Her eyes as yet have not shut up their sluces So deep 's the memoyr of her youths abuses And eke so fresh the relish of his smart Who spent his blood to purge her sinfull heart That she cannot her throbbing sighs restrain Nor from her restlesse seas of teares refraine But when sh'ath weep'd enough she still weeps more And ' gainst her sorrowes cannot shut the doore VVhil'st thus she weeps she turnes unto her stay And bowing down beholds where Jesus lay And loe two Angels there doe sit the one VVhere Jesus head did lye and rest anon Another she espies there where his feet Had their impression in the hard rock set They see the woman weep and thus enquire VVoman why weep'st thou what dost thou desire She answers Sure I weep not without cause For here of late in deaths devouring jawes My Lord did lye but now alas he 's gone And none can tell me whither no not one They thus reply what foole art thou to seek The living ' mongst the dead did he not speak And preach to you last day in Galile The sonne of man must suffer and third day Rise up again he is not here goe goe Tell his Disciples that he 's rise But loe VVhil'st thus they parley Jesus comes and still Rebukes her for her mis-informed will VVoman saith he woman what dost thou mean VVhat wilt thou never from thy teares abstain She takes him for the Gardner and saith Sir If you have took him hence pray let me heare VVhere you have layd him and be sure from thence I will re-bring him at what-ere expence To those fond words my Saviour saith But Mary She answers him Rabboni Without tary Falls down before his feet to kisse them but He to that fond affection yeeldeth not O doe not touch me Mary saith he for I am not yet ascended but what 's more Expedient for the world goe quickly tell My weak Disciples that the gates of hell Which gap'd against me now have no more pow'r To hedge me in for I have broke their door And to my members doe propine Lifes cup That they may dine with me I with them sup O what a masse or magazen is here Of pretious comfort by a Gardiner Breath'd to a woman O what large extent Of pardon 's sealed to a Penitenâ—â— For whil'st I see her thus so sadly weep And him comfort her ' gainst her griefs I keep In minde that Program which of late he told Blessed are they who mourn for loe behold They shall reap comfort and thrice blessed they Who ask seek knock for verily I say They shall receive and finde and enter for To such my Father doth not shut his door Next this whil'st I behold the great mistake Wherein her true affection although weake Made her believe a Gardner she had seen I doe impute it to her tear-drown'd eyn I cannot choose but make my soule to smile At this so happy fraud and sweet beguile For never man did to my weak esteem Give him a fitter stile or truer name For where did ever garden in the stower Of stormy rage produce so sweet a flower Or where did ever Gardner plant or frame So rich an imp in such a withring stem Did he not first in Paradise re-plant The promis'd Primrose of the Covenant In Baal-haman graft'd he not that Vine About the which the Saints their armes doe twine Is not he Sharons Rose the Valleyes Lilly Engeddies Camphire Bethleems Daffadilly Gethsemans Gilly-flow'r and Golgaths Rheu And Arimathea's Turn-sol ever true It is not then a great mistake to call Him Gardner who makes those to rise and fall O glorious Gardner
Serve gainst the Philistims for sword and rod When Jabin's yoak the wearied necks did gall Of Jacob's seed and gloried in their fall How did brave Deborah by the conqu'ring hand Of Barak Jabin's boasting troops withstand And made their Generall Siserah in the tent Of Jael try Ambitions just event How did brave Gideon's barly-cake and lamp Couch'd in an earthen-pitcher daunt the Camp Of Midian that so their night-bred dreame Prov'd but a presage to their mornings Scaene How did bold Sampson peerless-pearle of Arms Burst Gazae's gate-bars and unlock the charmes Of Dalilah and make an Asse jaw-bone Drunke with the blood of Gath and Askelon In end what Nymrod or what Anak stern Could ev'r their fame or honor so etern As hath the Son of Jesse who at first Did kill a Lyon and a wilde Boare burst Then by a peeble which hee lately took From the sweet verge of a pure glyding brook Did so subdue th'heathen Goliah's rage Who did blaspheme th'Eternal's-heritage That now wee see nor bragging breaths nor boasts Can save or kill as doth the Lord of hosts All those like stars in dark Cymerian night Adorn'd their Orb with some small gleams of light But being obfuscat by a cleerer ray Have been the Prodroms of this better day Our never setting Sun is now arisen And by his rayes irradiats our Horizon In such a sort that those glow wormes may goe And spend their luster and their per'shing show Amongst the purblind wofull ignorants Of Mexica or Magallanae's Tents Our way 's made known why walk we not therein Our Truth 's declar'd why live we then to sin Our life 's proclam'd why are we then dismai'd Of death or hell why should we bee afraid Hath not our Goell our great kinsman come To pay our morgage and redeem our sum And that upon our blood-shedder he may The stroke of Justice awfully repay Loe to the desert now he hies him there In all our suff'rings as copartiner That David like he may that Gyant foyl Who in th'Eternalls hoast hath wrought such spoyl And ever blessed be his glorious Name Who comming up from Jordans chrystall stream No sooner from his foot doth wipe the water When to th' Arabians desert wilde Theater He 's led by that same spirit which like a Dove Did from the heav'ns proclaim him our soules Love That in our flesh as he our seale did take So in it he might tryumph for our sake For no such mediator we must have As scornes our griefes infirmities or grave But such a one as being exempt from sin In all things else must run the race we run Thrice three ten yeers hath my Redeemer now Liv'd in the world and yet for ought I know Sathan untill this time durst ne'er be bold ' Gainst him to set a snare his foot t' enfold His privat life 't may be procur'd his ease His publike charge must taste of trecheries Like Jacob who with Laban whil'st he stayes Had Peace and rest and amorous quirks and playes But being call'd by God to get him home False hearted Laban after him can come And search his stuffe prepar'd to doe him wrong Unlesse the mighty God of strongs the strong Had curb'd him in his night bred Visions so That maugre envy he must let him goe Whil'st Moses stayes in Aegypt Pharo's daughter Preserves him safe from Pharoh's threatned slaughter But when he comes for Israels reliefe He ' mongst the sonnes of persecution's chiefe Whil'st David kept his fathers Ewes in peace To God he warbled Hymns and Odes of grace But call'd to Court and to the stage of fame Wrath rancour envy plyes his Diadem So whil'st my Saviour both by Incarnation And by the highest heav'ns Inauguration Stands as the very sonne of God and Man Anoynted our Redeeming Soveraign Loe neither can the seale nor gift of grace Exempt him from hels envy'n any case For grace cannot prevent it may repell The stratagems of Perdue Centiuell But still the more the Lord with grace decores us The stronger fetters Sathan sett's before us O God therefore since thy Sonne is not free But grace it self must taste of enmitie What carefull watchings should we wormlings take ' Gainst this perfidious spirituall Amaleck Who daring to assail the head shall sure The heels destruction if he can procure Since then I see it is that glorious Spirit Which he from all etern'ty did inherit Ev'n that great spirit of th' Almighty God Whose word comforts us under whose sharpe rod The very hell doth tremble whose high hand None of thy creatures could e're yet withstand Who rideth on the blustring windes swift wings Who makes the Clouds his messengers who brings Or penury or plenty by his rain Who walketh dry-foot on the Ocean Why should we in tentations deepest jarre Feare Chance or Fortunes lying Kalendar For all the pow'rs of darknesse and of hell Cannot make one haire of our head to fall Till he whose pow'r and pleasure plac'd them there Bids either Justice smite or Mercy spare For he it is who leads us to our fight And sends us blowes according to our might And wheresoe're we fight he goes along Both to encourage us and make us strong And when w'have fought our fight gives us reward As his deep wisedome hath for us prepar'd I magnifie my Saviour then who here Doth boldly in Tentations lists appeare And by his rare example tells us how To keep our posture and our foes subdue The Philistims by Sampson smarting sore And often did his Dalilah implore She would by all meanes possible but try Wherein his strength and sinewy force did lye That knowing that they might him so dis-arm As never after they might feare his harm Then O how carefull should we be to learn And in our halcyon dayes and times discern The traps the snares and the bewitching tricks That 's put before us by the Prince of Styx That so foreseeing his Engines we may Or burst his snares or safely flie away Loe how Colossus like in Horebs plain He stands thence skips to Neboes top again From thence to Sions pinacle he flies Like lightnings flashes darting through the skies Never did Proteus with more change of shape Beguile the world than doth this trickling Ape With change of colours feature form and all My Masters fixed sense sense seek to enthrall Three deeply poyson'd darts are in his hand Which flesh and blood alone could ne're withstand The lust of heart is one Lifes pride another The lust of th' eye is third their first-born brother And he who from all those can keep him free Hath more than flesh and bloods excellency For he who in the Van doth play his part May in the Main battalion shrink and smart And who hath fought them both may in the Reer Prove worthy nothing but a sod Cashiere The first daâ—t then about his head he shakes And'gainst our Master this assault he makes If it be true that heav'n hath spoke saith he If thou be