all my buildings thou do'st know my hearts Desire is onely t' entertaine those things That my saluation and thy honor brings Furnish me so with faith that my grand-foe Attempting to effect my ouer-thowe May faile and fall and vanish giue me that Faith that set Noah vpon mount Arrarat That which remou'd Henoch from of the earth And without death a gaue caelestiall birth I doe but wish that sword to vanquish sinne Which Dauid brought gainst th' vgly Philistime When woes be set me round and sinne and death Then let my faith aduance me from beneath To thy abiding City'mongst the iust Lord of thy mercy change my faith to trust Faith doth confesse Christ but trust doth perswade The spotlesse offerings that my Iesus made Were mine and for my sinne and soules reliefe This I beleeue Lord helpe my vnbeliefe Another thing I craue is patience to Accept contentedly and vndergo Afflictions that may happen grant to mee Such store of patience in all misery That my deserts may cause report to spread Iobs dearest daughter liues though he be dead Teach me to welcome sorrow ' mongst the rest Of other passions that possesse my brest Make patience power the greatest that I may Passe the worlds nights to heauens glorious day Next furnish me with strength make me of might To maintaine combate in thy Gospells right And to my strength adde valour for these too Being diuided can no seruice doo To merit thankes or prayse the foes intent Preuaileth when my valour 's impotent And when my strength wants valour I am like To loose the field because I dare not strike Therefore I sue for both th' are fit'st for mee Because I but desire them t'honor thee Then make a sword of both to cut off strife Venter thou it and I will venter life And yet I venter nothing for I know I haue nothing but what thou didst bestow And as thy owne command it thine I rest ' The best of seruants can but do her best Yet gracious Lord direct me how to make Euen for thy passion and compassion sake My prayers more compleat because I haue Great neede of many things and cannot craue So as I may obtaine except the most Powerfull assistance of the holy Ghost Helpe to preferre my sacrifice if thou Will some more pacience vnto me allow To temper all my passions in such measure That neither sorrowes nor deluding pleasure Possesse me with excesse then I shall doo Thee soueraigne honor and me subiect too To make thy Bride victorious I do pray With reuerence loue and feare that I still may Inioy that pacience which can bring me past The blew-red vaile with victory at last Into thy holiest holy here beneath Afflictions miseries cares feares doome and death Fills all my dayes so full of discontent That till I see that ladder thou once sent Vnto my Father Iacob set for mee T' ascend I looke for noe felicity My Lord by all the gracious promises Of thine betweene the first of Genesis And the Omega of thy sacred booke And by the paines that my Messias tooke By his vnualeu'd merrits and by all He sayd or did from 's birth t' his funerall Free me from all my sinnes and now remoue The clouds of sinne and vengeance from aboue That my voyce may come to thy sacred eares And fetch my pardon from these cares and feares Lord quit me out of hand and let me see The glorious state of immortalitie I 'm weary of these nether-lands and would Come see my dowery that with purest gold Thou hast so richly wall'd and pau'd so faire With Berill Topaz and such stones as are Most fit in forme and beauty I intreate That as thou hast prouided me a seate In Syon thy most holy heauenly hill Thou'll place me in 't O let it be thy will To helpe me home in hast that now I may Change my blacke night for thy bright endlesse day FINIS AN EPISTLE OR A Legacy for the vse of the Right Reverend Father in God IOHN Lord Bishop of the Isles of Man c. By Augustine Taylor Preacher and Minister of the Lord our God at Hawarden LONDON Printed by Nicholas Okes. 1623. TO THE RIGHT REuerent Father in God Iohn by the Diuine Prouidence Lord Bishop of the Isles of Man Rector of Hawarden c. MY Lord you know a heauenly muse should bee Esteemed as men prize eternitie I know your brest containes a muse diuine And therefore will not vnder-value mine Of all that liue I dare a fauour claime But those whose all shall perish with their name Right Reuerend Phillips Phillip the great King Of Macedon did cause a child to bring Quotidian warning thus for him to scan Phillip remember thou art but a man A fairer title I deliuer can Phillis consider you are Lord of Man Both men and man approues it in that I le You haue sate graciously a happy while Vnto mans makers glory and your prayse Among'st most reuerent Bishops all your dayes Shall be accounted happy many aime At profitable Lordships and for gaine Are Lords of more but baser mettle farre As farre as doth the Sunne exceede a Starre Men should beleeue it because God hath sayd Man doth exceede all workes that e're God made Stay man the soyle no man the soule is blest I grant that truth and then it needs must rest Y' are Lord of both others but of the soyle Their couetous carefulnesse and temp'rall toyle Affirme no lesse whereas your Lordship may With much content with Princely Dauid say The place wherein my lot to me befell Is passing faire and like me wondrous well You might haue bathed in a greater fountaine But a small Dyamond's worth a mighty mountaine Some lesser things are priz'd the great'st aboue The quality not quantity breeds loue Happy was man to haue the man of God Find out her port he hath remou'd the rod Of wrath and fury out of all her coasts And how to call vpon the Lord of Hoasts In her owne language he hath taught her know Such benefits good Bishops doe bestow Vpon their flocke Now babes and sucklings can And doe extoll the Lord of Heauen and man Pitty't had beene you should haue left the I le For your preferment better many smile Then one and it is better that one loose Then many I haue knowne your Lordship choose To preferre generall before speciall good Your pious learned care 't is vnderstood Hath truely newly setled all the land And taught the ignorant to vnderstand The holy word of God and 't is thought fit You honor God your King and selfe by it In seeing that establisht yo 'aue begune Ioy in it Lord you haue more honor woone By making th' ignorant intelligent Of God and men then euer shall be spent My friends the cause I prayse this Lord 's to mee As neare and deare as Paul to Tymothie What erst was ruin'd by the great neglect Of 's predicessors he doth re-erect In sumptuous stately
are made strong by them they strong by you If there be any dim lights th' are vntrue And meanes to adde no honor to your name They liue with enuy and shall end with shame Now let pale enuy whose ill tutor'd tong Is hourely vtt'ring infamy and wrong Spit all her poyson vpon Derby's name She cannot adde a spot the lippes of fame Haue sworne and kiss'd the booke neither bee Silent nor subiect vnto flatterie My Lord my muse did vowe your worth and name To register and chose this lasting frame And hath made truth her witnesse any come And catch me with a lie and I 'll be dumbe For euer after know I scorne to proue A parasite either for for feare or loue Liue to augment your Honors still to be Belou'd of God King state land men and me Your Honors already and onely ready to be yours Augustine Taylor THE DEFENCE OF DIVINE POESIE Committed to the Protection of the Right Honorable William Earle of Pembrooke c. By Augustine Taylor Preacher and Minister in the Church of God LONDON Printed by Nicholas Okes. 1623. TO THE RIGHT HONOrable William Lord Harbert Earle of Pembrooke Barron Harbert of Cardiffe Lord Parr Roos of Reudall Marmion and St. Quintin Chiefe Chamberlaine of his Maiesties House-hold Gouernour of Ports-mouth and Warden of the Stauneries Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter and one of his Maiesties most Honorable Priuy Councell c. Most Honorable KIng Salomon did choose to haue his Throne Borne vp with Lyons and admitted none Of baser beasts that should imployed bee In office neare vnto his dignitie Accounting wolues and asses beasts too base To be imployd about a Throne of grace Your greatnesse being goodnesse doth affect The best supporters because you protect Both art and wit and grace I wish to bee Preseruer of your pious dignitie Great Earle a Diuine muse vnto you brings A sacrifice worth the respect of Kings Not for my merit by whom now it comes But for his merits that hath brought the sonnes Of Adam backe to Eden giue to mee Such fauours as befits the ministrie And for requitall God giue you I 'll pray Many good yeares and then one lasting day Willing to doe your Honor any Christian seruice in the power of AVGVSTINE TAYLOR THE ARGVMENT The season 's poyson'd with abusiue wits Faire poesi's vs'd to serue the basest vse Wit guilt with grace the subiect best befits No musicke 's equall to a Heauenly muse Wit choosing the best subiects to worke on Shall find glory with God and grace with man OVr Physicke-Doctors say the times are sicke But I say no the times are lunaticke Yet madnesse is a sicknesse but I know It is not in their el'ment to bestow Remedy on 't God hath sayd wisedom's mine They meddle with things carnall not diuine If God doe not in time some helpe apply Vnto these times both times and men must dye He that can well conceiue may much admire To see vnto what hight mens wits aspire T' aduance the Towers of Babell and to see So few striue to maintaine the dignitie Of blessed Bethell base vile god-lesse wits Counts it more grace to passionate the fits Of damn'd adultry murther blasphemie Deceipt and lying then it is to bee A carefull student in Diuinitie So many breasts sends forth vnhallow'd breath The very ayre 's infected clouds of death Are shapen in the skie for vengeance and Shall be disperst abrode by the left hand Of God in 's anger to kill and condemne Nations and people that doe him contemne I doe wish those that so abuse their times A dulterers-like conceiuing gracelesse rimes To humor earth those that delude the season With pounds of wit but not halfe drammes of reason T'reforme themselues for better harmonie And seeming men be as they seeme to bee A creature reasonable God did make man And he ought dayly to doe all he can To rayse his glory and his acts to tell That gaue him 's being and his being well Reasonlesse I esteeme those that doe spend Their adle braines on idle things that end In th' houre they are begunne and doe not prayse The acts of dayes of life but acts of dayes Of death and desolation pray you scan There is a man and a thing like a man 'T is plaine that euery like is not the same So some haue th' inward fruite some th' outward frame Some haue the substance some haue but the show Some bad are set aboue some good below Some diuine wits still sings of things aboue Some foolishly breaths nought but earthly loue Some loues the temp'rall some the spirituall food For some are fram'd for ill and some for good Some poets sings of loue and some of hate Some loues the common some commends the state Some flatters greatnesse some contemnes the poore Some men haue fewer faults and some haue more But all haue some and some haue all for still Some sparkes of enuy's mixed with good-will Some loues vnfit speech some words most meete Some haue a stinking breath and some a sweete Some liues in feare of men some feares but God Some seekes the staffe and some deserues the rod Man is inriched both with art and nature T' expresse the glory of the all Creator Weapons of Honor God giues man to vse And with those weapons they doe him abuse God giues vs arte and wit and reason 〈◊〉 And grace to will and likewise grace to do If we intreate so much you ne'r find shall From the first day vnto the funerall Of this old world did e're deny His mercy vnto men in misety If beg'd with faith and meeknesse whither hath His fond affection led him T' a wrong path That he forgets so good a Lord so long And with 's owne weapons seekes to doe him wrong All mans good parts are sent him from aboue And man to manifest his makers loue Should set them all to worke 't is vnderstood God doth require but thankes for all the good That he bestowes on all regard therefore His wage is potent though your worke be poore Mans tong should preach and pray his heart beleeue The care must heare th' eyes see the hands releeue Each member must remember th' head of all And all and each must serue the principall I 'm t'old and I beleeue it from aboue Gifts are descending from the God of loue Some with some gifts are blessed some with other But no man ought his gifts of grace to smother Or wrong apply them for the Lord hath show'd Gifts be apply'd to th' end they are bestow'd Some sings with Dauid some with Iob laments Some sinnes with both and some with both repents Some fights like Iosuah and like Iosuah winnes Some flyes the field when th' honor but beginnes Some shuns the danger those loose the renowne Some beares the crosse and those shall weare the crowne Some like the chaffe before the winds are gone Some like Cedars on mount Lebanon Prosper and
Lord thou knowes I haue no more to giue But I 'm for more farre more indebt yet trust Since thou wilt iustifie me so vniust Thou wilt regard my nothing nothing breedes He that possesseth all things nothing needes That thou accepts my faith for righteonsnesse I can no more do and I will no lesse In words and actions then shew thankfulnesse Since it hath pleas'd thy greatnesse to admit My poore defectiue impotence vnfit To be a bride for thee I 'll hence forth striue T' extinguish all my illnesse and depriue Those vices of their lodgings that haue beene My welcome guests before I was thy Queene What I haue beene I 'll cease to be and frame My selfe to beare the beauty of thy name True modesty and loyalty shall rest To waite vpon thy spirit in my brest Assist me with thy grace and thou shall see All th' ornaments proper for Maiestie Prepared for thy seruice I confesse Thou might'st haue had thy spouse ' mongst princesses Of greater honor and of nobler race I know poore Ruth my grandame had no place Whereinto rest but by permission yet Because she 's faire and lowly Boaz will let Her gleane amongst his reapers and withall Strictly commands his seruants that they shall Not offer once to blame her tels her rather It is his pleasure that she stay and gather In his then goe t'an other field and thus Changes small fauours into Maximus And at the last this fruite his loue doth yeild Takes her and makes her mistris of the field Sure she was faire being honor'd with such store That lookt so louely when she was so poore Euen such was I a Ruth on whom no Ruth The word bestow'd vntill the word of truth Came to suruey his vineyard and gaue mee Commission to worke there and liberty To claime a sacred peny and in th' end Supposing that the office of a friend Was not grace great enough he chooseth rather To manifest th' affection of a father And builds againe of a poore wretch vndone A blessed bride for his eternall sonne My Lord I do not vtter this to thee For thou art sensible of my miserie I tell the neighbouring nations least they ghesse I 'm prone to ill but too proud to confesse I know my faults and betweene griefes and feares My body 's like a barke that sayles in teares Made to transport thy choyce the soule from th' earth Towards the faire land of euer-lasting mirth And on these seas of sorrowes Lord vouchsafe To be my Pylate and conduct me safe Vnto the shoares of peace and thou shall see My loue so beautifi'd with constancie That thou 'll be pleas'd to say I do approue The price of life is payd with coyne of loue Great Prince I 'm very poore infirme and weake Disable without thee to thinke or speake The smallest good therefore I 'll still intreate That as my dignity thou didst create Thou would'st maintaine it though the cause be mine Thou knowes it honors thee to honor thine As the Kings honor 's made of subiects duties So are thy glories made of thy Queenes beauties I take it such are thine no I mistake Thine are thy owne since thou didst please to make Me free t' inioy them when I thee adore I but repay what I receiu'd before Since by thy bounties I in plenties liue Giue thou me more and more that I may giue To others that to all it may be seene Of beauty and bounty th' ast compos'd thy Queene With hands that neuer err'd blest with the senses Of plenty the meet'st mettle to make Princes Lord lend me all thy graces till I rise From earrh to glory in thy Paradise In the meane time accept my sacrifice Which Baptist-like I send before aboue My soule flyes after with the wings of loue FINIS THE EPISTLE OF THE BRIDE TO her Lord declaring her Confidence A Heauenly legacy for the vse of of the Right Honorable IOHN Earle of Bridg-water and his most Noble Countesse the Lady Francis Written By Augustine Taylor Preacher at Hawarden LONDON Printed by Nicholas Okes. 1623. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE IOHN EARLE OF Bridg-water c. And to his most noble Lady Francis Countesse of Bridgewater The issue of the Ancient and Illustrious House of Derby * ⎠* Right Honorable IF you admire wherefore I bring This offring to your hands My reason 's this I saw day spring The first vpon those lands That was your birth-plot and for that My heart and hand this giues And know your Honor die shall not So long as English liues Another reason's I confesse I liue vnder the wing Of your good mother Patronesse Of Syon where I sing And Preach by Gods commission I Am sent to call in ghests To see the Lambe in 's Maiesty Where peace and plenty rests And dearely humbly I intreate Your Honors to that place Where you shall sit in glories seate And see God face to face Your Noble dispositions bee So generally approu'd That for your true Nobilitie Y' are both both prais'd and lou'd And so God grant you may be still 'T is that I wish to see And if you please t' approue my will Feare God and fauour mee Your Honors to be Commanded Augustine Taylor THE ARGVMENT The faith of Isr'el's here express'd Her disobedience done Humility's by her profess'd And all her good begone GReat King of Israell may I be so bold To speake a few words more some part 's vntold Of that I meant to vtter vouchsafe t' heare My speech preferred with a reuerent feare Thy ancient seruants prudently fore-seeing Him men deny or doubt to haue a beeing They can doe no true seruice doe expresse The first good that man doth is to confesse The being of one God and Scripture saith The Honor thou admits is built on faith Lord I beleeue and thou mayst shew thy might To helpe my vnbeliefe that in thy sight I may be perfect and I will approue My haruest's from the seeding of thy loue My Lord this is my faith I sted-fastly Beleeue all things deliuered of thee 'Twixt th'Alpha and th'Omega of thy booke And I 'm perswaded all the paines thou tooke Tends to my rest thy promises of grace Are th'euidence I keepe for glory's place The poorenesse of thy comming birth and kinne As I conceiue was onely for to winne The loue not prayse of men thou didst agree T'ore come temptations that we might be free Thou washt their feete that did attend on thee I take it to teach me humillitie And as a friend that is to take in hand A long and dangerous voyage doth command His kinted and acquaintance to be fit To share of 's friendly farewell and being met They sole mnize it sadly and then parts With discontent and heauinesse of hearts And this last token ties their loues t' attend Euen so my Lord my husband and my friend Did institute a supper that I might Keepe him though absent euermore in sight And then he tooke his
wise and whereas they But onely sought the land to fetch a pray And hauing found it would be blowne away If but a side wind came this doth not soe But with the hand of bounty doth bestow Vpon the land what it affords to him He doth not teach her plenties how to swim From her and leaue her poore a true report Sayth hee hath made a cottage in a Court That well may lodge a Prince and seated so Sit on the Towers and turne thee too and sro And all the Kings dominions thou mayst see England Cambria Ireland Albanie And in his Lordly house hee dayly spends Great pious plenty among'st all his friends Man was a woman before he came there And pluckt the fruit forbidden but now feare Of that sinnes punishment by him made knowne Hath set the man vp and cast the woe downe Long may Gods blessiâ—gs and my Lord together Transport from hâ—nce to man and from man hither And Lord be pleas'd that I both long and well M'attend the steps of my gamalie My Lord take this in token of my loue And when your better part is soar'd aboue And left the rest for earth these lines shall last When earth and men and times and Toombs shall wast Truely affected to see duely effected my office vnto your Lordship in Gods seruice AVGVSTINE TAYLOR TO HIS VVORSHIPFVLL AND WORTHY Faithfull Friends and Louers in the Episcopall Iurisdiction Parish of Hawarden in Flint-shire * ⎠* Truely beloued MY faithfull seruice and my purest loue Shall waite on you till loue and seruice failes I speake in earnest next those ioyes aboue I loue your Syon loue â—od sayth preuailes To couer many faults I doe desire My loue that 's kindl'd now with holy fire May purchace your affections and my best And all my all at your dispose shall rest Yet I beseech you not mistake me much If from the first to th'last any one doth Affect me truely my free nature 's such Those shall command my loue and seruice both I 'll doe my best for all yea euen for those If there be such that striue to be my foes I loue but doth not feare these earthly powers There is a will aboue this will of owers That can doe what he will It is with him That you and I must reckon for our sinne And not amongst our selues true Christians must Indeauour still to make each other iust And seeke the shame of none which blessed act Will men together vnto God contract Take this it comes from him that still will proue Yours both in duty and vnfeigned loue Augustine Taylor A VVATCH COMPOSED FOR AND DEDICATED to the seruice of the Right Honorable WILLIAM Earle of DERBY Barron Stanley Lord Strange of Knockin and of Man Knight of the most Noble order of the Garter Leiutenant and Chamber-laine of the Counties Palatines of Chester and Lancaster c. By His Honors most obseruant seruant Augustine Taylor Preacher and Minister at Hawarden in Flint-shire LONDON Printed by Nicholas Okes. 1623. THE ARGVMENT The times are spid'e to go on crutches and Goes very fast and therefore very ill Heauen is prou'd the best hauen where to land Respect of faithfull friendship 's wished still Honor 's examin'd and those parts made plaine Which best befits her brest to entertaine Blacke Enuy 's challeng'd and her force defide Nobillity rides by Derbyes Loraly side STay Derbyes Earle and pause a little for 'T is fit each Phillip haue his monitor As duely as his day onely to know Himselfe as well in substance as in show The time meanes mischiefe and her plots to smother Promiseth one thing and pretends another Gaine sayes the will of the great legislator And giues to Esau wine to lacob water Contemnes the best and doth the base adore Feeds the foole fat and keepes the wiseman poore Honors the bad and doth the good disgrace Lookes vpon merrit but with halfe a face Keepes true worth fasting yet deales out of measure But thus pence for desets and pounds for pleasure T' auoyde the worst that time and men can do Mans and times God appoynts vs here vnto To alter our affections and remoue them From earth to dwell where 's nought but God aboue them Watch noble Lord for I feare we shall see The times so sicke with mutabillitie They will intreate a purge and you shall trie The good shall be restor'd the wicked die My Lord we haue a warrant lets vs know There 's many things are done in earth below And all aut amissi aut permissi from A power that ruleth all but 's rul'd by none We are at his dispose when his decree Will breake the necke of Casars royaltie Rome cannot peece it therefore him to feare That is impartiall and that scornes to beare Corrupt affection 't is our best to honor Grace should haue measure still to waite vpon her And constancy experience makes it knowne Fauours doe neuer spring that are not sowne Vpon the soyle of merrit I did dreame Minnions too mighty makes Monarcks too meane As sparing graces neuer pravse could winne So fauours out of measure are meere sinne The great King giues his graces t' all so true That none hath lesse that none hath more then due And his affection 's lasting Euen so I know you learne at him since you bestow Your graces vpon goodnesse doe so still And blest shall be your actions and your will Long may you liue to fill your noble seate A few such great men would make good men great Therefore I wish your life and that you may With much content tell many a happy day Of grace and one of glory t'euer last That your true honor ne'er be ouer-cast And that you euer may stand fast and faire A piller vpon earth a starre in th ayre Consider what these following lines afford The seruant may sometimes direct his Lord. There 's one thing necessary it is sayd And ipse dixit who hath all things made And that 's a summum bonum where at man Should onely ayme because he neuer can Be satissi'd vntill haue vnderstood The glorious fulnesse of this soueraigne good I know your ayme's at that so let it be The first foundation of nobillitie Was faith in God the building feare and loue Kings wills are powerfull but that will aboue Proceeding from Iehouah all of them That would change vana spe for certam spem Must reuerently obey those cutsed bee That onely trust in earthly maiestie And you shall see them perish he that would Reape houor to fetch home pure Ophir gold Scornes to returne with baser mettle so He that to Magnus Rex may freely go And 's promis'd entertainement doth disdaine To spend 's best time and treasure in the traine Of an Inferiour Prince man should delight In things that yeelds both God and Caefar right Therefore I say it 's good and I 'll say still It's best serue him that can doe what he will This dayly duely done the next you
flourish faire and free and fast Comely and seemely both to like and last Some bidden come not some vnbidden come Thus some proue wiser farre then other some Some like the driuen dust are parcht and dry'd Some like the branches by the riuer side Are faire and fruitfull and doe cause the streame Draw beauty and plenty with her siluer teame Vnto the good all good shall happen still And vnto th' euill ill because th' are ill Such thing desires it like and so it comes That Caine's at oddes with all his fathers sonnes For hating's brethren and contemning's God He ranne a vagabond to the land of Nod And liu'd vnlou'd vnpiti'd vnlamented And some thinke di'd vntimely vnrepented For so shall all that doe the Lord dispise Or offers him a broken sacrifice So our lewd poets doe God makes a poet And the thing made forgets or doth not know it A speciall good God meant vnto the earth First when he did intend a Poets birth Gods perfect image catch it those that can Is heauenly measures in an earthly man When Moses troope had pass'd the scarlet flood His inward ioy we had not vnderstood But by his Hebrew song and onely that Makes the man prays'd the maister wonder'd at Iordans obedience at braue Iosuahs feete When it show'd him a passage faire and meete When walls of water stood like walls of glasse Vpon both hands to suffer him to passe And bring his army in at Cana'ns doore The land Iehouah promis'd long before These things had beene vnknowne and beene vnsung But for the musicke of a sacred tongue With Baraks victory and Sisâ—raes fall We had not beene so well acquainted all But for the heauenly muse of Debora That Barak wonne the honor of the day That ancient Kishon washt mount Tabors feete And all our enemies away did sweepe That Heauen sent ayde to earth and all the Starres Behau'd themselues like souldiers in those warres That men intended mischiefe and God crost it That Iaell wonne the day and Iabin lost it We had not knowne these had been wrong'd with death But that th' are infants of a muses breath That God doth iustice loue but mercy rather And that although man's feeble earthly father Forget him and forsake him God will not This had beene vntold or told and forgot But that the sacred breath of holy man Preserueth more then Brasse or marble can That Iesses sonne was fetcht from following sheepe An hoast of men to leade defend and keepe That he once wore a sheepe-hooke in his hand And then a royall scepter did command That he sate in the field vpon a stone And after in the pallace on the throne That he was capt with wooll against the cold And after crown'd with purest beaten gold That of a Sheepheard God thus made a King And turn'd his fasting into banqueting That he that sometime â—llow'd ewes with yong Did leaue that labour and apply'd hiâ— tong To prayse Iehouah in an Hebrew song Gods greatnesse goodnesse highneste workes and wonders We know and had not knowne but for his numbers Dauid I meane he that in word and deede Both did and sayd for God and Iacobs seede Thankes be to Salomon we are not to search A sacred muse betwixt Christ and his Church To sing the nuptials 't is already done By Isr'els King and Dauids sacred sonne Asaph and Ethan well deserned thankes For placing th'Arke of God on Sylos bankes With triumph and reioyceing Amos sonne Seeing his Lord his Vineyard hath beguine Vpon a fruitfull hill sayd I will sing To my King Vineyard of my Vineyards King And so proceed and all the world yet heares When great Iehouah fell a dealing yeares To Hezekiah Iudahs holy King To gratulate his Lord no better thing Had of his owne to giue then freely trips A heauenly measure from his princely lippes Praysing the God of life death night and day The scripture warrants what you heare me say That Maries soule so greatly did reioyce To heare the tidings by an angels voyce That she should be a mother and beare a sonne That should redeeme a wretched world vndone We had beene ignorant of these good things But that glad Mary had amuse that sings Vnto this day and by her muse we know Th' humble are set aboue the proud below That Simeon in the Temple sung to all His Sauiours lullaby and 's owne funerall That his old armes so happy were t' imbrace The Prince and heire of glory and of grace His owne tongue testifies and thus I chuse The sacred script of many heauenly muse T'exhort wits that are bearing and doe breede Choycest inuentions henceforth to proceede More regularly religiously I meane Leaue Babels partched commons seeke the streame That keepes the skirts of Hermon euer greene The on 's a strumpet th' other is a Queene And those that striue her beauties to expresse Shall know her matchlesse endlesse happinesse God sayd all those that sought her honor should Be fed with Manna and be cloath'd with gold And led with Angels and haue Saints society Ierusalem to dwell in and variety Of those delights and ioyes both all and some That God prouided for the world to come But Esaus timelesse haplesse gracelesse seede Shall lucklesse liue in misery and neede And be in bondage still a voyce diuine Sayth Esau must not drinke of Iacobs wine Then since there 's due rewards layd vp for merits And like deserts like punishments inherits We 'll idolize no more nor men nor treasure Let him that hath a muse can tune a measure To the worlds eare bestow it in such wise T' haue life and honor by his sacrifice Leaue all rediculous fictions take aduise Learne either properly to similize The truth or tell it plainely you should ken What 's vnlike truth should euer dislike men Make your proceedings perfect and then proue By outward actions your true inward loue Lasciuious voyces but makes deafe the season Th' are stuff'd with mickle rime but little reason That poesie may be honor'd lâ—â—'d and prays'd And like to him that 〈◊〉 with glory rays'd Out of the dust of ignorance and death Refuse your subiects and refine your breath By sucking sweeter ayre study to bring Such songs a Saints may sing before their King Like towers well built your workes shall last and then Both purchase grace with God and loue with men FINIS AN EPISTLE Dedicated to the Right VVorshipfull Sr. Thomas Smith Knight Maior of Chester and High Sheriffe of that County Palatine c. To the Right Worshipfull Sr. Randall Manwaring Knight c Edward Whitby Esquire Recorder William Gamwell Iohn Ratcliffe Robert Whitby William Aldersey Charles Fitton Hugh Williamson c. Esquires late Maiors of that ancient and Honorable City And to the Worshipfull Mr. Nicholas Ince Mr. Thomas Whitby Mr. Brereton Mr. Peter Drink-water Mr. Andrew Gamwell Mr. Robert Berry Mr. Humphrey Lloyd c. Alderâ—â—n of the same c. All temporall and eternall happinesse Right Worshipfull