is done he looketh on them and anon O strange mirac'lous rare Conversion Without his word the water 's turn'd to wine Sweet as the Malmsey rich as Muscadine Drink woman now faith he drink drink and fill To others also Cana's grapes distill Not such a wine as doth my word therefore Bid them come drink who love to thirst no more But all 's in vain I bid men drink for why Nothing but blood will mans soules thirst allay O God what heav'nly hierogly phick's here Of that sweet Nectar and Ambrosian cheere Which thou our soules Bride-groom shalt for us make When to thy Cana thou shalt us home take For there our mariage-supper is prepar'd Legions of Angels shall thy Bride still guard The fatling's kill'd thy bowles of wine are drawn Thy table-cloaths are dainty Cyprian lawn Thy bed of love is made and richlier hung Then that where th'Epithalamy was sung To Salomon and Pharoh's daughter for Their best magnificence and proudest store Endur'd but for a time but this for ever Shall satiate his guests and finish never In Cana water was exchang'd to wine But in thy house whoso shall sit and dine Shall with the fatnes of thy house be fill'd And drunk with that sweet rill thy side distill'd Whil'st on the Crosse thou stretch'd thy armes abroad T' imbrace thy Bride and heave her to her God O then since all things that be necessare For such a wedding feast thou dost prepare Prepare our hearts also to meet thee when Thou call'st us from out Meshechs sinfull den That so the Bride-groom and his Virgin-bride May in the Tents of love for ever bide From Cana to Capernaum next day My blessed Saviour undertakes his way Where dwelt a reverend grave Centurion Whose servant 's sick in whose compassion The Captain comming unto Christ doth thus Intreat him Master master pitty us For loe my servant 's with a Palsie taken And of all hopes of health is quite forsaken Since then all hopes of humane helps be gone And we be left to mourn his griefes alone I pray thee let thy helping hand supply His great distemper and necessity Goe saith my Saviour get thee home for I Will quickly come and cure his malady No saith the grave Centurion take no pain Great master to turmoile thy selfe in vain I am not worthy that thou glorious thou To come within my roof thy self shouldst bow Speak but the word alone and he shall live For that thy word can heale him I believe Loe I am one set in authoritie Subdew'd to one and many unto me To one I say goe hither and he go'th T' another doe this and that straight he doth Unto a third I say come and he commeth Thus what I will is done and none presumeth To disobey what I command my word For their obedience is a law assur'd When Jesus heares those words he stands amaz'd And on the following troops a while he gaz'd And saith at length In truth and veritie Such faith in Israel I did never see But this I tell you that the time 's at hand VVhen many from the VVest and East shall stand VVithin my Churches faithfull glorious pale And be baptiz'd as sonnes of Israel And with old Abraham Isaac Jacob they Shall eternize a solemne holy day VVhile as the children of the kingdome shall In utter darknesse mourn a Madrigall Goe therefore saith he to the Captain goe And as thou hast believed even so Be it to thee and at that very houre The servants life and health was made secure O God how dost thou by this grave dispute To Japhets children freely contribute The promise of eternall life if they By faith shall on thy words their rest relye Give us therefore what of us thou requir'st And then require of us what thou desir'st Now babling fame hath took her wings to flie Through all the neighboring Regions farre and nigh And make the glorious powers of this man Controll the Earth and daunt the Ocean For whatsoere he doth is quickly told And in fames Ephimerides inroll'd To shun therefore the peoples vain applause Whose changing currents oftner ebbs then flowes Down to Tiberiâ—'s sea he goes that thence He may show favour to the Gadarens But whil'st he 's in the ship his former toile Perswades him in a sleep to rest a while His eyes are scarcely shut when loe dark clouds Obscure the heav'n and proud Aeolian thuds Distemper so the Main that Neptunes locks Wax hoary-white with dashing ' gainst the rocks Here one pround wave doth Babel-like arise And with tumultuous threats affronts the skies Another here falls to so vast a deep That Pluto's wak'ned from his morning sleep A midst this surly gust the poor ship's ross'd And with impetuous windes and tides so cross'd That his Disciples in their feare doe rore And for their health their masters help implore Help help great master say they help awake And on thy perishing train some pitty take For if thou doe not now extend thy power This swallowing tempest will our soules devoure He straight awakes and unto them he saith O you of trembling hearts and fainting faith What doe you fear Peace winds faith he th' are still Peace raging Seas and they grow calm at will By this the Ship is brought unto the shore And neither winds nor seas molest them more O thou controller of the windes commotion O thou dread daunter of th' undaunted Ocean Speak peace to our tumultuous souls for why Unlesse our sp'rituall tempests thou allay Unlesse thou swage and calme their storms in time We sinke and perish for we cannot swim No sooner were the windes by is word appeas'd No sooner 's Neptune by his word asswag'd When Jesus with his few Disciples goe To Gadara that they his power might know But by the way that Sp'rit who works our spight And in our ruines takes his chiefe delight Having intrench'd in his prodigious roles The mortall bodies not th' immortall soules Of two poore men while as they see him come Like ramping Lyons and like Boars in fome Th' approach his presence and in fury cry Jesus thou sonne of God who dwel'st on high What have we here to doe with thee for this Of our just torment in the deep abysse Is not the full time and we suffer wrong If there before due time thoudost us throng What is your name sayth he they answer Legion For we be many in this humane region And as thy Father is the Lord of hoasts So we as many love to scoure their coasts Come out come out saith he you cursed crew And of these wretches take your last adiews If we must needs goe out then let us goe Say they and enter in those swine for loe Whan thou ejects us from this Isle of man Thy little world we must doe what we can To rob him of his best approved pulse And nestle there because we lose himselfe Goe goe saith he they goe and take possession Of those poore beasts and
Zachary Th' Almighties Flamin his anoynted rather Ev'n thou who by thy lot within this shrine With hallowed Judgment and with Art divine Attendst thy service and observ'st thy station To expiat Israels sinfull conversation O how my ravish'd Soule doth now admire The glorious fabrick of this glorious Quire Wherein thou standst for Porphyr Gold and Mabre Strive t'eternize the curious workman's-labor No whilst within this house my greedy eye Doth glut her self on Arts brave industry No sooner can I rest my thoughts upon This carved seiling or that graven stone But lo a rare rare Deity ties my Sense To ruminat his matchlesse eminence For whilst I call that Majesty to minde Whose grace and glory peace and truth hath shin'd Within those walls what need I more to seek Nile's Hyeroglyphicks or the Delphian Creek The Rabbiâ—-Talmud characters of Perss Turks Alcaron or Sybillaean verse No those are all but fancies and inventions Of humane frailties and of frail intentions Which like their owners perish in that rust Which Time and Canker portrays in the dust But here and here alone I know within These vaulted-Arches Man infect with Sin May read the Programs of th'Eternal's Love Made manifest for Adam's sonns behove Son saith the Syre what proud ambitious strain Hath led thee hither that thou shouldst prophane Jehovah's sacrifice and solemn Rite With babling Riddles of a brain-sick sprite Look but I pray thee what dread adorations The Idoll godlings of the godles Nations Require within their shrines and shadowing Grove And thence learn thou to dread th' Almighty Jove Shall Jupiter Ammonius or Apollo Or wandring Cynthea whom the Sylvans follow At Daphne's trypod Dodona or there Whereas th' Argolick sages did repair Require a grave and reverend Majesty To enact their hel-born magick mystery And shall not he who 's one and trinally od Of kings chief King and above all gods God Receive a reverend form and sacred guize Of worship in his daily Sacrifice Or tell me Son have nere thy eares as yet Heard how his Ark did scaily Dagon smit And all the Princes with a deadly wound In Ashdod Gath and Ekrons coasts confound Or knowst thou not poore Vzzah's fatall storie Or Abthu and Nadab's fatall glorie Who in their vain presumptions fell and falling Bid man observe the compasse of his calling All those stand written in truth's sacred book That wee may read when upon them wee look His fearfull glory and unapproched might Who sets us in his never slumbring sight Out therfore get thee out from hence and stand With Israel in his porch whose heav'd up hand Dejected heart and humbly-patient ey Attends the Missa of this Mistery At this rebuke I goe yet scarce am gone When loe the relicts of a mourning groane Cut in a thousand parcells seems to call Mee back to gaze some divine spectacle Returning then amazd behold I finde After the rushing of a mighty winde A light ore-shadow Zachary more cleere Then that which gilds our mid-daies hemispheere In midst whereof at Zacharies right hand Behold a glorious Cherubim doth stand Whose smiling eyes and countenance excels All human beauties and all creatures els About his head a semi-circled Crown Of Iris parti-colour'd coat was drawn Which to my poore amazed wandring eyn Seem'd dy'd in opall yellow blue and green The curled hayrs which on his head doe grow Are whiter far then new faln flaughts of snow 'Twixt which the sparks of gold bespangled brands Makes Ganges blush and Tagus loath her sands His eys like stars in dark Cymerian night Dart forth their flashings with a wondrous light And like that troop which trips about the Pole In restles wandrings here and there they role Next this with two Seraphick wings he flies Whereon the heav'ns have daind t'immortalize Their rarest beauties in the rarest hue Of crimson red and pure vermilion blue Down from his middle to his feet is drawn A pretious vail more cleere then any lawn On which stands portray'd by celestiall Art That love-sick Foule which tares her tender heart And yeelds a Runnall of her deerest blood To glut her Paricids amidst their food A little lower Jesse's son doth stand With peeble stones and sling-staffe in his hand Trampling Goliah's glory in the dust Who in his strength and sinnewy force did trust Loe here the Phoenix aromatick cole Burns her to dust and yet revives her soule And there Arachne from her belly spins The tissue-mantle that obscures our sins These and a thousand other severall passions Of severall figures severall forms and fashions Stand checker'd all as emblems of that Love Which weds our frailties to a spotles Jove At this great sight old Zachary stands mute Confus'dly amaz'd amaz'dly irresolute For by a pallid ghostly feare his sense Of speech and hearing lose their influence At last like to the Delian Princess when She fluttereth over the Atlantick Ocean He curbs the fit that conquer'd him before And to his reason thus he opes the dore O! what is this that I behold faith he Is this a fain'd evanishing Majesty Of Molech Milcom Chamosh Ashtaroth Of Baal Dagon or that spirit which doth Transform'd in light bewitch with darknes spell Those howling ghosts which on Earths center dwell No sure I am those Idols are not such They neither heare nor see nor talk nor touch They smell not taste not and in all their bands There is no heart that knows or understands As for that hellish Prince or fearfull spirit Lights hatefull foe who darknes doth inherit I know that here he never dare aspire To view the secrets of this sacred fire Whose Censers in their sweet exhaling cloud Presignifie that Shiloe in his blood Shall such a fragrant Sacrifice reveale As shall bruise down the head that bites his heele What then it is some vision sent from heav'n But those have ceas'd and our deserts have driv'n That sacred Chore and great Angelick train To shun the lewd societies of Men. Whilst thus old Zachary's mutinous thoughts are all Beleaguer'd by Opinion's Generall Feare Hee whose feare restrains the Lions jaws And curbs the rigour of the Tygers paws Cries by his Angell Zachary feare no more For lo thy prayer 's heard and come before His glorious eyes who shuts our tears each one In bottles of due retribution Recall therefore thy Spirits from gates of death For lo thy barren wife Elizabeth Shall beare a Son and thou shalt call him John Heavn's holy-Ghost shall alwaies rest upon His head and his celestiall pow'r shall sacre Thy Son a Minion to the worlds great Maker Nor wine nor strong drink shall hee taste at all Nor shall a rasor make his tresse to fall But as a Nazarite both in name and spirit He shall Eliah's talent re-inherit And as a Lyon he shall roare and cry Prepare before Messiah's face the way In him thou shalt rejoyce for many one Jew Prosolyte and far-bred nation Shall joy in him for by his heav'nly Art He shall the
name the world out-braves And in her left hand for a nose-gay hath The Cedar sweetl'ore shaded Nazareth Here scarce a furlong from her Eastern gates VVhich on the new-born Titans rayes awaits Nature hath formed though with artlesse Art A Grove in whose each portion and each part There 's such a modell of her power inborn As matchd with this laughs all the world to scorn For here the clymat sweetly temper'd hot Hath thrust away the winters petticoat And like a Lover in a flourishing green Makes lusty May continually be seen Yet least the scorching blinks of Titan's ey Should parch or wither Florae's tapestry Sweet Zephyr sends a musky sighing breath To shelter Vesta from the Lyon's wrath Here long liv'd Oaks and noble Palm-trees sprayes With amorous Myrtles and immortall bayes Never disleav'd but still re-growing new Their clasped arms in thousand Arbors threw There still did dangle to the gazers eyn A thousand fruits some sweetly ripe some green Which in their colour taste and shape did mock The Lemon Orange and the Apricock Ayr 's daughter Eccho which the woods doth haunt From high rebabling Rocks doth here rechaunt The sweet contemper'd Notes and maryed layes Which Linots Larks and Nightingales displayes All which amidst their warblings flat and sharp Exceeds Arion's or the Thracian's harp And yeelds a descant sweeter far than that Which Linus or Amphyon modulat Anon along this grove in pompe doth slide A Runnell with a rofie broydered side Whose sand's pure gold whose peeble's pretious stones Whose chiding murmurs were majestick grones And whose least draught is sweeter then that drink That now in Creta decks Cerathus brink Here down she lies beside those streams whose gushing Makes sweeter musick with their gentle rushing Then Juball's hammers when they fram'd that sound Whence Syren-musick's Gam-Vt first was found And sadly sitting in this grove alone She lends her eare to that division Which from the murmuring brook's sad accent flows And thence unto a higher strain she throws Her contemplation yea from thence shee scales And censures heav'ns imperiall festivals Father says shee of light and learned Arts Great all of all who unto all imparts Some parcell of thy selfe that thou alone Maist still be all in all 's Communion Voutchsafe to heare thy hand-maids voice a space Who truly humbled here before thy face Doth lick the dust at thy imperiall feet To testifie that her poor heart's contrite Whence comth't that these poore drops of christall water Which Earth from out her hollow brests doth scatter Can yeeld so sweet bewitching notes and sound As turns the wanton's-myrth t'a-harts deep wound Or whence com'th't that those byrds whose artles bill With C-sol Fa-uth's notes the Spheeres doe fill Doe greet th' approach of lights advanc'd cariere With sweeter strains than Art instructs his quire What have those creatures force or pow'r at all Coutch'd in their bosoms that can eyther thrall The giddy minde to taste a sober quiet Or rouse th' afflicted from their dismall diet No no 't is thou and thou alone whose voyce Can make the Soule to feare or yet rejoyce For as thy hand hath form'd the heart in Man And as thy eyes from highest heav'ns doe scan Our hidden reynes so by thy pow'r thou guides Our Soules swift current in their severall tides For whilst thy iight and countenance doth shine With Sextile aspect Quadrat or with Tryne On our dark hearts O how they joy t' advance Their light before thy ' lightning countenance And whilst again Sins drossie globe doth stand Just interpos'd betwixt thy shining brand And our dark hearts O then Cymerian-night Succeeds in lieu of thy celestiall light Hence by that sweetnes which wee find in thee Wee loathe the blinks of natur's royaltie And find her treasures but a bubling sourse Which from thee for thee to thee bends its ' course Hence flow our griefs hence brookes and desert dales With seeming murmurs pittiously bewailes Thy absence and their mourning sables weare Till thou return and cleere their hemispheere Come therefore thou A lmighty-lmighty-Spirit of spirits Great-Light of lights whose Majesty inherits That wondrous Light to which no flesh attains Which in this muddy vail of flesh remains Come come I say and by thy Spirit inspire This Spirit of mine with thy celestiall fire That in thy Light my Soule may cleerly see That great unsearched Deep of Majestie Which dwelling in thee doth exchange my story Of Death and Darknes to true Light and Glory Scarce hath she from the flames of zeale-bred fire Evaporat these accents of desire When loe from heav'ns high Senate there doth fly A Legat of Hierarkick Majesty Who with due reverence and obsequious Rites The blessed Virgin thus salutes and greets Hail sacred Nymph Haile Virgin-Bride and thou On whom the heav'ns dread Soveraign doth allow The favor of a freely-granted grace The Lord 's with thee rest therfore still in peace Blessed bee thou and blest beyond all those That ere from Grandam Evahs loyns arose Let Heav'ns thy blisse extend as farre inscorn Of Earths best hap as ev'r the pearly Morn The radiant Noon or rheumy Ev'n can see Or Neptunes brauls or Vestaes tapestrie For from thy wombe a Monarch-Prince shall spring Sinne death and hells eternall taming King The sacred Founder of mans Soveraign blisse The worlds rich Ransome Peace and Righteousnes He shall be called Great and Strong of strongs The most high Sonne to whom of due belongs The keyes of David Solomon's Ivory Throne And Jacob's Lot-divided-tents each one His shafts shall thrill the foes which him assaile His force shall all th' Infernall furies quaile Each knee in heav'n and earth shall to him bow And every tongue confesse him God most true For by his blood he re-unites again Earths wandring Subjects to their Soveraign Looke how one daz'led with the splendor bright Of Titan's rayes being lately brought to light From darknesse of a black Cymerian deep Where nev'r a Cranny suffer'd light to peep Being too too soon re-cleer'd stands gazing so As one disself'd and doubtfull where to goe Ev'n so the Maid at this unlook'd-for tale Halfe dead with terrour first growes ashy pale Then re-comforted with dejected eyes First views her Nuntio and then thus replyes O how can 't be that I within whose brest Lusts sparkling flames did never plead for rest Whose Virgin-modest chaste and tender eare Did nev'r infamous Ruffian bablings heare Yea I whose thoughts unsported nev'r was wed To th' wanton pleasures of a Mariage bed Should bud such blossoms or such fruits forth bring As makes the barren to rejoyce and sing Peace Mary saith the Angell peace and feare not The Holy Ghost ore-shaddowes thee then dare not With curious search of humane Reason's strength To limit him whose wayes for breadth and length For height and depth are all a boundlesse treasure Acknowledging no limit bound nor measure For willt thou look on his unsearched Spirit Invisible immortall infinit All Majesty all self-omnipotent Pure
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
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
wise just good impassive excellent Eternall Monarch All-commanding all End of all ends of Firsts th' Originall Great Light of lights Cause of all causes and Chiefe Life of lifes unseen all-seeing brand Who e'r the Worlds Idaea first was fram'd E'r Eurus blew e'r Seas or Earth was nam'd Ev'n from Eternity did in One combine One Trine-une essence one essentiall Trine Him shalt thou finde e'r Time could stretch his station In unsearch'd deep eternall Observation Fore-know his creatures in their severall ends And severall courses that the same attends Yea as his aye and all fore-seeing eye Fore-knew his creatures from eternity So hath hee made his pleasure and good will A still enflamed Limbeck wherein till Mans waies are so confin'd compos'd control'd That all his Mercure's turn'd to perfect gold This is his work though wondrous in our eyes Ev'n his whose throne transcends our starry skies From contrair's to extract a contrair ' story Whose contestation still effects his glory Thus did he in the worlds first byrth forth bring This universall-All from out nothing And by his word hee made lights glistring Lamp Shine in the midst of darknes shady Camp Thus doth he now in times last time from far Call things that are not ev'n as though they were And makes his Mercy sup'r abound in store Where Sins abundant plenty dwelt before No heare mee Virgin pause for pause thou must Hee that revives the Phoenix from her dust Hee that from darknesse center springs the day Hee that from gates of death doth life display And he who without woman first did make Of Adams rib an Evah for his sake Shall without knowledge of a Man provide To make the' a-sacred Mother Virgin Bride Thus spoke hee and then disappears and now The maid 's alone who on her knees doth bow And with her hands lift up to heav'ns high throne She sighs this sacred exultation Loe here I am thy servant mighty Lord Bee 't unto mee according to thy word If thou on mee hast plac'd thy hearts delight Then let thy hand-maid prosper in thy sight Yet O thou great and everlasting Father How shall I wonder or evanish rather At this thy wondrous work thou dost expresse On mee the chiefest worm of wretchednesse For thou hast look'd upon the base condition Of mee thy servant in so wondrous fashion That henceforth all succeeding times shall call Mee bless'd because of this memoriall Thy mighty hand hath done for mee great things And great 's thy name thou royall King of kings For by the strength of thy right hand thou scatters Man's vain imaginations like spilt waters Thou thrust'st the mighty down from Iv'ry seats And makst the abject to possesse their states Thou fill'st the hungry with thy blessings store And mak'st the full through penury to roare Thou mak'st thy promise a continuall creede To Abraham Isaac Jacob and their feede Yea from the stem of Jesse thou mak'st known To all that feare thee ' thy salvation Bless'd bee thou then thou God of Israel who Hast visit and redeem'd thy people so That by the splendor of that Bright day star Which thou hast made to shine both neer and far The tender mercies of our tender God In wondrous plenty visits us abroad And gives us matter while the world 's great frame Endures to prayse and magnifie thy Name Immanuel or Puerperie CANTO 4o. GReat God who by thy words great pow'r brought From nothing's-Chaos this our all things by rth Great Spirit whose secret certain prescience Fore-knows and guides all humane accidents Eternall Light from whose all-seeing ey Nothing is hid no not eternity If ere thou mad'st my silly simple Soule In sacred rage to rise above the Pole Now now reflect bright Sun thy golden rayes On my poore Moone eclips'd by thy delays Ravish my Spirit Life of my Soule revive My starving thoughts that I may truly give A perfect strain and perfectly record The Incarnation of thy ' ternall Word That so in sacred fury I may limbe Though with a coale the first-born Prince of Time And to the after-age in verse expresse God living suffering rising in the flesh But ay me where shall stripling I begin T' unfold this Daedal ' Labyriuth wherein Nature shall sooner lose her selfe then gain A steddy course amidst this Ocean For nature never hath as yet exprest His first-born being in th'Eternal's brest And how shall humane wisdom now forth tell The second byrth-right of Immanuel 'T is true some doating Atheists big with tumors Of brain-sick Heresies impoys'ning humors Like blinde men groaping in the day have run By light of Nature to display this Sun But all in vain the more they scan this point The more they find their judgements out of joynt Here one conceiting God cannot be born Ebion Hath therefore laught his Deity to scorn Another seeing him true Gods true Son Marcion Denieth him Man by Incarnation A third beholding him both God and Man Euâ—iches Confounds his Natures by a naturall span A fourth enforc'd by force of truth to see Nestor God joyn'd with man in Pers'nall unitie Hath from his true distinguish'd Natures frame Giv'n him two Hypostatick persons theame Which like Hippocrates undissever'd twins Together quicken live dye ends begins But hath not Esay much more cleerly told To Judahs King that Time should once unfold Esay 7.14 From out a Virgins womb a glorious Prince Whose Passion should expiate our offence Immanuel God with us and even Man of the Virgin and a God from Heaven Not God alone but Man also or rather God of himselfe Sonne gotten of the Father Both God and Man in whom both reall Natures Of God and Man distinguish'd by true features And severall functions stands dissever'd so As no division can their seat ore-throw And so distinguish'd that albe't there be Two Natures there distinguish'd really Yet to averre two Persons thereupon Were Sathans dark prevarication No no Immanuel and that God with us Our Advocate our Judge and our Jesus Abiding what he was e'r Time become In Time what he was not and being the same Was in our flesh without Confusions wonder Or rending of his Person ev'r asunder Inaugurate by Heav'ns dread Monarchs love A Prophet Priest and Prince for our behove A Prophet by whose documents we learne The things which Nature never could discerne By force of Reason for th' Almighty did In secret silence his best Counsels hide Till his Eternall word made flesh should frame The glorious promulgation of the same A Priest also the Virgins Sonne must be T' accomplish the Almighties dread Decree Of Mercy and of Justice both so that Th' Almighty might in both b'inviolat A Soveraign Prince he needs must be also To lead Captivity captive and ore-throw That Prince of Darknesse who by Sinnes proud hands Kept both our life and liberty in bands That as by him our feares our foes and all Captivities are captivate and thrall So he in God may make us
But hee that to the Gospels folly shall Subdue his heart and its affections all 1 Cor. 1.21 And finally as for the Jews I have To Circumcision made my self a slave So now by Baptism for the Gentiles I Must undergoe this Jordan's watry dy That Jew and Gentile bond and free and all VVho for Salvation hunger thirst and call By mee may have a reconciling Peace And in mee access to the throne of Grace No deeper blush hath golden Phoebus when He hides his head in Peru's Ocean Then deth o're-shade the Baptiist's face while as His weakness is display'd in wisdom's glass Submitting then himself his thoughts and all To the injunctions of his Generall They both goe straight to Jordan that therein Christ may bee seal'd a surety for our sin No sooner hath this milde sweet-coupled pair Trod on the frisled locks of Jordan's hair When loe the Sun forsaking th'opal morn Doth his meridian-poynt with pompe adorne And like a Prince set in his royall throne He calls his neighb'ring tapers one by one Who by their intermixed torches seven VVith matchless-splendor cleer the cope of heav'n Those steep proud hills whose lofty swelling tops Drink for their mornings-draught Aurora's drops Such as the Law-grac'd Sinay Carmell old VVhere Seraphims God's Prophet did enfold Horab and Nebo whose soft arms doe keep Moses and Aaron in their dusty sleep Jegar-sha-duthae and mount Pisgah whence Moses view'd Jacob's fair inheritance The balm-rich Gilead and mount Moriah where The faith of Abram made him mercies heire Link'd all together clasp'd their hands to hand And on their stately tip-toes trip and stand To see him baptiz'd whose fierce indignation Subverts the Sinewy props of their foundation Jordan himself like Nereus eldest son VVrap'd in a roab of pearle and Nacre's stone No sooner sees his sweet approach when loe Hee curbs his streames from their accustom'd flowe Who whilst they turn their back upon the deep To see their maker seem'd for joy to weep Straight way there com'th that dainty swelling stream That fatt'h and lean'th proud Misraims Diadem The faire Euphrates and Hydaspes who Through Media's channell joynes with gentle Po Chesel Araxis Volga and that rill That waits on new-born Titan's hests and will Rhine Ister Danube Tanais Tagus Iber Meander Xanthus Tygris Po and Tiber Peneus Orontes and each Runnall else Which either softly slides or proudly swells Doe all to Jrodans flowry bank repaire And of their intertexed locks and haire Compose a sumptuous Arrasse richly sweet To wipe the water off their Masters feet In this enpamper'd crew great Jordan stands Bending his knees and heaving up his hands And to his Maker in a pearle-like teare Breaths this Congratulation in his eare Eternall Issue of th' Eternall Sire Deep wisdome of that God whom th'heav'ns admire Almighty Lord all-seeing God all 's Maker Here at thy foot-stoole we doe humbly sacre Our selves our service and our dearest love As vassals to obey thy dread behove VVhil'st Nature thus and all her tender broods Hills valleyes deserts silver brooks and floods Intranc'd with joy conspire to solemnize This masque before their glorious Makers eyes Behold our Shiloe glad to undergoe That state wherein he should our sinnes o'rethrow Steps down to Jordans silver streames and there By John's enstall'd Copartner of our Care And now no sooner doth he step from out The liquid Current and the chrystall Spout Of Jordan when to all the peoples eye Heav'ns act their part in this Festivitie And by their rich applause confirm and seale The Covenant of Mercies Common-weale For loe heav'ns azur'd Arch is slop'd in twain And from Jehovah's throne comes down amain A silver-feather'd Dove who rests upon him And hugs his head as being enamour'd on him With all from heav'ns high Senate comes a voyce Inviting all the world thus to rejoyce Rejoyce O heav'ns be glad O earth and all That in the world doe creep or breath or crawl For here 's my welbeloved Sonne in whom My wrath 's appeas'd ' gainst sinners Come O come Today if you will save your soules draw neer him And whil'st he opes his mouth in wisdome heare him Now now I see that harmlesse Dove un-stay'n Who being sent out returned home again Holding within her bill an olive branch To shew that Neptune then his wrath did quench Was but a Type sent to presignifie The rest the peace the joy we have in thee O how thou' rt faire exceeding faire my Dove Thy eyes have made my Soule ev'n sick with love Thy neck is Ivory Raven-black thy locks Thy dwelling's in the top of Shenirs rocks Faire Sharons Rose Engeddyes sweet Camphire The dew of Hermon Gileads dainty Mirrhe The Balm the Alloes and the Spice also Which Abanah and Parphars valleyes show Yeeld not so sweet a smell as doe thy lips Whil'st thou on Bethers tops mak'st known thy trips Stay then my Darling goe not hence away The shady night can no more wrong the day Whil'st with a sable furre she lops his eye To snort in midnights velvet Cannopy Then thou shalt wound me to the death if ever Thou shalt thy Rayes from my pale Moon dissever Stay then my deare and by that Spirit of thine Repaire renew reform this soule of mine That like the harmlesse Dove who without gall Still loves and knowes not how to hate at all My Soule may by the radiance of thy love Still wed her selfe to thee who from above Hast brought the sacred Olive of our Peace T' establish mercy where fierce wrath had place The Duell CANTO 2o. OFt have mine eares been filld and eyes been fed With Raptures of that highly honored Alâ—mena's sonne whose high and conqu'ring hand By victories obtain'd by Sea and Land Hath made the trophies of his praise appear In all the stamps of Titan's bandilier Oft have I wondred at the martiall acts Heroick exploits and same-famishing facts Of Hector and Achilles and that crew Of Greekes and Trojans whose memorials grew To such a height that Homer's golden pen Could never fully point them forth but when He shut his eyes lest by their active glory He should betray the tenor of their story Oft have I stumbled to behold the great Distemper o' th' puissant Roman state By Shylla and by Marius set on fire For satisfaction of their fond desire Yet never quench'd or yet blown out again For all the armes or arts of France and Spain Till Pompey and great Caesar by the streames Of Rubicone drench'd these Aetnaean flames But wherefore doe I gaze this heathen stage Did not th' Almighty in that selfe same age Raise up a Theater of brave Heroes farre More eminent in Peace more bold in warre Then any heathen who did e're make bold Or Mars his helm or Mercur's pipe to hold Great Joshuah how didst thou stay the Sun In Gibeah and in Ajalon the Moon Till Jacobs wormlings to the ground down brings The pride of five combin'd Canaans Kings Shamgar how did thy oxen-taming goad
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
tear-drown'd eye Weeps out his soules sad sorrowes but for what They neither know nor can prognosticat Is this the grave saith he where Laz'rus lyeth Is this the Tomb which his dead corps implyeth It is say they then roll away this stone Which holds him in his dusty mansion No no saith Martha now the time is past This is the fourth day since we made it fast Corruption e're now hath made him stench His putrifaction no perfume can quench What Martha saith he have not I e're now Told thee that if by faith thou shouldst subdue Thy soule thou shouldst behold the pow'r of God Change Moses serpent to an usefull rod They roll away the stone to heav'n doth he Lift up his heart his hand and weeping eye And with a loud voyce he doth thus encall His Fathers hearing O great All of all O dread Creator and ô loving Father From whom all creatures doe their essence gather I thank thee that thou now hast heard me nay I know that thou dost heare me every way But that this people may believe that thou Who in thy selfe art very truth and true Hast sent me thy right hands great strength to prove And to the sonnes of men make known thy love To thee I cry'd and yet to thee doe cry That thou wouldst their hard hearts once mollifie This said he straight on Lazarus doth call Come forth come forth stay no more there at all I have the keyes of life and death therefore To thee my quickning spirit I restore No sooner hath he spoke these words then he Who lay in death and graves captivitie Comes forth bound hand and foot with those poor ties Which laugh to scorn lifes superfluities Now loose him saith he loose him let him goe For God is Lord of life and death also O what a world of miracles doe here In coacervat troops of pow'r appeare He weeps and spends his teares this tells he 's Man His word awakes the dead God only can He makes the bound to walk and blind to see All this t' expresse his sacred Deity Yet will not loose the bonds nor move the stone Himselfe but gives to men direction To act that part that by this Riddle he May teach the sonnes of men a mysterie That he who without man did man first make Will not man but by man save or forsake Qui fecit te sine te non servat te sine te For though God works his work mirac'lously Yet t'ordinary meanes he doth man ty And now in end to shew how Christ of late The deafe and dumb did both re-consolate How for the payment of a Tributes penny A Dolphine from the deep affords him money How graciously th' Adulteresse is freed And both from sinne and shame stands purifi'd How that poor man who from the wombe was blinde By clay and spittle doth his eye-sight finde How Jairus daughter and the widdows sonne Of Naine were reviv'd how he alone Did feed five thousand with five barly loaves How dry-foot on the Seas proud waves he roaves I dare not longer undertake to tell Lest under such a weight my spirits faile Let this suffice those few which here be shown Make both his Godhead and his Manhead known The Proselyt's CANTO 5o. AS when a grave and sage Gymnosophist Minding to put his Scholler to the list Of publick dispute whence he hopes to gaine The honour of his long turmoyling paine Prescribes him first some disputable Theam To be contested in the Acadeam Which being toss'd in Dialectique manner By quircks and Sophismes of a subtill strainer Gives correspondent hopes or fears of what The publick The'ter can emarginat So Nicodemus having oft times heard Of that rich glory and that rich reward Which Christ had promis'd to all such as should By his directions be govern'd and rul'd Goes privily by night to him to try Who was the stronger Christ or th' Pharisie Master saith he I see thou art a man Come out from God for certainly none can Or speake or doe as thou hast spoke and done Without some divine inspiration Is' t so saith Christ brave Nicodemus now I needs must tell thee what thou dost not know Except a man be born again 't is sure He shall not enter in at Glories doore Be born again saith he what 's this I heare VVhat man can make this paradox appeare Can he that 's old return to 's mothers wombe And thence being born again a childe become This Maxim seemeth very strange to me It over-tops my weak capacity VVhat dost thou think this strange doth Christ then say That man must needs be born again Nay nay Unlesse a man be born again by water And by the Spirits inward hid lavacre He cannot enter in Gods kingdome for What 's born of flesh is flesh and what is more What is born of the Spirit 's likewise Spirit VVithout this birth no man can heav'n inherit The winde blows where it lists thou hear'st the sound Thereof but canst not tell where 't may be found From whence it comes or whither it doth goe So hidden are his waves who makes it blow Come come saith Necodemus tell me where Thou canst be bold this Doctrine to averre Thou speak'st to me of being born again But of a new birth I conceive no strain Thou prat'st to me of heav'ns great Kingdome but Of that Monarchick state I see no jot Make me then see a reason and a cause Of what thou speak'st else hold thy peace and pause VVell Nicodemus now of truth I see That Nature is to Grace an Enemie And what the nat'rall man thinks wisdome that Doth God as folly excommunicat And what the Lord counts wisdome that doth Nature Abhorre as voyd of her perfections feature VVhat if I should be bold but to demand Of thee this question what strong pow'r and hand Did frame thee in thy mothers womb when yet In darknesse as a Non-ens thou didst sit Whose fingers there condens'd thy bones what power Did fill thy veines with Bozra's crimson shower VVho made thy nerves and artyrs so to tie Thy bodies compact and societie Who fram'd thy braines great Chaos liver spleen Thy boyling choller or thy moyst'ning phleagm VVho made thy eyes so watchfull Centinels VVho made thy nose Judge of so various smels VVho made thy tongue to speak or eares to hear VVho made thy knees to bow or back to bear And last of all whence hadst thou that poor breath Whose presence lends thee life whose absence death Whose influence warms thee with celestiall fire And whose unmoved motion doth aspire In a poor minute to run round about Earths drossie globe and Seas green glassie spout Then in an eyes poor twinkle strives to know The treasures of the windes hail rain and snow Thence falling down doth view that woefull deep Wherein the Vessels of Gods wrath doe weep Thence scaling all the heav'ns doth scan the course Of all the Stars in their imperiall sourse Thence soaring higher
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 upon this day he next shall come To Judge the world and render life to some So on this day he takes delight to goe To Tabors top that there he might forth show A glance of that great glory which we shall One day possesse in his great marriage hall For when six ages of the world are run The seventh shall finish our Redemption Thus having found the time we next must view The place wherein Christ Jesus doth allow To cloath himselfe with glory for a while And cover Jacobs hands with Esau's guile The place is Tabors mountain top whereon He manifests his glories vision For till we climbe above earths drossie ball We are not fit t' enjoy heav'ns Festivall On top of Moriahs mountain Abram rear'd An altar to that God he lov'd and fear'd On Carmels top Eliah pray'th for fire And heav'ns obtemper his devout desire On Horebs top and in that hollow cave Whil'st he from Jesabel his life doth save Earth trembleth windes doe roare and flaming coals Of fire for his protection raves and roles On Pisgahs top meek Moses lyeth down And sleepeth in his first corruption On Nebo's top did Aaron sweetly lay His bones whil'st as his soule to heav'n did stray So on mount Tabor will my blessed Saviour First pray and then transforme his true behaviour That by him we may learn when we draw neer To God in aspirituall Hemispheare To cast distractions worldly cares and pains Behind our backs and make our chiefest strains To rest on high and whilst we talk with God T' obnubilate our heads within his cloud Leaving our Asses on the plain below Whil'st we to heaven our sighs and sobs upthrow The circumstance of time and place descry'd Wherein the Sonne of Man was clarifi'd 'T is fit we look on his attendants next That so our swarving faith may once grow fixt Those were three great ones Peter James and John Those sonnes of thunder this a pretious stone If any shall enquire why to those three My Master manifests his Majestie I answer first that Scripture doth command That every Truth accomplished shall stand By Declaration of some two or three And from their mouth receive stability Next unto this to them he shew'th indeed His future suff'rings should no way proceed From lack of power to confound his foes But from his love to mankinde hence he throws A way his robe of weaknesse and grows rich In glories vesture whose embroider'd stitch Bezaleel for all his skill and art Ne'er paralell'd in whole or yet in part And finally to those three first is shown His glory for they be the first must own His fellow sufferings least then orflings they Should seare his Crosse and so his cause betray He gives them here a glance of that reward Which for their after sufferings was prepar'd Thus on Mount Tabors top and lofty stage Those three receive the greatest priviledge That ever mortals in the flesh did see Being chain'd in bonds of base mortalitie But ô no sooner have they climb'd up there When loe their Master kneeling in his prayer They fall asleep so weake is this our flesh That what the sp'rit desires it doth empoish Yet seldome doth the flesh in quiet sleep But some distemper to the soule doth creep Whil'st Adam slept his rib was stoln away And sleep did Noahs nakednesse display Whil'st Sampson slept his Nazarisme's gone The Church asleep disknow'th her holy one In Jaels tent while Sisara sleeps he 's kill'd Jonah from sleep must wake ere th' sea be still'd Yea if the master of the house doe snort The thiefe digs thorow and the goods transport 'T is good therefore that men should watch and pray That Christ may be their light both night and day From sleep then can those three no sooner wake When of their Master they doe notice take And finde his count nance clarifi'd as farre Beyond his wonted feature as that starre Which gildes our midday doth exceed that lamp That cuts her capers in our midnight Camp And all his body deck'd with brighter beams Then Cynthia when she 's drunk with Neptunes streams The new faln snow was never halfe so white The Fullers soape makes nothing so perfect Jobs snowy water Davids hyssop drops VVhen from th' Alembicks cloud it softly hops Could never make a cloth so fresh and new As are his vestures in Celestiall hew Yea with him Moses and Eliah walk In glory and comfort him with their talke Concerning those dread sufferings which he was T' endure by Pilate and by Caiaphas Ne'er could the heav'ns afford two fitter guests To talk with him of fastings or of feasts Then were those two for Moses gave the Law And with Eliahs heav'n commanding aw The following Prophets made the world to try The power of th' Eternals verity Yet unto Christ both Law and Prophets tend From him they had beginning he 's their end Now to the world I see he did not come T' undoe the Law or Prophets but to summe Them both together that to both he might Be guide by day and loadstarre in the night VVherefore then should we in our deepest joyes Forget our Crosse or in our crossing toyes Forget our glory since our Saviour Amid'st his richest glory can endure To heare of crosses sorrows stripes and wrongs In stead of trophies triumphs shows and songs 'T is fitting then that in our peace we think Upon that wormwood cup we once must drink For humane mindes doe best digest their gall VVhen expectation cooks their Madrigall Peter awake beholds this glorious Trine And like a man awak'd from out his wine Cries to his master 't is good we be here O that I could three tabernacles reare The first for thee my Shilo and Messiah Then one for Moses then one for Eliah So should we spend our time in rest and peace Feeding upon the glory of thy face And being satiat with thy glories store Return to our sublunar toyls no more Now Peter tell me art thou truly ' wake Or sleep'st thou still that thus thou dost mistake Shall Tabor be thy dwelling place for ay Or shall my Saviour from his suffrings stay Shall Moses and Eliah still remain On Tabors top and not return again To that Celestiall joy from whence they came Fie on those stag'ring wishes fie for shame 'T is shame that men should give their fancies scope But greater shame to sleep their eyes be'ng ope Or therefore speak the truth or sleep thou still A drousie braine doth judgements project spill And yet I pardon thy ecstatique mood What thou didst speak thou no wayes understood Now scarce hath Peter from a zeale bred fire Evaporat those accents of desire When loe from heaven a bright irradiat cloud O'reshades the place whereas my Saviour stood And from on high did sound this loud loud voyce Be glad ô heav'ns and ô thou Earth rejoyce For here 's my first born sonne my best beloved Heare him for in him onely y' are approved At this dread
whose right hand doth plant The rut'lant starres amidst the Firmament Who pav'st the Ocean with thy orient gem Plant in my soule thy Artimesian stem And like the lotos in Euphrates bosome Be thou the Sun that still re-clears my blossome But ay me what is this I now doe heare Thee say to Mary Mary come not neare And touch me not Art thou that fi'ry bush Which made old Moses stand afar no tush The flames and threats of Sinay now are gone And thou art made our very flesh and bone Yea thou hast bid us touch and taste and feele How good thou art to Isr'els Common-weale And yet as if thou wouldst some distance try Thou stopp'st our wonted famil'arity It is not long since thou endur'dst a touch Which justly tearmed might have been Non-such A Traitor kissed thee a Rascall knave Did with his buffet and his spit out-brave Thy glorious face thy head was crown'd with thorns Thy hands and feet were pierc'd and with proud scorns Of thy unlook'd for death a speare did part The water and the blood from out thy heart Those touches thou endur'dst but ay me now Thou call'st for distance but I know not how It can subsist with thy unchanged love To change a sweet imbracet'a sad remove But pardon me my God for now I finde That too much love hath made her judgment blinde For since she saw thee put in porta mortis Her eyes have still been drown'd in aqua fortis And in her rapture whil'st she cryes Rabboni She turnes her Benjamini to Benoni For though thou still be what thou wast before True God and Man yet art thou now some more Then man and mortall but immortall now Kodesh laihova is writ on thy brow The Vrim and the Thummim on thy breast Tels Aaron's dead and Melchisedeck â—s Priest And since true life hath triumph over death Now must we live no more by sense but faith And by the spirit not the flesh must we Now seek our God and his felicitie Some eight dayes hence Christs Disciples meet And in a private chamber closely sit The doores being shut Christ Jesus commeth in And greets them with his 〈◊〉 then doth begin To rouz their 〈…〉 Soulles from â—eare to â—aith Which oâ— salvaâ—ion 〈…〉 promise hath To waken Thomas from his misbeliefe For lack of faith ' mongst many sins is chiefe Thomas saith he thou hast of late deny'd To trust my Resurrection till my side My hands my feet and all my wounds doe give Thee by thy touch true reason to believe I pitty this thy weaknes for I know The sourse and fountain whence this stream doth flow Is not proud malice but infirmitie The sp'rit speaks faith flesh infidelitie T is true that when those wounds I did receive And from my Crosse was carried to my grave Thou didst not see me for thou rann'st away When Judas by his kisse did me betray But now thou art return'd and so am I Thou from thy fears I from mortality And since I see upon thy fingers end Thy faith and resolution doth depend Come come thy touch not only shall be fed But al 's ' thy other senses satisfied Come come I say behold those wounds of mine And let not misbeliefe ' gainst faith repine Reach here thy fingers boldly touch my hands Touch those my feet see how my side yet stands Wide open with those wounds which did of late My harmlesse body cru'ly penetrate And be not thou a faith lesse Did'mus more But make true faith ov'rflow thy hard hearts shore Thomas no sooner doth stretch out his fingers To touch Christs side when loe from off her hingers Christ pulls his heart which then was hard as stone And with the touch of true contrition Makes him bewaile his infidel'ty more Then he was bent to harden it before O now I finde saith he and cryes aloud Thou art the Christ my very Lord my God O happy Thomas what a happy change Is this which now doth in thy bosome range Of late thou saidst Unlesse I surely see The stamps of death in his mortalitie I will not trust what ever can be sed That he from death can be recovered But now behold what nature could not see Faith doth perceive behold that Mustard tree Of faith in thee hath been most shrewdly shaken Yet from the root it hath not quite been taken O what a forcelesse force of heav'ns high thought This alteration in thy brest hath wrought For one thing thou didst see believe another And this made Faith and Nature joyn together One thing thy eyes did see that he was Man Thy heart believes him God 't is more than can By natures rules or documents of art Couch in thy conscience or confirm thy heart But ô the power of the Almighty who Unto the weak joyns grace and nature so That what weak nature cannot work for want Of strength grace there doth furnish supplement And though that faith doth build her house on that Which to the nat'rall eye 's unseen yet what May help weak nature and procure her strength She doth amasse together and at length From both their Magazens draws forth that store Of grace which Sathan can deface no more Thrice happy Thomas who didst thus believe Because thou saw'st but if that God shall give The grace to such as never saw to trust Thrice happy they their faith shall make them just For when they by the heav'ns great power shall Arise to make their last Judiciall Account their unseen faith shall make them see Death hath no sting Grave hath no vietorie Thus standeth Thomas to the faith converted From him a hard heart by a touch is parted Christ to the rest of those his brethren saith Brethren these times require much strength of faith Harken therefore to what I to you say 'T is long since I first said I goe my way And you were heavy that I so should speak For then your faith was wav'ring faint and weak But now your eares have heard youe eyes have seen What I have suffred yet my wounds be green Gird up your loynes therefore henceforth be strong For he who wrongeth you to me doth wrong And whoso harmeth you he harmeth me I love you as the apple of mine eye Yet must not I alwayes on earth remain I to my Father must return again And to your Father to my God I goe And to your holy one and God also My God is your God and my Father 's yours The gates of hell and all their darkned powr's Shall not be able ' gainst you to prevaile My Scepter and my Rod their strength shall quaile Full forty times brave Titan now hath run About the world and stay'd where he begun Full forty dayes hath he yea each day once Saluted and adieu'd both Horizons Full forty times hath Pha'ton's Chariots wheel Bid Flora both good morrow and farewell Now now 't is time that Jesus should goe hence T' enjoy the throne of his magnificence Not