world and taken-vp in the Church for an admirable peece of that Art to vye with the Angels the Cherubins and Seraphins themselues to frame the like Nor yet was she so pleased to heare herself sing only as to listen to her Spouse the voice of her beloued knocking and saying My sister open vnto me to whom she would answer againe Behold my beloued speaks vnto me Oh let thy voice stil sound in mine eares and a thousand other affects of her Musical hart would she dayly sing besides to the Angelical troups which enuironed her round And lastly for her loue to wine that is to the Angelical Nectar she was dayly feasted with of spiritual gladnes as tasts before hand of her future ioyes which might appeare by the quantitie she tooke of those wines and the qualitie againe by the frequent extasies of loue she would breake into remaining in her Closet as we may piously beleeue being inebriated therewith THE EMBLEME THE POESIE TO Bethlem's sillie shed me thinkes I see The Virgin hasten like a busie Bee Which in a tempest subiect to be blowne In lieu of ballast beares a little stone As 't were with oares beats to and fro his wings Collects heauens deaw which to the hiue he brings Within that store-house lyes the daylie frait Le ts fal the stone Euen so of greater weight Cut without hands the Virgin now is gone To lay the prime and fundamental stone Heauens Deaw condens'd was in the honie-comb She was the Bee the Hiue her Sacred Womb. THE THEORIES COntemplate first how little soeuer the Bee seemes yet how great its excellencies and eminencies are and measure not the singular properties it hath with the outward shew it giues forth For though it seeme no more indeed then as raysed but a little higher then an ordinarie fly yet is it a miracle in nature an astonishment to men and a liuelie Symbol of our Blessed Ladie who being so singular and eminent in al prerogatiues and graces Celestial and Diuine made no greater a shew then she did in being so priuate in her Closet or Oratorie where she was as a Bee in her Cel a-framing the delicious honie of her admirable examples of life to sweeten the world with for after-ages Where you may note her stupenduous humilitie that seing herself elected the Mother of God and consequently the Queene of Angels and men yet held herself to be no more then as a seruiceable Bee to worke the precious honie of Man's Redemption in her Virginal Womb when she sayd Behold the hand-mayd of our Lord. Consider then that as one of the properties of the Bee is when it is on the wing and feares to be carried away with the winds of the ayre to take vp a stone to keep itself steadie therin through the poyse therof So our blessed Virgin in her highest contemplation of heauenlie mysteries which was frequent and ordinarie with her would take herself to her little Iesus the mystical stone for Christ was a Stone for feare of being carryed away with the wind of vanitie she would fly and soare aloft but yet hold her to her little Nothing which she euer tooke herself to be O admirable humilitie of our incomparable and industrious Bee Ponder lastly that if the Bee is so admired for its singular guists of Continencie of Policie and Industrie and especially so affected by al men for the benefit of the honie they receaue from it how admirable needes must the blessed Virgin be so chast as to be the first and onlie patterne of al Chastitie both Virginal Coniugal and Vidual so wise politick wel-gouerned in herself to haue Sensualitie so obedient to Reason and Reason to GOD as to haue no deordination in her either of the inferiour to the superiour part and so industrious withal as to work so exquisit a loome of al Perfection as wel Human as Angelical in the whole course of her diuine life Yea how ought she to be honoured and worshipped of vs al for the Celestial Diuine fruit she brought vs forth that mellifluous Honie of the Diuine Word Incarnate and made Man in her most precious and sacred Wombe THE APOSTROPHE O Great Monarkesse and Princesse of intercession in heauen most constant and immoueable in thy Virginal purpose who hadst rather not to haue been so great in the kingdome of God then to falsify thy promise vow of perpetual Virginitie if in being the Mother of God the same had been put in the least danger O help me then to guard this inestimable treasure of Chastitie in my state of life by that sweetest Honie-comb thou hredst within thee and broughtst into the world thy deerest Sonne Ah let me not be perfidious disloyal or a breaker of my faith nor rash in my good purposes made to His Diuine Maiestie For that O soueraigne Ladie displeases him highly and offends thee likewise deare Princesse of Virgin-soules THE VIII SYMBOL THE HEAVENS THE DEVISE THE CHARACTER THE Heauens are the glorious Pallace of the Soueraigne Creatour of al things the purple Canopie of the Earth powdred ouer and beset with siluer-oes or rather an Azure Vault enameld al with diamants that sparckle where they are And for that there is aloft aboue this seeling they make a pauiment likewise for the Intelligences and Angelical Spirits strewed as become such inhabitants with starres It is a Court where those blessed Spirits as Pensioners stand continually assisting in the King's presence with the fauour to behold him to face in his greatest glorie while the Starres as Pages attend in those spacious Hals lower roomes If al togeather should make vp the bodie of an Armie ranged and marshalled in the field the Spirits themselues would make the Caualrie and the Infanterie the Starres S. Muhael General of the one and Phoebus of the other where euen as the Foot that are as the Corps of the whole Batallions make a stand so remaine the whole multitude of Starres al fixt in the Firmament while the Planets which are as the Collonels of the rest with the speedie Coursers of their proper Orbs fly vp and down to marshal the Legions and to keepe the Companies in their due squadrons If they shoot their shafts and darts they send are but their influences they powre on mortals and terrene things good and bad some sweet of loue as those which Venus shoots from her Regiment headed with gold some with steel as those of Mars and his troups and some againe as more malignant dipt in venome as those of Saturn and the Caniculars As the Earth hath beasts the Heauens haue their Lion and Beare the great and lesse Where the Sea hath fish the Heauens haue theirs and waters enough as wel aboue as vnder the Firmament As the Ayre hath birds the Heauens haue Angels as birds of Paradise And if the vpper Region of the Elements be of fire the Seraphins are al of amourous fires of Diuine loue and the
to nought but is a Cestern rather that wil in time be exhausted and that ere very long They haue left me the Fountain oâ— liuing Water and framed to themselues broken Cesterns that leake and can hold no water Lastly this Fountain of Ours is sweet and pleasant For as Springs and Fountains of waters arising from the Sea and passing through veynes as it were and subterranean places become very fauourie and sweet and that by certain degrees hauing first of al a kind of bitternes with them and then a more gratful and lastly a pleasant and delicious tast So the blessed Virgin like a Fountain springing from the source and origin of the bitter and harsh people of the Iewes was through a singular and especial prerogatiue preserued from the least tack of those brackish waters whence she came and being diuinely sanctifyed by the Holie-Ghost became a most delicious Fountain of al graces according to that of Iudith The bitter fountains are made sweet to drink From whence as from a publick Conduit of a Cittie the vniuersal Church deriues infinit streames of graces and fauours And as in great Citties there is wont to be some Conduit or Concha or most ample and spacious Channels erected in the open market-place from whence may al at their pleasure fetch waters without limit or restraint for al their vses besides some special pipes conueighed into some mens houses as a singular fauour So the blessed Virgin like a copious and endles Conduit abundantly affords the waters of her graces to al that haue their recourse to her for them and more particularly and familiarly to those that are her special Deuotes as being of her families and holie Sodalities Let vs now see then what waters she affords for surely her waters are ful of Vertues And first they coole and refrigerate and are therefore most welcome to the thirstie soule And as Fountain-water in Sommer is more cold and hotter in Winter so the Incomparable Virgin in the sommer of prosperitie giues fresh and coole waters to wit a cooling and refrigerating grace that the mind be not too much enflamed with terrene affects but in the winter of Aduersitie yealds her waters hot that is inflaming least the mind with aduersities being too much depressed might coole and at last grow vtterly cold in the loue and seruice of God As these waters coole so do they quicken and viuify withal and are therefore called liuing or the waters of life Heart the clamour of this people and open them the treasure the fountain of liuing water These Fountain-waters haue an humectiue and vegetatiue vertue with them to water and to make things prosper and grow vp A fountain ascended from the earth watering the vniuersal superficies So Genesis And for growing Esay sayth The shower falles and snow from heauen and returns no more but inebriates the earth powers vpon it and makes it to spring and grow vp For the earth indeed is sayd first to put forth the blade of the wheat then the green eare and lastly it becomes a ripe and ful-grayned eare of corne And this heauenlie Fountain of ours first makes the earth of our soule to put forth the green hearb of the feare of God which is the beginning of a new life then the green eare of Pennance which is bitter and sharp lastly a ful perfect fruit in the ripe eare which is Charitie since Dilection is the fulnes of the Law And to conclude the vertues of these waters haue the power to ascend and mount vp according to that The water which I shal giue you shal be in her a Fountain of water arising and springing to eternal life And as the nature and propertie of the water is especially in pipes to arise the higher the lower it falles so the Virgin stooping to the center of her Nothing is aduanced so high aboue the Cherubins and Seraphins themselues and so consequently the waters of grace that flow to vs from her rayse vs the higher in Heauen while by her example we stoop downe and abase our selues and especially despise these base and terrene things THE EMBLEME THE POESIE IT had not rayn'd and so the earth was dry No showres of Grace were falling from the sky An vniuersal drought possest the Land With dearth famine God's reuengeful hand On Eue pass'd to her progenie For sinne Man's soule like earth dried vp had euer byn But that there did a cristal Spring arise To drench the barren soile and fertilize For Naamans Iordan-like it made a floud That flowd with Grace 'T was Troubled not with mud While She 's cal'd ful of grace But sinner I Am troubled 'cause I want Fountain supply THE THEORIES COntemplate first that as an Aqueduct hath length and breadth with it so our glorious Virgin the Fountain I mentioned aboue of liuing waters as an Aqueduct hath so great a length as she reaches euen from heauen to the earth according to that mellifluous Doctour Marie is an Aqueduct whose top like Iacob's ladder reaches to Heauen And the breadth of this Aqueduct is such as she was able to containe the Diuine Fountain itself as the same S. Bernard affirmes A Fountain is borne to vs because that Celestial veyne hath descended by the Aqueduct though not affording vs the whole plentie of the fountain yet powring out certain stillicides of grace into our dry and arid harts Consider then that as we can not deriue the waters of the Heauens into our Conduits on earth without some conueyance or other so can we not expect the waters of Grace to come from thence without some Aqueduct of Grace which is the blessed Virgin the Incomparable Fountain therof for that as S. Bernard sayth the flouds of graces were wanting so long to human kind for that as yet no Aqueduct had made intercession for it Seeke we therefore grace through the inuocation of Marie Mother of Grace and whatsoeuer we offer to GOD commend we to Marie that grace may returne back by the same channel by which it flowed Ponder lastly the manner how this Aqueduct or Fountain of ours communicates its waters for to some she communicates in manner of a Well to some againe in manner of a Spring and thirdly to others in manner of Riuer-waters The Well hath its waters hid in the bottom of the pit and not to be drawne without some difficultie in which manner she communicates herself to sinners only to whom the waters of grace are hidden but yet to be fetcht and had with the labour of contrition and pennance but the water of the Spring is drawne without labour at al and flowes continually and in this manner she communicates herself to pious Soules and her Deuotes because continually she affords them graces with much facilitie and lastly as touching the Riuer that flowes so with great abundance she communicates and powres forth herself to the Blessed Soules with ineffable graces which are
as from the sea do flow great quantities of waters which it receaues againe not being kept so do graces flow froÌ„ the Sea of Marie in great plentie yet with flowings and ebbings through our ingratitude and not making vse therof But if after our neglect of her fauours we returne as we ought to beg them againe though we receaue no effectual benefits by her first offers which we refused yet doth she dayly offer them againe with this differeÌ„ce from those flowings of the liquid seas that they go and come to and fro of course and at certain times with stints but she is readie euerie moment to communicate her fauours without limits so we wil but open the chanels of our harts to let them in As al Wels Springs and Fountaines deriue from the Sea the Sea virtually containes the nature and qualities of al Well-springs current fountaines and riuers By which waters are aptly vnderstood the three degrees of graces which through our Ladie flow into our harts to wit the Incipient or preuenient grace in the first beginnings of our conuersioÌ„s the Proficient by which we proceed to vertuous actions through grace receaued the Perfect grace which is the ful consummation therof and is indeed a constant perseuerance to the end in al vertues This Incipient or commencing grace is signifyed by the Well or spring of liuing waters because these springs haue their waters secret hiddeÌ„ vnder ground they suddenly arise and no man knowes from whence so preuenient grace is by vs not merited at al but springs and is powred into vs through a secret and hidden inspiration of GOD no man can tel how or whence but often comes through the intercession of the IncoÌ„parable Mother of mercie and the Sea of graces being called the liuing Waters for that by this grace are sinners dead in sinnes as viuifyed to life The Fountain-water is vnderstood to be grace ProficieÌ„t wherof is sayd the Fountain of the Gardens which gardens of GOD are the good Proficients in grace vertues in whome are the hearbs plants of al vertues in a flourishing state which yet could not spring at al nor grow a whit much lesse seeme to prosper flourish vnles by this fountain they were watered with grace being a Fountain indeed ascending from the earth which waters the vniuersal face therof By the river-Riuer-water which flowes with violeÌ„ce is perfect grace to be vnderstood which is sayd to flow with violence because such as are replenished therwith are very earnest and sollicitous in the works of vertue and proceed with feruour therin Looke where the force of the spirit leads them thither wil they go with a violence and impetuositie as it were The Sea is alwayes ful and neuer wasts and so our Ladie was announced by the Angel to be ful of grace as truly she was a vast and immense Sea of al graces Of whom the mellifluous S. Bernard sayth vpoÌ„ those words of Aue gratia plena In the mouth truly was she ful of affabilitie in her womb with the grace of the Deitie in her hart with the grace of chatitie in her hand or work with the grace of mercie and liberalitie So likewise are the waters of the Sea exceeding bitter and our Virgin Marie was amarum mare that is a bitter Sea for diuers respects First for sorrow for the losse of her Sonne in the Temple Behold thy Father and I haue sought thee with sorrow Then was she bitter meerly of compassion in beholding the Spouses in the Nuptials to be abashed confounded for want of wine she had compassion of the Iewish nation while she saw them to be reprobate and forsaken of GOD She pittied the Apostles in seing them dispersed in the passion of her Sonne But especially was she bitterly sorie at the passion of her Sonne when the sword of sorrow traÌ„sfixed her hart and lastly was she bitter for her tedious pilgrimage heer so long and therefore would she say Alas how my â—iâ—grimage is prolonged THE EMBLEME THE POESIE NO sooner was the infant-world disclos'd But that God's Spirit on the Sea repos'd Borne on the waters did impart a heat By influence diuine a fertil seat He made that vast and barren Ocean's wombe T was fruitful when the Holie-Ghost was come The sacred Virgin was a Sea like this But darknes on the face of the Abysse Was neuer on her Soule that shined bright From her first being for GOD sayd Let light Be made the Word was in this Sea compriz'd When th' Holie-Ghost the waters fertiliz'd THE THEORIES COntemplate first that when the world was first created that the waters were diuided as it were by the Firmament while part was put aboue the Firmament and part beneath the waters beneath on the earth were called by the name of Maria or Seas and the Spirit of GOD as we haue it in Genesis did incubare super aquas couer as we say or ouershadow the waters Which was a work of the first Creation So in the work of our Redemption where the blessed Virgin Maria by name which signifyes the Seas also it pleased the Eternal Word leauing the delicious bosome of the heauenlie Father to descend into this Sea of human miseries to take them vpon him and the Holie-Ghost likewise to ouershadow her withal Consider then in the Temple of Salomon that as besides other riches and ornaments there as the Propitiatorie aboue the Cherubins and Seraphins of each side therof the golden Candlestick in the midst the Altars of Perfumes and of Propitiation heer and there with the lamps the Veyle the Ark and the like in their places was planted a great vessel of Brasse ful of water at the entrance of the said TeÌ„ple where the Priests were to cleanse themselues before they entred to Sacrifice and this Vessel was called Mare aeneum or the brazen Sea So ought the Priests in our Churches before they enter or approach vnto the dreadful Sacrifice of al Sacrifices the Sacrifice of the Masse to recurre to this Mare aeneum our Blessed Ladie to procure them a puritie of soule to assist therat or approch thervnto Ponder lastly that as GOD the soueraigne Lord of al things communicates his offices and charges to men according to his most holie and Diuine dispensation very suitable and agreable to euerie one as to Moyses the office of a Law-giuer to his people of Israel to AaroÌ„ the office of high Priest to Iosue of Captain Leader of them into the land of promise and consequently gaue them talents accordingly to discharge the same very punctually in al things So is it likelie that in choosing his Mother he vsed the self-same tenour in his fayre dispositioÌ„ therof to wit in appointing her so to be the Starre of the Sea he ordeyned her no doubt to be the Ladie of the Sea as her name imports Now then as in the Seas he hath drencht and plunged as it were
an other world since there is no liuing creature but hath its like in the Sea also implicitiuely he hath likewise appointed her to be the Ladie and Mistris of al the world For how should she saue from shipwrack if were not Ladie Mistris of the waues and winds And how should she be Ladie of the Seas alone if she were not the Ladie likewise of the land Since she who is stiled the Ladie of the Seas is the true and natural Mother of him who is Lord both of Sea and land and al the world THE APOSTROPHE O Ladie of the Ocean Starre of the Sea Sea of graces Fountain of life Spring of liuing waters that flow froÌ„ the Libanus of the candour of glorie Thou great Abysse of limpid waters whose bottome none can reach vnto whence nothing ariseth but the purest exhalations of Paradise light clowd whence nothing falles but deawes and showres of graces O immense Ocean of Charitie which bearest vp al things and where easily nothing sincks bitter but in the dolours and passions of thy Sonne sweet to the creatures that liue of thee or depend vpon thee O grant I beseech thee that wholy relying on thee I perish not and by neglecting thee and thy seruice I incurre not thy disgrace nor so running on the rocks of thy displeasure I split not on them nor suffer shipwrack of my soule THE XXI SYMBOL THE SHIP THE DEVISE THE CHARACTER THE Ship is the artificial Dolphin of the Seas that much addicted to musick is neuer set on a merrier pin then when the winds whissel to her dancing It is a floating Castle that hath the gates open indeed but trusts to her Battlements which she hath wel planted with Canons and Sacres wherin she more confides then manie do in Sacred Canons her whole saluation depending vpon them It is a litle Common-wealth whose whole Reason of State consists in iealousies spyes which she sends vp to her turret-tops to discouer if the coasts be clear stil standing on her guard against the neighbour waues that seeke but to swallow her vp And al her care is to walke vpright amidst her enemies least vnawares they arrest her and cite her to appeare at Pluto's Court for euerie errour or default of the least ship-boy There is no Bride requires so much time to dresse her on her wedding-day as she to be rigd whensoeuer she goes to sea If they haue their fillets to bred and wreath their haires with she hath her tacklings to trim her vp whose ropes are as manie as intricate as they if they haue their veyles to spread vpon them she hath her sayles to hoyse vp to go her wayes It is the Lion of the seas that feares no Monsters but is as dreadful herself as anie Monster hauing as manie mouthes as Gun-holes in euerie mouth a Serpent tongue that spits vomits fire which euen spits her teeth too in the face of her enemies which often sincks them vnder water It is one of the prettiest things in the world to see her vnder sayle how like a Turkiecock she strouts it out as brauing euen the Elements themselues both aboue and beneath her wherof the one she ploughes with her slicing share and braues the other with her daring look She is an excelleÌ„t swimmer bnt no good diuer at al which she neuer doth but sore against her wil and that with so il successe as likely she is neuer seen more The first that euer was seen to our Antipodes was thought by them to haue had indeed a liuing soule with her els would the simple people say how could so great a bulk so easily wind turne it sell euerie foot this because they knew but the Oare only and not the Rudder What would they haue said then had they knowne the effects of her Card and Compas doubtles she had a reasonable soule She likely neuer goes without her Pages with her to wit her Long-boat and her Cockboat wherof she makes such vse now then as without them she might starue for ought I know She is very ciuil if a Marchant-man but when she is a Man of warre then Marchants beware and looke to your selues THE MORALS DE LONGE PORTANS PANEM IN the TeÌ„ple of Salomon no gold would serue his greatcuriositie but that of Ophir Which the Southern QueeÌ„ of Saba knowing wel perhaps thought no doubt her presents would be gratful to him coming so froÌ„ parts remote Who is he that is not takeÌ„ much with verie toyes that come froÌ„ China which carrie I know nor how in themselues at least in our opinioÌ„ a kind of luster with theÌ„ greater farre then otherwise they would The preseÌ„ts which the Magi brought vnto the Crib coming from the East were deemed by them sit presents for a King yea for a GOD. And how were Iosue Caleb the Spyes Intelligencers of the people of Israel extolled magnifyed at their returne with those rare admirable booties fetched from Canaan And yet the gold of Ophir was but gold a yellow earth the presents made by Saba such as that Countrie afforded those IndiaÌ„ toyes but toyes indeed Yea the guifts the Magi brought had greater luster with them from the giuers harts then froÌ„ theÌ„selues more respected for the place to which theÌ„ wheÌ„ce they came And for those forren fruits they came indeed froÌ„ the laÌ„d of promise froÌ„ Palestin which was but the figure only of the Heauenlie countrie But lo our IncoÌ„parable Virgin like a Ship most richly fraighted hath brought vs Bread froÌ„ farre What bread but the true liuing bread How farre As farre as Heauen But how bread Bread whose corne was haruested in the Mightie man's rich Boozfield framed by the hand of the Maister Baker himself of a most pure meale or flower to wit of the immaculate Bloud of the holie Virgin herself baked in the Ouen of an ardeÌ„t Loue which She hath brought into the world And therefore is truly sayd DE LONGE POâ—TANS PANEM THE ESSAY I Can not tel whether in the world besides be a more statelie fight to behold then an English Ship vnder sayle riding in the Ocean cutting the watrie playnes with her sharp keel in case she haue a gallaÌ„t gentle gale in the poop for then they feast it and make good chear who are the liuing soules abiding in this bulk of human art compiled togeather in despite of Nature to frame a liuing creature more then she intended that neither should be fish nor fowle yet liue in the ayre and water But if the Seas proue rough al the marine MoÌ„sters vise vp against her coÌ„spiring with the blustering Spirits of the ayre to sinck her quite it is a sport to see how she rides prances on his crooked back sporting herself the while and making a meer scoff at al their menaces There is an infinit number of seueral sorts of these artificial creatures in the world
and heer doe I present thee in honour of thee the Mystical Rose and thy Sonne thy soueraigne Bud the Hymne that followes Salue CHRISTI sacra Parens Flos de spina spinâ carens Flos Spinati gloria Nos spinetum nos peccati Spinâ sumus cruentari Sed tu spinae nescia THE III. SYMBOL THE LILLIE THE DEVISE THE CHARACTER THE Lillie is the Scepter of the chast Diana whose Flower-deluce the crowne and stemme the handle which she chastly wealds amidst the Nimphs of flowers It is a Siluer-Bel without sound to the eare but ful of sweets to the brim and where it can not draw the eares the eyes it wil and inebriats the curious with its ouer-sweets It is a Box of Ciuets which opens to the Zephirs and prodigally powers forth its spices to the standers round-about though they come not very nigh it Flora it seemes hath no other Purse then this of candid saffron without strings to shut it vp so prodigal she is of her sweets which she wel knowes can neuer al be disbursed Who had not seen a Lillie heertofore especially the Flower-deluce the Prince of Lillies would start no doubt as with the sight of a Garden-Comete and cal in his friends perhaps to gaze on a Blazing Starre or Garden-Miracle It is the ensigne of France euen vying with the Brittish or Lancastrian Whiter Rose if not so happie for her Vnion with the Red the Ensigne of Peace yet in this more happie that she neuer was diuided to haue need of such a Vnion as euer standing of herself It is a Quiuer of amourous shafts with golden heads which some cal hammers rather against lust to blunt the thorns of lewd Concupiscence A verie Purselin cup replenished within with the rarities of Nature enough to stupify and astonish the curious in the search of secrets It is besides a precious Pot of the purest Alablaster filled with the inualuable Spicknard of Arabia for sent and odour as it were fellow vnto that the blessed Magdalen powred on her Maister 's head and if you wil not beleeue me approach but to the vessel itself and you shal feel it streight To say no more no snow is found to be more white then it nor giues a greater flash of lightning in the eyes then it that sweetly dazels and not duls the sight THE MORALS NIVEO CANDORE NITESCEN THey are truly chast whose mind and bodie neuer yet admitted stayne in the virgin-wax of their pure integritie in either part Chast is she held to be and so is truly that vowes her chastitie and keepes the same howbeit once stayned perhaps at least with impurities of mind and washed againe with the Lauer made of the purest Bloud of the immaculate Lamb she seemes indeed to follow the Lamb wheresoeuer he goes The Turtle-Widowes are accompted chast and so they are that hauing lost their virginal integritie are re-borne anew as it were both in mind and bodie with a chaster purpose neuer more to choose another earthlie Mate or Turtle-Doue to follow and consort withal but insteed of such make choice to linck themselues from thence-forth to a heauenlie Spouse and who trow you but the Spouse of Spouses and that for euer The Vestal-Virgins were esteemed such by al their Flamins though they had but a bodilie integritie and no more while the mind perhaps was secretly a Prostitute to al impurities And if there was anie of them as some there might be who kept both the one and other sort of purities indeed yet were they not vowed perpetually to be such and so were chast though they shined not with that snowie chastitie which if it be were and euer shal be so is not yet the perfectest chastitie of al nor anie way such as the Queen of Virgins was and therefore worthily sayd to be NIVEO CANDORE NITESCENS THE ESSAY WHEN Nature is in her cheefest iolitie she tapistryes the whole Vniuers with a world of delicious flowers And to say truth these flowers are euen the smiles and laughters of the Earth that sees herself now deliuered of the cruelties of the Winter and long captiuitie She seemes therin to take pleasure recreate and disport herself to diaper the face of the earth in a thousand fashions enameled with as manierarities while the gentle breaths of Zephirus with the sweet influences of Heauen mixing their moystures with the heats of the April-Sun make that whole diuersitie which is in the bosome of the earth al sowed-ouer with a thousand seeds now mortifyed with the austerities of the winter When they are come forth Nature solicitous of these treasures so odoriferous seekes to guard them carefully and adorne them curiously arming some with thorns others with prickles couering these with rough and others with large and shadie leaues to conserue their luster Amōg the which the Lillie carries hers very long and green the stem high and round streight vnited fat firme al clothed with leaues On the top wherof grow out as it were certain wyers with heads therō or buttons somewhat long of the coulour of the hearb which in time grow white and fashion themselues in forme of a bel of satin or siluer From the bottome and hart therof grow vpright some litle wyers of gold with heads like hammers of the same The leaues wherof of an exquisit whitnes al streaked and striped without goe enlarging themselues like a bel as before is sayd The seed remaines in these hammers of gold The stem to carrie the head the better is knotted and strengthned through-out for that the Lillie is euer with the head hanging down-wards and languishing as not able to beare vp itself There are some of them red some of them azure These are al so delicious that euen to behold them were a great delight THE DISCOVRSE THE Liseron is a Lillie also though a bastard of that kind without odour and those wyers aboue made as an essay or practice and first draught of Nature endeuouring so to forme patterns to frame some maister-piece of the true Flower-deluce the Prince of Lillies Our incomprable VIRGIN is this Flower-deluce that Princesse of Lillies for the manie sympathies and faire resemblances it hath with it The Lillie is white without and gold within and both within and without most fragrant and odoriferous and the Blessed VIRGIN was most faire and beautiful in her flesh through the candour of her virginitie she the candour of the eternal light and the glasse without spot In mind she was al inflamed as the burnisht gold Gold as Aristotle sayth can not be corrupted nor could Her Charitie be euer extinguished For manie waters as it is sayd can not extinguish charitie And how sweet She was both inwardly and outwardly who sees not that considers her Humilitie in the lowlines of her hart within and outwardly in her conuersation Which Humilitie of hers sent forth such an odour vnto God as allured and attracted him to her When the King
Heauens the World and Hel. This Deaw of Grace was not engendred in the vpper Region that is in Heauen nor was the work of the Incarnation of CHRIST effectually wrought therin because he assumed not the Angelical nature He apprehended not the Angels Nor beneath that is in Hel because he redeemed not Diuels or spared thē or shewed mercie to them God pardoned not the Angels sinning But it was engendred in the midst that is the Incarnation was wrought in this middle Region because therin the Diuine hypostastis assumpted human nature to itself God sent his Sonne made of a woman Now was this Deawing or Incarnation made as I sayd of hot cold For God vouchsafed to become Man for two respects that is out of abundāce of charitie of the one side which was excessiue heat and out of a general miserie of ours which was a kind of benumming cold From this heat therfore to wit from this Charitie of GOD and from this cold the general miserie of mankind was wrought roration or Deawing that is the Incarnation of the Sonne of God with this onlie difference that there was a temperate heat and cold togeather but heer a heat with a great excesse through his too much charitie wherewith he loued vs and a great frigiditie of languour in vs or a languishing frigiditie Because al haue declined and are become vnprofitable Moreouer this roration or Deaw we speake of was made in our Virgin-earth who being watered with Celestial Deaw brings forth the Nazaraean flower that sayth of himself I am the flower of the field Againe Let flow thy speech like Deaw and as drops vpon the gras To which the Church alluding sayth Let him descend into the Virgins womb like Deaw therin This earth therefore so moystned and watered with Deaw produced the Lillie of Paradice I the Deaw of Israel budding like the Lillie This Israel is interpreted a man seing God and heer signifyes our incomparable Ladie who was truly Masculin in al her actions beholding as it were the Diuine Essence through Contemplation I wil now then maruel no more that GOD leauing al other creatures should take complacencie as he doth to be the Father of Deawes the Scriptures saying Who begat the drops of deaw and who is the Father of rayne You would say he meāt that there is nothing which better represents the Diuine generatiō of the Sonne which is begotten of the Father by way of Vnderstanding from whence as from a fruitful clowd distils the Diuine Deaw of the Word Let my word flow like deaw But for the Incarnation itself it seemes to be iust the verie same For the Sun of the Diuinitie therin vnited to the little poore vapour of our mortalitie hath fertilizd this beautiful Paradice of the Church the Deaw watering the same which fel from the Fiue Wounds of IESVS that deawie clowd suspended in the ayre and hanging on the tree of the Crosse. Hence it is that GOD makes so great accompt of this Deaw for when he would make a feast for his people in the wildernes he did it by meanes of the Deaw which was then conuerted into Manna and Manna virtually into al meats And if GOD would make him a chamber al of gold or a cabinet for himself surely he would choose the Deaw to be his house Who puts the clowds his bower c. God makes as exact esteeme of a simple drop of Deaw as of al the world besides Before thee sayth Salomon is the whole world as a drop of morning-deaw You wonder now at a smal matter but I wil tel you yet a thing more strange which is that since the Sonne GOD of a litle graine of mustard sayes The kingdome of heauen is like to a graine of mustard-seed c. me thinks I might say as wel The kingdome of heauen is like to a drop of Deaw For the Sauiour of the world who is the graine of mustard-seed is likewise this same rich drop of Deaw For as the Sonne of God in outward apparance was as it were no bodie nor seemed to make anie shew yet when the Sun of the Diuinitie once began to appeare in him he shewed himself to be the vertue of Paradice euen so a little drop of Deaw falling from the heauens for example on the Flowerdeluce would seeme perharps to you but a little round point of water and a meer graine of Cristal but if the Sun do but shine vpon it Ah! what a miracle of beautie it is while of the one side it wil looke like an Orient-pearl and being turnd some other way becomes a glowing Carbuncle then a Saphir and after an Emerald and so an Amethist and al enclosed in a nothing or a litle glasse of al the greatest beauties of the world that seeme to be engraued therin so manie drops so manie Orient-pearls so manie drops of Manna wherewith the Heauens seeme to nourish the earth and to enrich Nature as being the Symbol of the Graces wherewith GOD doth water and fertilize our soules For what should that Flcece of Gedeon signify but the Grace of graces the admirable grace of the Incarnation of Christ to be wrought in the conception of the Diuine Word in the virginal womb or fleece of the said Gedeon which was replenished with the Deaw of the Holie-Ghost in liew of the verie Deaw that is where descended the fulnes of the Diuinitie she being worthily called and compared to a fleece since she hath cloathed the true Lamb of God with her flesh who takes away the sines of the world O Virgin worthie of al grace How art thou graced indeed and fauoured aboue al the Daughters of Ierusalem since thy head IESVS CHRIST came so to thee ful of Deaw and reposes in thy chast bower THE EMBLEME Benedicta inter mulieres lucae c. i. THE POESIE NOt like a duskie clowde which Sol exhales Nor like a gloomie mist that shrowdes the vales But from the Earth the Sunne of Iustice drew A purer vapour which dissolu'd the Deaw Distilling from the Limbeck of the skies Our drie barren Earth doth fertilize The barren womb erst was accurst but she Though Virgin was a faire fruitful tree Women bring forth with paineful throbs throwes She was a Mother but not one of those Mongst women blest drawne by heauens radiant beames Twixt clowd mist pure Deaw twixt both extreames THE THEORIES COnsider first that as Eue our first Parent and Mother of vs al was not created immediatly of earth as Adam was but taken from his rib it being a priuiledge only due to Adam so to be framed of virgin-earth and was therefore called Virago fetching her extraction as it were a Viro So our second Eue our Spiritual and Celestial Mother adopting vs engendring vs as children through the Deawes of Celestial graces procured vs from heauen was not made of virgin-extraction herself that is was not framed of the Diuine or Angelical
powder of Industrie in her when conceauing with fire through the match of Fiat she flew so â—imbly ouer hils and dales to her Cosen Elizabeth the subiect of Charitie wherin truly she shewed herself OPEROSA ET SEDVLA THE ESSAY The Bee is the greatest Politick in the world the gouerment of their litle commoÌ„-wealth is most admirable The King is he that hath the best preÌ„seÌ„ce with him a Royal looke al his subiects obey him with submission reuerence not doing anie thing against their oath of alleageance The King himself is armed with Maiestie and beautie if he haue a sting he neuer makes vse of it in the whole manage of his estate He carryes nothing but honie in his coÌ„mands one would not beleeue the great seueritie and courtesie there is amongst them liuing in communitie with good intelligences abroad al goes with them with weight and measure without errour or mistakings In the winter they keep wholy within not knowing otherwise how to defend themselues from the force of the weather and violence of the winds hold their little assemblies in some place deputed for that effect and keep correspondencies one with another but for the drones and idle bees they banish them quite from their common-wealth They commit not themselues to the discretion of the weather abroad vntil such time as the beanes begin to blowe and from that time they wil loose no day from labour They frame the wax from the iuice which they suck from flowers hearbs and trees and for honie they deriue it also from trees gommie reeds hauing a glue and viscous lickour on theÌ„ They wil make their wax likewise of euerie herb and flower saue only they neuer light on a dead or withered one Their sting is fastned in their bellie and when they stick it so as they cannot draw it forth againe without leauing the instrument behind they dy of it and if the sting remaine but half they liue as castrat and become as droans not being able to gather either honie or wax THE DISCOVRSE THE mellifluous Doctour S. Ambrose in his sweet booke of Virgins sayth the Bee feeds of the deaw engenders not at al and frames the honie Which three properties peculiarly and singularly appertaine to Virgins but most expresly and sublimely of al to the Sacred Virgin herself the Queen of Virgins For as al other creatures liue of the earth or water as birds beasts and fishes some few excepted to wit the Camaeleon of the ayre and the Salamander of the fire the Bee as a choicer creature more curious then the rest feeds no worse then of the deaw that falles from Heauen and wheras al other creatures not bred of putrefaction are subiect to libidinous heat in their kinds the Bee is free therof and multiplies by a way more chast and where other creatures are wholy maintained at their Maister 's charge and some wil eate you more then their bodies are worth or their labour comes to the Bee makes its owne prouision of itself and leaues his owner rich with the bootie and spoyle they make of the flowers of the field without anie cost or charge of the Maister so industrious they are to the great confusion of men Iust so our Ladie not taken with the bayts and allurements of this world for spiritual life liued not but of the heauenlie deaw of Diuine grace being capable of no other heat then of the chast and amourous fire of Diuine Loue not conceauing Fruit but by an admirable mysterious and miraculous way through the work of the Holie-Ghost remaining a Virgin before in and after her Child-birth and lastly framed without anie cost or merits of ours that Honie of honies that Honie-comb distilling which carries the honie in his lips The honie indeed is engendred in the ayre through the fauour and influence of certain starres as in the Canicular dayes we may note betimes in the morning the leaues to be charged and sugred with it Such as go forth at that time before day shal find themselues to be moistned therewith which the Bees suck from the leaues and flowers and tunne-vp in their little stomaks to discharge againe and to make it perfect honie in al points for the vse of men So our incomparable Virgin receauing this Deaw or honie of the Eternal Word as it came from Heauen into her Virginal womb so wrought it in her as being deliuered therof it proued a honie most apt for the vse of man the true Bread of Life indeed Most happie Bee and a thousand times most blessed HONIE Where it is to be noted that Bees are exceedingly delighted with these things first with faire serene weather for then those deawes more plentifully fal are more delicious and of the contrarie in the raynie more boysterous weather they are wholy hindered from their vintage as it were or gathering those sugred deawes Secondly they are pleased much with abundance of flowers from whence they gather their purest honie for though the deawes fal vpon the leaues and they gather it no doubt from them also yet is it not so delicious and pure for the nature of deawes participats much of the places they light on which makes the Bee farre more busie and industrious on the flower then on the leaues Thirdly they are wonne with a sweet sound For Aristotle sayth they are exceedingly allured with the harmonie of musick and sweet sounds which we ordinarily practise now adayes to stay them with when they are in a great consult to take their flight and be gone for then with the striking of a pan only insteed of other musick are they brought to settle themselues neer home so Musical they are And lastly they ioy greatly insweet wine as we find by experience and daylie practise as often as they begin to swarme are now on the wing and point to trauel into forren parts Al these things the Blessed Virgin was exceedingly affected to and had them al as it were within her as first a serenitie in the internal conscience where appeared no clowd in the ayre of her Mind and where the pacifical Salomon sat peacefully indeed as in his Iuorie Throne Al the glorie of the King's daughter was wholy within her Then had she the flowers of al Vertues and Graces within her to wit the diuersities of al vertues the lillies of chastitie the blush and moâ—estie of the rose the hope of the Violet the charicie and Diuine loue of the Heliotropion and the like Her soule was a Garden of al flowers and no lesse then a Paradise which had the Archangel as Paranimph Guardian therof with the two-edged sword of Humilitie and the chast Feare of God O delicious Paradise and more then terrestrial euen when she was dwelling on the earth Thirdly she was affected to Musick and very rare and singular therin as appeares by that excellent and melodious Canticle of hers the Diuine Magniâ—â—at so chanted now adayes in the
and trim vp their nests or to seeke for the softest downes to prepare their beds with against the hatching of their yong So our Ladie the mystical Doue we treat of built not a whit nor placed her hart in the baser earth of terrene desires nor in the higher thrones of princelie Maiesties but euē in the wounds and passions of her dearest Sonne Arise my friend make hast my Doue I say make hast and come into the holes of the rock where our Doue is sayd to inhabit In the holes of the rock I say because in her thoughts and remembrance was she stil conuersant and lodged as it were in the wounds of Christ. Or we may say and not vnaptly to that Christ had sundrie nests to wit the Crib the Crosse and his Sepulcher or monument In these nests now of Christ our Doue would oftē inhabit because she would often visit these places with incredible ardour deuotions Of which opiniō is doubtles S. Hierom thoughhe say perhaps Perhaps sayth he through excesse of loue she is sayd to haue dwelt in the place where her Sonne was buryed For one hardly would beleeue how much internal loue and affection is fed with looks The Doue againe feeds not on the flesh of other fowles birds as some do but of the graynes of corne and that the select most choice of al. Nor was our Doue the blessed Virgin affected or giuen to terrene and worldlie things but to Celestial and eternal she fed not on the flesh-pots of Egipt nor yet of Manna being but only the bread of Angels but rather fed of the Bread of life the thing represented by that Manna she fed on the sweet thoughts of the Diuine Word it self Incarnate in her womb and fed of that grayne of corne wherof it is sayd Vnles the grayne of corne falling into the earth be mortifyed and dy c. This grayne of corne refreshes and satiats and therin may signify our Sauiour Christ according to the Psalmist He satiats thee with the fat of corne and hath rednes without in regard wherof may it signify the flesh of Christ agreable to that How red is thy garment c and besides is white within and expresseth the soule which is fulgent and bright with the candour and splendour of puritie For indeed it is the candour of light And therefore in the Canticles the Virgin sayth My heloued is white and red and chosen of a thousand White for his blessed and diuinifyed soule red for his precious flesh embrued with is bloud and the choice of a thousand for his soueraigne and supreme Diuinitie This Doue then fed of such a grayne because she was wholy and fully delighted with the Diuinitie and the Humanitie of Christ. And for her groanes the ordinarie musick of the Lyre of her hart they were the lamentable and sad accents which the Passion of her deer Sonne had caused in her For lo this Doue with the rest of that desolate and mourning flight of Maries her fellow-doues did nothing els but sigh and groane in beholding the onlie Pearl of doues her deerest Sonne in so piteous a plight so hampered and entangled in the fowler's nets Like Doues that meditate they groned sore as the Prophet sayth especially this Doue aboue the rest the incomparable Virgin-Doue being the natural Dam and parent of the poore distressed one most sadly powring forth a floud of teares without measure Whence S. Anselm sayth in a certain place My most merciful Ladie what fountains may I say brake forth of thy purest eyes when thou sawest thy onlie innocent Sonne to be scourged bound so cruelly entreated before thee and the flesh of thy flesh so mangled in thy sight what groanes shal I imagin thy breast sent forth the while when thou heardst him say Woman behold thy Sonne and agayne Behold thy mother For she could not see her Sonne to be so crucifyed without groanes and motherlie laments for her dying Sonne the ioy of her hart and hart of al her ioyes so pierced with a souldiers speare that euen transfixed withal the mothers breast a verie Niobe of teares or rather Noome of bitter groanes Now for the wing which so eternizeth the Doues and makes them most illustrious among fowles of the highest pitch this I note they loue not much to fly alone bur to assemble themselues in flights The blessed Virgin is that Woman cloathed with the sunne of whome it is sayd in the Apocalyps that two wings were giuen her to fly with in the desert which two wings are the wings of Loue and Hope wherewith she flyes into Heauen Who wil afford me wings as the Doue But yet she would not fly alone but draw others also to fly along with her to wit the Apostles during her life and through her example afterwards al other Saints They were accustomed of old the better to attract strange pigeons to their houses to vse this industrie or slight to annoynt some one tame and domestical Doue with an oyntment which they knew most grateful vnto them and so annoynted to let it fly at large when she so flying in the ayre through the fragrance of the odours about her would draw to her a number of them so she who first flew alone would returne back againe in triumphing manner The Virgin of herself alone at first was the onlie louer of vowed Chastitie who professed she knew not nor euer would know man This Doue then the heauenlie Fowler had sent forth into the ayre of the world as annoynted with the perfume of al graces and especially of Chastitie but now she flyes with an innumerable number of Virgins led by her example singing altogeather with one consent that verse We wil runne after the odour of thine oyntments the yong virgins haue loued thee O louelie Doue Lastly for the sitting of the Doue by the waters side heare what the Holie-Ghost in the Canticles sayth Thine eyes like Doues vpon river-riuer-waters which are washed with milk and sit by the fullest streames S. Hierom that great Contemplatour of Celestial Secrets vpon the Canticles speaking of this most holie Virgin how she was assumpted to Heauen sayth I saw one specious as a Doue ascending from the waters She was a beautiful Doue as it were because she shewed the forme and simplicitie of that Doue which came vpon Christ coming out of the streames of waters Now as the Doue is sayd to dwel vpon the streames as wel to discouer the shadow of the hawke as to refresh herself against the heats So the blessed Virgin rests abides vpon the fulnes of the flouds of the Holie-Ghost as wel to admonish her Deuotes to beware the Diabolical snares as to enioy the plenitude of the waters of the same Holie-Ghost to wit the guifts therof THE EMBLEME THE POESIE THE Holie-Ghost that nestles like a Doue Betwixt the Father the Sonne aboue Is flowne from Heauen to seek a mate below
al was wel To leaue these and to come to Man whose pride makes him oft-times to preteÌ„d to a kind of eternitie of felicitie Let him lift vp his crest neuer so loftily his pride wil soon haue a fal Alexander how great soeuer when he saw he could not eternize himself become dreadful enough otherwise vsed a stratagem which was to be drawne by Apelles in sundrie manners now mounting on his Steed that braue Buâ—ephalus in the action of making the earth to treÌ„ble with his looks and then to be admired in the habit and equipage of a GOD calling himself the Sonne of Iupiter Amon but the truth is his looks made not the earth to quake but only in his picture nor was he adored but in his pourtrait and he no more then a mortal man whose Aurora and cursorie day had a speedie sun-set Nero caused a coyne of gold to be stampt where his owne effigies was engrauen of the one side and of the other Fortune enchained at the foot of a Rock with this word Nec scopulos metuo But he shortly found the contrarie when killing himself he suffered shipwrack in the sea of his owne bloud Otho represented himself in such peeces of gold with his hand armed with thunder with this Alijs non â—tor armis But soone the spring of his life and Raigne was the winter of his death and what death but a death which his life deserued There is nothing sure and perpetual in this world but al things slide away like running streames from the spring-head which leaue not so much behind them as the memorie of their passage The Spring only is it which stil remaynes whose waters after they haue runne an endles time shal then but seeme to begin to runne as being an Abysse of waters sprung from an endles source Looke then what the Spring is of elemental liquids the same is the Mother of GOD an endles fountain of spiritual graces and perfections and is truly the FONS PERENNIS ET INDEFICIENS of al Graces THE ESSAY TO speake of the Fountain truly as the thing deserues one had need of a fountain of wit and brayne about him to decipher it aright For who can draw a picture of one that can not sit but is euer iogging vp and downe For lo the fountain-water neuer stands but hath the palsey in the veynes that wil not rest It is sometimes taken for the Fabrick itself as built of stone which if we should the diffitie would encrease For so were we obliged to expresse as manie formes wel nigh as there are fancies in the Brayne For some shal you see of one fashion some of another as euerie one abounds in his sense Witnes that so artificially wrought by the famous Michael Angelo de Bonaroâ—i in figure of a Woman washing and winding of linnen clothes in her hands in which act of hers she straynes forth the fountain-Fountain-waters Another haue I seen of an Elephant spouting the waters from his Proboscides or trunk to the pleasures of the Spectatours another of a Whale that spouted the waters so high as euen did diselement the same into a dust or powder of waters Another so cunningly set and contriued as what with the waters so disposed and the Sunnie rayes togeather it would make a perfect Iris in the eyes of al men and a thousand other while Art in nothing more wil vye with Nature then with her workmanships of this kind The Fountain therfore is properly neither the manufacture alone so wrought nor the water of itself as it creeps in the veynes of the Earth For so the one were a liuelesse Statue of Man or beast and the other a Spring only and no Fountain The one would be but a dead or sensles Carkas and the other only in the Concha as the bloud abiding in a boule so as to haue a Fountain indeed it must be aliue and haue the siluer bloud as in the veynes that spouts streames or trickles from it Such as Niobe herself was transformed into a Liuing Fountain as it were when she wept out her eyes such I say as Magdalen was at her Maister 's feet or as that great Porter of Heauen and the Keeper of the keyes therof when he so bitterly wept at the Cock-crow I can not tel whether there can be a brauer sight then such as these curiously represented in marble with the azure veynes appearing in the bodie and the rest of the lineaments liuely set forth and then to behold the trickling streames to fal from the eyes either as pearls by drops or as open Cataracts burst forth THE DISCOVRSE BEhold we now the Incomparable Fountain itself of liuing waters of Grace that flow from thence to wit the Signed Fountain the most pure Virgin Mother of GOD according to that of the Canticles The fountain of gardens the well of liuing waters which flow with violence from Libanus and againe My sister is a signed or sealed Fountain She is a Fountain placed by or neer GOD she is a Fountain turned into a Riuer She is a perpetual Fountain and lastly a sweet and pleasant Fountain She was a signed fountain because she was likewise an enclosed Garden She was a Garden because Her vnderstanding was ful of fayth and knowledge of GOD with infinit varietie of flowers of al kinds and closed it was because no errour or ignorance might enter therinto She was a Garden because her affect was ful of loue to GOD and her Neighbour and closed because no terrene loue or base desire of the flesh or world could find accesse to her hart She was a signed Fountain because her Virginal womb was ful of the water of Celestial grace and signed because sealed with the irreuocable Vow of perpetual and immaculate Virginitie She was a Fountain placed neer to GOD Because with thee is the Fountain of life A Fountain in that she refrigerates from the heat of concupiscence and a Fountain of grace for that she viuifyes from the death of mortal sinne and because she is very neer to GOD she plentifully and aboundantly powreth forth herself to al. This litle Fountain encreased to a huge Riuer and flowed into very manie waters For lo she was a litle fountain in her humilitie and conuersation but then grew into an immense Riuer in her Annunciation and Conception of the Sonne of GOD and flowed into manie Waters in her glorious Assumption when she flowes so abundantly as al participate of her fulnes as wel they without as yet in banishment as those also in the streets of the Celestial Hierusalem according to that of Salomon in his Prouerbs Thy fountains are deriued abroad and thou diuidest thy waters in the streets She is a perpetual Fountain because as Esay sayth a Fountain of waters whose waters neuer fayle Other Fountains wil soone dry vp but this neuer For the loue of the world is no endles or perpetual Spring but slides away goes and comes and oft comes