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A39344
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Divine Poems by Edmund Elis ...; Poems. Selections
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Elys, Edmund, ca. 1634-ca. 1707.
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1659
(1659)
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Wing E669; ESTC R7821
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10,336
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38
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DIVINE POEMS BY EDMVND ELIS Master of Arts and Fellow of Baliol Colledge in Oxford Epist. ad 1 Cor. C. 3. V. 18. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} LONDON Printed by T. Lock for the use of the Author MDCLIX TO THE READER READER DO not expect to have an account why I set forth these Poems again If thou shalt like them thou wilt not doubt but I had Reason sufficient to make them as publike as I could If thou art one of those Vain Fellowes that scorn and deride them to tell thee the reason I had for it would be no other then to talk of Colours to a Blinde Man or of Sounds to one that is Deaf If any man wonder that I thus incurr the Censures of People let him know That if my Heart do not starngely deceive me I would rather expose my self to the continual Aspersions of the Foulest Mouths or be in danger of Death it self then neglect any Opportunity of doing God such service as J doubt not but I shall by my further Publication of these my Vn-worldly and most Retir'd Imaginations which being composed in Meetre will I suppose sute the better with the Genius of some and be the apter to insinuate and work themselves deep into the Memories of all that read them And now Reader if thou bee'st a CHRISTIAN indeed I shall intreat thee by all the Love that thou owest to Him that was CRUCIFIED for thy sake that thou wouldst Oppose with all thy Might that Vain Spirit of Foolish Talking and Writing which is gone abroad into the World to the great Dishonor of HIS Name who has told us that we shall give an account of every idle word And here I cannot but Exclaim aloud to Thee and all True CHRISTIANS against some of Mr. COWLEY's Verses particularly that Part of his Book which hee entitles THE MISTRESS in which there are several Expressions so provoking to Speculative Lust and uncleanness that I can't conceive how a CHRISTIAN that casts his Eye on them can think otherwise then that the Author did either Forget that There is a GOD or that 't is Sinful to be Lascivious What Prophaneness also is this Author guilty of who uses these Sacred Words HEAVEN DEITY DIVINE PRESENCE FAITH c. to set forth his Dissolute Amorous Conceptions Let any man of Common Reason judge whether the Mindes of any Readers Vitiously inclin'd and such surely are all those that delight in those POEMS be not as apt to be wholly Debauch't and Corrupted by a Work of this Nature as those mens Bodies are to take Infection when they are amongst sick folke who are already dispos'd to the Disease Alas alas Are not men apt enough of themselves to be Vain in their imaginations Must the Froath and Vanity of wanton Mindes bee wrought up and increased by the VVit and Studies of such Learned Persons and those owning the Name of CHRISTIANS O Tempora O Mores I know very well what an Heavy Burthen of Anger and Hatred J am like to Vndergo for VVriting thus against a Book so generally Applauded But whilst J Depend upon GOD as J hope J shall ever do J shall not sink under it VVhenever J am Rail'd on if J Hear not of it 't is Nothing to Me if J do 't is the Object of My Patience the Exercise whereof is the Delight of My Soul As for such Censures as These That I Envy Mr. COWLEY the Great Name Hee has of a POET c. My Answer is l am so far from endeavouring to Detract from His Personal Reputation that I shall openly confess I should be more Impudent indeed then many Virulent Tongues have Pronounced me if I should not Acknowledge Him to be one of the most Learned and Ingenious Persons that ever J knew to have Written an English Verse For my part I confess I had never the True Art of Poetry I had once some Inclination towards it which for want of Vse I have now lost As for those few Verses J have Printed J have still the same Opinion of most of them that J had at first but some EPIGRAMS J confess J finde upon serious Consideration to be such as to the Matter with the Expression that if any man Vpbraid mee with them J shall be ready to say Pudet haec opprobria nobis c. Reader Farewell And Looke narrowly into what thou readest in these ensuing Leaves which if thou dost J doubt not but thou wilt find the Author such a one as neither Courts thy Applause nor Fears thy Censures Man that is born of a Woman is of few dayes and full of trouble Job 14. 1. 1. OUR Time 's still Flying and we all make hast To Live our last We Come into the World to See 't and then Go out agen We are born Crying and we spend our Breath In Sighs till Death Our Life is but a Toyle ere we can Trie What course of Life is best 't is time to Die 2. The Merchant wasts himself with fretting Cares With Hopes and Feares And when his Baggs are fill'd his Last Day comes He leaves his Summes When he would joy in what his Pains have got Straight he is not By all the Care wherein his Life is spent Perhaps he gets a Costly Monument 3. The Scholar bends his Curious Thoughts to find What is the Mind He studies to Know Good but seldome Does The Good he Knowes Some winding up their wit to an High Straine Have crackt their Braine He that 's most Learned onely comes to this To Know at last how Ignorant he is 4. The Ranting Gallant weares out Time and Cloathes To learn New Oathes He scorns to take Affron's but thinks it Brave To be Hell's Slave The Coontrey Farmer's thinking night and day Of Corn and Hay But Hawkes and Houndes are for the better sort Who lose their Time in Seeking of their Sport 5. In ev'ry Action whatsoe're it is Something 's amiss We ne're observe a Mean we Run and Sweat Or can't get Heat Some Bitterness still interrupts our Joyes Or Too much Cloyes Our Choicest Comforts are inlay'd with Fears And all our Pleasures Sprinkled o're with Tears 6. Amid'st this Trouble here 's My Hope that I Shall shortly Die Our Time Ore-cast with Sorrow soon Decaies Like Winter-Dayes W' are Pilgrims here on Earth This is our VVay No Place of Stay The VVay's unpleasant Come Death be My Friend And bring Me quickly to My Journey's-End Preparation to the H. Communion 1. FArewell Beloved Sins I must be gone Nay hold I must Ah! how I Sigh and Sob and moane To leave each Lust I must not Live so Loose as heretofore My Father Sayes that I shall Play no more 2. He that made Wint and Corne would have us Dine VVith Him to day VVhere we shall See our Soul's SUN shine And hear Him Say Here take my Flesh and Blood come Drink and Eate To get You BREAD what Drops once did I Sweate 3. But oh Dear JESU