and then Restor'd us all to life who were dead men Dead in our sins and dead in Gods just ire But Christ hath kill'd our death and quencht that fire Which doth torment and burn but not consume A fire which gives no light which yeelds no fume His death then is our life our drink his blood His stripes our physick and his flesh our food And when he comes again in Majestie To plague the workers of iniquity Sitting upon the clouds whose voice like Thunder Shall shake heav'ns Tower and cleave the earth in sunder Then will he raise all those that sleep in dust And crown with immortality the just ALPHAEUS HE was a great hunter and fell in love with the Nymph Arethusa who that shee might escape him was by the help of Diana turned into a Fountain and he afterward sorrowing became a River which still runs after Arethusa THE MYSTERIES ALphaeus is a River of Elis in Arcadia thorow secret passages running under the earth and sea empties it selfe in the spring Arethusa in Scicilie which though Strabo denieth it it cannot be otherwise seeing so many witnesses confirme that whatsoever is cast into Alphaeus is found in Arethusa 2. As this water running thorow the Sea loseth not its sweetnesse by receiving of any salt relish so neither must wee lose our integrity and goodnesse by conversing with the wicked 3. Husbands must learn from Alphaeus to be kind to their wives and to make them partakers of all their goods as Alphaeus imparts all it receives to Arethusa 4. We must never rest till wee have obtained him whom our soule loves the salt sea of afflictions and the distance of place must not hinder our course 5. Arethusa is from {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} vertue which wee should still run after 6. Alphaeus is from {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a spot we are full of spots and sin therefore had need to be washed in Arethusa that is in the water of Baptisme 7. This water was held good to kill the Morphew called therefore Alphos for which cause it was consecrated to Iupiter and it was unlawfull to wash the altar of Iupiter Olympius with any other water so Baptisme doth wash us from originall sinne and by it we are consecrated to God 8. Alphaeus is as much as {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the light of truth which runs after {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or vertue to shew that knowledge and theory should alwayes be joyned with goodnesse and practise As Arethusa running through the main Yet doth its taste and colour still retain Salt Doris cannot taint it let us then Be good still though we live with wicked men And as Alphaeus runs and will not stop Untill he rests in Arethusa's lap So run my soul untill thou be possess'd Of thy belov'd and of eternall rest And who would think that love could set on fire Cold waters chuse cold waters to desire Can Cupid wound a river can he scorch The sencelesse waters with his faming Torch No no but thou O Lord the God of Love Can wound my heart and warm it from above My cold and waterish heart to now inflame With love of thee that I my course may frame To thee through aâ—l the 〈◊〉 on cares and fears And through the salt sea also of my tears I am Alphaeus tho 〈…〉 â—hat living Well To which I run and where I hope to dwell AMPHION HE was Iupiters son of Antiopa she flying from Dirce to a solitary mountaine was there delivered and the child was brought up by shepheards he learned his musick of Mercury and received his Lute from him by the force of his musick he caused the stones to follow him with which the walls of Thebes were built but afterwards out-braving Latonas children and upbraiding them for want of skill was by her killed THE MYSTERIES AMphion was called Iupiters son because musick is from God or because the heavens by their perpetuall revolution shew that musick without continuall exercise cannot be attained unto or to shew that there is in the heavenly bodies a harmony as well as in musick or if by Iupiter we understand the air as sometimes Poets do then as Iupiter gave life to Amphion so doth air to musick for no sound either by voice instruments or water without air 2. Iupiter in the form of a Satyre begot Amphion Satyrs were great Dancers and dancing requires musick 3. Amphion was bred by shepherds for these living an idle and solitary life were invited to invent musick partly by the singing of birds and partly by the whisting of the wind among the trees or by the running of waters 4. He was born in a remote hill because musicall inventions require quietnesse and a private life far from troubles and businesse 5. Mercury taught him and gave him the Lute to shew the resemblance and equall power of eloquence and musick eloquence being a speaking harmony and musick a speechlesse eloquence the one by words the other by sounds working on the affections 6. His building Thebes walls by his musick shews what is the force of eloquence to draw rude people to religion policie and civility 7. His out-braving of Apollo and Diana doth not onely shew the insolencie and pride of some men when they have got some perfection in an Art but also I suppose may be meant the power and delight of musick that it no lesse affects and delights the soul by the ear then the light of the Sun and Moon doth the eye So that musick may as it were challenge the light 8. Amphion may be said to be killed by Latona when musicall knowledge is lost by negligence and oblivion 9. Our Saviour Christ is the true Amphion who by the preaching of the Gospel hath built his Church and made us who were but dead and scattered living stones in this building his musick hath quickned us and his love hath united us 10. Amphion was said to build the walls by the help of his musick because perhaps he imployed Musicians at that time who by their musick incouraged the builders and made them work the better In this we see the force of Eloquence By which grea Towns have walls and stones have sence This is the onely pleasant melody Which caus'd rude men imbrace civility Stones hear not sounds it s not the warbling Lute Nor solemn Harp nor Trumpet nor the Flute Nor Songs nor any Organ musicall That could give sence to stones or build a wall But Christ our Lord with his coelestiall layes Hath from Amphion born away the praise Whose charming voice no sooner 'gan to sound But Sions walls were lifted from the ground He rais'd us senslesse stones out of the dung Of Errour by the musick of his tongue That we might at his voice and in his name Make up the walls of new Jerusalem ANTAEUS HE was a Gyant 40 cubits high begotten of Neptune and the earth with whom when Hercules
blinde and carried in a chariot drawn by blinde horses she stood upon a globe having the helme of a ship in one hand and the horn of plentie in the other and the heaven on her head THE MYSTERIES FOrtune is either an unexpected event or else the hid cause of that event the blinde Gentiles made her a blinde goddesse ruling things by her will rather then by counsell therefore they used to raile at her because she favoured bad men rather then good and called her blinde as not regarding mens worth but I think that the wiser sort by fortune understood Gods will or providence which the Poet a calls omnipotent and the Historian the ruler of all things she may be called fortuna quasifortisuna being only that strong ruler of the world she had many temples at Rome and many names she stood upon a Globe to shew her dominion of this world and the heaven on her head did shew that there is her begining the helm the horn of plentie in her hands are to shew that the government of this world and the plenty we injoy is from this divine providence and though they called her blinde yet we know the contrarie for she is that eye which seeth all things and a far off and before they are as the word providētia signifieth therefore they called her and her horses blinde because they were blinde themselves not being able to know the wonderfull wayes and secret ends of this providence why good men should here live in affliction and miserie and the wicked in honor and prosperitie wheras they should have known as some of the wiser men did that no miserie could befall a good man a because every hard fortune doth either exercise amend or punish us he is miserable saith Seneca b that never was miserable they are miserable who are becalmed in the Sea not they who are driven forward to their haven by a storm a surfeit is worse then hunger but see himself speaking excellently to this purpose therfore they had no reason to rail at Fortune when she crossed them for to a good man all things fall out for the best yet in good sence Gods providence may be called blinde as Justice is blinde for it respecteth not the excellencie of one creature above another but Gods generall providence extendeth it self to all alike to the worme as well as the Angel for as all things are equally subject to God in respect of casualitie so are they to his providence he is the preserver of man and beast his Sun shineth and his rain falleth upon all alike now the 4 horses that draw fortune are the four branches of providence whereby Gods love is communicated to us to wit creation preservation gubernation and ordination of all things to their ends In that they called fortune the daughter of the Sea by this they would shew her instabilitie still ebbing and flowing like the Sea therefore they made her stand upon a wheel and she was called in a common by-word fortuna Euripus a because of the often ebbing and flowing therof I grant that as one and the same effect may be called fortune and providence fortune in respect of the particular cause but providence in regard of the first and generall cause which is God so the same may be called instable in respect of the particular cause but most stable in respect of God with whom there is no variablenesse nor shadow of turning though contingent causes produce contingent effects yet nothing is contingent to God for all things come to passe which he foreseeth and yet his foreknowledge imposeth no necessity on contingent things but indeed we are instable our selves and evil and we accuse fortune of instabilitie and evill a good man may make his fortune good quisque suae est fortunae faber I have read that in some places fortune was wont to be painted like an old woman having fire in one hand and water in the other which I thinke did signifie that providence doth still presuppose prudence wherof old age is the Symbol and because of the mutable and various effects of fortune she was represented by a woman the Symbol of mutabilitie but the Romans upon better consideration made her both male and female to shew that though the particular and secondary causes of fortunall effects be various and unconstant like women yet the supreme cause hath the staidnesse of a man the fire and water shews that our firie afflictions which fall not without Gods providence are so tempered with water of mercy that though they burne good men yet they consume them not as we are taught by Moses fierie bush and the furnace of Babylon Though fools in their grosse ignorance Stile providence A cruell stepdame wavering blinde Light as the winde Which kicks off Princes sacred Crowns And makes them objects of her frowns And from the dunghill raiseth drones To sit on thrones And flings man like a Tennis-ball From wall to wall And makes a sport to raise a Clown To honour then to kick him down Yet we know Providence to be That piercing eye Which sees and orders every thing That hath being Directing them unto that end Which God Almighty did intend Who blesseth wicked men with wealth And ease and health And lets them swim in wine and oil And know no toil And sets them on the pinacle Of honour as a spectacle What cuts with wing the liquid air Is for the fare What silver brooks and lakes contain Or glassie main What hills and dales and woods afford Meet altogether on their board Whereas the just and innocent Are pinch'd with want With banishment and have no place To hide their face The Fox hath holes the Bird a nest But good men know not where to rest Much hunted like the Pelican By wicked men And like the Turtle sit alone And make their mone And like the Owl with groning strain To God of all their wrongs complain But though the good mans portion here Be whipping cheer Though bad men surfeit with excesse And all possesse Their hearts can wish yet we from hence Must not deny Gods Providence For he hath plac'd these men upon A slipp'ry stone Where they shall quickly slide and fall And perish all There life shall vanish like a dream There glory shall conclude in shame There vain imaginary joyes And fruitlesse toyes Like clouds and smoke shall flye away And so their day Shall end in darknesse none shall know The place where these green bayes did grow Then why should we our selves displease To look on these And t' envie such prosperity Which soon shall dye And end in woe and so be seen No more then if it had not been Then wealth we see and worldly state Is but a bait The bad mans Table 's but a snare And all his share Of earth is but a heap of sand On which his building cannot stand But as the fire refines the gold And as the cold
Apollos Temple as soone as he lands in Italy in his devout prayers he makes to Iupiter Apollo Venus and other gods piety also towards his old father in carrying him on his shoulders in bewailing of his death visiting of his tombe going down to hell to see him his love was great to his wife Creusa in lamenting and casting himself into open danger for her his love was great to his sonne Ascanius in the good breeding and counselling of him to Palinurus Mysenus and others his vigilancie in guiding the helme at midnight when his people were asleep his liberality to his souldiers his magnanimity constancie wisdome fortitude justice temperance are fit by all Princes to be imitated and the Aeneads to be diligently read He that would safely passe black Acheron And scape the dangers of hot Phlegeton Must carry with him Wisdoms golden rod Sybill must guide him that 's advice from God So shall he not fear dangers nor miscarry When Styx he crosseth in old Charons wherry What strength of Towns or Castles can withstand Sibyllas head-peece and a golden hand But yet beware of gold I would advise thee For gold ill got will down to Hell intice thee And if thou wouldst true gold and wisdom finde Seek after Christ and on him fix thy minde Be chaste like Doves and let Gods Word instruct thee There are the Doves which will to Christ conduct thee If Kings will fear great Jove who reigns above Then Vulcan Neptune Mercury and Love Shall serve them Juno's spight shall not destroy them Nor Aeolus with all his breath annoy them AEOLUS HE was Iupiters son a King over divers Ilands and reigned in a City walled with brasse he kept the Winds in a cave or hollow hill which at Iuno's request and promise of a marriage with her Nymph Deiopeia he let out against Aenaeas THE MYSTERIES HE is called Iupiters son because the winds are begotten by the influence and motion of the heavens 2. He was an Astronomer and could foretell stormes and calmes therefore it was thought he had the command of the winds 3. His City was said to be walled with brasse because it was guarded with armed men 4. He kept the winds in a hollow cave because some caves be full of vapors which sometimes burst forth with violence 5. He reigned over Ilands because they are most subject to storms 6. Iuno could not sinke Aenaeas his ships without the help of Aeolus neither can the aire violently worke if it be not moved by the vapors which are the winds or else without vapors by the Planets 7. The marriage between Aeolus and the sea Nymph shewes the relation that is between the wind and the sea 8. Hee may be called Aeolus and the God of winds that can curbe and keepe under anger and other unruly passions 9. It is a dangerous state when Iuno and Aeolus that is wealth and power band themselves against innocent men He 's Aeolus a God and not a man That anger can Subdue and keep unruly passions under He 's a wonder He is a King and stronger then the winde That curbs his minde It 's ill when wealth conspires with violence Gainst innocence That State 's a Sea Ships sink or drive on shoare When such storms roare AESCULAPIUS HE was the god of Physick and son of Apollo and Coronis the Nymph whom Apollo shot with his arrowes and cut out the child who was nursed by a goat or bitch as some would have it he relieved Rome from the plague in the forme of a Serpent being brought from Epidaurum in a ship he restored Hippolitus to life therefore was killed by Iupiters thunder THE MYSTERIES A Esculapius is the milde temper of the aire as the a word sheweth which is the effect of the Sun or Apollo and is the cause of health therefore Hygiaea and Iaso that is health and cure are the children of Aesculapius His mother is b Coronis or the due mixture and temper of the aire which because it depends from the influence o the Sun therefore Apollo is said to beget Aesculapius of her but when he killed her with his arrowes is meant that the Sun with his beames did over-heat and infect the aire with a pestilence 2. I had rather understand by this fiction the true temperament of a sound mans body caused by Apollo and Coronis that is the due proportion of the naturall heat and radicall moisture called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and the true cause of health Then Coronis is killed with Apollo's arrowes when the naturall heat degenerats into a feverish inflammation and drieth up the moisture but when the heat returns to its former temper Aesculapius that is health is recovered and nourished by a goat because goats milke is good to feed and restore decayed nature 3. By this fiction I thinke is represented to us the properties of a good Physitian he is the son of Apollo and Coronis that is of knowledge and experience knowledge kills experience when the learned Physitian trusts not to experiments but by art and knowledge he cures for indeed in physick experience is little worth for what experience can one have of such infinite varieties of temperaments which are amongst men every man having a peculiar cóstitution which is also still differing from it selfe as Aesculapius was nursed by a goat or bitch so Physitians are maintained by gluttony and venery Chiron Saturns son was Aesculapius school-master for time hath brought the knowledge of physick to perfection or because Chiron being halfe a man and halfe a horse sheweth that a Physitian must be a Centaure that is a man in judgement and a horse in courage it is fit that Physitians should be brought to Rome that is to great Cities infected with sicknesse the Serpent Cock and Raven were consecrated to Aesculapius so was the Goat also to shew that a Physitian must have the Serpents wisdom the Cocks vigilancie the Ravens eye and forecast and the Goats swiftnesse for delayes are dangerous and if Physitians cure desperat diseases they must not be proud and attribute the glory to themselves or skill but to God lest they be punished in his just anger as Aesculapius was 4. Christ is the true Aesculapius the Sonne of God and the God of Physick who was cut out as it were of his mothers wombe by the power of God without mans help and cured all diseases the true brazen Serpent he only who was struck with the thunder-bolt of his Fathers wrath and sent to hell to deliver us from death and hell He that would prove a good Physitian Must be a Centaur that 's a horse and man And he that will keep men from Charons boat Must be a Cock a Crow a Snake a Goat Let him that 's sick and bruis'd who cryes and grones Repair to Christ he 'l heal the broken bones He can do more then Aesculapius Who brought from death to life torn Virbius He first subdu'd death in himself
Neptune built the wals of Troy to shew that without Gods assistance no City or State can stād or be built His love which he bare to the flower Hyacinthus is to shew that flowers do bud and prosper by the Sun and die with cold winds therefore Zephirus was the cause of his death and perhaps Apollo and Neptune were said to build Troys walls because morter and brick are made by the helpe of heat and water or because Laomedon either stole or borrowed some treasure out of the Temples of Apollo and Neptune 2. Our Saviour Christ is the true Apollo both a destroyer of Satans kingdom and a saver of his people for {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is as much as to lose by paying the price of redemption hee is the Sunne of Righteousnesse by whose beams and arrows that is his word Python the devil is subdued he is the Son of God and the God of Wisdome the great Prophet the Son of Latona that is of an obseure maid the true God of physick who cureth all our infirmities and the God of Musick too for that harmony of affections and communion of Saints in the Church is from him he hath subdued our Giants that is our spirituall foes by whose malice the thunder of Gods wrath was kindled against us He is immortal and the good Shepherd who hath laid down his life for his sheep having for his sheeps sake forsaken his Fathers glory and he it is who hath built the wals of Jerusalem Apollo was never so much in love with Hyacinthus as Christ was with the sons of men 3. As the Sunne amongst the Planets so is a King amongst his subjects a King is Apollo the destroyer of the wicked and a preserver of good men the light and life and beauty of his people a God of wisdome amongst them to guide them with good Lawes a God of physick to cut off rotten and hurtfull members to purge out all grosse humors that is bad maners with the pills of justice and to cheere up with cordialls our rewards the sound and solid parts of the politick body he is a God of musick also for where there is no King or head there can be no harmony nor concord he is a Prophet to fore-see and prevent those dangers which the people cannot he is a subduer of Pythons and Giants that is of all pestiferous disturbers and oppressors of the State his arrows are his Lawes and power which reacheth thorow all the parts of his dominiō he is a good shepherd Kings are a so called and a King thus qualified shall be like the Sun still glorious immortall youthfull and green like the Palm Olive Bay-tree but if he doth degenerat unto a tyrant then he is the cause of mortality as the Sun is when he inflames the aire with excessive heat When God out of rude Chaos drew the light Which chas'd away the long confused night O're all this All it did display Its golden beams and made the day So when mankinde did in the Chaos lye Of ignorance and grosse idolatry There did arise a light a Star Brighter then Sun or Moon by far Who with his fulgent beams did soon disperse The vapours of this little universe Till then no morning did arise Nor sparkling Stars to paint the skies This is that Sun this is the womans seed Who with her arrows wounded Pythons head It s he who kill'd the Gyants all Which were the causes of our fall He is that shepherd which in flowry Meads Doth feed his wandring flock and then he leads Them to the brook that softly glides And with his shepherds-crook them guides It s he that did Jerusalem immure And made it strong that it might stand secure Against all forrein enemies Against assaults and batteries He 's Wisdom he that Prophet which displaid What was before in darknesse bosome laid Whose Oracles did never fail Whose Miracles made all men quail He is the Sun that rides triumphantly On the blew Chariot of the spangled sky Whose Chariot's drawn with horses four Justice and Truth Mercie and Power He is the God of all sweet harmony Without whose word there is no melody He 's sweeter to a pensive minde Then any musick we can finde He is the God of physick he can ease The soule of sin thy body of disease He only helps the heavie heart He only cures the inward smart But sometime he his winged shafts le ts fly Amongst his foes and wounds them mortally Who can unbend his reaching Bow Who can avoid his piercing blow Then seeing Christ is this resplendant Sun Which Gyant-like about the world doth run Who shew'd to Jews his rosie face And to all Gentiles offers grace Let us at last with reverence admire This great Apollo heavens greatest fire Come let us Palms and Laurels bring And to him Io Paeans sing Apollo and a King parallel'd Like as Apollo's sparkling flame Doth cherish with his beams the frame Of this round Globe we see So Kings extend on us the light Of their just Laws and with their might Keep us from injury They let their Arrows flye at those Who dares their Rules and Laws oppose And vex the innocent A King the plaguey Python slayes And Gyants that will Thunder raise Within his firmament He is a good Physitian That bitter Pills and Cordialls can Prescribe when he thinks cause He makes a sweeter harmony Then Harp or Lute or Psaltery With his well tuned Laws He holds his bow with his left hand And at his right the graces stand As white as driven snow To let us see that by his raign More good we have and much more gain Then damage by his bow The Muses in a grove of Bayes About him dance and sing sweet layes Each hath her instrument To shew that under such a King All things do flourish Schoolers sing With comfort and content He hath the Ravens piercing eye He 's a white Swan in purity And hath the Bullocks strength He shall out-live the Palm and Bay His Name and Laws shall not decay But conquer all at length His head doth shine with golden locks He is a shepherd of great flocks Whom in the fragrant Meads He feeds and guides them with his crook And drives them to the silver Brook And to the shades them leads He wears a Tripos on his Crown A Triple Monster trampled down Before him prostrate lyes Now if this Sun shines anywhere He shines sure in our Northern sphaere And moves in British skies ARACHNE SHee was a Lydian Maid skilfull in weaving and spinning and by Minerva for her insolencie in provoking a goddesse was turned into a Spider THE MYSTERIES THis Arachne did learne of the Spider to spin and weave for the beasts are in many things our schoole-masters 2. It is not good to be proud and insolent of any art or knowledge 3. Subtill and trifling sophisters who with intricacies and querks intangle men are no better than Spiders whose
we have honey and oil that is delight and all things necessary by his good government whose wisdom doth prevent the infectious heat of Dog-dayes that is of oppression tumults and rebellion but if at any time Euridice right judgement being stung by serpentine flatterers who mis-inform him be wanting then the Bees perish and the subjects go to ruine 3. Aristaeus is the coelestiall heat the effect of the Sun joyned with moderate moisture by which Bees and Olives and all things usefull for our life are procreated and cherished by the secret influence of this heat those Northern windes in Pontus Aegypt and other places are raised which after the Summer solstice blow and last four dayes by which the rage of the Dog-star is mitigated these winds are called Etesii because every yeer they blow at the same season in Spain and Asia these Etesian windes blow from the East this heat working upon Iupiter and Neptune that is on the air and sea doth cause and generate these windes now as this coelestiall heat produceth and cherisheth Bees so Euridice mans judgement art and industry must be joyned otherwayes by the Nymphs that is too much rain or by many other wayes the Bees may fail and if they fail the same heat out of putrified matter may make a new generation 4. Christ is the true Aristaeus the good shepherd the best of men and the son of God by whom we have honey and oil comfort and spirituall joy and all things else at whose request the heat and Dog-star of Gods anger was appeased he is in love with our souls as Aristaeus with Euridice but we run from him and are stung by the serpent the Devil we dyed with Euridice we were destroyed with Aristaeus his Bees untill he restored us again to life by the sacrifice of his own body When Aristaeus lost his troops Of honey people and their hopes And when Cyrene he ador'd He had his swarms again restor'd Wee are the Bees and Christ is he Who would himself an offring be He was both Altar Priest and Hoast He found us out when we were lost He got us pleasure by his pain His death 's our life his losse our gain In that we do injoy our lives In that our wexin Kingdom thrives In that we sit on fragrant flowers Bedew'd with pearly drops and showers In that our Cells with Nectar flow In that our yong ones live and grow In that we play in open air In that the Heavens are so fair In that we have so long a Spring And with our humming Meads do ring All this we have and more then this By vertue of Christs sacrifice It s he who with his gentle breath Tempers the heat of Jova's wrath It s he that loves us night and day And yet like fools we run away He is our husband not our foe Then whither will you from him go You run but do not see alas The Serpent that lurks in the grasse O Lord when thou dost call on me Uncase my eyes that I may see Thy love and beauty of thy face And so support me with thy grace That I may stand or if I fall I may not lose my soul withall ATALANTA SHe was the daughter of King Ceneus so swift in running that no man could match her only Hippomenes overcame her by casting in her way three golden apples at which whilst shee stooped to take them up she lost her race she was the first that shot the Calydonian Boare and with the sharpe point of her spear brought water out of a rock but for lying in Cybeles temple with Hippomenes shee was turned into a Lionesse and he into a Lion which drew Cybeles Chariot THE MYSTERIES HEre we have the picture of a whore who runnes swiftly in the broad way that leadeth to destruction if any thing stay her course it is wise counsell and admonition for wisdom is represented by gold It is she that kils the Boars that is wanton and unruly youths wounding both their bodies soules and estates and therefore hath a sharp speare to draw water out of rocks because many who at first were senselesse like stones being deepely wounded with remorse for their former folly and stupidity fall to repentance to weeping and lamenting considering what they have lost and as Atalanta defiled Cybeles temple so doth a whore pollute her body which is the Temple of the Holy Ghost so doth the whore-master make his body all one with the body of an harlot and so both degenerat from humanity and participate of the cruelty and lasciviousnesse of Lions and by this means become miserable slaves and drudges to Cybele mother earth that is to all earthly affections and lust 2. As Atalantas course was interrupted by golden apples so is the course of Justice oftentimes stopped with golden bribes 3. Here we see that one sinne draweth after it another worse than the former fornication begetteth profanenesse and profanenesse cruelty and miserable servitude to earthly lusts 4. Let us with Atalanta run the race that is set before us and wound the boare of our wanton lusts draw water from our rocky hearts let us take heed that the golden apples of worldly pleasure and profit which Hippomenes the Devil flings in our way may not hinder our course commit not spirituall fornication with him in the temple of Cybele lest God in his just anger make our condition worse than the condition of the brute and savage beasts We 're all in Atalanta's case We run apace Untill our wandring eyes behold The glitt'ring gold And then we lose in vanity Our race and our virginity Gods holy Temple we pollute And prostitute Our souls to foul Hippomenes With all boldnesse So having lost humanity Fierce Lyons we become to be And then our heads we must submit To curb and bit Of mother earth whose heavie Wain We draw with pain And yet we cannot cease to draw Earth till earth hide us in her maw O that we could our sins deplore And kill the Boare Of wanton lusts e're we hence go To shades below O that our rocky hearts could rend And from them Chrystall Rivers send O God all filthy lusts destroy Which me annoy And give my flinty heart a blow That tears may flow O let me not thy house profane Which thou hast purchas'd with thy pain ATLAS WAs the son of Iapetus and brother of Prometheus or as others say he was begotten of heaven and the day if this was not another Atlas hee was King of Mauritania and had a garden where grew golden apples he was turned into a mountain by Perseus Iupiters son upon the sight of Gorgons head because he refused to lodge him THE MYSTERIES ATlas is the name of an high hill which for the height thereof being higher than the clouds was said to support heaven and to be begotten of heaven and day because of the continuall light on the top of it as being never obscured with mists clouds and vapours 2. This
behinde them cast The love of earth whose innocence Keeps off the flood of wars from hence So that our hill stands fast Much of this happinesse we gain By him whose sacred brows sustain The three-fold Diadem Of these Sea-grasping Isles whose ground Joves brother doth not onely round But as his own doth claim Great God prime author of our peace Let not this happinesse decrease But let it flourish still Take not thy mercie from this land Nor from the man of thy right hand So shall we fear no ill DIANA SHee was the sister of Apollo and daughter of Iupiter and Latona the Goddesse of hunting dancing child-bearing virginitie who still dwelt in woods and on hills whose companions were the Dryades Hamadryades Orades Nymphs c. she was carried in a silver chariot drawn with white staggs she was painted with wings holding a Lyon with one hand and a Leopard with the other on her altar men were sacrificed THE MYSTERIES DIana is the moone called Apollos or the Suns sister because of their likenesse in light motion and operations the daughter of God brought out of Latona or the Chaos she came out before her brother Apollo and helped to play the midwife in his production by which I thinke was meant that the night wherof the Moon is ruler was before the day the evening went before the morning so that the Moon did as it were usher in the Sun therfore the Calends of the months were dedicated to Iuno or the Moon she hath divers a names for her divers operations as may be seen in Mythologists in Macrobius she is called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} fortune from her variablenesse as both being subject to so many changes and causing so many alterations Scaliger observeth that she was called Lya or Lua from lues the plague because she is the cause of infection and diseases by which the soul is loosed from the body she was called Fascelis from the bundle of wood out of which her image was stolen by Iphigenia Agamemnons daughter but I should thinke that she was called Lya from loosing or untyjng of the girdle which yong women used to do in her temple called therefore {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in which temple virgins that had a minde to marrie used first to pacifie Diana with sacrifices she was also called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that is earthly because they thought there was another earth in the Moon inhabited by men doubtlesse in that they called her Hecate or Proserpina the Queen of hell they meant the great power that she hath over sublunarie bodies for all under the Moon may be called Infernus or Hell as all above her is heaven this free from changes that subject to all changes and perhaps she may be called Hecate from the great changes that she maketh here below every hundreth yeere she may be called Diana from her divine power Iuno from helping Proserpina from her creeping for though she is swift in the lower part of her Epicycle yet in the upper part therof she is slow Luna quasi vna as being the only beautie of the night Dyctinnis from a net because fishers and hunters use nets and of these she is sayd to have the charge for the Moon light is a help to both they called her {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} quasi {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} from cutting the air Lucina from her light her hunting and dancing was to shew her divers motion for she hath more then any planet six at least as Clavius observes her virginitie sheweth that though she is neere the earth yet she is not tainted with earthly imperfections she is a help to childe-bearing for her influence and light when she is at full is very forcible in the production and augmentation of things her conversing on hills and in woods shews that her light and effects are most to be seen there for all herbs plants and trees feel her influence and because she hath dominion over the fiercest beasts in tempering their raging heat by her moysture she holds a Lyon and Leopard in her hands whose heat is excessive but tempered by the Moon her silver chariot shews her brightnesse the staggs and wings do shew her swiftnesse and because her light increasing and decreasing appeareth like horns therefore the Bull was sacrificed to her as Lactantius observes her arrows are her beames or influence by which she causeth death and corruption in respect of her corniculated demidiated and plenarie aspect she is called a triformis and trivia because she was worshipped in places where 3 ways met the dancing of all the Nymphs and Satyrs shews how all take delight in her light her hunting is to shew how in her motion she pursues and overtakes the Sun 2. A rich usurer is like Diana for he is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} an earthly man a great hunter after wealth who hath his nets his bands and bills he wounds deeply with his arrows Proserpina and Lya for he creeps upon mens estates and he brings a plague upon them though he dwells in rich Cities yet his hunting and affections are set in hills and woods that is in farmes and mannors which by morgages and other tricks he catches he is caried in a silver chariot drawn with staggs because fearfulnesse doth still accompanie wealth with which he is supported he would fain fly up to heaven with the wings of devotion but the Lyons and Leopards in his hands with which he devoures mens estates keeps him back Diana was a virgin yet helped to bring out children so mony though barren in it self yet bringeth great increase he will not be appeased without bribes no more then Diana nay many a mans estate is sacrificed upon his altar who doth not unloose their girdles as in Diana's temple but quite bursts them 3. They that will live chast must with Diana live on hills and woods and use continuall exercise for idlenesse and great Cities are enemies to virginity 4 Every good man should be like Diana having the wings of divine meditation the courage of the Lyon and swiftnesse of the stagge his feet should be like Hinds feet to run in the way of Gods commandements 5. Gods Church is the true Diana the daughter of God the sister of the son of righteousnesse who is a virgin in puritie and yet a fruitfull mother of spirituall children whose conversation is sequestred from the world she is supported in the silver chariot of Gods word in which she is carried towards heaven being drawn with the white staggs of innocencie and feare she holdeth in her hands Lyons and Leopards the Kings of the Gentiles who have suffred themselves to be caught and tamed by her she flieth with the wings of faith devotiō and hunts after beasts that is wicked men to catch them in her nets that she may save their souls and with her arrows to
this pilgrimage When wilt thou ope this fleshly cage This prison and this house of clay That hence my soul may fly away Untye the chains with which so fast I 'm bound and make me free at last And draw aside this Canopie Which keeps me from the sight of thee Lord let me first see thee by grace Here then hereafter face to face ENDYMEON HE was a fair shepherd who falling in love with Iuno who was presented to him in the forme of a cloud was thrust down from heaven into a cave where he slept 30 years with whom the Moon being in love came down oftentimes to visit and kisse him THE MYSTERIES IT is thought that Endymeon being an Astronomer and one that first observed the divers motions of the Moon gave occasion to this fiction that the Moon loved him but I think these uses may be made of this fiction 1. Endymeon is a rich man and riches make men fair though never so deformed and with such the Moon that is the world as unconstant as the Moon is in love these are the men whom the world kisses and honoreth but when these rich Endymeons set their affections upon wealth for Iuno is the goddesse of wealth then do they lose heaven and fall into the sleep of securitie saying Soul take thy rest thou hast store layd up for many years with that rich farmer in the Gospell and so they lose their souls for a shadow for such is wealth and this shadow brings upon them spirituall stupiditie they that cannot be roused from their cave though Gods word should shine on them as cleer as the Moon 2. By Endymeon Adam may be meant who was fair whilst Gods image continued with him but when he fell in love with Iuno Iupiters wife that is affected equalitie with his maker he was thrust out of Paradise into this world as unto a cave where he was cast into a dead sleep or the sleep of death from which he shall not be awaked though the Moon so often visit him that is so long as the Moon shall shine and visit the earth which shall be till the dissolution of all things man shall sleep in the grave 3. By Endymeon may be meant these over whom the Moon hath dominion for Astrologers observe that every man is subject to one Planet or other more or lesse such men then over whom the Moon ruleth are instable subject to many changes nimble bodied quick in apprehension desirous of glory and such a one perhaps was Endymeon therefore the Moon was sayd to love them and such because they affect hohour and popular applause which is but air may be sayd to be in love with Iuno which is the air and indeed honour is but air or a cloud 4. Every man may be called Endymeon for we are all in love with air and emptie clouds with toyes and vanities which makes us so sleepie and dull in heavenly things and the Moon is in love with us changes and inconstancie still accompanie mans life to signifie which instabilitie of human affaires the feast of new Moons was kept among the Iews and the Roman Nobilitie used to weare little pictures of the Moon on their shooes to shew that we are never in one stay for which cause I thinke the Turks have the half Moon for their Armes 5. When Endymeon that is mankinde slept in sin the Moon that is our Saviour Christ whose flesh is compared to the Moon a by S. Augustin as his divinitie to the Sun in his flesh visited us and dwelt amongst us this Moon was eclipsed in the passion and this Moon slept in the cave with Adam and the full of this Moon was seen in the resurrection this is he who hath kissed us with the kisses of his mouth whose love is better then wine whose light shined in darknesse and the darknesse comprehended it not 6. The Moon fals in love with sleepie Endymeons that is carnall and sensuall pleasures and earthly thoughts invade those that give themselves to idlenesse securitie and lazinesse for the Moon in regard of her vicinitie to the earth may be the Symboll of earthly mindes and because she is the mistris of the night and of darknesse the time when carnall delights are most exercised she may be the Symboll of such delights and because of her often changing she may represent to us the nature of fooles which delight in idlenesse as the Moon did in Endymeon 7. Endymeon in this may signifie the Sun with whom the Moon is in love rejoycing and as it were laughing in her full light when she hath the whole veiw of him and every month running to him and overtaking him whose motion is slow and therefore he seems to sleep in regard of her velocitie What means the Moon to dote so much upon The fair Endymeon Or why should man forsake his Soveraign good To catch an empty cloud From heaven shall any man for riches fall And lose his soul and all How can we sleep in such security As that we cannot see Our dangers nor that lamp whose silver ray Drives black-fac'd night away What madnesse is 't for thee to lose thy share Of heaven for bubling air Of honour or of popular applause Which doth but envie cause And which is nothing but an empty winde That cannot fill the minde How changable is man in all his wayes Now grows anon decayes Now cleere then dark now hates anon affects Still changing his aspects Much like the Moon who runs a wandring race And still doth change her face But Lord give me strait paths and grant to me The gift of constancie And quench in me I pray the sinfull fire Of lust and vain desire Be thou the onely object of my soul And free me from the hole Of ignorance and dead security O when shall I once see The never fading lustre of thy light To chace away my night The golden beauty of thy countenance To clear my conscience O Lord thou cam'st to rouze Endymeon Out of his dungeon Wrapp'd in the black vail of Chimerian night Who could not see the light Of Moon or Star untill thou didst display Thy all-victorious ray Brighter then is fair Phoebe's glitt'ring face Which is the nights chief grace Whose silver light as sometimes it does wain And then it primes again So was thy flesh eclipsed from it's light By Pluto's horrid night And muffled for a while from that bright eye Of thy Divinity But when black deaths interposition Was overcome and gone The silver orb of thy humanity Did shine more gloriously Then when the white-fac'd empresse of the night Shines by her brothers light O rouze me from my drousinesse that I May see thy radient eye Which pierceth all hearts with its golden beams From which such glory streams That all the winged Legions admire Lord warm me with thy fire And stamp the favour of thy lips on mine Whose love exceeds new wine Then will I sing uncessantly thy praise And to
veneration so neither have they accesse unto the minds of good men which are the temples of the holy Ghost 3. Gods three judgements which he sends to punish us to wit plague famine and sword are the three furies a Megaera is the 〈…〉 t sweeps and takes away multitudes the fa 〈…〉 lecto which is never satisfied and the 〈…〉 Tisiphone a revenger of sin and a murtherer â—â—â—se have their seat in hell as they are sent from 〈…〉 ed by Satan and in heaven also as they are 〈…〉 y God without whose permission Satan can 〈◊〉 nothing they may be called b Harpies as the furies were because they snatch and carry all things hâ—ad-long with them and Dirae quasi dei irae being the effects of Gods anger they are Iupiters dogs the â—â—â—cutioners of Gods wrath and devourers of sinnâ—â—s they come swiftly with wings and tread hard with their brasen feet the plague is the snake that poysoneth the famine is the torch that consumeth and burneth the sword is the whip that draweth blood 4. Ministers should be c Eumenides that is gracious benevolent of a good minde as the word signifieth being properly taken they should have the wisdom of Serpents in their heads the torch of Gods Word in one hand the whip of Discipline in the other the wings of contemplation and the brasen feet of a constant and shining conversation See how the grim-fac'd hags from Hells black lake Ascend and all their hissing tresses shake They look as fearfull as their mother night Their black flam'd torches yeeld a dismall light Who rais'd these monsters from hot Phlegeton These ghastly daughters of sad Acharon To torture men hark how their lashes sound See how they poyson men and burn and wound Alas we can accuse none but our selves We are the raisers of these dreadfull elves And we 'r the cause of all the misery That fals on us and our posterity Our sin alas procures us all our woe Sin makes our dearest friend our greatest foe Almighty God whose high-born progeny We are is now become our enemy And he gives way to these infernall hounds To roame abroad and rage beyond their bounds Gold-fingred avarice with yawning jaws And piercing eyes and ever-scraping claws Whose heart like bird-lime clings to every thing It sees and still is poor in coveting Flyes over all and which the more 's the pitie Hath poyson'd both the Country and the City A greedy dog that 's never fill'd with store But eating still and barking still for more The cryes and grones of poor men wrong'd can tell That this devouring fury came from hell Then pale-fac'd squint-ey'd black-mouth'd envie flyes And with her sable wings beats out mens eyes That they cannot on vertues glitt'ring gold Look cheerfully nor good mens works behold Like Owls they see by night black spots they spy Then run their tongues on wheels of obloquy But have not eyes to see the shining day Of goodnesse nor good words have they to say This fury is the bane of each good action And is the spightfull mother of detraction She blasts the bads and blossomes of true worth And chokes all brave atchievements in their birth Her pestilentiall breath her murth'ring eye Her slandring tongue which goodnesse doth belye Her whip and torch and crawling looks can tell That she 's one of those hags that came from hell Then raging anger with a scarlet face And flaming eyes and feet that run apace To shed mans blood who for a harmlesse word Will make thy heart a scabberd for her sword Whose heart is alwayes boyling in her brest And whose revengefull thoughts are ne're at rest The panting breath the trembling lip the eyes Sparkling with fire the grones and hideous cryes The stammering tongue the stamping foot of those That are possess'd with these infernall foes May let us see that when there 's so much ire Without the heart within is set on fire By that sulphurious torch of Tisiphon Kindled with flames of fiery Phlegeton The cry of so much blood shed in this age Doth shew how much these hellish monsters rage These are the hellish furies but from them Swarm multitudes which now I cannot name As pride theft lust bribes rapes ambition And sacriledge drunkennesse oppression And thousands more which I cannot rehearse And if I could I would not put in verse This damned crue these furies causes are That we are scourg'd with famine plague and war Famine with meagre cheeks and hollow eyes Lank belly feeble knees and withred thighs Doth often by th' Almighties just command Rage roare and domineer within our land The wasting plague with sudden unseen darts Invades the stourest and assaults their hearts And with a secret fire dryes up the bloud And carries all before her like a flood How often doth this spotted fury rage With pale-fac'd horrour on this mortall stage And makes our Towns and Cities desolate And doth whole countries too depopulate But War the barbarous mistresse of disorders How doth she rage within our Christian borders Good God who can without a briny flood Of tears behold the losse of so much bloud Who can but such whose hearts are made of stones Hear with dry eyes the mournfull sighs and grones The screechings yellings roarings of all ages Weltring in blood where this grim monster rages Temples profan'd maids ravish'd Cities raz'd And glory of Christs kingdom thus defac'd Where ought to raign peace and tranquillity With love and goodnesse truth and civility And then to see the Turk that barbarous Lord Inlarge his horned Moon by our discord And daily to insult on Christs poor sheep These things would make a Niobe to weep O turn for shame your fratricidall swords Into the sides of those proud Scythian Lords Who rais'd themselves by our unhappy fall And now aim at the ruine of us all Recover once again your ancient glories And make your valour Themes of future stories Alas I may with tears expresse my grief Which hath a tongue to speak but no relief Except O thou that art the God of wars Compose in time our too too civill jars We grant O Lord thy plagues we have deserved Who have so often from thy precepts swerved And that of thee we should be quite sorlorn And be the objects of contempt and scorn But Lord let not thy wrath for ever burn Remember those that now in Sion mourn And save us though we have deserv'd thy stroke And keep us from the proud imperious yoke Of Ottomans who like dogs lap our blood And take our flesh like Canibals for food And Lord preserve in constant union The little world of this our Albion Inlarge his life who doth inlarge our peace And make his glory with his life increase That being mounted on the wings of fame This age may see his worth the next admire his name CHAP. VI F FORTUNA SHee was the daughter of Oceanus and servant of the gods a great goddesse her self in sublunarie things but
flow silver streams of grace In whom all goodnesse and perfection dwels He was a harmlesse spotlesse Dove The Center of his Fathers love The object of my chief desires And he in whom my soul respires Who on the wing of his Divinity Was elevated far above our sight And now inhabits that eternall light Which with our mortall eyes we cannot see He Nectar of his merit pow'rs Before his Father and down show'rs On us his graces from above Out of the bottles of his love O if some cloud-dividing Eagle would Under my feet spread forth his airy wings And lift my minde from these inferiour things That I my God in glory might behold Lord let my prayer pierce the skies And from the bottles of mine eyes Receive the Nectar of my tears And drink them with thy gracious ears O if I could with Eagles pinions cleave The highest clouds and with their piercing eye Could my Redeemer in his glory see Triumphing over death and o're the grave And as the Eagles do repair To places where dead bodies are So where thy flesh is Lord let me Resort that I may feed on thee And when my soul shall leave this house of clay Command thy winged Messengers who still Are ready to obey thy blessed will To be my soul-supporters in that day And in the Resurrection When soul and body meets in one Let them uphold me then and there Where I shall meet thee in the air GENII THese were the sons of Iupiter and Terra in shape like men but of an uncertain sex every man had two from his nativitie waiting on him till his death the one whereof was a good Genius the other a bad the good ones by some are called Lares the bad Lemures and by Tertullian and his Commentator Pamelius they are all one with the Daemones they were worshipped in the forme of Serpents THE MYSTERIES GEnius a gignendo for by them we are ingenerated and so whatsoever is the cause or help of our generation may be called Genius thus the elements the heavens the stars nature yea the God of nature in whom we live move and have our being may be called Genii in a large sence and Genii quasi Geruli a gerendo vel ingerendo from supporting us or from suggesting good bad thoughts into the mind therfore gerulofiguli in Plautus is a a suggestor of lyes and so by these Genii may be understood the good and bad Angels which still accompanie us and by inward suggestion stir us up to good or evill actions The form of Serpents in which the b Geni were worshipped doth shew the wise and vigilant care which the Angels have over us when after this life they punish us for sins they are called c Manes Therefore the Genii were painted with a platter full of flowers and garlands in one hand and a whip in the other to shew that they have power both to reward punish us They have oftentimes appeared in the forme of men therefore they are painted like men but they have no sex nor do they procreate for which cause perhaps the fruitfull Palm tree was dedicated to them with which also they were crowned because they were held of a middle kind between Gods and men they were called the sons of Iupiter and earth or rather in reference to Plato's opinion which held Angels to be corporeall our souls also are Genii which from our birth to our death do accompanie our bodies every mans desire and inclination may be called his Genius to which it seemes the Poet alluded saying an sua cuique deus fit dira cupido and perhaps Aristotles intellectus agens is all one with Plato's Genius for without this we have no knowledge because the passive intellect depends in knowledge from the active in receiving the species from it which by the active intellect is abstracted from time place and other conditions of singularitie and this is all one as if we should say we receive no information of good or evill but from our Genius and as the Gentiles beleeved the stars to be Genii so the Jews thought them to be Angels and that they were living creatures therefore they worshipded them called them the hoast of heaven but indeed Christ is our true Genius the great Angel who hath preserved and guarded us from our youth by whom we are both generated regenerated the brasen Serpent from whom we have all knowledge who alone hath power to reward and punish us who appeared in the forme of man and in respect of his 2 natures was the son of Iupiter and Terra of God and earth and who will never forsake us as Socrates his Genius did him at last who came not to affright us or to bring us the message of death as Brutus his Genius did to him but to comfort us and to assure of eternall life let us then offer to him the sacrifice not of blood crueltie or oppression which the Gentiles would not offer to their Genius thinking it unfit to take away the life of any creature that day in which they had received life themselves but let us offer the wine of a good life and the sweet fumes of our prayer a and let us not offend this our Genius or deprive him of his due but make much of him by a holy life and though the Gentiles assigned unto every man his Genius and Iuno to the women yea we know that Christ is the Saviour and keeper both of men and women that with him there is no difference of sex To what high dignity and place Hath God advanc'd our humane race To whose beak and command He did subdue all things that creep And flye within the air and deep And move upon dry land Besides heavens blessed Harbingers Gods nimble-winged Meslengers Are with a watchfull eye By his appointment to defend Us from all hurt and to attend On us continually Lord send to me these winged Posts And guard me with these heavenly hoasts From Satans pollicies And let them with their shady wings Protect me from all hurtfull things And from mine enemies And let this hoste in squadrons flye Before me Lord unclose mine eye That I may see my guard How with their Tents they me inclose And how they fight against my foes And keep their watch and ward And let these be my Tutors to Instruct my minde what it must do And how it must obey O by these sacred Pursuvants Shew me thy just commandements And guide me in my way And let these comforters asswage The pains of this my pilgrimage In my last agony Let these swift-winged Legions Through all the starry regions My soul accompany And when the trump Angelicall Shall sound which must awake us all And raise us from our dust Let these intelligences bring Me to the presence of my King And place me with the just O thou great Angel who hath still Been my protector from all ill