the Will proceedes And with that Good the Will it freely feeds Yet lest the Soule beholding hir faire forme Aboue hirselfe should of hirselfe aspire He giues vs proofe he can hir parts deforme That form'd hir parts if pride prouoke his ire Then lets hee Fiends the Fantacie enorme VVith strong delusions and with passions dire Herehence it is that some suppose they are Stone dead some all Nose some more brittle ware Some hauing this parte perfect are defected In the powre rationall the Soules sentinell That is with doting dulnesse so infected As what they say or do they wot not well Yet is their Memory right well affected And all their other Faculties excell So Sicknesse some Mens Memory vnframes That they forget their country friends and names Some others not in parte but wholy loose The vse of all the Sences of their soule Because they did their faculties abuse Those beeing franticke Reason with Rage controule And worse then beasts they liue and cannot chuse The Good from Bad ne yet the Faire from Fowle But like infernall Furies fare they than Iniurious to themselues to God and Man Thus may these Powers perish all or parte VVhen that almighty Powre his grace withdrawes Then let high Spirits retaine a lowly hart That may obedient be to Reasons Lawes For ill successe proceeds from worse desart And good effects proceeds from no ill cause If thy Mindes eyes see more then such eyes can Thanke God therefore yet thinke thy selfe a man For if thy thoughts flie higher then that pitch And Luciferian pride thy Minde inflate Thou mayst with him fall hedlong in the ditch And runne into Gods vnreuoked hate Then will the Fiend so much thy Mind bewitch That thoushalt be possesst in endlesse date VVith his strong Legions Then let Reason raine Thy head-strong Will and thy high thoughts restraine Now hauing seene how each internal Sence Contained is in cauernes of the Braine And how their works haue mutuall reference That so they may their common good maintaine Let vs with Eagles eyes without offence Transview the obscure things that do remaine For Mans aye-searching Sp'rite with toil 's opprest Til it haue found that Good that giues it rest Yet this breeds bate twixt Reas'n and Fantacie For Fantacie beeing neere the outward Sences Allures the Soule to loue things bodily But Reason mounts to higher Excellences And mooues the spirit her nimble wings to trie In pursuite of diuine Intelligences Who in the iawes of Fantasie doth set A Snaffle to o're-rule her wilde coruet And all this vigor to the Spirite is giu'n To flie with restlesse wings of Contemplation Vnto that Powre which in the highest Heau'n Makes his no powre-impeaching Habitation Of which Powre if this Powre be quite bereau'n Her dignitie incurreth degradation For as nought is more rare in Man then Spright So nought but rarest things should it delight For it beseemes not that high Maiestic To Man his creature lower to descend Then Man by force of his Mindes Ingeny Is able to him easly to ascend That makes him not appeare to Mans weake eie Because his Reason can him apprehend If Reason then by vse be cleere and bright She may see him vnseene by her owne light For by our Reason and Intelligence We know him from which knowledge Loue doth slowe For we may loue that we see not by Sense But cannot loue the thing we doe not know Our Soules we loue and loue the place from whence Our Soules first came though Sense them cannot show So that high Powre though our Sense cannot show him Yet may we loue because our Reasons know him For can it be Mans Soule should be endow'd With Understanding Reason Will and Wit To whose high powre the highest Powre hath bow'd His goodnesse to be conuersant with it But that the Soule is therewithall allow'd On sempiternall Thrones with him to sit If so what can be worth the Soules discourse But that same Minde that gaue the Soule such force Let Beasts whose soules are meerely Sensitiue Whose Beeing ceaseth with their Bodies beeing Let those with Tooth and Naile striue here to liue Because they die for euer with their dying To them no other Soules did Nature giue But such as to this life was most agreeing But sith Mens soules of God Characters bee With nothing but with God they should agree Which Soules without their corp'rall Instruments By vertue of their intellectiue powres Within themselues can act some good intents Though not expresse them to this sence of ours Who are sometimes rapt vp with rauishments As parted from the Body certaine howres Wherein they exercise their virtue so That more then erst they knew they doe and kno Wherein the Vnderstanding and the Will Wherewith the Soule are sumptuously set forth Are most imploi'd whose functions are to fill The Soules with Treasures of the rarest worth Which th' Intellect to Will presenteth still And to the loue thereof the will allur'th For Will will nothing entertaine in loue But what the Vnderstanding doth approue And what it doth approue as erst was said It sends to Memories safe custodie So then the powres that most the Soule do aide Is Understanding Will and Memorie Which if by Error they bee not betraid They will the Soules affects so fortifie That shee in spight of all the Pow'res belowe Shall giue hir foes a glorious ouerthrowe Yet as the Sunne to vs imparts his light Now more now lesse as it is cleare or clouded So fares it with our Vnderstandings sight That 's darke as hell if it with Sinne be shrowded Or if that Earthly things inclose it quight VVherewith the Soule may be so ouer-crowded That she may faint and finally may fall To vtter darkenesse hir foe Capitall Besides the Sodies state and constitution May much auaile or disaduantage it Then Riot is no good Phisition To heale or keepe in health mans feeble Wit For excesse tends to Dissolution And Dissolution doth in Darkenesse sit Then wouldst thou haue a cleere Intelligence Feare God fare well but feede without offence For though the Soule the Body should o're-rule By lawe of Nature and in Reasons right Yet oft we see the Body rule the Soule When meates excesse augments the Bodies might The Flesh exalted wil the Spirit controule And make the Bodies manners brutish quight But if thy Flesh be ill compos'd by kinde Mend it with holsome meate and mod'rate minde For what a monstrous vice is this in Man To quench his Spirit with wine and belly-cheare When Beasts will take no more then well they can Although by force they should aby it deare For neuer Man a Beast by rigor wan To eate or drinke more then hee well could beare Then if thou wouldst not haue a Beast excell thee Take thou no more then Nature doth compell thee O that these Healthes that makes so many sicke Were buried in the lake of Leachs quicke For since our English ah were Flusbeniz'd Against good manners and good men
and what they beare The thoughts words deedes of men and then must he In Vnderstanding infinite appeare Who is not chang'd by Place for he fills all Nor yet by Time for he is without time He is not chang'd in Forme nor neuer shall Because he alwayes is an Act in prime Nor chang'd by Chance sith he aboue doth clime For he all moues and yet is mou'd of none He opes the Sluce through which we flowe like slime Which if he shuts we cease and quite are gone But he is aye one and the same alone Place is conceiued as a thing created Or as that which includeth some thing plac'd In this last sence God is in no place seated Yet in the other sence no where displac'd So hee 's no where and each where first and last In no place barr'd but fills and bounds each place For beeing indissoluble and fast Hee 's whole in all and in parte and in each case And without mixture doth all interlase For as the Obiects which our Mindes conceiue Mixt not themselues together with the Minde Albee't they do the Minde in 't them receiue VVithout beeing mixt or clos'd in any kinde Eu'n so God all conceiues and yet doth wind Himselfe in 't all but is conceiu'd of none Like as the Sunne within himselfe confin'd Infuseth Light to all yet he alone Is not contain'd or mixt with any one God which is one yet one of three compact Essentiall nor Personall's vnderstood For to create is an essentiall act Not personall which cannot bee withstoode But when by Lord wee meane the same Godhood Wee take it Personall not Essentiall For it 's referr'd vnto the Fatherhood That did beget the Sonne God coeternall And to beget is an act personall Now none I hope can be so ignorant T' imagine any such begetting here As creatures vse for that were discrepant To Reason for we said They euer were VVhich temporall begetting cannot beare Begetting then doth Cause and Order show Sith to beget the Getter did not steere But from him without motion that did flow That was himselfe and to himselfe did go Then but respectiuely the Sire and Sonne And not essentially distinguisht bee As Sole his beames begets yet so begunne That they are full as old and bright as hee And from them both the Light proceeds we see VVhich is as old and bright as Sunne or Beames And nothing differs but respectiuely For first the Sunne begate his radiant Leames Then both yeelds Light and all in like extreames But more distinctly to distinguish them And to expresse their Natures vnity If it be not impiety extreame To liken them to things so transitory Then may we imagine from eternity A Taper burnes which doth a second light Those two doe light a third and ioyned nie They shew all one and all alike are bright Which doe illustrate this darke Secret right Which meerely is all Essence and excludes All whatsoere that is not of the same So though his Essence all his works includes And in his Essence all those works did frame Yet neere his Essence his works neuer came For no Effect is wholy like his Cause If so it be then what a sinne and shame Its for Men that like Men this Essence drawes As knowing nought aboue themselues like Dawes Were Angells Limners to delineate That All but that excelling Maiesty Sitting in chaire of State surmounting State They must with wings displai'd defend their Eie From being confounded with his radiancy Then how shall Man an outcast Eglet view That Glory or paint his Vbiquity That Arte itselfe nor Knowledge neuer knew And Beauty is too base to blaze their hue Put Vacuums foe the cleere corps of the Aire Ten times refin'd therein and giue them Sp'rite T' will file not fill the least parte of that Chaire Nay all the Hoast of Heau'n in one vnite Yea adde to that what all tongues can recite And set it in that Seate t' will scarce appeere But seeme as it were turn'd to nothing quite For nothing can at once be eu'ry where But him alone that no where hath a Peere Borrow from Heau'n and Earth and what they hold The perfect'st parts of Beauties excellence Cast these perfections in the perfect'st mould To make his like t will be but Impotence Compar'd to Glory and Omnipotence Who can precribe a forme t'a formelesse Forme Yet in that Forme all Formes haue residence But to make all in one doth him deforme Then but this ONE who can this All performe Hee 's Infinite put this to whatsoere It makes it God sole cause of things finite Sith infinite can nothing caused beare For to be caus'd is to be definite Chiefe essence must it be that 's Infinite And One alone two Infinites exclude Which One must needs be incorporeall quite Because a Corps a place must needes include Wherein this Infinite cannot be mu'de Then to be Infinite is to be free From matter and from matter to be quit Is voide of Passion and of Change to be For Change hath Passion resident in it And to them both is Motion firmly knit Which Motion tends to Rest which Rest remaines Where Rest remaining resteth Infinite That is in him without whom nothing is Subiect to Rest or Motion Bale or Blisse Though hee his Actions to diuersifie Takes on him parts and passions of a Man Stouping thereby to our capacity Yet none of both's in him that all things can Without them both then both are as a Fan To kepee our Reasons eye from that defect Which cannot apprehend where that began VVhich as the Cause our ioy or griefe effect All which he doth t' informe our Intellect Those Attributes are borrowed from our Kinde To lend our Reason light that Light to see But those essentially to him assignd Of his owne nature and existence bee Namely Ubiquity Simplicity Eternity and sole Omnipotence Consorted all with perfect Unity Yet are these Attributes not his essence For they are diuerse that s but one Immence Which Essence is the Fount from whence doth flow Each fore rehears'd Essentiall property But to that Essence they do not reflow To mix the same with their variety For that stands not with his simplicity What then can aught be first or last in it In Order yea in Time I it deny For Order sets the Will behinde the Wit And yet in Time they both together sit In Order then his Vnderstanding's set Before each one essentiall propertie Which is his forme wherein he doth beget His coâ—ternall Sonne his Wisdomes eye Wherewith vpon himselfe he still doth prie Producing so a third one infinite Yet infintenesse is not their Essence why Beecause that must exist ere it exite That which confineth al that is finite In Tyme they are all one for One is hee In Order hee 's an Essence ere hee 's wise So hee 's sole wise ere insinite can bee VVhich stands with Reasons rules in sence precize And whoso sees it must haue Reasons eyes Yet
Defect Hath more preeminence and virtue eake Then the Earthes totall Globe in each respect Then Powre in weaknesse show'n workes this effect And naturally Contraries spill each other Then how can Nature these Diu'ls God compound The disagreeing Elements togeather But that shee must those Elements confound In Nature no such force was euer found Then must some Power supernaturall Giue to each Element his vttmost bound That though they swarue in Nature yet they shall In one agree through One vniting All. The Sunne doth warme the cold wombe of the Earth The Moone and Starrs hir reasons doth assigne The Aire and Water bringeth foorth hir birth Which serueth Beasts and Beasts serue Men in fine If from Eternity these things thus were How could they to them selues an end designe Seeing the ende for which things formed are Before the things themselues must needes appeare And in our selues we finde and feele a Minde That can at once a thousand Worldes containe Which needes must be of a celestiall kinde Then can we thinke no Minde doth else remaine When to our Mindes that Mind appeereth plaine For we can nothing minde or good or bad But it directs our Mindes with might and maine Vnto a Minde that ne're beginning had By whome in our beginning ours were made If not from thence from whence was our beginning Did we beginne our selues that once began For that must needes begin that needes hath ending And runne we vp Mans race from Man to Man A first we finde from whome all others ranne For could we make our selues why make we not Such as our selues are where we list and whan Why hath a wise man to his Sonne a Sotte But that he cannot make his Sonne God wot Man cannot make a Moath much lesse a Man For as no hand but his that Man did make Could make an Angell so no other can Make the least haire or make it white or blacke If not a haire nor colour if it lacke Can Man create how make himselfe can he No no he cannot that Taske vndertake For through his ignorance he needes must see His blessed Being that made him to Be. Because we see him not not as he is But by effects which from him doe proceede Shall we deny his being or his blisse And so subuert the fore-front of our Creede Then raze we Reas'n and Conscience by that deede Were we endungeon'd from our birth yet wee Would weene there were a Sunne whose beames are shed Through chincks on vs though him we could not see Then shall we question if a God there be And shall wee question make if God there be When through Sun Moone and Stars and all below them He darts his Glories beames for vs to see And yet shall we not see them though he shew them But wincke wincke hard because we wil not know them For should we thinke nought is which we see not We should not thinke we had eies though we owe them For though with them we see yet well we wot We see them not themselues though free from blot Much lesse they see the Soule by which they see Yet Reas'n perswadeth Sense there is a Soule From whom the Senses powres deriued bee Yet shall our Sense our Reason so controule To make it to maintaine this error foule That God is not without whome nothing Is. For all that Is is but as t' were a Scroule Wherein in letters plaine that none can misse God is enroulde aboue all Deities But some there are ah woe that such there are That do confesse perforce they do confesse There is a GOD yet hold hee hath no care Of worldly things but raignes in blessednesse And of the World makes Fortune gouernesse These Diuills are more dampned then the rest Sith they confessing God make more transgresse For if a Prouidence bee not confest Who will not liue to liue as hee thinks best These fooles confessing God doe God deny Whom to confesse without his Atributes Doth to that fond confession giue the ly Because it selfe against it selfe disputes And to their shame it selfe it selfe confutes For aske a Sauage if a God hee holdes Why so he weenes he straight his reasons sutes From Order drawne which hee in all beholdes Which hee beeleeues some ord'ring Pow'r vpholdes By nought so much as by his prouidence Is God discern'd which all must needs discerne That hath a humane Soule and common sence For common sense the outward'st sense interne At the first sight that principle doth learne For if through the effects we see their cause Then may we plainely see whose Nature 's Sterne By that Decorum wee see in hir lawes Namely this Powre that Land and Ocean awes Who if he carelesse were of wordly things It is for want of powre or want of will If want of powre his powre in bounds it brings If want of will his goodnesse it doth spill For of his works to haue no care is ill But if thou God confesse confesse thou dost That he is good and most almightie still Ifso he be then needs confesse thou must That he is prouident or most vniust For Prouidence being but a wise connay Of things created to some certaine end And that no humane soule hir powres imploy Ought to effect but doth the same intend Then shall we say he to whom all doth tend VVhen he made all meant not they should doe so As if against his will to him they bend So spill his wills and spoile his wisedome to If not then must we say God all must do For as his will had pow're the World to make So had his wisedome might to sway the same For Wisedome infinite cannot mistake But as it deemeth so will all things frame And in lesse power neuer looseth ame For as he made the whole the parts he made And if the whole he cares for sure I am The parts he cares for though they seeme to fade Which sence and common reason doth perswade Nature we well perceiue makes nought in vaine And thou mak'st nought but to some end or vse Thou ween'st thou merrits praise for that thy paine As sure thou dost and think'st thou dost misse-vse In making vselesse things thy wits and Muse Darst GOD bereaue of what returnes thee praise And giue him that in thee thou deem'st abuse O Men O Manners O most damned Dayes What Tongue or Pen can paint your iust dispraise Alphons the tenth that Spaine did signiorize The maine obiection gainst all Prouidence Said O that such a Slaue from Kinges should rise Had he bin with God when things did commence They should haue better bin in their essence This Foole the Only wise would needs direct But for his paine Paine was his recompence Who for he would surmount God in effect This Lucifer to Earthes Hell was diject Pherecides the damn'd Assirian For scorning God and Prouidence out right Lice him consum'd for on him so they ran That he for shame abandoned all mens sight And desolately died