THE WISDOME of Solomon Paraphrased Written by Thomas Middleton A Joue surgit opus Printed at London by Valentine Sems dwelling on Adling hil at the signe of the white Swanne 1597. ⧠To the right Honourable and my very good Lord Robert Deuoreux Erle of Essex and Ewe Vicount of Hereford Lorde Ferrers of Chartley Boutcher and Louayne Maister of her Maiesties Horse and Ordonance Knight of the honourable order of the Gartor and one of her Maiesties most honâ—rable priuie Counsell THe Summers Haruest right Honourable is long since reapt now it is sowing time againe behold I haue scattred a few seedes vpon the yong ground of vnskilfulnesse if it beare fruit my labour is well bestowed but if it be barren I shall haue lesse ioy to set more The husbandman obserues the courses of the Moone I the forces of your fauor he desireth sun-shine I cheerefull countenance which once obtayned my haruest of ioy will soone bee ripened My seedes as yet lodge in the bosome of the earth like Infantes vpon the lappe of a Fauourite wanting the budding spring-time of their growth not knowing the Est of their glorie the west of their quietnesse the South of their summer the North of their winter but if the beames of your aspectes lighten the small moytie of a smaller implanting I shall haue an euery-day-haruest a fruition of content a braunch of felicitie Your Honours addicted in all obseruance Thomas Midleton To the Gentlemen Readers GEntlemen I giue you the surueyaunce of my new-bought grounde and will only stand vnto your verdicts I feare me that the acres of my fielde passe the anchers of my seed if wanting seed then I hope it wil not be to much seeded this is my bare excuse but trust me had my wit been sufficient to maintaine the freedome of my will then both should haue been answerable to your wishes yet neuerthelesse thinke of it as a willing though not a fulfilling moity But what meane I while I thus argue Momus and Zoylus those two Rauens deuoure my seede because J lacke a Scarre-crowe indeede so J may haue lesse than I haue when such fowle-gutted Rauens swallowe vp my portion if you gape for stuffing hie you to dead carrion carkasses and make them your Ordinaries J beseeche you Gentlemen let mee haue your ayde and as you haue seene the first practise of my husbandry in sowing so let me haue your helping hands vnto my reaping Yours deuoted in friendship Thomas Middleton The Wisedome of Solomon paraphrased CHAP. 1. verse 1 WIsedome Elixer of the purest life Hath taught hir lesson to iudicial views To those that iudge a cause end a strife Which sits in Iudgements seat Iustice vse A lesson worthy of diuinest eare Quintessence of a true diuinest scare Vnwilling that exordium should retaine Her life-infusing speech doth thus begin You quoth shee that giue remedy or paine Loue Iustice for iniustice is a sin Giue vnto God his due his reuerent stile And rather vse simplicity then guile For him that guides the radiant eie of day verse 2 Sitting in his star-chamber of the Skie The Horizons and hemespheres obay And windes the fillers of vacultie Much lesse shuld man tempt God when all obay But rather be a guide and leade the way For temting argues but a sins attempt Temptation is to sin associate So doing thou from God art cleane exempt Whose loue is neuer placde in his loues hate He will be found not of a tempting minde But found of those which he doth faithfull finde verse 3 Temptation rather seperates from God Conuerting goodnes from the thing it was Heaping the indignation of his rod To bruse our bodies like a brittle glasse For wicked thoughts haue still a wicked end In making God our foe which was our frend They muster vpreuenge encamp our hate Vndoing what before they meant to do Stirring vp anger and vnluckie fate Making the earth their friend the heauen their foe But when heauens guide makes manifest his power The earth their frinds doth them like foes deuoure verse 4 O foolish men to warre against your blisse O hatefull harts where wisedome neuer raignd O wicked thoughts which euer thought amisse What haue you reapt what pleasure haue you gaind A fruite in shew a pleasure to decay This haue you got by keeping follies way For wisedomes haruest is with follie nipt And with the winter of your vices frost Her fruite all scattered her implanting ript Her name decayed her fruition lost Nor can she prosper in a plot of vice Gaining no summers warmth but winters ice verse 5 Thou barren earth where vertues neuer bud Thou fruitles wombe where neuer fruits abide And thou drie-withered sap which bears no good But the dishonor of thy prowd hearts pride A seate of al deceit deceit deceaude Thy blisse a woe thy woe of blisse bereaude This place of night hath left no place for day Here neuer shines the sunne of discipline But mischiefe clad in sable nights array Thoughts apparition euill Angelâ—s signe These raigne enhoused with their mother Night To cloude the day of clearest wisedomes light Oh you that practise to be chiefe in sinne verse 6 Loues hate hates friend friends foe foes follower What doe you gaine what merit do you winne To be blaspheming vices practiser Your gaine is wisedomes euerlasting hate Your merit griefe your griefe your liues debate Thou canst not hide thy thoght god made thy thoght Let this thy caucat be for thinking ill Thou knowst that Christ thy liuing freedome boght To liue on earth according to his will God being thy creator Christ thy blisse Why dost thou erre why dost thou do amisse verse 7 Hee is both Iudge and witnesse of thy deeds Hee knowes the volume which thy hart containes Christ skips thy faults only thy virtue reades Redeeming thee from all thy vices paines O happy crowne of mortall mans content Sent for our ioye our ioye in being sent Then sham'st thou not to erre to sin to stray To come to composition with thy vice With new-purg'd feete to treade the ouldest way Lending new sence vnto thy ould deuice Thy shame might flowe in thy sin-flowing face Rather then ebbe to make an ebbe of grace verse 8 For hee which rules the Orbe of heauen and earth And the ineqall course of euery starre Did knowe mans thoughts and secreats at his birth Whither enclinde to peace or discords iarre He knowes what man will be ere he be man And all his deeds in his lifes liuing span Then t is vnpossible that earth can hide Vnrighteous actions from a righteous God For he can see their feete in sin that slide And those that lodge in righteousnesse abode Hee will extend his mercy on the good His wrath on those in whom no vertues bud verse 9 Many there bee that after trespasse done Will seeke a couert for to hide their shame And range about the earth thinking to shunne Gods heauie wrath and meritorious blame They thinking
delight That bloody slaughter-house to peaces breast That lawlesse pallace to a place of right That slaughtring shambles to a liuing rest Made meete for iustice fit for happinesse Vnmeete for sin vnfit for wickednesse Yet the inhabitants though mischiefes slaues Were not dead-drencht in their destructions flood God hop'd to raise repentance from sins graues And hop'd that paines delay would make them good Not that he was vnable to subdue them But that their sins repentance should renue them verse 10 Delay is tooke for vertue and for vice Delay is good and yet delay is bad T is vertue when it thawes repentance ice T is vice to put off things we haue or had But here it followeth repentance way Therefore it is not sins nor mischiefes pray Delay in punishment is double paine And euery paine makes a twice double thought Doubling the way to our liues better gaine Doubling repentance which is single bought For fruitles grafts when they are too much lopt More fruitlesse are for why their fruits are stopt verse 11 So fares it with the wicked plants of sin The rootes of mischiefe toppes of villany They worser are with too much punishing Because by nature prone to iniury For t is but folly to supplant his thought Whose heart is wholy giuen to be nought These seeded were in seede oh cursed plant Seeded with other seede Oh cursed roote Too much of good doth turne vnto goods want As too much seede doth turne to too much soote Bitter in taste presuming of their height Like misty vapours in blacke-coloured night But god whose powerful arms one strength doth hold verse 12 Scorning to staine his force vpon their faces Will send his messengers both hote and colde To make them shadowes of their owne disgraces His hot Ambassador is fire his cold Is winde which two scorne for to be controld For who dares say vnto the King of kings What hast thou done which ought to be vndone Or who dares stand against thy iudgements stings Or dare accuse thee for the nations mone Or who dare say reuenge this ill for me Or stand against the Lord with villanie verse 13 What he hath done he knowes what he will doe He weigheth with the ballance of his eies What iudgement he pronounceth must be so And those he oppresseth cannot rise Reuenge lies in his hands when he doth please He can reuenge and loue punish and ease The carued spectacle which workemen make Is subiect vnto them not they to it They which from God a liuely forme do take Should much more yeeld vnto their makers wit Sith there is none but he which hath his thought Caring for that which he hath made of nought verse 14 The clay is subiect to the potters hands Which with a new deuice makes a new moule And what are we I pray but clayie bands With ashie body ioynde to cleaner soule Yet we once made scorne to be made againe But liue in sin like clayie lumps of paine Yet if hot anger smother coole delight Hee 'le mould our bodies in destructions forme And make our selues as subiects to his might In the least fewell of his angers storme Nor king nor tyrant dare aske or demaund What punishment is this thou hast in hand verse 15 We all are captiues to thy regall throne Out prison is the earth our bands our sins And our accuser our owne bodies grone Prest downe with vices weights and mischiefs gins Before the barre of heau'n we pleade for fauour To cleanse our sin-bespotted bodies sauour Thou righteous art our pleading then is right Thou mercifull we hope for mercies grace Thou ordrest euery thing with looke-on sight Behold vs prisoners in earths wandring race We know thy pitty is without a bound And sparest them which in some faults be found verse 16 Thy power is as thy selfe without an end Beginning all to end yet ending none Sonne vnto vertues sonne and wisedomes frend Originall of blisse to vertue showne Beginning good which neuer ends in vice Beginning flames which neuer ende in ice For righteousnes is good in such a name It righteous is t is good in such a deed A lamp it is fed with discretions flame Begins in seede but neuer ends in seed By this we know the Lord is iust and wise Which causeth him to spare vs when he tries verse 17 Iust because iustice weighs what wisedome thinkes Wise because wisedome thinkes what iustice weighs One vertue maketh two and two more linckes Wisedome is iust and iustice neuer straies The help of one doth make the other better As is the want of one the others letter But wisedome hath two properties in wit As iustice hath two contraries in force Heate added vnto heate augmenteth it As too much water bursts a water-course Gods wisdome too much proou'd doth breed gods hate Gods iustice too much mou'de breeds Gods debate verse 18 Although the ashy prison of fire-durst Doth keepe the flaming heate imprisoned in Yet sometime wil it burne when flame it must And burst the ashie caue where it hath bin So if Gods mercy passe the bounds of mirth It is not mercy then but mercies dearth Yet how can loue breed hate without hates loue God doth not hate to loue nor loue to hate His equitie doth euery action proue Smothring with loue that spitefull enuies fate For should the teene of anger trace his brow The very puffes of rage would driue the plow verse 19 But God did end his toile when world begun Now like a louer studies how to please And win their harts againe whom mischiefe won Lodg'd in the mansion of their sins disease Hee made each mortall man two eares two eyes To heare and see yet he must make them wise If imitation should direct mans life T is life to imitate a liuing corse The things example makes the thing more rife God louing is why do wee want remorce Hee put repentance into sinfull hearts And sed their fruitlesse soules with fruitfull arts verse 20 21 If such a boundlesse Ocean of good deeds Should haue such influence from mercies streame Kissing both good and ill flowers and weedes As doth the sunnie flame of Tytans beame A greater Tethis then should mercy bee In flowing vnto them which loueth thee The sunne which shines in heau'n doth light the earth The earth which shines in sin doth spight the haau'n Sinne is earths sunne the sunne of heau'n sins dearth Both odde in light being of height note eu'n Gods mercy then which spares both good and ill Doth care for both though not alike in will verse 22 Can vice be vertues mate or vertues meate Her company is bad her foode more worse Shee shames to sit vpon her betters seat As subiect beasts wanting the Lions force Mercy is vertues badge foe to disdaine Vertue is vices stop and mercies gaine Yet God is mercifull to mischiefe flowes More mercifull in sins and sinners want God chast'neth vs and punisheth our foes Like sluggish drones amongst a
mountaines tops My honour shall bee placed in deceit And counterfait new shewes of little weight verse 10 My pen doth almost blush at this replie And faine would call him wicked to his face But then his breath would answeâ—… with a lie And staine my inck with an vntruths disgrace Thy maister bids thee write the pen sayes no But when thy maister bids it must be so Call his hart ashes oh too mild a name Call his hope vile more viler then the earth Call his life weaker then a clayeie frame Call his bespotted heart an ashye hearth Ashes earth clay conioyn'd to heart hope life Are features loue in being natures strife verse 11 Thou mightst haue chose more stinging wordes then these For this he knowes he is and more then lesse In saying what he is thou dost appease The foming anger which his thoughts suppresse Who knowes not if the best be made of clay The worst must needs be clad in foule array Thou in performing of thy maisters will Dost teach him to obay his lords commaunds But he repugnant is and cannot skill Of true adoring with heart-heau'd vp hand Hee hath a soule a life a breath a name Yet is he ignorant from whence they came verse 12 My soule saith he is but a mappe of shoes No substance but a shadow for to please My life doth passe euen as a pastime goes A momentary time to liue at ease My breath a vapour and my name of earth Each one decaying of the others birth Our conuersation best for there is gaines And gaine is best in conuersations prime A mart of lucre in our conscience raignes Our thoughts as busie agents for the time So we get gaine ensnaring simple men It is no matter how nor where nor when verse 13 We care not how for all misdeedes are ours We care not where if before God or man We care not when but when our crafts haue powres In measuring deceit with mischiefes fanne For wherefore haue we life forme and ordaining But that we should deceiue and still be gaining I made of earth haue made al earthen shops And what I sell is al of earthy sale My pots haue earthen feete and earthen tops In like resemblance of my bodies vale But knowing to offend the heauens more I made fraile images of earthy store verse 14 O bold accuser of his owne misdeedes O heauy clod more than the earth can beare Was neuer creature clothde in sauage weedes Which would not blush when they this mischief hear Thou toldst a tale which might haue bin vntolde Making the hearers blush the readers olde Let them blush still that heares be olde that reades Then boldnes shal not raigne nor youth in vice Thrice miserable they which rashly speeds With expedition to this bold deuice More foolish than are fooles whose misery Cannot be changde with new felicitie verse 15 Are not they fooles which liue without a sence Haue not they misery which neuer ioy Which takes an idoll for a Gods defence And with their self-willd thoghts themselues destroy What folly is more greater than is here Or what more miserie can wel appeere Call you them gods which haue no seeing eyes No noses for to smell no eares to heare No life but that which in deaths shadow lies Which haue no hands to feele no feete to beare If gods can neither heare liue feele nor see A foole may make such gods of euery tree verse 16 And what was he that made them but a foole Conceiuing follie in a foolish braine Taught and instructed in a wodden schoole Which made his head run of a wodden vaine T was man which made them he his making had Man full of wood was wood and so ran mad He borrowed his life and would restore His borrowed essence to another death He faine would be a maker though before Was made himselfe and God did lend him breath No man can make a god like to a man He sayes he scornes that worke he furder can verse 17 He is deceiude and in his great deceit He doth deceiue the folly-guided harts Sin lies in ambush he for sin doth waite Here is deceit deceiude in either parts His sin deceiueth him and he his sin So craft with craft is mewed in either gin The crafts-man mortall is craft mortall is Each function nursing vp the others want His hands are mortall deadly what is his Onely his sins buds in destructions plant Yet better he than what he doth deuise For he himselfe doth liue that euer dies verse 18 Say call you this a God where is his head Yet headlesse is he not yet hath he none Where is his godhead fled his power dead His raigne decayed and his essence gone Now tell me is this God the God of good Or else Siluanus monarch of the wood There haue I pierst his barke for he is so A wooden god fainde as Siluanus was But leauing him to others let vs go To senslesse beasts their new adoring glasse Beasts which did liue in life yet died in reason Beasts which did seasons eate yet knew no season verse 19 Can mortall bodies and immortall soules Keepe one knit vnion of a liuing loue Can sea with land can fish agree with foules Tygers with lambes a serpent with a doue Oh no they cannot then say why doe wee Adore a beast which is our enimy What greater foe than folly vnto wit What more deformitie than vgly face This disagrees for follie is vnfit The other contrary to beauties place Then how can senslesse heads deformed shoes Agree with you when they are both your foes Chapter XVI verse 1 OH call that word againe they are your friends Your liues associats and your loues content That which begins in them your follie ends Then how can vice with vice be discontent Beholde deformitie sits on your heads Not hornes but scornes not visage but whole beds Beholde a heap of sins your bodies pale A mountaine-ouerwhelming villany Then tell me are you clad in beauties vale Or in destructions pale-dead liuerie Their life demonstrates now aliue now dead Tormented with the beasts which they haue fed verse 2 3 You like to Pelicans haue fed your death With follies-vaine let bloud from follies veyne And almost sterude your selues stopt vp your breath Had not Gods mercie helpt and easde your paine Beholde a new-found meat the Lord did send Which taught you to be new and to amend A strange disgested nutriment euen quailes Which taught them to be strange vnto misdeeds When you implore his aide he neuer failes To fill their hunger whom repentance feeds You see when life was halfe at deaths arrest Hee new created life at hungers feast verse 4 Say is your God like this whom you ador'd Or is this God like to your handie frame If so his power could not then afford Such influence which floweth from his name Hee is not painted made of wood and stone But he substantiall is and rules alone He can oppresse and
helpe helpe and oppresse The sinfull incolants of his made earth He can redresse and paine paine and redresse The mountaine-miseries of mortall birth Now tyrants you are next this but a show And merry index of your after woe verse 5 6 Your hot-colde misery is now at hand Hot because furies heat and mercies colde Cold because limping knit in frosty band And cold and hot in being shamefast-bolde They cruell were take crueltie their part For misery is but too meane a smart But when the Tygers iawes the Serpents stings Did summon them vnto this lifes decay A pardon for their faults thy mercy brings Cooling thy wrath with pitties sunnie day O tyrants tere your sin-bemired weeds Beholde your pardon sealde by mercies deeds verse 7 8 That sting which pained could not ease the paine Those iaws that wounded could not cure the wounds To turne to stings for helpe it were but vaine To iawes for mercie which wants mercies bounds The stings ô Sauiour were puld out by thee Their iawes claspt vp in midst of crueltie O soueraigne salue stop to a bloody streame O heauenly care and cure for dust and earth Celestiall watch to wake terrestriall dreame Dreaming in punishment mourning in mirth Now knowes our enimies that it is thee Which helpes and cures our griefe and misery verse 9 Our punishment doth end theirs new begins Our day appeares their night is not oreblowne Wee pardon haue they punishment for sins Now we are raisde now they are ouerthrowne Wee with huge beasts opprest they with a flie Wee liue in God and they against God die A flie poore flie to follow such a flight Yet art thou fed as thou wast fed before With dust and earth feeding thy wonted bite With selfe-like food from mortall earthly store A mischiefe-stinging food and sting with sting Do ready passage to destruction bring verse 10 Man beeing grasse is hopt and graz'd vpon With sucking grasse-hoppers of weeping dew Man being earth is wormes vermilion Which eats the dust and yet of bloudy hue In being grasse he is her grazing food In being dust he doth the wormes some good These smallest actors were of greatest paine Of follies ouerthrow of mischiefes fall But yet the furious dragons coulde not gaine The life of those whom verities exhale These follie ouercame they foolish were These mercie cur'd and cures these godly are verse 11 When poysoned iawes and veninated stings Were both as opposite against content Because content with that which fortune brings They eased were when thou thy mercies sent The iawes of dragons had not hungers fill Nor stings of serpents a desire to kill Appal'd they were and struck with timerous feares For where is feare but where destruction raignes Agast they were with wet eye-standing teares Outward commencers of their inward paines They soone were hurt but sooner healde and cured Lest black obliuion had their minds inured verse 12 The lion wounded with a fatall blow Is as impatient as a king in rage Seeing himselfe in his owne bloody show Doth rent the harbour of his bodies cage Scorning the base-housde earth mounts to the skie To see if heauen can yeeld him remedy Oh sinfull man let him example be A patterne to thine eye glasse to thy face That Gods diuinest word is cure to thee Not earth but heauen not man but heauenly grace Nor hearb nor plaister could help teeth or sting But t was thy word which healeth euery thing verse 13 We fooles lay salues vpon our bodies skin But neuer drawe corruption from our minde We lay a plaister for to keepe in sin We drawe foorth filth but leaue the cause behinde With hearbs and plaisters we do guard misdeedes And pare away the tops but leaue the seedes Away with salues and take our Sauiours word In this word Sauiour lies immortall ease What can thy cures plaisters and hearbs afford When God hath power to please and to displease God hath the power of life death help and paine He leadeth downe and bringeth vp againe verse 14 15 Trust to thy downefall not vnto thy raise So shalt thou liue in death not die in life Thou dost presume if giue thy selfe the praise For vertues time is scarce but mischiefes rife Thou mayst offend mans nature is so vaine Thou now in ioy beware of after paine First commeth fury after fury thirst After thirst blood and after blood a death Thou mayst in fury kill whome thou louedst first And so in quassing blood stop thine owne breath And murther done can neuer be vndone Nor can that soule once liue whose life is gone verse 16 What is the body but an earthen case That subiect is to death because earth dies But when the liuing soule doth want Gods grace It dies in ioy and liues in miseries This soule is led by God as others were But not brought vp againe as others are This stirs no prouocation to amend For earth hath many partners in one fall Although the Lord doth many tokens send As warnings for to heare when he doth call The earth was burnt drownd with fire raine And one could neuer quench the others paine verse 17 Althogh both foes God made them then both frends And onely foes to them which were their foes That hate begun in earth what in them ends Sins enimies they which made friends of those Both bent both forces vnto single earth From whose descent they had their double birth T is strange that water should not quench a fire For they were heating-cold and cooling hot T is strange that wailes could not allay desire Wailes waters kinde and fire desires knot In such a cause though enimies before They would ioyne friendship to destroy the more The often weeping eies of drie lament verse 18 Doth powre forth burning water of despaire Which warms the caues frō whence the tears are sent And like hot fumes do foule their natures faire This contrary to icie-waters vale Doth scorch the cheekes makes them red pale Here fire and water are conioynde in one Within a red-white glasse of hote and cold Their fire like this double and yet alone Raging and tame and tame and yet was bold Tame when the beasts did kill and felt no fire Raging vpon the causers of their ire verse 19 Two things may well put on two seuerall natures Because they differ in each natures kind They differing colours haue and differing features If so how comes it that they haue one minde God made them friends let this the answer be They get no other argument of me What is impossible to Gods command Nay what is possible to mans vaine eare T is much he thinkes that fire should burne a land When mischiefe is the brand which fiers beare He thinkes it more that water should beare fire Then know it was Gods will now leaue t' enquire verse 20 Yet mightst thou aske because importunate How God preserude the good why because good Ill fortune made not them infortunate They Angells were
vices raigne God wanteth power say they of what we can The other would performe that which is vaine Both faultie in one fault and both alike Must haue the stroke which our lawes iudgements strike He calls himselfe a sonne from heauens descent What can earths force aualie gainst heauens defence His life by immortalitie is lent Then how can punishment his wrath incense Though death her selfe in his arraignment decke He hath his lifes preseruer at a becke verse 21 As doth the Basiliske with poysoned sight Blinde euery function of a mortall eye Disarme the bodies powers of vitall might Rob heart of thought make liuing life to die So doth the wicked with their vices looke Infect the spring of clearest vertues brooke This Basiliske mortalities chiefe foe And to the hearts long-knitted arterie Doth sometime perish at her shadowes showe Poysning her selfe with her owne poysoned eie Needs must the sting fall out with ouer-harming Needs must the tong burne out in ouer-warming verse 22 So fares it with the practisers of vice Laden with many venomous adders stings Sometimes are blinded with their owne deuice And tunes that song which their destruction sings Their mischeife blindeth their mischeiuous eies Like Basiliskes which in their shadow dies They goe and yet they cannot see their feete Like blinded pilgrimes in an vnknowen way Blind in perceiuing things which be most meete But neede nor sight nor guide to goe astray Tel them of good they cannot vnderstand But tell them of a mischeife that 's at hand The Basiliske was made to blind the sight verse 23 24 The adder for to sting the worme to creepe The viper to deuoure the dog to bite The nightingale to wake when others sleepe Onely man differs from his makers will Vndoing what is good and doing ill A god-like face he had a heauenly hue Without corruption image without spottes But now is metamorphosed anewe Full of corruption image full of blottes Blotted by him that is the plot of euill Vndone corrupted vanquisht by the deuill Chapter III. verse 1 BVt euery cloude can not hide Phoebus face Nor shut the casement of his liuing flame Nor is there euery soule which wanteth grace Nor euery hart seducde with mischiefs name Life cannot liue without corruption World cannot be without destruction Nor is the body all corrupt or world Bent wholie vnto wickednes assault The adder is not alwaies seene vncurlde Nor euery soule found guiltie in one fault Some good some bad but those whom vertues guard Heauen is their hauen comfort their reward verse 2 3 Thrice happy habitation of delight Thrice happy step of immortalitie Thrice happy soules to gaine such heauenly sight Springing from heauens perpetuitie Oh peacefull place but oh thrice peacefull soules Whom neither threats nor strife nor wars control They are not like the wicked for they liue Nor they like to the righteous for they die Each of their liues a differing nature giue One thinkes that life endes with mortalitie And that the righteous neuer liue againe But die as subiects to a grieuous paine verse 4 What labouring soule refuseth for to sweat Knowing his hire his paiment his reward To suffer winters colde and summers heate Assured of his labours due regard The Bee with summers toile will lade her hiue In winters frost to keepe herselfe aliue And what diuinest spirit would not toile And suffer many torments many paines This worlds destruction heauie laboures foile When heauen is their hire heauens ioy their gaines Who would not suffer torments for to die When deaths reward is immortalitie verse 5 Paine is the entrance to eternall ioy Death endeth life and death beginneth life Beginneth happy endeth in annoy Begins immortall peace ends mortall strife Then seeing death and paines bring ioy and heauen What need we feare deaths pain when life is giuen Say sicknes or infairmities disease As many harmes hang ouer mortall heades Should be his worlds reward yet heauen hath ease A salue to cure and quiet resting beds God maketh in earths world lament our pleasure That in heaueÌ„s world delight might be our treasure verse 6 Faire may the shadow bee the substance foule After the â—â—…all followeth the trust The clearest skinne may haue the soulest soule The purest golde will looner take the ruste The brooke though nere so cleare may take some foile The hart thogh nere so strong may take some foile Wouldst thou be counted iust make thy selfe iust Oh purifie thy mire be spotted heart For god doth trie thy actions ere he trust Thy faith thy deeds thy wordes and what thou art He will receiue no mud for clearest springs Nor thy vnrighteous wordes for righteous things verse 7 As God is perfit God and perfit good So hee accepteth none but perfit mindes They euer prosper flourish liue and bud Like blessed plants far from destructions winds Still bud nere fade still flourish nere decay Stil rise nere fall still spring nere fade away Who would not couet to be such a plant Who would not wish to stand in such a ground Sith it doth neither fruit nor blessing want Nor ought which in this plant might not be found They are the righteous which enioye this earth The figure of an euer-bearing birth verse 8 The small is alwayes subiect to the great The yong to him which is of elder time The lowest place vnto the highest seate And pale-facde Phoebe to bright Phoebus clime Vice is not gouerner of vertues place But blushes for to see see so bright a face Vertue is chiefe and vertue will be chiefe Chiefe good and chiefe Astraea Iustice mate Both for to punish and to yeeld reliefe And haue dominion ouer euery state To rghit the wrongs which wickednes hath done Deliuering Nations from life-lasting mone verse 9 Oh you whose causes plungeth in despaire Sad facde petitioners with griefes request What seeke you heere 's nor Iustice nor her heire But woe and sorrow with deaths dumbe arrest Turne vp your woe blinde eyes vnto the skie There sits the Iudge can yeeld you remedie Trust in his power he is the truest God True God true Iudge true Iustice and true guide All trueth is placed in his trueths abode All vertues seated at his verouous side He will regarde your sure and ease your plaint And mollifie your miseries constraint verse 10 Then shall you see the Iudges of the earth Summoned with the trumpet of his ire To giue account and reckning from their birth Where worthy or vnworthy of their hire The godly shall receiue their labours triall The wicked shall receiue their ioyes deniall They which did sleepe in sinne and not regarded The poore mans fortune prostrate at their feete Euen as they dealt so shall they be rewarded When they their toyled soules destruction meet From Iudges they petitioners shall be Yet want the sight which they do sue to see verse 11 That labour which is grounded on delight That hope which reason doth enrich with hap That merite which is
man Beginning life to make an end of woe Ending in him what in himselfe began His earths dominion through thy wisedomes flow Made for to rule according to desart And execute reuenge with vpright heart verse 4 Behold a crowne but yet a crowne of care Behold a scepter yet a sorrowes guise More than the ballance of my head can beare More than my hands can hold wherein it lies My crowne doth want supportance for to beare My scepter wanteth empire for to weare A leglesse body is my kingdomes mappe Limping in follie halting in distresse Giue me thy wisedome Lord my better happe Which may my follie cure my griefe redresse O let me not fall in obliuions caue Let wisedome be my baile for her I craue verse 5 Behold thy seruant pleading for his hire As an apprentice to thy gospels word Behold his poore estate his hot-cold fire His weake-strong limmes his mery woes record Borne of a woman woman-like in woe They weake they feeble are and I am so My time of life is as an houre of day T is as a day of months a month of yeeres It neuer comes againe but fades away As one mornes sunne about the hemispheres Little my memory lesser my time But least of all my vnderstandings prime verse 6 Say that my memory should neuer die Say that my time should neuer loose a glide Say that my selfe had earthly Maiestie Seated in all the glory of my pride Yet if discretion did not rule my minde My raigne would be like fortunes follie-blinde My memory a pathway to my shame My time the looking-glasse of my disgrace My selfe resemblance of my scorned name My pride the puffed shadow of my face Thus should I be remembred not regarded Thus should my labours end but not rewarded verse 7 What were it to be shadow of a king A vanitie to weare a shadow'd crowne A vanitie to loue an outward thing A vanitie vaine shadowes of renowne This King is king of shades because a shade A king in shew though not in action made His shape haue I his cognisance I weare A smoaky vapour hemd with vanitie Himselfe I am his kingdomes crowne I beare Vnlesse that wisedome change my liuerie A king I am God hath inflamed me And lesser than I am I can not be verse 8 When I commaund the people do obay Submissiue subiects to my votiue wil A prince I am and do what princes may Decreâ— commaund rule iudge performe fulfill Yet I my selfe am subiect vnto God As are all others to my iudgements rod. As doe my subiect honour my command So I at his commaund a subiect am I build a temple on mount Sions sand Erect an altar in thy citties name Resemblances these are where thou doost dwell Made when thou framedst heau'n earth and hell verse 9 Al these three casements were containd in wit T was wisedome for to frame the heauens skie T was wisedome for to make the earth so fit And hell within the lowest orbe to lie To make a heau'nly clime an earthly course And hell although the name of it be worse Before the world was made wisedome was borne Borne of heau'ns God conceiued in his breast Which knew what works would be what ages worn What labours life should haue what quiet rest What shuld displease and please in vice in good What should be clearest spring what fowlest mud verse 10 Oh make my sinfull bodies world anew Erect new elements new aires new skies The time I haue is fraile the course vntrue The globe vnconstant like ill fortunes eies First make the world which doth my soule contain And next my wisdome in whose power I raigne Illumine earth with wisedomes heau'nly sight Make her embassador to grace the earth Oh let her rest by day and lodge by night Within the closure of my bodies hearth That in her sacred selfe I may perceiue What things are good to take what ill to leaue verse 11 The bodies heate will flow into the face The outward index of an outward deede The inward sins do keepe an inward place Eies face mouth tongue euery function feede She is my face if I do any ill I see my shame in her repugnant will She is my glasse my tipe my forme my mappe The figure of my deede shape of my thought My lifes character fortune to my happe Which vnderstandeth all that heart hath wrought What workes I take in hand she finisheth And all my vitious thoughts diminisheth My facts are written in her foreheads booke verse 12 The volume of my thoughts lines of my words The sins I haue she murders with a looke And what one cheeke denies th' other affords As white and red like battels and retreates One doth defend the blowes the other beates So is her furious moode commixt with smile Her rod is profit her correction mirth She makes me keepe an acceptable stile And gouerne euery limit of the earth Through her the state of monarchie is knowne Through her I rule and guide my fathers throne verse 13 Mortalitie it selfe without repaire Is euer falling feebly on the ground Submissiue body hart aboue the aire Which faine would knowe when knowledge is not found Faine would it soare aboue the Eagles eie Though it be made of lead and cannot flie The soule and body are the wings of man The soule should mount but that lies drownd in sin With leaden spirit but doth what it can Yet scarcely can it rise when it is in Then how can man so weake know God so strong What hart from thought what thought from heart hath sprung verse 14 15 We thinke that euery iudgement is alike That euery purpose hath one finall end Our thoughts alas are feares feares horrors strike Horrors our lifes vncertaine course do spend Feare followes negligence both death and hel Vnconstant are the paths wherein we dwell The hollow concaue of our bodies vaultes Once laden vp with sins eternal graues Strait bursts into the soule the slime of faults And ouerfloweth like a sea of waues The earth as neighbour to our priuy thought keeps fast the mansion which our cares haue bought verse 16 Say can wee see our selues are we so wise Or can we iudge our owne with our owne hearts Alas we cannot folly blindes our eies Mischiefe our mindes with her mischieuous arts Folly raigns there where wisdom shuld beare sway And follies mischiefe barres discretions way O weake capacitie of strongest wit O strong capacitie of weaker sence To guide to meditate vnapt vnfit Blinde in perceiuing earths circumfluence If labour doth consist in mortall skill T is gâ—eater labour to know heauens will verse 17 The toyling spirit of a labouring man Is tosst in casualties of fortunes seas He thinkes it greater labour than he can To runne his mortall course without an ease Then who can gaine or finde celestiall things Vnlesse their hopes a greater labour brings What volume of thy mind can then containe thoghts words works which god thinks speaks
laboring ant VVee hope for mercy at our bodies doome Wee hope for heau'n the baile of earthly tombe verse 23 What hope they for what hope haue they of heau'n They hope for vice and they haue hope of hell From whence their soules eternity is giu'n But such eternity which paines can tell They liue but better were it for to die Immortall in their paine and misery Hath hell such freedome to deuoure soules Are soules so bolde to rush in such a place God giues hell power of vice which hell controules Vice makes her followers bolde with armed face God tortures both the mistris and the man And ends in paine that which in vice began verse 24 A bad beginning makes a worser end Without repentance meet the middle way Making a mediocrity their friend Which else would be their foe because they stray But if repentance misse the middle line The sunne of vertue endes in wests decline So did it fare with these which strai'd too far Beyond the measure of the middayes eye In errors waies lead without vertues star Esteeming beast-like powers for deitie Whose heart no thought of vnderstanding ment Whose tongue no word of vnderstanding sent verse 25 Like infant babes bearing their natures shell Vpon the tender heads of tendrer wit which tongue-tide are hauing no tale to tell To driue away the childhood of their fit Vnfit to tune their tongue with wisedomes string Too fit to quench their thirst in follies spring But they were trees to babes babes sprigs to them They not so good as these in being nought In being nought the more from vices stem Whose essence cannot come without a thought To punish them is punishment in season They children like without or wit or reason verse 26 To bee derided is to be halfe dead Derision beares a part tweene life and death Shame followes her with misery halfe fed Halfe-breathing life to make halfe life and breath Yet here was mercy showne their deeds were more Then could bee wipte off by derisions score This mercy is the warning of misdeedes A trumpet summoning to vertues walls To notifie their hearts which mischiefe feeds Whom vice instructs whom wickednes exhal's But if derision can not murder sin Then shame shall end and punishment begin verse 27 For many shamelesse are bolde stout in ill Then how can shame take roote in shamlesse plants When they their browes with shamelesse furrows fill And plows ech place which one plow-furrow wants Then being arm'd gainst shame with shamlesse face How can derision take a shameful place But punishment may smoth their wrinckled brow And set shame on the forehead of their rage Guiding the forefront of that shamelesse row Making it smooth in shame though not in age Then will they say that God is iust and true But t is too late damnation will ensue Chapter XIII verse 1 THe branch must needs be weake if roote be so The roote must needs be weake it branches fall Nature is vaine man cannot be her foe Because from nature and at natures call Nature is vaine and wee proceede from nature Vaine therefore is our birth and vaine our feature One body may haue two diseases sore Not being two it may be ioynde to two Nature is one it selfe yet two and more Vaine ignorant of God of good of show Which not regards the things which god hath don And what things are to doe what new begun verse 2 Why doe I blame the tree when t is the leaues Why blame I nature for her mortall men Why blame I men t is she t is she that weaues That weaues that wafts vnto destructions pen Then being blamefull both because both vaine I leaue to both their vanities due paine To prize the shadow at the substance rate Is a vaine substance of a shadowes hue To thinke the sonne to be the fathers mate Earth to rule earth because of earthly view To thinke fire winde ayre stars water and heau'n To be as Gods from whom their selues are giu'n verse 3 Fire as a God oh irreligious sound Winde as a God oh vaine oh vainest voice Aire as a God when t is but duskie ground Star as a God when t is but Phoebes choice Water a God which first by God was made Heauen a God which first by God was laide Say all hath beautie excellence array Yet beautifide they are they were they bee By Gods bright excellence of brightest day Which first implanted our first beuties tree If then the painted outside of the show Bee radiant what is the inward row verse 4 If that the shadowe of the bodies skin Bee so illumin'd with the sun-shin'd soule What is the thing it selfe which is within More wrencht more cleansde more purifi'd from foul If elementall powers haue Gods thought Say what is God which made them all of nought It is a wonder for to see the skie And operation of each ayrye power A meruaile that the heau'n should be so hie And let fall such a low distilling shower Then needs must hee bee high higher then all Which made both hie and lowe with one tongues call verse 5 The workeman mightier is then his hand-worke In making that which else would be vnmade The nere-thought thing doth alwaies hidden lurke Without the maker in a making trade For had not God made man man had not beene But nature had decayde and nere beene seene The workman neuer shewing of his skill Doth liue vnknowne to man though knowne to wit Had mortall birth beene neuer in Gods will God had beene God but yet vnknowne in it Then hauing made the glory of earths beautie T is reason earth should reuerence him in dutie verse 6 The sauadge people haue a supreame head A king though sauadge as his subiects are Yet they with his obseruances are lead Obaying his beheasts what ere they were The Turkes the infidels all haue a Lord Whom they obserue in thought in deed in word And shall we differing from their sauage kinde Hauing a soule to liue and to beleeue Be rude in thought in deed in word in minde Not seeking him which should our woes releeue Oh no deere brethren seeke our God our fame Then if wee erre we shall haue lesser blame verse 7 How can wee erre wee seeke for ready way Oh that my tongue could fetch that word againe Whose very accent makes me go astray Breathing that erring wind into my braine My word is past and cannot be recalde It is like aged time now waxen balde For they which goe astray in seeking God Doe misse the ioyefull narrow-footed path Ioyfull thrice ioyfull way to his abode Nought seeing but their shadowes in a bath Narcissus-like pining to see a show Hindring the passage which their feete should goe verse 8 9 Narcissus fantasie did die to kisse O sugred kisse dide with a poisoned lip The fantasies of these do die to misse Oh tossed fantasies in follies ship He dide to kisse the shadow of his face These liue and die to
duskie vapours hemde in blacke Behold thy downfall ready at thy hand Behold thy hopes wherein thy hazards stand Oh spurne away that blocke out of thy way With vertues appetite and wisedomes force That stumbling blocke of follie and decay That snare which doth ensnare thy treading corse Beholde thy body falls let vertue beare it Beholde thy soule doth fall let wisedome reare it verse 11 Say art thou yong or olde tree or a bud Thy face is so disfigured with sin Yong I doe thinke thou art in what in good But olde I am assur'd by wrinckled skin Thy lips thy tongue thy heart is yong in praying But lips and tongue and heart is olde in straying Olde in adoring idolls but too yong In the obseruance of diuinest lawe Yong in adoring God though olde in tong Olde and too olde yong and too yong in awe Beginning that which doth begin misdeeds Inuenting vice which all thy body feeds verse 12 13 But this corrupting and infecting foode This caterpiller of eternitie The foe to blisse the canker vnto good The new accustom'd way of vanitie It hath not euer beene nor shall it be But perish in the branch of follies tree As her descent was vanities aline So her descending like to her descent Here shall shee haue an end in hell no fine Vaine glory brought her vainely to be spent You know all vanity drawes to an end Then needs must shee decay because her frend verse 14 Is there more follie then to weepe at ioy To make eyes watrie when they should be drie To greeue at that which murders griefes annoy To keepe a shower where the sunne should lie But yet this folly-cloude doth oft appeare When face should smile and watry eie bee cleere The father mournes to see his sonne life-dead But seldome mournes to see his sonne dead-liu'd Hee cares for earthly lodge not heau'ns bed For death in life not life in death suruiu'd Keeping the outward shadow of his face To worke the inward substance of disgrace verse 15 Keeping a shew to counterpoize the deed Keeping a shadow to be substance heire To raise the thing it selfe from shadowes seed And make an element of liuelesse aire Adoring that which his owne hands did frame Whose hart inuention gaue whose tong the name But could infection keepe one setled place The poyson would not lodge in euery brest Nor feede the hart the minde the soule the face Lodging but in the carcasse of her rest But this Idolatry once in mans vse Was made a custome then without excuse verse 16 Nay more it was at tyrannies commaund And tyrants cannot speake without a doome Whose iudgement doth proceed from heart and hand From heart in rage from hand in bloudy tombe That if through absence any did neglect it Presence should pay the ransome which reiect it Then to auoide the doome of present hate Their absence did performe their presence want Making the image of a kingly state As if they had new seed from sins olde plant Flattring the absence of olde mischiefes mother With the like forme and presence of another verse 17 Making an absence with a present sight Or rather presence with an absent view Deceiuing vulgars with a day of night Which know not good from bad nor false from true A crafts-man cunning in his crafty trade Beguiling them with that which he had made Like as a vane is turn'd with euery blast Vntill it point vnto the windie clime So stand the people at his worde agast Hee making olde new forme in new-olde time Defies and deifies all with one breath Making them liue and die and all in death verse 18 They like to Tantalus are fed with shoes Shewes which exasperat and cannot cure They see the painted shadow of suppose They see her sight yet what doth sight procure Like Tantalus they feed and yet they starue Their foode is caru'd to them yet hard to carue The crafts-man feeds them with a staruing meat Which doth not fill but empty hungers gape Hee makes the idoll comely faire and great With well limnd visage and best fashioned shape Meaning to giue it to some noble view And faine his beautie with that flattring hue verse 19 Enamour'd with the sight the people grew To diuers apparitions of delight Some did admire the portraiture so new Hew'd from the standard of an olde trees hight Some were allur'd through beutie of the face With outward eye to worke the soules disgrace Adored like a God though made by man To make a God of man a man of God T is more then humaine life or could or can Though multitudes applause in error trode I neuer knew since mortall lifes abod That man could make a man much lesse a God verse 20 Yes man can make his shame without a maker Borrowing the essence from restored sin Man can be vertues foe and vices taker Welcome himselfe without a welcome in Can he doe this yea more oh shamlesse ill Shamefull in shame shamelesse in wisedomes will The riuer of his vice can haue no bound But breakes into the ocean of deceit Deceiuing life with measures of dead ground With carued idols disputations baite Making captiuitie cloth'd all in mone Bee subiect to a God made of a stone verse 21 Too stony hearts had they which made this lawe Oh had they beene as stony as the name They neuer had brought vulgars in such awe To be destructions pray and mischiefes game Had they beene stone-dead both in looke fauour They neuer had made life of such a sauour Yet was not this a too sufficient doome Sent from the roote of their sin-oregrowne tong To cloud gods knowledge with hel mischiefs gloome To ouerthrowe truths right with falshoods wrong But dayly practised a perfect way Still to begin and neuer end to stray verse 22 23 For either murders pawe did gripe their harts With whispring horrors drumming in each eare Or other villanies did play their parts Augmenting horror to newe strucken feare Making their hands more then a shambles stall To slay their children ceremoniall No place was free from staine of blood or vice Their life was markt for death their soule for sin Marriage for fornications thawed ice Thought for despaire body for eithers gin Slaughter did either end what life begunne Or lust did end what both had left vndone verse 24 25 The one was sure although the other faile For vice hath more competitors then one A greater troupe doth euermore auaile And villanie is neuer found alone The bloud-hound folows that which slaughter kild And theft doth folow what deceit hath spild Corruption mate to infidelitie For that which is vnfaithfull is corrupt Tumults are schoole fellowes to periury For both are full when either one hath supt Vnthankfullnes defiling and disorders Are fornications and vncleannes borders See what a sort of rebells are in armes verse 26 To root out vertue to supplant her raigne Opposing of them selues against all harmes To the deposing of her empires