whose right hand doth plant The rut'lant starres amidst the Firmament Who pav'st the Ocean with thy orient gem Plant in my soule thy Artimesian stem And like the lotos in Euphrates bosome Be thou the Sun that still re-clears my blossome But ay me what is this I now doe heare Thee say to Mary Mary come not neare And touch me not Art thou that fi'ry bush Which made old Moses stand afar no tush The flames and threats of Sinay now are gone And thou art made our very flesh and bone Yea thou hast bid us touch and taste and feele How good thou art to Isr'els Common-weale And yet as if thou wouldst some distance try Thou stopp'st our wonted famil'arity It is not long since thou endur'dst a touch Which justly tearmed might have been Non-such A Traitor kissed thee a Rascall knave Did with his buffet and his spit out-brave Thy glorious face thy head was crown'd with thorns Thy hands and feet were pierc'd and with proud scorns Of thy unlook'd for death a speare did part The water and the blood from out thy heart Those touches thou endur'dst but ay me now Thou call'st for distance but I know not how It can subsist with thy unchanged love To change a sweet imbracet'a sad remove But pardon me my God for now I finde That too much love hath made her judgment blinde For since she saw thee put in porta mortis Her eyes have still been drown'd in aqua fortis And in her rapture whil'st she cryes Rabboni She turnes her Benjamini to Benoni For though thou still be what thou wast before True God and Man yet art thou now some more Then man and mortall but immortall now Kodesh laihova is writ on thy brow The Vrim and the Thummim on thy breast Tels Aaron's dead and Melchisedeck â—s Priest And since true life hath triumph over death Now must we live no more by sense but faith And by the spirit not the flesh must we Now seek our God and his felicitie Some eight dayes hence Christs Disciples meet And in a private chamber closely sit The doores being shut Christ Jesus commeth in And greets them with his 〈◊〉 then doth begin To rouz their 〈…〉 Soulles from â—eare to â—aith Which oâ— salvaâ—ion 〈…〉 promise hath To waken Thomas from his misbeliefe For lack of faith ' mongst many sins is chiefe Thomas saith he thou hast of late deny'd To trust my Resurrection till my side My hands my feet and all my wounds doe give Thee by thy touch true reason to believe I pitty this thy weaknes for I know The sourse and fountain whence this stream doth flow Is not proud malice but infirmitie The sp'rit speaks faith flesh infidelitie T is true that when those wounds I did receive And from my Crosse was carried to my grave Thou didst not see me for thou rann'st away When Judas by his kisse did me betray But now thou art return'd and so am I Thou from thy fears I from mortality And since I see upon thy fingers end Thy faith and resolution doth depend Come come thy touch not only shall be fed But al 's ' thy other senses satisfied Come come I say behold those wounds of mine And let not misbeliefe ' gainst faith repine Reach here thy fingers boldly touch my hands Touch those my feet see how my side yet stands Wide open with those wounds which did of late My harmlesse body cru'ly penetrate And be not thou a faith lesse Did'mus more But make true faith ov'rflow thy hard hearts shore Thomas no sooner doth stretch out his fingers To touch Christs side when loe from off her hingers Christ pulls his heart which then was hard as stone And with the touch of true contrition Makes him bewaile his infidel'ty more Then he was bent to harden it before O now I finde saith he and cryes aloud Thou art the Christ my very Lord my God O happy Thomas what a happy change Is this which now doth in thy bosome range Of late thou saidst Unlesse I surely see The stamps of death in his mortalitie I will not trust what ever can be sed That he from death can be recovered But now behold what nature could not see Faith doth perceive behold that Mustard tree Of faith in thee hath been most shrewdly shaken Yet from the root it hath not quite been taken O what a forcelesse force of heav'ns high thought This alteration in thy brest hath wrought For one thing thou didst see believe another And this made Faith and Nature joyn together One thing thy eyes did see that he was Man Thy heart believes him God 't is more than can By natures rules or documents of art Couch in thy conscience or confirm thy heart But ô the power of the Almighty who Unto the weak joyns grace and nature so That what weak nature cannot work for want Of strength grace there doth furnish supplement And though that faith doth build her house on that Which to the nat'rall eye 's unseen yet what May help weak nature and procure her strength She doth amasse together and at length From both their Magazens draws forth that store Of grace which Sathan can deface no more Thrice happy Thomas who didst thus believe Because thou saw'st but if that God shall give The grace to such as never saw to trust Thrice happy they their faith shall make them just For when they by the heav'ns great power shall Arise to make their last Judiciall Account their unseen faith shall make them see Death hath no sting Grave hath no vietorie Thus standeth Thomas to the faith converted From him a hard heart by a touch is parted Christ to the rest of those his brethren saith Brethren these times require much strength of faith Harken therefore to what I to you say 'T is long since I first said I goe my way And you were heavy that I so should speak For then your faith was wav'ring faint and weak But now your eares have heard youe eyes have seen What I have suffred yet my wounds be green Gird up your loynes therefore henceforth be strong For he who wrongeth you to me doth wrong And whoso harmeth you he harmeth me I love you as the apple of mine eye Yet must not I alwayes on earth remain I to my Father must return again And to your Father to my God I goe And to your holy one and God also My God is your God and my Father 's yours The gates of hell and all their darkned powr's Shall not be able ' gainst you to prevaile My Scepter and my Rod their strength shall quaile Full forty times brave Titan now hath run About the world and stay'd where he begun Full forty dayes hath he yea each day once Saluted and adieu'd both Horizons Full forty times hath Pha'ton's Chariots wheel Bid Flora both good morrow and farewell Now now 't is time that Jesus should goe hence T' enjoy the throne of his magnificence Not
tear-drown'd eye Weeps out his soules sad sorrowes but for what They neither know nor can prognosticat Is this the grave saith he where Laz'rus lyeth Is this the Tomb which his dead corps implyeth It is say they then roll away this stone Which holds him in his dusty mansion No no saith Martha now the time is past This is the fourth day since we made it fast Corruption e're now hath made him stench His putrifaction no perfume can quench What Martha saith he have not I e're now Told thee that if by faith thou shouldst subdue Thy soule thou shouldst behold the pow'r of God Change Moses serpent to an usefull rod They roll away the stone to heav'n doth he Lift up his heart his hand and weeping eye And with a loud voyce he doth thus encall His Fathers hearing O great All of all O dread Creator and ô loving Father From whom all creatures doe their essence gather I thank thee that thou now hast heard me nay I know that thou dost heare me every way But that this people may believe that thou Who in thy selfe art very truth and true Hast sent me thy right hands great strength to prove And to the sonnes of men make known thy love To thee I cry'd and yet to thee doe cry That thou wouldst their hard hearts once mollifie This said he straight on Lazarus doth call Come forth come forth stay no more there at all I have the keyes of life and death therefore To thee my quickning spirit I restore No sooner hath he spoke these words then he Who lay in death and graves captivitie Comes forth bound hand and foot with those poor ties Which laugh to scorn lifes superfluities Now loose him saith he loose him let him goe For God is Lord of life and death also O what a world of miracles doe here In coacervat troops of pow'r appeare He weeps and spends his teares this tells he 's Man His word awakes the dead God only can He makes the bound to walk and blind to see All this t' expresse his sacred Deity Yet will not loose the bonds nor move the stone Himselfe but gives to men direction To act that part that by this Riddle he May teach the sonnes of men a mysterie That he who without man did man first make Will not man but by man save or forsake Qui fecit te sine te non servat te sine te For though God works his work mirac'lously Yet t'ordinary meanes he doth man ty And now in end to shew how Christ of late The deafe and dumb did both re-consolate How for the payment of a Tributes penny A Dolphine from the deep affords him money How graciously th' Adulteresse is freed And both from sinne and shame stands purifi'd How that poor man who from the wombe was blinde By clay and spittle doth his eye-sight finde How Jairus daughter and the widdows sonne Of Naine were reviv'd how he alone Did feed five thousand with five barly loaves How dry-foot on the Seas proud waves he roaves I dare not longer undertake to tell Lest under such a weight my spirits faile Let this suffice those few which here be shown Make both his Godhead and his Manhead known The Proselyt's CANTO 5o. AS when a grave and sage Gymnosophist Minding to put his Scholler to the list Of publick dispute whence he hopes to gaine The honour of his long turmoyling paine Prescribes him first some disputable Theam To be contested in the Acadeam Which being toss'd in Dialectique manner By quircks and Sophismes of a subtill strainer Gives correspondent hopes or fears of what The publick The'ter can emarginat So Nicodemus having oft times heard Of that rich glory and that rich reward Which Christ had promis'd to all such as should By his directions be govern'd and rul'd Goes privily by night to him to try Who was the stronger Christ or th' Pharisie Master saith he I see thou art a man Come out from God for certainly none can Or speake or doe as thou hast spoke and done Without some divine inspiration Is' t so saith Christ brave Nicodemus now I needs must tell thee what thou dost not know Except a man be born again 't is sure He shall not enter in at Glories doore Be born again saith he what 's this I heare VVhat man can make this paradox appeare Can he that 's old return to 's mothers wombe And thence being born again a childe become This Maxim seemeth very strange to me It over-tops my weak capacity VVhat dost thou think this strange doth Christ then say That man must needs be born again Nay nay Unlesse a man be born again by water And by the Spirits inward hid lavacre He cannot enter in Gods kingdome for What 's born of flesh is flesh and what is more What is born of the Spirit 's likewise Spirit VVithout this birth no man can heav'n inherit The winde blows where it lists thou hear'st the sound Thereof but canst not tell where 't may be found From whence it comes or whither it doth goe So hidden are his waves who makes it blow Come come saith Necodemus tell me where Thou canst be bold this Doctrine to averre Thou speak'st to me of being born again But of a new birth I conceive no strain Thou prat'st to me of heav'ns great Kingdome but Of that Monarchick state I see no jot Make me then see a reason and a cause Of what thou speak'st else hold thy peace and pause VVell Nicodemus now of truth I see That Nature is to Grace an Enemie And what the nat'rall man thinks wisdome that Doth God as folly excommunicat And what the Lord counts wisdome that doth Nature Abhorre as voyd of her perfections feature VVhat if I should be bold but to demand Of thee this question what strong pow'r and hand Did frame thee in thy mothers womb when yet In darknesse as a Non-ens thou didst sit Whose fingers there condens'd thy bones what power Did fill thy veines with Bozra's crimson shower VVho made thy nerves and artyrs so to tie Thy bodies compact and societie Who fram'd thy braines great Chaos liver spleen Thy boyling choller or thy moyst'ning phleagm VVho made thy eyes so watchfull Centinels VVho made thy nose Judge of so various smels VVho made thy tongue to speak or eares to hear VVho made thy knees to bow or back to bear And last of all whence hadst thou that poor breath Whose presence lends thee life whose absence death Whose influence warms thee with celestiall fire And whose unmoved motion doth aspire In a poor minute to run round about Earths drossie globe and Seas green glassie spout Then in an eyes poor twinkle strives to know The treasures of the windes hail rain and snow Thence falling down doth view that woefull deep Wherein the Vessels of Gods wrath doe weep Thence scaling all the heav'ns doth scan the course Of all the Stars in their imperiall sourse Thence soaring higher
diffembling hearts To goe and take him where soere they could And for their paines doe promise heaps of gold Me thinks I see that foul malignant spirit Who doth eternall darknesse pit inherit Sitting at top of this lewd Councell-table Breath this advice to his unhallow'd rabble My friends saith he you descant on a theam Whereon depends or ignominious shame Or never fading honour strive therefore T' acquit your selves as men for I bhorre That in such exployts those which follow me Should faint for feare or swerve for infamie Dally no more with strangers for this fact A home-bred traitor's fittest for this act For when a stranger stands afarre for fear A bold Dome stique dar'th and draweth near 'T is long since I did know the wayes of man 'T is long since I his greatest strength did scan Yet did I never finde so safe a way As by a friend upon a friend to pray With Adam when at first I meant to wrestle I caught the Linot in his breast did nestle And by that rib which from his side was taken I knock'd his pate since then 't is alwayes shaken Whil'st Sampson as a Naâ—'rite kept his haire Nor Gath nor Ekron could with him compare But when in Gaza Dalilah pinn'd his harp He found that Sorecks Scissers were 〈◊〉 sharp When no man could prevaile for Ahais fall At Ramoth Gilead then did I enstall A lying spirit in Zedekiah's mouth He play'd the Prophet Achab felt the truth In vain therefore you doe this man assaile By strength of hand Desire you to prevaile Conduce with Judas let him have some gain I fire the match he blows't lay you the train This spoke like to a Persian Decree Dagon doth seale the Statute hence go'th he But ô how wofull wretches be all you Who to this statute and decree doe how It had been good that you had ne're been born Better not be at all than be forlorn They call anon for Judas he doth come They greet him with applauding welcome home They doe intreat him that he would betray His master to them he at first sayes nay But being urg'd he sayes what will you give And I shall bring him to you safe alive They give him thirty silv'rings for his pay And he to catch his master goes away Of late that spirit who feeds on endlesse fire Did put a snare of Mammons foul desire Before my Master that worlds plenteous store Might make him worship him and what is more Of late I heard thee very Judas say To Mary Magdalen what meanes this pray And store of pretious oyntment were it sold And put in treasure for the poor it would Afford three hundred pence to ease their need Their backs to cover and their bellies feed Where 's now thy Piety and pirty gone How is thy soft heart turn'd â—'a heart of stone Ah now I see th' art sent to Mammons schoole For he is peâ—â—â—y-wiâ—e and thou pound-foole I will deliver him to you thou say'st But this is more proud wormling then thou may'st Had not his Father giv'n him by Decree Had he not giv'n himselfe most willinglie Had not the holy Ghost anoynted him To be a sacrifice for human crime Nor damned thou nor all the Dev'ls of hell Could make one haire from off his head to fall But now the bargain 's made the price is payd The Sonne of Man to sinners is betray'd The Passeover that night must needs be kill'd And so th' Almighty-father's will sufill'd No man doth shew himselfe more apt or bent To snatch the seale of the old Testament Then he whostands the better Cov'nants foe That he partakes and lets this other goe O foul hypocrifie I deep induration That cares not for true piety but fashion And by hid fraud seeks to blind-fold the eyes Of that great God who unseen all things sees They sit at table and the Passeov'r eat Jesus beholding this white Dev'll at meat Cries Verily some one that sits nigh by Hath sold me and this night shall me betray Who would not think but shame in Judas face Should have bewray'd both him and his trespasse But sinnes bad custome hath so steel'd his brow That he to blush for shame forgetteth now Of all the rest each one can search and say Tell me good Master is it I or I The Master for a time doth hold his peace Then opes his mouth and boldly to his face Layes down the modell of his treach'rous way That so his future state he might display It cannot be saith Christ but needs must come Offences but woe to the man by whom The sonne of man shall be berray'd it had Been good for him a mill-stone had been layd About his neck and then perfidiou he Should have been thrown into the deepest Sea Yea good it had been for him that his mother Had never borne him All this he doth smother And with a bold out facing count'nar cecry Speak plainly Master rell me is it I Christ having charg'd him by his accusation For his indictment addes this affirmation Now thou hast said it what thou dost goe doe Take here the sop I reach thee goe goe too And what thou dost doe quickly for the will Of my great Father I thirst to fulfill Nor will I drink more of this grape of wine Till in the heav'ns I drink it fresh and fine No sooner hath he spoke those words when loe Sathan mans hatefull and orewarching foe Entreth in Judas and doth take possession Of his foule heart for all his faire profession Some ignorant by stander would have thought Surely this man some speciall good hath wrought That thus his Master doth the rest ore-top And onely greet him with this speel all sop O but by outward gifts no man can prove Either Gods righteous justice or his love For many times the wicked have excesse While as the righteous perish its distresse Better it had been for that false Disciple That he no lamb should eat or wine could tipple Then that by their big morsels Bathan should Make his foul heart his secret den and hold Not that or bread or wine could keep within Their secret bosoms such a snare for finne Or that a sop dipt in so fowre a sauce Of such a bad effect could be the cause No that were hard no man should then digest His daily bread but Sathan should arest Their soules as capriues act him were it so That by their food he could their soules ov'rthrow No no that bread and wine were then no more A common dyet as they were before But Sacramentall then they were and thus Exchang'd from common to a sacred use He who did eat them without faith and love Did reap no profit to his soules behove But he who in true faith those morsels ear Receiv'd a better and spirituall meat Even that true bread of life that came from heaven And that true wine which to the Saints is given Judas foul heart being emptl'd of all grace It was no wonder
are gone His foes are fill'd with feare amaze and wonder Like Latmos rent with heav'ns high ratling thunder Seraphick Spirits bow before his face Mortality to glory now gives place And all the Children of his wedding Chamber Whose lips are Corrall and whose locks are Amber Whose eyes Carbuncles are in dark of night Gladly doe now attend this mornings light And from the grave they role away that stone Which Caiaphas had fet his seale upon 'T were strange to see that was could make that sure That heav'ns had destin'd to distemp'tature But now the Scriptures are fulfill'd which say He gives his Angels charge 〈◊〉 thy way To keep thee lest thy foot should either slip Or'gainst a stone at any time should trip Yet was it neither Angels might nor power That did return life to my Saviour But that same Godhead which in him did dwell Restor'd his life and did his death expell For though his soule was from his body cut His Godhead from his Man hood was not shut For that great tye of Hypostatick union Shall never be dissolv'd or lose communion No no Mans nature which he did assume And unite to the Word i' th' Virgins wombe Shall in no after time or taste Confusion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or by a stronger hand ' plain of Division Or by a change smell any Alteration Or by or death or life have Separation But shall for ay that union retaine Where three are one and one is three againe No sooner doth my Soules brave Sampson draw Gaza's gate-barrs asunder then his aw Maketh earths wieghty globe to reatch and reele About him like Ixyons giddy wheele The dead arise and to the Citty goe As witnesse of his great triumphing show The Lyons to their dens return apace Because great Judah's Lyon shakes his tresse And all the beasts of neighb'ring Forrests feare Whilst they this matchlesse Lyon's roaring heare The chirping birds whose sweet melodious notes Bring sweeter crotchets from their carr'ling throats Then all Apollo's nymphs can straine or sing Unto his Harps delicious fingering Betake themselves unto their wings to flie Rather then in an Earthquakes arms to die The nibling Lambs which graze on Vesta's kirtle And sips her hony suckles and her mirtle Leaving their breakfast bleat and cry and call Each one to gaze anothers festivall Great Neptune and his Thetye now sing dumbe Because the Soveraign of the Seas is come To put a hooke in their nostrills and draw Leucotheo from Achelous maw But above all the long-liv'd Phenix seems As freshly wak'd from her reviving flames To greet him with the rarest welcome that E're Lark or Finch or Linot modulat And at his foot her starry Spangled Crown As to the righteous owner she throws down For she reviv'd hath thousand years in store But he requickneth lives for evermore In end comes Titan dayes bright shining eye Who lately slept in darknesse Cannopy And from his Orient or Eoan wave Where Neptune doth his steps in pearle engrave Seeing a clearer Sun i' th' West arise To all his Naids and his Napaeis cries Look here and see the rare yea rarest wonder That ever Earth held up or Heav'ns kept under Two Suns arise at once and in one day Two Titans to the world their lights display The one wherof although he rise must fall The other knowes no Occident at all Thus is my Saviour up and mangre hell And all the pow'rs of darknesse there doe dwell A new light life and liberty is given To all that hunger for the light of Heaven 'T is true no article o' th' Christian faith More faithlesse or reluctant en'mies hath Then hath the Doctrine of the Resurrection Whil'st it stands canvass'd by humane direction Yea nature ne'er requir'd a better sport Then tosse this Ball within her Tennis-court For faith it selfe can hardly sound this deep How a scatter'd non ens to an ens can creep Although that Nature and the Scriptures both Have writ the hieroglyphicks of this truth The Phoenix spicie nest her Mistris burneth Yet she from out her fatall Urne returneth When length of time sun-staring Eagles spills They doe revive by casting off their bills Hearbs trees and plants which in the winter wither I' th' spring receive both sap and life together The Corn we sow doth first corrupt and die Yet from that death their grains doe multiply And if 't be true Medaea for the sake Of Jason made old Aesons youth t' awake But Scripture tells us that the first man hath By sinne subdu'd all mankinde unto death And that the second man doth yeeld more grace Requickning that which dy'd by our trespasse And unto Abram's seed the Lord hath said I am the livings God and not the dead Adde unto this that he who first did make All things of nothing can from something take With lesser pain this little world of Man Then when at first he from the dust it span Nor is it just that any coupled paire Who work together should not have like share Of glory after death who in their life ' Gainst Sin and Sathan kept a conjunct strife Why art thou then so sad my Soule and why Art thou cast down with such anxiety Dost not thou know that Christ is made thy head And thou by faith his living member made He is thy husband thou his wedded wife Whil'st he doth live how canst thou doubt of life He is the root and thou his ingraft-branch When thou art judg'd he sitteth on the bench He is our Main which by our faith 's hid pores Refreshing waters to our springs restores And till his never ebbing streams goe dry We need not fear to lack a new supply Naked from out our mothers wombe we come And thither naked must we once goe home Yet we believe earth shall not still enfold Us in her arms that were too base a hold For any in whose soule the sp'rit of grace Hath made his mansion or a dwelling place No sure suppose these putrid tents of clay Wherein we sojourn for a night or day Must be dissolved better buildings we In heav'n shall have For Immortalitie Shall this our Mortall swallow and devoure Our weaknes then shall be exchang'd to power Corruption shall to incorruption turne And shame shak'd off we shall no longer mourn For what by Nature we doe here inherit Shall there renew'd be by th'Eternals Sp'rit Though then the grave unto weak natures taste Relish no better then the hemlocks feast Yet from her arms we reap a richer store Then ever nature did possesse before For there the poore have peace from their oppression There earths horsleeches shrink from their possession There rich and poore the high the low and all To earthly tempest ly no more made thrall But waiting for the return of their Judge In secret for a while lye still and lodge Since then I know that my Redeemer liveth And that he shall perform what faith believeth In all the periods of my lifes poore