wise just good impassive excellent Eternall Monarch All-commanding all End of all ends of Firsts th' Originall Great Light of lights Cause of all causes and Chiefe Life of lifes unseen all-seeing brand Who e'r the Worlds Idaea first was fram'd E'r Eurus blew e'r Seas or Earth was nam'd Ev'n from Eternity did in One combine One Trine-une essence one essentiall Trine Him shalt thou finde e'r Time could stretch his station In unsearch'd deep eternall Observation Fore-know his creatures in their severall ends And severall courses that the same attends Yea as his aye and all fore-seeing eye Fore-knew his creatures from eternity So hath hee made his pleasure and good will A still enflamed Limbeck wherein till Mans waies are so confin'd compos'd control'd That all his Mercure's turn'd to perfect gold This is his work though wondrous in our eyes Ev'n his whose throne transcends our starry skies From contrair's to extract a contrair ' story Whose contestation still effects his glory Thus did he in the worlds first byrth forth bring This universall-All from out nothing And by his word hee made lights glistring Lamp Shine in the midst of darknes shady Camp Thus doth he now in times last time from far Call things that are not ev'n as though they were And makes his Mercy sup'r abound in store Where Sins abundant plenty dwelt before No heare mee Virgin pause for pause thou must Hee that revives the Phoenix from her dust Hee that from darknesse center springs the day Hee that from gates of death doth life display And he who without woman first did make Of Adams rib an Evah for his sake Shall without knowledge of a Man provide To make the' a-sacred Mother Virgin Bride Thus spoke hee and then disappears and now The maid 's alone who on her knees doth bow And with her hands lift up to heav'ns high throne She sighs this sacred exultation Loe here I am thy servant mighty Lord Bee 't unto mee according to thy word If thou on mee hast plac'd thy hearts delight Then let thy hand-maid prosper in thy sight Yet O thou great and everlasting Father How shall I wonder or evanish rather At this thy wondrous work thou dost expresse On mee the chiefest worm of wretchednesse For thou hast look'd upon the base condition Of mee thy servant in so wondrous fashion That henceforth all succeeding times shall call Mee bless'd because of this memoriall Thy mighty hand hath done for mee great things And great 's thy name thou royall King of kings For by the strength of thy right hand thou scatters Man's vain imaginations like spilt waters Thou thrust'st the mighty down from Iv'ry seats And makst the abject to possesse their states Thou fill'st the hungry with thy blessings store And mak'st the full through penury to roare Thou mak'st thy promise a continuall creede To Abraham Isaac Jacob and their feede Yea from the stem of Jesse thou mak'st known To all that feare thee ' thy salvation Bless'd bee thou then thou God of Israel who Hast visit and redeem'd thy people so That by the splendor of that Bright day star Which thou hast made to shine both neer and far The tender mercies of our tender God In wondrous plenty visits us abroad And gives us matter while the world 's great frame Endures to prayse and magnifie thy Name Immanuel or Puerperie CANTO 4o. GReat God who by thy words great pow'r brought From nothing's-Chaos this our all things by rth Great Spirit whose secret certain prescience Fore-knows and guides all humane accidents Eternall Light from whose all-seeing ey Nothing is hid no not eternity If ere thou mad'st my silly simple Soule In sacred rage to rise above the Pole Now now reflect bright Sun thy golden rayes On my poore Moone eclips'd by thy delays Ravish my Spirit Life of my Soule revive My starving thoughts that I may truly give A perfect strain and perfectly record The Incarnation of thy ' ternall Word That so in sacred fury I may limbe Though with a coale the first-born Prince of Time And to the after-age in verse expresse God living suffering rising in the flesh But ay me where shall stripling I begin T' unfold this Daedal ' Labyriuth wherein Nature shall sooner lose her selfe then gain A steddy course amidst this Ocean For nature never hath as yet exprest His first-born being in th'Eternal's brest And how shall humane wisdom now forth tell The second byrth-right of Immanuel 'T is true some doating Atheists big with tumors Of brain-sick Heresies impoys'ning humors Like blinde men groaping in the day have run By light of Nature to display this Sun But all in vain the more they scan this point The more they find their judgements out of joynt Here one conceiting God cannot be born Ebion Hath therefore laught his Deity to scorn Another seeing him true Gods true Son Marcion Denieth him Man by Incarnation A third beholding him both God and Man Euâ—iches Confounds his Natures by a naturall span A fourth enforc'd by force of truth to see Nestor God joyn'd with man in Pers'nall unitie Hath from his true distinguish'd Natures frame Giv'n him two Hypostatick persons theame Which like Hippocrates undissever'd twins Together quicken live dye ends begins But hath not Esay much more cleerly told To Judahs King that Time should once unfold Esay 7.14 From out a Virgins womb a glorious Prince Whose Passion should expiate our offence Immanuel God with us and even Man of the Virgin and a God from Heaven Not God alone but Man also or rather God of himselfe Sonne gotten of the Father Both God and Man in whom both reall Natures Of God and Man distinguish'd by true features And severall functions stands dissever'd so As no division can their seat ore-throw And so distinguish'd that albe't there be Two Natures there distinguish'd really Yet to averre two Persons thereupon Were Sathans dark prevarication No no Immanuel and that God with us Our Advocate our Judge and our Jesus Abiding what he was e'r Time become In Time what he was not and being the same Was in our flesh without Confusions wonder Or rending of his Person ev'r asunder Inaugurate by Heav'ns dread Monarchs love A Prophet Priest and Prince for our behove A Prophet by whose documents we learne The things which Nature never could discerne By force of Reason for th' Almighty did In secret silence his best Counsels hide Till his Eternall word made flesh should frame The glorious promulgation of the same A Priest also the Virgins Sonne must be T' accomplish the Almighties dread Decree Of Mercy and of Justice both so that Th' Almighty might in both b'inviolat A Soveraign Prince he needs must be also To lead Captivity captive and ore-throw That Prince of Darknesse who by Sinnes proud hands Kept both our life and liberty in bands That as by him our feares our foes and all Captivities are captivate and thrall So he in God may make us
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
Of Peace of Mercy and of Lovesick-motion VVherewith the Man-God my Redeemer hath Releas'd my Darling both from Sin and Death But since my wit is weake my pen unable My judgment shallow and my hand unstable To give a true characterizing strain Unto thy Greatnes Goodnes Mercies-Main O grant that whilst thou openest thus my mouth T' unfold the Tenor of thy sacred Truth I bee not like those stones which by the way Unmov'd themselves the beaten rode display Nor like that Canall and that watry Spout VVhich from the fountaine to it's bubling snout Conveys pure streams of coole refreshing water For th' use of others whilst it self 's no better No first inform my mind then cleer mine eye That I may learn what depth of Deiry Thy VVisdome hath entrencht within the Vail Of flesh and made it there reside and dwell Then touch my lips and guide my babling pen That I may warble to the sons of men The sweet Hyblaean Nectar of thy Powre That brings us sweetnes from our bitter-sowre So shall I teach thy Saints thy waies aright Whilst thy all-seeing eye vouchsafes mee sight The Prodrome CANTO 2o. I Sing the wonders of that wondrous GOD Who being essentially one is Trin'ly od Not in that first born Word-begotten Mater Whose after-byrth was fire ayre earth and water From whom and to whom as their native sourse Time reconveys his childrings circled course Nor gaze I that re-colonizing Boat Wherein old Noah twelve months pent did float On steepe high Mountains and Ryphaean woods Like Neptune trampling on those swallowing floods Which from Heav'ns-sluces Earths hid vains and Seas Deep-channels did God's wrath anatomize Nor minde I now to lim that wondrous Love Which burning in Elohim's brest above Did Shem and Heber's sacred line re-bring From Shinar's soyl and fayre Euphrates spring T' attend the loadstar of th'Eternals call Amidst those plains where Jordan's course doth craule Nor shall my bubling pen those plagues expresse Which from the heav'ns in wraths enrag'd excesse On Zâ—an's field and Mizraim's flowry Tent Were as postilions of their wrath down sent Nor sing I those divine decrees and wonders VVhose voice contemper'd with a thousand thunders Breeds more respect in Israel's haughty heart VVho notwithstanding acts the truants part Then all those Lawes which Numa could afford Or yet the Spartane or Cecropian Lord L. S. No those already have in matchlesse Ore Traverst both Vestae's lap and Thetis shore And by the pencill of a glorious Gawl D. B. Have drawn the curtain of our azur'd All In such a sort that time shall never bring So sweet a draught from Hippocrene's spring Save that which Albian's Mercury Trismegist J. S. Hath quintessenc'd from Ampelonaes brest No no my care shall bee in heav'n-bred trance To gaze his more then wondrous excellence From whom all things as from their common father Doe all their essence and their being gather That true beginning midst and end of all VVho but beginning midst or end at all Is ground and top of that uncoupled chaine VVhich links poore sinners to their Soveraign The blessed Son I sing of God and Man VVho born in time yet was ere time began The Son of God th' eternall living rock And royall off-spring of great David's stock That blest Redeemer whom the Prophets old By heav'n-bred revelations oft foretold On whom their figures shadowes Types and Tropes Built all their truths moralities and hopes The God of Gods I sing and King of Kings From out whose mouth a two ed'd smyter-springs Dividing twixt the marrow and the bones And manifesting th' hearts hid motions VVhose words are misteries whose works are wonders VVhose eyes are lightnings and whose voice is thunders VVhose hayres are whiter then the new faln snow Whose sparkling eyes like flames of fire doe glow VVhose loynes are girt with gold of better fine Then Titan lusters in his mid-day shine VVhose foot 's of burning brasse and trampleth down The rage of Lethe Styx and Acharon Him him I sing Earth Earth attend my song That so the hony-suckles of my Tongue May like those showres which on the Meads doe trill Celestiall Nectar to the world distill For though my pen in peace should snort and ly The Rocks the Mountains and the Stones would cry Crant therfore ô my God Grant grant betimes Peace to my Soule and soule unto my Rhimes Yea quintessence my soule and eke advance My care-free spirit in some celestiall trance That purg'd from passion thy divine addresse May guide me through this desert wildernesse Of humane weaknesse that my Pen from thee And Lines may borrow such a dignity As may expresse in lofty quavering songs The lofty prayse which unto thee belongs But stay my Muse and lanch not to the Ocean VVhose never ebbing Tide and restles motion No Pilot yet could know aright or keep Himself from Naufrage in so vast a deep For this is sure That in this voyage stands Charybdis gulfe and Scilla 's shelf and sands 'Twixt which the whistlings of an easie gale Must guide thy Bark and not a blustrous sale Yet keep not alwaies peace my Muse for now 'T is time to cleere thy care-eclipsed brow And by the numbers of thy sacred fury To stray along th'enamel'd coasts of Jurie Goe then from Dan to Bethel thence anon To Aroer Keilah Adullam Ziff Maone To Shilo Gilgall Mizphe Ramah Nob And these sky-threatning towr's whose spires doe rob Their white from Pelops shoulder and their Ore From Peru Ganges and Hydaspes shore And while thou viewst those coasts and pleasant fields Which milk and hony in abundance yeelds Vaile vaile thy top-saile and in rev'rence greet That sacred Flamyn whose heav'n-ravish'd sp'rit Doth at Joves Altar with a zeale-bred fire Evaporat his Soules sincere desire Haile flowry Jordan then and you sweet torrents Of christall-water whose Meandring currents So many Saints have sip'd and O thou soyl Whose arms gave rest from that tumultuous toyl Wherein our Fathers forty yeers did stray And O you sacred-walls where eft-soon lay That mighty God and Man whose chrimson shower From out his side made him our Saviour Yea O you hills you dales and fields each one Where Earths-sole Phoenix Heav'ns-true Paragon Did from his Cradle to his Crosse endure Our sinnes-disease and griefs-distemp'rature Haile haile I cry you all a glad good morrow Let neither blustring winds nor rain-bred sorrow Your Meads unflowre or yet your woods disleave Or choak your torrents in their bubling grave No let nor haile nor snow nor frost nor Ice By their tumultuous violent prejudice Your brows enage or yet your Tresses scorne Till from your tops your golden fleece be shorn But rather let the heav'ns with smiling face Your Nayids and your Napa's so embrace That by the tincture of their milk-sweet raine Your floury virdure may still fresh remaine As long as Titan takes delight to post From Japan to the great Herculaean coast But above all Hail hail thou ghostly-Father
name the world out-braves And in her left hand for a nose-gay hath The Cedar sweetl'ore shaded Nazareth Here scarce a furlong from her Eastern gates VVhich on the new-born Titans rayes awaits Nature hath formed though with artlesse Art A Grove in whose each portion and each part There 's such a modell of her power inborn As matchd with this laughs all the world to scorn For here the clymat sweetly temper'd hot Hath thrust away the winters petticoat And like a Lover in a flourishing green Makes lusty May continually be seen Yet least the scorching blinks of Titan's ey Should parch or wither Florae's tapestry Sweet Zephyr sends a musky sighing breath To shelter Vesta from the Lyon's wrath Here long liv'd Oaks and noble Palm-trees sprayes With amorous Myrtles and immortall bayes Never disleav'd but still re-growing new Their clasped arms in thousand Arbors threw There still did dangle to the gazers eyn A thousand fruits some sweetly ripe some green Which in their colour taste and shape did mock The Lemon Orange and the Apricock Ayr 's daughter Eccho which the woods doth haunt From high rebabling Rocks doth here rechaunt The sweet contemper'd Notes and maryed layes Which Linots Larks and Nightingales displayes All which amidst their warblings flat and sharp Exceeds Arion's or the Thracian's harp And yeelds a descant sweeter far than that Which Linus or Amphyon modulat Anon along this grove in pompe doth slide A Runnell with a rofie broydered side Whose sand's pure gold whose peeble's pretious stones Whose chiding murmurs were majestick grones And whose least draught is sweeter then that drink That now in Creta decks Cerathus brink Here down she lies beside those streams whose gushing Makes sweeter musick with their gentle rushing Then Juball's hammers when they fram'd that sound Whence Syren-musick's Gam-Vt first was found And sadly sitting in this grove alone She lends her eare to that division Which from the murmuring brook's sad accent flows And thence unto a higher strain she throws Her contemplation yea from thence shee scales And censures heav'ns imperiall festivals Father says shee of light and learned Arts Great all of all who unto all imparts Some parcell of thy selfe that thou alone Maist still be all in all 's Communion Voutchsafe to heare thy hand-maids voice a space Who truly humbled here before thy face Doth lick the dust at thy imperiall feet To testifie that her poor heart's contrite Whence comth't that these poore drops of christall water Which Earth from out her hollow brests doth scatter Can yeeld so sweet bewitching notes and sound As turns the wanton's-myrth t'a-harts deep wound Or whence com'th't that those byrds whose artles bill With C-sol Fa-uth's notes the Spheeres doe fill Doe greet th' approach of lights advanc'd cariere With sweeter strains than Art instructs his quire What have those creatures force or pow'r at all Coutch'd in their bosoms that can eyther thrall The giddy minde to taste a sober quiet Or rouse th' afflicted from their dismall diet No no 't is thou and thou alone whose voyce Can make the Soule to feare or yet rejoyce For as thy hand hath form'd the heart in Man And as thy eyes from highest heav'ns doe scan Our hidden reynes so by thy pow'r thou guides Our Soules swift current in their severall tides For whilst thy iight and countenance doth shine With Sextile aspect Quadrat or with Tryne On our dark hearts O how they joy t' advance Their light before thy ' lightning countenance And whilst again Sins drossie globe doth stand Just interpos'd betwixt thy shining brand And our dark hearts O then Cymerian-night Succeeds in lieu of thy celestiall light Hence by that sweetnes which wee find in thee Wee loathe the blinks of natur's royaltie And find her treasures but a bubling sourse Which from thee for thee to thee bends its ' course Hence flow our griefs hence brookes and desert dales With seeming murmurs pittiously bewailes Thy absence and their mourning sables weare Till thou return and cleere their hemispheere Come therefore thou A lmighty-lmighty-Spirit of spirits Great-Light of lights whose Majesty inherits That wondrous Light to which no flesh attains Which in this muddy vail of flesh remains Come come I say and by thy Spirit inspire This Spirit of mine with thy celestiall fire That in thy Light my Soule may cleerly see That great unsearched Deep of Majestie Which dwelling in thee doth exchange my story Of Death and Darknes to true Light and Glory Scarce hath she from the flames of zeale-bred fire Evaporat these accents of desire When loe from heav'ns high Senate there doth fly A Legat of Hierarkick Majesty Who with due reverence and obsequious Rites The blessed Virgin thus salutes and greets Hail sacred Nymph Haile Virgin-Bride and thou On whom the heav'ns dread Soveraign doth allow The favor of a freely-granted grace The Lord 's with thee rest therfore still in peace Blessed bee thou and blest beyond all those That ere from Grandam Evahs loyns arose Let Heav'ns thy blisse extend as farre inscorn Of Earths best hap as ev'r the pearly Morn The radiant Noon or rheumy Ev'n can see Or Neptunes brauls or Vestaes tapestrie For from thy wombe a Monarch-Prince shall spring Sinne death and hells eternall taming King The sacred Founder of mans Soveraign blisse The worlds rich Ransome Peace and Righteousnes He shall be called Great and Strong of strongs The most high Sonne to whom of due belongs The keyes of David Solomon's Ivory Throne And Jacob's Lot-divided-tents each one His shafts shall thrill the foes which him assaile His force shall all th' Infernall furies quaile Each knee in heav'n and earth shall to him bow And every tongue confesse him God most true For by his blood he re-unites again Earths wandring Subjects to their Soveraign Looke how one daz'led with the splendor bright Of Titan's rayes being lately brought to light From darknesse of a black Cymerian deep Where nev'r a Cranny suffer'd light to peep Being too too soon re-cleer'd stands gazing so As one disself'd and doubtfull where to goe Ev'n so the Maid at this unlook'd-for tale Halfe dead with terrour first growes ashy pale Then re-comforted with dejected eyes First views her Nuntio and then thus replyes O how can 't be that I within whose brest Lusts sparkling flames did never plead for rest Whose Virgin-modest chaste and tender eare Did nev'r infamous Ruffian bablings heare Yea I whose thoughts unsported nev'r was wed To th' wanton pleasures of a Mariage bed Should bud such blossoms or such fruits forth bring As makes the barren to rejoyce and sing Peace Mary saith the Angell peace and feare not The Holy Ghost ore-shaddowes thee then dare not With curious search of humane Reason's strength To limit him whose wayes for breadth and length For height and depth are all a boundlesse treasure Acknowledging no limit bound nor measure For willt thou look on his unsearched Spirit Invisible immortall infinit All Majesty all self-omnipotent Pure
at hand Yet 't is not he such transmigrations now Dare plead no place amidst a Christian crew For by th'Eternals uncontrol'd decree As dust we are so to the dust goe we And till the time that heav'ns shall be no more Our bodies are not what they were before Nor shall our soules or lifes true quickâ—ing spirit Their wonted dwelling houses re-inherit Who is it then Now I perceive 't is he Concerning whom the Prophet Malachy Hath by a divine wisedome thus foretold Wonder you fooles come come you wise Behold Before the comming of that dreadfull day Wherein the Lord his glory shall display Eliah first shall come and by his voyce The father in his children shall rejoyce The children to their fathers wiser Will Shall bow their necks and be obedient still Lest comming to them with a searching fan His vengeance finish what their finnes began Yea sure I am 't is he for now I finde The Scribes and Pharises whose judgement 's blinde I. â— Run to his Baptisme though in scorn that so They may th ' Eternals Counsell overthrow But all in vain he with a soaring eye Rips up their hidden deep hypocrisie And by his threatning duely milde and grave Their hid dissimulation doth outbrave O vip'rous brood ô froward generation O Serpent-Issue of a sinfull Nation Who hath fore-warn'd you to eschew the doome And scape the scorching wrath that is to come Bring forth therefore bring forth I charge you here Those fruits of new-birth which makes faith appeare And glory not that Abraham's sonnes you are For he who calls what 's not as though it were Can make those senssesse stones if he have need Bring forth to Abra'm a Religious seed No rather know that these be now the times Wherein the hand of Justice fannes our crimes And trenching axes laid unto the Root Cut down the wither'd sticks are void of fruit 'T is true indeed I baptize you with water But loe there 's one to come who what I scatter Shall recollect he reaps where none was sown And but advantage will not have his own He 's great indeed and mightier farre then I I am not worthy his shoo-straps t'untye With water I baptize you ô but he Shall baptize with a fire of Deitie For in his hand he holds that searching fan Wherewith he doth his barn-floores treasure scan If we be found true wheat his hand shall keep Our soules from falling in th' infernall deep But if like chaffe we prove his swallowing ire Shall thrust us headlong in a quenchlesse fire Stray then no more through those poor desert fields Which neither state nor pomp nor glory yeelds To gaze on me a Reed toss'd too and fro Where any whirl-windes puffe delights to blow But rather in a wise discretion learn Your gracious Visitation to discern For this is he that should be sent expect None other to relieve your soules defect Looke on his wayes and by his works goe try The true prognosticks of his Majesty By him the blinde have eyes the lame their hands The deafe their eares the dead are loos'd from bands The Leaper's cleans'd and what is more the poore Receive the Gospell and the Crosse endure And that your Judgements may lack all excuse Behold the stone you builders did refuse Shall be approv'd and on the Corners top Shall stand that there by faith by love by hope His children may a living house be made To hold him for foundation and for head Loe where he comes my soul doth sweetly know him Bow bow your haughty necks yeeld what you ow him For he 's that great immac'lat Lamb of God Who having layd aside his wraths sharp rod Doth by a love-sick Mercies bloody gore So purge our sinnes that sinne stands ours no more Ne're did the swallowing Nilus rapid waves Provok'd to anger by th' Aeolian slaves Hurle down his streames to the Asphaltick lake With greater force than doth the Baptist shake By those his roaring thunders the proud knees Of these dissembling Scribes and Pharisees Yet scarce hath he like that fore-running starre VVhich doth proclaim th'approach of Titan's carre Fore-warn'd the world of that Imperiall Sun Whose race in Truths eccliptick line is run When loe that spotlesse Lamb whose spotlesse love And suffrings weds us to the Lord above Comes straight unto him and in modest fashion Without or pomp or pride or ostentation Requires to be baptiz'd in Jordan's flood The typick Emblem of his saving blood But John remembring what he was replies O sacred thou whose throne transcends our skies Why dost thou crave to be baptiz'd of me Since I should rather be baptiz'd of thee The servants state is not above his Lord Nor can my weaknesse that true strain afford Of due obedience that belongs unto thee O get thee from me for thy eyes undoe me Peace saith Immanuel John thy flesh is weak Th'Eternals hidden Counsels to partake For ne're hath flesh his riddles truly view'd But he who with his Heifer first hath plough'd Wouldst thou then know wherefore I doe desire To be baptiz'd of thee who can with fire Rebaptize thee Know that my Charge is such As without Unction none usurps to touch I doe not run unsent my Father hath Before all time decreed That by my death The sting of death and of deaths Lords great power Should so be curb'd that they no more devoure That I may then obey my Fathers will Ambros in Luc. c. 3. And all the law of Righteousnesse fulfill VVhich may contemper Mercies milde sweet yoak To Justice proud though just revenging stroak And so become a righteous Mediator Betwixt the Creature and the dread Creator I must be baptiz'd first that so I may My heav'nly function to the world display Adde hereunto that in this flesh of mine Which from the earth is earth from heav'n divine I must the state of of every thing renew And to my Gospell Moses Law subdue Man must be new the old man now must perish And by a new-born faith his soule must cherish The heav'ns shall be renew'd th' old flie away The Earth renew'd shall smell like maiden-May The Law is old a new command I give That men henceforth by faith love hope must live And as the Covenant's chang'd so must the Seale Make room for Grace and bid the Law farewell And what is more That Man may see I love To make his mansion in the heav'ns above Loe here his badg and cognizance I take On mee not for my own but for his sake That when my father Man's great Seale shall see On my fore-head and man made one with me He may from man his furious wrath withdraw And make him Heyre by Grace not by the Law And that vain man may never scorn those rites By which as Canals of coelestiall sweets Th' Almighty pours his Grace upon their Soule Men may their haughty hearts and necks controule To bow unto his Ordinances for No soule shall enter in at mercies door
But hee that to the Gospels folly shall Subdue his heart and its affections all 1 Cor. 1.21 And finally as for the Jews I have To Circumcision made my self a slave So now by Baptism for the Gentiles I Must undergoe this Jordan's watry dy That Jew and Gentile bond and free and all VVho for Salvation hunger thirst and call By mee may have a reconciling Peace And in mee access to the throne of Grace No deeper blush hath golden Phoebus when He hides his head in Peru's Ocean Then deth o're-shade the Baptiist's face while as His weakness is display'd in wisdom's glass Submitting then himself his thoughts and all To the injunctions of his Generall They both goe straight to Jordan that therein Christ may bee seal'd a surety for our sin No sooner hath this milde sweet-coupled pair Trod on the frisled locks of Jordan's hair When loe the Sun forsaking th'opal morn Doth his meridian-poynt with pompe adorne And like a Prince set in his royall throne He calls his neighb'ring tapers one by one Who by their intermixed torches seven VVith matchless-splendor cleer the cope of heav'n Those steep proud hills whose lofty swelling tops Drink for their mornings-draught Aurora's drops Such as the Law-grac'd Sinay Carmell old VVhere Seraphims God's Prophet did enfold Horab and Nebo whose soft arms doe keep Moses and Aaron in their dusty sleep Jegar-sha-duthae and mount Pisgah whence Moses view'd Jacob's fair inheritance The balm-rich Gilead and mount Moriah where The faith of Abram made him mercies heire Link'd all together clasp'd their hands to hand And on their stately tip-toes trip and stand To see him baptiz'd whose fierce indignation Subverts the Sinewy props of their foundation Jordan himself like Nereus eldest son VVrap'd in a roab of pearle and Nacre's stone No sooner sees his sweet approach when loe Hee curbs his streames from their accustom'd flowe Who whilst they turn their back upon the deep To see their maker seem'd for joy to weep Straight way there com'th that dainty swelling stream That fatt'h and lean'th proud Misraims Diadem The faire Euphrates and Hydaspes who Through Media's channell joynes with gentle Po Chesel Araxis Volga and that rill That waits on new-born Titan's hests and will Rhine Ister Danube Tanais Tagus Iber Meander Xanthus Tygris Po and Tiber Peneus Orontes and each Runnall else Which either softly slides or proudly swells Doe all to Jrodans flowry bank repaire And of their intertexed locks and haire Compose a sumptuous Arrasse richly sweet To wipe the water off their Masters feet In this enpamper'd crew great Jordan stands Bending his knees and heaving up his hands And to his Maker in a pearle-like teare Breaths this Congratulation in his eare Eternall Issue of th' Eternall Sire Deep wisdome of that God whom th'heav'ns admire Almighty Lord all-seeing God all 's Maker Here at thy foot-stoole we doe humbly sacre Our selves our service and our dearest love As vassals to obey thy dread behove VVhil'st Nature thus and all her tender broods Hills valleyes deserts silver brooks and floods Intranc'd with joy conspire to solemnize This masque before their glorious Makers eyes Behold our Shiloe glad to undergoe That state wherein he should our sinnes o'rethrow Steps down to Jordans silver streames and there By John's enstall'd Copartner of our Care And now no sooner doth he step from out The liquid Current and the chrystall Spout Of Jordan when to all the peoples eye Heav'ns act their part in this Festivitie And by their rich applause confirm and seale The Covenant of Mercies Common-weale For loe heav'ns azur'd Arch is slop'd in twain And from Jehovah's throne comes down amain A silver-feather'd Dove who rests upon him And hugs his head as being enamour'd on him With all from heav'ns high Senate comes a voyce Inviting all the world thus to rejoyce Rejoyce O heav'ns be glad O earth and all That in the world doe creep or breath or crawl For here 's my welbeloved Sonne in whom My wrath 's appeas'd ' gainst sinners Come O come Today if you will save your soules draw neer him And whil'st he opes his mouth in wisdome heare him Now now I see that harmlesse Dove un-stay'n Who being sent out returned home again Holding within her bill an olive branch To shew that Neptune then his wrath did quench Was but a Type sent to presignifie The rest the peace the joy we have in thee O how thou' rt faire exceeding faire my Dove Thy eyes have made my Soule ev'n sick with love Thy neck is Ivory Raven-black thy locks Thy dwelling's in the top of Shenirs rocks Faire Sharons Rose Engeddyes sweet Camphire The dew of Hermon Gileads dainty Mirrhe The Balm the Alloes and the Spice also Which Abanah and Parphars valleyes show Yeeld not so sweet a smell as doe thy lips Whil'st thou on Bethers tops mak'st known thy trips Stay then my Darling goe not hence away The shady night can no more wrong the day Whil'st with a sable furre she lops his eye To snort in midnights velvet Cannopy Then thou shalt wound me to the death if ever Thou shalt thy Rayes from my pale Moon dissever Stay then my deare and by that Spirit of thine Repaire renew reform this soule of mine That like the harmlesse Dove who without gall Still loves and knowes not how to hate at all My Soule may by the radiance of thy love Still wed her selfe to thee who from above Hast brought the sacred Olive of our Peace T' establish mercy where fierce wrath had place The Duell CANTO 2o. OFt have mine eares been filld and eyes been fed With Raptures of that highly honored Alâ—mena's sonne whose high and conqu'ring hand By victories obtain'd by Sea and Land Hath made the trophies of his praise appear In all the stamps of Titan's bandilier Oft have I wondred at the martiall acts Heroick exploits and same-famishing facts Of Hector and Achilles and that crew Of Greekes and Trojans whose memorials grew To such a height that Homer's golden pen Could never fully point them forth but when He shut his eyes lest by their active glory He should betray the tenor of their story Oft have I stumbled to behold the great Distemper o' th' puissant Roman state By Shylla and by Marius set on fire For satisfaction of their fond desire Yet never quench'd or yet blown out again For all the armes or arts of France and Spain Till Pompey and great Caesar by the streames Of Rubicone drench'd these Aetnaean flames But wherefore doe I gaze this heathen stage Did not th' Almighty in that selfe same age Raise up a Theater of brave Heroes farre More eminent in Peace more bold in warre Then any heathen who did e're make bold Or Mars his helm or Mercur's pipe to hold Great Joshuah how didst thou stay the Sun In Gibeah and in Ajalon the Moon Till Jacobs wormlings to the ground down brings The pride of five combin'd Canaans Kings Shamgar how did thy oxen-taming goad
Serve gainst the Philistims for sword and rod When Jabin's yoak the wearied necks did gall Of Jacob's seed and gloried in their fall How did brave Deborah by the conqu'ring hand Of Barak Jabin's boasting troops withstand And made their Generall Siserah in the tent Of Jael try Ambitions just event How did brave Gideon's barly-cake and lamp Couch'd in an earthen-pitcher daunt the Camp Of Midian that so their night-bred dreame Prov'd but a presage to their mornings Scaene How did bold Sampson peerless-pearle of Arms Burst Gazae's gate-bars and unlock the charmes Of Dalilah and make an Asse jaw-bone Drunke with the blood of Gath and Askelon In end what Nymrod or what Anak stern Could ev'r their fame or honor so etern As hath the Son of Jesse who at first Did kill a Lyon and a wilde Boare burst Then by a peeble which hee lately took From the sweet verge of a pure glyding brook Did so subdue th'heathen Goliah's rage Who did blaspheme th'Eternal's-heritage That now wee see nor bragging breaths nor boasts Can save or kill as doth the Lord of hosts All those like stars in dark Cymerian night Adorn'd their Orb with some small gleams of light But being obfuscat by a cleerer ray Have been the Prodroms of this better day Our never setting Sun is now arisen And by his rayes irradiats our Horizon In such a sort that those glow wormes may goe And spend their luster and their per'shing show Amongst the purblind wofull ignorants Of Mexica or Magallanae's Tents Our way 's made known why walk we not therein Our Truth 's declar'd why live we then to sin Our life 's proclam'd why are we then dismai'd Of death or hell why should we bee afraid Hath not our Goell our great kinsman come To pay our morgage and redeem our sum And that upon our blood-shedder he may The stroke of Justice awfully repay Loe to the desert now he hies him there In all our suff'rings as copartiner That David like he may that Gyant foyl Who in th'Eternalls hoast hath wrought such spoyl And ever blessed be his glorious Name Who comming up from Jordans chrystall stream No sooner from his foot doth wipe the water When to th' Arabians desert wilde Theater He 's led by that same spirit which like a Dove Did from the heav'ns proclaim him our soules Love That in our flesh as he our seale did take So in it he might tryumph for our sake For no such mediator we must have As scornes our griefes infirmities or grave But such a one as being exempt from sin In all things else must run the race we run Thrice three ten yeers hath my Redeemer now Liv'd in the world and yet for ought I know Sathan untill this time durst ne'er be bold ' Gainst him to set a snare his foot t' enfold His privat life 't may be procur'd his ease His publike charge must taste of trecheries Like Jacob who with Laban whil'st he stayes Had Peace and rest and amorous quirks and playes But being call'd by God to get him home False hearted Laban after him can come And search his stuffe prepar'd to doe him wrong Unlesse the mighty God of strongs the strong Had curb'd him in his night bred Visions so That maugre envy he must let him goe Whil'st Moses stayes in Aegypt Pharo's daughter Preserves him safe from Pharoh's threatned slaughter But when he comes for Israels reliefe He ' mongst the sonnes of persecution's chiefe Whil'st David kept his fathers Ewes in peace To God he warbled Hymns and Odes of grace But call'd to Court and to the stage of fame Wrath rancour envy plyes his Diadem So whil'st my Saviour both by Incarnation And by the highest heav'ns Inauguration Stands as the very sonne of God and Man Anoynted our Redeeming Soveraign Loe neither can the seale nor gift of grace Exempt him from hels envy'n any case For grace cannot prevent it may repell The stratagems of Perdue Centiuell But still the more the Lord with grace decores us The stronger fetters Sathan sett's before us O God therefore since thy Sonne is not free But grace it self must taste of enmitie What carefull watchings should we wormlings take ' Gainst this perfidious spirituall Amaleck Who daring to assail the head shall sure The heels destruction if he can procure Since then I see it is that glorious Spirit Which he from all etern'ty did inherit Ev'n that great spirit of th' Almighty God Whose word comforts us under whose sharpe rod The very hell doth tremble whose high hand None of thy creatures could e're yet withstand Who rideth on the blustring windes swift wings Who makes the Clouds his messengers who brings Or penury or plenty by his rain Who walketh dry-foot on the Ocean Why should we in tentations deepest jarre Feare Chance or Fortunes lying Kalendar For all the pow'rs of darknesse and of hell Cannot make one haire of our head to fall Till he whose pow'r and pleasure plac'd them there Bids either Justice smite or Mercy spare For he it is who leads us to our fight And sends us blowes according to our might And wheresoe're we fight he goes along Both to encourage us and make us strong And when w'have fought our fight gives us reward As his deep wisedome hath for us prepar'd I magnifie my Saviour then who here Doth boldly in Tentations lists appeare And by his rare example tells us how To keep our posture and our foes subdue The Philistims by Sampson smarting sore And often did his Dalilah implore She would by all meanes possible but try Wherein his strength and sinewy force did lye That knowing that they might him so dis-arm As never after they might feare his harm Then O how carefull should we be to learn And in our halcyon dayes and times discern The traps the snares and the bewitching tricks That 's put before us by the Prince of Styx That so foreseeing his Engines we may Or burst his snares or safely flie away Loe how Colossus like in Horebs plain He stands thence skips to Neboes top again From thence to Sions pinacle he flies Like lightnings flashes darting through the skies Never did Proteus with more change of shape Beguile the world than doth this trickling Ape With change of colours feature form and all My Masters fixed sense sense seek to enthrall Three deeply poyson'd darts are in his hand Which flesh and blood alone could ne're withstand The lust of heart is one Lifes pride another The lust of th' eye is third their first-born brother And he who from all those can keep him free Hath more than flesh and bloods excellency For he who in the Van doth play his part May in the Main battalion shrink and smart And who hath fought them both may in the Reer Prove worthy nothing but a sod Cashiere The first daâ—t then about his head he shakes And'gainst our Master this assault he makes If it be true that heav'n hath spoke saith he If thou be
is done he looketh on them and anon O strange mirac'lous rare Conversion Without his word the water 's turn'd to wine Sweet as the Malmsey rich as Muscadine Drink woman now faith he drink drink and fill To others also Cana's grapes distill Not such a wine as doth my word therefore Bid them come drink who love to thirst no more But all 's in vain I bid men drink for why Nothing but blood will mans soules thirst allay O God what heav'nly hierogly phick's here Of that sweet Nectar and Ambrosian cheere Which thou our soules Bride-groom shalt for us make When to thy Cana thou shalt us home take For there our mariage-supper is prepar'd Legions of Angels shall thy Bride still guard The fatling's kill'd thy bowles of wine are drawn Thy table-cloaths are dainty Cyprian lawn Thy bed of love is made and richlier hung Then that where th'Epithalamy was sung To Salomon and Pharoh's daughter for Their best magnificence and proudest store Endur'd but for a time but this for ever Shall satiate his guests and finish never In Cana water was exchang'd to wine But in thy house whoso shall sit and dine Shall with the fatnes of thy house be fill'd And drunk with that sweet rill thy side distill'd Whil'st on the Crosse thou stretch'd thy armes abroad T' imbrace thy Bride and heave her to her God O then since all things that be necessare For such a wedding feast thou dost prepare Prepare our hearts also to meet thee when Thou call'st us from out Meshechs sinfull den That so the Bride-groom and his Virgin-bride May in the Tents of love for ever bide From Cana to Capernaum next day My blessed Saviour undertakes his way Where dwelt a reverend grave Centurion Whose servant 's sick in whose compassion The Captain comming unto Christ doth thus Intreat him Master master pitty us For loe my servant 's with a Palsie taken And of all hopes of health is quite forsaken Since then all hopes of humane helps be gone And we be left to mourn his griefes alone I pray thee let thy helping hand supply His great distemper and necessity Goe saith my Saviour get thee home for I Will quickly come and cure his malady No saith the grave Centurion take no pain Great master to turmoile thy selfe in vain I am not worthy that thou glorious thou To come within my roof thy self shouldst bow Speak but the word alone and he shall live For that thy word can heale him I believe Loe I am one set in authoritie Subdew'd to one and many unto me To one I say goe hither and he go'th T' another doe this and that straight he doth Unto a third I say come and he commeth Thus what I will is done and none presumeth To disobey what I command my word For their obedience is a law assur'd When Jesus heares those words he stands amaz'd And on the following troops a while he gaz'd And saith at length In truth and veritie Such faith in Israel I did never see But this I tell you that the time 's at hand VVhen many from the VVest and East shall stand VVithin my Churches faithfull glorious pale And be baptiz'd as sonnes of Israel And with old Abraham Isaac Jacob they Shall eternize a solemne holy day VVhile as the children of the kingdome shall In utter darknesse mourn a Madrigall Goe therefore saith he to the Captain goe And as thou hast believed even so Be it to thee and at that very houre The servants life and health was made secure O God how dost thou by this grave dispute To Japhets children freely contribute The promise of eternall life if they By faith shall on thy words their rest relye Give us therefore what of us thou requir'st And then require of us what thou desir'st Now babling fame hath took her wings to flie Through all the neighboring Regions farre and nigh And make the glorious powers of this man Controll the Earth and daunt the Ocean For whatsoere he doth is quickly told And in fames Ephimerides inroll'd To shun therefore the peoples vain applause Whose changing currents oftner ebbs then flowes Down to Tiberiâ—'s sea he goes that thence He may show favour to the Gadarens But whil'st he 's in the ship his former toile Perswades him in a sleep to rest a while His eyes are scarcely shut when loe dark clouds Obscure the heav'n and proud Aeolian thuds Distemper so the Main that Neptunes locks Wax hoary-white with dashing ' gainst the rocks Here one pround wave doth Babel-like arise And with tumultuous threats affronts the skies Another here falls to so vast a deep That Pluto's wak'ned from his morning sleep A midst this surly gust the poor ship's ross'd And with impetuous windes and tides so cross'd That his Disciples in their feare doe rore And for their health their masters help implore Help help great master say they help awake And on thy perishing train some pitty take For if thou doe not now extend thy power This swallowing tempest will our soules devoure He straight awakes and unto them he saith O you of trembling hearts and fainting faith What doe you fear Peace winds faith he th' are still Peace raging Seas and they grow calm at will By this the Ship is brought unto the shore And neither winds nor seas molest them more O thou controller of the windes commotion O thou dread daunter of th' undaunted Ocean Speak peace to our tumultuous souls for why Unlesse our sp'rituall tempests thou allay Unlesse thou swage and calme their storms in time We sinke and perish for we cannot swim No sooner were the windes by is word appeas'd No sooner 's Neptune by his word asswag'd When Jesus with his few Disciples goe To Gadara that they his power might know But by the way that Sp'rit who works our spight And in our ruines takes his chiefe delight Having intrench'd in his prodigious roles The mortall bodies not th' immortall soules Of two poore men while as they see him come Like ramping Lyons and like Boars in fome Th' approach his presence and in fury cry Jesus thou sonne of God who dwel'st on high What have we here to doe with thee for this Of our just torment in the deep abysse Is not the full time and we suffer wrong If there before due time thoudost us throng What is your name sayth he they answer Legion For we be many in this humane region And as thy Father is the Lord of hoasts So we as many love to scoure their coasts Come out come out saith he you cursed crew And of these wretches take your last adiews If we must needs goe out then let us goe Say they and enter in those swine for loe Whan thou ejects us from this Isle of man Thy little world we must doe what we can To rob him of his best approved pulse And nestle there because we lose himselfe Goe goe saith he they goe and take possession Of those poore beasts and
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
as upon this day he next shall come To Judge the world and render life to some So on this day he takes delight to goe To Tabors top that there he might forth show A glance of that great glory which we shall One day possesse in his great marriage hall For when six ages of the world are run The seventh shall finish our Redemption Thus having found the time we next must view The place wherein Christ Jesus doth allow To cloath himselfe with glory for a while And cover Jacobs hands with Esau's guile The place is Tabors mountain top whereon He manifests his glories vision For till we climbe above earths drossie ball We are not fit t' enjoy heav'ns Festivall On top of Moriahs mountain Abram rear'd An altar to that God he lov'd and fear'd On Carmels top Eliah pray'th for fire And heav'ns obtemper his devout desire On Horebs top and in that hollow cave Whil'st he from Jesabel his life doth save Earth trembleth windes doe roare and flaming coals Of fire for his protection raves and roles On Pisgahs top meek Moses lyeth down And sleepeth in his first corruption On Nebo's top did Aaron sweetly lay His bones whil'st as his soule to heav'n did stray So on mount Tabor will my blessed Saviour First pray and then transforme his true behaviour That by him we may learn when we draw neer To God in aspirituall Hemispheare To cast distractions worldly cares and pains Behind our backs and make our chiefest strains To rest on high and whilst we talk with God T' obnubilate our heads within his cloud Leaving our Asses on the plain below Whil'st we to heaven our sighs and sobs upthrow The circumstance of time and place descry'd Wherein the Sonne of Man was clarifi'd 'T is fit we look on his attendants next That so our swarving faith may once grow fixt Those were three great ones Peter James and John Those sonnes of thunder this a pretious stone If any shall enquire why to those three My Master manifests his Majestie I answer first that Scripture doth command That every Truth accomplished shall stand By Declaration of some two or three And from their mouth receive stability Next unto this to them he shew'th indeed His future suff'rings should no way proceed From lack of power to confound his foes But from his love to mankinde hence he throws A way his robe of weaknesse and grows rich In glories vesture whose embroider'd stitch Bezaleel for all his skill and art Ne'er paralell'd in whole or yet in part And finally to those three first is shown His glory for they be the first must own His fellow sufferings least then orflings they Should seare his Crosse and so his cause betray He gives them here a glance of that reward Which for their after sufferings was prepar'd Thus on Mount Tabors top and lofty stage Those three receive the greatest priviledge That ever mortals in the flesh did see Being chain'd in bonds of base mortalitie But ô no sooner have they climb'd up there When loe their Master kneeling in his prayer They fall asleep so weake is this our flesh That what the sp'rit desires it doth empoish Yet seldome doth the flesh in quiet sleep But some distemper to the soule doth creep Whil'st Adam slept his rib was stoln away And sleep did Noahs nakednesse display Whil'st Sampson slept his Nazarisme's gone The Church asleep disknow'th her holy one In Jaels tent while Sisara sleeps he 's kill'd Jonah from sleep must wake ere th' sea be still'd Yea if the master of the house doe snort The thiefe digs thorow and the goods transport 'T is good therefore that men should watch and pray That Christ may be their light both night and day From sleep then can those three no sooner wake When of their Master they doe notice take And finde his count nance clarifi'd as farre Beyond his wonted feature as that starre Which gildes our midday doth exceed that lamp That cuts her capers in our midnight Camp And all his body deck'd with brighter beams Then Cynthia when she 's drunk with Neptunes streams The new faln snow was never halfe so white The Fullers soape makes nothing so perfect Jobs snowy water Davids hyssop drops VVhen from th' Alembicks cloud it softly hops Could never make a cloth so fresh and new As are his vestures in Celestiall hew Yea with him Moses and Eliah walk In glory and comfort him with their talke Concerning those dread sufferings which he was T' endure by Pilate and by Caiaphas Ne'er could the heav'ns afford two fitter guests To talk with him of fastings or of feasts Then were those two for Moses gave the Law And with Eliahs heav'n commanding aw The following Prophets made the world to try The power of th' Eternals verity Yet unto Christ both Law and Prophets tend From him they had beginning he 's their end Now to the world I see he did not come T' undoe the Law or Prophets but to summe Them both together that to both he might Be guide by day and loadstarre in the night VVherefore then should we in our deepest joyes Forget our Crosse or in our crossing toyes Forget our glory since our Saviour Amid'st his richest glory can endure To heare of crosses sorrows stripes and wrongs In stead of trophies triumphs shows and songs 'T is fitting then that in our peace we think Upon that wormwood cup we once must drink For humane mindes doe best digest their gall VVhen expectation cooks their Madrigall Peter awake beholds this glorious Trine And like a man awak'd from out his wine Cries to his master 't is good we be here O that I could three tabernacles reare The first for thee my Shilo and Messiah Then one for Moses then one for Eliah So should we spend our time in rest and peace Feeding upon the glory of thy face And being satiat with thy glories store Return to our sublunar toyls no more Now Peter tell me art thou truly ' wake Or sleep'st thou still that thus thou dost mistake Shall Tabor be thy dwelling place for ay Or shall my Saviour from his suffrings stay Shall Moses and Eliah still remain On Tabors top and not return again To that Celestiall joy from whence they came Fie on those stag'ring wishes fie for shame 'T is shame that men should give their fancies scope But greater shame to sleep their eyes be'ng ope Or therefore speak the truth or sleep thou still A drousie braine doth judgements project spill And yet I pardon thy ecstatique mood What thou didst speak thou no wayes understood Now scarce hath Peter from a zeale bred fire Evaporat those accents of desire When loe from heaven a bright irradiat cloud O'reshades the place whereas my Saviour stood And from on high did sound this loud loud voyce Be glad ô heav'ns and ô thou Earth rejoyce For here 's my first born sonne my best beloved Heare him for in him onely y' are approved At this dread
been Gods sonne no lesse For who did ever see so firm and strong Expressions of Deitie ev'n among Infirmities and weaknesse saddest strains As now burst forth in Naturesbubling vains By this just Joseph Arimathea's Lord Hath beg'd of Pilat by submissive word That he Christs body might have pow'r to take Down from the Crosse and in his grave to make Him rest who rest and peace had promised Unto all such as sought to him for ayde Pilat yeelds to it Joseph's quickly gone Through Salems streets and rich stor'd shops each one And of pure balm and myrhs elixar'd Nard A hundred weight he buyes and afterward Embalmes my Saviours body and doth binde It in a Tyrian lawn more dainty fin'd Than that which Venus putteth on the eyes Of Cupid to obscure his leacheries Then in his Garden corner with all haste In his new-digged tombe he hath it plac'd And that the body there might rest secure He puts a stone upon the Sepulture ' Mongst many passions of the soule by which Man doth his guilty minde surcharge too much Whil'st he doth wander in that desert where Nothing is reap'd in end but griefe and care That pultrone Feare for most part leads the ring Where Cruelty hath harp'd on Envies string For nothing can secure that sordid mind Where wrath and malice are in one combin'd Hence doth the High Priest and his rascall-train To Pilats hall return yet once again And under colour of a wise prevention Belch out the vomit of their foul intention This fellow say they while he liv'd did say Pull down this Temple and on the third day I will re-build it Lest therefore by night Some steal him from his grave and so affright The world with frantick tales of 's resurrection Let us walk wisely and ' gainst this infection Prepare an an tidote for by such toyes The weaker may be led to great annoyes Goe goe saith Pilus doe what ere you list Hath not his blood yet satisfi'd your thirst 'T is strange to see that death cannot put end Unto that wrath which doth on rage depend The very beasts that live by cruell pray Drink blood eat flesh but cast the bones away But ay me poor faint-hearted Muse how long Wilt thou sigh forth his obsequies whose wrong Though all the Main were turn'd to teares and ink Could not suffice to write them on her brink Weep therefore weep a space and weeping look Not like a runnall or a bubling brook Whose proudest swellings we no sooner spy But straight they are exhaust their channell 's dry But like the Ocean whose unfathom'd deep Sends forth those restlesse streames which never sleep For here thou hast the deepest deep distresse That ever heart could think or tongue expresse The sonne of God heav'ns master-peece the bright Transplendent glory of th' Almighties light Th' eternall Word which was e're time began In time for man made man nay not a man A worm a wretch a servant nay a slave To calumny contempt to crosse to grave Yet peace my Muse and let not griefe exile Thee from due comfort let a blushing smile Comfort thee rather for those wounds which stands Imprinted in his heart his feet his hands Make him although despised and disdain'd To carnall eyes where sinne and shame 's maintain'd A pretious Victime off red up for thee To whom of due belong'd the cursed tree Yea he is that great star of Jacob who Makes Japhet unto Shem's sweet tents to go And bids the world write anthems of Rejoyces Because his grave makes ours a bed of Roses Where though he for a season rest and sleep Yet shall not earth him in her armes long keep But as the Sonne of God he thence shall rise And lead Captiv'ty captive through the skies And thence ascending to his glorious throne Shall be our all in all and all in One For notwithstanding all that stamp and stirre Whereby his grave is sealed and made sure Up up again he shall Gods holy one Can in the grave take no corruption But by his Resurrection makes our faith Triumph the more ore sinne ore hell and death The former times prefigur'd have this truth Did he not save one from the Lions mouth Was not another thrown amidst the Sea And after three dayes set at libertie Yea were not three at one thrown in the fire As vassals of a Tyrants proud desire Yet by his pow'r so preserv'd that the flame Did neither harm their haires nor garments seame Did not he by his mighty pow'r ere now Naims poor widowes sonne to life renew When Lazarus had four dayes ly'n in grave Did he not by his word his soule receive When as the good Centurion's daughter lay Asleep did he not turn her night to day When Eutichus did from his third loft fall Did not his quickning sp'rit his sp'rit recall And when Tabitha jappa's Nymph lay dead Did not his Cumi straight lift up her head Those and a thousand more then those doe stand As great Herculean trophces in his hand Those were but shaddows he the substance is The type was theirs the antitipe is his And all of those beare witnesse that his power Can kill and quicken rescue and devoure Now doth the date of that appointed time Wherein he should arise from Deaths dark clime Draw neer for from the sixt dayes afternoon The Sabbaths whol day he did rest eft soon The eight daies morn no sooner'gins to break But loe the sonne of Righteousnes doth wake And with a better light the world recleare Then ever Titan brought t' our Hemispheare And as that God who did the world create Upon the sixt day did man animate And on the seventh day celebrate his rest A type of our Eternall heavenly feast So did my Soules most grarious Redeemer Crush on the sixt day my soules sad blasphemer And on the seventh day resting in the grave Did from Goliahs hand his Isr'el save And rising on the eight dayes morne hath made The womans heel to bruise the serpents head This day of old had small or no respect But now to heav'n it doth our hearts erect And justly makes his Gods a ther the Sunne VVho in th'Eccliptick of true light doth run This day more sacred should be kept then any Because by it Salvation spirings to many And therefore 〈…〉 as farre As Titan hath beyond 〈…〉 staâ—reâ— For look how much our second birth is more Then our first birth 〈◊〉 is our Sabbath for Upon the sixth day we had our Creation But on this Sabbath light life and salvation And since upon this day we from our fall With him have rise it is Dominicall And merits to be sign'd with ink that 's red Because his blood our debt hath can celled Th' intended period of the time now come The sonne of Jesse Israels brid egroome Comes from his late bed-chamber richly deckt With Majesty with glory and respect His wedding garments robes and rings are on His griefes his passions and his woes