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
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
The walled Cities and rich stored shops The honny combs and those Elixar'd drops Of balm myrhe incense Nard and sweet perfume That serves to deck the bride and the bridegroom The warriour the master of the schoole The young the old the wise and eke the foole The Counsell tables and the Courts of Kings And all the treasures that the earth forth brings Are onely his he giveth them and when He thinks it fitting takes them back again Those thou hast set before me yet dost hide The hidden moaths that frets their inner side As if I did not know what weal and woe Daunce in a circle wheresoe're they goe What can our wealth or want my minde betray Can peace bewitch me or can warre affray My fixed thoughts thy eyes are cloid with gravell And so thou losest both thy toyle and travell Can sicknesse health life death vain glory shame Or any other worldly anatheme Make me forget my Father or forgot One jot of that true worship which I owe Unto him No go get thee gone avoid Proud Sathan for thou knowst not things of God But things of men from this I will not swerve That 's writ The Lord thy God alone goe serve And worship yea beside him worship none For that shall turn to thy confusion The Doctor CANTO 3o. AS when the Sunne obliqu'ly looking on A roride cloud frames a Parelion But looking with a streight oppos'd aspect On Phoebe makes herhis full rayes reflect So when from Jordans streams our great Messiah Went to the desert our late born Eliah Although the bridegrooms friend yet seem'd to weep For fear a hyreling should disperse his sheep But seeing him victoriously return This joy-bred fire doth in 's bosome burn O how my Soule doth now rejoyce sayth he To see the Sonne of Man march valiantly Returning from the desert Sathans den Cloth'd with the spoyle of sinne for sinfull men Loe where he commeth full of grace and truth No man in such abundance opes his mouth He was before me though he now doth follow Eternity his Majesty doth hollow From out his fulnesse we doe all receive Grace upon grace and what good else we have The Law was giv'n by Moses but by him Comes grace and truth and peace wherein we swim No man at any time hath seen the Father Save this his sonne from whose hid hands we gather That hidden Manna and those Quailes by which Our soules are fed and we to life made rich He commeth to the world for it he made Yet in it hath no place to rest his head He commeth to his own yet they refuse him He commeth to the builders they abuse him But unto all that doe receive him he Shall give this glory and prime dignity That they the sonnes of God shall all be call'd And as true heires of heaven be there enstall'd Even unto such as in his name believe To whom nor Nature flesh nor blood can give The new-births note but onely that great God Who in our flesh hath made his full abode And that it may be known that this is he Goe you my sonnes goe get you up draw nigh Unto him clasp him in your soules soft armes For he 's the Antidote for all your harmes At these fore-warnings John and Andrew goe And greet him thus Great Rabbi let us know Where thou dost dwell so shall we joy to see The mansion of thy true felicity Where I doe dwell saith he let him that would My dwelling know look on the foxes hold And sparrows nests for they have rooms wherein Their young ones nestle and their doune begin O but the Sonne of man hath no place where To rest his head save only this poore ayre That every creature breaths and this is all He counteth his and this at last shall fall If you will therefore follow me quit-clame What ever in this world doth sumptuous seem Take up your crosse and follow me and so You shall my dwelling and my riches know For who so shall reject my Crosse and blame't Of him in glory I shall be asham'd But who so shall my Crosse with patience bear He shall with me in glory rest coheire No sooner hath he spoke these words when loe As swift as arrow shot from Indian bow Andrew doth to his brother Symon run And with these tydings of Salvation Accosts him Brother I have found the great Messith whom the world expect'd of late The Saviour Christ the holy and th'annoynted Great Peace-maker by Prophets all forth pointed Come come I pray th' let our hearts draw near him And while 't is call'd to day ô let us heare him Symon ariseth and with Andrew go'th To see the miracle of Time and Truth But ere he can within true distance come Christ cals him by his name Thou' rt welcome home Thou sonne of Jonah saith he this thy name Of Symon hence I change with better fame Thou shalt be call'd Cephas that is a Stone For thou shalt help to lay a foundation ' Gainst which the Devill and the gates of hell May freely push but never shall prevaile A little after this in Galile As Jesus walked he did Philip see And bids him follow him he straight obeyeth But by the way Nathaniel he espyeth Nathaniel saith he come we have sound The man of whom the Scriptures doe abound Whom Moses and the Prophets have fore-told According to the promises of old Nathaniel gladly girdeth up his loynes And with his fellow Philip journey joynes But e're Nathaniel can come neere unto him Christ spies him and with these sweet words doth woe him Come come Nathaniel come thou voyd of guile The Sun on such another doth not smile In all Judaea's Coasts What 's this I heare Saith just Nathaniel e're I can come neere One cals me by my name whence dost thou know me For in the face till now I never saw thee Nathaniel saith Christ that 's nothing for E're Philip call'd thee I thee knew before When under the fig-tree thou naked stood Copartiner with Adam in his blood O now my God Nathaniel saith I see Thou art the very Sonne of the most High And promis'd King of Israel who should give Life to all such as in thee doe believe The night now come Christ to the mountain goeth Where all the while he to the heav'n upthroweth His supplications with strong cries and tears And graciously is heard in what he fears Next morning to his service he doth call Matthew and Thomas Barthol mew and all The rest of those Disciples whom he meant To make the Preachers of his Covenant O happy blessed blessed happy Call It doth no sooner touch their ears at all When straight it doth their starving soules renew And their affections to his will subdew Speak alwaies so my God and by thy grace Say to my fainting Soule seek thou my face And my poore Soule shall answer as appear'th Speak what thou wilt ô Lord thy servant heareth When thou at first did'st lay
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
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
thoughts espy With a loud voyce he boldly thus doth say Alas I now perceive it for a truth This people doe draw neer me with their mouth Whil'st as their hearts are farre from me for loe Not for my Doctrine sake they doe me know But for the barlie loaves they did partake When I did feed them for my mercy sake But travell not I pray you for that meat Which is as quickly gone as it is eate But labour for that bread which lasts for ever Which I the sonne of man to you deliver Your Fathers in the deserts did eate Manna And prais'd the giver with a loud Hosanna Yet did they perish dye and eke consume In their stifnecked murmuring A mertume But he who eats the bread that I shall give him Shall never perish for it shall revive him I am the bread of life which came from heaven My father unto you this bread hath given That by his bread of life which is supernall He may your soules maintain to life Eternall As many then as come to me shall neither Have thirst nor hunger for my glorious Father Sent me from heav'n not my own will to doe But mans hard heart unto his yoak to bow That so man may eschew his burning wrath And scape the sorrows of the second death No man hath seen the Father but the Sonne Who in the Fathers bosome dwels alone He doth reveale him unto whom he pleaseth Whose crosse he lightneth and whose soule he easeth No man ascendeth unto heav'n but he Who came from heav'n and doth in Majestie Though base on earth yet when he thinketh sit Doth on his Fathers right hands glory sit And at his second comming saves his sheep From sinking in that never fathom'd deep Whereas the sulpher of th'Eternalls breath Layes hold upon the vessels of his wrath And makes the faithfull and the righteous all Be fill'd with glories endlesse festivall The Metamorphose CANTO 6o. FOre-chosen Jacob Isaac's second Swaine Jah-struggling champion and victorious man Thou royall she apheard and tresprudent Siere Whom Palestina's Princes did admire Vouchsafe me but t' approach thy dying throne And charge thee with this Gordian knot alone And like Apollo thou thy front shalt see Deckt with a garland from the Lawrell tree Whence come th' Enthusiasm and that sacred sury Which made thee all thy carnall senses bury In Lethe's lap and with religious rage Divide Chams tents to Israels heritage VVhence hadst thou wisdome and sweet inspiration To precognose and with true divination Foretell that Juda's tribe should beare the sway Till Shilo should ecclipse his Majesty How madest thou Joseph like a fruitfull Vine That doth her arms about her Bridegroom twine Drunk with the grapes of Ephraims royall cup Which weak Manasseh's hands could not beare up But above all I stand amaz'd to see Lewd Levi's scatt'rings dare t' approach so nigh To Joves Ariell offring there upon For sinne and sinners expiation Is Dinah dead or Sechem's blood gone dry That thou dost thus forget his villany And without smarting for his foule offence Exalt him to the high-Priests eminence 'T is strange that divine Justice should permit Him who i th' chaire of sinners so hath sit Without corrections rod possesse the throne And sing the carrols of exemption O now I see thy tongue was not thy own A higher power hath it rul'd and thrown Even He great He whose wayes we cannot spy Because his will 's the square he worketh by Who where he will have mercy there he pardons And where he will with draw his grace he hardens From his good pleasure then and no where else It is that Levi's tribe the rest excels And on his Ephod whiter then the snow Hath tyed his breast plate where in sumptuous show Stands Vrim and great Thummims true direction For light of knowledge and for lifes perfection So then from loyns of that unhallowed stem Which Jacob thrust from Israels diadem The Lord hath chosen a successive race Of royall Priesthood who before his face Shall in that course which David did prescribe Burn incense and their sacrifice contrive With never alter'd though alternat order Till Melchizedeck come and crush their border All those like Comets when they first appeare In our sublunar regions hemispheare Did draw mens wandring eyes and wondring hearts To scan their sequels whether smiles or smarts But all in vaine nature can ne'er unty The clasped books of heav'ns great mystery For till the Word was Flesh great Judah's throne Ne'er knew her perfect exaltation And Aarons rod did ne'er her top bow down With reverence to Melchizedecks Crown But when thou cam'st those figures types and tropes Had reall Essence for unreall hopes For where the Sun doth shine in lights aray All clouds evanish night gives place to day Since then thou art true light and since with thee Darknesse dare plead for no societie O let me but be bold this once to follow Thee to thy Tabor that my sp'rit being shallow May by the lustre of thy glories shine Taste of that light that never shall decline But aye me whil'st I see the hill so steep The gulfe of my poore misery so deep The flesh so fraile the sp'rit so soone o'retak'n The flax so quench'd the bruised reed so shak'n The load of sinne so great my faith so faint So strickt the forfeit of the Covenant I cannot choose but feare lest by the way My hasting doe defraud me of my pray Unlesse thou help who help'd the faithfull thiefe For I believe Lord help my unbeliefe Come then dread Saviour let me search the time Wherein thou didst to Tabors fastege clime Thy Scriv'ners differ many therefore doubt Thy journies Epoche how they shall finde out One sayes that it was fully six daies after That thou didst make their soules o'reflow with laughter By promising that some who stood thee by Should not see death nor taste mortality Till they being witnesse of thy raptures story Should see the Sonne of man come in his glory Another saith the dayes were almost eight After that promise that thou scal'dst this height Thus doe some weake mindes stumble whilst they spy Amidst thy truth so great variety But foolish we in vanity still wallow We straine a Gnat yet doe a Camel swallow We grope at noone day and make known our blot Whil'st in a rush we seek a Gordian knot For where the eight day's neere and six are spent By true arithmetick the seventh is meant Upon this day when heav'ns and earth were made And all their frame and fabrick finished Th' Eternall seeing all his creatures good Proclam'd the seventh dayes rest and so it stood Upon this day from Mysraims darkned Cell God did redeem his first born Israel Upon this day from Baalz phons shoare To Migdoll he his people dry-foot bore Upon this day from Syna's thundering jaw He gave the Sanctions of his sacred Law Upon this day in Cana's wedding shrine He turned fountaine water unto wine And