The Hierarchie of the blessed Angells :: :: University of Virginia Library

A Deitie confest, (which All adore)
It followeth to be onely One, no more:
The multiplicitie of gods accruing
From Men, their idle phantasies pursuing.
Some thinke, From auaritious Priests they rose,
Vnto themselues, fat Offrings to dispose.
Some, from the Poets fictions; who to grace
Their Friends, or Princes of more eminent place,
Gaue to them, after death, such adoration,
Which after grew common to euery Nation.

These I let passe, as knowne. But to proceed
With what I purpose; Many haue agreed
In this sole Godhoods Vnitie: to which vse,
Although I numerous Authors could produce,
Yet I'le insist on few. One doth thus treat;
Wisedome in man is onely then compleat,
When it vpon this singular point is staid,
There's but one God, that's he who all things made.

He further argueth: If of either sex
You maintaine gods; all such I shall perplex
With this one reason: Where a Male hath being,
And Female; these betwixt themselues agreeing,
Must needs haue copulation: they, to expell
Immodestie, haue place wherein to dwell.
For 'tis not probable, That such, in view,
And openly, like Beasts their lusts pursue,
Or make their amorous meetings; because they,
By their example, teach all things that may
Instruct in Vertue. And if Houses? then
By consequence they Cities haue, as Men.
If Cities? they haue Fields; if Fields? they till;
If plough, and sow, and reape? then needs you will
Allow them mortall: for 'tis vnderstood,
All must be such, as liue not without food.

Begin where we now ended: If not eat?
They neither reape nor sow? not needing meat?
Therefore, no Fields: no Fields? no Houses? so,
No Houses? then no Cities: therefore know,
No chast commixtion can be. Tell me now,
Where's Iuno, Pallas, Venus? I, or you
Sybel or Rhea? Therefore I maintaine,
Gods are th' inuention of Mans idle braine.

Aske Proclus, Tresmegistus, or Simplicius,
Cicero, Philolaus, or Iamblicus;
Theophrastus, Plato: Or of Poets, these;
Sophocles, Orpheus, and Phocilides;
In all their Workes and Learnings great varietie,
They still conclude, There's but one soueraigne Deitie.

Saith Zeno, They're like mad that trust in many,
As those (è contra) that beleeue not any.
Simplicius speaking of the Vnitie
Of this Diuinest Essence, thus saith he;
All things that be, or beautifull, or faire,
From Diuine Pulchritude deriued are:

All Truth, from Diuine Truth; all we can name
T'haue Being, from the first Beginning came:
Hee's the sole God, Beginning, and the Spring
(In his owne Power) of all and euery thing.
All things from Him proceed, to come, or past;
Those which were first, the present, and the last.
From His sole Goodnesse many goods arise;
His Vnitie brings many Vnities.
His one Beginning is the source and ground
Of many more Beginnings, (after found:)
In this Beginning, Vnitie, and Good,
I would haue one God onely vnderstood.
The reason? Because Hee's the Prime of All,
In whom consists the Off-spring generall
Of each thing that hath being. He besides,
Is of all Causes, Cause, and still abides;
The Goodnesse, of all Goodnesses: And so,
Of all gods, the Great God; None else, we know.

When Cicero would distinguish betwixt those
We Idols call, and Him that doth dispose
The Fabricke he hath built; he doth debate
Thus with himselfe: They 're made; He vncreate:
They, weake and feeble in their proud'st ostent;
But He, All-able, and Omnipotent.
They, vnto Natures Lawes subiect and thrall:
But He, the God of Nature, Them, and All.

One God, one Vnitie, in it selfe agreeing,
Is the sole Root and Seed of all things being:
Without which, nothing is, nought hath been made.
Another, thus ingeniously hath said;
There is one God, whose Power is stretched far,
Immouable, and alwaies Singular,
Like onely to himselfe. And (in effect)
The chiefe of the Perepateticke Sect
Affirmes to vs as much: who doth apply
His reasons, grounded on Philosophy
And Nature, thus: All motions (saith he)
Ascend vp to the Primum Mobile,
And the first Mouer; which he there doth name
To be the Sole and Prime, on which Heauens frame,
With vniuersall Nature, doth depend.
And this he elsewhere further striues t'extend,
Thus speaking: The first Mouer's One, and He,
Euer Eternall we conclude to be.

Of Diuine Plato 'tis recorded thus,
Who writing to King Dionysius;
Onely (saith he) by this note shall you know,
Whether my purpose serious be, or no:
You shall obserue how I my Letter frame;
If one sole God I inuocate and name,
What's weighty I intend: but if the rest
I nominate, thinke then I sport and jest.

Orpheus, of Poets the most antient,
(And in that noble Title eminent;)
He, that is said to giue each god his name,
And to deriue the off-spring whence he came;
Yet in his best and deepest Theory,
Left to the world, as his last Legacie,
That there was one sole God, Omnipotent,
Immortall, and for euer Permanent;
Invisible, common Parent vnto all
Mankinde, and other Creatures, great and small:
Author of War or Peace; whose Prouidence
Gouerns the World; and whose high Eminence
Hath in th' Emperiall Heauens a golden Throne;
Whose Foot-stoole is the Earth, to tread vpon:
Who stretcheth his right hand beyond the vast
Vnlimited Oceans bounds; The First and Last;
Before whom, each high Mountaine, and low Vale
(Mov'd at his presence) tremble and looke pale.
The Worlds fixt Columes at his anger shake;
And the Seas bottomlesse Abysses quake.

And elsewhere thus: We may from Reason gather,
Ioue is sole King, the vniuersall Father
And Parent of all things, alwaies the same,
One Power, one God o're all that we can name;
And ouer them great Lord: hauing besides,
One Regall Bulke, or Body, which abides
To all Eternitie: In which, what's being,
Hath revolution, no way disagreeing,
Yet maintaines Contraries. In Him you may
Finde Fire and Water, Earth, Aire, Night, and Day.
As much as this, Phocilides confest:
There is one potent God, sole Wise, sole Blest.

Th' Ægyptians in their curious inquisition,
(A Nation the most giuen to superstition,
And to Idolatrous worship;) and yet they
In all their Hierogliphycks did pourtray

But one sole Iupiter, whose picture was
Plac't o're their ports and gates, in stone or brasse;
So likewise in their Temples: in his hand
A trisulc thunderbolt, or fulminous brand.
And, as the Writer of their story tels,
Him they as God acknowledge, and none els.

Saith one: The God of Nature I will sing,
Infus'd in Heauen, Sea, Earth, and euery thing;
Who this great Masse by impartial cov'nant swayes;
Whom (in alternate peace) the World obeyes,
By which it liues and moues: since but one Spirit
Dwells in each part, and doth the whole inherit;
O're flying all things with inuisible speed,
And giuing shape to all that therein breed.

Vnlesse this Frame, of Members, neere ally'de,
And well context, were made, and had one Guide
And Lord thereof, the Vast to mannage still;
But were to be dispos'd by humane skill;
The Stars could haue no motion, th' Earth no ease;
Time would stand still, and a cold stiffenesse seise
On agitation; Planets would retaine
No influence, but slothfully remaine
In their tyr'd Spheres; Night would not fly the Day,
Nor Light giue place to Darknesse: at a stay
All things should stand: the soft shoures should not dare
To cheare the Earth; nor the coole Windes the Aire:
Racke should not chase the clouds, flouds should not feed
The Sea; nor the Sea, Riuers at their need:
Nor should the soueraigne Part o're all parts stand,
Order'd and sway'd by an equall Parents hand.
For now, neither the Waters nor the Stars
Be vnto vs deficient; nothing bar's
The Heav'ns in their dispose, whereby to ghesse,
They alter in their Gyring more or lesse.

Motion doth cherish but not change; for all
We see the world containes in generall,
Are mannag'd and dispos'd by faire accord,
And still obedient to their Prince and Lord.
He therefore is the God that all things guides,
Who in his Diuine wisedome so prouides,
That Creatures here below, meerely terrestriall,
Haue pour'd into them (by the Signes Cœlestiall)
A strength, infus'd to honour or disgrace,
Not hindred by the distance of the place.

Stars haue a power in Nature, ministring Fate
To Nations, priuat persons, and each State;
Which operation we do hold as sure,
As the Heav'ns giue the Fieldes a temperature,
By which they in their seasons spring and grow;
Or, are the cause that the Seas ebbe and flow.

Hee's only God, that is vnchang'd by Time;
Nor yong, nor old, but euer in his prime:
Who suffers not the Sun, backward t'inuade
The transuerse Arctos, or runne retrograde
And steere a new course: neither from the West,
Returne the same way to his last nights rest;
Nor shewes the same Aurora to stronds new;
Nor lets the Moone an erring course pursue,
Beyond her certaine Orbe; but to retaine
A constant change in her encrease and waine:
Nor lets the Stars (aboue impending) fall,
To circumvolve the Earth, the Sea, and all.

Thinke now you heare this God, long silence breake,
And to a meerly Ethnicke man thus speake:
Thou (slighting me) hast to thy selfe deuis'd
A thousand gods, and equally vs pris'd;
Thinking to minch me into parts, and fleece
Me of my right. But know, no part or peece
Can be from me extracted, no forme ta'ne,
That am a simple Substance: Then in vaine
Thou think'st to parcell me by thy decision.
Of compound things 'tis eath to make diuision:
But I was made by none; nor therefore can
I, piece-meal'd or dissected be by Man.
All things, from nothing, were first made by me;
“Then, part of mine owne worke how can I be?
Therefore to me alone thy Temples reare,
And worship me in honour and in feare.

As those of Marble, so the Minde I praise,
Where stedfast Faith a rich Foundation layes
On golden piles; and when the Buildings rise
In snowy Pietie, to daze mens eyes:
With vnsway'd Iustice rooft, to keepe out raine;
And where the walls within, chast Blushes staine,
In stead of Vermil: and the whitenesse cleare
Proceeds from palenesse, bred by holy Feare.

The Oracles that from the Sybels came,
Who in the former world were of great fame,

(Though 'mongst the Learn'd it be a question still,
Whence they inspir'd were with Prophetique skill,
The good or the bad Sprite) er'd not, to say,
There is but one sole God, Him we obey.
These be their words: In this we all agree;
There's one true God, aboue all Maiestie,
Omnipotent, Inuisible alone,
Vnborne, All-seeing, and yet seene of none.

Apollo, askt by one Theophilus,
How many gods there were? made answer thus:
(His Vnitie not daring to deny)
There's only one true God, Potent, and High;
Begotten by Himselfe, Sufficient, Able;
Vntaught, and without Mother, solely Stable:
To speake whose Name, no Language can aspire
Or reach into: whose dwelling is in Fire.
And such is God, of whom, I and the Rest
Am a small portion, as being profest
His Ministers and Angels. By which Name,
The Diuell exprest himselfe to haue an aime
To Diuine worship; which He that did create
All things, so loth is to communicate.
He, by the mouthes of our forefathers, and
The holy Prophets, (who did vnderstand
His sacred will, The Scriptures) hath so fram'd,
To haue his Singularitie oft nam'd.
As thus: Because the Lord is God alone,
Peculiar, and besides him there is none.
Againe: O Israel attend and heare;
The Lord thy God is One, him thou shalt feare.
The God of gods (I heare the Psalmist say)
Doth only worke great wonders, Him obey:
For 'mongst the gods none's like him. Go and tell
(Saith he) vnto my people Israel,
I am the Lord thy God, and none but I,
Who brought thee from th' Ægyptian slauerie,
And from the house of Bondage set thee free,
“Therefore thou shalt adore no God saue me.

Lycurgus, in the Proëm of his Lawes
To the Locrenses, (not without great cause)
These following words prefixt: Needfull it were,
That all the people which inhabit here,
Should be persuaded. There's one God aboue,
By whom all liuing Creatures breathe and moue.

Who, as in all his Works he is exprest;
So is he not the least made manifest,
In our inspection to the Worlds great frame,
The Heauen, and goodly order of the same.
Be no man of that stupid ignorance,
“To thinke that such things are dispos'd by chance.

The gluttons Belly is his god, (the cause)
In that his Appetite prescribes him Lawes.
The griping Auaritious man hath sold
His Soule, (so dearely bought) to purchase Gold.
Voluptuous men, solely deuote to Lust,
Their Idol's Venus; for in her they trust.
Th' Ambitious, his All-Honour'd makes, his Fame;
As, before Gods, preferring his owne Name.
And is not he, vaine Studies doth prefer
Before his Christ, a meere Idolater?
And do not all those that ought higher prise
Than Him, to Idols offer sacrifise?

But he that shall beleeue in him aright,
Shall haue accesse to his Eternall Light:
When those that haue Religion in disdaine,
And Pietie in contempt, (and so remaine)
They striue to haue no being, (to their shame)
And to returne to nothing, whence they came.
All such as are not numbred 'mongst the Saints
Whom euill thoughts possesse, and Sinne supplants,
Haue lost themselues, as hid behinde a Skreene;
How then can the least part of them be seene?
But those that through their Sauiour proue victorious,
They in Heauens kingdome shall be great and glorious.

Two Principles (as some Philosophers write)
There are, Eternall both, and Infinite;
Makers of things, yet in their Natures vary,
As being in themselues meere contrary.
Their error note: If two such in their prime,
Of power, should haue existence at one time;
Since two so great, must greater be than one,
Euen in that clause the Infinite is gone.

Being distinct in number, and diuided,
Needs must they be by seuerall motions guided.
One borrowes not of the other, for majoritie:
Being equall two, there can be no prioritie.
And contrary (as I before haue said)
In opposition? they must needs inuade

Th' agreeing Fabricke; and so, without cease,
Disturbe old Natures long-continued peace.
Neither from these two Equalls can arise
A third, this their great strife to compromise.
Againe; If two, one needlesse is, and vaine,
Or, as we call it, Empty. Now 'tis plaine,
That Nothing cannot haue in Nature place;
For she hath Vacuum in continuall chase,
And is at war with 't. Therefore I hope none,
But will confesse a Godhood, and that one:
“One Monarch of the world, the great Effector,
Of all therein sole Parent and Protector.

All such as of their multiplicitie speake,
Disable them, as wanting power, and weake;
As if nought gouer'nd were that hath been made,
Which One can do, without anothers aid.

Him only a true Monarch we may call,
That hath no parted kingdome, but swayes all.
But where a Principalitie (misguided)
Is amongst seuerall Optimates diuided;
It needs must follow, In no One can be
An absolute and exact soueraignty:
For none of these, but by vsurping, dare
Challenge the whole, where each haue but a share.
There is a certaine Bound which circumscribes
His Iurisdiction; Each hath seuerall Tribes
To gouerne and dispose. Should we agree
In many gods, it then perforce must be
concluded, There can be no Soueraigne Minde,
Since euery one hath but his Lot assign'd:
When as of Power it is the true condition,
Not to be ty'de to stint or exhibition;
“But as the sole Supreme and Principall,
“Guiding, disposing, comprehending all.

If God be perfect? he can be but one,
As hauing all things in himselfe alone.
The more you make, the more you shall depraue
Their Might and Potencie, as those that haue
Their vertue scanted; so allow not any:
Since all things cannot be contain'd in Many.
By which 'tis manifest, Those that maintaine
More gods than one, be people vile and vaine;
In the like blasphemy ready to fall,
With the dam'nd Atheist, who knowes none at all.

The Manichees, they hold a strange opinion,
That two betwixt them share the high Dominion;
Who as they did create, so guide it still:
One, Good disposeth; and the other, Ill.
The first is Lord of Light, and gouernes Day:
The last, of Night, and Darknesse beares chiefe sway.
One, Heate in charge hath; and the other, Cold:
Yet who, by daily proofe doth not behold,
That by the sole and Diuine Prouidence,
Man, with all Creatures, of them both hath sence,
And from them comfort? That the Night for rest
Was made, to cheare Man, wearied and opprest;
As well as Day, whose cheerefull light prepares
Vs to our needfull and best knowne affaires.
Do we not see, from what we counted bad,
Much good to vs, great solace hath been had?
Againe, That seeming-Good, forg'd by the Deuill,
Hath been to vs th' occasion of much euill?

Heauens blessings let vs taste in their communitie,
Ascribing all praise to the God of Vnitie,
“This sempiternall Minde, this Consummate
“And absolute Vertue, that did all create;
“This Power, who in himselfe hath his Stabilitie,
“Maiestie, Wisedome, Strength, and true Soliditie:
“From whose Sublimitie no man's so mad
“To thinke he can detract: To whom none adde.
“This, of himselfe all Fulnesse, all Satietie;
“Is then the sole Incomprehensible Deitie.

Sometimes, what's proper vnto Man alone,
Is giuen to this Trias, three in One:
As, when we attribute vnto him Wings,
It straight vnto our aphrehension brings,
How he protects and shadowes vs. If Eares?
With what facilitie and grace he heares
Our deuout Prayers. And when, his Arme stretcht out?
That of his Power and Strength we should not doubt.
His Finger nam'd, doth to the world auer
His Vertue, and, that no Artificer
Can worke like him. His Skill; The glorious frame
Of this great Machine, doth to all proclaime.
His Face, sometimes, his presence doth imply;
Sometimes, his fauour and benignitie.

If we reade Wrath; we must consider then,
Those Iudgements that impend o're sinfull men;

And with what terror, when they come, they fall.
His Hand, doth vnto our remembrance call
His Potencie, Protection, Power to guide;
With all such things as are to these ally'de.
His Nosthrils, by which he is said to smell,
Doth vnto vs his Acceptation tell,
Of Sacrifice and Prayer. His Incenst Ire
(Againe) it notes, when thence fly sparks of fire.
His Eyes emblem to vs, that choice Respect
And Fauor which he beares to his Elect.
Sometimes they import his Prouidence Diuine
Sometimes, they wrathfully are said to shine
Against the Wicked. By his Feet are meant,
Stabilitie and Power Omnipotent.
By th' Apple of his Eye he would haue knowne,
Th' Indulgence that he beares vnto his Owne.

The Diuine Wisedome, knowing how dull and weake
Mans heart and braine is, taught the Text to speake
To our capacities. The Prophets, they
Did not of this great Deity display
The absolute perfection; but so leaue it,
That by a glimpse we far off might conceiue it.
His Eyes being nam'd, it must impresse in me,
That God doth euery thing at all times see.
Or if his Eare? then must I presuppose,
That, hearing all that's spoke, he all things knowes;
That, hauing wings to mount himselfe on high,
In vaine can Man his incenst vengeance fly.
O, whither from thy Sprite shall I depart?
Thou, that in euery place at all times art?
Fly thee, none can; but vnto thee repaire,
All may, in their humilitie and prayer,
Appealing to thy Goodnsse. For, What place
Can shadow me, when I shall fly thy face?
If soare to Heauen? thy Presence doth appeare:
Or if to Hell diue? Thou art likewise there.
There is no way an angry God to shun;
But, to a God well pleas'd, for refuge run.

Now to proceed: The Scripture Phrase doth reach
No farther, than our stupid sence to teach;
That by corporeall things we may prepare
Our hearts to know what things spirituall are;
And by Inuisible, make demonstration
Of what's vnseene, beyond mans weake narration.

And for this cause, our passions and affects
Are in the Scriptures, for some knowne respects,
Confer'd on the Almighty; when 'tis said,
God did repent him that he man had made.
Or when hee's wrathfull? herein is not meant,
That He is angry, or, He can repent:
But 'tis a Figure from th' effect arose,
And that the Greeks call Metanumikos.

The Names the Scriptures attribute to Him,
Sometimes Iehouah, sometimes Elohim:
And when the glorious Trinitie's proclaim'd,
The Father, Sonne, and Holy-Ghost are nam'd.
More appellations the Text affords;
As, The Great God of Heauen, The Lord of Lords,
The Lord of Armies, and of Hosts; the God
That in the Highest Heauen hath his aboad;
The God of Abraham, Isaac, Iacob; and,
He that brought Israel from th' Egyptians land;
God of the Spirits, of all Flesh, and he
Lord God of Israel is knowne to be.
Him, by the name of th' Hebrewes God we praise,
God of our Fathers, Th' Antient of all dayes,
And, Dauids God. Yet further denomination;
The God of gods, of Iustice, Ioy, Saluation,
(These titles it ascribes to Him alone)
Israels Redeemer, Israels Holy one;
Protector, Father, Shepheard: then we sing
To Israels God, to Iacobs, the great King:
So, to the Euerlasting King, and than
King of all Worlds, before the World began.
Whose Power, whose Goodnesse, shewn to euery Nation, &c.
Extracts from me this serious Contemplation.

Soueraigne and holy God, Fountaine and Spring
Of all true Vertue, the Omnipotent King;
Of whom, by subtill search in things to acquire,
Is not in Mans conception (a thing higher
Than his weake faculties can comprehend;)
Yet not to know this God, he should offend.
For how can it with reason consonant be,
One Godhood should remaine in persons three?
And they in such a firme connexure linkt,
To be (although inseparat) yet distinct.
Thou art without beginning; and againe,
Thou shalt to all Eternitie remaine,

Knowing no end: The Onely and the Same,
Whom Time cannot impaire, nor Age reclaime.
The space of things, Thou do'st in space exceed,
And art contain'd in none. How shouldst thou need
That which thy Selfe hast made? Or how should Sence
Allot thee place, who only art Immense?
Nor is it in Mans frailtie to deuise,
How, Thee in the least kinde to annatomise,
Or tell what thou art like; thy Image being
A thing excluded from all mortall seeing:
Vnlesse thou, of thy most especiall Grace,
Wilt shew some shadow of thy glorious Face.
No part of thee thou hast presented here,
Saue what doth in thy maruellous Works appeare.
No Strength can moue Thee, (of the Land or Ocean)
By whom we are, and in whom haue our motion:
Thou art the Mind, and Substance of all pure
And holy minds: Thou art the Reason, sure
And stedfast, whence all other Reasons flow,
That are from perfect Wisedome said to grow.
Thou art that Vertue, of all Vertues head:
Thou art the Life it selfe; and thou art read,
Father of Life, as being knowne to giue
Breath, (with their Being) to all things that liue.
The Light it selfe, and yeelding Light to all;
The Cause and Strength of things in generall,
Beginning, it's beginning had from thee;
And what soeuer first began to be,
Vpon the sudden out of Nothing shin'd:
Which, fil'd with thy great Power, were so refin'd,
That either strength of knowledge they retaine,
Or excellent shape, such as doth still remaine.

The sacred Scriptures are sufficient warrant,
By many Texts to make the Trine apparant:
As from the first Creation we may proue;
God did Create, God Said, the Spirit did Moue:
Create imports the Father; Said, the Sonne,
The Spirit that Mov'd, the Holy-Ghost. (This done)
Come to the Gospell, to Saint Paul repaire;
Of him, Through him, and For him all things are;
To whom be euerlasting praise, Amen.
In which, it is observ'd by Origen,
Of, Through, and For, three Persons to imply;
And the word Him, the Godheads Vnitie.

Let Vs in Our owne Image, Man create,
(Saith God:) which Salomon doth thus explicate;
Remember the Creators in the dayes, &c.
Which word, those well verst in the Hebrew Phrase,
Reade in the plurall. So, when God did frowne
On Babels Tower, he said, Let Vs go downe.
When Sodom was consum'd, 'tis said againe,
The Lord that fire did from the Lord downe raine.

So, when Christs Glory Isay would declare,
To expresse, Three Persons in on Godhead are;
He, Holy, Holy, Holy, nam'd: To show,
We might a Ternion in an Vnion know.

Come to Christs Baptisme, you againe shall see,
In the same Trine, the perfect Vnitie:
The Father (the first Person) is compris'd
By sending downe a Voice: The Son's baptis'd
By Iohn in Iorden: and then from aboue
The Third descends, in figure of a Doue.

So likewise when Duke Moses went about
To comment on the Law; lest they should doubt
Of this great Mysterie, Hearke to my word
O Israel, (said) The Lord our God's one Lord:
In which word One, the Vnitie is meant
Of the three Persons, solely Omnipotent.
In which (by One) 'tis well observ'd, That he
The second Person in the Trinitie
Meant in the second word, who hath the name
To be Our God: 'Tis because we may claime
Iust int'rest in him. And though all the Three
May be call'd ours; more (in particular) He.
One reason is, Because he Heav'n forsooke,
And on himselfe our humane nature tooke
In all things like, (so did his Grace abound)
Saue only that in him no sinne was found.
Next, That he bore our sinnes, freed our transgression:
And last, For vs in Heaven makes intercession.

Two natures in one person so ally'd,
Some hold, in Mans creation tipify'd;
From Earth, his body Adam had ('tis said;)
His Soule, from Heauen: both these but one Man made.
Christs humane nature had with man affinitie,
(Being very Man) and from God his Diuinitie,
(Being very God:) In both so to subsist,
Godhood and Manhood make vp but one Christ.

In Iacob's Ladder, figur'd, this we see,
(Which Ladder, Christ himselfe profest to be;)
Of which, the foot being fixt vpon the ground;
The top to heauen; thus much to vs doth sonnd:
That in this Scale, at such large distance set,
The Heauen and Earth at once together met.
So, Christs Humanitie from Earth was giuen;
But his Diuinitie he tooke from Heauen:
As from Earth, Earthy; as from Heauen, Diuine;
Two Natures in one Person thus combine.

The choicest things about the Arke were fram'd
Of Gold and Wood; Wood, worthlesse to be nam'd,
If with Gold valu'd; for the Cedar's base,
Compar'd with th' Ophir Mine: yet had it grace,
With it's rich tincture to be ouerspred.
In this respect the Godhood may be sed
To be the Gold; the Manhood, baser wood:
And yet both these (as truly vnderstood)
Made but one Arke: So, the two Natures raise
Betwixt them but one Christ. He forty daies
Fasted i'th Desart, and did after grow
Hungry: by which the Text would haue vs know
Hee's God, because of his miraculous fast:
Hee's Man, because he hungry grew at last.

He slept at sea, when the great tempest rose;
This shew'd him Man, as needfull of repose:
When he rebuk'd the Windes, and Surges tam'd,
He, his great Godhood to the World proclaim'd.

He wept o're Lazarus, as he was man;
But (foure dayes buried) when he rais'd him, than
He appear'd God. He dy'de vpon the Crosse
(As he was Man) to redeeme Mankindes losse;
But at his death, when th' Earth with terror shooke,
And that the Sun (affrighted) durst not looke
On that sad obiect, but his light withdrew
By strange Eclipse; this shew'd him to be true
And perfect God: since, to confirme this wonder,
The Temples Vaile was seene to rend asunder:
The Earth sent forth her Dead, who had abode
Long in the earth: All these proclaim'd him God.

The tenth of the seuenth moneth, the Hebrew Nation
Did solemnise their Feast of Expiation:
So call'd, because the High-Priest then confest,
How He, with all the People, had transgrest;

(His and Their sinnes:) Obserue how thence ensu'th
A faire agreement 'twixt the Type and Truth.

Aaron the High-Priest went into the place
Call'd Holiest of Holies: Christ (by 'his grace
Made our High-Priest) into the Holiest went,
Namely, the Heauen aboue the Firmament.
Aaron, but once a yeare; He, once for all,
To make way for Mankinde in generall:
He, by the bloud of Goats and Calues; but Christ,
By his owne bloud (the blessed Eucharist.)
Aaron went single in: and Christ alone
Hath trod the Wine-presse, (and besides him none.)
He, with his Priestly robes pontifically;
Christ, to his Office seal'd eternally
From God the Father. Aaron tooke two Goats;
Which ceremoniall Type to vs denotes,
That Christ assum'd two Natures: that which fled,
(The Scape-Goat call'd) to vs deciphered
His Godhoods imp'assibilitie: And compris'd
In th' other, (on the Altar sacrifis'd)
His Manhoods suffering; since that Goat did beare
The Peoples sinnes. Which in the Text is cleare.
Saint Paul in his Epistle we reade thus;
That Christ (without sinne) was made Sinne for vs.

Hence growes that most inscrutable Diuinitie
Of the three sacred Persons, the blest Trinitie:
Which holy Mysterie hath an extension
Aboue Mans braine, or shallow apprehension;
Nor can it further in our brests take place,
Than we are inlightned by the Spirit of Grace.
How should we then, Finite and Mortall, grow
By meditation, or deepe search, to know;
Or dare ambitiously, to speake or write
Of what Immortall is, and Infinite?
And yet, 'mongst many other deuout men,
Heare something from the learned Nazianzen.

The Monady, or number One, we see,
In this great Godhood doth arise to three;
And then this mysticall Trine (sacred alone)
Retyres it selfe into the number One:
Nor can this Diuine Nature be dissect,
Or separated in the least respect.
Three Persons in this Trias we do name;
But yet the Godhood still One and the same:

Each of the Three, by right, a God we call;
Yet is there but one God amongst them all.

When Cicero, with graue and learned Phrase
Had labour'd long, the Godhood to emblaze;
He doth conclude it, of that absolute kinde,
No way to be decipher'd or defin'd;
Because, 'boue all things Hee's superior knowne,
And so immense, to be contain'd in none.
A prime and simple Essence, vncompounded;
And though that many, labouring to haue sounded
This Diuine Essence, and to haue giuen it name,
They were not able: yet to expresse the same
As 't were afar off, Epithites deuis'd,
And words in such strange circumstance disguis'd;
Nothing but quarrels and contentions breeding,
As Natures strength, and Reasons, much exceeding.

The Martyr Attalus (when he was brought
Before a Tyrant, who esteemed nought
Of God or goodnesse) being askt in scorne,
What name God had? A space from him did turne,
And after some small pause made this reply;
(As th' Author doth of him historifie)
“Your many gods haue names by which th' are knowne;
“But our God being but One, hath need of none.

Wise Socrates forbad men to enquire,
Of what shape God was. Let no man aspire
(Saith Plato) what God is to apprehend,
Whose Maiesties immensenesse doth extend
So far; and is so'vnimitably Great,
Beyond all vtterance, or the hearts conceit.

Why then is it so difficult and rare,
Him to define? It is, because we are
Of such streight Intellect, narrow and rude,
Vncapable of his great Magnitude.
Our infirme sight is so obtuse and dull;
And His bright fulgence is so beautifull.

Hence comes it, by no other names we may
Call this great God, than such as best display
His Excellence, Infinitie, and all
Wherein He appeares solely Majesticall.

According to his Essence, Him to know,
Belongs vnto Himselfe: the Angels go
By meere Similitude: Man, by a Glasse
And Shape of things; and can no further passe:

For he, by contemplation in the Creature,
As in a Mirrhor, sees the Diuine feature:
So Holy men by speculation view'd
The nature of this toplesse Altitude.

'Twixt Vs (saith one) and this great Mysterie
There is such distance, such remote degree,
As the Creator (whom we must prefer)
Is 'fore the Creature; and th' Artificer
Is, (than the worke he makes,) more excellent:
As He that hath been before all Discent,
And alwaies is; is of more noble fame
Than that which was not, and from Nothing came.
Then cease not till to this thou hast atcheev'd,
“God is not to be question'd, but beleev'd.

When Gregorie would shew th' Vbiquitie
Of this vncomprehended Deitie;
Th' Almightie and Omnipotent God (saith he)
Is Euery where, At once, and Totally:
In Part he is not, as confin'd to space;
But He is All of Him, in Euery place:
And then least found, when, with vnfaithfull heart,
He, that is All, Each-where, is sought in Part.
Therefore our Sauiour, when he would declare
To his Disciples, That no Mortalls are
Able to view the Father, but the Sonne:

That, by the glorious Fabricke, by him done,
And by his other Creatures, they might see
(As in a Glasse) his Might and Maiestie;
Vseth these words: By Heauen you shall not sweare,
It is the Throne of God, (Hee's resiant there)
Nor by the lower Earth you shall protest,
It is the Basse on which his foot doth rest.

We for our parts, all curious search lay by,
Only submit our selues to the Most-High,
In all obedience humbly to confesse
Him for the Fountaine of all Happinesse,
Goodnesse and Grace: to giue him thankes and praise,
First, for this Life; next, our Encrease of daies;
But chiefely, that we Reason haue and Sence,
With tongues to magnifie his Excellence;
And Lookes sublime, to cast them vp and view
Whence we receiue all Good: and as His dew,
Giue Him the Glory, that He did not frame
Vs Beasts, and Mute, that cannot praise His Name.

Thales Milesius, of the Argiue Nation,
Was (in like sad and serious contemplation)
For three things wont to thanke the gods: The first,
That he was borne in Greece, bred vp and nurst
Not 'mongst Barbarians: And in the next place,
Because no Female, but of Masculine race:
The third and last, (which most his ioyes encreast)
Because created Man, and not Brute Beast.

Boethius saith, It is not fit, fraile Man
Secrets Diuine too narrowly should scan;
Onely to haue them so far vnderstood,
That God disposeth all things to our good.
The knowledge to Saluation tending best,
He in his Scripture hath made manifest:
But not to enquire for that, which should we finde,
Our limited and vncapacious minde
Could not conceiue; or say, in some degree
It did, not make vs better than we be.

Th' office of a true Father God hath don;
This Body He hath made, which we put on;
The Soule, by which we breathe, He hath infus'd:
All that we are is His, if not abus'd.
How we were made, or how these things were wrought,
If in His holy Wisedome he had thought
Fit we should know, no doubt they had been then
Publisht vnto vs by the sacred Pen.
Elsewhere He saith, His will was, we should know
(Besides the generall duty which we owe)
Onely such things as tend to our Saluation:
As for all other curious Intimation,
'Tis most prophane; and therefore Heauen forbid,
We pry into those things He would haue hid.
Why should we seeke for what we cannot know?
Or knowing, by it cannot better grow?
Sufficient 'tis that we enioy the Fire
Vnto our vse; What need is, to enquire
From whence it hath it's heate? We daily finde
The benefit of Water in the kinde;
What more would it auaile (being still the same)
If we did know whence first the moisture came?
So of the rest. Then let vs be content
With the proportion of the knowledge leant.
“Be gratefull for Heauens Blessings, and surrender
“All praise and thanks vnto the Bounteous Sender.

The Tyrant Hiero, in his height of pride,
Willing, What God was, to be satisfied?
Askt Simonides. He, after some stay,
Demanded first the respit of a day:
But that being past, Hiero againe enquir'd.
He told him, That to know what he desir'd,
Two dayes were requisit. These likewise o're,
And being still demanded as before;
The Tyrant once againe requir'd the reason
Of his delay, by doubling still the season:
Who thus reply'de; The more that I the same
Contemplate, still the further out of frame
My senses are. This Plato did pursue,
Saying, Of God he only thus much knew,
As, That no man could know him. Hence exists
The opinion of the best Theologists;
That his great Attributes are by negation
Better exprest to vs, than Affirmation.
As much to say, More easie 'tis to show,
What He is not; than what He is, to know:
As, That god is Not Made; No Earth, No Fire,
Water, or Aire. Ascend a little higher.
God is No Sphere, No Star, No Moone, No Sun;
God is Not Chang'd, suffers No Motion;
God, No Beginning had, therefore No End:
With infinite such, that to the like intend.
All which infer, That by no affirmation
Can be exprest his full denomination.

Leaue thousand Authors at this time alone,
My purpose is but to insist on one.
Before our Mindes eyes let vs place (saith he)
What this great Nature Naturant may be;
Which All things Holds, Fills All, doth All Embrace,
Super-exceedes, Sustaines; and in One place.

Not in one place Sustaines, and in another
Super-exceedes; here Fills, and in the tother
Embraceth: but by Embracing, Fills; and then,
By Filling likewise doth Embrace agen:
Sustaining, Super-exceeds; Super-exceeding,
Sustaines: In all these no assistance needing.

The same saith in another place; We know,
God's Within All, Without, Aboue, Below:
Aboue, by Power; Below, by Sustentation;
Without by Magnitude; in the same fashion,

Within All, by Subtilitie: Aboue, reigning;
Descend Below, Hee's there, All things containing:
Without, He compasseth; Penetrates Within:
Not in one place Superior, (that were sin
To imagin) in another place inferior;
Or seuerall waies exterior and interior.
But He, the One and Same, totally to appeare.
(Vncircumscrib'd) at one time euery where.
By Gouerning, Sustaining; by Sustaining,
Gouerning; by Embracing, Penetrating;
Penetrating by Embracing; Aboue, Guiding;
Below, Supporting: what's without abiding,
Still Compassing; and what's within, Replenishing:
Without Vnrest, All that's aboue Protecting;
Without least Paine, All that's below Sustaining:
Without Extenuation, Inly Piercing;
Without (without Extension) Compassing.

But, Would'st thou haue me what God is discusse?
Thee (with Cardanus) I must answer thus:
“To tell thee that, I should be a God too:
“(A thing which none but God himselfe can do.)

And now, with pious reuerence to enquire
Of that All-Potents Name, which some desire
(No doubt) to be instructed in; as farre
As leaue will giue, a little let vs dare.

Some call Him God, of Giuing; as they wou'd
Infer to vs, He giues vs all that's Good.
Others would by Antiphrasis imply,
That it from Desit comes: The reason why?
As most approv'd, to be that only He
In whom not any thing can wanting be.
Others confer on this inuisible Being,
Theos; as much as we should say, All-seeing.
Some, of Deomai, [i. Timeo] that's, To Feare;
Because that euery Nation far and neare
Should dread His Name. But no Tongue can expresse
His Celcitude and high Almightinesse:
Which in his Wisedome He hath kept conceal'd,
Nor to his Seruant Moses once reueal'd.
Whom, though in all things else He pleas'd to vse
Familiarly, as one whom He did chuse
To be his Peoples Captaine; when he came
To aske that? Answer'd, I Am what I Am.

Which sacred words, the Hebrewes chosen Nation
From Age to Age had in such veneration,
That saue their priests none might pronounce that phrase:
And they, but on some solemne Festiuall daies.

Now therefore, This, long meditating on
(The wisest of all Men) King Salomon;
Finding no word that could define Him right,
Or manifest his Magnitude or Might:
Astonisht and confounded, doth exclaime
In these few words; What might I call His Name?

As should he say; By what Voice, Sound, what Tongue,
Can this Eternall Deitie be sung?
Can a Word do 't? To thinke it, Heauen forbid;
Since from our Frailties 'tis retruse and hid.

Excuse me (Reader) then, if I desire
To search no further than Such durst enquire.

Lumen est Vmbra Dei; & Deus est Lumen Luminis. Plato.

Explicit metrum Trastatus secundi.