The Muses Sacrifice :: :: University of Virginia Library

From out the Soule of my most happy Soule,
I praise thee, migthy Maker of this All,
For that when I was nothing (faire nor foule)
thou mad'st me of thy Creatures Capitall!

For, to thine Image didst thou fashion me,
giuing my Soule Intelligence, and Will;
That so, at least, she might b'in loue with thee,
sith all things loue their like, by Nature, still.

Thou mightst haue made me some detested Worme;
some Toade or Viper, or some Crocadile:
Or else some Monster, both in moode and forme;
or ought what is most harmefull and most vile.

And, that thou didst not, it was of thy grace;
for, what could I deserue when I was not?
No, not a Being in the basest place,
much lesse Earths Lordship, which is now my Lot!

And, lest a Creature, so resembling thee,
should instantly to nothing fall againe,

Thou me endu'dst with immortalitie;
that I might, in all Worlds, still liue and raigne.

Yet seem'd that nothing to thy boundlesse Loue,
vnlesse, of nothing, thou hadst made my Soule
But little lesse, if not some way abōue
the Angels; for, they serue, and I controule.

Oxen and Sheepe with Grasse are satisfide;
Fish, Fowle, and Wormes with Food of baser kinde:
But my Soules Meate is more then Deifide;
for nothing but her God contents her Minde!

For, She is made of that Capacitie
(because like thee She is directly made)
That Heau'n and Earth her cannot satisfie,
sith She shall flowrish most, when these shall fade.

For, though she once began, yet now she is
eternall made, and truely infinite;
Then nought but thou that hast these properties,
can satiate her insatiate appetite.

Wretch that I am, this World, why doe I loue?
or seeke the fading glory of the same?
Why doe I riches seeke and pleasures proue,
that doe the Soule vnioynt, and Minde vnframe?

These Husks suffice not; and, these painted Fires
warme but the bare imagination:

[31]

While the Soule starues throgh cold, with vaine desires
bred by that powers misinformation.

O no, her Food's much more substantiall,
(Supersubstantiall I should rather say)
Because it is so passing spirituall,
as none but purest Spirits it relish may.

Then know my Soule, know what (by kind) thou art
thy Makers Type, and viue Similitude;
Whole in the Whole, and whole in eu'ry Part;
another God, of boundlesse magnitude!

How can thy Palate then, taste any thing
(without distast) that is not most diuine?
Why drink'st of this Worlds Dike, and leau'st the Spring,
that euer ouer-flowes with Angels Wine?

All vnder Heau'n is too vnsweete for thee;
for, it's but Elementall; still, in strife:
Nay, nought in Heau'n, but the sweet Trinitie,
can feede thee fat, or keepe thee but in life.

That foode, whose sweetnesse rauisheth the sense
of sweetest soules diuinest Faculties,
Must feed thy Will, and thine Intelligence,
else can they not to grace or glory rise.

That Lord, whose Beauty Sunne and Moone admires,
whose Maiestie the Hoasts of Heau'n adore:

Whose Grace is praised by the Angels Quires,
He that was, is, and shall be euermore:

God, infinite in pow'r and Maiestie,
hath made thee but to fill thee with his Loue;
Which being infinite in quantitie,
thine All, and Parts (all whole in each) can moue.

Hee, onely Hee, can thy desires fulfill,
albe't they did exceede Immensitie:
And, being Three in One can fitly fill
thine Vnderstanding, Will and Memory!

Then, ô my Soule runne out, this Guest to meet;
and him into thee gladly introduce:
Who is as sweet as great, and good as sweet;
that vs'd augments, and fades for want of vse.

Then, locke him in the Closet of thine Heart,
where thou, in secret, maist vnfold thy Loue:
There clip him fast, let him not thence depart,
till Hee with him, from hence, doe thee remoue.

Who will be soone intreated There to stay,
because it is the rest of his desire:
And needes hee must take thee with him away,
if Nuptiall Loue doe make you two intire.

Which dignitie, of my Celestiall Soule,
when well I weigh (deare Lord) I maruell not

[32]

Though in my Mud, thy Sonne himselfe did roule,
to seeke, in my true shape, to knit this knot.

But muse I may at mine ingratitude,
my madnesse, dulnesse, and grosse impudence;
That doe neglect thy Loues beatitude,
and prostitute my Soule to foule Offence.

That I should, carelesly, his Loue neglect,
that is the beaming beauty of thy State;
And woo the vgly Diuell, in effect,
thy sacred Image to adulterate.

This doth exceede all wonderments excesse;
this Prodigie, is more then monsterous;
That any Soule should loue meere vglinesse,
before meere beauty, more then glorious!

How can I thinke vpon thy boundlesse Loue;
and not pursue my selfe with endlesse Hate?
That, for my sake, didst hels of torments proue,
to pull me out of Hell, and damned state.

And, when I view my Bodies Edifice,
I finde so many of thy bounties there,
As might the Heart of Hate to Loue intice;
for, in each haire-breadth of it they appeare.

Th' Arteries, Sinewes, Nerues, Veynes, Ligaments,
Heart, Lungs, Lights; and, in few, the All, in All,

Are thy Loue-tokens, and kinde Complements,
that mak'st thy selfe, throgh Lordly loue, my thrall.

Wherein if I should still Philosophize,
I should finde matter still to praise thy name;
For this Mindes Organ yeelds such Harmonies
as still in silence celebrate thy Fame.

This Wonder is the Worlds Epitomie,
a little World, true abstract of the Great,
Yet greater then the Great in dignitie,
though that in quantitie be more compleate.

O! how should I to grace thy Grace be glad,
for that thou mad'st me not in deed, or sight,
Blinde, lame, deafe, epilepticke, mute, or mad;
but sound in Soule and Minde; in Body, right.

Yet (Lord) ô yet I want, (for nothing is
brought from Not-being to a Being blest
Immediately) sith yet I am amisse;
but all things, by degrees, attaine their best.

For, in the Worke of Nature, Sense perceiues
that first of all the Matter she prepares;
Then fits it to the Forme which it receiues;
but formes it not perhaps in many yeares.

Yet she doth not, as lacking Pow'r, or Art,
leaue ought imperfect which she takes in hand;

[33]

Yet, out of hand, she perfecteth no Part;
but, that shee doth in time, in Sea, and Land.

Then thou that art her Soueragine, canst thou lacke
of her perfection in thy Workes begun?
Canst thou, Almightie, see Them goe to wracke?
or, through neglect, to leaue them halfe vndone?

Effects vnto their Causes onely looke,
that they from them Perfection may receiue;
Then, of their Causes, if they be forsooke,
they make a show but onely to deceiue.

Thou art my sole beginning, and mine end;
then end that well which thou hast well begun:
Thou art my Cause; then me, th'Effect, amend;
that I from grace, to grace may euer runne.

Thine Eyes, all-seeing, see great Wants in me;
supply those wants (deare Lord) and let me want
Nothing but wants that wanting are in thee,
sith what thou want'st, to thee is discrepant.

Let no Blocke be more dull to apprehend
that thou wouldst haue escape, vntride, then I;
Let my Wit for thy foolishnesse contend;
and, let that Folly be my Wisedomes Eye.

Then, in th'Egyptian darknesse of this life,
I shall behold the glory of thy Sonne:

And shape my course, by him, in Stormes of strife:
for all thy fooles doe striue to him to runne.

Then, with that Protomartire, shall I see
(the Canopie of Heau'n being op'ned wide)
The beaming beauty of the Trinitie;
that by none, but such fooles, can be espide.

Let me be wise in deed, and not in show,
sith neuer shades haue substances begot;
And they know nothing, as they ought to know,
that know not they are fooles that know thee not.

The Foole hath said, in heart, No God there is:
so saith he, sith he knowes not otherwise:
Then, Truth and Wisedome cals him Foole for this;
because true Wisedome in this Knowledge lies.

The Pagan-wisedome, though it knew, what not?
that was beneath the Circuit of the Sunne;
Yet was that wisedome fondly ouer-shot,
sith all was vaine It knew, when all was done:

For, vnder Heau'n (as saith thy sacred Truth,)
remaineth nought that is not more then vaine:
What wisedome then, from knowing it ensu'th;
but such as Fooles, by knowing Bables, gaine?
Then let the World still make a Foole of mee,
So I may onely know my selfe and Thee.