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Du Bartas

His Divine Weekes And Workes with A Compleate Collectio[n] of all the other most delight-full Workes: Translated and written by yt famous Philomusus: Iosvah Sylvester

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THE SEVENTH DAY OF THE FIRST WEEK.
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139

THE SEVENTH DAY OF THE FIRST WEEK.

The Argvment.

In sacred Rest, vpon This sacred Day
Th'Eternall doth his glorious Works suruay:
His only Powr and Providence perseuer
T'vphold, maintain, and rule the World for euer:
Maugre Mens malice and Hels raging mood,
God turneth all thing to his Childrens good:
Sabbaths right vse; From all Worlds-Works to cease;
To pray (not play) and hear the Word of Peace:
Instructions drawn from dead and liuing things,
And for our selues; for all Estates; for Kings.
The cunning Painter, that with curious care,

By an excellent Similitude of a Painter delighted with the sight of a curious table which he hath lately finished: our Poet sheweth how God rested the seuenth Day, & saw (as saith the Scripture) that all that hee had made was Good.


Limning a Land-scape, various, rich, and rare,
Hath set a-work, in all and every part,
Invention, Iudgement, Nature, Vse, and Art;
And hath at length (t'immortalize his name)
With weary Pencill perfected the same;
Forgets his pains; and, inly fill'd with glee,
Still on his Picture gazeth greedily.
First, in a Mead he marks a frisking Lamb,
Which seems (though dumb) to bleat vnto the Dam:
Then he obserues a Wood, seeming to waue:
Then th'hollow bosom of som hideous Caue:
Heer a High-way, and there a narrow Path:
Heer Pines, there Oaks torn by tempestuous wrath:
Heer from a craggy Rocks steep-hanging boss
(Thrumm'd halfe with Iuy, halfe with crisped Moss)
A siluer Brook in broken streams doth gush,
And head-long down the horned Cliff doth rush;

140

Then, winding thence aboue and vnder ground,
A goodly Garden it be-moateth round:
There, on his knee (behinde a Box-Tree shrinking)
A skilfull Gunner with his left eye winking,
Levels directly at an Oak hard by,
Whereon a hundred groaning Culuers cry;
Down fals the Cock, vp from the Touch-pan flies
A ruddy flash that in a moment dies.
Off goes the Gun, and through the Forrest rings
The thundring bullet, born on fiery wings.
Heer, on a Green, two Striplings, stripped light,
Run for a prize with laboursom delight;
A dusty Cloud about their feet doth flowe
(Their feet, and head, and hands, and all do goe)
They swelt in sweat; and yet the following Rout
Hastens their haste with many a cheerfull shout.
Heer, six pyed Oxen, vnder painfull yoak,
Rip vp the folds of Ceres Winter Cloak.
Heer in the shade, a pretty Sheperdess
Driues softly home her bleating happiness:
Still as she goes, she spins; and as she spins,
A man would think som Sonnet she begins.
Heer runs a River, there springs forth a Fountain,
Heer vales a Valley, there ascends a Mountain,
Heer smokes a Castle, there a Citie fumes,
And heer a Ship vpon th'Ocean looms.
In brief, so liuely, Art hath Nature shap't,
That in his Work the Work-mans selfe is rapt,
Vnable to look off; for, looking still,
The more he looks, the more he findes his skill:

God rested the seuenth Day, & contemplates on his works.

So th'Architect (whose glorious Workmanships

My cloudy Muse doth but too-much eclipse)
Having with pain-less pain, and care-less care,
In these Six Dayes, finisht the Table fair
And infinite of th'Vniuersall Ball,
Resteth This Day, t'admire himselfe in All:
And for a season eying nothing els,
Ioyes in his Work, sith all his Work excels
(If my dull, stutting, frozen eloquence

A briefe recapitulation & consideration of the Works of God in the whole World and a learned Exposition of the words of Moses Gen. 1. 31. God saw that all that he had made, was perfectly good.

May dare coniecture of his high Intents).

One while, hee sees how th'ample Sea doth take
The Liquid homage of each other Lake;
And how again the Heav'ns exhale, from it,
Aboundant vapours (for our benefit):
And yet it swels not for those tribute streams,
Nor yet it shrinks not for those boyling beams.
There sees he th'Ocean-peoples plentious broods,
And shifting Courses of the Ebbs and Floods;

141

Which with inconstant glaunces night and day
The lower Planets forked front doth sway.
Anon, vpon the flowry Plains he looks,
Laced about with snaking siluer brooks.
Now, he delights to see foure Brethrens strife
Cause the Worlds peace, and keep the World in life:
Anon, to see the whirling Sphears to roule
In rest-less Dances about either Pole;
Whereby, their Cressets (carried diuers waies)
Now visit vs, anon th'Antipodés.
It glads him now to note, how th'Orb of Flame,
Which girts this Globe, doth not enfire the Frame:
How th'Airs glib-gliding firmless body bears
Such store of Fowls, Hail-storms, and Floods of tears:
How th'heavy Water, pronest to descend,
'Twixt Air and Earth is able to depend:
And how the dull Earth's prop-less massie Ball
Stands steddy still, iust in the midst of All.
Anon his nose is pleas'd with fragrant sents
Of Balm and Basill, Myrrh and Frankinscense,
Thyme, Spiknard, Hyssop, Sauory, Cinnamon,
Pink, Violet, Rose, and Cloue-Carnation.
Anon, his ear's charmd with the melody
Of winged Consorts curious Harmony:
For, though each bird, guided with art-less Art,
After his kinde, obserue a song a-part,
Yet the sole burden of their seuerall Layes
Is nothing but the Heav'n-Kings glorious prayse.
In briefe, th'Almightie's ey, and nose, and ear,
In all his works, doth nought see, sent, or hear
But showes his greatness, sauours of his grace,
And sounds his glory over every place.
But aboue all, Mans many beautious features
Detaine the Lord more then all other Creatures:
Man's his own Minion; Man's his sacred Type:
And for Man's sake, he loues his Workmanship.
Not that I mean to fain an idle God,
That lusks in Heav'n and never looks abroad,
That Crowns not Vertue, and corrects not Vice,
Blinde to our seruice, deafe vnto our sighs;
A Pagan Idoll, void of powr and pietie,
A sleeping Dormouse (rather) a dead Deitie.
For though (alas!) somtimes I cannot shun,
But some profane thoughts in my minde will run,
I never think on God, but I conceiue
(Whence cordiall comforts Christian soules receiue)
In God, Care, Counsail, Iustice, Mercy, Might,

Of the Prouidence of God.


To punish wrongs, and patronize their right:

142

Sith Man (but Image of th'Almightiest)
Without these gifts is not a Man, but Beast.

Epicurus and his followers, denyng the same, confused by sandry Reasons.

Fond Epicure, thou rather slept'st, thy self,

When thou didst forge thee such a sleep-sick Elf
For life's pure Fount: or vainly fraudulent
(Not shunning the Atheïsts sin, but punishment)
Imaginedst a God so perfect-less,
In Works defying, whom thy words profess.
God is not sitting (like some Earthly State)
In proud Theatre, him to recreate
With curious Obiects of his ears and eyes
(Without disposing of the Comœdies)
Content t'haue made (by his great Word) to moue
So many radiant Stars as shine aboue;
And on each thing with his own hand to draw
The sacred Text of an eternall Law:
Then, bosoming his hand to let them slide,
With reans at will, whether that Law shall guide:

Simile.

Like one that having lately forc't som Lake,

Through some new Chanell a new Course to take,
Takes no more care thence-forth to those effects,
But lets the Stream run where his Ditch directs.
The Lord our God wants neither Diligence,

1. Gods power, goodnes, & wisdom, shine gloriously in gouerning the world.

Nor Love, nor Care, nor Powr, nor Providence.

He prov'd his Power, by Making All of nought:
His Diligence, by Ruling All he wrought:
His Care, by Ending it in six Daies space:
His Loue, in Building it for Adams Race:
His Providence (maugre Times wastefull rages)
Preseruing it so many Years and Ages.
For, O! how often had this goodly Ball
By his own Greatness caus'd his proper Fall?
How often had his World deceast, except
Gods mighty arms had it vpheld and kept?

2. In him, and through him, all things liue and moue, and haue their Beeing.

God is the soule, the life, the strength, and sinnew,

That quickens, moues, and makes this Frame continue.
God's the main spring, that maketh every way
All the small wheels of this great Engine play.
God's the strong Atlas, whose vnshrinking shoulders
Haue been and are Heav'ns heavy Globes vpholders.

3. All things particularly are guided by his Ordinance and Power, working continually.

God makes the Fountaines run continually,

The Daies and Nights succeed incessantly:
The Seasons in their season he doth bring,
Summer and Autumn, Winter, and the Spring:
God makes th'Earth fruitfull, and he makes the Earth's
Large loignes not yet faint for so many births.
God makes the Sun and Stars, though wondrous hot,
That yet their Heat themselues in flameth not;

143

And that their sparkling beams prevent not so,
With wofull flames, the Last great Day of wo:
And that (as mov'd with a contrary wrest)
They turn at-once both North, and East, and West:
Heav'ns constant course, his heast doth never break:
The floating Water waiteth at his beck:
Th'Air's at his Call, the Fire at his Command,
The Earth is His: and there is nothing fand
In all these Kingdoms, but is mov'd each howr
With secret touch of his eternall Powr.
God is the Iudge, who keeps continuall Sessions,

4. God is the Iudge of the World: hauing all Creatures visible & invisible, ready aimed to execute his Iudgements.


In every place to punish all Transgressions;
Who, voyd of Ignorance and Avarice,
Not won with Bribes, nor wrested with Device,
Sans Fear, or Favour; hate, or partiall zeal;
Pronounceth Iudgements that are past appeal.
Himselfe is Iudge, Iury, and Witness too,
Well knowing what we all think, speak, or doo:
He sounds the deepest of the doublest hart,
Searcheth the Reins, and sifteth every part:
Hee sees all secrets, and his Lynx-like ey
(Yer it be thought) doth every thought descry:
His Sentence given, never returns in vain;
For, all that Heav'n, Earth, Aire, and Sea contain,
Serue him as Sergeants: and the winged Legions,
That soar aboue the bright Star-spangled Regions,
Are ever prest, his powrfull Ministers:
And (lastly) for his Executioners,
Sathan, assisted with th'infernall band,
Stands ready still to finish his Command.
God (to be briefe) is a good Artizan
That to his purpose aptly manage can
Good or bad Tools; for, for iust punishment,

Yea, he maketh euen the wicked his instruments to punish the wicked, and to proue his Chosen.


He arms our sins vs sinners to torment:
And to prevent th'vngodly's plot, somtime
He makes his foes (will-nill-they) fight for him.
Yet true it is, that humane things (seem) slide
Vnbridledly with so vncertain tide,
That in the Ocean of Events so many,
Somtimes Gods Iudgements are scarce seen of any:
Rather it seemes that giddy Fortune guideth

Againe, against Epicures, who hold that all things happen in the World by Chance.


All that beneath the silver Moon betideth.
Yet, art thou ever iust (O God) though I
Cannot (alas!) thy Iudgements depth descry:
My wit's too shallow for the least Designe
Of thy drad Counsails, sacred, and divine:
And thy least-secret Secrets, I confess
Too deep for vs, without thy Spirit's address.

144

1. Gods Iudgements, past our search: yet euer iust in thēselues.

Yet oftentimes, what seemeth (at first sight)

Vniust to vs, and past our reason quite,
Thou mak'st vs (Lord) acknowledge (in due season)
To haue been done with equitie and reason.

Gen. 45. ve. 6.7 and Gen. 50. ve. 20.

So, suffring th'Hebrew Tribes to sell their brother,

Thy eternall Iustice thou didst seem to smother.
But Ioseph (when, through such rare hap, it chanced
Him of a slaue to be so high advanced,
To rule the Land where Nilus fertill flood
Dry Heav'ns defects endeuours to make good)
Learn'd, that his envious brethrens treacherous drift,
Him to the Stern of Memphian State had lift,
That he might there provide Reliefe and Room
For Abraham's Seed, against (then) time to com.

2. In executing his iudgements on the rebellious, be sheweth mercie on his Seruants.

When thy strong arm, which plagues the Reprobate,

The World and Sodom did exterminate,
With flood and flame: because there liued then
Some small remaines of good and righteous men,
Thou seem'dst vniust: but when thou sauedst Lot
From Fire, from Water Noah and his Boat,
'Twas plainly seen, thy Iustice stands propitious
To th'Innocent, and smiteth but the vitious.

3. He sheweth his power in the confusion of the mightiest: and in the deliuerance of his Church.

He wilfull winks against the shining Sun,

That see's not Pharao, as a mean begun
For th'Hebrews good; and that his hardned hart
Smoothed the passage for their soon-depart:
To th'end the Lord, when Tyrants will not yeeld,
Might for his Glory finde the larger field.
Who sees not also, that th'vniust Decree
Of a proud Iudge, and Iudas treachery,
The Peoples fury, and the Prelats gall,
Serv'd all as organs to repair the Fall
Of Edens old Prince, whose luxurious pride
Made on his seed his sin for euer slide?

4. He turnes the malice of Satan and his instruments, to his own glory, and the good of his: of whom he hath alwaies speciall case.

Th'Almighties Care, doth diuersly disperse

Ore all the parts of all this Vniverse:
But more precisely, his wide wings protect
The race of Adam, chiefly his Elect.
For, aye he watcheth for his Children choice,
That lift to him their hearts, their hands, and voyce:
For them, he built th'ay-turning Heav'ns Theater;
For them, he made the Fire, Aire, Earth, and Water:
He counts their hairs, their steps he measureth,
Handles their hands, and speaketh with their breath;
Dwels in their hearts, and plants his Regiments
Of watchfull Angels round about their Tents.
But heer, what hear I? Faith-less, God-less men,
I maruell not, that you impugn my pen:

145

But (O!) it grieues me, and I am amaz'd,

A remedy for temptation of the godly, seeing the prosperity of the wicked, and the afflictions of Gods children.


That those, whose faith, like glistering Stars haue blaz'd
Even in our darkest nights, should so obiect
Against a doctrine of so sweet effect;
Because (alas!) with weeping eyes they see
Th'vngodly-most in most Prosperitie,
Clothed in Purple, crown'd with Diadems,
Handling bright Scepters, hoording Gold and Gems,
Croucht-to, and courted with all kinde affection,
As priuiledged by the Heav'ns protection;
So that, their goods, their honours, their delights
Excell their hopes, exceed their appetites:
And (opposite) the godly (in the storms
Of this Worlds Sea) tost in continuall harms:
In Earth, less rest then Euripus they finde,
Gods heauy Rods still hanging them behinde:
Them, shame, and blame, trouble and loss pursues;
As shadows bodies, and as night the deawes.
Peace, peace, deer friends: I hope to cancell quite

The same cōforted in diuers sorts with apt Similitudes, confirming the reason, and declaring the right end of Gods diuers dealing with men.


This profane thought from your vnsettled Sp'rit.
Knowe then, that God (to th'end he be not thought
A powr-less Iudge) heer plagueth many a fault;
And many a fault leaues heer vnpunished,
That men may also his last iudgment dread.
On th'other side, note that the Crosse becomes
A Ladder leading to Heav'ns glorious rooms:
A Royall Path, the Heav'nly Milken way,
Which doth the Saints to Ioues high Court convay.
O! see you not, how that a Father graue,
Curbing his Son much shorter then his Slaue,
Doth th'one but rare, the other rife reproue,
Th'one but for lucre, th'other all for loue?
As skilfull Quirry, that commands the Stable
Of some great Prince, or Person honourable,
Giues oftest to that Horse the teaching Spur,
Which he findes fittest for the vse of War.
A painfull School-master, that hath in hand
To institute the flowr of all a Land,
Giues longest Lessons vnto those, where Heav'n
The ablest wits and aptest wills hath giv'n.
And a wise Chieftain neuer trusts the waight
Of th'execution of a braue Exploit,
But vnto those whom he most honoureth,
For often proof of their firm force and faith:
Such sends he first t'assault his eager foes;
Such 'gainst the Canon on a Breach bestowes:
Such he commands naked to scale a Fort,
And with small number to re-gain a Port.

146

Afflictions profitable to the Faithfull.

God beats his Dear, from birth to buriall,

To make them knowe him, and their pride appall,
To draw deuout sighes from calamity,
And by the touch to try their Constancy,
T'awake their sloth, their mindes to exercise
To trauell cheer'ly for th'immortall Prize.

They are necessary to cure the diseases of the soule.

A good Physician, that Arts excellence

Can help with practice and experience,
Applies discreetly all his Recipes
Vnto the nature of each fell-disease;
Curing this Patient with a bitter Potion,
That, with strict Diet, th'other with a Lotion,
And somtime cutteth off a leg or arm,
So (sharply-sweet) to saue the whole from harm:
Euen so the Lord (according to th'ill humours
That vex his most-Saints with soule-tainting tumours)
Sends somtimes Exile, somtimes lingring Languor,
Somtimes Dishonour, somtimes pining Hunger,
Somtimes long Law-suits, somtime Loss of good,
Somtimes a Childes death, or a Widowhood:
But ay he houldeth, for the good of His,
In one hand Rods; in th'other, Remedies.

Without them Gods children decline.

The Souldier, slugging long at home in Peace,

His wonted courage quickly doth decrease:
The rust doth fret the blade hangd vp at rest:
The Moath doth eat the garment in the Chest:
The standing Water stinks with putrefaction:
And Vertue hath no Vertue but in action.
All that is fairest in the world, we finde
Subiect to trauail. So, with storms and winde
Th'Air still is tost: the Fire and Water tend,
This, still to mount; that, euer to descend:
The spirit is spright-less if it want discourse,
Heav'n's no more Heav'n if it once cease his Course.

The Crosse, an honorable mark.

The valiant Knight is knowne by many scars:

But he that steals-home wound-less, from the Wars,
Is held a Coward, void of Valours proof,
That for Deaths fear hath fled, or fought a-loof.

God will be glorified in the constant sufferings of his Seruants.

The Lord therefore, to giue Humanity

Rare presidents of daunt-less Constancy,
And crown his deer Sons with victorious Laurels
Won from a thousand foes in glorious quarels;
Pours down more euils on their hap-less head,
Then yerst Pandora's odious Box did shead;
Yet strengthning still their hearts with such a Plaister,
That though the Flesh stoop, still the Spirit is Maister.

There is nothing euill in Mans life, but sin: and vertue is best perceiued in the proofe.

But, wrongly I these euils Euill call:

Sole Vice is ill; sole Vertue good: and all,

147

Besides the same, is selfly, simply, had
And held indifferent, neither good nor bad.
Let envious Fortune all her forces wage
Against a constant Man, her fellest rage
Can never change his godly resolution,
Though Heav'n it self should threaten his confusion.
A constant Man is like the Sea, whose brest

True constancy liuely represented by two comparisons.


Lies ever open vnto every guest;
Yet all the Waters that she drinks, cannot
Make her to change her qualities a iot:
Or, like a good sound stomach, not soon casting
For a light surfet, or a small distasting;
But, that, vntroubled, can incontinent
Convert all meats to perfect nourishment.
Though then, the Lords deep Wisdom, to this day,

God, Resting on the seuenth day, and blessing it; teacheth vs that in resting one day of the Week, we should principally employ it in his seruice: That we should cease from our worldly and wicked works, to giue place to his grace, and to suffer his Spirit to work in vs by the Instrument of his holy word.


Work in the Worlds vncertain-certain Sway:
Yet must we credit, that his hand compos'd
All in six Dayes, and that He then Repos'd;
By his example, giuing vs behest
On the Seaventh Day for evermore to Rest.
For, God remembred that he made not Man
Of Stone, or Steel, or Brass Corinthian:
But lodg'd our Soul in a frail earthen Mass,
Thinner then Water, Brittler then the Glass:
He knowes, our life is by nought sooner spent,
Then hauing still our mindes and bodies bent.
A Field, left lay for som few Years, will yield
The richer Crop, when it again is till'd:
A River, stopped by a sluce a space,
Runs (after) rougher, and a swifter pase:
A Bowe, awhile vnbent, will after cast
His shafts the farther, and them fix more fast:
A Souldier, that a season still hath lain,
Coms with more fury to the Field again:
Even so, this Body, when (to gather breath)
One Day in Seav'n at Rest it soiourneth;
It recollects his Powrs, and with more cheer
Falls the next morrow to his first Career.
But the chief End this Precept aims at, is
To quench in vs the coals of Covetize;
That, while we rest from all profaner Arts,
Gods Spirit may work in our retired hearts:
That we, down-treading earthly cogitations,
May mount our thoughts to heav'nly meditations:
Following good Archers guise, who shut one ey,

Simile.


That they the better may their mark espy.
For by th'Almighty, this great Holy-day

Against profaners of the Sabbath.


Was not ordain'd to dance, to mask, and play,

148

To slugg in sloth, and languish in delights,
And loose the Reans to raging appetites:
To turn Gods Feasts to filthy Lupercals,
To frantick Orgies, and fond Saturnals:
To dazle eys with Prides vain-glorious splendor,
To serue strange gods, or our Ambition tender;
As th'irreligion of loose Times hath since
Chang'd the Prime-Churches chaster innocence.

We ought on the Lords day attēd his seruice, and meditate on the euerlasting Rest, & on the works of God.

God would, that men should in a certain place

This-Day assemble as before his face,
Lending an humble and attentiue ear
To learn his great Name's dear-drad Loving-Fear:
He would, that there the faithfull Pastor should
The Scriptures marrow from the bones vnfould,
That we might touch with fingers (as it were)
The sacred secrets that are hidden there.
For, though the reading of those holy lines
In private Houses som-what moue our mindes;
Doubtless, the Doctrine preacht doth deeper pearce,
Proves more effectuall, and more waight it bears.

The practice of the faithfull, in all reformed Churches, on the Sabbath Day.

He would, that there in holy Psalms we sing

Shrill praise and thanks to our immortall King,
For all the liberall bounties he bestow'th
On vs and ours, in soule and body both:
He would, that there we should confess his Christ
Our onely Saviour, Prophet, Prince and Priest;
Solemnizing (with sober preparation)
His blessed Seals of Reconciliation:
And, in his Name, beg bouldly what we need
(After his will) and be assur'd to speed;
Sith in th'Exchequer of his Clemency
All goods of Fortune, Soule, and Body ly.

The Corporall Rest, a figure of the Spirituall.

He would, this Sabbath should a figure be

Of the blest Sabbath of Eternity.
But th'one (as Legall) heeds but outward things;
Th'other to Rest both Soule and Body brings:
Th'one but a Day endures; the others Date
Eternity shall not exterminate:
Shadows the one, th'other doth Truth include:
This stands in freedom, that in seruitude:
With cloudy cares th'one's muffled vp som-whiles;
The others face is full of pleasing smiles:
For, never grief, nor fear of any Fit
Of the least care, shall dare com neer to it.
'Tis the grand Iubile, th'Feast of all Feasts,
Sabbath of Sabbaths, end-less Rest of Rests;
Which, with the Prophets, and Apostles zealous,
The constant Martyrs, and our Christian Fellows,

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Gods faithfull Servants, and his chosen Sheep,
In Heav'n we hope (within short time) to keep.
He would this Day, our Soule (sequestered

Meditations on the works of God, especially on the day of Rest.


From busie thoughts of worldly cares) should read
In Heav'ns bow'd Arches, and the Elements,
His bound-less Bounty, Powr and Providence;
That every part may (as a Master) teach
Th'illiterate, Rules past a vulgar reach.
Com (Reader) sit, com sit thee down by mee

Exhortations to this Meditation, with the vse & profit thereof.


Think with my thoughts, and see what I do see:
Hear this dumb Doctor: study in this Book,
Where day and night thou maist at pleasure look,
And thereby learn vprightly how to liue:
For, every part doth speciall Lessons giue,
Even from the gilt studs of the Firmament,
To the Base Centre of our Element.
Seest thou those Stars we (wrongly) Wandring call,

The Planets teach vs to follow the will of God.


Though divers wayes they dance about this Ball,
Yet evermore their manifould Career
Follows the Course of the First Mouing Sphear?
This teacheth thee, that though thine own Desires
Be opposite to what Heav'ns will requires,
Thou must still striue to follow (all thy daies)
God (the first Mover) in his holy waies.
Vain puff of winde, whom vaunting pride bewitches,

The Moon teacheth that we haue not any thing that we haue not receiued.


For Bodies Beauties, or Mindes (richer) Riches;
The Moon, whose splendor from her Brother springs,
May by Example make thee vail thy wings:
For thou, no less then the pale Queen of Nights,
Borrow'st all goodnes from the Prince of Lights.
Wilt thou, from Orb to Orb, to th'Earth descend?

The Elementary fire and ours, where, our happiness, and where our misery consists.


Behould the Fire which God did round extend:
As neer to Heav'n, the same is cleer and pure;
Ours heer belowe, sad, smoaky, and obscure:
So, while thy Soule doth with the Heav'ns converse,
It's sure and safe from every thought perverse;
And though thou won heer in this world of sin,
Thou art as happy as Heav'ns Angels bin:
But if thy minde be alwayes fixed all
On the foul dunghill of this darksom vale,
It will partake in the contagious smells
Of th'vnclean house wherein it droops and dwells.
If envious Fortune be thy bitter foe,

The Air, that afflictions are profitable for vs.


And day and night doo toss thee to and fro;
Remember, th'Air corrupteth soon, except
With sundry Windes it oft be swing'd and swept.
The Sea, which somtimes down to Hell is driv'n,

The Sea, that we ought for no respect to transgress the the Law of God.


And somtimes heaues a froathy Mount to Heav'n,

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Yet never breaks the bounds of her precinct,
Wherein the Lord her boistrous arms hath linkt;
Instructeth thee, that neither Tyrants rage,
Ambition's windes, nor golden vassallage
Of Avarice, nor any loue, nor fear,
From Gods Command should make thee shrink a hair.

The Earth, that we should bee constant.

The Earth, which never all at once doth move,

Through her rich Orb received, from above,
No firmer base her burthen to sustent
Then slippery props of softest Element;
By her example doth propose to thee
A needfull Lesson of true Constancy.

The Ears of Corn, that we should be humble.

Nay, there is nought in our dear Mother found,

But pithily som Vertue doth propound.
O! let the Noble, Wise, Rich, Valiant,
Be as the base, poor, faint and ignorant:
And, looking on the fields when Autumn shears,
There let them learn among the bearded ears;
Which still, the fuller of the flowry grain,
Bow down the more their humble heads again;
And ay the lighter and the less their store,
They lift aloft their chaffie Crests the more.

The Palm Tree, that we should bechaste.

Let her, that (bound-less in her wanton wishes)

Dares spot the Spouse-bed with vnlawfull kisses,
Blush (at the least) at Palm-Trees loyalty,
Which neuer bears vnless her Male be by.

Cinnamon teacheth Diligence and Prudence.

Thou, thou that prancest after Honors prize

(While by the way thy strength and stomach dies)
Remember, Honor is like Cinnamon,
Which Nature mounds with many a million
Of thorny pricks; that none may danger-less
Approach the Plant, much less the Fruit possess.

The Sun and the Marigold direct us unto Christ, the Sun of righteousnes.

Canst thou the secret Sympathy behould

Betwixt the bright Sun and the Marigould;
And not consider, that we must no less
Follow in life the Sun of righteousnes?
O Earth! the Treasures of thy hollow brest
Are no less fruitfull Teachers then the rest.
For, as the Lime doth break and burn in Water,

Lime in water, teacheth vnto shew our vertue in extremity.

And swell, and smoak, crackle, and skip, and scatter;

Waking that Fire, whose dull heat sleeping was
Vnder the cold Crust of a Chalky Mass:
He that (to march amid the Christian Hoast)
Yeelds his hearts kingdom to the Holy-Ghost;
And, for braue Seruice vnder Christ his Banner,
Looks to be crown'd with his Chief Champions honor,
Must in affliction wake his zeal, which oft
In Calmer times sleeps too-securely soft.

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And, opposit, as the rich Diamond

The Diamōd exhorts to constancy.


The Fire and Steel doth stoutly both withstand:
So the true Christian should, till life expire,
Contemn proud Tyrants raging Sword and Fire.
Or, if fell Rigour with som ruth-less smart
A little shake the sinnews of his heart,
He must be like the richest Minerall,

Gold in the furnace to magnanimity & purity.


Whose Ingots bow, but never break at all;
Nor in the Furnace suffer any loss
Of waight, but Lees; not of the Gold, but dross.
The pretious Stone, that bears the Rain-bowes name,

The stone Iris, to edification of our Neighbour.


Receiues the bright face of Sols burnisht flame;
And by reflexion, after, it displaies
On the next obiect all those pointed raies:
So, whoso hath from the Empyreall Pole,
Within the centre of his happy Soule,
Receiv'd som splendor of the beams divine,
Must to his Neighbour make the same to shine;
Not burying Talents which our God hath giv'n
To be employ'd in a rich trade for Heav'n,
That in his Church he may receive his Gold
With thirty, sixty, and an hundred fold.
As th'Iron, toucht by th'Adamant's effect,

The needle in the Marmers compass shewes that we should instantly look on Christ our only loadstar.


To the North Pole doth ever point direct:
So the Soule, toucht once by the secret powr
Of a true liuely Faith, looks every howr
To the bright Lamp which serues for Cynosure
To all that sail vpon the Sea obscure.
These presidents, from liue-less things collected,

Lessons from liuing Creatures.


Breed good effects in spirits well affected:
But lessons, taken from the things that live,
A liuelier touch vnto all sorts doo give.
Vp, vp, ye Princes: Prince and People, rise,

Bees, to Subiects and to Princes.


And run to School among the Honey-Flies:
There shall you learn, that an eternall law
Subiects the Subiect vnder Princes aw:
There shall you learn, that a courageous King
To vex his humble Vassals hath no sting.
The Persian Prince, that Princely did conclude

The Marlin, to the vnthankful.


So severe laws against Ingratitude,
Knew that the Marlin, hauing kept her warm
With a liue Lark, remits it without harm;
And lest her friend-bird she should after slay,
She takes her flight a quite contrary way.
Fathers, if you desire, your Children sage

The Eagle, to Parents.


Should by their Blessings bless your crooked age;
Train them betimes vnto true Vertues Lore
By Aw, Instruction, and Example (more):

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So the old Eagle flutters in and out,
To teach his yong to follow him about.
If his example cannot timely bring
His backward birds to vse their feeble wing,
He leaues them then som dayes vnfed, whereby
Sharp hunger may at length constrain them fly.
If that prevail not, then he beats them, both
With beak and wings, to stir their fearfull sloth.

The Turtle, to Wedlock-breakers.

You, that to haste your hated Spouses end,

Black deadly poyson in his dish doo blend;
O! can you see with vn-relenting eies
The Turtle-Doue? sith, when her husband dies,
Dies all her ioy: for, never loves she more;
But on dry boughs doth her dead Spouse deplore.

Wilde-geese, to Babblers.

Thou, whom the freedom of a foolish tongue

Brings oft in danger for thy neighbours wrong;
Discreetly set a hatch before the door:
As the wise Wilde-geese, when they over-soar
Cicilian Mounts, within their bills doo bear
A pebble-stone both day and night; for fear
Lest rauenous Eagles of the North descry
Their Armies passage, by their cackling Cry.

Diuers Fishes, to vnnaturall Mothers, that will not nurse their own Children.

O! Mothers, can you? can you (O vnkinde!)

Deny your Babes your breasts? and call to minde
That many Fishes many times are fain
Receive their seed into their wombs again;
Lucinas sad throes, for the self-same birth,
Enduring oft, it often bringing forth.

Dolphins, to the cruell.

O! why embrace not we with Charity

The living, and the dead with Piety?
Giving these succour, sepulture to those:
Even as the Dolphins do themselues expose,
For their liue-fellows, and beneath the Wanes
Cover their dead-ones vnder sandy Graues.

The wilde Kid, to children.

You Children, whom (past hope) the Heav'ns benignity

Hath heapt with wealth, and heaved-vp to dignity,
Doo not forget your Parents: but behould
Th'officious Kids, who (when their Parents ould,
With heavy Gyves, Elds trembling fever stops,
And fetters-fast vpon the Mountain-tops)
As carefull purveiours, bring them home to brouz
The tendrest tops of all the slendrest boughs;
And sip (self-thirst-less) of the Rivers brink,
Which in their mouths they bring them home to drink.

The Spiders, to Man and Wife.

For House-hold Rules, read not the learned Writs

Of the Stagirian (glory of good wits):
Nor his, whom, for his hony-steeped stile,
They Proverbiz'd the Attick Muse yer-while:

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Sith th'onely Spider teacheth every one
The Husbands and the Huswifes function.
For, for their food the valiant Male doth roam;
The cunning Female tends her work at home:
Out of her bowels wooll and yarn she spitteth,
And all that else her learned labour fitteth:
Her waight's the spindle that doth twist the twine,
Which her small fingers draw so ev'n and fine.
Still at the Centre she her warp begins,
Then round (at length) her little threds she pins,
And equall distance to their compass leaues:
Then, neat and nimbly her new web she weaues,
With her fine shuttle circularly drawn
Through all the circuit of her open lawn;
Open, lest else th'vngentle Windes should tear
Her cipres Tent (weaker then any hair)
And that the foolish Fly might easier get
Within the meshes of her curious Net:
Which he no sooner doth begin to shake,
But straight the Male doth to the Centre make,
That he may conquer more securely there
The humming Creature hampred in his snare.
You Kings (that bear the sword of iust Hostility)

The Lion, to Kings.


Pursue the Proud, and pardon true Humility;
Like noble Lions that do neuer showe
Their strength and stomach on a yeelding Foe,
But rather through the stoutest throngs do forrage,
'Mid thousand Deaths to shew their daunt-less courage.
Thou sluggard (if thou list to learn thy part)

The Emmet and Hedge-hog to the slothfull.


Go learn the Emmets and the Vrchins Art;
In Summer th'one, in Autumn th'other takes
The Seasons fruits, and thence provision makes,
Each in his Lodging laying vp a hoord
Against cold Winter, which doth nought affoord.
But, Reader, we resemble one that windes

Man may finde in himself excellent instructions.


From Saba, Bandan, and the wealthy Indes
(Through threatning Seas, and dangers manifold)
To seek far-off for Incense, Spice and Gold;
Sith we, not loosing from our proper Strand,
Finde all wherein a happy life doth stand;
And our own Bodies self-contained motions
Giue the most gross a hundred goodly Notions.
You Princes, Pastors, and ye Chiefs of War,

The head teacheth all persons in authority.


Do not your Laws, Sermons and Orders mar;
Lest your examples banefull leprosies
Infect your Subiects, Flocks, and Companies;
Beware, your euill make not others like:
For, no part's sound if once the Head be sick.

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The Eys instruct Princes and Noble-men.

You Peers, O do not, through self-partiall zeale,

With light-brain'd Counsels vex your Common-weal:
But, as both Eys do but One thing behould,
Let each his Countries common good vp-hould.

The Teeth, such as trauell for others.

You that for Others trauell day and night,

With much-much labour, and small benefit,
Behould the Teeth, which Toul-free grinde the food,
From whence themselues do reap more grief then good.

The Heart, the Ministers of the Word.

Euen as the Heart hath not a Moments rest,

But night and day moues in our panting brest,
That by his beating it may still impart
The lively spirits about to every part:
So those, to whom God doth his Flock betake,
Ought alwayes study, alwayes work, and wake,
To breathe (by Doctrin and good Conversation)
The quickning spirit into their Congregation.

The Stomach, the same.

And as the Stomach from the holesom food

Diuides the grosser part (which is not good)
They ought from false the truth to separate,
Error from Faith, and Cockle from the Wheat,
To make the best receiv'd for nourishment,
The bad cast forth as filthy excrement.

The Hands, all Christians to Charity.

If Bat or Blade doo threaten sudden harm

To belly, brest, or leg, or head, or arm,
With dread-less dread the Hand doth ward the blowe,
Taking herself her brethrens bleeding woe:
Then 'mid the shock of sacrilegious Arms
That fill the world with bloud and boistrous storms,
Shall we not lend our helping hands to others,
Whom Faith hath made more neer and dear then Brothers?

The whole body, the whole society of mankinde, that euery one ought to stand in his own vocation.

Nor can I see, where vnderneath the Sky

A man may finde a iuster Policy,
Or truer Image of a calme Estate
Exempt from Faction, Discord and Debate,
Then in th'harmonious Order that maintains
Our Bodies life, through Members mutuall pains:
Where, one no sooner feels the least offence,
But all the rest haue of the same a sense.
The Foot striues not to smell, the Nose to walk,
The Tongue to combat, nor the Hand to talk:
But, without troubling of their Common-weal
With mutinies, they (voluntary) deal
Each in his Office and Heav'n-pointed place,
Be 't vile or honest, honoured or base.
But, soft my Muse: what? wilt thou re-repeat
The Little-Worlds admired Modulet?
If twice or thrice one and the same we bring,
'Tis teadious; how-euer sweet we sing.

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Therefore a-shoar: Mates, let our Anchor fall:
Heer blowes no Winde: heer are we Welcom all.
Besides, consider and conceiue (I pray)
W' haue row'd sufficient for a Sabbath Day.
The End Of The First Week.