Mundorum Explicatio or, The Explanation of an Hieroglyphical Figure: Wherein are couched the Mysteries of the External, Internal, and Eternal Worlds, shewing the true progress of a Soul from the Court of Jerusalem; from the Adamical fallen state to the Regenerate and Angelical. Being A Sacred Poem, written by S. P. [i.e. Samuel Pordage] |
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Step hither, look! here's gallant Fruit indeed;
Here 'tis, and if you please, that you shall feed;
These are the Fruits will ope your dimmer eyes,
Will make you subtle, and exceeding wise.
These, these will shew the vertue of this Tree;
And I will tell you what those Apples be.
Seest that fair one with Crimson-circles deckt,
And here and therewith Characters bespec't?
Should'st thou eat that as good a linguist strait
Should be, as he that seven years had sat
Poring on books, enduring cold, and pain
A Language, or some Rhetorick to gain:
The juice of this fine fruit did Herod lick,
When he a God was styl'd for's Rhetorick.
And that round apple, which hangs dangling there,
Will make you be a cunning Sophister.
Yon apple which is so variegate,
Will make you cunning in mechanicks strait.
This Apple here which hangs so fair to view;
With Mathematick cunning will imbue;
See what Cylindres, and Rhomboides
What Quadrats, Diagramms, Isoce'les
With other lines, and figures printed in
Black, red, and yellow streakes upon the skin;
These shew its Nature. But yon with a Star
So fairly mark'd, makes an Astrologer:
Should'st thou eat this which hangeth over us
More cunning then was Æsculapius
Thou'ldst be; and skilfull too in Chiron's art
If that, which hangeth on that bow a th' wart.
But yon fair fruit which takes up so much room,
Will make you know before what is to come:
Of this did Baalam often feed, when he
Did by our divination Prophesie?
In former time this Apple was in use
Much, when Delphean Priests did suck the juice:
And on the next they fed, when they in verse
Their Oracles did usually reherse.
Here 'tis, and if you please, that you shall feed;
These are the Fruits will ope your dimmer eyes,
Will make you subtle, and exceeding wise.
These, these will shew the vertue of this Tree;
And I will tell you what those Apples be.
Seest that fair one with Crimson-circles deckt,
And here and therewith Characters bespec't?
119
Should be, as he that seven years had sat
Poring on books, enduring cold, and pain
A Language, or some Rhetorick to gain:
The juice of this fine fruit did Herod lick,
When he a God was styl'd for's Rhetorick.
And that round apple, which hangs dangling there,
Will make you be a cunning Sophister.
Yon apple which is so variegate,
Will make you cunning in mechanicks strait.
This Apple here which hangs so fair to view;
With Mathematick cunning will imbue;
See what Cylindres, and Rhomboides
What Quadrats, Diagramms, Isoce'les
With other lines, and figures printed in
Black, red, and yellow streakes upon the skin;
These shew its Nature. But yon with a Star
So fairly mark'd, makes an Astrologer:
Should'st thou eat this which hangeth over us
More cunning then was Æsculapius
Thou'ldst be; and skilfull too in Chiron's art
If that, which hangeth on that bow a th' wart.
But yon fair fruit which takes up so much room,
Will make you know before what is to come:
Of this did Baalam often feed, when he
Did by our divination Prophesie?
In former time this Apple was in use
Much, when Delphean Priests did suck the juice:
And on the next they fed, when they in verse
Their Oracles did usually reherse.
120
But yon five Apples which I shew you now,
And which do triumph on the upper bough,
Shall be thy food: See here I'le reach them down,
Make much of them, for now they are thine own,
Well may'st thou prize them, Heav'n nor Earth such fruit
Can give, which may so well thy nature suit.
These with thee take, and feed upon below:
But first to thee I will their vertues show.
And which do triumph on the upper bough,
Shall be thy food: See here I'le reach them down,
Make much of them, for now they are thine own,
Well may'st thou prize them, Heav'n nor Earth such fruit
Can give, which may so well thy nature suit.
These with thee take, and feed upon below:
But first to thee I will their vertues show.
This purple colour'd one more cold than Ice,
Or Riphæan snow, extinguish in a trice
Will that Scintilla Love hath plac'd in thee:
Then shalt thou wholly from his chaines be free.
Flouds of temptations, nor whole streams of sin,
Nor pleasures, which the World may draw you in,
Are strong enough to dout that little spark,
Which closely gloweth in thy hollow ark.
Well may they cloak it that it may not flame,
But 'tis this fruit that must put out the same.
This next although more black than pitch it be,
Will firmly glew together Hell, and thee:
A thousand chaines shall sooner break, than this
Resolve thee, of so strong a nature 'tis.
With all Hel's Peers, and our great Prince you wil
By it hold highest Correspondence still.
By this third, snaky-colour'd one, below
Thou shalt most strange-amazing Wonders do.
Th' Eternal flames which wend above the sky,
Unto the Earth thou may'st call by and by:
The Hyperborean sconce thou mayst command,
To œstuate the Sea to Mountains; and
Mayst at thy bidding Taurus rend in twain:
Or Atlas fling into the Western main.
This reddish one bespotted thus with jet,
The lock'd gates of thy sences ope will set;
Your quicker eyes although on Earth you stand
Shall pierce the Centre of our darker Land:
Then shall you see us when you please, and know
How that your Prince, and we your Brothers do:
Our shriller voyces shall assault your ear:
Your nose shall smell the sulphur of our Sphear:
And our hot breaths, feel blowing in your face;
Our Kingdom's dainties tast in every place,
Banquet and deeply drink with us: so you
May be on Earth, and in our Kingdom too.
By this last teter one, all evil Sprites
That b'longs to Hell, to please you with delights
You when you please may call, nay if you will
Ten thousand Legions shall attend you still.
All that belongs toth' Necromancy Art,
And Conjuration 'twill to you impart;
That at your beck from hence you may adjure,
The blackest Fiend to be your servitour.
Jannes and Jambres, Simon and Faustus eat
(Tho not to fill them) of this pretious meat.
See now what power thou'rt indued with,
By these rare fruits pluck'd from the Tree of Death:
The gold of In'd, nor Peru, not the Seas
Rich Treasure purchase may such Fruits as these,
The fabuliz'd Hesperian fruit of old,
Were durt to these, although they were of Gold.
Come now thou great Magitian thou shalt go
Unto the Body, which remains below;
Our Pomp, and Power, thou hast seen, and I
To you our Kingdom's nature did descry:
You need no conduct hither now, for when
You please, you my come visit us agen.
This said: he strait his body reassumes,
And thus Hel's great Magitian becomes.
Or Riphæan snow, extinguish in a trice
Will that Scintilla Love hath plac'd in thee:
Then shalt thou wholly from his chaines be free.
Flouds of temptations, nor whole streams of sin,
Nor pleasures, which the World may draw you in,
Are strong enough to dout that little spark,
Which closely gloweth in thy hollow ark.
Well may they cloak it that it may not flame,
But 'tis this fruit that must put out the same.
This next although more black than pitch it be,
Will firmly glew together Hell, and thee:
A thousand chaines shall sooner break, than this
Resolve thee, of so strong a nature 'tis.
With all Hel's Peers, and our great Prince you wil
By it hold highest Correspondence still.
By this third, snaky-colour'd one, below
Thou shalt most strange-amazing Wonders do.
Th' Eternal flames which wend above the sky,
Unto the Earth thou may'st call by and by:
The Hyperborean sconce thou mayst command,
To œstuate the Sea to Mountains; and
Mayst at thy bidding Taurus rend in twain:
Or Atlas fling into the Western main.
This reddish one bespotted thus with jet,
The lock'd gates of thy sences ope will set;
Your quicker eyes although on Earth you stand
Shall pierce the Centre of our darker Land:
Then shall you see us when you please, and know
How that your Prince, and we your Brothers do:
Our shriller voyces shall assault your ear:
Your nose shall smell the sulphur of our Sphear:
121
Our Kingdom's dainties tast in every place,
Banquet and deeply drink with us: so you
May be on Earth, and in our Kingdom too.
By this last teter one, all evil Sprites
That b'longs to Hell, to please you with delights
You when you please may call, nay if you will
Ten thousand Legions shall attend you still.
All that belongs toth' Necromancy Art,
And Conjuration 'twill to you impart;
That at your beck from hence you may adjure,
The blackest Fiend to be your servitour.
Jannes and Jambres, Simon and Faustus eat
(Tho not to fill them) of this pretious meat.
See now what power thou'rt indued with,
By these rare fruits pluck'd from the Tree of Death:
The gold of In'd, nor Peru, not the Seas
Rich Treasure purchase may such Fruits as these,
The fabuliz'd Hesperian fruit of old,
Were durt to these, although they were of Gold.
Come now thou great Magitian thou shalt go
Unto the Body, which remains below;
Our Pomp, and Power, thou hast seen, and I
To you our Kingdom's nature did descry:
You need no conduct hither now, for when
You please, you my come visit us agen.
This said: he strait his body reassumes,
And thus Hel's great Magitian becomes.
| Mundorum Explicatio | |