 | Otia Sacra Optima Fides |  |
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The necessity and grounds of Faith.
Man in the state of Innocency, knewNothing to fear (whom all things were set under)
But was Created by perfections pattern,
And so above all hopes: till he whose Pride
Sent him like Lightning from the place of Bliss,
To become Prince of Darkness, (which alone
Proves Nurse to Envie and Maliciousness:)
Drownd in his hopeless Fortunes, seeks all means
To make fond Man partaker of his woe
By Deprivation, not of Paradise
Alone, but of the glorious Makers presence;
And of those Visions Beatificall,
The Banishment from which, is Held to be
The Chief of Torments threatned for degree:
So 'twas decreed, to sharpen Satans Crime,
Sweeten Gods Mercy: t'cause his Comforts less,
Gods glory to appear by much the more;
And therefore mark how't fals out; Man's alone,
So God provides him for Companion
Part of himself, a help, but such, whose skill
Fit to receive the subtil Serpents guile,
And help to cheat too, when the subject's, Pride,
Ambition, or the like, what ere's forbidden;
As straight betrayes him to the greatest offence
He could have faln in, Disobedience.
Now whilst he seeks to know, hee's Ignorant,
Yet knows more than he should, That he was nak'd,
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Which without Leave he thus was stript into,
Nor rests he there secure; it seems the guilt
Of what he had done, presented as a glass
His Souls deformity through Nakedness,
In not beleeving God, (whose Voice but heard)
They Boldly enter Thickets, though afraid:
Hence may that Passion count its age, and then,
What antidote prescribable, save hope,
That still Looks forward, 'less in Promises
Which calls the thoughts back, to see what shall come:
And this must work by Faith, and Faith recall
The first Seducers Doom, (to be o'rcome
By the same sexes Issue, was o'rcome first,
Which is the substance of our wish'd Desires,
And Evidence of what each soul admires,
Yet sees not, though thereby Salvation's wrought,
And Grace to win it; Absence prompts the minde
To Incredulity; till faithfulness,
Grounded upon those Promises ne'r fail)
Assures it self of Pardon and forgiveness,
Through him that was accus'd, condemn'd and died,
Yet Lives to try, and Judge hereafter all.
By whose alone sufficiency of Merits,
And intercession as our Mediator,
There is found ground and Ankerage for Hope
To Stretch the Justifying Cable on;
When all that ever from our selves proceeds,
Avails us nothing, but t'increase misdeeds:
Yet as a Body without motion,
Or spirits quickening, so Faith alone,
Without some operative concurrences
Is Dead, not Lively, but a Dream or Shadow,
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To have some fancy-glimmerings of the truth,
Yet not beleeve it, nor so much awake
As t'apprehend Christ and his benefits:
So suit our works according to his will,
Whose will it was to suffer that which we
Deserved had: and t'undergo the wrath
We justly had pull'd down upon our selves.
The outward sense prevails much with our nature,
And every one is apt to apprehend
Some wonders thence: from Lightning, Thunder, Hail,
The stormie Winds and Tempests (without doubt,
Gods warning-peece) laden with Natures Cartridge,
Whereat the very Heathen fear and tremble,
And the Meer worldling is convinc'd thereby
To think there is a God, whilst all the fruits
And benefits the earth repays him with
For all his sweat and labour, he ascribes
Solely to th' Seasons temperature and bounty,
Not thinking in whose Fist the deeps and hills are;
And Both (for Nature couples them) impute
What ever good successes they obtain,
Or health, strength, wealth enjoy, to Casualty,
Chance, or Good Fortune, (as they call it) born
To tread a few steps here, and then return
They know not whither, they beleeve still well:
So how they should beleeve well, scorn to Learn;
When on the contrary, that Soul subdues
The motions of the sensuall appetite,
Which causes surfet upon outward means,
And fixes all Imagination
Up to the Throne from whence all blessings rain,
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They mollifie, not with their often fall,
They surely doe confound and break withall,
Is in pursuance of the Makers praise,
And contemplation of that work of Wonders,
Made the Centurion first think of God:
It doth beleeve the Sampler, and endevour
To work it stitch by stitch, whereof such Love
Was never shewn before, begins the Thred,
Humility and Meekness seconds it;
Charity, Patience, and Long-sufferance
Winde up the Bottom: for these well Cast o're,
Will perfect Faith, so that it need no more,
To Rise to him that did descend for Us,
And bring his Mercies down to take that rise by,
Craving his Healing Wings to Impe our Feathers,
That so we flagg not through Lasiness
Towards what good is, nor yet make a plain-
Discovery that our quarry still is earth,
But like the true-bred Chicken of the Eagle,
With rais'd up Beak behold the glorious Sun,
That Sun of Righteousness, till all the Dark
And misty Vapours that our sins had rais'd
Dispell and vanish at his Merits Rayes.
No Balm from Gilead may refresh and heal
The festered sores of our Corruptions,
But such as that Samaritan applyes:
For as our Leprousie through sin was grown
To a more cankered Infection
Then Naman, the Assyrian's, and Gahezies:
There must another Iordan be found out
To work the cure; a Purple stream of blood
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To wash our Souls white, when apply'd by Faith;
Not onely Seven times, but all that Time
Alots us here to breath in: That Disease
Compar'd to snow, being cur'd, resumes the flesh
Of a young Infant: Here an Infants flesh
And blood not spar'd, procures so bright a tincture,
As that no snow can parallel for whiteness,
The Lambs blood-washed Robes, wherein the Saints
Are clad here, first by Christian faith and Grace,
And therein drest, hereafter enter glory;
So thenceforth shall we promise happiness
Unto our selves in each condition;
When our Assurance, for foundation,
Hath the try'd Corner-stone, and all the fabrick
Is pedestall'd upon those precious piles
He bore, and bore him, bidding us bear after.
And by which plenall satisfaction,
The Vials of his Fathers wrath were stopt.
God by reproof sends Sluggards to the Ant,
Proud Courtlings to th' Riches of the fields:
And why should we not think that we are taught
By Love, to love again? were our hearts iron,
A Loadstone might attract them, and (such Love is)
Doe the milde Turtles so engage themselves
By Natures mandate, That the loss of one,
Denies the other benefit of Like?
And shall we not resent that benefit
Our Saviour purchas'd for us, quitting Life,
To make ours sure for ever? Or, how is't
We can survive, not droop and pine away,
For our offence (which was the cause) we ought,
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Else 'tis an other lesson Grace instructs,
And that's to entertain his Sufferings
As our enlargement, his Stripes, for our healings;
Embracing all those Bounties with such Souls,
May ready be to melt and to dissolve
In tears contritionall for their Corruptions;
Yet rais'd with Comfort of such Mercies, Riches,
Be fruitfull in the works of Piety
Henceforth, and praises of his holy Name
Who is the Fountain, and must give the same,
Unless with Bartimeus we were blinde,
How doe we not perceive the Clay we tread on,
To be the substance whereof we were made:
And by the Sun that Attom'd into Dust,
Tells us but what we must dissolve into:
Or like the Shadow represents us, see
We not what 'tis, and what we all shall bee?
That in observance of our bubble Thoughts,
We still aspire, and make our Fancies dance
Within the Imaginary pool of Pride,
Or sea of Self-conceit; This not of Eyes,
But dimness of the Minde is too too bad,
Wherewith bemisted in our apprehensions,
We dream we fathom all perfections,
And yet but grope after the least of truths,
It may be in the twilight of our reason,
We offer at obedience to instruction,
And seek to be inform'd: If what we hear
Fly not beyond our pitch, (a great Professor,
Master of Israel, once was gravelled
Upon that Shelf) and 'twas through lack of Faith;
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With that least Grain of all, no Mountain could
Have bragg'd of firmness 'gainst his moving power.
But to shew truly what esteem we ought
To set upon our selves, 'tis here set down,
When the prophetick Prince, and Prince of Prophets,
Compares his Royalties but to a Worm;
And by the best Authority can vouch,
An innocent, and little harmless Childe
Is plac'd for us to imitate: And those
Who would aspire great blessings of salvation,
For to be Last is First, and First but Last,
Least greatest, greatest Least: Epitomise
Our selves, and we become voluminous
In Graces Library: when if we swell
With pride of our own Worth, the smallest vent
Un-winds that blather, blasting our intent:
And that we may once more Example scan,
Consider th' Pharisee and Publican.
But if all these not serve to break our ston
And iron hearts; mark what he Rode upon
Into the City, who Salvation brings,
And when he lists rides on the Winds swift wings.
Doth the least cross or rubb we meet withall,
Set our whole little world afire, and raise
Tempestuous motions to disturb the rest
And quiet of our Souls: Prompting revenge?
And yet behold, our Food and Raiments friend
Led to the slaughter, Dumb, and to the Shearers
Without an angry Bleat to shew distaste!
Are we so frozen-handed, that we fear
To open any help to those that need,
Upon this scruple, lest thereby we seem
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So seek to share with him in whom all Lies,
As if we knew not that our Faith were lame,
Without this Grace for to support the same;
And that if in his Name who fed the hungry,
Cur'd the diseased, heal'd both Lame and Blinde,
Administring (whilst here he was amongst us)
All comforts, for our imitation
And pattern to walk by) we doe refresh
Any the sons of Abraham with water,
A Mite or Ragg may help necessity,
He will accept it, as to him 'twere given,
And the reward or recompence is Heaven.
Call we to Minde when mov'd to any wrath,
How many wayes we daily doe transgress
Our gracious Gods decrees, who as the sarcell
Or master Feather of his Mercies wings,
To raise them above all his other Works,
Abounds in Patience, and delays due Judgment,
To favour our Repentance with more time,
Never forgetting, how He bore the Taunt
That whited Wall cast on him, nor the Buffet,
Scourging, or Spittings on, all that disgrace,
Envie, and Malice could contrive for us
Who had deserv'd no less; and then perchance
Such Lessons may procure our temperance.
To suffer is a double kinde of phrase,
For so he did that died for us, yet still
'Tis through his sufferance that we are alive,
And suffered to enjoy one benefit;
Whilst by our Evil wayes, what in us lies
We crucifie the Lord of Life each houre:
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Are not his temples Crown'd anew with thorns?
Our hands that should be open to Relieve,
If that they graspe more than our own, so thieve
Or work oppression: and our feet are swift
In shedding Blood too: how doe such again
Nail his unto the Cross? our tongues are tipt
With poyson'd Envies and Maliciousness,
False lying, slanders, all that's impious,
Tuning our Lips to Blasphemy, and loose
Unsavoury talk. Doe they not seem to spit
On him afresh? tearing that window open
With our spear-pointed Discord, that let in
The Gall-less Dove brought the true branch of Peace
And Reconcilement, whilst from thence did flow
A Crimson shower of pure Compassion,
And satisfying Mercy in the height,
His Side (I mean) that like Noes Ark had been
Our safeties from the Deluge wrought by him,
And now Remains our pledg, that those that flie
Unto that Sanctuary never Die.
We through our Natures weakness, not of power
To give the Least of Sufferings resistance,
Although we promise fair, as Peter did,
May here be taught to trust so far to Faith,
Not that proceeds from vain security,
Lest then the Crowing-Cock give us the lie;
But such whereby we are Regenerate,
And Justify'd, more than bare Law could promise,
As to o'rcome the great'st temptation,
And judge the Buffetings of Satan Blessings;
The World, the wilderness, and Every high
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To be the Mount: Superlative designes,
As when we pry too far into Gods Ark,
And sift those Mysteries, 'neath the Cherubs wings,
We seem upon the Temples Pinnacles.
Thus travailing like Pilgrims here a while,
Nothing but dangers and vexations,
Allurements through enticing change, betrays
Us to the snares of His precipit ways,
Whose Art destructive by enchantments power,
Seeks to encompass us within that circle
He fell himself into through presumption:
Which to eschew, whilst Gods long-suffering, patience,
And charity shewn to his handy work:
His meek Humility, and chief of graces,
Favours us with forbearance; Let's come home
Whilst 'tis to Day, (for who can tell to whom
The morrow shall belong?) and in that way,
Tract by the Prodigall i'th Parable,
Seek out our Fathers face with love and meekness,
And we are sure of his embracing Armes.
For though through Natures subtilty we have been,
As 'twere, hid deep within the caves of Earth,
Buried in Worldly cogitations;
The Merchant of our Souls did spare no pains
Nor cost in myning through the earths dark vains
To purchase us, so brings again to light.
Yet as pure Gold requires the Finers art,
And Diamonds polishing, and to be cut:
So here He past the Furnace, and became
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Not of he-Goats could serve; and if we grinde
Our selves for Sin to powder, we'r Refin'd
So as at first we were, unman'd by her
Should be our help; that still she might so prove
God brings't about, no other Vessell serves
To entertain a ghest of so great price,
As that must Ransome all the world besides,
But of that Sex; and though the news at first
Strook terrour and amazement, afterwards
It was sole Remedy against fear: for as
The name of Cæsar to the Seaman once,
Prov'd of security, sufficient
To make him put to Sea: So here the Virgin
Assured that 'twas Emmanuel she carryed,
Gave Ioseph courage not t'abandon Her;
But casting Anchor on those promises,
To become full of Faith, and by what ere
The Lord suggested In that Course to steer.
Thus was time brought abed of what its young
And tender Infancy had onely shewn
By Revelation to the Patriarchs,
Prophets, and men of God; and which now past,
Upon these latter Times by Faith is cast:
So he that was before all time begun,
Came in the fulness, and remains a Son
To mediate with the Father, that our fears
Cancell'd by Faith, we might become Coheirs.
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