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

Inspire my Purpose, fauour mine Intent,
(O thou All-knowing and Omnipotent)
And giue me leaue, that from the first of daies,
I (Dust and Ashes) may resound thy praise:
Able me in thy quarrell to oppose,
And lend me Armor-proofe t'encounter those
Who striue t'eclipse thy glory all they can;
The Atheist, Sadduce, and Mahumetan.

That there's a God, who doubts? who dares dispute?
Be'ng in it selfe a maxime absolute:
Which fundamentall Truth, as it is seen
In all things, Light or Darke, Wither'd or Green;
In Length, Bredth, Height, Depth; what is done or said,
Or hath existence in this Fabricke, made
By the word Fiat: so amongst the rest,
In mans owne Conscience it is deep'st exprest.

Who's he looks vp, and sees a glorious Star
(Be 't fixt or wandering) to appeare from far
In bright refulgence; can so stupid be,
Not to acknowledge this great Deity?

Who shall the Sun's vnwearied progresse view,
As at the first creation, fresh and new,
In lustre, warmth, and power, still giuing chere
To Plants, to Beasts, to Mankinde euery where?

Wh'obserues the Moon a lower course to range,
Inconstant, and yet constant in her Change;
(Ty'd to her monthly vicissitude)
And doth not thinke she also doth include
A soueraigne power? Looke downe, the earth suruey,
The Floures, Herbs, Shrubs, and Trees, and see how they
Yearely product: The store of Herds and Flocks
Grasing on pastures, medowes, hills and rocks;
Some wilde beasts; others to mans vse made tame;
And then consider whence these creatures came.

Ponder the Wels, Ponds, Riuers, Brooks & Fountains,
The lofty Hils, and super-eminent Mountains,
The humble Valley, with the spatious Plaine,
The faire cloath'd Medowes, and full fields of graine;
The Gardens, Desarts, Forrests, Shelues, and Sands,
Fertilitie and Barrennesse of Lands;
Th' vnbounded Sea, and vastitie of Shore;
“All these expresse a Godhead to adore.

Be not in thy stupiditie deluded:
Thinke but how all these, in one bulke included,
And rounded in a ball, plac'd in the meane
Or middle, hauing nought whereon to leane;
So huge and pond'rous! and yet with facilitie,
Remain immov'd, in their first knowne stabilitie!
“How can such weight, that on no Base doth stand,
“Be sway'd by lesse than an Almighty hand?

Obserue the Sea when it doth rage and rore,
As menacing to swallow vp the Shore;
For all the Ebbs and Tydes, and Deeps profound,
Yet can it not encroch beyond his bound.
“What brain conceiues this, but the Power respects,
“Which these things made, moues, gouerns, and directs?

Do but, ô man, into thy selfe descend,
And thine owne building fully apprehend;
Comprise in one thy Body and thy Mind,
And thou thy selfe a little World shalt find:

Thou hast a nimble body, to all motion
Pliant and apt: thou hast at thy deuotion
A soule too, in the which no motion's seene,
But from all eyes hid, as behind a skreene.
Th' effects we may behold; from whose command
The gestures come: yet see we not the hand
By which Th' are mov'd, nor the chiefe Master, He
Who is prime Guide in our agilitie.

Is not so great, of these things, th' admiration;
So excellent a Worke, of power to fashion
Atheists anew, and bring them to the way?
Let's heare but what their owne Philosophers say.
One thus affirmes: There's no capacious place
In Mans Intelligence, able to embrace
Th' incomprehensible Godhead: “and yet trace
“His steps we may, his potencie still seeing
“In euery thing that hath on earth a being.

Saith Auicen: He reason wants, and sence,
That to a sole God doth not reuerence.
A third: Who so to heav'n directs his eies,
And but beholds the splendor of the skies,
(Almost incredible) and doth not find,
There must of force be an Intelligent mind,
To guide and gouerne all things? A fourth thus:
(and the most learned of them, doth discusse;
Seeming amongst the Heathen most to know)
There is a God, from whom all good things flow.

To sing to the great God let's neuer cease,
Who gouerns Cities, People, and gown'd Peace:
He the dull Earth doth quicken; or make tame
The Tempests, and the windy Seas reclaime:
He hath the gouernment of States, can quell
Both gods and men; his pow'r is seene in Hell;
Whose magnitude all visible things display,
He gouerns them with an impartial sway.

Where e're thou mov'st, where so thou turnst thine eie,
Ev'n there is God, there Ioue thou may'st espie:
His immense pow'r doth beyond limit run,
It hath no bound, for what he wills is done.

What so thou seest throughout the world by day,
Euen that doth him and only him obey.
If he please, from the dull or fertile Earth,
Or Floures or Weeds spring, Fruitfulnesse or Dearth:
If he please, into Rocks hee'l water poure,

Which (like the thirsty Earth) they shall deuoure.
Or from the dry stones he can water spout:
The wildernesse of Seas the world throughout
Submits to him. At his Imperious will
The rough and blustring Winds are calme and still.
The Flouds obey him: Dragons he can slaue,
And make th' Hyrcanian Tygres cease to raue.

He is in the most soueraigne place instated;
He sees and knowes all things he hath created.
Nor wonder if he know our births and ends,
Who measures Arctos, how far it extends;
And what the Winters Boreæs limits are.
What to this Deity may we compare?
Who doth dispose as well the Spade as Crowne,
Teaching the counsels both of Sword and Gowne:
For with inuisible Ministers he traces
The world, and spies therein all hidden places.

Of Alexander, Aristotle thus writes:
It is not numb'red 'mongst his chiefe delights,
That he o're many Kings hath domination;
But, That he holds the gods in adoration.
Who iustly on their proud contemners lower;
But vnto such as praise them, they giue power.

The Times of old, Æneas did admire,
Because he brought his gods through sword and fire,
When Troy was sackt and burnt: for that one pietie,
They held him after death worthy a Dietie.

Pompilius for his reuerence to them done,
An honor from his people likewise wone:
He raign'd in peace, and (as some writers say)
Had conference with the Nymph Egeria.
For him, who knew the gods how to intreat,
And truly serue, no honor was too great.

But the gods Hater, impious and prophane
Mezentius, was in battell rudely slaine.
And Capaneus, after that he had
Assaulted Thebes wall (which the gods forbad)
Euen in the midst of all his glory fell,
And by a bolt from Heauen was strooke to Hell.

The great Epirus, Arcades King, we find,
For spoiling Neptunes Temple was strook blind.
And the Duke Brennus, after many an act
Of strange remarke (as proud Rome hauing sackt,
And conquering Delphos) yet because he dar'd

To rob that Church Apollo would haue spar'd;
The god strooke him with madnesse; who straight drew
His warlike sword, with which himselfe he slew.

The Temple of Tolossa (in their pride)
Great Scipio's souldiers spoil'd, and after dy'de
All miserably. And Alexander's, when
They Ceres Church would haue surpriz'd, euen then
Fell lightning from the skies, which soon destroy'd
All in that sacrilegious Act imployd.

Religion from the first of Time hath bin,
Howeuer blended with idolatrous sin:
Temples, Synagogues, Altars, and Oblations,
Lustrations, Sacrifices, Expiations;
Howe're their zeale with many errors mixt,
“None but vpon some god his mind hath fixt.

The Lybians, Cretans, and Idæans, they
Had Ioue in adoration: None bare sway
Amongst the Argiues in Miceane, but she
That shares with Ioue imperiall soue raignty
Iuno. The Thebans honor'd Hercules:
They of Boetia the three Charites:
Th' Ægyptians, Isis, figured like a Cow:
The Thebans and the Arabes all bow
To Bacchus Bimater, the god of Wine.
Iönia, Rhodes, and Delphos held diuine,
Apollo solely: Cyprus and Paphos boast,
Their Venus, as amongst them honor'd most.
Th' Athenians and Ætolians celebrate
Minerua: Vnto Vulcan dedicate
The Imbrians and the Lemnians, all their vowes.
Fertile Sicilia no goddesse knowes,
Saue Proserpine: Th' Elæans, Pluto make
Their Soueraigne: And the Boëtians take
The Muses for their Guardiens. All that dwell
Neere to the Hellespont, thinke none t'excell,
Saue Priapus. In Rhodes, Saturn hath praise:
Osyris, aboue all, th' Ægyptians raise.
The Latians and the warlike Thraciaus run
To Mars his Shrine: the Scythians to the Sun.
All the inhabitants of Delphos Isle
Pray, That Latona on their coasts will smile.
'Mongst the Lacones, Neptune sacred is:
And through all Asia, powerfull Nemesis.
The Attici haue in high estimation

Fortune. Th' Eleusians haue in adoration,
Ceres: The Phrygians, Cybel: Cupid, Those
That dwell at Colchos. Th' Arcades haue chose
Aristæus: Diana, those of Ephesus.
The Epidaurians, Æsculapius. &c.

So many gods and goddesses did comber
The Nations of the earth, as that their number
In iust account, (if Hesiod speake true)
Vnto no lesse than thirty thousand grew.

As touching Auguries, and their abuse,
(In the precedent Times in frequent vse)
To proue that study to be meerly vain,
Homer hath made great Hector thus complain:

The winged Birds thou bid'st me to obey;
But how they take their course, or to which way,
I nor regard, nor care: whether their flight
Be made vpon the left hand or the right.
Most requisit it is that I be swaide
By the great thundring Ioues high will, and wade
No farther. He hath empire ouer all,
And whom he list, supporteth, or makes thrall.
That's the best Bird to me, and flies most true,
Bids, For my Countrey fight; my Foes subdue.

E're further I proceed, 't were not amisse,
If I resolue you what an Idol is,
And where they had beginning. I haue read
Of one Syrophanes, in Ægypt bred;
Who as he nobly could himselfe deriue,
So was he rich, and by all means did striue,
Like an indulgent Father with great care,
To make his sonne of all his Fortunes heire.
And when he had accumulated more
Than all his Neighbours: in his height of store,
And fulnesse of aboundance, (as his pride
Was to leaue one t'inherit) his Son dy'de;
And with him, all his comfort, because then
(He gone) he thought himselfe the poor'st of men.

In this great sorrow, (which as oft we see,
Doth seeke for solace from necessitie)
He caus'd his statue to be carv'd in stone,
S' exactly made vnto the life, that none
But would haue took it for the childe; agreeing
So neere to him it was, when he had being.
But the sad Father, thinking to restraine

That flux of teares which hourely pour'd amaine
Downe his moist cheeks, the course he tooke to cease it,
Presented him fresh matter to increase it:
Ignorant, That to helpe the woe begon,
There is no cure like to Obliuion.
So far it was his moist eyes to keepe dry,
As that of teares it gaue him new supply.
And this we may from Ειδοδινειν borrow,
The word to vs implying, Cause of sorrow.
Whilest there this new made Image had abode,
The Seruants made of it their houshold god.
Some would bring fresh floures and before it strow:
Others, (lest they in duty might seem slow)
Crowne it with wreathes and garlands: others burne
Incense, to soothe their Lord, who still did mourne:
And such as had offended him, would fly
Vnto that place, as to a Sanctuary;
And (after pardon) seuerall gifts present,
As if that had been the sole Instrument
Of their deliuery. By which 't may appeare,
'Twas not Loues effect, but th' effect of Feare,
To which Petronius seemes t'allude, when he,
Obliquely taxing all Idolatry,
saith, That throughout the world in euery Nation,
Feare first made gods, with Diuine adoration.

Saith Martial: If thy Barber then should dare,
When thou before him sit'st with thy throat bare,
And he his Rasor in his hand; to say,
Giue me this thing or that: Wilt thou say nay
Or grant it him? Take 't into thy beleefe,
He 's at that time a Ruffin and a Theefe,
And not thy Barber. Neither can 't appeare
Bounty, that 's granted through imperious Feare.

Of the word Superstition, the first ground
Was, To preserue to th' future, whole and sound,
The memorie of Fathers, Sons, and Friends,
Before deceast: and to these seeming ends
Were Images deuis'd. Which some would bring
(As their first Author) from th' Assyrian King
Ninus; whose father Belus being dead;
That after death he might be honored,
Set vp his statue, which (as most agree)
Was in his new built city Niniuee:
Whither all malefactors make repaire,

And such offenders whose liues forfeit are
By the Lawes doom: but kneeling to that Shrine,
Were sanctuar'd, as by a thing diuine.
Hence came it, that (as gods) they now abhor'd
The Sun and Moone, which they before ador'd.
With Stars and Planets they are now at strife:
And since by it they had recouered life,
(Late forfeit) hold it as a sov'raigne Deitie;
And therefore as it were in gratefull pietie,
They offred sacrifice, burnt Incense, gaue
Oblations, as to that had power to saue.

This, which in Theeues and Murd'rers first began,
In time so generall grew, that not a man,
But was of that beleefe; and so withdrew
That diuine worship which was solely due
To the Creator, (and to him alone)
And gaue 't to Idols made of wood and stone.
And yet the Poet Sophocles, euen then
When the true God was scarsly knowne to men,
In honour of the supreme Deitie,
Much taunted the vain Greeks Idolatrie.

One God there is (saith he) and only one,
Who made the Earth his Footstoole, Heav'n his Throne:
The swelling Seas, and the impetuous Winds;
The first he calmeth, and the last he binds
In prison at his pleasure: and yet wee,
Subiects vnto this fraile mortalitie,
Of diffident hearts determin, and deuise
To the Soules dammage, many fantasies.
The Images of gods we may behold,
Carv'd both in stone and wood; some left in gold;
Others in Iv'ry wrought: and we (vnwise)
By offring to them solemne Sacrifice;
Thinke we do God good seruice. But the Deity,
(Sole and supreme) holds it as meere impiety.

Saint Austin neuer could himselfe persuade,
That such who mongst the antient Gentiles made
Their Idoll gods, beleev'd in them: for he
Saith confidently; Though in Rome there be
Ceres and Bacchus, with a many more,
Whom they in low obeisance fall before;
They do it not as vnto absolute things,
That haue in them the innate seeds and springs

Of being and subsistence: but much rather,
As to the seruants of th' Almighty Father.

Yet these did worship something ('t doth appeare)
As a Supreme, whom they did loue or feare.
This Age breeds men so bruitsh naturall,
As to beleeue there is no God at all.
Such is the Atheist, with whom can be had
No competition; one obtuse or mad,
Who cannot scape Heav'ns most implacable rod.
The Psalmists Foole, who saith, There is no God;
Would such but spend a little vacant time,
To looke from what's below, to things sublime;
From terrene to cœlestiall, and confer
The Vniuersall, with what's singuler;
They shall find nothing, so immense and hye,
Beyond their stubborn dull capacity,
But figures vnto them his magnitude.
Again, nothing so slight, (as to exclude
It name amongst his creatures) nought so small,
But proues to them his power majesticall.

Tell me, (ô thou of Mankind most accurst)
Whether to be, or not to be, was first?
Whether to vnderstand, or not to know?
To reason, or not reason? (well bee't so,
I make that proposition:) all agree,
That our Not being, was before To be.
For we that are now, were not in Times past:
Our parents too, ev'n when our moulds were cast,
Had their progenitors: their fathers, theirs:
So to the first. By which it plaine appeares,
And by this demonstration 't is most cleare,
That all of vs were not, before we were.

For in the Plants we see their set and ruin.
In Creatures, first their growth, then death pursuing.
In Men as well as Beasts, (since Adam's sinning)
The end is certaine signe of the beginning.
As granted then, we boldly may proclaime it,
There was a Time, (if we a Time may name it)
When there was neither Time, nor World, nor Creature,
Before this Fabrick had such goodly feature.
But seeing these before our eyes haue being,
It is a consequence with Truth agreeing;
Of which we only can make this construction,
“From some Diuine power all things had production.

And since of Nothing, nothing can befall:
And betwixt that which is (bee't ne're so small)
And what is not, there is an infinite space,
Needs must one Infinite supply the place.
“It followes then; The prime Cause and Effector
“Must be some potent Maker and Protector,
“A preualent, great, and eternall God,
“Who before all beginning had aboad.

Come to the Elements: A war we see
Twixt Heate and Cold, Drought and Humiditie:
Now where's Antipathy, must be Annoy,
One laboring still the other to destroy:
And yet in one composure where these meet,
There's Sympathie, Attone, and cons'nance sweet.
The Water doth not fight against the Fire,
Nor doth the Aire against the Earth conspire.
All these (though opposites) in vs haue peace,
Vniting in one growth and daily increase.
“To make inueterate Opposites agree,
“Needs must there be a God of Vnitie.

What is an Instrument exactly strung,
Vnlesse being plaid vpon? it yeelds no tongue
Or pleasant sound that may delight the eares.
So likewise of the musicke of the Spheres,
Which some haue said, chym'd first by accident.
O false opinion'd Foole: What's the intent
Of thy peruersenesse, or thine ignorance?
Shall I defigne what Fortune is, or Chance?
Nothing they are saue a meere perturbation
Of common Nature; an exorbitation
And bringing out of square; these to controule,
“Therefore, must needs be an intelligent Soule.
For know you not, you Empty of all notion,
That nothing in it selfe hath power of motion?
And that which by anothers force doth moue,
“The cause of that effect must be aboue?

Th' originall of Mouing must be Rest,
Which in our common Dialls is exprest.
The Sun-beame prints the houre; the shadow still
From our shifts to another, ev'n vntill
Thou tel'st vnto the last; yet 't is confest,
That all this while th' Artificer may rest.

The Earth in sundry colours deckt we know,
With all the Herbage and the Fruits below.

The Seas and Flouds, Fish in aboundance store:
Fowles numberlesse within the Aire do soare:
And all these in their seuerall natures clad
So fairely, that her selfe can nothing add.
From whence haue these their motion? Shall we say,
From th' Elements? “How comes it then that they
“Should so agree, (being 'mongst themselues at strife)
“To giue to others [what they haue not] Life?

Haue they then from the Sun their generation?
Resolue me then, what Countrey or what Nation
Can shew his issue? Haue they power innate,
As in themselues, themselues to procreate?
If any of them? tell me, 'mongst them all,
Of what extension are they, great or small?

In new discov'ries; if after somewhile,
We touch vpon an vnfrequented Isle:
If there we sheds or cottages espy,
(Though thatcht with Reed or Straw) we by and by
Say, Sure men here inhabit, 't doth appeare;
The props and rafters plac'd not themselues there;
Nor of their owne accord, the reed or straw,
Themselues into that close integument draw.
Nor could the sauage beasts themselues inure
Vnto a worke so formal and secure.
And you, ô Fooles, or rather Mad-men, when
You view these glorious Works, which Beasts and Men
So far from framing are, that their dull sence
Can neuer apprehend their eminence;
And do not with bent knees, hearts strook with terror,
And eyes bedew'd with teares, lament their error,
Submissiuely acknowledge their impiety
And blasphemies 'gainst that inuisible Diety.

If but to what you see, you would be loth
To giue faith to? In Plants, a daily growth
You all confesse: but of you I would know,
When any of your eyes perceiv'd them grow?
In Animals we may obserue increase,
And euery member waxing without cease:
But when did euer your acutest eye
Distinguish this augmenting qualitie?

Force vegetiue and sensatiue, in Man
There is: with Intellect (by which he can
Discerne himselfe and others) to this houre,
Tell me, Who euer hath beheld that Power?

We with our outward sences cannot measure
The depth of Truth, nor rifle her rich treasure:
“Let that Truths spirit then be our Director,
“To bow vnto the worlds great Architector.

Or will you better with your selues aduise,
And beleeue those the antient Times held wise;
And not the least 'mongst these, Th' Ægyptian Mages,
The Indian Brachmans, and the Grecian Sages;
“Ev'n these approv'd a God, before Time liuing,
“Maker, Preseruer, and all good things giuing.

The Poets and Philosophers, no lesse,
In all their works ingeniously professe;
Theognis, Homer, Hesiod, Orpheus, All
Vpon this great Power inuocate and call
To their Assistants. In the selfe same line,
Rank't Plato, and Pythagoras (both Diuine
Held for their reuerence done it.) Let these passe:
To speake of your great man, Diagoras,
The Prince of Fooles, of Atheisme the chiefe Master:
(As was, of Magicke, the learn'd Zoroaster)
Peruse his Booke, you in the Front shall reade
These very words: From a sole soueraigne Head,
All things receiue their Being and Dispose.
What more could he confesse? Which the most knowes.

He, on whose shrinking columes you erect
The whole frame of your irreligious sect;
Holding the statue of Alcides (then
Numb'red amongst the deified men)
It being of wood: To take away the glory
From Idols; in a frequent auditorie
Of his owne Scholers, cast it in the fire:
Thus speaking; Now god Hercules expire
In this thy thirteenth Labour; 't is one more
Than by thy stepdame was enioyn'd before.
To her (being, man) thou all thy seruice gaue;
Thou now being god, I make thee thus my slaue.

The Atheist Lucian held Gods Sonne in scorne;
And walking late, by dogs was piece-meale torne.
Yet for the loue I to his learning owe,
This funerall Farewell I on him bestow.
Vnhappy Lucian, what sad passionate Verse
Shall I bestow vpon the marble stone
That couers thee? How shall I deck thy Herse?
With Bayes or Cypresse? I do not bemone

Thy death; but that thou dy'dst thus. Had thy Creed
As firme been, as thy wit fluent and high,
All that haue read thy Works would haue agreed,
To haue transfer'd thy Soule aboue the sky,
And Sainted thee. But ô, 't is to be doubted,
The God thou didst despise, will thee expell
From his blest place; & since thou Heav'n hast flouted,
Confine thy Soule into thine owne made Hell.
But if thou euer knew'st so great a Dietie,
A Sauiour who created Heauen and thee;
And against him durst barke thy rude impietie,
He iudge thy cause, for it concernes not me.

But for thy Body, 't is most iust (say I)
If all that so dare barke, by Dogs should dy.

Thus saith the Atheist: Lo, our time is short,
Therefore our few dayes let vs spend in sport.
From Death (which threatneth vs) no Power can saue,
And there is no returning from the graue.
Borne are we by meere chance, a small time seen,
And we shall be as we had neuer been.
Our breath is short: our words a sparke of fire,
Rais'd from the heart, which quickly doth expire;
And then our bodies must to dust repaire,
Whilest life and spirit vanish into aire.
We shall be like the moving Cloud that's past,
And we must come to nothing at the last:
Like Dew exhal'd, our names to ruine runne,
And none shall call to mind what we haue done.
Our Time is as a shadow, which doth fade;
And after death (which no man can euade)
The graue is seal'd so fast, that we in vaine
Shall hope, thence, euer to returne againe.

Come then; the present pleasures let vs tast,
And vse the Creatures as in time forepast:
Now, let vs glut our selues with costly wine,
And let sweet ointments in our faces shine.
Let not the floure of life passe stealing by,
But crowne our selues with Roses e're they dy:
Our wantonnesse be counted as a treasure,
And in each place leaue tokens of our pleasure:
For that's our portion; we desire no more.
Let vs next study to oppresse the Poore,
(If they be righteous) nor the Widow spare:
Deride the Ag'd, and mocke his reuerend haire.

Our strength, make Law, to do what is iniust;
For in things feeble 't is in vaine to trust:
Therefore the good man let's defraud; for he
(We know) can neuer for our profit be,
Our actions in his eies gets no applause:
He checks vs for offending 'gainst the Lawes,
Blames vs, and saith, We Discipline oppose.
Further he makes his boasts, That God he knowes;
And calls himselfe his Sonne. Hee's one that's made
To contradict our thoughts: quite retrograde
From all our courses; and withall so crosse,
We cannot looke vpon him without losse.
He reckons vs as Bastards, and withdrawes
Himselfe from vs: nor will he like our Lawes,
But counts of them as filthinesse. The ends
Of the iust men he mightily commends;
And boasts, God is his father. Let's then see,
If any truth in these his words can be;
And what end he shall haue. For if th' Vpright
Be Sonnes of God, hee'l aid them by his might.

With harsh rebukes and torments, let vs then
Sift and examine this strange kinde of Men;
To know what meeknesse we in them can spy,
And by this means their vtmost patience try.
Put them to shamefull death, bee't any way;
For they shall be preserv'd, as themselues say.

Thus do they go astray, as ev'ly minded,
For they in their owne wickednesse are blinded.
For, nothing they Gods mysteries regard,
Nor of a good man, hope for the reward:
Neither discerne, That honour doth belong
Vnto the faultlesse Soules that thinke no wrong.
For God created Man pure and vnblam'd,
Yea, after his owne Image was he fram'd.
But by the Diuels enuy, Death came in:
Who holds with him, shall proue the Scourge of sin.

But in great boldnesse shall the Righteous stand,
Against the face of such as did command
Them to the torture; and by might and sway,
The fruits of all their labors tooke away.
When they shall see him in his strength appeare,
They shall be vexed with an horrid feare;
(When they with an amased countenance
Behold their wonderfull deliuerance)

And change their mindes, and sigh with griefe, and say,
Behold these men we labour'd to betray!
On whom, with all contempt we did incroch,
And held them a meere by-word of reproch:
We thought, their liues to madnesse did extend,
And, there codld be no honour in their end:
How come they now amongst Gods Children told;
And in the list of Saints to be inrol'd?
Therefore, from Truth's way we haue deuious bin,
Nor trod the path the Righteous haue walkt in:
From the true Light we haue our selues confin'd;
Nor hath the Sun of Knowledge on vs shin'd.
The way of Wickednesse (which leadeth on
To ruine and destruction) we haue gon:
By treading dangerous paths, our selues w'haue tyr'd;
But the Lords way we neuer yet desir'd.

What profit hath our Pride, or Riches, brought?
Or what our Pompe? since these are come to nought.
All these vaine things, like shadowes are past by;
Or like a Post, that seems with speed to fly:
Or as a Bird (the earth and heav'n betweene)
Who makes her way, and yet the path not seene:
The beating of her wings yeelds a soft sound;
But of her course there's no apparance found.
As when an Arrow at a marke is shot,
Finds out a way, but we perceiue it not;
For suddenly the parted aire vnites,
And the fore-passage is debar'd our fights.
So we, no sooner borne and take our breath,
But instantly we hasten on to death.
In our liues course we in no vertue ioy'd,
And therefore now are in our sinnes destroy'd.

Th' Vngodlie's hopes to what may we compare?
But like the dust, that's scattered in the aire:
Or as the thin some gathered on the waue,
Which when the tempest comes no place can haue:
Or as the smoke, dispersed by the wind,
Which blowne abroad, no rest at all can find.
Or else; As his remembrance steales away,
Who maketh speed, and tarieth but a day.

But of the Iust, for euer is th' aboad;
For their reward is with the Lord their God:
They are the charge and care of the most High,
Who tenders them as th' Apple of his eye.

And therefore they shall challenge as their owne,
From the Lords hand, a Kingdome and a Crowne:
With his right hand hee'l couer them from harme,
And mightily defend them with his arme.
He shall his Ielousie for Armor take,
And put in armes his Creatures for their sake,
His and their Foes to be reueng'd vpon.
He for a glorious breast-plate shall put on,
His Righteousnesse: and for an Helmet beare
True Iudgement, to astonish them with feare:
For an invinc'd shield, Holinesse he hath:
And for a sword, he sharpens his fierce Wrath.
Nay, the whole World hee'l muster, to surprise
His Enemies, and fight against th' Vnwise.

The thunderbolts, by th' hand of the most High,
Darted, shall from the flashing lightnings fly;
Yea fly ev'n to the marke: as from the Bow
Bent in the clouds: and in His anger go
That hurleth stones, the thicke Haile shall be cast.
Against them shall the Flouds and Ocean vast
Be wondrous wroth, and mightily or'eflow:
Besides, the fierce Winds shall vpon them blow,
Yea, and stand vp against them with their God,
And like a storme shall scatter them abroad.
Thus Wickednesse th' earth to a Desart brings;
And Sinne shall ouerthrow the Thrones of Kings.

You heare their doome. It were not much amisse,
If we search further, what this Atheisme is.
Obserue, That sundry sorts of men there be
Who spurne against the sacred Deitie:
As first, Those whom Idolaters we call,
Pagans and Infidels in generall.
These, though they be religious in their kinde,
Are, in the manner of their worship, blinde;
And by the Diuel's instigation won
To worship Creatures, as the Moon and Sun.

Others there be, who the true God-head know,
Content to worship him in outward show:
Yet thinke his Mercy will so far dispence,
That of his Iustice they haue no true sence:
His Pitty they acknowledge, not his Feare;
Because they hold him milde, but not austere.

Some, like brute beasts, will not of sence discusse:
With such Saint Paul did fight at Ephesus.

Others are in their insolence so extreme,
That they deride Gods name, scoffe, and blaspheme:
As Holophernes, who to Achior said;
Albeit thou such a vaine boast hast made,
That Israels God his people can defend
Against my Lord, who doth in power transcend;
Where th' Earth no greater pow'r knowes, neere or far,
Than him whom I serue, Nabuchadnezzar.

Diuers will seeme religious, to comply
With time and place: but aske their reason, Why
They so conforme themselues? They know no cause
More than, To saue their purse, and keepe the Lawes.

There be, to Noble houses make resort;
And sometimes Elbow Great men at the Court,
Who though they seeme to beare things faire and well,
Yet would turne Moses into Machiuel;
And, but for their aduantage and promotion,
Would neuer make least tender of deuotion.
For their Diuinitie is that which we
Call Policie: their Zeale, Hipocrisie:
Their God, the Diuell: whose Imagination
Conceits, That of the world was no Creation.
These haue into Gods Works no true inspection,
Dreame of no Iudgement, Hell, or Resurrection:
Reckon vp Genealogies who were
Long before Adam; and without all feare,
(As those doom'd to the bottomlesse Abisme)
Hold, There was no Noës Arke, no Cataclisme.

Besides; How busie hath the Diuell bin,
Ev'n from the first, t'encrease this stupid Sin?
Not ceasing in his malice to proceed,
How to supplant the Tenents of our Creed.
Beginning with the first, (two hundred yeares
After our Sauiours Passion) he appeares
In a full (seeming) strength; and would maintaine,
By sundry obstinate Sectists, (but in vaine)
There was not one Almighty to begin
The great stupendious Worke; but that therein
Many had hand. Such were the Maniches,
Marcionists, Gnostyes, and the like to these.
The second Article he aim'd at then;
And to that purpose pickt out sundry Men,
Proud Hereticks, and of his owne affinitie;
Who did oppose the blessed Sonne's Diuinitie.

But knowing his great malice to his mind
Did not preuaile; he then began to find
A cauill 'gainst the Third: and pickt out those
Who stiffely did the Holy-Ghost oppose.
Him from the holy Tria's they would leaue;
Nor yeeld, The Blest-Maid did by him conceiue.

But herein failing; with a visage sterne,
That roaring Lion, Those which did concerne
The Churches Faith, aim'd at: still raising such,
As building on their owne conceit too much,
The other Maximes of our knowne Beleefe
Mainly withstood. Nay after, (to his griefe)
Finding, that in no one he could be said
To haue preuail'd; he after 'gins t'inuade
All, and at once: to that great God retyring,
Who cast him downe from Heav'n for his aspiring.
And to cut off Mans hoped-for felicitie;
Where he before persuades a multiplicitie
of gods to be ador'd: He now from Many,
Blinds the dull Atheist, not to confesse Any:
Striuing (if possible it were) to make
Him, a worse Monster than himselfe; To take
No notice of his God, nor vnderstand,
That both his life and breath are in his hand:
Insensible, That he who from his Treasure
Leant them at first, can take them backe at pleasure:
That Hee created Sorrow, who made Ioy:
(Who reare's, can ruine; and who builds, destroy.)
Which they might gather from bare Natures light;
Obseruing, That t'each day belong's a night:
That as in th' one there is a gladsome cheare;
So, to the other doth belong a feare:
One figuring the Glory of the Iust;
Th' other, that Hell where Atheists shall be thrust.

Next; Let a man be mounted ne're so high,
Were 't on a spire that's mid-way to the sky;
Whilest he look's vp, with comfort he doth gaze
Vpon the clouds and the Sun's fulgent raies:
Nor is he troubled, whilest his eies are bent
Vpon the splendor of the Firmament.
But let him thence suruey the Earth below,
His heart will pant with many an irksome throw;
His body tremble; sinewes and nerues all
Contract themselues, with feare from thence to fall.

The Emblem is; That there's aboue, a place
Long since prepar'd for all the Sonnes of Grace;
Who by a blest and heav'nly contemplation
Looke vpward, even from whence comes their saluation.
But vnto them who seeke not God to know,
And only fix their thoughts on things below;
Although no such place visibly appeare,
Yet there's an Hell that's full of dread and feare.

Which how can These escape, who beleeue lesse
Than do the Diuels? for they both confesse
And know there is a God; a Heav'n, where plac't
They once had been; and for their pride thence cast.
Likewise an Hell, (not threatned them in vaine)
Where they both now and euer shall remaine.
Shall He who giues vs life and length of daies,
Passe vs without due thanksgiuing and praise?
And shall not God be truly vnderstood,
Who in his bounty giues vs all that's good?
Or, Shall he nothing from our hands deserue,
Who, what he makes is carefull to preserue.

We reade of some Beasts, who opprest with thirst,
And hastning to the riuers margent, first
Bow downe their bodies at the waters brinke,
And fall vpon their knees still when they drinke.
Birds (as we daily may obserue) being dry,
At euery drop they taste, looke vp on high;
As vnto Him who sends it them: which speakes,
That without thanks they neuer wet their beakes.
If Beasts and Birds so gratefull be; What then
Shall we imagine of these thanklesse Men,
But, That there's a Gehinnon to contrude
All guilty of such base ingratitude?

That this God is, to Atheists may appeare;
Because by Him so frequently they sweare:
For, Who's so senselesse and obtuse a Sot,
To call to witnesse that thing which is not?
For, By what Power soeuer they protest,
Th' Essence thereof is euen in that confest.

Ev'n Reasons selfe (maugre this grosse impietie)
Illustrates vnto vs, th' eternall Dietie.
If we behold a Barke in th' Ocean swimming,
We say, Some Ship-wright gaue it shape and trimming.
Or, if a Picture in a costly Frame;
It from the Pensill of some Painter came.

Or, where we see an House or Temple stand,
We presuppose some skilfull Workmans hand.

Then, If Below we marke the Earth and Ocean:
Aboue, the Planets in their hourely motion:
So many Winters, Autumnes, Sommers, Springs,
And in them, the vicissitude of things:
When we shall all his glorious Creatures view,
Shall we deny him a bare Artists due?
Or, Can we this high potent Vndertaker
(Who made both Them and Vs) esteeme no Maker?

Philosophy will tell vs by her Lawes,
That no Effect can be without a Cause:
That euery action doth an Agent claime:
And euery motiue, That which moues the same,
Though many Causes, Agents, Motions, be;
They are subordinate: and onely He
Prime Cause, Agent, and Mouer, who (t' our notion)
Is First, of all effect, action, or motion.
Concerning whom, the Psalmist doth thus treat:
O Lord my God, thou art exceeding great
In honour, and in Glory shining bright,
Who couers thy great Maiestie with light,
As with a garment: that Almighty God,
Who, like a curtaine, spreds the Heav'ns abroad;
And in th' vnsounded bosome of the streames
Of thy great chambers, hast dispos'd the beames:
Who for thy Chariot, hast the Clouds assign'd;
And walk'st vpon the swift wings of the wind.
When Man committeth euill, he shall find
A God euen in the terror of his mind.

For, Adam tasting of the Fruit forbid,
(Asham'd) himselfe within a Thicket hid.
When Herod, Iohn the Baptist had beheaded,
He for that act some fearefull vengeance dreaded:
For, hearing of Christs Miracles, he sed,
Surely that Iohn is risen from the dead;
Fearing his ghost did haunt him. So when Cain
Had in his wrath his brother Abel slain,
His count'nance was deiected and cast downe.
For, were there no Accuser but mans owne
Conscience it selfe, he Feare could not eschew;
Because, The Wicked fly when none pursue.
And what are Feares, vnto that height extended,
But a meere dread of a iust God offended?

Euen by Idolaters a God's confest;
Who rather will adore a Bird, a Beast,
A Fish, a Serpent, Planet, or a Stone,
Nay, euen the basest things, rather than none.
Mans appetite, that neuer can be sated,
Approues a God: for let him be instated
In a small means, a greater he desires:
Giue him a Prouince, and he then aspires
Vnto a Realme: a Kingdome let him haue,
(Not yet content) he then a World will craue:
Nor rests he there; for, were 't in his possession,
Yet bring him in the end to his confession,
He will acknowledge, There is somewhat more
To be acquir'd; ev'n God, whom we adore.

That men of knowledge should be so ambitious,
And in the quest thereof so auaritious;
Yet in that amplitude finding such scant,
That still the more they haue, the more they want.
(For in that progresse, as they further go,
The more they learne, the more they search to know:)
Besides, that in this search each one pursu'th
With labour, to inuestigate the Truth.
That simple and pure Truth (th' Atheists deny)
Can be no other thing than the Most-High.

Ev'n these, to whom himselfe he had not showne,
(Saue in his Works) confest him, though vnknowne.
Saith one: Each place hath of Gods Center sence,
But none can challenge his circumference.
The Stagerite giues him the due applause,
Of the first Cause, and, Of all Causes, Cause;
Th' Essence of things, Of whom all things subsist;
Author, first Mouer. And vnto the list
Of his due titles add's, Th' Eternall Light,
The most pure Act, Immense, and Infinite. &c.
Whom, the great Flamin Hiero did accuse;
That, 'gainst the Countries custome, he should vse
The name of one sole God: when all saue he
Acknowledged a multiplicitie.
Goodnesse Inimitable, He's likewise stil'd
By him, who said, The World was first compil'd
For Man, and Man for God. There is no doubt
Of God (saith Cicero:) The earth throughout
Search, and there is no Nation, in whose brest
A God is not by Natures selfe imprest.

To what can any Atheist this impute;
That at Christs birth all Oracles were mute,
And put to lasting silence? Whence 't might grow,
The Emperor Augustus sent to know,
When all the superstitious Rites were past.
The Oracle thus spake, (and spake it's last:)
An Hebrew Childe, God, who all gods doth quell,
Bids me giue place, be silent, packe to hell:
Henceforth forbeare these Altars to adore;
He speakes to you, who neuer shall speake more.
Vpon which answer, his great power t'extoll,
He did erect in Romes great Capitoll,
A Shrine, whereon th' Inscription thus doth run;
The Altar of Gods first begotten Son.

A Childe is borne to vs, I say saith plaine:
An Hebrew Childe, saith Paul; not of the straine
Of Angels; but of Abrahams blessed seed,
And God: There his diuine nature is decreed.
God is become a Childe: which who shall scan,
Must needs conclude, That Christ is God and Man.

The Oracle, you heard, made that reply:
Heare fully now from Sybels Prophecy;
There shall be borne a King, the World to saue.
Yet neither He, nor any Roman, gaue
That honour to him liuing: this they 'xprest,
But lent no faith to that which they confest.
For Lentulus thinking she did diuine
Of him, tooke part with factious Cateline;
In hope, most of the Senat to remoue,
And by that meanes, his Countries Sauiour proue.

Virgil, to Saloninus it apply'd,
(The sonne of Pollio) whom he Deify'd;
Because the Father to that hopefull Lad
Was his great Patron. Some suggest, He had
Knowledge of a Messias, to be borne
Iust at that time, the blest Age to adorne.
Because when Herod (who at that time raign'd
King of the Iewes) was vnto Rome constrain'd
To tender his Allegeance; alwaies guested
At Pollio's house, where he was nobly feasted.
To which place Virgil frequently resorted;
(For so of him Iosephus hath reported.)
But Constantine was first, made Proclamation
'Mongst all the Romans, of Christs Incarnation.

Some of their Prophets, in an Enthean fury,
Predicted, That a King should come from Iury,
To Monarchise the World: which when they knew,
They gaue it not to Iesus, (as his due)
But to Vespasian did the stile resigne,
Because 'twas he that conquer'd Palestine.

At Christs Natiuitie (as some relate)
Those Heathen gods whom they did celebrate
With diuine Worship, and did most extoll,
Fell from their Shrines in the high Capitoll.
Their Stiles in Brasse grav'd, and in Marble rac't,
That Time, by Lightning, blemisht and defac't.
Which had a president of like remarke,
When Dagons Image fell before the Arke.

In the first moneth, and sixt day of the same,
When great Octauius Cæsar tooke the name
Augustus; did the Wise-men Offerings bring
To Christ, saluting him both God and King.
What time, all Forfeits, Debts, Bills of Account,
(Which did vnto an infinite surmount)
Kept in the Empires Chamber, were by fire
To ashes burnt. Which shew'd (if we retire
Into our selues) He came into the World,
That Sauior of Mankinde; on whom were hurl'd
All our transgression, trespasse, sinne, offence:
With which He, and He only can dispense,
Who, to repaire the former Adams losse,
Had all these with him nail'd vpon the Crosse.
Then, out of Wells and Fountains issu'd Oile,
Which from the Earths moist intrals seem'd to boile:
Which did expresse, Hee was the Sole appointed
To beare the title of, The Lords Anointed..
Vpon wich miracle, Augustus made
A solemne Edict to be drawne, which said,
That he no more a Lord would called be,
Since there was borne a greater Lord than he.

Herods great Temple, which did seeme t'aspire
Euen to the clouds aboue, was set on fire
By Titus souldiers; and to such a flame
It grew, no humane helpe could quench the same.
Iust at that time th' Oraculous Temple fell,
In Delphos rear'd; where many a doubtfull Spell
Was vtter'd, (by a fearefull Earthquake shooke
And torne asunder, as being Thunder-strooke:)

And neither of them could be since repair'd,
It being an attempt that no man dar'd.
Th' apparancie of which miraculous ruin,
(In both so famous) to the Times ensuing
Left it to be remark't, That from their fall,
The Gentile Customes were abolisht all;
And the idolatrous worship (frequent then)
Began to steale out of the hearts of men:
That Christ his doctrine, newly set on foot,
Might in our soules take deepe and prosp'rous root.

What thinke you of the pestilent infection
Of those which did deny the Resurrection,
In our blest Sauiors and th' Apostles daies?
A Sect the Sadduces began to raise:
A people of dull braine and diuelish quality,
Denying God, and the Soules Immortality.
These, when they listned to his blessed tongue,
And heard him preach aloud to old and young;
How far his Fathers power and might extended,
With Maiestie not to be comprehended;
The glory of the Saints; and wretched state
Of th' Vnregenerate and the Reprobate:
Mathew can tell you how they did behaue them,
And what reproofe the mouth of Wisedome gaue them.
Thus our blest Sauior said: Haue you not read,
Touching the resurrection of the Dead,
What God hath spoke to Moses? I am the God
Of Abraham, of Isaac, and Iacob:
(So much to your dull vnderstandings giuing)
God is not of the Dead, God, but the Liuing. &c.
Amongst those, with blind Will seduced thus,
Was Theodorus Cyrenaicus
Accounted; one that seeming to looke high
In knowledge grounded on Philosophy,
Would by his Inferences make 't appeare,
We had no God at all to gouerne here;
But all things by meere Nature did subsist
(Which shew'd, he was no good Theologist:)
But when his vaine Positions were disputed
In Athens, they not only were confuted;
But (his weake Tenents hist out of the Schooles)
He rank't in the Nomenclature of Fooles:

For thus he argu'd: If a God there be,
He must be a thing liuing (such as we)

Cal'd Animal: If liue, he must haue sence:
If sensible, ('t was his next inference)
He must of force be subiect to mutation:
If mutable; then, by that transmigration,
Capable of corruption: And if so,
Subiect to perish. Then from hence must grow
This full conclusion; That it may befall
In time, this Being not to be at all.

Nay thus he will not leaue it, but proceeds;
(For Ignorance, an Insolence still breeds)
If to this God (saith he) no body's lent,
He then can haue no soule, by consequent:
Hauing no soule, all action hee's depriv'd.
Or if he haue a body, that's deriv'd
From substance; therefore subiect vnto change.

Appeares not this as friuolous, as strange,
To any Vnderstander? Who but knowes,
That euery action of the body growes
From the Intelligent Soule? whose facultie
Allowes it motion and dexteritie.
Therefore, ô miserable Worme, I can
In this afford thee scarce the name of Man.
Ope but the eyes of Nature, and looke out
Meerely with them, (none else) and thou no doubt
Wilt find thy selfe s' obfuscate and obscur'd
So void of sens'ble light, and so immur'd,
With palped darknesse, to be blind at least,
And nothing diffring from th' irrational Beast.

And therefore that of Zenophantes may
Bewell confer'd on thee. Heare him thus say:
Had Brutes the art of Painting, they of force
Must draw themselues; a Horse, figure a Horse;
An Asse or Mule, their Like: the reason, why
They 're capable of no sublimitie
Beyond themselues; nor haue further extension,
Than meerely their owne brutish apprehension.
Such childish and vnmomentary grounds
These Atheists build vpon: which whoso sounds
But with the line of Reason, shall descry
Their irreligious fond impiety.

He that shall with himselfe exactly way
Those grosse and absurd lies, may soone display,
That they are arrogant, full of vain-glory,
Irregular from truth, and refractorie;

Vnlearn'd, replenisht with all lust and vice;
Seducers, Mockers, full of Riotise;
Time-soothers, Flat'rers, perfidious all,
In word, deed, thought, meere diabolicall.
Now these, because themselues haue left the best,
And, against Nature, heinously transgrest;
Of the Creator hauing no respect,
And casting on their owne soules a neglect;
By ill example, others would persuade,
That Diuine Lawes for policie were made;
That Hell's a Bug-beare to keepe men in feare;
That Scriptures to that end deuised were:
Persuading others, to eat, drinke, and play,
Since after death, there is no further day
To be Accountant in: Their lusts to cherish,
Since that the Soule must with the body perish.
That Man was made vnto no other end,
Than please his appetite, be his owne friend:
And, That all euills, euen with good things runne,
If politiquely, and in priuat done.

Such are their actions and their liues: but when
They 're brought vnto the Test, behold them then!
At the last gaspe most ready to catch hold
Vpon the least hope, durst they make so bold.

Looke on your father Aristotle, the best
(And Ipse) that Philosophy profest:
When vnto him (who all strange Nouels sought)
'Mongst others, Moses his first booke was brought,
Cal'd Genesis: Those few words hauing read;
God in the first beginning created
The Heav'ns and Earth, [&c.] Away with this, saith he,
'T is full of fables and new fantasy,
That speakes of many things, but nothing proues;
And that a true Philosopher not loues.

But drawing neere his end; when he began
More truly to consider, What was man;
He into strange anxieties doth grow,
Whether the Soule, immortall were, or no?
His body trembles, euery ioynt doth shake;
And these ('t is said) were the last words he spake:
Pollutedly into the world I came;
Sad and perplext I liv'd; and from the same,
Much troubled I depart. O, pitty me,
Thou, of all Beings onely knowne to Be.

If from the wisest of you all, this came;
Learne to know Him who onely writes, I am.

He is Heav'ns King, and Lord of Earth alone;
In Person three, but yet in Godhead one;
Truly Omnipotent, All-knowing, and
In Heav'n and Earth, of soueraigne sole command:
His Nature, simple, bodilesse, vnseene;
Vncirconscribed, t'whom nothing hath beene,
Is, or shall be superior vnderstood:
Great, without quantitie; without quality, good;
Most perfect, without blemish; without Time,
Eternall; in his potencie sublime:
Strength, without Weaknesse; Life, without Decay;
Present each where, and yet doth no where stay;
All things at once, without aduice, directing;
All things at once, without least paine, protecting.
He is without beginning, and yet giues
A First, to each thing that subsists and liues:
Who hath made all things changeable; yet He
Stable, and free from mutabilitie.
Himselfe without place; all things else instating;
Without materials, all his works creating:
In greatnesse infinite; goodnesse, incomparable;
In vertue, strong; wisedome, inestimable.
So secret, no man can deceiue his trust:
In Counsels, terrible; in Iudgements iust:
Copious in Mercy, glorious in his Name,
Holy in all his Works; (alwaies The same.)
Eternall, Sempiternall, Liuing God;
Inchangeable, in Essence, or Aboad:
Whom Space cannot enlarge, nor Place confine;
Constant in Purpose; and in Act, Diuine.
Him, Need compells not; nor can Chances sad
Disturbe: neither can Ioyfull things make glad:
Obliuion takes not; nor can Memory add
To him; Vnborne; to whom old Time can lend
No 'ncrease at all; nor casuall Chance giue end:
He before Worlds (Those are, and These must be)
Was, Is, and shall liue to Eternity:
Aboue all Apprehension, Thought, Opinion.
Therefore to Him be all Praise, Power, Dominion;
All singular Honour, Glory (with Congruity
Of Saints, Angels, and Men) to perpetuity

Be ascrib'd; with all the Attributes extending,
Through all vnwearied Worlds, and without ending.
That there's a God, we know:
But what he is, to show,
Beyond our selues we go.
His Height and Depth below.
Him, First and Last, we know;
But more we cannot show.