Devovt Rhapsodies In Which, Is Treated, of the Excellencie of Divine Scriptvres ... By J: A: Rivers [i.e. John Abbot] |
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Sermo Quartus.
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22
Sermo Quartus.
To the Honorable, William Savile, Baronet, my Godson. Edward Atsloe, Iohn Church, Esquires.
The Argument.
Wee sing what power bad Angels have, and howAll causes, and their consequents they knowe,
Are incorporeall, and with winged speed
Act what they will, but not their bounds exceed.
Wee sing unhappie mans corrupted state,
How more then Beasts he do's degenerate.
The World being finish't God amazed stood,
And with much complacence pronounc'd al's good:
If all be good, how come ill Angels then
(So noxious, yet so conversant with men?)
If they are ill, why are they lef't to roame
Abroad, why are they not confin'd to home
In Hell? why did they not when they lost grace,
Forfeite as well their Energye as place?
In Heaven? they can doe wonders, have a power
As great as Sions courtier's, some have more.
What from the rising of the Radiant sune,
Till in the Occident his race be run
Is acted, they see clearely, can without
Passing through Medium's scu'd the World about
It'h twinckling of an eye; at distance can
Mountaines oreturne, destroye, or tempt a man.
Locall Dimensions limit not their Sphere
Of action, where they operate they are there.
And though these Devils can the Sun as soone
Shut in a lanthorne, as deduce the Moone
Downe from it's Mansion; yet they are petty Kings
In the airie Region, and ore earthly things
Can dominere, although not reach so farre
As is the Mansion of the lowest Starre,
All Theorie, and Practike arts they knowe,
Natures abstruser secrets, no plants growe,
But they their Virtues ken, and can apply
Actives on Passives to bring miserie
And witchcrafts upon man, and as if wee
Framde of Ambition, envie, enmitie,
Were not sufficient Devills to our selves,
Wee must have ayde from these Infernall Elves
In our malitious plots, and for the hire
Damne our owne soules to their eternall fire,
And as wee share in their Iniquitie,
So in their punishment associates be.
And such must of necessity be ill,
Who once deprav'd can never change their will,
Never retract an Error, nor repent
What once (apprehended good) they durst attempt.
And with much complacence pronounc'd al's good:
If all be good, how come ill Angels then
(So noxious, yet so conversant with men?)
If they are ill, why are they lef't to roame
Abroad, why are they not confin'd to home
In Hell? why did they not when they lost grace,
Forfeite as well their Energye as place?
In Heaven? they can doe wonders, have a power
As great as Sions courtier's, some have more.
What from the rising of the Radiant sune,
Till in the Occident his race be run
Is acted, they see clearely, can without
Passing through Medium's scu'd the World about
It'h twinckling of an eye; at distance can
Mountaines oreturne, destroye, or tempt a man.
23
Of action, where they operate they are there.
And though these Devils can the Sun as soone
Shut in a lanthorne, as deduce the Moone
Downe from it's Mansion; yet they are petty Kings
In the airie Region, and ore earthly things
Can dominere, although not reach so farre
As is the Mansion of the lowest Starre,
All Theorie, and Practike arts they knowe,
Natures abstruser secrets, no plants growe,
But they their Virtues ken, and can apply
Actives on Passives to bring miserie
And witchcrafts upon man, and as if wee
Framde of Ambition, envie, enmitie,
Were not sufficient Devills to our selves,
Wee must have ayde from these Infernall Elves
In our malitious plots, and for the hire
Damne our owne soules to their eternall fire,
And as wee share in their Iniquitie,
So in their punishment associates be.
And such must of necessity be ill,
Who once deprav'd can never change their will,
Never retract an Error, nor repent
What once (apprehended good) they durst attempt.
Speake more Celestiall Muses, what's the cause
Of so much pervicacie against the Lawes
Of humane sence, how fell the Angels downe
Why did they forfeit that Perennall Crowne
Due to integrity and (Virgins) knowe
The knowledge of such Cronicles you owe
To Sacred Historyes? how Balthasar,
And Nemroths Babylon surprized are,
And the Assyrian Monarchie cast downe
The Medes and Persians share the Imperiall Crowne,
How Tomyris the warlicke Scythian Queene
Amidst her thickest Troopes in Armour seene,
Acts dire Revenge, and having first made drunke
The Persian Brigades, drenches the cold trunck
Of slaughtered Cyrus in a tub of gore,
Bidding him quaffe his fill, who evermore
Had thirsted blood; how like the flashing fire,
Of angry Heaven, when Heaven and Earth conspire
To raise a tempest, Alexander flies,
And shewes the World his glorious Victories;
How by death conquered, he who conquer'd all,
Must in the midst of all his Trophies fall;
Many great Homers (Alexanders Vow)
Inrich you with such Histories, and how,
Cæsar amidst and by persidious friends,
I'th Capitall his life, not glory ends.
The sad disasters of these Monarchies,
With the addition of ten thousand lyes,
Of the Assyrian, Greek, Odrysian Lords,
Innumerous Stories, numberlesse Records
Speak amply: many Birds first reassume,
Onely their proper Feathers, then unplume,
The Roman Eagle, till great Mahomet,
As he did Constantines Bizantium get,
Wrung off one neck, and in that Empire plac'd
The beauty of our Towring Bird defac'd.
Of so much pervicacie against the Lawes
Of humane sence, how fell the Angels downe
Why did they forfeit that Perennall Crowne
Due to integrity and (Virgins) knowe
The knowledge of such Cronicles you owe
To Sacred Historyes? how Balthasar,
And Nemroths Babylon surprized are,
And the Assyrian Monarchie cast downe
The Medes and Persians share the Imperiall Crowne,
How Tomyris the warlicke Scythian Queene
Amidst her thickest Troopes in Armour seene,
Acts dire Revenge, and having first made drunke
The Persian Brigades, drenches the cold trunck
24
Bidding him quaffe his fill, who evermore
Had thirsted blood; how like the flashing fire,
Of angry Heaven, when Heaven and Earth conspire
To raise a tempest, Alexander flies,
And shewes the World his glorious Victories;
How by death conquered, he who conquer'd all,
Must in the midst of all his Trophies fall;
Many great Homers (Alexanders Vow)
Inrich you with such Histories, and how,
Cæsar amidst and by persidious friends,
I'th Capitall his life, not glory ends.
The sad disasters of these Monarchies,
With the addition of ten thousand lyes,
Of the Assyrian, Greek, Odrysian Lords,
Innumerous Stories, numberlesse Records
Speak amply: many Birds first reassume,
Onely their proper Feathers, then unplume,
The Roman Eagle, till great Mahomet,
As he did Constantines Bizantium get,
Wrung off one neck, and in that Empire plac'd
The beauty of our Towring Bird defac'd.
But of the reall grounds, why these States fall,
Why th' other rise, no mention's made at all;
Nor once remembred what condition they
Be of, who are chiefe Actors in this Play
Of blood, and death, where a Muse buskind sings
With teares the Fates of Common-wealths, and Kings.
The Gentile Sages by experience see,
But know not whence proceeds our Miserie:
They never know with what industrious Arts,
The Devils in our Drames act chiefest parts.
Why Man doth with the Spiders Cobwebs spin,
And one net wrought, unsatisfied begin
A fresher web, why with the Ante take paines,
With such sollicitude for sordid gaines.
Why thrust the Badger with the Foxes slight
Out his owne Hole, why with the Lyons might
Invade the weaker; why made Lord of all
The Universe, does he degenerate fall
So low beneath himselfe, and far inferiour
In sence to many Beasts, to all superiour
In brutish qualities, exceeds the Hog
In drunkennesse, more fawning then the Dog,
When profit shall accrue, in rage outgoes
The Hircanian Tygres, when assayl'd by foes,
Shee saves her young ones, and with teeth and nayles
Against a world of combatants prevailes;
Prouder then the Horse, when in his bravery,
He shall attract every beholders eye,
To marke him onely, as with stately grace,
Through the streets richly hanged he shall pace.
Why th' other rise, no mention's made at all;
Nor once remembred what condition they
Be of, who are chiefe Actors in this Play
Of blood, and death, where a Muse buskind sings
With teares the Fates of Common-wealths, and Kings.
The Gentile Sages by experience see,
But know not whence proceeds our Miserie:
They never know with what industrious Arts,
The Devils in our Drames act chiefest parts.
Why Man doth with the Spiders Cobwebs spin,
And one net wrought, unsatisfied begin
A fresher web, why with the Ante take paines,
With such sollicitude for sordid gaines.
Why thrust the Badger with the Foxes slight
Out his owne Hole, why with the Lyons might
25
The Universe, does he degenerate fall
So low beneath himselfe, and far inferiour
In sence to many Beasts, to all superiour
In brutish qualities, exceeds the Hog
In drunkennesse, more fawning then the Dog,
When profit shall accrue, in rage outgoes
The Hircanian Tygres, when assayl'd by foes,
Shee saves her young ones, and with teeth and nayles
Against a world of combatants prevailes;
Prouder then the Horse, when in his bravery,
He shall attract every beholders eye,
To marke him onely, as with stately grace,
Through the streets richly hanged he shall pace.
As here the Gentiles all are silent, wee
Should sit amaz'd, and with them silent be;
Wholy transformed, knowing our God all good,
Dispute, how with such bounty it hath stood,
To suffer his chiefe creature, Man to fall,
In such disorders, and permit in all
So generall a confusion, when behold,
Onely our writs the Origen unfold
Of all these mischeifes, taught by them weele speake
The causes: and through many ages breake
Boldly our passage ope, beginning long
Before the Universe began a Song.
Should sit amaz'd, and with them silent be;
Wholy transformed, knowing our God all good,
Dispute, how with such bounty it hath stood,
To suffer his chiefe creature, Man to fall,
In such disorders, and permit in all
So generall a confusion, when behold,
Onely our writs the Origen unfold
Of all these mischeifes, taught by them weele speake
The causes: and through many ages breake
Boldly our passage ope, beginning long
Before the Universe began a Song.
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