Virtus Rediviva Or a Panegyricke On the late King Charls the I. Second Monarch of Great Britain. By Tho. Forde |
 |
|
|
For Christmas-day.
|
 | Virtus Rediviva |  |
7
For Christmas-day.
Invocat.
The Day, thy day is come,O thou most glorious Sun,
When thou didst veil thy self, that we
Mortals might thy glory see.
Lend me a ray of light,
That I may see to write,
And Carol forth thy praise,
In ever-living layes.
What made the Sun poste hencc away
So fast, and make so short a day?
Damon.
Seeing a brighter Sun appear,
He ran and hid himself for fear:
Asham'd to see himself out-shin'd,
(Leaving us, and night behind)
He sneak'd away to take a nap,
And hide himself in Thetis lap.
When, loe, a brighter night succeeds,
A night none of his lustre needs:
A night so splendent, we may say,
The day was night, and night was day.
Thyrsis.
See, Damon, see, how he doth shroud
His baffl'd glory in a cloud;
From whence he peeps to see the Sun,
That hath his lusters all out-done.
Damon.
But ventring on he spies a star,
More glorious than his Hesper far;
8
Told plainly where his Master lay.
Ambitious then to steal a sight,
He saw it was the God of light;
Then strait he whips away his team,
The well lost minutes to redeem;
And flies through all the world, to tell
The newes of this great miracle.
It was not long before he came
Unto the lofty house of fame,
Where every whisper, every sound
Is taken at the first rebound,
And like an aiëry bubble blown
By vainer breath, till it be grown
Too big to be conceal'd, it flies
About a while, gaz'd at, then dies,
Something he tells, and hasts away,
He could not, and fame would not stay,
To near the rest; for she well knew,
By mixing of false tales with true,
To make it more. To Rome she plyes,
Her greatest Mart of truths and lyes;
The gods (says she) will dwell on earth,
And give themselves a mortal birth.
But they of fame had got the ods,
For they themselves made their own gods;
And car'd not to encrease their store,
For they had gods enough before.
To Solyma she takes her flight,
And puts the Citie in a fright:
Unwelcome newes fills Herods ears,
And then his head, with thoughts and fears.
The King of whom the Sages told,
And all the Prophecies of old,
9
Deliver Judah out of thrall:
Kings shall his subjects be, and lay
Their scepters at his feet; his sway
Shall know no bounds, nor end, but he
Beyond all time, so fates decree.
By this the Sun had cross'd the seas,
And told the newes to th'Antipodes.
The aiëry spirits pack'd hence away,
Chas'd by the beams of this bright day.
The fiends were in an uproar, hell
Trembl'd with the dismal yell.
The Prince of darkness was in doubt
The Lord of light would find him out;
And that the word of truth being come,
His oracles must all be dumb.
Pale death foresaw he was betray'd,
That King of terrors was afraid.
Glory be to God above,
For this miracle of love:
Ever blessed be the morn,
When the God of Love was born.
Love so charming that it can
Contract a God into a Man.
And by the magick of his birth,
Make an Heaven of the Earth.
Ever, ever sing we thus,
Till Angels come and joyn with us.
They rejoyce with all their powers,
Yet the Benefit is Ours.
They with joy the tydings bring,
Shall We be silint when They sing?
| Virtus Rediviva | |