KOSMOBREVIA[Greek], or the infancy of the world With an Appendix of Gods resting day, Edon Garden; Mans Happiness before, Misery after, his Fall. Whereunto is added, The Praise of Nothing; Divine Ejaculations; The four Ages of the world; The Birth of Christ; Also a Century of Historical Applications; With a Taste of Poetical fictions. Written some years since by N. B.[i.e. Nicholas Billingsley] ... And now published at the request of his Friends |
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 | KOSMOBREVIA[Greek], or the infancy of the world |  |
God having made the world, and all therin,
To frame a little world did now begin;
This little world is man, he formed last,
Of the four elements the Proto-plast.
The great, almighty, everlasting God
Created Adam of a ruddy clod.
God, was the true Prometheus, did inspire
His earthly-nostrils with cœlestial fire.
Man like himself he made in sacred feature,
And under his command brought ev'ry creature.
This little world is in the great world plac'd,
And with the title of a King is grac'd.
This Micro-cosm instal'd by God alone
Of the great world obtaines the royal throne,
The King of Kings gave to his regal hand
The jurisdiction both of Sea and Land.
What things soever any eye can see
Within the furnish'd world his subjects be:
What birds soever in the ayer have motion,
What fish soever glidea along the Ocean,
What beasts soever on the hills do feed,
What e're the melancholy desarts breed,
What fruits soever on the eorth remaine,
Are tributary to mans Lordly reigne.
Man is the emblem of a divine nature,
And lively picture of his live creator.
All creatures pore on earth mans sublime face
Behold's his maker, he is fil'd with grace
And divine beauty, their terrestrial mind
Mind earthly things man, only man's, enclin'd
To heav'nly wisdome, his infused spirit
Is most ambitious glory to inherit.
Mans understanding and heroick sense
Above all other hath preheminence.
A nat'ral sense, beasts have as well as we,
They touch, they tast, they feele, they heare, they see,
To frame a little world did now begin;
This little world is man, he formed last,
Of the four elements the Proto-plast.
The great, almighty, everlasting God
Created Adam of a ruddy clod.
God, was the true Prometheus, did inspire
His earthly-nostrils with cœlestial fire.
Man like himself he made in sacred feature,
And under his command brought ev'ry creature.
This little world is in the great world plac'd,
And with the title of a King is grac'd.
This Micro-cosm instal'd by God alone
Of the great world obtaines the royal throne,
44
The jurisdiction both of Sea and Land.
What things soever any eye can see
Within the furnish'd world his subjects be:
What birds soever in the ayer have motion,
What fish soever glidea along the Ocean,
What beasts soever on the hills do feed,
What e're the melancholy desarts breed,
What fruits soever on the eorth remaine,
Are tributary to mans Lordly reigne.
Man is the emblem of a divine nature,
And lively picture of his live creator.
All creatures pore on earth mans sublime face
Behold's his maker, he is fil'd with grace
And divine beauty, their terrestrial mind
Mind earthly things man, only man's, enclin'd
To heav'nly wisdome, his infused spirit
Is most ambitious glory to inherit.
Mans understanding and heroick sense
Above all other hath preheminence.
A nat'ral sense, beasts have as well as we,
They touch, they tast, they feele, they heare, they see,
Man's head is term'd the understanding's thrown,
The intelectual pow'rs meet there in one.
There madam Reason is enthron'd, her grace
Reignes like an Empress in the highest place.
My lady Will, resideth in the brain;
The Judgment there, there doth Minerva raigne,
Light of the Micro-cosm our eyes are, wee
The glory of the Lord by them doe see.
Three humours do belong unto our eyn,
The White, the Viteral, and the Christaline,
Six Coates, as many Musckles arteries,
Tendons, and Nerves attend upon our eyes,
May not our eyes bee very well defin'd
The Looking-glass of Nature, and the minde.
Our eyes are twinckling Lamps, what is our sight?
But Cristall-Casements for to let in light,
The Optick sinews, or the Optick strings,
Draw in the sight of sublunary things.
The eyes, our anger, and our love, do shew,
Strike fire in hatred, and in love they glow,
One while they sparkle with Idalian fire,
One while they glance; another while admire!
They bolt in boldness, and in reverence sinke,
They smile in laughter, and in greise they winke:
In love they flatter, and in wrath seeme froward,
They shew the glad, the sad, the bold, the coward,
They well can put a difference betweene
Such objects as are either foule or clean.
Our cy-lids like Appentices prevent
A world of dangers, which are incident
Unto our eyes, our eyes bright shining balls
Are Bull-wark'd round about with fleshly walls.
The intelectual pow'rs meet there in one.
There madam Reason is enthron'd, her grace
Reignes like an Empress in the highest place.
45
The Judgment there, there doth Minerva raigne,
Light of the Micro-cosm our eyes are, wee
The glory of the Lord by them doe see.
Three humours do belong unto our eyn,
The White, the Viteral, and the Christaline,
Six Coates, as many Musckles arteries,
Tendons, and Nerves attend upon our eyes,
May not our eyes bee very well defin'd
The Looking-glass of Nature, and the minde.
Our eyes are twinckling Lamps, what is our sight?
But Cristall-Casements for to let in light,
The Optick sinews, or the Optick strings,
Draw in the sight of sublunary things.
The eyes, our anger, and our love, do shew,
Strike fire in hatred, and in love they glow,
One while they sparkle with Idalian fire,
One while they glance; another while admire!
They bolt in boldness, and in reverence sinke,
They smile in laughter, and in greise they winke:
In love they flatter, and in wrath seeme froward,
They shew the glad, the sad, the bold, the coward,
They well can put a difference betweene
Such objects as are either foule or clean.
Our cy-lids like Appentices prevent
A world of dangers, which are incident
46
Are Bull-wark'd round about with fleshly walls.
Man's nose is like a sink by which the braine
Doth purge it self of phlegm, the nose doth drain
All slimy Excrements, and doth convay
Them (never to returne again) away.
By it we breath and smel; 'tis that doth grace
The man, and wonderously become the face.
The ay'r doth in the nose the smelling stop
Which else from out the nose would forthwith drop
Our ears the minds informers do go round
With winding mazes, evr'y kind of sound
They can distinguish, at the shril, the flat,
The acute, the gentle, and the aspirate.
The ear's the dainty'st sence, it doth descry
Base jarring Musick, from pure harmony:
By these we move the brain, the brain by these
Is rid of chol'rick superfluities.
It is by these we (as it were) discern
And let in knowledg, 'tis by these we learn
All kinds of noise we'r taught to know th'rough these
Mechanick Arts, and learned Siences.
God gave one mouth, two ears, two eyes, that we
Might little speak, though much we hear, and see,
The mouth, the stomack's portal is, and by it
We unto nature let in nat'ral diet.
Two folding doores of corral do convene
Lest in the teeth deform'ty should be seen
Our Iv'ry Teeth the feeling sence have got,
Can tell you what is cold, and what is hot,
They are the bull-warks of the tongue (to tame
Th'unruly member), tis by them we frame
And fashion out our words; foreteeth, and hind
We use; they shred our food, and these do grind:
Our teeth are busie Cooks (which without question)
Makes our food ready for the first digestion.
Our tongue and pallat by their tasting power
Distinguish ev'ry relish sweet from soure.
It is our tongue that's vocal, on our tongue
The Lutes and Vials of our speech are hung:
What thing soe graceful to a man as hair?
How sliek! how comly does it show! how faire!
The pillar of our head's, the neck; neere kin
Unto the nether lip's, the dimpling chin.
The greatest strength that man enjoys, consists
Most in his shoulders, in his arms, and fists;
How necessary are our hands, our hands
Are handmaids to the body; man commands
All kind of things by them, nature imparts
Unto our hands, the Mastership of arts.
With pliant joynts our fingers are upheav'd
Apt to receive and keep the things receiv'd.
The servants of the mind they are, and do
What is her pleasure to command them to:
The left hand (unexperienc'd) stands and serves
The right hand b'ing a skilfull artist carves:
Nerves joine our bones, our bones do represent
The timber of our fleshly Tennement.
The main-spporting pillar of the frame
Is cal'd the chine, the chine doth prop the same
Our thighs are plac'd beneath our hips and flank
Next Hams, the Calfs, below the knees the, shank,
And in the Lesk, but just below the groine,
(O shame to name!) our privities do joyne.
Our feet are useful dangers for to baulk,
One while to stand another while to walk.
They are the bodies moving ground-work, all
The fabrick (were it not for them) would fall.
Mans outward parts are shown, I'le now begin
To rip him up, and see what is within.
His lungs, like bellows, are they which receive
Contracted ayer, and the same regives;
They puff up, at their taking air in,
And shrink when they do let it out again,
The pory lungs doth with it's spungie fan
Refrigerate the heart: The heart of man
Is made Triangular, the heart doth give
Life to each part, without it none can live.
Th'hearts motion doth our bodies motion breed,
The vital spirits from the heart proceed;
She, she the conduit of our blood convays
Her Crimson bounty thorough cleare blew-wayes.
She mitigates the coldness of the spleen,
And in the bodie regulates as Queen;
If not by her, whence do our pulses beat,
From her we do derive our nat'ral heat.
She is the center of the bodie, whence
All creatures draw their lives circumference.
This pearle absconded in a Casket lies,
Is the first living, and the last that dies.
Man's stomack is a pot, wherein the meat
Is reconcocted, he before did eat.
The Mesaraick veins suck and deliver
The Chile of what we eat through pipes, to th'liver.
The belly is a buttery, wherein
(Within the cupbord of the bowels skin)
The grosser offals, that the stomack leaues
Of its digestion adhers and cleaves.
Where they remaine, until dame-nature please
For to exonerate such filthy lees.
Doth purge it self of phlegm, the nose doth drain
All slimy Excrements, and doth convay
Them (never to returne again) away.
By it we breath and smel; 'tis that doth grace
The man, and wonderously become the face.
The ay'r doth in the nose the smelling stop
Which else from out the nose would forthwith drop
Our ears the minds informers do go round
With winding mazes, evr'y kind of sound
They can distinguish, at the shril, the flat,
The acute, the gentle, and the aspirate.
The ear's the dainty'st sence, it doth descry
Base jarring Musick, from pure harmony:
By these we move the brain, the brain by these
Is rid of chol'rick superfluities.
It is by these we (as it were) discern
And let in knowledg, 'tis by these we learn
All kinds of noise we'r taught to know th'rough these
Mechanick Arts, and learned Siences.
God gave one mouth, two ears, two eyes, that we
Might little speak, though much we hear, and see,
The mouth, the stomack's portal is, and by it
We unto nature let in nat'ral diet.
47
Lest in the teeth deform'ty should be seen
Our Iv'ry Teeth the feeling sence have got,
Can tell you what is cold, and what is hot,
They are the bull-warks of the tongue (to tame
Th'unruly member), tis by them we frame
And fashion out our words; foreteeth, and hind
We use; they shred our food, and these do grind:
Our teeth are busie Cooks (which without question)
Makes our food ready for the first digestion.
Our tongue and pallat by their tasting power
Distinguish ev'ry relish sweet from soure.
It is our tongue that's vocal, on our tongue
The Lutes and Vials of our speech are hung:
What thing soe graceful to a man as hair?
How sliek! how comly does it show! how faire!
The pillar of our head's, the neck; neere kin
Unto the nether lip's, the dimpling chin.
The greatest strength that man enjoys, consists
Most in his shoulders, in his arms, and fists;
How necessary are our hands, our hands
Are handmaids to the body; man commands
All kind of things by them, nature imparts
Unto our hands, the Mastership of arts.
With pliant joynts our fingers are upheav'd
Apt to receive and keep the things receiv'd.
84
What is her pleasure to command them to:
The left hand (unexperienc'd) stands and serves
The right hand b'ing a skilfull artist carves:
Nerves joine our bones, our bones do represent
The timber of our fleshly Tennement.
The main-spporting pillar of the frame
Is cal'd the chine, the chine doth prop the same
Our thighs are plac'd beneath our hips and flank
Next Hams, the Calfs, below the knees the, shank,
And in the Lesk, but just below the groine,
(O shame to name!) our privities do joyne.
Our feet are useful dangers for to baulk,
One while to stand another while to walk.
They are the bodies moving ground-work, all
The fabrick (were it not for them) would fall.
Mans outward parts are shown, I'le now begin
To rip him up, and see what is within.
His lungs, like bellows, are they which receive
Contracted ayer, and the same regives;
They puff up, at their taking air in,
And shrink when they do let it out again,
The pory lungs doth with it's spungie fan
Refrigerate the heart: The heart of man
Is made Triangular, the heart doth give
Life to each part, without it none can live.
49
The vital spirits from the heart proceed;
She, she the conduit of our blood convays
Her Crimson bounty thorough cleare blew-wayes.
She mitigates the coldness of the spleen,
And in the bodie regulates as Queen;
If not by her, whence do our pulses beat,
From her we do derive our nat'ral heat.
She is the center of the bodie, whence
All creatures draw their lives circumference.
This pearle absconded in a Casket lies,
Is the first living, and the last that dies.
Man's stomack is a pot, wherein the meat
Is reconcocted, he before did eat.
The Mesaraick veins suck and deliver
The Chile of what we eat through pipes, to th'liver.
The belly is a buttery, wherein
(Within the cupbord of the bowels skin)
The grosser offals, that the stomack leaues
Of its digestion adhers and cleaves.
Where they remaine, until dame-nature please
For to exonerate such filthy lees.
When God had framed man with wondrous art,
He after made his soul the nobler part;
He did his dross with sacred fire refine
And breath'd in him a soul, a soul divine.
A soul immortal; death with all its power,
Nor Satans fiery darts can't it devour.
God to the soul eternal essence gave,
It had beginning, but no end shall have.
Wit, Understanding, Memory, and Will,
The pallace of the soul inhabit still:
How circular, how speedy is hir motion?
She roundeth in a trice the Heav'n, Earth, Ocean:
She scales heav'ns tower with her Eagles wings;
Finds out th'obstruce Originals of things;
As raine, hail, snow, ice, winds, nor doth she wonder
At flash of lightning, nor at claps of thunder.
He after made his soul the nobler part;
He did his dross with sacred fire refine
And breath'd in him a soul, a soul divine.
50
Nor Satans fiery darts can't it devour.
God to the soul eternal essence gave,
It had beginning, but no end shall have.
Wit, Understanding, Memory, and Will,
The pallace of the soul inhabit still:
How circular, how speedy is hir motion?
She roundeth in a trice the Heav'n, Earth, Ocean:
She scales heav'ns tower with her Eagles wings;
Finds out th'obstruce Originals of things;
As raine, hail, snow, ice, winds, nor doth she wonder
At flash of lightning, nor at claps of thunder.
When thus his Image, man, the Lord had made
Each way compleat, within himself he said
It is not good, nor doth it please me well
That man alone without an ayd doth dwell:
I'le therefore make him one, his joy, his chear,
His Dove, his solace, his beloved dear.
Each way compleat, within himself he said
It is not good, nor doth it please me well
That man alone without an ayd doth dwell:
I'le therefore make him one, his joy, his chear,
His Dove, his solace, his beloved dear.
With that the Lord, whose actions are so deep
Past finding out, cast Adam fast a sleep;
Seal'd up his eyes, and from his fruitless side
Took out a rib, and of that rib a Bride
He fashion'd out; and did so neatly dearn
The clift, that none the opening might discerne.
The woman made, God gave her unto man,
And he (awoke out of his sleep) began
T'express his joy unparalelled favour;
I have an helper, the Almighty gave her
To be my wife; Lo two, are made of one,
Flesh of my flesh, and of my bone the bone.
And since the Lord from out my sides did frame her
She shall be woman, woman will I name her.
(Nor is't a wonder why he call'd her so;
For unto Man at last, she prov'd a Wor.)
For this cause shall a man his parents leave,
And to his wife, his deare, adhere, and cleave.
Past finding out, cast Adam fast a sleep;
Seal'd up his eyes, and from his fruitless side
Took out a rib, and of that rib a Bride
He fashion'd out; and did so neatly dearn
The clift, that none the opening might discerne.
The woman made, God gave her unto man,
And he (awoke out of his sleep) began
51
I have an helper, the Almighty gave her
To be my wife; Lo two, are made of one,
Flesh of my flesh, and of my bone the bone.
And since the Lord from out my sides did frame her
She shall be woman, woman will I name her.
(Nor is't a wonder why he call'd her so;
For unto Man at last, she prov'd a Wor.)
For this cause shall a man his parents leave,
And to his wife, his deare, adhere, and cleave.
So they were naked seeking no redress,
Nor did they blush, at this their nakedness.
Nor did they blush, at this their nakedness.
The sixth day left a universal shade,
And heav'n was pleased with the works he made.
And heav'n was pleased with the works he made.
| KOSMOBREVIA[Greek], or the infancy of the world | |