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 |
 |
|
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
| 7. |
| 8. |
|
| 9. |
| 10. |
|
Historicall Applications
|
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
| 7. |
| 8. |
| 9. |
| 10. |
| 11. |
| 12. |
| 13. |
| 14. |
| 15. |
| 16. |
| 17. |
| 18. |
| 19. |
| 20. |
 | KOSMOBREVIA[Greek], or the infancy of the world |  |
139
Historicall Applications
1.
Tis pretty sport to see the Cobtines strideVpon a Hobby-horses back, and ride.
Insipid Ideots! O prepostrous deeds!
Steeds doe not carry them, they carry Steeds.
Pleasures are Reeds, which yeild us infant play;
Reader, we ride on Reeds as well as they.
2.
The Alc'ran sayes, (which who will may beleeve)The Moon descended into Mahomet's sleeve:
'Tis strange! yet God doth his loves lamp impart
T'a more coarcted room, what's that? the heart.
O may the lustre of those rayes divine
Be alwaies sparkling in this heart of mine!
That I, inlightned by thy light may see,
Great God! more clearly to discover thee.
3.
The Tib[illeg.]ren's affix unto the CrossThose they love best; triumphing in their loss.
138
Though we may gaine thereby a crown of glory.
4.
Th'Arabians instead of worser woodFeed Corm'rant Vulcans jawes with fragrant spices
But ah! we chuse what's bad, refuse what's good,
Offend the Lord of life with loathsome vices.
My soul when zeal to kindle prayer begins,
Cast out the filthy rubish of thy sins.
5.
Chimerians think there is no Sun,Because it is debar'd their sight:
The dark'ned soul doth groping run,
If God absent his glorious light,
Lord turne, with thy corruscant rayes,
My darksom nights to lightsome dayes.
6.
At the Cape of good hope the rib-made SexWith chaines of greasie tripes adorne their necks.
Ev'n so those sins which in our eyes seem faire,
In Gods, which are most pure, deformed are.
What God abhors that mostly doth arride us,
Disgrace we grace, and in our shame we pride us.
139
7.
Amongst the Series (O had we less store)Is neither Theif, nor Murtherer, nor Whore.
8.
If glass-wall'd Baumgar be a Court for Cats,Small entertainment's there for Mice, or Rats,
Those noted theeves; 'tis dang'rous for a Mouse
To seek for shelter in a Mouzer's house.
Forewarn'd (they say) sore-arm'd, if that I were
A Mouse, I'le warrant you I'de ne're come there.
9.
Pheniceans slay their only sons t'asswageAnd mitigate their angry Demon's rage;
They their Dirceto's do fall down before.
Such love Gods well who sensless ones adore.
10.
The Pegusi, to stave off further evill,Throw meat behind their backs to feed the Divel
And think such puppy-dogs as come and eat
Are the Devil's Caterers to bring him mear,
Lord! when I offer up to thee my prayers,
Let me behind my back cast mundane cares
140
The Devil may feed and surfeit if he will.
11.
Uulcan they say is lame, and reason good;For fire cannot go forward without wood.
12.
The Turks rewards to their tormentors bring.Esteem the whip, O 'tis a pious thing.
Lord when thou scourgest let not me repine,
But kiss the Rod, because the Rod is thine.
Give me to know that my offences urge,
That so with patience I may bear thy scorge:
And if thou please to stroke, or please to strike,
O may I love both equaly alike.
13.
In Turky the Adulterers head is drestWith the full paunch of a new slaught'red beast;
And so, in pomp, is carried up and down,
Through the throng'd streets of the admiring town.
As wholsome laws with us are instituted,
But ah! so strictly are not executed.
Why mayn't an A for the Adulterers laud,
Be a front-mark, as well as B for Baud?
141
Were ship'd for Turkey, or the great Mogull.
Or else wayes vsed heer theire lusts to tame
So as to make them be asham'd of shame.
14.
Men-eating Lestrigons all men will blameBut ah! Oppressors do the very same:
They grind the faces of the poor, and put
In bags the chinck squeez'd from the hungry gut:
They rob the Spittle, lab'ring most of all
To raise themselves by their untimely fall.
But let such know goods so unjustly got
Shall prove a curse, and in their purse shall rot.
15.
Midas his wish obtaines, his touch beholdA fruitfull Alchimy turne all to gold.
In tract of time that man may have, which bears
Midas his wealth, Midas his Asses ears.
How fond are our desires! we wish t'enjoy
The things which do within a moment cloy.
Rash Midas wish'd, but Midas did not think
T'except from Generals his meat and drinke.
Midas may say experiencedly,
More hard to fill the belly then the eye.
142
Food would be wanting, and our comfort cold.
Art thou a muck-worme? go take Midas store;
Midas was but an Ass and thou no more.
16.
Least they pollute pure water in Batenter,To wash their hands the people wont t'adventure:
Lord I am worse then they; my soul forbears
To purge her foulness with repentant tears.
17.
The wound-restoring Balm is said to growWithin the fruitfull vale of Jericho:
Nor will it set its foot on ev'ry ground:
Ev'n so in ev'ry heart grace is not found.
That Balm for sin-sick souls, the Lord doth plant it
In humble vales, when lofty Mountaines want it.
Lord plant thy grace in my hearts bord'red ally
To bear such fruits make me a lowly vally:
Let Gileads Balm my sin-sick soul recover,
And over me thy Balmy pinions hover:
The grace of true repentance pour thou in
Into my soul, and that will eat out sin.
137
18.
The mouth-less Attomes by the aier do alive,And scent of odors; Lord be pleas'd to give
Thy quickning spirit and loves fragrancie,
Unto my soul that I may live to thee.
19.
Best in the night the Owl-ey'd Albans see;And in the day of grace how blind are we!
20.
Our love to God is cold and hot by turns,Now cole as Alps, anon like Etna burns.
21.
A wonder Epimenides hath binTo many, who have longer slept in sin.
22.
Cyrus knew, by their names, his Souldiers all;To mind his owne, Corvinus could not call;
Thy names in all thine attributes make known,
To me, dear Lord, though I forget mine owne.
138
23.
Dice, Balls, and Chess, first to the Indians came in;Occasion'd by a body-pining famine:
Th'Inhabitants finding no other way
Lay open to redress, did fall to play
Their empty bellys to beguil; for easing
Our saturated bodies, games are pleasing.
24.
None, can in all felicity abound,Vntoothsom Clerus is in hony found.
25.
Th'Esseni, neither lust nor money know,I'me sure, with us, theres none can say, tis so.
Heathens are chaft, content where are you come,
You'l find it otherwise in Christendome.
26.
The Persians affect a temp'rate Diet,Hate what the Parthians love, excess, and Ryot
Though bodies meanly fare, let the full bowls.
Of thy Nectarean word fill full our soules.
139
27.
In Turky, fools, and Lunaticks are deemdThe onely saints and who so much esteemed?
And here in England, som account for holy.
Fanatick Quakers, and the sons of Folly:
28.
The Barb'rous Issedon's, their dead devo'urTheir drinking bouls are skulls all gilded o're.
So are our natures most inclind unto.
The things which left they should delight to do.
29.
Closs sinners, their offences cloke with night.And like the Blattæ hate the till-tale Light.
30.
Gods favoure shins on us but we ('tis pitty)Are like the blind-eyd Chalcedonian citty
We take no notice, what our God hath done,
But shut our eyes, and say there is no Sun.
31.
An Ape resembles man, some men and ApesIn gesture are alike as well as shapes.
140
Unfollowd by the busy marmoset.
32.
Christ is our Esculapius, when to sin.We liveless are he quickens us agin.
33.
Lord grant this boon (what e're thou else denyst)I may have faith to build my self in Christ.
So shall the lofty structrues I shall raise
Get more then Cresiphon or Philon's, Praise.
Dianas fane, and Athens Arsenall.
Are slep'd in ruin, mine shall over fall.
34.
Christ's the true Atlas, his vnshrinking shouldersAre our offences Firmaments vpholders.
35.
Sweet Jesus land me at the banks of Sion.Be thou my Dolphin I will be Arion,
To sound thy praises on my warbling Lyer
In emulation of that heavenly Quire.
And Caroll sonnets, sonnets at whose sound
The Hills may eccho, and the Dales rebound.
141
36.
Gainst Satans grand assaults, Lord make my brestImpenetrable as the Halcyons nest.
And when the Arrows of Temptation fly.
Against me, Oh! be pleas'd to put them by;
O may it not be said his fi'ry dart
Hath got the better of my yeilding heart.
When he malliciously takes aim to throw
His venom'd shafts from his lowd sownding Bow;
Ah me! O may they (falling on the ground)
Make no Impression, nor no ragged wound.
37.
Not long before great Julius Cesar's death,A sheep (having no heart) was found drew breath.
But Hipocrites, and those that flatter do,
Have, like the Pamphlagonian Partridg, two.
38.
We wisely can avoyd Bosphorean shelvsWhile on the Rocks of sin we split our selves.
39.
Lord grant that I a Dedalus may be,To build a stately edifice to thee:
142
Within my heart a mon'ment of thy name.
40.
Like the Saguntian Child from th'earth we come,And shall return into our mothers womb.
Our fleshly walls, and bony Timber must
Turn out their Tenant, then return to dust
Our breath is Gods, if he but take away
The breath he lent us what are we but clay?
Clay at the best, our matter and their forms
When dead, are thorough fares for crawling worms
41.
What was't a clock, Pompilius would know,And dyes, with me why may it not be so?
Before thy grim-fac'd messeger thou send,
O make me wise to know my latter end.
Death stays for none, may I be ready still
Prepared, and then come he when he will.
42.
With poysnous sins, let us not haste our fate,Lost we, Domitius-like, repent too late.
143
43.
Many have dy'd with grief, but overjoyDid Sophocles and Panacrete destroy,
Dangers enwrapd in every sudden passion;
It often puts the senses out of fashion
Then moderate thy joy, and when grief wounds
Thy soul, be sure to limit in with bounds
Observe a mean, and let thy footsteps be
In the mid-road, avoyd Obliquitie.
44.
Iove's bird to th'Wren will not be reconcil'd,Because he's Regulus, a Kingling stild:
Let Soveraignty be kep'd, then ther's no odds,
There must be no pluralitie of Gods.
Our God comands it so, nay jealous he
Will have no rivalls, to the fourth degree
He'le soundly punish, the successive race
Of Polytheists who bow to Idolls base:
But as for thousands, that observe his ways,
Mercy shall them encompass all their days.
45.
All the day long Gymnosophists will stand(Admired patience!) in the scalding Sand,
144
With eys, vnapt to wink, the scorching Sun.
O Sun of God teach us t'apply this story,
And make vs constant to behold thy glory.
46.
Lord tune my heart turn griefs to songs of praiseAnd troublous Nights to Halcyonian dayes.
47.
If thou my sins Shouldst number by my hairLord make my head (like the Myconian's) bare.
48.
The swallowing down an hair? how poor a thing!And yet to prove an instrument to bring.
Death to the Roman Fabius, may not wee,
Depart as soon, who are as frail as he?
Dangers Vnsent for oftentimes do skip.
Betwixt the sparkling cup, and vpper lip.
49.
Lord grant that as the Heliotrop Apollo.My heart the Sun of rightiousness may follow.
50.
Lord raise up holy fear in me to fleeFrom sin as creatures do the Linden-tree.
145
51.
The Heathen Brachmens do contemn and scornThe fear of death, with hopes to be reborn.
Small is that Christians faith who dreads to dye,
When life is promis'd; and eternity!
Happy that soul which dyeth unto sin,
And unto righteousness is born agin.
This death's a pregnant wombe, regeneration
First-born to life, aud heir unto salvation.
Death is the Turn-key, for to let thee in
The gate of life if thou be dead to sin.
So live to dye, that thou maiest dye to live;
And wear the crown God shall the faithfull give.
52.
God angles, Souls unwilling to be took,Glanis like, bite the bait, leave bare the hook.
53.
The Ch{a}nois dreaming that they shall be bornTo heav'n up by their locks, will not be shorn:
Is hea'vens hand short'ned? can th'almighty save not
If he your length'ned hair to hold by have not?
Rebellious Abs'lom wore the like, yet he
Was not caught up to heaven, but to a Tree.
146
Heav'ns high; short may you come, of coming there,
God cant' a Glorious throne advance thy soul
Although th'hast not an hair upon thy poul
If to the eyes of God my heart seem faire,
What care I for such excrements as hair
54.
The Nabatheans so neglect their deadThat their Kings are in dunghils buried
Lord make me faithfull to the death, that I,
May weare a crown of life if that I dye;
To live to thee I would not wish to have
A fair inscription, on a gawdy grave
If so my soul unto her maker fly
It makes no matter where my body ly.
55.
At Bemavis sick people like to dyAll night, before an idle Idoll ly:
Fond people! think you that that sensless stones
Can ease your sorrows, or regard your mones?
My soul, when sick, acqaint the grand physitan
Of heav'n and earth, with thy deplor'd condition
Beg hard for mercy at the thron of grace.
And he'le give audience, and and at length embrace
147
Vpon such easy terms, but ask and have
Nay, he is readier to giue by farr.
Then thou to ask, Oh his indulgent care!
Ask but in faith besure thou shalt reciue,
Thou canst not crave the thing he can not give
Fear not if God but undertake the cure,
Soon done, as said, of health thou shalt be sure
Can heav'n be false? hath he not promised rest
Unto the heavy laden, and opprest?
Mans help is vain, God is a Help indeed,
I wish no better help in time of need.
56.
The Hirpian witches, with uncindged solesOn mount Soracte walk on burning coals;
So those that in security excell,
Walk as it were amidest the flames of hell
57.
Ther's difference in climes, Decembers thunderIs not to the Italian a wonder.
Lord when so'ere thy thundring judgments rattle,
About mine eares let me prepare t'embattle
Against my sins, not count thy voice a crime.
Nor sent in an unseasonable time.
148
58.
The Marsian Bears do fashion out their young,By licking them all over with their tongue,
And we with Bears in this one thing agree,
We put a gloss on our deformitie.
59.
Æschyl was killed by a Tortise-shell,Which from the tallons of an Eagle fell;
His fate foretold, into the open ay'r
He gets; Gods judgments find us ev'ry where.
60.
I read man only laughs, and sheddeth tears,And wanteth power alone to shake his ears:
But sure I am, when discontent is bred,
He needs must shake his ears that shakes his head.
61.
Dame Martia was her infants living Tombe,When lightning killed it within her wombe
Before sins come into their birth 'twere well
If God would crush the Hydra in the shell.
149
62.
Great Judah's Lion is as mild to thoseWho do submit, as furious to his foes.
Sampson, that knockt so many to the ground,
Within the carkase of a Lion found
Sweet combs of Honey: the tender Spouse doth see
In Christ, the fruits of the mellifluous Bee.
His love is very pleasing to her taste,
He, he alone is his deare-hearts repaste.
He is the Bee, the Honey, and the Hive,
To active souls; the Drones away must drive.
63.
If wisdome lies in beards, a Goate would bePlato, full out as wise, as grave, as thee.
64.
Th'Antæi into woolves transformed were,And Ants turn'd men, at Æneus his prayer.
If so, no mar'l they'r bloudily enclind,
And these laborious. Cat after kinde.
65.
Lampido was both daughter, wife, and mother,Unto a King; Queen Anne was such another.
150
Is not the Church the tender spouse of Christ?
Is not the Church the Mother of us all?
None dare deny't, I hope nor never shall.
But are we kings? God and his Son I know
Are Kings, and great ones to, the Kings below.
Are mean too them and but subordinate.
But wher's our crown? we reign with Christ in state
Thus then to God, to Christ to Saints (no other)
The Church a Daughter is, a wife, a mother.
66.
Kissing at first came in, that men might knowIf their wives drank Temetum wine or no
To find her out, the jealous husband sips
The reaking sent from the good womans lips
Thus 'tis with us for sinister intents
We vse a cloake of courtly compliments
67.
Diomedean birds, have teeth to biteYet fawning looks, such is a parasite.
Friend me no friends, for if thou go bout
To bite at me would all thy teeth were out.
151
68.
The Gymeco-cratumeni, are borneThe Object of imperious womens scorne
Obeying husbands and comanding wiues
Both equally do lead vnnat'rall lives.
I doubt not but ther's many could afford
To wear the breeches would you say the word;
Wet't not for shame, Ile lay a brace of groats
More breeches would be worn, and fewer coats
Give shrowes the reines, if men will be such fools,
How purely will they scold, they need no schools,
To Learn them, or to traine them vp there so.
No that (God knows) they naturally can do
Their tongues run glib, and clutter out as thick
As any hops their divelish Rhetorick.
Such as will not believe this sex can prate
Go vex the Oyster wiues as Billing's gate
69
No males belong unto the modest Chainy,Some females are so Chast that they love many
They hate and love you in a triee, the while
They'l frown upon you in their hearts they smile
And when their tongues do bid you not come neer
You may conclude your presence than doth cheer
152
Thrust off, pull on, unwill the things they will;
Now hard, anon, as pliable as wax;
A faire Encomium for th'unconstant sex.
70.
Great men are multipli'd, but good men areAs is the Drephanis exceeding rare;
Were there as many men as good as great
Virtue would more advance, and vice retreat.
71.
The gagling of a goose, how poor a thing?And yet so strange deliverance to bring
The Roman Capitol: oft great events
Are brought about by weakest instruements.
In Sampson's hand the Jaw-bone of an Ass
Did slaughter thousands; purp'ling o're the grass.
The Rock yeilds water smot with Moses rod;
The smalest means prevails, if blest by God.
72.
The Shrimp only for food waits one the Nacre,So we to serve our turnes do serve our maker.
How servile are we? we affection bear
To God not so much out of love as feare.
153
73.
Like Quails, and Roe-bucks we love poyson, thatWhich most we should avoyd doth make us fat.
Sin is a cut-throat, yet it is our will.
To count him friendliest, when he means to kill.
74.
I would not wish, so I be fair within,For Chios earth to beautifie my skin.
While ceruss'd faces unto sin allure,
May my chast soul b'unseperably pure:
I care not how the world esteem of mee,
So I be lovely onely vnto thee,
Nothing can make me fine I must confess.
O Saviour but thy robes of righteousness.
75.
Our hearts all vice, as Amphitane gold draws,The Load-stone iron, as the Amber strawes.
76.
A chillis-like god which inflicts the wound.In justice, can in mercy make it sound.
The law is as a lance to cut the bile,
The gosple pours in balme an healing oile.
154
And this revive, when I to sink begin.
78.
I Tortoise-like, wish neither Teeth nor Tonge.Rather then haue them instruments of wrong.
Abusive language may I alwayes shun,
By their lewd bab'lings many are undone.
Silence is laudable; my judgment's such,
Better to have no tongue, then one too much.
79.
We like Laertes, and Augeas, Kings,Who dung'd their grounds, minde only earthly things.
We pore still downwards, and are groveling still
Below, like muke-wormes, ne're looke up the hill,
The pleasant Sion; let the things of heaven.
Or sink, or swim, they'r left at six and seaven.
May I, who Christianity profess,
Minde God and heaven more, and trifles less.
80.
To three M's the Philosopher assignesTh'earths riches, Mettals, Minerals, and Mines.
155
81.
Poor Cincimatus, he which held the ploughSo lately, is become dictator now.
Fortune on Peasants sometimes casts renown,
Raises the humble, kicks the lofty down.
Joy is the consequent of dull-brow'd sorrow,
A subject now, may be a King to morrow.
The active spirits of our age do climbe
By gradual steps to dignities sublime:
I speak in rev'rence to his Highness, who
By Martial Valour hath attain'd unto
The pow'r now in his hands, whom God doth bless
With matchless and unparralel'd success:
The Honorable title of a King,
How modestly refus'd he? under's wing
We are protected from the boyling rage
Of home-bred foes in this rebellious Age
Blessed be God, that under our own vine,
We have the liberty to sup, and dine.
82.
Support my faith with thy confirming hand,So shall it firme, like unmov'd Milo, stand.
If thou withdraw and leave me but an hour
Unto my selfe, how feeble is my power.
156
The day is mine, my foe-men needs must yeild.
83.
Christ's our Nepenthe, enemy to sadnessDispersing sorrow; and reversing gladness.
Art thou, my soul, at any time cast down?
O think on him; and thou wilt smile, not frown;
Drink in, by faith, the Julips of his bloud,
Oh that's a Cordial, thou wilt say 'tis good,
O what can more resocilate the soul,
Then streaming merits in a lib'ral boul.
84.
The Prognean swallow, the cold country leaves,Hasts to a warmer one: a false friend cleaves,
Fast in the Summer of prosperity.
Let adverse Winter come, then farewell he.
85.
God's word, like to Sybilla's golden branchCan make us through all difficulties lance.
Soul take it with thee, when thou wouldst oppose
The storming fury of thy spiritual foes,
As sin, and death: nay it hath power to quell
The Divel, and drive him to the gates of hell.
157
86.
On the pure Elements, four things live sole,Chamelion, Herring, Salamander, Mole.
Tobacconists, Pot-Leaches, Lechers, Misers,
Of Ayr, and Water, Fire, and Earth are prizers.
The first makes the Tobacco pipe his dugg,
And sucks the smoak of the burnt Indian drugg.
The second, he, for his part, cannot live
Without full flaggons: And the third doth grieve
If any step between and stop the flame
Of his lust towards an alluring Dame;
Whores are his hackneys, he is alwaies dull,
But when he's sporting with his pamp'red Trull.
As for the fourth, the Miser to be sure,
Were't not for gold he could not long endure.
So then this one, and that another likes;
Wedded to that their own opinion strikes.
87.
The Indian women, in a foolish spite,Will black their teeth because that dogs be white:
As for the sparkish gallants of our Nation,
They'r French-mens Apes in each fantastik fashion.
158
88.
Wouldst thou repair thy memory? I thinkThou may'st, if thou'lt look Mneme fount, then drink.
89.
Zisca commands his skin be made a drum,That the Bohemians still might overcome.
Who, while he lives, is over sin victorious,
After his death he shall not be in-glorious.
90.
Malice inflicts on men more dang'rous woundsThen Porc'pines quills on the pursuing hounds.
How sedulous are some to purchase woe
For other men, what will not malice doe?
91.
The ebbs and flows of, Egipts plowman, Nile,Do make a barren, or a fruitfull soile:
Grace is this river, and the more it flows
The more good fruit; if less, the lesser grows.
92.
Panthers have crabbed looks though speckled skins,And fairest out-sides joyne to fowlest sins.
159
93.
Anaxarete, whilst on the Rack he hung,Did in the Tyrants face spit out his tongue.
To have no tongue it is the lesser evill,
Then to recant by't, and so please the Divel.
94.
Soul, though the flames should for a while subdue theeLike the Pyrrhean grove, God can renew thee.
95.
Lest I be like the Hirecinyan wood,Lord lop my sins, and in the roome graft good.
Since the Creation that was never lop'd,
Till renovation we do stand untop'd.
Lord if thou hew us, hew us not in ire,
Nor make us bundles for eternal fire
To feed upon: our names are in thy rouls,
And wilt thou cast out our immortal souls.
96.
Taprobans, (not respecting persons) flingTo merc'less Tygers their offending King.
How happy were we if we could command
Our head-sins, go, to the Arch-Tyrants land.
160
97.
The B udmes fight unarm'd, the Sword, the Spear,They are the only weapons that they bear:
Right Combatants of Mars they scorn to throw
Cowardly Arrowes from the springing Bow.
My life a warfare is, Lord, let thy word
Thy dreadful word, be as a two-edgd Sword
To wound mine en'mies, O be thou my Spear,
And if an Hoast besiege me I'le not fear.
98.
Hold water in their mouths, forceing their wivesThe men of Burami lead quiet lives.
A better way then this there may be found
For both their ease, as this I shall propound.
It argues wisdome when the wise doth scold,
And clap her fists, the prudent husband hold
His passion in, and when the husband chides,
A wise wife her unruly member hides
'Twixt double doors: this well observ'd infrindges
No Nuptial love, but keps them on their hindges.
99.
Ignatius Leiola, the first JesuiteAs ever I did read of, did delight
161
His teeth (it may be yellow) for to shew:
A Jesuite I would not wish to be,
Unless mine actions with my name agree:
Laughter is Cousen-Germane unto folly,
Better is the extream of Malencholly:
To too much Mirth it is not safe to leane;
Nor too much Grief: There is a golden mean.
O grant, dear Lord, I may be alwayes glad
In thee, my God, or make me alwaies sad:
If I must needs be proud, permit not me
To pride in any thing, great God, but thee;
Unfold my lips, for to agnize my sin;
Let me be foul without, so, fair within.
100.
The Alc'ran tels us ther's a Bird nam'd Ziz,(I think more fabulous then true it is)
So large, that when his wings abroad are hurl'd
They hide the Sun and darken all the world,
Though litle credit unto this be due
Yet shall it's application be true.
Sin is this monstrous bird, which doth obscure
God's Sun-like face: 'tis sin that doth immure
Our souls from faith, 'tis sin that puts a skreen
And walls of seperation between
162
To cloath, in shades, this Micro-cosm of our:
Thou which from darkness didst deduce the day,
Banish such mists, let thy coruscant ray
Break through the clouds of my opposing sin;
That so thou maiest enlighten me within.
| KOSMOBREVIA[Greek], or the infancy of the world | |