Reader, this Book shall teach the pious Heart To soar from Earth, and better Views impart: Flaming with Zeal to rise to Heav'n above, And make the Tri-une God the Object of its Love.

R

FIRST BOOK.

THE INVOCATION.

OUSE thee, my soul, and drain thee from the dregs Of vulgar thoughts: screw up the heighten'd pegs Of thy sublime theorbo four notes higher,

And higher yet, that so the shrill-mouth'd choir
Of swift-wing'd seraphims may come and join,
And make thy concert more than half divine.
Invoke no muse; let Heav'n be thine Apollo;
And let his sacred influences hallow

Thy high-bred strains. Let his full beams inspire
Thy ravish'd brains with more heroic fire:
Snatch thee a quill from the spread eagle's wing,
And, like the morning lark, mount up and sing:
Cast off these dangling plummets, that so clog
Thy lab'ring heart, which gropes in this dark fog
Of dungeon earth; let flesh and blood forbear
To stop thy flight, till this base world appear
A thin blue landscape: let thy pinions soar
So high a pitch, that men may seem no more
Than pismires, crawling on this mole-hill earth,
Thy ear untroubled with their frantic mirth;
Let not the frailty of thy flesh disturb

Thy new-concluded peace; let reason curb
Thy hot-mouth'd passion; and let heav'n's fire season
The fresh conceits of thy corrected reason.
Disdain to warm thee at lust's smoaky fires,
Scorn, scorn to feed on they old boat desires :
Come, come, my soul, hoise up thy higher sails,
The wind blows fair; shall we still creep like snails,
That glide their ways with their own native slimes?
No, we must fly like eagles; and our rhymes
Must mount to heav'n, and reach th' Olympic ear;
Our heav'n-blown fire must seek no other sphere,

B

Thou

Thou great Theanthropos, that giv'st and ground'st Thy gifts in dust, and from our dunghill crown'st Reflecting honour, taking, by retail,

What thou hast giv'n in gross, from lapsed, frail,
And sinful man: that drink'st full draughts, wherein
Thy children's leprous fingers, scurf'd with sin,
Have paddled; cleanse, O cleanse my crafty soul,
From secret crimes, and let my thoughts controul
My thoughts: O teach me stoutly to deny
Myself, that I may be no longer I :
Enrich my fancy, clarify my thoughts,
Refine my dross; O wink at human faults;
And, through the slender current of my quill,

Convey thy current, whose clear streams may fill
The hearts of men with love, their tongues with praise:
Crown me with glory, take who list, the bays.

1.

JAMES i. 14.

Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.

SERPENT.

EVE.

TOT eat ? not taste ? not touch ? not cast an eye

Serp. I upon the fruit of this fair tree ? And why 3

Why eat'st thou not what Heav'n ordain'd for food?
Or canst thou think that bad which Heav'n call'd good?
Why was it made, if not to be enjoy'd?
Neglect of favours makes a favour void:
Blessings unus'd, pervert into a waste,
As well as surfeits; woman, do but taste:
See how the laden boughs make silent suit
To be enjoy'd; look how their bending fruit
Meet thee half way: observe but how they crouch
To kiss thy hand; coy woman, do but touch :

Mark

Totus Mundus in Maligno (Maliligno) pofitus eft.

Thus all the Ills that Man sustains on Earth.. From this bad Tree first drew their fatal Birth.