Deo Opt. Max.

O Thou who All-things hast of Nothing made,
Whose Hand the radiant Firmament displai'd,
With such an undiscerned swiftnesse hurl'd
About the stedfast Centre of the World:
Against whose rapid course the restlesse Sun,
And wandring Flames in varied Motions run;
Which Heat, Light, Life infuse; Time, Night, and Day
Distinguish; in our Humane Bodies sway:
That hung'st the solid Earth in fleeting Aire,
Vein'd with cleare Springs, wch ambient Seas repaire.
In Clouds the Mountaines wrap their hoary Heads;
Luxurious Valleies cloth'd with flowry Meads:
Her trees yield Fruit and Shade; with liberall Breasts
All creatures She (their common Mother) feasts.
Then Man thy Image mad'st; in Dignity,
In Knowledge, and in Beauty, like to Thee:
Plac'd in a Heaven on Earth: without his toile
The ever-flourishing and fruitfull Soile
Vnpurchas'd Food produc'd: all Creatures were
His Subjects, serving more for Love then Feare.
He knew no Lord, but Thee. But when he fell
From his Obedience, all at once rebell,
And in his Ruine exercise their Might:
Concurring Elements against him fight:
Troups of unknowne Diseases; Sorrow, Age,
And Death, assaile him with successive rage.
Hell let forth all her Furies: none so great,
As Man to Man. Ambition, Pride, Deceit,
Wrong arm'd with Power, Lust, Rapine, Slaughter reign'd:
And flatter'd Vice the name of Vertue gain'd.
Then Hils beneath the swelling Waters stood;
And all the Globe of Earth was but one Floud:
Yet could not cleanse their Guilt: the following Race
Worse then their Fathers, and their Sons more base.
Their God-like Beauty lost; Sins wretched Thrawle:
No sparke of their Divine Originall
Left unextinguisht: All inveloped
With Darknesse; in their bold Transgressions dead.
When thou didst from the East a Light display,
which rendred to the World a clearer Day:
Whose Precepts from Hels jawes our Steps withdraw;
And whose Example was a living Law:
Who purg'd us with his Bloud; the Way prepar'd
To Heaven, & those long-chain'd-up Doores unbar'd.
How infinite thy Mercy! which exceeds
The World thou mad'st, as well as our Misdeeds!
Which greater Reverence then thy Iustice wins,
And still augments thy Honour by our Sins.
O who hath tasted of thy Clemency
In greater measure, or more oft then I!
My gratefull Verse thy Goodnesse shall display.
O Thou who went'st along in all my way;
To Where the Morning with perfumed Wings
From the high Mountaines of Panchaea springs:
To that New-found-out World, where sober Night
Takes from th'Antipodes her silent flight;
To those darke Seas where horrid Winter reignes,
And binds the stubborne Flouds in Icie chaines:
To Lybian Wasts, whose Thirst no showres asswage;
And where swolne Nilus cooles the Lions rage.
Thy Wonders in the Deepe have I beheld;
Yet all by those on Iudah's Hils excell'd:
There where the Virgins Son his Doctrine taught,
His Miracles, and our Redemption wrought:
Where I by Thee inspir'd his Praises sung;
And on his Sepulchre my Offering hung.
Which way so e're I turne my Face, or Feet;
I see thy Glory, and thy Mercy meet.
Met on the Thracian Shoares; when in the strife
Of frantick Simoans thou preserv'dst my Life.
So when Arabian Thieves belaid us round,
And when by all abandon'd, Thee I found.
That false Sidonian Wolfe, whose craft put on
A Sheepe soft Fleece, and me Bellerephon
To Ruine by his cruell Letter sent,
Thou didst by thy protecting Hand prevent.
Thou sav'dst me from the bloudy Massacres
Of faithlesse Indians; from their treacherous Wars;
From raging Feavers, from the sultry breath
Of tainted Aire; which cloy'd the jawes of Death.
Preserv'd from swallowing Seas; when towring Waves
Mixt with the Clouds, and opened their deep Graves.
From barbarous Pirats ransom'd: by those taught,
Successefully with Salian Moores we fought.
Then brought'st me Home in safety; that this Earth
Might bury me, which fed me from my Birth:
Blest with a healthfull Age; a quiet Mind,
Content with little; to this Worke design'd:
Which I at length have finisht by thy Aid;
And now my Vowes have at thy Altar paid.