The Second Week, Third Day, Part I: The Vocation

THE ARGUMENT.

ABRAM from Chaldé is Divinely CALL'D:
How Blest abroad: His (parted) Nephew Thrall'd
(In Sodom's ayd) to Chedorlaomer;
Rescu'd by Him: Type of that bloudy War:
Melchisedec His Hap congratulates:
Ismael great; but GOD confederates
With (promis'd) Isaak, and his (CHRIST-kin) Seed
Which shall in number even the Stars exceed.
Lot harbors Angels; sav'd from Sodom's Fire;
His Wife Transform'd: His Daughter's foul Desire.

VNtill this Day (deer Muse) on every side
Within straight lists thou hast been boundifi'd,
Pend in a Path so narrow every-where,
Thou couldst not manage: onely heer and there
(Reaching thine arms over the Rails that close
Thy bounded Race) thou caught'st som fragrant Rose,
Som Gilly-flowr, or som sweet Sops-in-Wine,
To make a Chaplet thy chaste brows to binde.
But now, behold th' art in the open Plain,
Where thou maist liuely (like the Horse of Spain,
That having burst his halter and his holde
Flings through the field, where list him, vncontrol'd)
Coruet, and turn, run, prance, advance, and pride-thee,
As sacred fury of thy Zeal shall guide-thee.

Th' whole World is thine: hēceforth thy Sythe may mowe
The fairest Crop that in Fame's fields doth growe;
And, on the Sea of richest Histories
Hulling at large, a hundred Victories,
A hundred Rowts, a hundred Wonders new
Com huddling in, in heaps before thy view:
So that I fear, lest (trayn'd with various sent)
Thou be at fault in this vast Argument;
And least the best choice in so bound-less Store,
Painthee no less now, than did Want before.

But wotst thou what, my Muse (my deer delight,
My care, my comfort)? we will follow right
The modest hand of a fair Shepheardling,
Who doth not rudely spoyl the flowry Spring,
Of all her painted beauties; nor deface
All in one day a pleasant Gardens grace;
But mannerly amid the Quarters seeks
Such rarest flowrs as best her fancy likes:
And heer a blew one, there a red she pulls,
A yellow heer, and there a white she culls,
Then bindes them with her hair, and blessed over
With a chaste kiss, she sends them to her Lover:
Wee'l ouer-run the Annalls of all Ages,
And choosing-out the chiefest Personages,
And Prodigies amid the Hebrew Story,
Wee'l offer them on th' Altar of Gods glory.

For He (I hope) who, no less good then wise,
First stirr'd vs vp to this great Enterprise,
And gaue vs heart to take the same in hand,
For Level, Compass, Rule, and Squire will stand;
Will change the Pebbles of our puddly thought,
To Orient Pearls, most bright and bravely wrought:
And will not suffer in this pretious Frame
Ought that a skilfull Builders ey may blame:
Or, if he suffer ought, 't shall be som trace
But of that blindnes, common to our Race;
T'abate my glory, and to giue me proof
That (mortall) I build but with mortall stuff.

IAMES, richest Iem of Scots, and Scotland's Praise,
Who, with the same hand that the Scepterswayes,
On Heav'n-faln paper in a golden stile,
Doost happily immortall lines compile;
And (new Apollo) vnder Others names
Singst in thy Childehood thine Ownefuture Fames:
To whom but thee should I these Verses vow?
Who through the World hast made me famous now,
And with a liberall learned hand indew'd
My Muse with lustre of a Royall Sute;
Before, so ragged that she blusht wel-neer
That her chaste Sisters should so homly see-her
The scorn of Art, of Helicon the shame,
Vsurping (wrong) VRANIA'S sacred Name.

Through thee she's Heav'nly. O wise, worthy Prince,
May'st thou surmount all those in Excellence,
Which haue (before thee) Rul'd th' hard-ruled Scots,
And ruder Picts (painted with Martiall spots)
That, first Fergusius (glory of his dayes)
Ev'nus and Donald may enuy thy Praise;
And even the Scott'sh, or (rather th' Hebrew) Dauid
(Iesses great son, so holily-behaved)
Give place to thy Renown, and therewithall
Give thee his Zeal and Heart heroïcall,
And all his best (which doth thee best belong)
As he hath given thee his sweet Harp and Song.

THOVGH profane service of Idolatry
Had drown'd the whole Earth vniversally:
Though shame-less sin (born with the COLONIES
Through all the World) through all did Tyrannize:
Yet in Chaldea was their chiefest Seat,
Their strength in Shinaar; and that City great,
Built on the slymy strand of Euphrates,
Was the proud Palace where they held their Feasts.
So that, even Sem's and Heber's sacred Ligne
(Where God his grace yet seemed to confine)
Sucking the Sin-bane of Assyrian aire,
Did (like the Heathen) every day impaire:
Forgot the true God: followed (rashly-rude)
The gross grand Error of the multitude:
Degeneriz'd, decay'd and withered quight:
Likesom rare Fruit-Tree over-topt with spight
Of Bryers and Bushes which it sore oppress,
With the sowr shadow of their Thorny tress,
Till choakt withall, it dies as they do growe,
And beareth nought but Moss and Misseltoe.
But God, desirous (more for vs, then him)
In som one stock to saue Faith's sacred stem
(Like as before from the All-drowning Flood
He sav'd the worlds seed in an Ark of wood)
Marks Abram for his owne: and from false Rites
To men, to Beasts, to Stocks, to Stones, to Sprights,
Him gratiously to his owne Service drawes;
Not by meer Conduct of exteriour cause,
As by contempling th' Artship richly-rare
Which gilds the Seeling of this Globe so fair;
Earthsfruitfull power, producing (goodly-green)
From so small seeds so huge and mighty Treen,
Flowrs fragrant aier, so fresh and divers-died;
Seas foaming Course, whose ever-Tilting Tide
(Ebbing or flowing) is confin'd to Season,
Bounded with lists, guided with reans of Reason:
But, by the motion of his Spirit, which seals
In our hearts Centre what his word reveals,
And prudently in his fit time and place
(Dispensing frankly his free gifts of Grace)
Doth inwardly bear-witnes, and aver-it
Vnder our Spirits that'•is God's Holy Spirit.

The sacred Faith of Abram languisht not
In Idleness, but alwayes waakt and wrought,
And ever lively, brought forth Patience,
Humility, Hope, Bounty, Innocence,
Love, fervent Zeal, Repentance, Temperance,
Sincerity, and true Perseverance;
Fruits that (like Load-stones) haue avertue given
(Through Faith) to draw their Father-Tree to Heav'n,
And guide the soules to God (the spring of life)
Of's kins-man Lot, and Sara his deer Wife;
Who with him following the Almighti's call,
Wend to the strand where Iordans course doth craul,
Their owne deer Country willingly forsake,
And (true-religious) less account do make
Of goods and lands, and quiet-lifes content,
Than of an end-les, friend-les Bannishment.

O sacred ground of Vertu's sole perfection!
O shield of Martyrs! Prophets sure direction!
Soule's remedy! O contrite heart's Restorer!
Tears-wiping tame-grief! Hopes guide, hunting. horror,
Path of Salvation! Pledge of Immortality!
O lively FAITH! through thy admired quality,
How many wonders doost thou work at once,
When from Sin's slumbers thou hast waakt vs once,
And made vsmly in our spirits conceiue
Beauties that never outward eyes perceiue!

Alas! said Abram, must I needs forgoe
These happy fields where Euphrates doth flowe?
Heer, first I drew this vitall air, and (pleas'd
With my births news) my Mothersthroes I eas'd:
Heer, from her tender brest (as soft as silk)
My tender gums suckt my first drop of milk:
Heer, with the pleasure of mine infant-smile
Her Cares and Cumbers I did oft beguile:
Heer, my chaste Sisters, Vnkles, Aunts and Kin,
My prity prattling haue delighted in:
Heer, many a time I want only haue clung,
And on my Fathers wrinkled neck haue hung:
Heer, I haue past my Lad-age fait and good;
Heer, first the soft Down on my chin did bud:
Heer, I haue learn'd Heav'ns Motions and the nature
And various force of Fire, Air, Earth, and Water:
Heer, I haue show'n the noblest tokens forth
Both of my Mindes and of my Bodies worth:
Heer, I have spent the best part of mine age:
Heer, I possess a plentious Heritage:
Heer, I haue got me many friends and fame;
And by my Deeds attain'd a glorious Name:
And must I hence: and leaue this certain state,
To roam vncertain (like a Runnagate)
O're fearfull Hils, and thorough foaming Torrents
That rush-down Mountains with their roring currents,
In dreadfull Desarts, where Heav'ns hottest beam
Shall burn without; within vs, Thirst extream:
And gloomy Forrests full of ghastly fear
Of yelling Monsters that are dwelling there?
To seek a Country (God knowes where, and whither)
Whose vnknowen name hath yet scarce sounded hither?
With staff in hand and wallet at our back
From Town to Town to beg for all we lack?
To guise ourselues (like counterfaiting Ape)
To th' guise of Men that are but Men in shape?
T' haue (briefly) nothing properly our owne
In all the World; no not our Grave-place knowen?

Is't possible I should endure to see
The sighs and tears my friends will shed for me?
O! can I thus my Native soyl forsake?
O! with what words shall I my farwell take?
Farwell Chaldea, deer delights adieu:
Friends, Brothers, Sisters, farwell all of you.
Farwell for ever: Can I thus (alas!)
Rudely vnwinde me from the kinde embrace
Of their deer arms that will me faster holde
Than trembling Ivie doth the Oak enfolde;
Or then the Vine doth with her crawling spray
The boughs of Elm, her limber limbs to stay?

Can I expose (with perill of my life)
Th' vn-vulgar beauties of my vertuous wife,
To the none-sparing lust of that loose Nation
That brutely burns in all abhomination?

Besides, what rigour? nay, what paricide?
To hale from Tygris shoat to Iordans side
A weak olde-man, a man so weak and olde,
He scarse can creep without our help and holde?

Yet, 't must be so: for so the Lord commands.
A carnall man on carnal reason stands:
But, for all Reasons, Faith suffizeth me.
Who lodge with God can never House-less be.

Then cheerly marcht he on, and though the age
And death of Terah slow'd his pilgrimage;
Therest of His he doth conduct (in fine)
To Canaan (since called Palaestine):
Where God pours down such flouds of goods vpon them,
And bountiously bestowes such blessings on-them,
That their abundance shortly seems t'exceed
God's Promises, and their desires indeed.
Their fruitfull Heards, that hill and dale do haunt,
Resemble not the breed of th' Elephant,
Which (slowe in coupling, and in calving more,
Pyning her Master so long time before
With lingring hope) brings-forth with painfull groans,
But once in twelve yeers, but one Calf at once:
All's white with their wool: all their Cattle proves,
Stil, stil increasing, like to Stares and Doves.
Their Wealth so growes, that wantoniz'd withall,
Their envious Shepheards broach a civill Brawl.
But, least this Mischief by the Grooms begun,
Between their Masters might vnkindely run,
The grave-milde Grand-sire of the Faithfull (there)
And Ammon's Father, to cut-off the fear
Of farther strife, and to establish rather
Their Mindes then Bodies in a league together;
Divided duly with a deep fore-sight
Their Flocks and Heards in number infinite.

Then pleas'd, and parted; both go liue a-part:
The Vnkle kept the Mountain for his part;
For, 's Nephew chose the fat and flowery Plain,
And euen to Sodom stretcht his Tent and Train;
And, dwelling there, becam a Citizen
Among those monstrous, Nature-forcing Men.

O Lot (alas!) what lot hast thou elect?
Th' eternal verdure, and the trim prospect,
The plentious Pastures, and the purling Springs
Whose fibrous silver thousand Tributes brings
To wealthy Iordan, watering so the soil
(Like Gods owne Garden) doth thy sense beguile,
Blindeth thy iudgemet, makes thee (miserable)
To seat thee with a People execrable,
Whose War-thrall'd woes, and odious villanies
To springs of tears shall turn thy tender eyes.

Elam's proud King, great Chedor-laomer,
(Leagued with Arioch, King of Ellazar,
The Soveraign of the Nations, Thadael,
And with the King of Shynaar, Amraphel)
Made war against the Kings of Sodoma,
Gomorrha, Zeböim, Zoar, Adamah;
Who, subiect to him for twelue years before,
Rebelled now, and cast the yoak they bore.

Both Camps appoach, their bloudy rage doth rise,
And even the face of Cowards terriblize;
New Martial heat inflames their mindes with ire,
Their bloud is moov'd, their heart is all on fire.
Their cheerfull limbs (seeming to march too slowe).
Longing to meet, the fatall drums out-goe;
And even already in their gesture fight:
Th' iron-footed coursers, lusty, fresh, and light,
Marying their Masters cause and courage both
Snowe all the field with a white foming froth,
And prancing with their load (as proud withall)
With loud-proud neighings for the Combat call.

Now both the Hoasts march forward furiously,
The Plain between soon shrinketh equally:
First in the aire begins a fight of dust,
Then on the Earth both Armies bravely ioust.

Braue yet it was: for yet one might behold
Bright swords and shields, and plumed helms of gold.
Vn-goard with bloud; no Cask had lost his head,
No Horse his load, no scattered Corps lay dead,
But, on our Corn-fields towards harvest-time
(For punishment of som in gratefull crime).
Th' incensed hand of Heav'ns Almighty King
Never more thick doth slippery Ice-pearls fling,
Than heer the arrows showr on every side:
An iron Cloud Heav'ns angry face doth hide
From Souldiers sight; and flying weapons then
For lack of ground fall vpon horse or men:
Ther's not a shaft but hath a man for White,
Nor stone but lightly in warm bloud doth light:
Or, if that any fail their foes to hit
In fall; in flight themselues they enter-split:
The wounds com all from Heav'n: the bravest hee
Kils and is kild of him he doth not see:
Without an aim the Dart-man darts his spear,
And Chaunce performs th' effect of Valour there.

As two stout Rams, both Ieloux-phrensie-sick,
A front two flocks, spurr'd on with anger's prick,
Rush-on each other with tempestuous shock,
And butting boisterous, horns and heads do knock:
So these two Armies enterchanged blowes,
And doubling steps and strokes vpon their Foes,
First flesh their Launces, and their Pikes imbrew,
Then with their swords about them keenly heaw,
Then stab with daggers; standing brauely too-'t,
Till Foe to Foe they charge them foot to foot;
So neer, that oft ones Targets pike doth pearce
Anothers Shield, and sends him to his Herse.
And gawdy plumes of Foes (be-Cedered braue)
Oft on their Foes (vn-plumed) crests do waue.

Of all their stroaks scarce any stroak is vain;
Yet stand they firm, and still the fight maintain:
Still fronting Death, they face to face abide,
None turn their backs, no neither shrink a-side,
Of their owne blood, as of their Foe's as frank.

But, too-too-tyred, som at last dis-rank:
Then, Threats, and Cries, and Plaints, redoubled ay,
And so pel-mel rage-blinded Mars doth play,
That now no more their Colours they discern;
But knowing none, to all are strangely stern.
The Palestine fights vnder Elams Standard,
The Shinarite with Sodoms Ensignos wander'd:
Euen as two swarms of busie Buzzers mounting
Amid the ayr, and mutually affronting,
Mingle their Troups; one goes, another coms,
Another turns; a clowd of Moatlings hums
Aboue our heads, who with their cipres wings
Decide the Quarrell of their little Kings:
Either of which, a hundred times a minute
Doth lose a Souldier, and as oft re-win-it.

But, may one hope in Champions of the Chamber,
Soft Carpet-Knights, all senting Musk and Amber
(Whose chief delight is to be ouer-com)
Vn-daunted hearts that dare to Over-com?
In Woman-Men a manly Constancy?
In wanton Arms vn-wearied Valiancy?
No, no, (Gomorrha) this is not the place
For quav'ring Lutes a warbling Voice to grace:
No (filthy Sodom) 'tis not heer the game
To play with Males, inspight of Natures name:
No (Zeböim) heer are no Looking-Glasses
For Para-Nymphs to gaze their painted faces:
To starch Mustachoes, and to prank in print,
And curl the Lock (with fauours brayded in't):
No (Adamah) we spend not heer the day
In Dancing, Courting, Banquetting, and Play:
Nor lastly (Zoar) is it heer the guise
Of silken Mock-Mars (for a Mistress-Prize)
With Reed-like Launce, and with a blunted Blade,
To Championize vnder a Tented shade,
As at your Tourneys. Therfore to your Mew:
Lay-down your weapons, heer's no Work for you.
'Tis heer the Fashion (and the pride of Wars)
To paint the face with sweat, dust, blood, and scars.
Our Glass is heer a bright and glistring shield:
Our Satten, steel: the Musick of the Field
Doth rattle like the Thunders dreadfull roar:
Death tilteth heer: The Mistress we adore,
Is Victory (true Soveraign of our hearts)
Who without danger graceth no Deserts:
Dead carcasses perfume our dainty Nose:
Our Banquets heer, be Banquets for the Crowes:
Fly therefore (Cowards) fly and turn your backs,
(As you were wont in your thought-shaming acts)
But with our Swords and Launces (in your haste)
Through-thrilled (Villains) this shall be your last,
Said Amraphel: and charg'd them in such sort,
That't seems a suddain Whirl-winde doth transport
Their fainting Troups. Som (best-aduised) fly
To tops of Mountains, that do neighbour by;
Som through the Plain: but, neither (in the chace)
Dares once look back (no, not with half a face)
Their fear had no restraint, and much less Art:
This throwes away his shield, and that his dart;
Swords, Morrions, Pouldrons, Vaunt-brace, Pikes, & Launces,
Are no defence, but rather hinderances:
They with their hearts, haue also lost their sight,
And recking less a glorious end, in Fight,
Than thousand base deaths, desperatly they ran
Into the flood that fats rich Canaan.

Then, Iordan arms him 'gainst these infidels,
With rapid course, and like a sea he swels;
Lakes vnder ground into his channel range,
And shallowest Foords to ground-less gulfs do change:
He fumes, he foams, and swiftly whirling ground,
Seems in his rage, these bitter words to sound:

Die (Villains) die: O more than in famous
Foul Monsters, drench your damned soules in vs.
Sa, sa, my Floods: with your cold moisture quench
The lust-full flame of their self-burning stench.
Drown, drown the Hel-hounds, and revenge the wrong,
Which they haue done our Mother Nature long.

The River swiftly whirling-in the slaues,
Aboue with Bowes, beneath with Bodies paues:
The gaudy Plume, yet floting light and soft,
Keeps for awhile, the hollow helm aloft;
But yet (at length) even those that smim the best,
Down to the bottom sink among the rest,
Striving and struggling (topsi-turuy tost)
While fain they would, but cannot yield the ghost;
Because the flood (vnwilling to defile
His purest waues with spirits so foul and vile)
Re-spews them still into themselues, and there
Smoothers, and choaks, and rams them, as it were:
Then both at once (Bodies and Soules) at last
To the main Sea, or his own shoar doth cast.

The Kings of Sodom and Gomorrha then,
Hoping to train the King of Elams men,
Among the Clay-pits which themselues before
(T'intrap the Foe) with boughs had covered or'e,
Ran thither-ward: but their confused flight,
In their owne ambush made their owne to light,
Wherin they lost the flowr of all their rest,
Sooner of death, then of deaths fear possest.

One, as he flies with trembling steps the dart
Which (from behinde) nigh pearst him to the heart,
Tangling his foot with twyning tendrels tho
Of a wilde Vine that neer a pit did growe,
Stumbles, and tumbles in, hung by the heels
Vp to the waste in water: where he feels
A three-fold Fate: for there (O strange!) he found
Three deaths in one; at once slain, hangd, and drownd:

Another, weening ore a Well to skip,
From the wet brim his hap-less foot doth slip,
And he in falls: but instantly (past hope)
He catcheth holde vpon a dangling rope,
And so at length with shifting hands gets-vp
By little and little to the fountains top:
Which Thadael spying, to him straight he hies,
And thus alowd vnto the wretch he cries;
Varlet, is this, is this the means you make,
Your wonted yoak of Elam off to shake?
Is this your Skirmish? and are these your blowes,
Wher-with t'incounter so courageous Foes?
Sir, leaue your ladder; this shall serue as well,
This sword shall be your ladder down to Hell:
Go pay to Pluto (Prince of Acheron)
The Tribute heer deni'd vnto your owne:
Heer-with he drawes his Fauchin bright and keen,
And at a blowe heaws both his arms off clean;
His trickling hands held fast, down fell his Trunk,
His blood did swim, his body quickly sunk.

Another (roughly pushed by the Foe)
Falls headlong down into a Bog belowe:
Where, on his head deep planted in the mud
With his heels vp-ward like a tree he stood;
Still to and fro, wauing his legs and arms,
As Trees are wont to waue in windie storms.

Another heer (on hors-back) posting ouer
A broad, deep clay-pit that green boughs do couer,
Sinks instantly; and in his suddain Fate
Seems the braue Horse doubly vnfortunate:
For, his own neck he breaks, and bruzing in
(With the keen scales of his bright Brigandin)
His Masters bowels, serues (alas!) for Tomb
To him that yerst so many times did comb
His crispy Crest, and him so frankly fed
In's hollow Shield with oats and beans, and bread:
Even so somtimes, the loving Vine and Elm
(With double domage) ioyntly over-whelm;
Shee wails the wrack of her deer Husbands glade;
He moans his Spouses feeble arms and shade:
But most it grieues him with his Trunk to crush
The precious Clusters of her pleasing Bush;
And press to death vnkindly with his waight
Her that for loue embraceth him so straight.

Yet Lot alone (with a small troup assisted)
The Martiall brunt with Manly breast resisted,
And thirsting Fame, stands firmly looking for
The furious hoste of Chedorlaomor:
But as a narrow and thin-planted Cops
Of tender Saplings with their slender tops,
Is fell'd almost as soon as vnder-taken
By Multitudes of Peasants Winter-shaken:
Lot's little Number so environ'd round,
Hemm'd with so many swords, is soon hew'n down.

Then left alone, yet still all one he fares;
And the more danger, still the more he dares:
Like a strange Mastif fiercely set vpon
By mongrell Currs, in number ten to one:
Who tyr'd with running (growen more cunning) gets
Into som corner, where vpright he sets
Vpon his stern, and sternly to his Foes
His rage-full, foaming, grinning teeth he showes,
And snarls, and snaps; and this and that doth bite,
And stoutly still maintains th' vnequall fight
With equall fury, till (disdaining Death)
His Enemies be beaten out of breath.

Arioch, admiring, and (even) fearing too
What Lot had done, and what he yet might doo;
Him princely meets, and mildely greets him thus:
Cease (valiant youth) cease, cease t' incounter vs.
Wilt thou (alas!) wilt thou (poor soule) expose
And hazard thus thy life and Fame to lose,
In such a Quarrell, for the cause of such?
Alas, I pitty thy mis-fortune much.
For, well I see, thy habit and thy tongue
Thine Arms (but most) thy courage) yet so yong)
Showe that in SODOM's wanton walls accurst
Thou wert not born, nor in Gomorrha nurst.
O chief of Chivalry, reserue thy worth
For better wars: yield thee: and think hence-forth
I highly prize thy prows; and, by my sword,
For thousand kingdoms will not false my word.

Past hope of Conquest (as past fear of death)
LOT yields him then vpon the Princes Faith;
And, from his Camel quick-dismounting, hies
His Royall hand to kiss in humble wise:
And th' Army, laden with the richest spoyl,
Triumphantly to th' Eastward marcht the while.

No sooner noyse of these sad novels cam
Vnto the ears of faithfull ABRAHAM,
But instantly he arms to rescue LOT,
And that rich prey the heathen Kings had got.
Three hundred servants of his house he brings
(But lightly arm'd with staues and darts, and slings
Aided by MAMRE (in whose Plain he wons)
ASCOL and ANER (AMOR's valiant sons)
So at the heels he hunts the fearless Foe,
Yet waits aduantage yer he offer blowe)
Favour'd by streightness of the ways they took,
And couer'd close with nights deceitfull cloak.

In Groon-land fields is found a dungeon,
A thousand-fold more dark than Acheron,
It hath no door, lest as it turns about
On rusty hooks, it creak too lowdly out,
But Silence serues for Port and Porter there,
A gagged Vsher that doth never wear
Stif-rustling silks, nor ratling chamlet sutes,
Nor gingling spurs, nor creaking spanish boots;
But, that he make no noyse (when ere he sturs)
His high-day sutes are of the softest Furs,
At other times (less-stately-service-ful)
Hee's only clad in cotton, shod in wool:
His left fore-finger ore his lips he locks,
With th' other beckens to the early Cocks,
The rushing streams, and roaring Eölus,
Seeming (though dumb) to whisper softly thus:
Sleep silver Torrents; cease, sweet Chante-cleer,
To bid Good-morrow to the Morning heer:
Be still, ye Windes, keep in your natiue nest,
Let not your storms disturb this house of Rest.

In midst of all this Caue so dark and deep,
On a still-rocking couch lies blear-ey'd Sleep,
Snorting alowd, and with his panting breath
Blowes a black fume, that all envapoureth:
Obliuion lies hard-by her drowzy brother,
Who readily knowes not her self, nor other:
Then solitary Morpheus gently rockt:
And nasty Sloath self-pyn'd, and poorly-frockt,
Irresolute, vnhandsom, comfortless,
Rubbing her eyes with Poppy, and doth press
The yellow Night-shade, and blew Gladiols iuice,
Wher-with her sleep-swoln heauy lids she glewes.
Confusedly about the silent Bed
Fantastick swarms of Dreams there hovered,
Green, red and yellow, tawny, black, and blew:
Som sacred, som profane; som false, som true;
Som short, som long; som diuelish, som divine;
Som sad, som glad; but monstrous all (in fine):
They make no noyse, but right resemble may
Th' vnnumbred Moats which in the Sun do play,
When (at som Cranny) with his percing ey
He peepeth-in som darker place to spy.

Thither th' Almighty (with a iust intent
To plague those tyrants pride) his Angel sent.
No sooner entred, but the radiant shine
Of's glistring wings, and of his glorious eyn,
As light as Noon makes the dark House of Night.
The gawdy swarm of Dreams is put to flight,
And opening wide the sable Canapey
The winged Herald summon'd Sleep away.

Silence dislodg'd at the first word he spake:
But deaf dead Sleep could not so soon awake,
Hee's call'd a hundred times, and tugg'd, and touz'd,
And by the angel often rubb'd and rouz'd:
At length he stirs, and stretching lazily
His legs and arms, and opening half an ey,
Foure or fiue times he yawns; and leaning-on
His (Lob-like) elbowe, hears This Message don.

Great Spirits-restorer, Cares-charm, Chacing-grief,
Night-short'ning Sier, Man's-Rest, and Mind's Relief,
Vp, vp (sayd he) dispatch thee hence in poste,
And with thy Poppy drench the conquering Hoste
Of those prowd Kings, that (richly charg'd with Prey)
On Canaan Mountains lodge in dis-aray.

Th' angell, in th' instant back to Heav'n-ward gon,
Sleep slowely harnest his dull Bears anon;
And in a noys-less Coach all darkly dight,
Takes with him Silence, Drowsiness, and Night:
Th' ayr thickning where he goes, doth nod the head,
The Woolf in Woods lies down th' Oxe in the Mead,
Th' Orque vnder Water; and on Beds of Down
Men stretch their limbs, and lay them softly down.
The Nightingale pearcht on the tender spring
Of sweetest Haw-thorn hangs her drowsie wing,
The Swallow's silent, and the lowdest Humber,
Leaning vpon the Earth, now seems to slumber:
Th' Yew mooues no more, the Aspe doth cease to shake,
Pines bow their heads, seeming som rest to take.

So soon as Sleep's black wings had over-spread
The Pagan Hoast; the Souldiers haste to bed:
For, instantly begin they all to wink,
To hang their heads, and let their weapons sink:
Their words half-spoke, are lost between their lips,
Through all their veins Sleep's charming humor slips,
Which to a deep and death like Letharge brings
Both Heathen Souldiers, and their Heathen Kings.

Abram perceiving now the Army neer,
By their owne Fires; gan thus hir Troups to cheer:
Souldiers (sayd he) behold, this happy Night
Shall make amends for that dis-astrous Fight
Was fought in Siddim, and acquittance cry,
For Sodom's shame, and Lot's captivity:
Me thinks already, Uictory (adorn'd
With Bowes, and Blades, and Casks, and Crowns) return'd
From th' Enemy, on our triumphant spears
Erecteth Tropheis far more rich than theirs:
Me thinks already on our glistering Crests,
The glorious Garland of the Conquest rests;
Our way to Vertue lyes so smooth and plain,
With pain-less Honour, and vn-vent'red Gain.
This Hoast you see, is not the valiant Troup
That stript Gomorrha, and made Segor stoop;
That Iordan, Inde, and Euphrates admire;
But a foul heard of Swine wallowing in myre:
Regard them as they are, not as they were:
See but their sloath, do not their number fear:
He that's asleep is dead, and he that's dead
Bites not (they say): what haue we then to dread?
Why stay we, Lads? already down they are,
Their throats be naked, and their bosoms bare,
Their liues ly prostrat heer at our command;
And Fortune calls but for your helping hand.

Com, follow me; rather, the Lord of Hoasts
(Terrour of Tyrants) who through all the Coasts
Of all the Earth confoundeth (with a thought)
All worldly powr, and brings mens plots to nought:
Com (happy Troop) follow with one accord
Th' invincible braue Standard of the Lord.

This sayd: eft-soons I wot not what a grace,
What divine beam reflected on his face:
For, as in March, the Serpent, having cast
His old foul skin, crawls from his hole full fast,
Hisses, and stings, and stares vs in the face,
And (gold-like) glistering, glides along the grass:
So Heav'n inspires fresh vigour in each part,
His blood renews, his heart doth take new heart,
A martiall Fury in his breast there boyls,
His stature seems much taller then yer-whiles,
Youth paints his cheeks with Rose and Lilly Dies,
A louely Lightning sparkles in his eyes;
So that his gallant Port and gracefull Voice
Confirms the faintest, makes the sad reioyce.

Then, on the Camp he sets, where round about
Lie mingled Carrs, and Horse, and Men that rout:
Rest seizeth all; and (wanting what it fed)
The Fire it self slept in his ashy bed.

Th' Hebrews the-while laid-on on back, or breast,
Or arm, or side, according as their Rest
To th' ground had bound them; and those liues bereft
The which Death's Image in an Image reft.

Heer, one beheaded on a Trunk of Pine,
Pours-out at once his gore, his ghost, and Wine;
The full Helm hops, and with a voyce confused,
Murmurs, as if it his fell Fate accused.
Another, taken by inchanting sleep,
Mid Pots and Cups, and Flagons, quaffing deep;
Doth at a wound, given in his rattling gorge,
The Wine again in his owne Cup dis-gorge.
Another, while ingeniously he plays
Vpon his Lute som passing-pleasing Lays,
Sleep sieles his eyes vp with a gloomy clowd;
And yet his hand still quauers light and lowd:
But, at the last it sinks; and, offring fair
To strike the Base, strikes but the empty ayr:
His soule, descending to th' Infernall Coasts,
Goes to conclude his Song vnto the Ghosts:
Dolefull it was, nor for the Argument
(For 't was of Loue) but for the sad event.
Another, wak'ned with those lowd alarms,
Starts-vp, and groapeth round about for arms;
Which, ah too soon he findeth, for his part:
For a keen poignard stabs him to the heart.

Like as a Tigress, having with the gore
Of Bulls and Heifers made her spots the more,
And pav'd a Plain with Creatures mangled lims,
Views on each side her valiant stratagems,
Treads on the vanquisht, and is prowdly-sad,
That no more Foes, nor no more Maw she had:
So th' Hebrew stalking round-about the slain,
Braues (but it boots not) and would very fain
That those dead bodies might their ghosts re-gather,
Or that those Mountains would produce him (rather)
Som Foes more wakefull, that more manfully
In blood-drown'd Valleis might his valour try.

Amor's three sons did no less slaughter make;
Abram for zeal, they but for Furies sake:
This, nayls a Souldier with his sword to th' ground;
That, at a blowe, th' heads of two Heads dis-crown'd.
This, vnderneath a Chariot kils the Driuer:
That, lops off legs and arms, and heads doth shiver.

The Tents already all in blood do swim,
Gushing from sundry Corps, from severall lim.
In brief, so many ravening Woolves they seem,
Within whose breast, fierce Famine biteth keen,
Who softly stealing to som fold of sheep
(While both the Shepheard and his Curr doth sleep)
Furbush their hungry teeth, tear, kill, and prey
Vpon the best, to eat and bear-away.

Yet, at the length, the vanquished awake,
And (re-aray'd) the Victors vnder-take;
Putting the three prowd Amorites, to flight,
Who but for Abram, had been routed quite.

Sleep, sleep (poor Pagans) sith you needs must die,
Go sleep again, and so die easily,
Die yer you think on death, and in your Dreams
Gasp-out your soules; Let not your dazled beams
Behold the havock and the horrour too
Of th' Execution, that our swords shall doo,
Hacking your bodies to heaw-out your breaths,
Yer Death, to fright you with a thousand deaths,
Said Abraham: and pointing every word
With the keen point of his quick-whirled sword:
(As swift in doing, as in saying so)
More fiercely chargeth the insulting Foe,
Than ever Storm-full cloud, which fed with Water's
Thin moist-full fumes (the snowy Mountains daughters)
Showr'd heaps of hail-shot, or pour'd floods of rain,
On slender stems of the new tender Grain:
Through blood, and blades, through danger, dust, and death,
Through mangled Corps, and carrs he traverseth;
And partly in the shock, part with ••• blowes,
He breaketh in through thickest of his Foes,
And by his trauail topsi-turneth then
The liue and dead, and half-dead horse and men:
His bright-keen Fauchin neuer threats but hits;
Nor hits, but hurts; nor hurts, but that it splits
Som priuy postern, whence to Hel (in post)
Som groaning Pagan may gasp out his ghost:
He all assayls, and him so braue bestowes,
That in his Fight he deals more deaths than blowes.

As the North-winde, re-cleering-vp the front
Of clowdy Heav'ns, towards the South doth hunt
The showrs that Austers spungy thirst exhales
Out of those seas that circle Orans walls:
So wher-so-e're our Hebrew Champion wield
His war-like weapon and his glistring Shield
(Whose glorious splendor darts a dreadfull light)
All turn their backs, and all be-take to flight,
Forgetting Fame, Shame, Vertue, Hope, and all,
Their hearts are don, and down their weapons fall:
Or, if that any be so strangely-stout
As not to faint, but brauely yet holde out,
Alas! it boots not, for it cannot stop
The victory, but haste his own mishap.

But in what Fence-schoole, of what master, say,
Braue pearl of Souldiers, learnd thy hands to play
So at so sundry weapons, such passados,
Such thrusts, such foyns, stramazos, and stoccados?
Even of that mighty God, whose sacred might
Made Heav'n and Earth (and them so braue bedight)
Of meerly nothing: of that God of Powr
Who swore to be thy Target and thy Towr:
Of that high God, who fortifies the weak,
Who teacheth His, even steely bowes to break,
Who doth his Childrens zealous hearts inflame;
But daunts the prowd, and doth their courage tame.

Thy sword abates th' armed, the strong, the stout;
Thou cleav'st, thou kill'st: The faint dis-armed rout,
The lightning of thine eyes, thy voyces thunder,
And thy prowd dreadfull port confounds with wonder:
Death and Despair, Horror and Fury fight
Vnder thine Ensignes in this Dismal Night:
Thou slayest this, and that thou threat'st as much:
This thou pursu'st, that thou disdaign'st to touch:
In brief (thou blest Knight braue) thou quelst at once
Valiant and vile, arm'd and vnarmed ones.

Heer, thine even hand (even in a twinkling trice)
In equall halves a Pagans head doth slyce:
Down on each shoulder looketh either half,
To gaze vpon his ghastly Epitaph,
In lines of blood writ round about him fair,
Vnder the curtain of his parted hair.
Heer, through a Ierkin (more then Musket-proof)
Made twelue fold double of East-country Buff,
Clean through and through thy deadly shaft doth thril
A Gyants bulk; the wounded hulk doth reel:
The head behinde appears; before, the feathers:
And th' Ethnick soule flies both-waies out togethers:
Heer thou do'st cleaue, with thy keen Fauchins force,
The Bards and Breast-plate of a furious Horse,
No sooner hurt, but he recoyleth back,
Writing his Fortune in a bloody track:
Thy barbed dart, heer at a Chaldee flies,
And in an instant lardeth both his thighes,
While he blaspheming his hard starrs and state,
Hops (like a Pie) in stead of wonted gate.

Now LOT (the while) escap't from ELAMS hands,
Free from the burthen of his yron bands;
With iust reuenge retorts his taken wrong,
His feet growe swift, his sinnews waxen strong,
His heart reviues; and his reviued heart
Supplies new spirits to all and euery part:
And as a wilde and wanton Colt; got out
Of som great Stable, staring scuds about,
Shakes his prowd head and crest, yerks out his heels,
Butts at the ayr, beats on the humble fields,
His flying shadow now pursues amain,
Anon (amaz'd) flies it as fast again.
Again beholds it, with self-prowd delight
Looks on his legs, sets his stiff tayl vpright.
And neighs so lowd to Mares beyond the Mound,
That with the noyse the neighbour Hils resound:
So, one while, LOT sets on a Troup of Horse,
A Band of Sling-men he anon doth force,
Anon he pusheth through a Stand of Pikes,
A Wing of archers off anon he strikes,
Anon he stalks about a steepfull Rock,
Where som, to shun Death's (never shunned) stroak,
Had clambred-vp; at length a path he spies,
Where vp he mounts, and doth their Mount surprize:
Whence, stones he heaues, so heavy and so huge,
That in our Age, three men could hardly bouge;
Vnder whose waight his flying Foes he dashes,
And in their flesh, bones, stones, and steel he pashes:
Somtimes he shoots, somtimes he shakes a Pike,
Which death to many, dread to all doth strike.
Som in the breast he wounds, som in the backs,
Som on the hanch, som on the head he hacks,
He heaws down all; and maketh where he stood
A Mount of bodies in a Moat of blood.

At length the Pagans wholly left the place,
Then both sides ran; these chased, those do chase:
These onely vse their heels, those heels and hands:
Those wish but a fair way; these that the sands
Would quickly gape, and swallow quick to Hell
Themselues that fled, and them that chaç't so fell:
These render nought but blowes, those nought but blood,
Both sides haue broak their Ranks: pel-mel they scud;
Choakt-vp with dust, disordered, dis-aray'd;
Neither, Command, Threat, nor Intreat obay'd.

Thou that (late) bragdst, that thy White Wormly braue
Could dry-foot run vpon the liquid Waue,
And on the sand leaving no print behinde
Out-swifted Arrows, and out-went the Winde,
With a steel Dart, by ABRAH'M stifly sent,
Art'twixt thy Cuirace and thy Saddle slent:
And thou that thrice, neer Tygris silver source,
Hadst won the Bell, as best in every Course,
Art caught by LOT, and (thrild from side to side)
Loosest thy speed-praise, and thy life beside.

It seems no Fight, but (rather as befalls)
An execution of sad criminals:
Whoso escapes the sword, escapes notso
His sad destruction; or, if any tho
Escap't at all, they were but few (at least)
To rue the fatall ruine of the rest:
For th' Vnkle and the Nephew never lin,
Till out of Canaan they haue chaç't them clean:
Like to a Cast of Falcons that pursue
A flight of Pigeons through the welk in blew;
Stooping at this and that, that to their Louver,
(To saue their lyues) they hardly can recouer.

At his return from Fight, the Kings and Lords
Of Palestine, with glad and humble words,
Do welcom Abram, and refresh his Troop;
To 's knees their heads, to 's feet their knees they stoop:
Ovaliant Victor! for thy high deserts,
Accept the homage of our humble hearts.
Accept our grateful zeal: or, if ought more
(As well thou maist) thou doest expect therfore,
Accept (said they) our Lands, our goods, our golde,
Our wiues, our lyues, and what we deerest holde:
Take all we haue; for all we haue is thine:
No wrong to vs, to take thy Valours fine.

Melthisedec, Gods sacred Minister,
And King of Salem, coms to greet him there,
Blessing his bliss, and thus with zealous cry
Devoutly pearç't Heav'ns starfull Canopey.
Blest be the Lord, that with his hand doth roule
The radiant Orbs that turn about the Pole;
And Rules the Actions of all Humane-kinde
With full command; and with one blast of winde
Razes the Rocks, and Rends the proudest Hills,
Dries-vp the Ocean, and the Empty fils:
Blest be the great God of grear Abraham:
From Age to Age extolled be his Name:
Let every Place vnto him Altars build,
And euery Altar with his Praise be fill'd,
And every Praise above the Welkin ring
As loud or louder then the Angels sing:
Blessed be He that by an Arm-less crew
Of Art-less Shepheards did so quick subdue
And tame the Tamers of Great Syria so;
And to the servants of an exil'd Foe
Hath given the Riches and the royall store
(Both of their Booty and their Owne before)
Of such an Hoast, of Nations that first see
Sol's early rising from Aurora's knee.

But Abraham, to prove that not for Prey,
He put-on arms, divides the Spoils away:
The Tythe's the Priests: the Rest of all the things
(Yerst lost in field) he renders to the Kings,
Save but the Portion He participates
To th' Amorites, his stout Confederates:
Shewing himself a Prince as politicke
Prudent and iust, as stout and Souldier-like,
That with his Prowess Policy can mel,
And Conquering, can vse his Conquest wel,
Magnanimous in deeds, in words as meek,
That scorning Riches, true Renown doth seek.

So, from the Sea, even to th' Euphratean-source,
And even from Dan, to Nilus crystall course,
Rings his renown: Of him is all the speech,
At home, abroad; among the poor and rich,
In war and peace: the Fame of his high deeds
Confirms the Faithfull in their fainting Creeds;
And terrifies the Tyrant Infidels,
Shaking the sides of their proud Citadels,
That with their fronts the seat of IOVE do scorn,
And with their feet at I'luto's crown do spurn.

Voice, Harp, and Timbrel sound his praise together,
He's held a Prophet or an Angel rather,
They say that God talks with him face to face,
Hoasts at his house, and to his happy Race
Givs in Fee-simple all that goodly Land
Even from the Sea, as far as Tygris strand.

And it is certain, the Thrice-sacred-One,
The King of Kings, by Dream or Vision,
Speaks with him oft; and calls him thus by name:
Faint not my servant, fear not ABRAHAM;
I an no fiend that with a fained lip
Seek guilefully thy simpleness to trip,
Nor to intice thee (with a baen-full breath,
To bite (like ADAM) a new fruit of death:
'Tis I, that brought thee from thy Native V R,
From night to day, from death to life (thus far)
I brought thee hither, I have blest thee heer,
I with thy flocks have covered far and neer
Canaan's fat Hills; I have preserv'd thy Wife
From Strangers lust, and thee from Tyrants knife,
When thy faint heart, and thy false tongue, affrai'd
To tel the Truth, her and thy self betray'd:
'Tis I, that have so oft from Heathens powr
Preserv'd thy person; and (as Conquerour)
Now made thee Trivmph over th' Eastern Kings
(Whereof so far thy famous Valour rings):
I am (in brief) I am the Lord thy God,
Thy help at home, thy Guide and Gard abroad.
Keep thou my Covenant: and (to signifie,
That, to the World thou di'st, to live to Me)
Go, Circumcise forth-with thy Self and Thine,
Lead holy Life, walk in my Wayes divine
With vpright-foot: so shall my favour haunt
Thy House and thee, and thou shalt nothing want:
No, I will make thee Lord of all the Land
Which Canaans Children haue with mighty hand
So long possest; a happy Land that flowes
With milk and hony: a rich Land where growes
(Even of itself) all kinde of Fruit and Corn,
Where smiling Heav'ns pour-down their Plenties-Horn:
I'le heap thee there with Honor, Wealth, and Powr,
I will be thy Reward, thy Shield, and Towr.

O Lord (said ABRAM) though into my lap
In shours of Gold ev'n all the Heav'ns should drop,
What booted all, to me that am alone?
Alas! my Lord, I have enough, for one
That hath no issue after to inherit,
But my good seruant ELEAZAR'S merit.

Not so, my Son (replies th' Omnipotent)
Mistake not so my bountifull intent;
I'll not disparage to a Servants Fee
The rich estate, and royall Dignitie
That in my People shall heereafter shine:
No, no (mine ABRAM) even a stock of thine,
Thine owne deer Nephews, even thy proper Seed
Shall be thine Heirs, and in thy state succeed.
Yea, thine owne Son's immortal-mortall Race
Shall hold in gage the treasures of my Grace.

The Patriarch, then rapt with sodain Ioy,
Made answer thus: Lives then my wandring Boy?
Lives IS MAEL? is IS MAEL alive?
O happy news! (Lord let him everthrive):
And shall his Seed succeed so eminent?
Ah! let me die then, then I die content.

IS MAEL indeed doth live (the Lord replies)
And lives, to father mighty Progenies:
For, from the Day when first his Mother (flying
Thy ieloux SARA'S curst and threatfull crying)
To the dry Desarts sandy horror hi'd,
I have for both been carefull to provide;
Their extream Thirst due-timely to refresh,
Conducting them vnto a Fountain fresh,
In liquid Crystall of whose Mayden spowt
Bird never dipt hir bill, nor Beast his snowt:
And if I err not (but, I cannot err:
For, what is hid from Hearts-Artificer?
What can the sight of the Sight-maker dim)?
Another Exile yet attendeth him,
Where-in he shall (in season) feel and finde,
How much to him I will be good and kinde.
He shall growe Great, yet shall his rest be small;
All shall make war on him, and He on all:
Through Corslets, Rivets, Iacks, and Shirts of Mail.
His shaft shall thril the Foes that him assail:
A swift Hart's heart he shall (even running) hit:
A Sparrows head he shall (even flying) split:
And in the air shall make the Swallow cease
His sweet-sweet note, and slicing nimblenesse.

Yea (O Saints-Firstling) only for thy sake,
Twelue mighty Princes will I shortly make
Spring from his Loigns, whose fruitfull seed shall swaie,
Even vnto Sur from golden Havila.

Yet, 'tis not He, with whom I mean to knit
Mine inward Covenant; th' outward seal of it
ISMAEL may bear, but not the efficace
(Thy Son, but after flesh, not after Grace).
But to declare that vnder Heavens Frame,
I hold nought deerer then mine ABRAHAM,
I'll open SARA'S dry and barren womb,
From whence thine ISAAC (Earths delight) shall com,
To glad the World; a Son that shall (like thee)
Support the Faith, and prop her Family.

Com from thy Tent, com forth and heer contemple
The golden Wonders of my Throne and Temple,
Number the Stars, measure their bigness bright,
With fixed ey gaze on their twinkling Light,
Exactly mark their ordered Courses, driven
In radiant Coaches through the Lists of Heaven:
Then mai'st thou also number thine own Seed,
And comprehend their Faith, and plainly read
Their noble Acts, and of their Publike-State
Draw an Idea in thine owne conceit.

This, This is He, to and with whom I grant
Th' eternall Charter of my Covenant.
Which if he truly keep, vpon his Race
I'll pour an Ocean of my plentious Grace:
I'll not alone giue him these Fields heer seen,
But even from India, all that flowreth green
To th' vtmost Ocean's vtmost sand and shelf;
I'll give him Heav'n, I'll give him even my Self.

Hence, hence, the High and mighty Prince shall spring,
Sin's, Death's, and Hell's eternall taming King,
The sacred Founder of Man's soveraign Bliss,
World's peace, world's ransom, and world's righteousness.

Th' Eternal seem'd then towards Heav'n to hie,
Th' olde-man to followe him with a greedy eie:
The suddain dis-appearing of the Lord,
Seem'd like to Powder fired on a boord,
When smokingly it mounts in suddain flash,
With little flame, giving a little clash.

Plenty and Pleasure had o're-whelm'd the while
Sodom and Gomor in all Vices vile:
So that, already the most ruth-less Rape
Of tender Virgins of the rarest shape,
Th' Adulterous kiss (which Wedlocks bands vnbindes)
Th' Incestuous Bed, confounding Kindreds kindes
(Where Father wooes the Daughter, Sister Brother,
Th' Vnkle the Niece, and even the Son the Mother)
They did not hate, nor (as they ought) abhor;
But rather scorn'd, as sports they car'd not for.

Forbear (deer Younglings) pray a-while forbear,
Stand farther from me, or else stop your ear,
At th' obscene sound of th' vnbeseeming words
Which to my Muse this odious place affords:
Or, if it's horror cannot drive you hence,
Hearing their Sin, pray hear their Punishments.

These beastly Men (rather these man-like Beasts)
Could not be fill'd with VENVS vulgar Feasts;
Fair Nature could not furnish their Desire;
Som monstrous mess these Monsters did require:
An execrable flame inflam'd their hearts,
Prodigiously they play'd the Womens parts:
Male hunted Male; and acted, openly,
Their furious Lusts in fruitless Venery.

Therefore, to purge Vlcers so pestilent,
Two heav'nly Scowts the Lord to Sodom sent;
Whom (deeming Mortals) Lot importunates
To take his Lodging and to taste his Cates.
For, Angels, being meer Intelligences,
Have (properly) no Bodies nor no senses:
But (sacred Legats of the Holy-One)
To treat with vs, they put our Nature on;
And take a body fit to exercise
The Charge they haue, which runs, and feeds, and flies;
Dures during their Commission; and, that past,
Turns t'Elements whence it was first amasst.
A simple Spirit (the glittering Childe of Light)
Vnto a bodie doth not so vnite,
As to the Matter Form incorporates:
But, for a season it accommodates,
As to his Tool the quaint Artificer,
(That at his pleasure makes the same to stir)
Yet in such sort that th' instrument (we see)
Holds much of him that mooves it actively.

But alwaies in som place are Angels: though
Not as all filling (God alone is so,
The spirit which all good spirits in spirit adore,
In all, on all, with-out all, evermore):
Nor as environ'd (that alone agrees
To bodies bounded with extremities
Of the next substance; and whose superfice
Vnto their place proportionable is):
But rather, as sole selfly-limited,
And ioyn'd to place, yet not as quantiti'd,
But by the touch of their liue efficace,
Containing Bodies which they seem t'embrace:
So, visibly those bodies move, and ost
By word of Mouth bring arrands from aloft,
And eat with vs; but not for sustentation,
Nor naturally, but by meer dispensation.

Such were the sacred Guests of this good Prince:
Such, courteous ABRAHAM feasted in his Tents,
When, seeing three, he did adore but one,
Which, comming down from the celestiall Throne,
Fore-tolde the sad and sodain Tragedy,
Of these loose Cities, for their Luxury.

You that your Purse do shut, and doors do bar
Against the colde, faint, hungry Passenger,
You little think that all our life and Age
Is but an Exile and a Pilgrimage:
And that in earth whoso hath never given
Harbour to Strangers, shall haue none in Heaven,
Wheresolemn Nuptials of the Lamb are held;
Where Angels bright and Soules that haue exceld,
All clad in white, sing th' Epithalamie,
Carowsing Nectar of Eternitie.

Sans Hospitality, the Pilgrim poor
For Bed-fellow might haue a Wolfor Boar:
What e'r is given the Strange and Needy one,
Is not a gift (indeed) but't is a Loan,
A Loan to God, who payes with interest;
And (even in this life) guerdons even the least.
For, alms (like levain) make our goods to rise,
And God his owne with blessings plentifies.

O Hosts, what knowe you, whether (charitable)
When you suppose to feast men at your Table,
You guest Gods Angels in Mens habit hid,
(Heav'n-Citizens) as this good Hebrew did?
Who supped them: and when the time grew meet
To go to bed, he heard amid the street
A wrangling dangling, and a Murmur rude,
Which great, grew greater through Nights solitude.

For, those that first these two bright Stars survai'd,
Wilde Stalion-like, after their beauties naigh'd;
But, seeing them by the chaste stranger sav'd,
Shame-less and sense-less vp and down they rav'd,
From House to House knocking at every dore,
And beastly-brute, thus, thus they rail and rore;

Brethren, shall we endure this Fugitive,
This stranger LOT, our pleasures to deprive?
(O Cowardise.) to suffer in our sights
An exile heer t'vsurp our choise delights,
T'embrace a brace of Youths so beautious
(Rather two Gods com-down from Heaven to vs)?
Shall it be said that such an olde colde stock
Such rare yong Minions in his bed should mock:
While wretched wee, vnto our selves make mone,
And (Widow-like) wear-out our sheets alone?
Let's rather break his doors, and make him knowe,
Such dainty morsels hang not for his Mowe.

Even as at Bathe, down from the neighbour Hills,
After a snowe, the melting Crystall trills
Into the Avon (when the Pythian Knight,
Strips those steep Mountains of their shirts so white)
Through hundred Valleis gushing Brooks and Torrents,
Striving for swiftness in their sundry Currents,
Cutting deep Chanels where they chance to run,
And never rest till all do meet in one:
So, at their cry, from every corner throng
Vnto LOT'S house, Men, Children, olde, and young.
For, common was this execrable sin:
With blear-ey'd Age, as nusled long therein;
With Youth, through rage of lust; with Infancy,
Example-led: all through Impunity.
And thus, they all cry out; Ope, ope the dore,
Com, open quickly, and delay no more:
Let-forth that lovely Payr, that they may prove
With vs the pleasures of Male-mingled love.

LOT lowely then replies: Brethren and Friends,
By all the names that amity commends,
By Nature's Rules, and Rights of Hospitality,
By sacred Laws, and lessons of Morality,
By all respects of our com-Burg•ship
(Which should our mindes in mutuall kindeness keep)
I do adiure you all, that you refrain
The honor of my harm-less guests to stain,
Nor in your hearrs to harbor such a thought
Wherby their Vertues may be wrongd in ought.

Base busie Stranger, com'st thou hither, thus
(Controller-like) to prate and preach to vs?
No (Puritan) thou shalt not heer do so:
Therefore dispatch and let thy darlings go;
Let-forth that lovely Payr, that they may prove
With vs the Pleasures of Male-mingled love.

The horror of this sin, their stubborn rage,
His sacred promise given his Guests for gage,
Th' olde Hebrew's minde so trouble and dismay,
That wel he wots not what to do nor say.
For, though we ought not (if Gods Word be true)
Do any evill that good may ensue:
To shun one ill, another ill he suffers,
He prostitutes his Issue; and he offers
Lambs to the guard of Wolves: and thus he cries,
I have (with that, the tears ran-down his eyes)
I have two daughters that be Virgins both;
Go, take them to you (yet alas full loth)
Go, crop the first-fruits to their Bride-grooms due
(O! death to think it): But let none of you
Abuse my chaste Guests with such villany
As merits Fire from Heav'n immediately;
A Sin so odious, that the Name alone
Good men abhor, yea even to think vpon.

Tush: we are glutted with all granted loves,
And common Pleasure nought our pleasure moves:
LOT, our delightes (ty'd to no law's conformity)
Consist not in the pleasure, but th' enormity,
Which fools abhor: and, saying so, they rush,
Som vpon LOT, Som at his Gates do push.

O cursed City! where the aged Sier,
Vn-able thus to do, doth thus desier;
And Younglings, yet scarce weaned from their Nurse,
Strive with their Elders whether shall be worse;
Full is the measure of thy monstrous sin:
Thy Canker now o're all thy bulk hath been.

God hates all sin: but, extream Impudence
Is even a greater sin than the Offence:
The sweet kinde Kisses of chaste Man and Wife
Although they seem by God and Nature (ri•e)
Rather commanded then allow'd, and graç't
In their sweet fruits (their issue choicely-chaste)
With Law's large priviledge; yet euermore
(As Modesty and Honesty implore)
Ought to be private, and (as things forbidden
Vnto the sight) with Night's black curtin hidden.

Yet, these foul Monsters, in the open street
Where altogether all the Town might see't,
Most impudent, dare perpetrate a sin
Which Hell it self before had neuer seen;
A sin so odious, that the fame of it
Will fright the damned in the dark som Pit.

But now, the Angels, their celestiall kinde
Vn-able longer to conceal, strook blinde
Those beastly Letchers, and brought safe away
LOT and his housholde by the break of day.
But, O prodigious! never rose the Sun
More beautifull, nor brighter shin'd-vpon
All other places (for he rose betimes
To see such Execution on such Crimes):
And yet, it lowrs, it lightens, and it thunders,
It rores, it rains (O most vnwonted wonders!)
Vpon this Land, which 'gainst th' Omnipotent
Had warr'd so long with sins so insolent:
And 'gainst the pride of those detested livers,
Heav'n seems to empty all his wrathful Quyvers.
From Acheron, even all the Furies hie,
And all their Monsters them accompany,
With all their tortures and their dismal terrors,
And all their Chaos of confused Horrors;
All on the guilty strand of Iordan storm,
And with their Fire-brands all to Sodom swarm,
As thick as Crowes in hungry shoals do light
On new-sowen lands; where stalking bolt vpright,
As black as Iet they iet about, and feed
On Wheat, Or Rye, or other kinde of seed,
Kaaking so loud, that hardly can the Steer
The whistling Goad-man's guiding language hear.

It rain'd indeed; but not such fertil rain
As makes the Corn in Sommer sprout amain;
And all things, freshed with a pleasant air,
To thrive, and prove more lively, strong and fair:
But in this sink of Sin, this stinking Hel,
A rain of Salt, of Fire and Brimston, fel.
Salt did consume the pleasant fruitfulness,
Which serv'd for fewel to their Wantonness:
Fire punished their beastly Fire within:
And Brimstone's stink the stench of their foul Sin.
So, as their Sin was singular (of right)
Their Punishment was also exquisite:
Heer, open Flames, and there yet hidden Fires
Burn all to ashes, sparing neither Spires
Of Brick nor Stone, nor Columns, Gates, nor Arches,
Nor Bowrs, nor Towrs, nor even their neighbour-Marches.

In vain the-while the People weep and cry,
To see their wrack and knowe no remedy:
For, now the Flame in richest Roofs begun,
From molten gutters scalding Lead doth run,
The Slats and Tyles about their ears do split,
The burning Rafters Pitch and Rosin spit:
The whirling Fire re-mounteth to the Skie,
About the fields ten thousand sparks do flie;
Half-burned Houses fal with hideous fray,
And WLCAN makes Mid-night as bright as Day:
Heaven flings-down nought but flashing Thunder-shot,
Th' Air's all a-fire, Earth's exhalations hot
Are spewing AETNA'S that to Heaven aspire;
All th' Elements (in brief) are turn'd to fire.

Heer, one perceiving the next Chamber burning,
With suddain leap towards the window turning,
Thinks to cry Fire: but instantly the smoke
And Flame with-out, his with-in Voice do choke.
Another, sooner feels then sees the Fire.
For, while (O horror!) in the stinking mire
Of his foul Lust he lies, a Lightning flash
Him and his Love at-once to dust doth dash:
Th' abhorred Bed is burnt, and they, aswell
Coupled in Plague as Sin, are sent to Hell.
Another yet on tops of Houses crawls:
But his foot slips, and down at last he falls.
Another feeling all his cloathes a-fire,
Thinking to quench them yer it should come nigher,
Leaps in a Lake: but all the Lake began
To boyl and bubble like a seething Pan,
Or like a Chaldron that top-full of Oyl,
Environ'd round with fume and flame doth boyl,
To boyl to death som cunning counterfait
That with false stamp som Princes Coyn hath beat.
Another, seeing the City all in Cinders,
Himself for safety to the fields he renders;
But flakes of Fire from Heav'n distilling thick,
There th' horror of a thousand Deaths do strike.

Through Adamah's and Gomor's goodly Plains,
Sodom and Seboim not a soule remains:
Horse, Sheep, and Oxen, Cows and Kids partake
In this revenge, for their vile Masters sake.

Thus hath the hand of the Omnipotent
Inroll'd the Deed of their drad Punishment,
With Diamantin Pen, on Plates of Brass,
With such an Ink as nothing can deface:
The molten Marble of these cindred Hills,
Asphaltis Lake, and these poor mock-fruit Fields
Keep the Record; and cry through every Age,
How God detesteth such detested rage.

O chastisement most dradly-wonderfull!
Th' Heav'n-cindred Cities a broad standing Pool
O're-flowes (yet flowes not) whose infectious breath
Corrupts the Ayr, and Earth dis-fertileth:
A Lake, whose back, whose belly, and whose shoar,
Nor Bark, nor Fish, nor Fowl hath ever bore.
The pleasant Soyl that did (even) shame yer-while
The plentious beauties of the banks of Nile,
Now scarr'd, and collowed, with his face and head
Cover'd with ashes, is all dri'd and dead;
Voyd of all force, vitall, or vegetive;
Vpon whose brest nothing can live or thrive:
For, nought it bears save an abortiue suit
Of seeming-fair, false, vain, and fained fruit,
A fruit that feeds theey, and fills the hand,
But to the stomach in no steed doth stand.
For even before it touch the tender lips
Or Ivory teeth, in empty smoak it slips,
So vanishing: only, the nose receiues
A noysom savour, that (behinde) it leaues.

Heer, I adiure you, vent'rous Trauailours,
That visit th' horror of these cursed shoars,
And taste the venom of these stinking streams,
And touch the vain fruit of these wythered stems:
And also you that do beholde them thus
In these sad Verses pourtray'd heer by vs,
To tremble all, and with your pearly tears
To showr another Sea; and that your hairs
Staring vpright on your affrighted head
Heave-vp your Hats; and, in your dismall dread,
To think, you hear like Sulph'ry Storms to strike
On our n•w Monsters for Offences like.

For, the Almightie's drad all-daunting arm,
Not only strikes such as with Sodom swarm
In these foul Sins; but such as sigh or pity
Sodoms destruction, or so damn'd a City,
And cannot constant with dry eyes observe
God's iudgements iust on such as such deserve.

LOT hies to SEGOR: but his wife behinde
Lagged in body, but much more in minde:
She weeps and wails (O lamentable terror!
O impicus Pity! O kind-cruell error)
The dire destruction of the smoking Cities,
Her Sons-in-Law (which should haue been) she pities,
Grieves so to leave her goods, and she laments
To lose her Iewels and habiliments:
And (contrary to th' Angels Words precise)
Towards the Town she turns her wofull eyes.

But instantly, turn'd to a whitely stone,
Her feet (alas!) fast to the ground be growen;
The more she stirs, she sticks the faster in:
As silly Bird caught in a subtil gin,
Set by som Shepheard neer the Copses side,
The more it struggles is the faster ty'd.
And, as the venom of an eating Canker
From flesh to flesh runs every day the ranker,
And never rests, vntill from foot to head
O're all the Body his fell poyson spread:
This Ice creeps-vp, and ceaseth not to num,
Till even the marrow hard as bones becom,
The brain be like the seul, and bloud convert
To Alablaster over every part;
Her Pulse doth cease to beat, and in the air
The Windes no more can wave her scattered hair:
Her belly is no belly, but a Quar
Of Cardon Rocks, and all her bowels are
A pretious Salt-Mine, supernaturall,
Such, as (but Salt) I wot not what to call;
A Salt which (seeming to be fall'n from Heav'n)
To curious Spirits hath long this Lesson given,
Not to presume in Divine things to pry,
Which seav'n-times seal'd, vnder nine Locks do lie.
She weeps (alas!) and as she weeps, her tears
Turn into Pearls fro'rn on her twinkling hairs:
Fain would she speak, but (forced to conceal)
In her cold throat her guilty words congeal;
Her mouth yet open, and her arms a-cross,
Though dumb, declare both why and how she was
Thus Metamorphos'd: for, Heav'n did not change
Her last sad gestures in her suddain Change.

No gorgeous Ma•sole, grac't with flattering verse,
Eternizeth her Trunk her House, and Herse;
But, to this Day (strange will it seem to som)
One and the same is both the Corps and Tomb.

Almighty Father! Gracious God and Iust!
O! what hard-heartednes, what brutish Lust,
Pursueth man: if thou but turn thy face,
And take but from vs thy preventing grace:
And, if provoked for our past offences,
Thou give vs vp to our Concupiscences?

O Harran'• Nieces, you (LOTS daughters) saw
SODOM consumed in that Sulphury flaw:
Their Hills and Forrests calcined (in fine)
Their liberall fields sowen with a burning brine,
Their stately houses like a coal-pitsmoaking,
The Sun it self with their thick vapours choking:
So that within a yard for stinking smother
The Labourers could hardly knowe each other;
Their flowring Valley to a Fen exchang'd,
And your owne Mother to a Salt-stone chang'd:
Yet all (alas!) these famous Monuments
Of the iust rigour of God's Punishments
Cannot deter you: but even Sodom-like
Incestuously a holy-man you seek;
Even your owne Father, whom with wine you fill;
And then by turns intice him to your will:
Conceiving so (O can Heav'n suffer it!)
Even of that seed which did your selues beget:
Within your wombs you bear for nine months time
Th' vpbraiding burden of your shame-less Crime,
And troubling Kindred's names and Nature quight,
You both becom even in one very Night,
Wives to your Fathers, Sisters to your Sons,
And Mothers to your Brothers all at once;
All vnder colour, that thus living sole,
Sequestred thus in an vnhaunted hole,
Heav'ns envy should all ADAM'S race have reft,
And LOT alone should in the World be left.

Had't not been better, never to haue bred,
Than t'have conceived in so foul a bed?
Had't not been better never t'haue been Mothers,
Than by your Father, to have born your Brothers?
Had't not been better to the death to hate,
Then thus t'haue lov'd him, that you both begate?
Him, so much yours, that yours he mought not be?
Sith of these Rocks God could immediatly
Haue rais'd LOT Son-in-lawes; or, striking but
Th' Earths solid bosom with his brazen foot,
Out of the dust haue reared suddain swarms
Of People, stay'd in Peace, and stout in Arms.