The Second Week, Third Day, Part IV: The Captaines

THE ARGUMENT.

Iust-Duked IOSVAH cheers the Abramides
To CANAAN's Conquest: Iordan self-divides:
Re-Circumcision, what, and where, and why:
Sack• Iericho: Hai won (so Achan die):
Gabaonites guile: strange Hail: the Sun stands still:
Nature repines. Iews (Guide-les) prone to ill.
Adoni-Bezec. Sangar, DEBORA,
Barac and Iahel conquer SISARA.
Samuel succeeds: Iews craue a KING: a vie
Of People-Sway; States-Rule: and MONARCHIE.

HAil holy IORDAN, and you blessed Torrents
Of the pure Waters of whose crystal Currents
So many Saints have sipt. O Walls, that rest
Fair Monuments of many a famous Guest:
O Hills, O Dales, O Fields so flowry sweet,
Where Angels oft have set their sacred feet:
And thou O sacred Place, which wert the Cradle
Of th' onely MAN-GOD, and his happy Swadle:
And thou O Soil, which drank'st the crimsin Show•
That (for our health) out of his veins did pour:
And you fat Hillocks (which I take as given
For a firm pledge of the full ioyes of Heav'n)
Where Milk and Hony flowe; I see you all,
Vnder the conduct of my Generall
NVN's valiant Son: and vnder G•DEO's Sway,
SANGAR, and SAMSON, BARAC, DEBORA.

For, heer (braue Heroes) your high Feats I sing;
Thrice. sacred Spirit, thy speedie succour bring:
O Spirit, which wert their Guide, Guard, strength & stay,
Let not my Verse their Vertue's praise betray.

IOSVAH, by Favour nor by Bribes, obtains
A higher Rank then Royall Soveraigns
(Who buies in gross, he by retail must sell:
And who gives Favour, Favour asks as well):
He gets it not by Fortune (she is sight-les):
Neither by Force (for, who so enters (Right-les)
By Force, is forced to go out with shame):
Norsodain climbs he (raw) vnto the same
(For, to high Place, who mounts not step by step,
He coms not down, but head-long down doth leap):
But, even as that grave-gracefull Magistrate,
Which (now) with Conscience, Law doth Moderate,
Was first a Student (vnder others aw)
Then Barister, then Counseller at-Law,
Then Queens-Solicitor, then Roules-Arbitrer,
And then Lord-Keeper, now LORD CHANCELER;
He coms to 't by degrees: and having first
Show'n himself wise inspying Canaan yerst,
Faith-full to MOSES in his Ministrings,
And Stout in Fight against the Heathen Kings,
God makes him CAPTAIN, and the sacred Priests
Pronounce him so, the People pleased is.

But in his State yer he be stall'd (almost)
Set in the midst of God's beloved Hoast,
He thus dilates: O happy Legions deer,
Which sacred Arms vnder Heav'ns Ensignes bear,
Fear not that I, yet forty years, again
Your wandring Troops in these vast sands should train
'Twixt Hope and Fear: th' vn-hallowed Offerings,
The proud revolts, blasphemous Murmurings
Of your stiff Fathers, have with-holden rather
Then whole with-draw'n th' aid of your heav'nly Father:
God tenders it in time, and (pacifi'd)
Nills the set Term without effect should slide.
Serve him therfore, now take him at his word,
And now to Canaan march with one accord,
And bravely showe that th' Hoast of ISRAEL,
In Valour, far doth his drad Fame excell.

Courageous IACOB, ARAD's stoutest hearts
And strongest Holdes have prov'd thy Pikes and Darts,
The Madianits have thine Arms thunder knowen,
Th' hast razed Bazan, ransackt Hezebon,
Scap't scaly Serpents (in these Desarts vast)
Crost the Red-Sea, and Heav'n-prop SINA past,
And sent to Hell thy draddest Foes: Lo, now
God offers thee the Crown, accept it thou.

Then turning him to RVBEN and to GAD,
And to MANASSES, who their Portion had
By MOSES grant on Iordan's Eastern verge;
War-eloquent, he thus proceeds to vrge:
Can you (my Harts) finde in your hearts to leave
Your Ranks, and vs thus of your aids bereave?
Will you ly wrapped in soft beds a-sleep,
While in colde Trenches your poor Brethren keep?
Will you sit washing (when your Feasts be don)
In sweet Rose-water, while that Orion
His cloudy store in storm-full fury pours,
And drowns your Brethren with continuall showrs?
Will you go Dance and dally to and fro,
While in the Field they march to charge the Foe?
Will you expect a part with them in gain,
While they the blowes and all the brunt sustain?
God shield you should dishonour so your Blood:
Nay rather (leaving on this side the Flood
Your Wives and Children, and (vnfit for Battell)
Your aged Parents, and your Heards of Cattell)
Com arm your selves, t'advance our Victories,
And share with vs in Perill, as in Prize.

O noble Prince (then all the Hoast repli'd)
March-on a Gods name; and good Hap betide:
Were Canaan turn'd another Wildernes,
Were there before vs yet more crimsin Seas,
Were Horeb, Carmel, and Mount Se•r set
Each vpon other (vpto Heav'n to get)
We'll follow thee through all; and onely th' end
Of our owne lyves shall our brave Iourney end.

After the Ark, then march they in aray
Direct to Iordan, praising all the way
That living God, whose match-les mighty hand
Parted the Sea, that they might pass by land.

Hoar-headed Iordan neatly lodged was
In a large Cave, built all of beaten Glass;
Whose waved Seeling, with exceeding cost,
The Nymphs (his Daughters) rarely had imboss•
With Pearls and Rubies, and in-lay'd the rest
With Nacre checks, and Corall of the best:
A thousand Streamlings that n'er saw the Sun,
With tribute silver to his seruice run:
There, IRIS, AVSTER, and Clowds blewly black
Continually their licour leave and take:
There, th' aged Flood lay'd on his mossie bed
And pensive leaning his flag-shaggie head
Vpon a Tuft, where th' eating waves incroach,
Did gladly wait for ISRAELS approach:
Each hair he hath is a quick-flowing stream,
His sweat the gushing of a storm extream,
Each sigh a Billow, and each sob he sounds
A swelling Sea that over-flowes his bounds:
His weak gray eyes are alwaies seen to weep,
About his loins a rush-Belt wears he deep,
A Willow Wreathe about his wrinkled brows;
His Father NEREVS his complexion showes.

So soon as He their welcom rumour heard,
His frosty head aboue the Waues he rear'd,
With both his hands strook back behinde his ears
The waving Tresses of his weeping hairs,
And then perceiuing IACOB's Army stay'd
By his prowd streams; he chid them thus, and said:
Presumptuous Brook, dar'st thou (ingratefull Torrent)
Lift-vp thy horn, lash-out thy swelling Current
Against the Lord, and over-flowe thy bound
To stop his passage? Shall the Floods profound
Of the proud Ocean to his Hoast giue-way?
Shall Egypt's honour, shall that Gulf (I say)
That long large Sea, which with his plentious waues
A third or fourth part of the World be-laues;
Shall That yield humbly at his Servant's beck?
And thou, poor Rill, or gutter (in respect)
Resist himself (his glorious self) that Inns
Heer in his Ark, between the Cherubins?
And saying so, he on his shoulder flung
His deep wide Crock, tkat on his hip had hung,
And down his back powrs back-ward all his Course:
The stream returns towards his double source;
And, leaving dry a large deep lane betwixt,
The fearfull waues in heaped Hils were fixt,
To giue God place, and passage to his hoast,
Towards their Promis'd and appointed coast.

So, dry they pass (after the sacred Oracle)
And leaue Memorials of that famous Miracle
Vpon Mount Gilgal: and their flesh anon
They seal with Signe of their Adoption.
For, the All-guiding God, th' Almighty Prince,
To giue His som speciall difference,
Will'd that all Males of Abram's Progenies
With sacred Rasor should them Circumcise;
And ever-more, that Isaac's blessed Race
Should in their Fore-skin bear his gage of Grace.

But, why (sayst thou) should ancient ISRAEL,
In such a secret place Record and Seal
Th' Act of the Covenant: and with bloody smart,
Ingraue their glory in a shamefull part?

Who blushes at it, is a grace-less Beast:
Who shames to see the Signe of Grace imprest
In shamefull part, he is asham'd of CHRIST
Born of that Race, and selfly Circumcis'd.

A hundred subtill Reasons from the Writs
Of Rabines could I bring: but, sober Wits
Rest satisfied, conceiving that th' incision
Of th' obscoene Fore-•kin, signifies th' abscision,
Or sacred cutting-off of foul Affects,
Beseeming those whom God, for his, elects:
That God the Fruits of Flesh and Blood doth hate:
And that through CHRIST we must regenerate.

Now, th' Hebrews kept their Pass-over: and go
(By Heav'ns address) to mighty Iericho,
Besieging so the City round about,
That fear got in, but nothing could get out.

Souldiers (sayd then th' vndaunted Generall)
Prepare no Mattocks, Ladders, nor Rams at all,
To myne, or scale, or batter-down these Towrs:
The great, the high, the mighty God of Powrs
Will fight himself alone: and then he bod
(As first himself had been inform'd by God)
That dayly once they all should march the Round
About the City, with horn-Trumpets sound,
Bearing about for only Banneret,
The lightfull Ark, GOD's sacred Cabinet:
Their swords vn-draw'n, not making any noyse,
Threat-less their brows, and without braves their voyce,
No shaft to shoot, no signe of War, no glance,
And even their March doth rather seem a dance.

What Childre-spell? what May-game haue we heer?
What, dare you (Gallants) dare you com no neer?
Is this your braue Assault? is this your Fight?
Ween you with Scar-crowes vs (like birds) to fright?
(Said the besieged) get you som where els
(Poorsots) to showe your Bug-bears and your spels:
Cease your hoarse musick, leaue the stage alone:
Fools, draw the Curten, now your Play is done.

Six dayes together had the Hebrews thus't
About the town, seaven-times the seaventh they must;
When sacred Levits sound more lowd and high
Their horny Trumps; then all the people cry
Com, com (great God) com, batter, batter down
These odious walls, this Idol-wedded Town.

It cracks in th' instant, the foundation shrinks,
The mortar crumbles from the yawning chinks,
Each stone is loose, and all the wall doth quiver,
And all at once vnto the ground doth shiver
With hideous noyse; and th' Heathen Guarison
Is but immur'd with Clowds of dust alone:
So shall you see a Clowd-crown'd Hill somtime,
Torn from a greater by the waste of Time,
Dreadly to shake, and boundling down to hop;
And roaring, heer it roules tall Cedars vp,
There aged Oaks; it turns, it spurns, it hales
The lower Rocks into th' affrighted Vales,
There sadly sinks, or suddain stops the way
Of som swift Torrent hasting to the Sea.

Boast you (O Bombards) that you Thunder drown:
And vaunt you (Mines) that you turn vp side-down
Rampires and Towrs, and Walls the massie-most:
Yet, your exploits require both time and cost;
You make but a small breach, but a rough way,
And (by mischance) oft your owne side betray.
But, th' Hebrews with a suddain showt and cry,
A whole great Town dis-mantle instantly,
And (vnresisted) entring every-where,
They exercise all hostile vengeance there.
And, as a sort of lusty Bil-men, set
In Wood-sale time to fell a Cops, by great;
Be-stir them so, that so on with sweating pain,
They turn an Oak-groue to a Field of grain:
So th' Hebrew Hoast, without remorse or pitty,
Through all sad corners of the open City,
Burn, break, destroy, bathe them in blood, and toyl
To lay all levell with the trampled soyl:
The Idol's Temples, and the delicat
Prince-Palaces are quickly beaten flat:
The Fire lowd-crackling with the Clowds doth meet,
A bloody Torrent runs through every street,
Their venge-full sword spares neither great nor small;
Neither the Childe that on his hands doth crawl,
Nor him that wears snowe on his shaking head,
Ice in his heart; nor the least Beast they bred.
A deed (indeed) more worthy th' Hesiline,
Than th' holy Hebrews; had the voyce Divine
Not charg'd them so, and choycely armed them
'Gainst Iericho, with his owne Anathem:
Reserving only for his Sacred Place,
The Gold and Silver, th' Iron and the Brass.

Yet sacrilegious Achan dar'd to hoord
Som precious Pillage: which incenst the Lord
Against the Camp, so that he let them fly
(For this Offence) before their Enemy.
For, when three thousand chosen Israelites
Were sent to Hai t' assault the Cananites,
The Town all arm's: their Prince the forwardest
(No less-brave Souldier then bold Athëist)
Arms the broad mountain of his hairy breast,
With horrid scales of Nilus greedy beast:
His brawny arms and shoulders, with the skin
Of the dart-darting wily Porcupin:
He wears for Helm a Dragon's ghastly head,
Wher-on for Plume a huge Horse-tail doth spread;
Not much vnlike a Birch-tree bare belowe,
Which at the top in a thick tuft doth growe,
Waving with every winde, and made to kiss
Th' Earth, now on that side, and anon on this:
In Quyver made of Lezard's skins he wears
His poysoned Arrows; and the Bowe he bears,
Is of a mighty Tree strung with a Cable,
His Shaft a Lever, whose keen head is able
To pearce all proof, stone, steel, and Diamant.
Thus furnished, the Tyrant thus doth vaunt:
Sirs, shall we suffer this ignoble Race,
Thus shamefully vs from our Owne to chase?
Shall they be Victors yer they overcom?
Shall our Possessions and our Plenty com
Among these Mongrels? Tush: let Children quake
At dreams of ABRAM: let faint Women shake
At their drad God, at their Sea-drying Lord;
I knowe no Gods, aboue my glittering Sword:
This sayd, he sallies, and assaults the Foe
With furious skirmish, and doth charge them so,
As stormy billows rush against a Rock:
As boystrous windes (that haue their prison broak)
Roar on a Forrest: as Heav'ns sulph'ry Flash
Against proud Mountains surly brows doth dash.

The sacred Troops (to conquer alwayes wont)
Could not sustain his first Tempestuous brunt,
But turn their backs: and as they fly amain,
Four less than fourty of their band were slain.

The son of NVN then (with th' Isacian Peers)
Before the Ark in postrate wise appears;
Sack on his back, dust on his head, his eyes
Even great with tears, thus to the Lord he cries:
O! what alas? what haue we don, O Lord?
The People, destin'd to thy Peoples sword,
Conquers thy people; and the Cananites
(Against thy Promise) chase the Israelites.
O Lord, why did not Iordans rapid Tyde,
Still stay our Hoast vpon the other side?
Sith heer, in hope, to get the Promis'd more,
We hazzard all that we had won before.
Regard, and guard vs; nay, regard thy Name:
O! suffer not the seed of Abraham
(Almighty Father, O thou God most high!)
To be expos'd to Heathen's Tyranny!
Much less thy sacred Ark, for them to burn:
And least of all, thy glorious Self, to scorn.

IOSVAH (sayd God) let th' Hoast be sanctifi'd,
And let the Church-thief die, that dar'd to hide
Th' vn-lawfull Pillage of that cursed Town
(Thy Mayden Conquest, prime of thy Renown):
Then shalt thou vanquish, and the lofty Towrs
Of HAI, shal fall vnder thy war-like powrs.

The morrow next, after the great Assise,
ACHAN (convicted, not by bare surmize,
But by God's Spirit, which vndermines our mindes,
And cleerly sees our secretest designes,
To whom, Chance is no Chance, and Lot no Lot,
To whom the Die vncertain rouleth not)
Is brought without the Hoast, with all hee hath,
And sacrifiç'd vnto th' Almighties wrath.

Now, between Bethel and HAI's western wall,
There lies a valley close inviron'd all
Between the forking of a Hill so high,
That it is hidden from all passers-by:
Whose horned clifts, belowe are hollowed,
And with two Forrests arbour'd over-head;
'Tis long and narrow; and a rapid Torrent,
Bounding from Rock to Rock with roaring Current,
Deaffens the Shepheards: so that it should seem
Nature fore-cast it for som stratagem.

Thither the Duke (soon after mid-night) guides
His choycest Bands, and them there war'ly hides:
Ech keeps his place, none speaks, none spits, none coughs;
But all as still, as if they marchton moss:
So fallow Wolues, when they intend to set
On fearfull flocks that in their Folds do bleat.
Through silent darkness secret ways do groap;
Their feet are feathered with the wings of hope.
They hold their breath, and so still vn-descri'd,
They pass hard by the watchfull Mastie's side.

Mean-while the howrs opened the doors of Day,
To let out Titan that must needs away:
Whose radiant tresses, but with trayling on,
Began to gild the top of Libanon;
When, with the rest of all his Hoast, the GRAVE
Marcheth amain to giue the Town a braue,
They straight re-charge him: as in season warm
The hony-makers busie-buzzing swarm,
With humming threats throngs from the little gates
Of their round Towr, and with their little hates
Fiercely assail, and wound the naked skins
Of such as come to rob their curious Inns.

Why (Cowards) dare you com again for blowes.
Or, do you long your wretched liues to lose?
Com, we are for you; wee'll dispatch you soon,
And for the many wrongs that you haue don
Vnto ourselues, our Neighbours, and our Friends,
This day our swords shall make vs full amends
(Cry th' Amorites): and th' Hebrew Captain then
Flies, as affraid, and with him all his men
Disorderly retire; still faining so,
Till (politik) he hath in-trayn'd the Foe
Right to his Ambush: then the Souldiers there
Hid in the Vale, hearing their noyse so neer,
Would fain be at them, were they not with-held
By threatning gestures of Commanding Eld:
So haue I seen on LAMBORN's pleasant Douns,
When yelping Begles or sons deeper Hounds
Haue start a Hare, how milk-white Minks and Lun
(Gray-bitches both, the best that ever run)
Held in one leash, haue leapt and strain'd, and whin'd
To be restrain'd, till (to their masters minde)
They might be slipt, to purpose; that (for sport)
Watt might haue law, neither too-long nor short.

But, when the Heathen had the ambush past,
The Duke thus cheers his sacred Troops as fast,
Sa, sa, my Hearts; turn, turn again vpon-them,
They are your owne, now charge, and cheerly on-them.
His ready Souldiers at a beck obay,
And on their Foes courageous load they lay;
They shoot, they shock, they strike, they stab, they kill
Th' vnhallowed Currs, that yet resisted still;
Vntill behinde them a new storm arose
With horrid noyse, which daunts not only those,
But with the fury of it's force doth make
The Hills and Forrests, and even Hell to quake.

Pagans, what will you do? if heer you fly,
You fall on Caleb, where y' are sure to dy:
If there, on Iosuah: O vnfortunate.
Your help-less Gods in vain you invocate.
Y'are (O forlorn!) like Rabbets round be-set
With wily Hunters, Dogs, and deadly Net:
With shrill Sa-haw, heer-heer-ho, heer-again,
The Warren rings; th' amazed Game amain
Runs heer and there; but, if they scape away
From Hounds, staues kill them; if from staues, the Hay.
Yield, yield, and die then, striue not to retire:
For, even in death behold your Town a-fire.

Then Gabaon, a mighty City neer,
That these Exploits of Heav'ns drad hand did hear,
Sent subtilly, to League with Israel.
No: y' are deceiv'd (sayd then th' Arch-Colonel)
The Cananites are destin'd long ago
To Fire and Sword, and vtter Over-throwe;
From Heav'ns high Iudge the sentence doth proceed:
Man may not alter what God hath decreed.

Alas! my Lord reply'd th' Embassadors)
You may perceiue we are no Borderers
Vpon these countries; For, our sutes, our slops,
Our hose and shoos, were new out of the shops
When we set forth from home; and even that day
This Bread was baked when we came away;
But the long Iourney, we haue gon, hath wore
Our cloaths to rags, and turn'd our Victuals hoar.
W' adiure you therefore in the sacred name
Of that drad GOD to whom your vows you frame,
By the sweet ayr of this delightfull Coast,
By the good Angell that conducts your Hoast,
By deer Embraces of your deerer Wiues,
And by your Babes (even) deerer then your liues;
By each of these, and all of these together,
And by your Arms, whose Fame hath drawen vs hither,
T' haue pitty on vs, and to swear vnto-vs,
To saue our liues. and not so to vndo-vs,
As these neer Nations: Israel accords,
And with an Oath confirms the solemn words.

So, I (good Lord) perceiving all the Seed
Of Sin-full Adam, vnto Death decreed,
Doom'd to the Vengeance of thy Fury fell,
And damn'd for ever to the deepest Hell.
Would fain be free: but, if I should (alas!)
Com, as I am, before thy glorious face,
Thou (righteous God) wilt turn thine eyes away;
For, Flesh and Blood possess not Heav'n, for ay;
And, the strict Rigour of thy Iustice pure
Cannot (O Lord) the least of sins endure.
Oh then! what shall I do? I'll similize
These Gabaonites: I will myself disguize
To gull thee, Lord (for, even a holy Guile
Findes with thee grace and fauour often-while):
I'll put-on (crafty) not the cloak of Pride
(For, that was it whereby our Grandsires di'd,
And Lucifer, with his associates, fell
From Ioys of Heav'n, into the Pains of hel):
But th' humble Fleece of that sweet sacred Lamb
Which (for our sakes) vpon the Cross became
So torn and tatter'd; which the most refuse:
Scorn of the Gentiles, Scandal of the Iewes.
And, as a piece of Silver, Tyn, or Lead,
By cunning hands with Gold is covered;
I, that am all but Lead (or dross, more base)
In fervent Crusible of thy free Grace,
I'll gild me all with his pure Beautie's Gold:
Born a new man (by Faith) I'll kill mine old:
In Spirit and Life, Christ shall be mine example,
His Spirit shall be my spirit. and I his Temple.

I beeing thus in Christ, and Christ in me,
O! wilt thou, canst thou, driue vs farre from thee?
Deprive from promis'd new-Ierusalem,
Christ thine owne Likenes, and me, like to him?
Bannish from Heav'n (whose Blis• shal never vade)
Thy Christ, by whom; and me, for whom 't was made?

But, O presumption! O too rash Designe!
Alas! to Will it only, is not mine:
And, though I Would, my flesh (too-Winter-chill)
My Spirit's small sparkles doth extinguish still.

O! therfore thou, thou that canst all, alone;
All-sacred Father's like all-sacred Son,
Through thy deep Mercy daign thou to transform
Into thy Self me sin-full silly worm;
That so, I may be welcom to my God,
And liue in Peace, not where the Iewes abode,
But in Heav'n-Sion: and that thou maist be
Th' vniting glew between my God and me.
Now, Eglon's, Hebron's, Iarmuth's, Salem's Lords,
And Lachis Kingling (after these Accords)
Wroth that their Neighbours had betrayed so
Their common Country, to their common Foe,
Had made so great a breach, and by the hand
Led (as it were) th' Hebrews into their Land;
Set-vpon Gabaon: but th' Isacian Prince,
As iust as valiant, hastes to hunt them thence;
And, resolute to rescue his Allies,
He straight bids Battail to their Enemies.

The Fight growes fierce; and winged Victory,
Shaking her Laurels, rusht confusedly
Into the midst; she goes, and coms, and goes,
And now she leans to these, and now to those.
Auster the while from neighbour Mountains arms
A hundred Winters, and a hundred storms
With huge great Hail-shot, driving fiercely-fell
In the stearn visage of the Infidel:
The roaring Tempest violently retorts
Vpon themselues the Pagans whirling darts,
And in their owne breasts, their owne Launces bore,
Wher-with they threatned th' Hoast of God before:
And (even) as if it enuied the Renown
Of valiant Iosuah (now by Ganges knowen)
With furious shock, the formost Ranks it whirr'd
Vpon the next, the second on the third:
Even as a Bridge of Cards, which Play-full Childe
Doth in an evening on a Carpet build,
When som Wag by, vpon his Work doth blowe;
If one Arch fail, the rest fall all arowe
Each vpon other, and the Childe he Cries
For his lost labour, and again he tries.

If any, resting on his knotty Spear
.Gainst Arms and storms, yet stand out stifly there,
Th' Hail, which the Winde full in his face doth yerk,
Sma•ter than Racquets in a Courtre-ierk
Balls 'gainst the Walls of the black-boorded house,
Beats out his eyes, battters his nose, and brows.
Then turn the Pagans, but without a vail:
For, instantly the stony storm of Hail
Which flew direct a-front, direct now falls
Plumb on their heads, and cleaues their sculs and cauls:
And ever, as they waver to and fro,
Over their Hoast the Haily Clowd doth go:
And never hits one Hebrue, though between,
But a sword's length (or not so much) be seen:
A bluckler one, another a bright helm
Over his threatened or sick head doth whelm;
But the shield broken, and helm beaten in,
Th' Hail makes the hurt bite on the bloody green.

Those, that escape, be take them to their heels;
Iosuah pursues: and though his sweat distills
From every part, he wounds, he kills, he cleaues:
Neither the Fight imperfect so he leaues,
But full of faithfull zeal and zealous faith,
Thus (O strange language!) thus alowd he saith;

Beam of th' Eternall, daies bright Champion,
Spiall of Nature, O all-seeing Sun,
Stay, stand thou still, stand still in Gabaon;
And thou, O Moon i' th' vale of Aialon,
That th' Ammorites now by their hare-like flight
Scape no• my hands vnder all-hiding Night.
As a Caroche, draw'n by foure lusty steeds,
In a smooth way whirling with all their speeds,
Stops suddainly, if't slip into a slough,
Or if it cross som Log or massie bough;
The Day-reducing Chariot of the Sun,
Which now began, towards his West to run,
Stops instantly, and giues the Hebrews space
To rid the Pagans that they haue in chase.

Nature, amaz'd; for very anger shakes,
And to th' Almighty her complaint she makes:
Seemly she marches with a measur'd pase,
Choler puts colour in her lovely face,
From either nipple of her bosom-Twins
A liuely spring of pleasant milk their spins,
Vpon her shoulders (Atlas-like) she bears
The frame of All, down by her side shee wears
A golden Key, wher-with shee lette•h-forth,
And locketh-vp the Treasures of the Earth:
A sumptuous Mantle to her heels hangs down,
Wher-in the Heavens, the Earth, and Sea is showen;
The Sea in Silver woven, the Earth in Green,
The Heav'ns in azure, with gold threds between:
All-quickning Loue, fresh Beauty, smiling Youth,
And Fruitfulness, each for her fauour su'th:
Grace still attends ready to do her honour,
Riches and Plenty alwayes wait vpon her.

Accoutred thus, and thus accompani'd,
With thousand sighs, thus to the Lord she cri'd:
Shall it be sayd, a Man doth Heav'n command?
Wilt thou permit a braving Souldiers hand
To wrong thine eldest Daughter? ah! shall I
Haue the bare Name, and He th' authority
To Govern all, and all controul (O Lord)
With the bare winde of his ambitious word?
Shall I (the World's Law) then, receiue the Law
At others hands? of others stand in aw?
If't be thy pleasure, or thou think it fit,
To haue it so, or so to suffer it,
(Pardon me, Father, that I am so free)
I heer surrender thy Lieutenancy:
Bestow't on him, put all into his hand:
Who Heav'ns commands, He well may Earth command.

Why (daughter) know'st thou not (God answers her)
That many times my Mercy doth transfer
Into my Children mine owne power, wher-by
They work (not seldom) mine owne Wonders high?
That th' are my sacred Vice-Roys? and that Hee,
Who (stript of Flesh) by Faith is ioyn'd to me,
May remove Mountains, may dry-vp the Seas,
May make an Ocean of a Wilderness?
Th' hast seen it, Daughter: therfore, but thou pine
In Ielousie of this drad arm of mine,
Grudge not at theirs: for they can nothing do,
But what my Spirit inables them vnto.

O happy Prince! I wonder not at all,
If at thy feet the stout Anachian fall,
If th' Amorrhite, Hevite, and Canaanite,
The Pheresite, Hethite, and Iebusite,
And. huge Basanian, by thy daunt-les Hoast
Were over-throwen: and, if as swift (almost)
As my slowe Muse thy sacred Conquests sings,
Thou Cam'st, Saw'st, Conquer'dst more then thirty Kings;
Sub duing Syria, and dividing it
Vnto twelve Kindreds in twelve portions fit:
Sith (O grand Vicar of th' Almighty Lord)
With onely summons of thy mighty Word,
Thou makest Rivers the most deafly-deep
To lobstarize (back to their source to creep);
Walls giue thee way: after thy Trumpets charge,
Rock-rushing Tempests do retreat, or charge:
Sol's at thy service: and the starry Pole
Is proud to pass vnder thy Muster-Roule.

As a blind man, forsaken of his guide
In som thick Forest, sad and self-beside,
Takes now a broad, anon a narrow path,
His groaping hand his (late) eys office hath,
Heer at a stub he stumbles, there the bushes
Rake-off his Cloak, heer on a Tree he rushes,
Strayes in and out, turns, this and that way tries,
And at the last falls in a Pit, and dies:
Even so (alas!) having their Captain lost,
So blindely wanders IACOB's wilfull Hoast,
Contemns the Fountain of God's sacred Law,
From I doll-Puddles poysoning drink to draw;
Forsakes th' olde true God, and new fals-gods fains,
And with the Heathen friendship entertains.

Th' Almighty saw it (for, what sees he not?)
And so dainly his fury waxed hot;
And on their neck, for his sweet yoak, he layd
The Strangers yoak that hard and heavy waigh'd.
But, as an Infant which the Nurce lets go
To go alone, waves weakly to and fro,
Feels his feet fail, cries out, and but (alas!)
For her quick hand, would fall and break his face:
So IACOB, iustly made afflictions thrall,
Is never ready in the Pit to fall
Of pale Despair, but (if he cry, and craue-him)
God still extends his gracious hand to save-him;
Raysing som Worthy that may break insunder
The Gyves and Fetters that he labours vnder.

So then, assisted by th' immortall hand,
Brave ISRAEL brings vnder his Command
IERVSALEM, LVS, BETHEL, ACCARON,
SESAI, and THOLMAI, GAZA, and ASCALON,
And BEZEC too; whose bloudy Tyrant, fled,
Is caught again, and payd with Cake for Bread:
To self-taught Torture he himself is put,
His sacrilegeous Thumbs and Toes be cut.
Whereby, more inly prickt, then outly payn'd,
God's Vengeance iust he thus confess't, and playn'd;

O hand, late Scepter-graç't! O hand, that late
EGYPT did dread, and EDOM tremble at!
O hand, that (armed) durst even MARS defie,
And could'st have pull'd proud IVPITER from high!
Now, where-to serv'st thou, but t' augment my moan?
Thou canst not now buckle mine Armour on;
Nor wield my mighty Launce with brazen head,
Ah! no (alas!) thou canst not cut my bread.
O feet (late) winged to pursue the flight
Of hundred Armies that I foyl'd in fight,
Now you haue lost your office. now (alas!)
You cannot march; but limp about this place.

But, 'tis the iust God, the iust hand of Heav'n
In mine owne Coin hath me my payment given:
For, seventy Kings, thus maim'd of Toes and Thumbs,
I, insolent, haue made to lick the crums
Vnder my boord (like Dogs) and drawen perforce
To serue for blocks when I should mount my horse.

Therefore (O Kings!) by mine example learn
To bound your rage, limit your fury stearn:
O Conquerers! be warned all by me;
Be to your Thralls, as God to you shall be:
Men, pitty Man, wretched and over-throwen;
And think his case may one-day be your owne:
For, Chance doth change: and none aliue can say,
He happy is, vntill his dying day:
The Foe that after Victorie survives,
Not for himself but for your glorie liues:
Th' Oliue's aboue the Palm: and th' happiest King
His greatest Triumph, is Self-triumphing.

But Israel, wallowing in his myre again,
Soon lost the glory former Arms did gain;
And goods and bodies easie booties bin
To Aram, Moab, and the Phil•st•m.
What help (O Iacob)? th' hast nor arms, nor head,
Thy Fields with bones of thine owne bands be spread,
And th' only name of thy profaner Foe,
Congeals thy blood, and chils thy heart for Woe.

Fly, fly, and hie thee quickly to recover
The all-proof Target of thine ancient Lover,
Thy gracious God, the glorious Tyrant-tamer,
Terror of terrors, Heathen's dreadfull hammer.
Ah! see already how he rescues thee
From th' odious yoak of Pagan Tyranny,
Breaking the Fetters of thy bondage fell,
By Ahod, Barac, and Othoniel,
And Goad-man SANGAR, whose industrious hand
With Ox-teem tills his tributary Land,
When Philistins, with Sword and Fiery fury,
Slaughter the Iews, and over-run all Iury,
Deflowr the Virgins, and with lustfull-spight
Ravish chaste Matrons in their Husbands sight:

He leaues his Plough, he calls vpon his God,
And onely armed with his slender Goad,
Alone he sets on all the Heathen Camp:
A Pagan Captain weens him thus to damp;
What means this Fool (saith he)? go silly Clown,
Get thee to Plough, go home and till thy ground,
Go prick thy Bullocks; leave the Works of MARS
To my long-train'd, still-conquering Souldiars.

First learn thou Dog (replies the Israelite)
To knowe my strength (rather th' Almightie's might):
And on his head he layes him on such load
With two quick vennies of his knotty Goad,
And with the third, thrusts him between the eyes,
That down he falls. shaking his heels, and dies.

Then steps another forth, more stout and grim,
Shaking his Pike, and fierce lets fly at him:
But SANGAR shuns the blowe, and with his stroak,
The Pagan leg short-off in sunder broak;
On th' other yet, a while he stands and fights:
But th' Hebrew Champion such a back-blowesmights
That flat he layes him; then with fury born,
Forward he leap•, and in a Martial scorn,
Vpon his panch sets his victorious foot,
And treads and tramples, and so stamps into't,
That bloud and bowels (mingled with the bruse)
Half at his mouth, half at his sides he spews:
As, on Wine-hurdles those that dance (for meed)
Make with sweet Nectar every wound to bleed,
Each Grape to weep, and crimsin streams to spin
Into the Vate, set to receiue them in.

Thence thirty steps, a chief Commander prest,
And prowdly wags his feather-clouded Crest,
And cries, Com hither (Cow-heard) com thou hither,
Com let vs cope, but thou and I together;
I'll teach thee (peasant) and that quickly too,
Thou hast not with thy fellow swains to doe,
That on Mount Carmel's stormy top do feed.
No, heer (poorsot) thou other fence shalt need.
SANGAR runs at him, and he runs so fierce,
That on his staf, him six steps back he bears;
Bears down another with him, and another,
That but with gesture stood directing other:
As, when 'tis dark, when 't rains, and blusters rough,
A thund'ring tempest with a sulphury puff
Breaks down a mighty Gate, and that another,
And that a third, each opposite to other:
Smoak, dust, and door-falls, with storms roaring din,
Dismay the stoutest that command within;
The common sort (beside their little wits)
Scarr'd from their beds, dare not abide the streets:
But, in their shirts over the walls they run,
And so their Town, ye• it be ta'en, is wun;
The suddain Storm so inly-deep dismaies-them,
That fear of Taking, to despair betrays them.

Amid their Hoast, then brauely rushes SANGAR,
His sinnewy arm answers his sacred Anger:
Who flies, or follows, he alike besteads:
On scattered heaps of slaughtered Foes he treads.
This, with his elbow heer he over-turns,
That, with his brow; this, with his foot he spurns;
Heer, with his Staff he makes in shivers fly
Both cask and scull, and there he breaks a thigh,
An arm, a leg, a rib, a chin, a cheek;
And th' hungry Shepheard hardly beats so thick
Nuts from a Tree, as SANGAR Foes beats down:
With swords and shields, and shafts, the Field is sowen:
Alone he foils a Camp: and on the Plain
Therely six hundred of the Heathen slain.

Almighty God, how thou to Thine art good!
Thy peoples Foes are not alone subdu'd
By a rude Clown, whose hard-wrought hands, before
Nothing but spades, coulters, and bills had bore:
But, by a silly Woman, to whose hand
Thou for a time committest the Command
Of ISRAEL: for, of no other Head,
Nor Law, nor Lord, they for a time are sped,
But prudent DEBORA: vnto whose Throne
Fly those whose heads with age are hoary growen,
And those great Rabbies that do grauely sit,
Revolving volumes of the highest Writ,
And He that in the Tabernacle serues,
Her sacred voyce as Oracles obserues:
None from her presence ever coms confus'd.
And, got on skill, giues place to skill infus'd.

O IACOB'S Lanthorn, Load-star pure, which lights
On these rough Seas the rest of Abramites
(Said then the People) what shall vs befall?
IABIN'S fell yoak our weary necks doth gall:
We are the Butts vnto all Pagan darts,
And colde Despair knocks at our doors (our hearts).

ISRAEL (saith shee) be of good cheer; for now
God wars vpon your Foes, and leagues with you:
Therfore to Field now let your youth advance,
And in their rests couch the revenging Launce:
This sayd, on BARAC she a Shield bestowes,
Indented on the brims, which plain fore-showes
Incurious Boss-work (that doth neatly swell)
The (won and lost) Battails of Israel,
As an abbridgement, where to life appear
The noblest Acts of eight or nine score year.

Lo heer an army, stooping by the side
Of a deep River (with their Thirst half dri'd)
Sups, licks, and laps the stream: of all which rout,
The Captain chuses but three hundred out,
And arming each but with a Trump and Torch,
About a mighty Pagan Hoast doth march,
Making the same, through their drad sodain sound,
With their owne Arms themselues to inter-wound:
A hellish rage of mutuall fury swels
The bloudy hearts of barbarous Infidels,
So that the friends that in one Couch did sleep,
Each others blade in eithers brest do steep:
And all the Camp with head-les dead is sowen,
Cut-off by Cozen-swords, kill'd by their owne.

Lo there, another valiant Champion,
Who having late triumphant Laurels won;
His heed-les Vow (in-humane) to ful-fill,
His onely Daughter doth vnkindly kill:
The frantik Mother, all vnbraç't (alas!)
With silver locks vnkemb'd about her face;
Arming her rage, with nails, with teeth, and tongue,
Runs-in, and rushes through the thickest throng:
And, she will saue, and she will haue (she sayes)
Her Deer, her Daughter; and then hold she layes
Vpon the Maid, and tearing-off her Coat,
Away she runs, thinking she her had got.

The Priest dissolues in tears, th' Offring is cheerfull.
The Murdred's valiant, and the Murderer fearfull;
The Father leads with slowe and feeble pase.
The Daughter seems to run to death a-pace,
As if the Chaplet that her temples ties,
Were Hymen's Flowrs, not Flowrs for Sacrifice:
Her grace and beauties still augment; (in •ine)
Who so beholds her sweet, loue-darting Eyn,
Her Cheeks, Lips, Brow's; fresh Lillies, Coral, Iet:
He sees (or seems to see) a Sun to set.
And (to conclude) the Graver, Maul, and Mould,
Haue given such life to th' Iron, Brass, and Gold,
That heer wants nothing but the Mothers screech,
The Father's sigh, and the sweet Daughter's speech.

Lo heer, another shakes his vnshav'n tresses,
Triumphing on a Lion torn in peeces:
O match-les Champion! Pearl of men-at-arms,
That emptiest not an Arcenal of Arms,
Nor needest shops of Lemnian Armourers,
To furnish weapons for thy glorious Wars:
An Asse's Iaw-bone is the Club wher-with
Thy mighty arm, brains, beats, and battereth
Th' vncircumcised •amp. all quickly scud;
And th' Hoast that •lew in dust, now flowes in bloud.
Heer, th' Iron Gates, whose hugeness woont to shake
The massie Towrs of Gaza, thou doost take
On thy broad shoulders: there (in seeming iest)
Crushing their Palace-pillars (at a feast)
Thou over-whelm'st the House, and with the fall
The Philistins blaspheming Princes all.
Heer, from ones head, which two huge coins do crush,
(As whay from Cheese) the battred brains do gush:
Heer lies another in a deadly sound.
Nail'd with a broken rafter to the ground:
Another, heer pasht with a pane of wall,
Hath lost his soule, and bodies shape withall:
Another, heer o're-taken as he fled,
Lies (Tortois-like) all hidden but the head:
Another covered with a heap of lome,
Seems with his mooving to re-moue his Toomb:
Even as the soft, blinde, Mine-inventing Moule,
In velvet Robes vnder the Earth doth roule,
Refusing light, and little air receives,
And hunting worms her mooving hillocks heaves.

Lo lower heer, a beastly Multitude
On one poor Woman all their lusts intrude;
Whose Spouse (displeas'd with th' execrable Fact)
Into twelue Peeces her dead Body hackt;
And, to twelve Parts of ISRAEL them transfers,
As twelue quick tinders of intest in Wars.

And lower yet, behold) with hatefull scorn)
The ARK of God to DAGON'S Temple born;
But, th' Idol yeelds to GOD, and DAGON falls
Before the ARK, which Heathen's pride appalls.

BARAC thus arm'd, th' ASORIANS sets-vpon,
That bright in brass, steel, gold, and silver shone:
But, his young Souldiers were much daunted tho,
To see the fearfull Engins of the Foe.
Nine hundred Chariots, whirling swift and light.
Whose glistering irons dazle even their sight;
Whose barded Steeds bear in their heads a Blade
Of the right temper of DAMASCVS made
(As proud of it, as Vnicorns are wont
Of their rich Weapon that adorns their front)
Amidst their Pettral stands another Pike:
On either-side, long grapples (Sickle-like);
The like at either Nave: so that (in Wars)
'Tis present death t' approach these broaching Cars.

But DEBORA, her Troops incouraging,
Bestirs her quick, and steps from wing to wing:
Courage (sayth she) brave Souldiers, sacred Knights,
Strike, and strike home, lay-on with all your mights:
Stand, fear them not (O Champions of the Faith)
God drives your Foes into the snares of Death.
Doubt-les, they are your owne: their armed Charrets
They are but Buggs to daunt deiected spirits.
No, no (my Hearts) not Arms, nor Engines glorious,
But 'tis the heart that makes a Camp victorious:
Or rather, 'tis God's Thunder-throwing hand,
Which onely doth all Warr's success command:
And, VICTORIE'S his Daughter, whom he now
(For his owne sake) frankly bestowes on you.

Even as a sort of Shepheards, having spi'd
A Wolf com stealing down a Mountains side,
Cry shrill, Now-now, vp-hill, a Wolf a Wolf.
Now, now (sayes Eccho) vp-hill, a Wolf, a Wolf;
And such a noyse between the Vales doth rise,
That th' hungry Thief hence without hunting flies:
So th' Hebrews, heartned with her brave Discourse,
Gave such a showt, that th' armed Carrs and Horse
Turn suddain back, their Drivers Art deceiue.
And, changing side, through their owne Army cleave.

Som, with the blades in every Coursers brow,
Were (as with Launces) gored through and through:
Som torn in peeces with the whirling wheels,
Som trod to death vnder the Horses heels:
As (in som Countries) when in Season hot,
Vnder Horse feet (made with a whip to trot)
They vse to thresh the sheaves of Winter-Corn,
The grain spurts-out, the straw is bruis'd and torn.
Som (not direct before the Horse, nor vnder)
Were with the Sythes mow'n in the midst a-sunder:
As in a Mead the Grass yet in the flowr,
Falls at the foot of the wide-straddling Mower,
That with a stooping back, and stretched arm,
Cuts-cross the swathes to Winter-feed his Farm.

If there rest any resolute, and loth
To lose so soon their Arms and honors both
At first assault, but rather brauely bent
To see so fierce and bloudy Fight's event;
Both DEBORA and BARAC thither pli'd:
But (as 'tis writ of the milde AMRAMIDE,
And NVN'S great Son. that Heav'n-deer MARS-like man,
Who did transplant the Tribes to CANAAN)
She (in the zeal of her religious spirit)
Lifts-vp her hands to pray, and he to fight.
He charges fierce, he wounds, he slaughters all
But SISARA, their Captain generall;
Who flies to IAHEL, and by her is slain
Driving a nail into his sleeping brain.

At last, the Helm of head-strong ISRAEL
Coms to the hand of famous SAMVEL;
One rarely-wise. who weds his Policy,
To divine gifts of sacred Phophecie.
But, his too greedy Sons, digressing quite
From his good steps, dis-taste the ISRAELITE
Of th' ancient RVLE of th' Heav'nly Potentate:
So that all seek a suddain Change of S•ATE.

Assembled then in sacred PARLIAMENT,
Vp starts a Fellow of a mean Descent
(But of great spirit, well-spoken, full of wit,
And courage too. aspiring high to fit)
And having gain'd attention, thus he sayes.
Divine Designe. O Purpose worthy-prayse.
To now-Reform the STATE, and soundly heal
With holsom Lawes th' hurts of the Common-weal:
But (prudent ISRAEL) take now heed (or never);
Change not an Ague for a burning-Fever;
In shaking-off confused Anarchie,
To beintiç't t' imbrace a Monarchie,
Admir'd of Fools, ador'd of Flatterers,
Of Softlings, Wantons, Braves, and Loyterers:
The Freedom and Defence of the base Rabble,
But to braue mindes a Yoak intolerable.

For, who can brook, millions of men to measure
Breath, Life, and Mooving, all at One man's pleasure?
One, to keep all in aw? One, at a beck
A whole great Kingdom to controule and check?

Is't not a goodly sight, to see a Prince,
Void of all Vertue, full of insolence,
To Play with Noble States, as with a straw?
A Fool, to give so many Wise the Law?
A Beast, to govern Men? An Infant, Eld?
A Hare to lead fierce Lions to the Field?

Who is't but knowes, that such a Court as this,
Is th' open Shop of selling Offices?
Th' harbour of Riot, stews of Ribal dry,
Th' haunt of Profusion, th' Hell of Tyranny?
That no-where shines the REGAL Diadem,
But (Comet-like) it boads all Vice extreme?
That not a King among ten thousand Kings,
But to his Lust his Law in bondage brings?
But (shame-les) triumphs in the shame of Wives?
But bad, prefers the bad, and good deprives?
But gildeth those that glorifie his Folly;
That sooth, and smooth, and call his Hell-ness holy?
But with the Torrent of continuall Taxes
(Pour'd every-where) his meanest Subiects vexes:
As an ill-stated Body doth distill
On's feeblest parts his cold-raw humors stil.

That Form of RVLE is a right Common-weal,
Where all the People haue an Enter-deal:
Where (with-out aw or law) the Tyrants sword
Is not made druak with bloud, for a Miss-word:
Where, Each (by turn) doth Bid and doth Obay;
Where, still the Commons (hauing Soverain-Sway)
Share equally both Rigour and Reward
To each-man's merit; giving no regard
To ill-got Wealth, nor mouldy Monuments
From great-great-Grand-sires scutcheon'd in Descents:
Where, Learned Men, vn-soule-clogd (as it were)
With servile giues of Kings imperious Fear,
Fly even to Heav'n; and by their Pensinspire
Posterity with Vertue's glorious Fire:
Where, Honour's honest Combat never ceasses,
Nor Vertue languishes, nor Valour leeses
His sprightfull nerves, through th' Enuy of a PRINCE,
That cannot brook another's excellence;
Or, Pride of those, who (from great Elders sprung)
Haue nothing but Their glory on their tongue;
And deeming Others Worth, enough for them,
Uertue and Valour, and all Arts contemn:
Or, base Despair, in those of meaner Calling,
Who, on the ground still (woorm-like) basely crawling,
Dare not attempt (nor scarcely think, precise)
Any great Act or glorious Enterprise;
Because Ambition, Custom, and the Law,
From high Estate hath bounded them with aw:
Where, He that never rightly learn'd t.obay
Commandeth not, with heavy Sword of Sway:
Where, each i'th' Publik having equall part,
All to save all, will hazard life and hart:
Where, Liberty (as deer as life and breath)
Born with vs first, consorts vs to our Death.

Shall savage Beasts like-better Nuts and Mast
In a free Forrest, than our choise Repast
In iron Cages? and shall we (poor Sots)
Whom Nature Masters of our selues allots,
And Lords of All besides. shall we go draw
On our owne necks an ease-les Yoak of Aw.
Rather (O IACOB) chuse we all to die,
Than to betray our Native Libertie,
Than to becom the sporting Tennis-ball
Of a proud Monarch; or to yeeld vs thrall
To seive or honor any other King
Than that drad LAW which did from SINA ring.

Another then, whom Age made venerable,
Knowledge admir'd, and Office honorable,
Stands-vp, and speaks (maiestically-milde)
On other Piles the COMMON-WEAL to build.

Doubt-les (said he) with waste of Time and Soap,
Y'have labour'd long to wash an AETHIOPE:
Y'have drawn vs heer a goodly form of STATE
(And well we have had proof of it of late):
Shall we again the Sword of IVSTICE put
In mad mens hands, soon their owne throats to cut?
What Tiger is more fierce? what Bear more fel?
What Chaff more light? What Sea more apt to swel
Than is th' vnbridled Vulgar, passion-toss't;
In calms elated, in foul-weather lost?
What boot deep Proiects, if to th' eyes of all
They must be publisht in the common Hall?
Sith knowen Designs are dangerous to act:
And, th' vn-close Chief did never noble fact.

DEMOCRACY is as a tossed Ship
Void both of Pole and Pilot in the Deep:
A Senate fram'd of thousand Kinglings slight;
Where, voices pass by number, not by waight;
Where, wise men do propound, and Fools dispose:
A Fair, where all things they to sale expose:
A Sink of Filth, where ay th' infamousest,
Most bold and busie, are esteemed best:
A Park of savage Beasts, that each-man dreads:
A Head-les Monster with a thousand heads.

What shall we then do? shall we by and by
In Tyrants paws deiect vs servilely?
Nay, rather, shunning these extremities,
Let vs make choise of men vp right and wise;
Of such whose Vertue doth the Land adorn,
Of such whom Fortune hath made Noble-born,
Of such as Wealth hath rais'd above the pitch
Of th' abiect Vulgar; and to th' hands of such
(Such as for Wisedom, Wealth, and Birth excell)
Let vs commit the Reans of ISRAEL;
And ever from the sacred Helm exclude
The turbulent, base, moody Multitude.

Take away Choise, and where is Vertue's grace?
What? shall not Chance vnto Desert give place?
And Lots, to Right? Shall not the blinde be led
By those whose eyes are perfect in their head?
Chiefly, amid' such baulks, and blocks and Pits,
As in best State-paths the best States-man meets?

Who may be better trusted with the key
Of a great Chest of Gold and gems than they
That got the same? And who more firm and fit
At carefull Stern of POLICIE to sit,
Than such as in the Ship most venture bear:
Such as their owne wrack with the State's wrack fear:
Such as, Content, and having Much to lose,
Even Death it self, rather than Change, would chuse?

While he discourst thus on a Theam so grave,
Vp-rose a Gallant, noble, yong, and brave,
Fo to the Vulgar, one that hop't (perchance)
One-day t'attain a Scepters governance,
And thus he speaks: Your RVLE is yet too Free.
Y'have proin'd the leaves, not boughs of Publik-Tree:
Y'have qualified, but not yet cur'd our Grief:
Y'have in our Field still left the tares of Strife,
Of Leagues and Factions. For, plurality
Of Heads and Hands to sway an Emperie,
Is for the most part like vntamed Bulls:
One, this way hales; another that way pulls:
All, every-way; hurried with Passion's windes
Whither their Lust-storms do transport their mindes;
At length, the strongest bears the weakest down,
And to himself wholly vsurps the Crown:
And so (in fine) your Aristocracie
He by degrees brings to a Monarchie.

In brief, the Scepter Aristocratike,
And People-Sway, have symptomes both a-like:
And neither of them can be permanent
For want of Vnion; which of Gouernment
Is both the Life-bloud, and Preservative,
Wherby a STATE, yong, strong, and long doth thrive.
But, MONARCHY is as a goodly Station,
Built skilfully, vpon a sure Foundation:
A quiet House, wherin (as principall)
One Father is obey'd and serv'd of all:
A well-rigd Ship, where (when the danger's neer)
A many Masters strive not who shall steer.

The world hath but One God: Heav'n but One Sun:
Quails but One Chief: the Hony-Birds but One
One Master-Bee: and Nature (natively)
Graves in our hearts the Rule of MONARCHY.
At sound of whose Edicts, all ioynt-proceed:
Vnder whose Sway, Seditions never breed:
Who, while consulting with Colleagues he stands,
Lets not the Victory escape his hands:
And, that same Maiesty, which (as the Base
And Pedestal) supports the waight and grace,
Greatnes and glory of a well-Rul'd State,
It not extinguisht nor extenuate,
By being parcelliz'd to a plurality
Of petty Kinglings, of a mean Equality:
Like as a goodly River, deep and large,
Able to bear Ships of the greatest Charge,
If, through new Dikes, his trade-full Waters guided,
Be in a hundred little Brooks divided;
No Bridge more fears, nor Sea more waighs the same.
But soon it loses both his trade and name.
And (to conclude) a wise and worthy Prince,
A KING, compleat in Royall excellence,
Is even the Peoples prop, their powrfull nerves,
And lively Law, that all intire preserves:
His Countrie's life, and soule, sight, and fore-sight;
And even th' Almightie's sacred Picture right.

While yet he spake, the People loudly cri'd,
A KING, a KING; wee'll have a KING for Guide.
He shall command: He shall conduct our Hoasts,
And make vs Lords of th' IDVMEAN Coasts.

Ingrate, said SAMVEL, will you then reiect
Th' Almighties Scepter: do you more affect
New POLICY, than his olde PROVIDENCE?
And change th' Immortall for a mortall Prince?

Well (Rebels) well, you shall, you shall have one:
But, do ye knowe what followes ther-vpon?
He, from your Ploughs shall take your Horses out,
To serve his Pomp, and draw his Train about
In gilden Coaches (a wilde wanton sort
Of Popiniayes and Peacocks of the Court):
He shal your choisest Sons and Daughters take
To be his Servants (nay, his slaves to make):
You shall plant Vineyards, he the Wine shall sup:
You shall sowe Fields, and he shall reap the Crop:
You shall keep Flocks, and he shall take the Fleece:
And PHARAO'S Yoak shall seem but light to his.

But, IZARAEL doth wilfull still perseuer,
And SAMVEL (prest and importun'd ever)
Anointeth SAVL (the son of CIS) a Man
Whose cursed end marr'd what he well began.

You, too-too-light, busie, ambitious wits,
That Heav'n and Earth confound with furious fits:
Fantastik Frantiks, that would innovate,
And every moment change your form of STATE:
That weening high to fly, fall lower still:
That though you change your bed, change not your Ill:
See, See how much th' Almighty (the most High)
Heer-in abhors your fond inconstancy.

The PEOPLE-STATE, the ARISTOCRACY,
And sacred KINGDOM, took authority
A-like from Heav'n: and these three Scepter-forms
Flourish a-vie, as well in Arts and Arms,
As prudent Laws. Therefore, you stout Helvetians,
Grisons, Genevians, Ragusins, Uenetians,
Maintain your Liberties, and change not now
Your sacred Laws rooted so deep with you.
On th' other side, we that are born and bred
Vnder KINGS Aw, vnder one Supreme Head,
Let vs still honor their drad Maiesties,
Obey their Laws, and pay them Subsidies.
Let's read, let's hear no more these factious Teachers,
These shame-les Tribunes, these seditious Preachers,
That in all places alwayes belch and bark
Aloud a-broad, or whisper in the dark,
Railing at Princes (whether good or bad)
The true Lieutenants of Almighty God.
And let not vs, before a KING, prefer
A Senate-sway, nor Scepter Popular.

'Tis better bear the Youth-slips of a KING,
I' th' Law som fault, I' th' State som blemishing,
Than to fill all with Blood-flouds of Debate;
While, to Reform, you would Deform a STATE.

One cannot (with-out danger) stir a stone
In a great Building's olde foundation:
And, a good Leach seeks rather to support,
With ordered dyet, in a gentle sort,
A feeble Body (though in sickly plight)
Than with strong Med'cines to destroy it quight.

And therefore, Cursed, ever Cursed be
Our Hell-spurr'd PERCIE'S fel Conspiracy;
And every head and every hand and heart,
That did Conceiue or but Consent his part:
POPE-prompted Atheists, faining Superstition,
To cover Cruelty and cloak Ambition:
Incarnat Divels, Enemies of Man,
Dam-Murdering Vipers, Monsters in-humane,
Dis-natur'd NERO'S, impious EROSTRATES,
That with one Puff would blowe-vp all Estates;
Prince's and Peer's, and Peoples Government
(For, of all Three consists our PARLIAMENT)
Religion, Order, Honesty, and all,
And more then all that Fear can fear to fall.

And therfore, Blessed, ever Blessed be
Our glorious GOD's immortall Maiesty;
ENGLANDS Great Watch-Man, he that Israel keeps,
Who neuer slumbers and who neuer sleeps:
Our gratious Father, whose still-firm affection
Defends vs still with wings of his Protection:
Our louing Saviour that thus Saues vs still
(Vs so vnworthy, vs so prone to ill):
Our sacred Comforter (the Spirit of Light)
Who steers vs still in the True FAITH aright:
The TRINITIE, th' Eternall THREE in ONE,
Who by his Powr and Prouidence alone,
Hath from the Furnace of their Fiery Zeal
Preserv'd our PRINCE, our PEERS, our PVBLIK-WEAL,

Therefore, O PRINCE (our nostrils deerest breath)
Thou true Defender of true Christian FAITH,
O! let the Zeal of GOD'S House eat thee vp:
Fill BABYLON her measure in her Cup:
Maim the King-maiming Kinglings of Bezec:
Pittie not Agag, spare not Amalech:
Hunt, hunt those Foxes that would vnder-mine
Root, Body, Branches of the Sacred Vine:
O! spare them not. To spare Them, is to spoil
Thy Self, thy Seed, thy Subiects, and thy Soil.

Therfore, O PEERS, Prince-loyall Paladines,
True-noble Nobles, lay-by by-Designes;
And, in God's quarrel and your Countries, bring
Counsail and Courage to assist your KING
To counter-mine against the Mines of ROME;
To conquer Hydra, and to ouer-com
And clean cut-off his Horns, and Heads, and all
Whose hearts do Vow, or knees do Bow to Baal:
Be Zealous for the LORD, and Faith-full now,
And honor Him, and He will honour you.

FATHERS, and Brethren, Ministers of CHRIST,
Cease civill Warrs: war all on Anti-Christ;
Whose subtle Agents, while you strive for shels,
Poyson the kernel with Erronious Spels:
Whose Envious Seed-men, while you Silent Sleep,
Sowe Tares of Treason, which take root too-deep.
Watch; watch your Fold: Feed; feed your Lambs at-home:
Muzzle these Sheep-clad bloudy Wolves of ROME.

Therfore, O PEOPLE, let vs Praise and Pray
Th' Almighty-most (whose Mercy lasts for ay)
To giue vs grace, to euer-keep in minde
This MIRACLE of his Protection kinde:
To true-Repent vs of our hainous Sin
(Pride, Lust, and Loosness) we haue wallowed in:
To stand still constant in the pure Profession
Of true RELIGION (with a due discretion
To try the Spirits, and by peculiar choice
To knowe our Shepheards from th' Hyana's voice):
And, ever loyall to our PRINCE, t'expose
Goods, Lands, and Liues, against his hate-full Foes:
Among whom (Lord) •f (yet) of Thine be found,
Conuert them quickly; and the rest Confound.

And (to Conclude) PRINCE, PEERS, & PEOPLE too,
Praise all at once, and selfly each of you,
His Holy Hand, that (like as long-agoe,
His Sidrach, Misach and Abednego)
From the hot Furnace of POPE-Powder'd Zeal
Hath Sav'd our PRINCE, our PEERS, our PVELIK-weal.