THEOPHILA ; OR LOVES SACRIFICE . A Divine Poem .

WRITTEN BY E. B. Esq Several Parts thereof set to fit Aires by Mr I. IENKINS .

Longum Iter per Praecepta , breve & efficax per Exempla . Si Praeceptis non accendimur , saltem Exemplis incitemur , atque in Appetitu Rectitudinis nil sibi Mens nostra difficile aestimet , quod perfectè peragi ab Aliis videt . Greg. Mag. l. 9. c. 43.

Id peragas Vitâ , quod velles Morte peractum .

LONDON , Printed by R. N. Sold by Henry Seile in Fleetstreet , and Humphrey Moseley at the Princes Arms in S. Pauls Church-yard. 1652.

SAd Experience confirms , what THE ANCIENT OF DAYES foretold ; That the last Times shall be worst : For , in this Dotage of the World ( where Atheism stands at the right hand of Profaneness , and Superstition on the blinde Side of Ignorance ; where there is unmercifull Oppression , and overmerciful Connivence ) her beloved Favorites , ( who are of past things mindeless , of future regardless , having different Opinions , yet but one RELIGION , Money , one GOD , Mammon ) do laugh at OTHERS , who fall not down , and worship the Golden Image that secular Nabuchodonisors have set up ; But , let them , who think themselves safe in the Herd , being night-wildred in their Intellects , prosecute their Sensuality , which will soon , like Dalila , put out their Eyes ; For , earthly Complacencies , and exteriour Gaities are not only Chaff in the hand , VANITIE , but also Chaff in the Eye , VEXATION OF SPIRIT . How art thou , foolish World , loaden with Sin , fond of Trifles , neglecting Objects fit for CHRISTIANS , fit for Men ! Could thy Minions consider , that thou canst give but what thou hast , a smoak of Honour , a shadow of Riches , a sound of Pleasure , a blast of Fame , which can neither adde to Length nor Happiness of Life ; That thy whole Self art an overdeer Bargain , if bought of the Devil , at the expence of a deadly Sin , when as sudden Chance or Sicknesse may snatch and rend them hence in a Moment , they would not then so madly rant it as they do , but court Sobreity , being aware of the Dangers that proceed from , and wait upon the abused Opulency of an indulgent Fortune , whose Caresses are apt to swell into Exorbitances of Spirit , and run wildly into Dissoluteness of Manners . But , for want of Circumspection , Men grow covetous as Iewish Merchants , ambitious as Eastern Potentates , factious as the giddy Multitude , revengefull as Iealousie , and proud as Vsurpers ; though soon such swallow'd Baits dissolve into a gally Bitternesse ; Wherefore , it were highly to be wished , that in the midest of their Extravagancies they would ponder , that nothing is more unhappy then the Felicity of Sinners , who prosper as if they were the Beloved of GOD , when , indeed , by His Patience they are only ( probably ) hardned to their more dreadful Destruction ! How , how will eternal Anguish be aggravated by temporary past Happinesse ! If we contemplate what unspeakable Torments are for ever there , we should have no cause to envie Worldlings Prosperity , but rather wonder that their Portion on Earth is not greater , and that ever they should be sensible of Sicknesse , Affront or Trouble ; since , if their Fortunatenesse should far exceed their Ambition , it could not any way recompence that Torture for an Hour , which yet shall hold to the Duration of an infinite Eternity ! when as all the Play and Pageantry of Earth is ever changing ▪ and nothing abides but the Stage of the World , and the Spectator GOD. That Blisse is not true of whose Eternity we may doubt ▪ View then , Christian Reader , the Folly of ●ll Counsell unmaskt , and demonstrated that all Policie is wretched without Piety , without Scriptural Wisdom , without CHRIST the Essential Wisdom ; And that all Iniquity has so much of Iustice in it , that it usually condemns , yea leads it self to Execution ; witnesse Absolons Head , Achitophels Hands , and the Surrender of Caesars Cittadell , ( summoned by Iudgements Herald , and all his Glories Cobweb-guard yielded to the Storm ) just before the Statue of Pompey , whose Ruine he had so ambitiously pursued . Would then any Wise man choose to be Caesar for his Glorie , Absolon for his Beauty , Achitophel for his Policie , Dives for his Wealth , or Iudas for his Office ? Seeing then that Happinesse consists not in the Affluence of Exorbitant Possessions , nor in the Humours of fickle Honour , all external Splendors being unsatisfactory , let Christians neglect terrestrial Vanities , and retire into the Recesses of Religion , nothing being so great in humane Actions as a pious knowing Minde , which disposeth great Things , and may yield such permanent Monuments , as bring Felicity to Mankinde above the Founders of Empires ; being an Antepast to the overflowing FEASTS of ETERNITIE . Man endued with Altitude of Wisdom , in the sweetnesse of Conscience and Height of Vertue , is of all Creatures sub-Angelical the ALMIGHTIES Masterpiece , the Image of his MAKER , a Candidate of DIVINITY , and Model of the Vniverse ; who , in holy Colloquies , Whisprings , and secret Conferences with GOD , findes HIM a Torrent of Pleasure , a Fountain of Honour , and an inexhaustible Treasure ; whose divine Life is a Character of the DIVINE NATURE , by taking GOD for the Text , Truth for the Doctrine , and Holinesse for the Use ; without which the highest Endowments of the most refined Wit are but the quaint Magick of a learned Lunacie . Most wretched therefore are they , beyond all Synonima's of Misery , whose undisciplin'd Education leaves them unfurnisht of Skill to spend their Time in any Thing , but what in the prosecution of Sin tends to Death ; Wealth and Greatnesse rendring them past Reproof , ev'n ready to tempt their very Tempter ; whereby they are wholly enclin'd to Sensualities , being in their Entertainments commonly intemperate in their Drink humerous , their Humours quarrelous , their Duels damnable , concluding a voluptuous and brutish Life in a bloody and desperate Death , preferring the Bodie before the Soul , Sence before the Spirit , Appetite before Reason , temporary Fooleries , phantastick Visits , idle Courtships , gay Trifles , fascinating Vanities ( as if the Pleasure of Life were but the smothering of pretious Time in those things , which are meer Puffs in Expectation , Vanitie in Enjoyment , and Vexation of Spirit in Departure ) before solid Goodnesse , and eternal Exultations . To divert thee therefore from such Shelves of indiscreet Vice , and to direct thee to the safe and noble Channel of Vertue , ev'n to Faith with good Works , to Piety with Compassion , to Zeal with Charity , & to know the End which distinguisheth thee from a Beast , and to chuse a good End , which differenceth thee from an evil Man ; be so much thine own Friend , as to peruse seriously this spiritual Poem , which treateth on Sub-coelestials , Coelestials ; and Super-coelestials , whereby a delightful Curiousness may steal thee into the Pleasure of Goodnesse . Know then that Sub-coelestials , or Sublunaries have their Assignment in the lowest Portion of the Universe , and being wholly of a corporeal Nature , do enjoy Spiritual Gifts , the Chief of which is Life , by Loan onely ; where there is no Generation without Corruption , no Birth without Death . From the Surface of the Earth to the Center is 3436 Miles , the whole Thickness 6872 Miles , the whole Compsse 21600 Miles ; from its Center to the Moon is 3924912 Miles . Now Coelestials , or aethereal Bodies are seated in the middle , which , participating of a greater Portion of Perfection , impart innumerable rare Vertues , and influential Efficacies to Things below , not enduring a Corruption , only subject , having obtained their Period , to change . The glorious Projection and Transfusion of aetheral Light , both of the Sun and of the Stars of the six Magnitudes constitute , by astronomicall Computation , more than 300 Suns upward to the EMPYRAEAN HEAVEN . A Starre in the Equator makes 12598666 Miles in an Hour , which is 209994 Miles in a Minute , a Motion quicker than Thought . Super-coelestials are Intelligencies , altogether Spiritual and Immortal , excellent in their Beings , intuitive in their Conceptions ; such as are the glorious Quire of the Apostles , the exulting Number of the Prophets , the innumerable Army of crown'd Martyrs , triumphing Virgins , charitable Confessors , &c. or the blessed Hierarchie of Angels , participating somewhat of GOD and Man ; having had a Beginning as Man , and now being immortall with GOD , having their Immortality for his Sempiternity ; void of all Mixture , as is GOD , and yet consisting of Matter and Form as doth Man ; Subsisting in some Subject and Substance as doth Man , yet being incorporeal , as is GOD ; They having Clarity , Impassibility , Subtility , and Agility , having Understanding without Errour , Light without Darkness , Joy without Sorrow , Will without Perturbation , Impassibility without Corruption ; pure as the Light , ordained to serve the LORD of Light ; They are local and circumscribed by Place , as is Man ; yet are they in a place not properly by way of Circumscription , but by way of Definition ; though they cannot be in several Places at once , yet are they able in a Moment to be any where , as GOD alwayes is every where ; of admirable Capacity and Knowledge , resembling GOD ; yet ignorant of the ESSENCE of GOD , much lesse see they all Things in IT , in that like Man . Ev'n these Incorporeal Substances would pine and starve , if an All-filling , and infinitely All-sufficient and Superabundant GOD were not the Object of their high Contemplation , whose Blisse of theirs is the neerest Approach to that Divine MAJESTIE , WHO is a true , real , substantial , and essential NATURE , subsisting of HIMSELF , an eternal BEING , an infinite ONENESSE , the radical PRINCIPLE of all Things ; whose ESSENCE is an incomprehensible Light , His POWER is Omnipotency , and his BECK an absolute Act ; WHO , before the Creation , was a BOOK rowl'd up in HIMSELF , having Light only in HIMSELF ; WHO is a SPIRIT existent from everlasting to everlasting ; One ESSENCE ▪ Three SUBSISTENCIES ; whose DIVINE NATURE is an essential and infinite UNDERSTANDING , which knowes all Things actually alwayes ; which cannot possibly be comprehended by any finite Creature , much lesse by Man , groveling on Earth in the Mud of Errour and grosse Ignorance , who are unable by any Art or Industrie to finde out the true Nature , Form and Vertue of the least flie or gnat . The whole Vniverse is the Looking-glasse of GODS Power , Wisdom , and Bountie ; HE loves as Charitie , knows as Truth , judges as Equitie , rules as Majestie , defends as Safety , works as Vertue , reveals as Light , &c. HE is a never deficient Brightnesse , a never weary Life , a Spring ever-flowing , the Principle of Beginning , &c. If any Creature knew what GOD is , he should be GOD ; for none knoweth HIM but HIMSELF , who is Good without Qualitie , great without Quantitie , present without Place , everlasting without Time ; WHO by a Bodie is no where ▪ by Energie every where , Above all by Power , beneath all by sustaining all , without all by compassing all , within all by penetrating all , being absent seen , being present invisible ; of WHOM to speak , is to be silent , WHOM to value is to exceed all Rate , WHOM to define , is still to encrease in Definition ; INFINITENESSE being the right Philosophers Stone , which turns all Metals into Gold , and one Dram of IT being put , not only to a Seraphin , or to a whole Element , but even to the least gnat in the World , or the least mo●e in the Sun , is of Force to make it true and very GOD : For , first It maketh it to be the first ESSENCE , derived from none other . 2. It maketh it to be but One , because there cannot be two INFINITES ; where there are two , there is Division ; where Division , there is end of one , and beginning of another , and so no INFINITE . 3. It maketh the Subject to be immaterial , for no Matter can be INFINITE ; for , a Body is contained , and , if contained , not infinite ; being without Matter , it is also without Passion ; for , sola materia patitur ; and so becometh also immutable , for there can be no Change without Passion . 4. It maketh a thing to be immoveable , for whatsoever moveth hath Bounds , but in INFINITE there is no Bounds . 5. The INFINITE THING is simple , for in Composition there is Division and Quality , and so by consequent Limits . Thus , INFINITENESSE distinguisheth from all Creatures , and is first primary without Cause , but existing absolutely in HIMSELF , and of HIMSELF , and is to all other Things the Cause and Beginning , yet not diminishing HIM , having all their Essence , but no part of his ESSENCE from Him . But , ô , here the most superlative Expressions of Eloquence are no other than meer Extenuations . I tread a Maze , and thread a Labyrinth on Hills of Ice , where , if I slip ▪ I tumble into Heresie ; I am with S. Peter in the Deep , where , without the Hand of POWER , I should sink eternally , and be swallowed up by the bottomlesse Gulf. The Prosecution of this Argument were fitter for the Pens of ANGELS , than for the Sons of Corruption ; whereof we may say , that if all should be written of INFINITENESSE , not only the whole World , but even Heaven It Self would not suffice to hold the Books which should be written . I satisfie my Incapacitie with rejoycing in GODS Incomprehensibility . And now , descending from these amazing Heights , know , Reader , that Divine Poesie is the internal Triumph of the Mind , rapt with S. Paul into the third Heaven , where She contemplates Ineffables : 't is the sacred Oracles of Faith put into melodious Anthems that make Musick ravishing , no earthly Jubilation being comparable to It ; It discovers the Causes , Beginnings , Progresse , and End of Things , It instructeth Youth , comforteth Age , graceth Prosperity , solaceth Adversity , pleaseth at Home , delighteth abroad , shortneth the Night , and refresheth the Day ; No Star in the Sphear of Wisdom outshines It : Natural Philosophy hath not any thing in it which may satisfie the Soul , because that is created to something more excellent then all Nature ; but this Divine Rapture chains the Minde with harmonious Precepts from a divine Influence , whose Operations are as subtle and resistlesse as the Influence of Planets ; teaching Mortals to live as in the Sight of GOD , by whom the Coverts of the thickest Hypocrisie ( that white Devil ) are most cleerly seen thorough . Now 't is Iudgement begets the Strength , Invention the Ornaments of a Poem ; both These joyn'd form Wit , which is the Agility of Spirits : Vivacity of Fancie in a florid Style disposeth Light and Life to a Poem , wherein the Masculine and refined Pleasures of the Vnderstanding transcend the feminine and sensual of the Eye : From the Excellencie of Fancie proceed grateful Similies , apt Metaphors , &c. Sublime Poets are by Nature strengthned , by the Power of the Minde inflamed , and by divine Rapture inspired ; They should have a plentiful stock to set up , and manage it artfully , their Conceptions should be choice , brief , perspicuous , well-habited . In Scripture Moses , Iob , David , Solomon , and others , are famous for employing their Talents in this kinde . S. Paul likewise cited three of the Heathen Poets ( whom he calls Prophets ) as evident Convictions of Vice , and Demonstrations of Divinity . viz. Epimenides to the Cretians . Tit. 1. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Menander to the Corinthians , 1 Cor. 15. 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . And Aratus to the Athenians . Acts 17. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From these Results I fell in love with our more divine and Christian Poesie , observing that in the Sayings and Writings of our Blessed SAVIOUR and his Disciples , there are no lesse than sixty Authorities produced from above fourty of Davids Psalms . Hence from that high Love , which hath no Weapons but fierie Rayes , my Spirit is struck into a Flame to enter into the secret and sacred Rooms of Theologie , and , Reader , if thou wilt not prejudice thine own Charity by miscrediting me , I dare professe , thou wilt neither repent of thy Cost or Time in reviewing these Intervall Issues of spiritual Recreation , which may thus , happily , prove a pleasant Lure to thy pious Devotion : May likewise thy Charity suggest to thy Belief , that I have done my best to that End , and if thou thinkest that I have wanted Salt to preserve them to Posterity , know that the very Subject It self is Balsam enough to make them perpetual . Delightest thou in a Heroick Poem ? If Actions of Magnanimity and Fidelitie advancing moral Vertue merit the Title of Heroick , much more may THEOPHILA , a Combatant with the World , Hell , and her own Corruptions , gain an eternal LAUREL ; Whose Example and Precepts , well follow'd , will without Doubt bring Honour , Joy , Peace , Serenity , and Hopes full of Confidence . The Composer hath extracted out of the even Mixture of Theorie and Action this cordial Water of saving Wisdom , by distilling Them through the Limbeck of PIETY , whereof they drink to their Souls Health , who not only take it in , as parched Earth does Rain , but turn it into nourishment by a spiritual Digestion , being made like It Divine . This metrical Discourse of his serious Day , to which he was led by Instigation of Conscience , not Titillation of Fame , inoculates Grafts of Reason on the Stock of Religion , and would● have all put upon this important Consideration , that the Life of Nature is given to seek the Life of GRACE , which bringeth us to the Life of GLORIE ; the obtainment of which is his only Aim , being fully perswaded , that as every new Star gilds the Firmament , and encreaseth its first Glorie : So those , who are Instruments of the Conversion of Others , shall not only introduce new Beauties , but , when Themselves shine like other Stars in GLORY , they shall have some Reflexions from the Light of Others , to whose fixing in the Orb of HEAVEN they Themselves have been Instrumentall . He would not run thee out of Breath by long-winded Strains ; for in a Poem , as in a Prayer 't is Vigour not Length that crowns it ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 .

He wisheth it might be his Happinesse to meet with such Readers , as discern the Analogie of Grounds , as well as the Knowledge of the Letter , and have as well a Systeme of Reason , as the Understanding of Words : yea , such as have Iudgement and Affections refin'd , and with THEOPHILA be Love-sick too , which Love is never more eloquent , than when ventilated in Sighs and Groans , HEAVENS delighted Musick being in the broken Consort of Hearts and Spirits , the Will there accepted for the Work , and the Desire for Desert . Behold here in an Original is presented an Example of Life , with Force of Precepts , happy who coppy them out in their Actions ! Indeed Examples and Precepts are as Poems and Pictures ; for , as Poems are speaking Pictures , and Pictures are silent Poems : so Example is a silent Precept , and Precept a speaking Example : And as Musick is an audible Beauty , and Beauty a visible Musick : So Precepts are audible Sweets to the Wise , and Examples silent Harmony to the illiterate , who may unclasp and glance on these Poems , as on Pictures with Inadvertency ; yet He who shall contribute to the Improvement of the Author , either by a prudent Detection of an Errour , or a sober Communication of an irrefragable Truth , deserves the venerable Esteem and Welcome of a good ANGEL ; And He who by a candid Adherence unto , and a fruitful Participation of what is good and pious confirms Him therein , merits the honourable Entertainment of a faithful Friend : But he who shall ●●●duce him in Absence , for what in Presence he would seem to applaud , incurres the double Guilt of Flattery and Slander ; and he who wounds Him with ill Reading and Misprision , does Execution on Him before Iudgement .

Now He who is the Way , the Truth , and the Life , bring those to everlasting Life , who love the Way , and Truth in Sincerity !

THE Life of a true CHRISTIAN is a continual Conflict ; Each Act of the good Fight hath a Military Scene ; and our Blessed SAVIOUR coming like a Man of War commands in Chief , under the FATHER , who hath layed Help upon One that is Mighty , by anointing him with the Holy GHOST and with Power . This World is his pitched Field ; his Standard the Cross ; his Colours Blood ; his Armour Patience ; his Battle Persecution ; his Victory Death ; And in mystical DIVINITY his two-handed Sword is the Word and Spirit , which wounds and heals ; and what is shed in this holy War is not Blood but Love ; his Trumpeters are Prophets and Preachers ; his Menacies Mercies ; and his Arrows Benefits : When he offers HIMSELF to us , He then invades us ; His great and small Shot are Volies of Sighs and Groans ; when we are converted we are conquer'd ; He bindes when He embraceth us ; In the Cords of Love He leads us Captives ; and kills us into Life , when He crucifies the Old , and quickens in us the New Man . So then here is no Death , but of inbred Corruptions : No Slaughter , but of carnal Affections , which being Mortified the Soul becomes a living Sacrifice , holy and acceptable unto GOD.