Theophila Or Loves Sacrifice. Canto Vii Poem by Edward Benlowes

The Contemplation.


ARGUMENT.

Pango nec humanis Opus enarrabile Verbis,
Quae meliùs possem Mira silendo loqui!
Da, DEUS, Illa canam, quae Vox non personet ulla,
Metiar ut minimis Maxima Mira modis!

She launcheth into shoarlesse Seas of Light,
Inexplicable, Infinite!
Whose Beams both strike her blinde, and renovate her Sight!

Were all Men Maro's, were those Maro's all
Evangelists, met in Earths Hall
For Grand--Inquest of That wch we Eternal call:

Draw Time from's Cradle (Innocence) could They,
And piled Heaps of Ages lay
Amassed in one Scale; Those would they find to weigh,

Ballanc't with THEE, no more (when All is done)
Than, if They vainly had begun
To poize minutest atome with the Mighty Sun.

Could They Earths Ball with Numbers quilted see;
Yet, those throng'd Figures sum not THEE,
They were but Cyphers to immense ETERNITIE!

Should every Sand for thousand Ages run,
When emptyed Shoars of Sands were done,
That Glass no more THEE measures, then if now begun!

Had Tongues Heav'ns Mint, to coyn each Angel--Grace
In Dialect; They'd fail o'th' Space,
Where All to come is One with All that ever was!

Faith, stretch thy Line, yet That's too short, to sound
Sea without Bottom, without Bound;
As Circular, as Infinite, ô Shoarlesse Round!

Immense ETERNITIE! What mystick Art
Of THEE may coppy any Part,
Since THOU an indeterminable CIRCLE art!

Whose very Center so diffus'd is found,
That not Heav'ns Circuit can It bound,
Then what, what may the whole Circumference surround?

Heav'ns Hero's, can ye find for th' ENDLES End?
Can Pow'rs IMMENSITY extend?
UBIQUITIE inclose? The BOUNDLES comprehend?

JEHOVAH's Zone to this uncentred BALL,
Ecliptick, and Meridionall,
Who Was before, Is with, and Shall be after All!

But now behold Its Height, Above all Height!
Plac't beyond Place! Above Lights Light!
Rapt were the three Apostles by a Glimps o'th' Sight!

O, Thou all--splendent, all transcending Throne!
Compact of High'st Dominion!
That 'bove the Super--Eminence of Lustre shone!

From Each of Thine ineffably bright Sides
Diffusion of such Splendor glides,
As rowls 'bove thousand Seas of Joyes in flaming Tides

With such Refulgence, that, if Cherubs might,
With Face unvail'd, gaze on That Sight,
Strait their Spiritual Natures would be nothing'd quite.

Nature, put on thy most coruscant Vest;
Thy Gayeties shew, brought to this Test,
As a crude Jelley dropt from duskie--Clouds at best.

Could'st Thou impov'rish every Indian Mine,
And, from each golden Cell, unshrine
Those Beams, that wth their Blaze out--face Dayes em'lous Shine:

Could'st finde out secret Engins to unlock
The treasu'ring Casket of each Rock,
And reap the glowing Harvest of that sparkling Shock:

Could'st thread the Stars (fixt and erratick) here,
That stud the luminated Sphear,
That all those Orbs of Light one Constellation were:

Could'st joyn Mines, Gems, Skie--Tapers, All in one;
Whose neer--Immense Reflection
Might both outrival, and outvie the glorious Sun:

Could all thy Stones be Gems, Seas liquid Gold,
Air Crystal, Dust to Pearl enrold,
Each Star a Sun, that Sun more bright a thousand fold:

Yet would those Gems seem Flints, those Seas a Plash,
Those Stars a Spark, That Sun a Flash;
Pearl'd Islands, Diamond Rocks, Gold Mines, All sully'd trash:

Yea, were all Eyes of Earth, Skie, Heav'n combin'd,
And to one Optick point confin'd,
This super--radiant Object would ev'n strike That blind!

Blinde, as the sable, Veil of gloomy Night;
(The Gospels Self but hints This SIGHT)
All seem obscurer Shades to This non--parel LIGHT!

Amazing! Most Inexplicably Rare!
O, if, but Those Who Worthy are,
None may This Light declare; None may This Light declare!

Best Eloquence is languid, high'st Thoughts vail,
To think, to speak, Wit, Language fail;
'Tis an Abysse, through which no Spirits Eye can sail!

Here Glory dwells, with Lustres so surrounded,
That brightest Rayes are quite confounded,
When they approach this radiant Eminence unbounded!

Forth from This Fulgurance such Splendors fly,
As shall draw up frail Dust on High;
Which, else, would in its lumpish Urn still bedrid lie.

Before the Almighties Throne my Soul I throw,
Whence All, that's Good and Great, does flow.
LORD, I that Grace implore, wch may this Glory show!

Great GOD! Thou All--beginning, Unbegun!
Whose Hand the Web of Nature spun!
At once the Plenitude of All, and yet but ONE!

Parent of Beings, Entities sole Stud!
Spirits eternal Spring and Flood!
Sprung of Thy Self, or rather no way sprung! Chief Good!

Abstract of Joyes, whose Wisdom an Abysse!
Whose Pow'r Omnipotency is!
Whose Soul--enlivening Sight's the Universal Blisse!

Thou dost descend on Wings of Air displaid,
'Bove Majesty It self arraid,
Curtain'd with Clouds, the Host of Heav'n Attendants made!

Essence of Glory, Summity of Praise!
Abasht at thy All--piercing Rayes,
Heav'ns Quire does chaunt uncessant Alleluiahs!

Diamonds than Glass, than Diamonds Stars more bright;
Than Stars the Sun, than Sun Heav'ns Light;
But infinitely purer than Heav'ns Self's Thy Sight!

Great is the Earth, more large the Airs Extent:
Planets exceed; The Firmament
Of Stars outvies; Unlimited's the Heav'nly Tent:

But, as my tenter'd Minde its Spirits still
Strains forth, from lesse to more (LORD, fill
My out--spent Raptures by thy All--repairing Skill!)

When I above Air, Stars, Heav'n, on wou'd press
Rackt Thoughts to Sphears beyond Exces;
Myriads of Sphears seem Motes to thy Immense ONENESSE!

Eternity is but Thine Howerglasse!
Immensity but fills Thy Space!
Whole Natures six Dayes Work took up but six Words place!

One Word did th' All--surrounding Skie--roof frame,
With all its Starrie sparkling Flame!
Not all created Wisdom can spell out THY NAME!

Supreme COMMANDER of the rowling Stars!
Thy Law sets to their Progresse Bars,
Does Epicycle their obliquely gliding Cars!

No Lines, Poles, Tropicks, Zones can Thee enthrall,
First MOVER of the Sphearick Ball,
Above, Beneath, Without, Within, Beyond them All!

What could, but thy All--potent Hand, sustain
Those Magazines of Hail, Snow, Rain,
Lest They should fall at once, and deluge All again?

By Them Thou Plenty dost to Earth distill;
And Mans dependent Heart dost fill:
Windes are Van--Curriers, & Postilions to Thy Will!

'Tis That the ominous Cause of Earth--quakes bindes
In Subterranean Grotts; That findes
Strange Ruptures to enfranchise th' ever--strugling Winds!

Thy Sandy Cord do's proudest Surges bound;
And Seas unfathom'd Bottoms sound;
Thy semi--circling Bow i'th' Clouds thy Covenant crown'd!

Earths Hinges hang upon thy Fiat; set
Midst Air--surrounding Waters, yet
Stand fixt on That, like Which, what is so Firm, so Great!

Yet Earths fast Columns at thy Frown do quake;
And Oceans dreadful Horrors make;
Flints melt, the Rocks do rowl, the airie Mountains shake!

Yea, Heav'ns Self trembled, and the Center shook,
With thy amazing Presence strook,
When Power of Pow'rs on Sina's Mount His Station took!

Each Ens (as linkt to Providence, thy Chain)
Is govern'd by thy Fingers Rein!
Thou, seeing us, we Grace; we, Thee, do Glory gain!

Who hast no Eyes to see, nor Ears to hear;
Yet seest, and hear'st, All--Eye, All--Ear!
Who, no where art contain'd, yet art Thou every where!

The optick Glass we of thy Praescience may
Call th' Ark, where all Idaeas lay,
By which each Entitie Thou dost at first pourtray!

Future Events are praeexistent here,
As if they lately acted were;
Then any new dissect Anatomy more clear!

Each where, at once, Thou totally art still
The same unchang'd; yet, at thy Will,
Thou changest All; Who, though Thou art unmov'd, dost fill

Things that are most remote; In whose Forecast
Contingencies do crowd so fast,
As if, past Things were now, and Things to come were past!

Though Acts on Earth crosse to thy Will are done,
Besides thy Will yet acteth None;
Preceding and succeeding Will, in Thee are One!

Of whose vast Mannor all the Earth's Demains!
Though Earth, nor Air, nor Heav'n contains,
Yet each obscurer Grott thy OMNIPRESENCE gains!

Though nought accrues to Thy unbounded State
From Spirits, which Thou didst create,
Yet They thy Goodnes and thy Love shall still dilate!

Thou, who mad'st All, mad'st neither Sin, nor Death;
Mans Folly first gave them their Breath;
That did abase whole Nature with it self beneath.

But Sin to cure, Thou in a Crib gav'st Man
EMANUEL! Divine--humane!
Who diff'ring Natures joyn'd; Whose Reign no Ages scan!

And Thou, O MEDIATOR! Thou, whose Praise,
Like Morning Dewes, to first of Dayes
Was sung by Heav'nly Choristers in Seraph Layes!

GOD, by the Holy Ghost, begat Thee, Lord!
Flesh took by the Eternal Word!
Whose Self--Eternal EMANATION None record!

As thy Eternal EMANATION's past;
So to Eternity shal't last!
In the beginning was the Word, shews still THOU wast!

There GOD in Essence, One in Persons Three!
Here Natures two in One agree!
Thou, sitting in the Midst of TRINAL--UNITY

At Heav'ns High Councel--Table, dart'st such Rayes,
As strike ev'n Cherubs with amaze!
Of which the School, disputing All, it nothing sayes.

Search we the Ages past so long ago,
None, None this Mystery could show,
Till in that Maiden--Birth, 'twas acted here below!

A Dove hatch't in that Nest Thy Self did build!
A Lamb that Thine own Flock does shield!
A Winter Flow'r that fram'd, from whence it sprung, the Field!

The Jewish Shepherds all affrighted are,
When Heralds THEE proclaim'd i'th' Air!
Yea, Magi came t' adore, led by a new--born Starre!

Yet, though thus wond'rously begot, thus born,
Sponsor for us, faln Race, forlorn,
T' ingratiate us with GOD, becam'st to Man a Scorn!

The Grace Self wast, th' Honour t' Evangelize!
The sacred Function, as a Prize,
Thou took'st, yet That not on, till call'd in Aarons Guize!

Which GOD t' Apostolize did bring to passe,
By th' HOLY GHOSTS Descent, at Face
Of Jordans then blest Streams, of Which John Witness was!

Thence, led by th' HOLY GHOST to th'Wilderness,
There tempted by the Fiends addresse,
Him overcam'st by Scriptum est; Hence our Release!
Then forth thou wentst.--

Thy Sermons, Oracles; Acts, Wonders were!
Those Faith begot, These Others Fear!
By Both, thus wrought in us, to THEE our selves we rear!

Thou gav'st the Lame swift Legs, the Blinde clear Eyes!
Thou heal'dst all humane Maladies!
Thou mad'st the Dumb to speak! Thou mad'st the Dead to rise!

And art to Dead Men Life, to sick men Health!
Sight to the Blinde, to th' Needy Wealth!
A Pleasure without Pain! a Treasure without Stealth!

LORD, in, not of this World, Thy Kingdom is;
Thy chos'n Apostles preacht thy Blisse,
That none of all thy Creatures might Salvation misse.

Abra'ham, long dead before, yet saw Thy Day,
In Isaack born, and Vowes did pay!
Type first, then Antitype, and quicknest every way!

Thy Gospel Wisdoms Academie shew'd;
Thy Mercy, Justice calm'd; Life, view'd
Is Temperance; Thy Death the Flag of Fortitude!

Thou, Altar, Sanctuary, Sacrifice,
Priest, Bread of Life do'st All suffice!
N'ere cloying Feast, where Appetite by Food doth rise!

And, Son of Man, dost Sin of Man forgive!
To be Thy Victimes Hearts do strive,
Who liv'dst that Life might die, and di'dst that Death might live!

Yet dy'dst Thou not, but that (Spîrit quickned) free
Thou might'st Saints Paradised see,
Rejoyc'd Assurance give to Them rejoyc'd in Thee!

And that, from thence, to Satans gloomy Shades,
Made Prison for the damned Hades,
Thou might'st Thy Conquest shew, Thy Glory that ne're fades!

Thence loos'd Deaths Chains from Body, up to rear It,
That, when Rais'd State THOU dost inherit,
THOU might'st become to us an ever--quickning SPIRIT!

The FATHER to reveal gives to his SON
Thee, HOLY GHOST (thus Three in One)
Of All peculiar Sanctifyer, yet not Alone!

The Fathers Love, and Sons; Adoptions Seal,
The Spring of Sanctitie, The Weal
O'th' Church: Thy Self in Light of fiery Tongues reveal!

O Light unscann'd! Of Wisdom every Glance
Beams only from Thy Countenance;
Whose Store, when empty'd most It self doth most advance!

Whose Fruits are Gentleness, Peace, Love, and Joy,
All crown'd with Blisse, free'd from Annoy;
Which neither Time, World, Death, Hell, Devil can destroy!

Thou art a Feast, fram'd of that fruitfull Fare,
Which Hungers wast not, but repair!
A rich Perfume, no Windes can winnow into Air!

A Light unseen, yet in each Place dost shine!
A Sound no Art can e're define!
A pure Embrace, that Times Assault can n'ere untwine!

Flouds of unebbing Joyes from Thee do rowl!
Which, to each Sin--disdaining Soul
Thou dost exhibit in an unexhausted Bowl!

This Wine of Extasie, by th' SPIRIT giv'n,
Doth raise the ravisht Souls to Heav'n!
Affording them those Comforts are of Earths bereav'n!

Thy Union is as strict, as large thy Merit!
No Heav'n but THEE, which Saints inherit
Through Grace, divinest Sap, deriv'd by th' Holy Spirit!

When Souls enflamed by that highest Light,
Fix on Thy glorifying Sight,
All Glories else, compar'd to That, are duskie Night!

When high'st Infusions passe our highest Sense,
Amazement is high Eloquence,
'Bove all Hyperboles which fall to Exigence.

Blest TRINITY, Th' art All; Above All, Good!
Beatitudes Beatitude!
Which swallows us, yet swim we in this Living Floud!

Th' art King of Kings, of Lords Lord! None like Thee!
Who, for thy Style hast Majestie!
And for thy Royal Robes hast Immortalitie.

Mercie for Throne! for Scepter Justice hast!
Immensitie's for Kingdom plac't!
And for thy Crown such Glorie as doth ever last!

For Peace, what passeth Understandings Eye!
Pow'r, Irresistabilitie!
For Holines, All what's most sacred, pure, and high!

For Truth, thy Word! Wisdom for Counsellour!
Omnipotence does Guard Thy Tow'r!
Thou ministring Angels hast to act thy Soveraign Pow'r!

Omniscience Thine Intelligencer is!
For Treasure Thou hast Endlesse Blisse!
For Date Eternity! O, swallow me ABYSSE!

Ite, pii Cantus, Cantus quibus arduus Æther
Est Portus; Portum, quem videt alma Fides.
Visuram Littus Navem, sacra Serta coronent,
Serta per innumeros non peritura Dies!

Gloria in excelsis DEO.