BRITAIN'S GLORY, OR An Allegorical Dream: with the Exposition thereof.  
Containing, 

The Heathens infidelity  
The Turks blasphemy  
The Pope's Hypocrisy  
Amsterdams' variety  
The Church of England's verity   in Religion.  
And in our Church of England, 

The King's excellency.  
His Issues integrity.  
The Nobles and Gentry's constancy.  
The Council and judges fidelities.  
The Preachers purity.  
The Bishop's sincerity.    
Conceived and written by ROBERT CARLYLE Gent. for the love and honour of his King and Country.  
LONDON, Printed by GEORGE ELD 1618.   

Directions for the Reader.  

THe Dream is implicate, or Allegorical, in Verse.  
The Exposition is explicate, in Prose.  
The staffs are numbered for the speedy turning to the Exposition of every Staff; which also bear the same numbers: without which, the Mystery of the Allegory, will hardly be understood.  
The Heathens infidelity, is contained in the first four staffs.  
The Turks blasphemy from the fifth Staff to the eight.  
Amsterdams' variety, from the eight to the thirteenth.  
The Pope's Hypocrisy, from the thirteenth to the seven and twentieth.  
Our Church's verity, from the twenty seven to the last.   

The King's excellency, is handled in the 27.28.30.38. and 39 staffs.  
His Issues integrity, in the 29. Staff.  
The Nobility and Gentry, handled in the 33. Staff.  
The Council and judges, in the 35 Staff.  
The Preachers purity, in the 31. Staff.  
The Bishops in the 36. and 37. staffs.    

Errata.  
Page 5. line 27. for pure read pour. Page 19 line 25. for which read doth.   

TO ALL VIRTUOUS Nobility, reverend Clergy, and well affected Gentry, ROBEKT CARLYLE wisheth grace, mercy, and peace in Christ jesus.  
RIGHT Noble, Religious and worthy persons, the Title Page demonstrateth unto you, that the plot of this fabric hath a general scope, and is erected upon all your several reputations, so that for the interest which you may challenge in this structure, I will entitle you with the Dedication: For in so much as God hath given you the inheritance of knowledge, Religion, and Virtue, you are also coheirs of the commendation thereof: And because this building is thus magnificently beautified with excellent Statues, no less persons than yourselves, adorned with all the golden and precious robes of faithful Saints: marvel not that I give it a glorious name; for if the Ark of God was called The glory of Israel being a type only, 1. Sam 4.21. Then the Gospel of Christ jesus, the foundation of this frame, shall make it glorious eternally. I have been curious in the workmanship of this Edifice, and careful lest my blunt edged chisel, in the carving of your pictures, and inscription of your Trophies, should blemish your personages, or dash out one letter of your fame: If I have done well I shall be glad for my Country's sake; If I have committed any one error I disdain not to have it amended in this work by such as are better experienced then myself. Mean time I desire my love and good will may be lovingly accepted. And so I rest,  
Yours most devoted R. C.   

The Dream.  

1. THe Dream is this: One in a shape divine,  
Transported by the Winds as swift as thought,  
Whose face more glorious than the Sun did shine,  
Me to an unknown climate quickly brought,  
Whereof strange things that were within that Nation,  
And of their natures he gave true relation.   

2. He showed me Oar of Gold, which being tried  
As Metals use to be in burning fire,  
One should have thought would have been purified,  
But contrary it turned to filthy mire,  
And whosoever kept it afterward,  
Should be with Sprights and Goblins strangely scared.   

3. Besides the operation of this Oar  
Was, whosoever touched it, to make blind  
And sottish, so that they could never more  
Have wit or sight in any perfect kind,  
Except by bathing in one River pure,  
In Europe Northward where they might have cure.   

4. In this strange Country also was a flower,  
Which this good Angel had no sooner gathered,  
But within one half quarter of an hour,  
As a thing blasted suddenly it withered,  
And as the Marigold by the Sun is spread,  
This by the Sun shut up and seemed as dead.   

5. The Angel then transferred me to a Land,  
Where huge deformed ugly Giants breed,  
Which spoiled and burnt good corn which there did stand,  
And set Tobacco that foul stinking weed,  
One bade me taste, but the Angel bade me leave,  
For that would me quite of my life bereave.   

6. For this is not a man as you suppose,  
But a black fiend which human shape assumes,  
That takes Tobacco thus through mouth and nose,  
And brings from Hell these devilish perfumes,  
I started back seeing it was a Devil,  
And prayed good Angel, save me from this evil.   

7. Be not afraid quoth he, thou shalt that see  
Before that we depart this wicked Land,  
Which never eye beheld: And then to me  
Appeared damned creatures in the flames to stand,  
These are Tabacconists said he, that for this turn,  
Did whilst they lived, beforehand learn to burn.   

8. Then suddenly he snatched me up and flew,  
Until he came unto a thick-set Wood,  
Where trees of all sorts many thousands grew,  
And likewise Shrubs innumerable stood,  
And look how many Trees and Shrubs there were,  
So many several fruits they all did bear.   

9 Some were like Apples, but were Crabs in taste,  
And in the eating had but sour digestion:  
Some were as bitter as the Oaken mast,  
More fit for swine then any mags' refection:  
Some were delicious sweet, and perfect good,  
Such as at first in Eden's Garden stood.   

10. But as that fruit was good and luscious,  
The Situation of the Trees was bad,  
For none of them by means of Vnder-bushes,  
Sufficient room to sprout their branches had,  
So th●● for want of elbow-room, a Tree  
Not half so fruitful was as else might be.   

11. Unfruitful briers choked their sappy root,  
And with sharp pricks did goad their tender Rind,  
thorns would not let their springing Arms to shoot,  
Sprigs of wild Trees about their branches twined,  
As if they all malicious envy had  
At that good fruit, seeing their own was bad.   

12. Pity it was the husbandman's respect,  
Did not root out these inconvenient lets;  
He might have remedied that great defect,  
By burning up those prejudicial sets,  
For those Trees properly are made to burn,  
As some to build, and some for other turn.   

13. This when I had perused curiously,  
The Angel led me to a goodly vineyard,  
Kept by a Tyrant, who swore furiously,  
That he would kill me with his bloody vineyard.  
The Angel saved me, and compelled him to  
Declare the mischiefs which he there did do.   

14. Then thus the Tyrant timorously said,  
Northward from hence there is within a Land,  
Amidst the Sea, a fruitful Paradise made,  
Where goodly Vines in curious order stand,  
Which prove exceeding plentiful: And there  
I sometime great authority did bear.   

15. And those fair Vines to all estates were free,  
As well the Ploughman as the Potentate,  
And every beggar might sufficed be,  
Without controlment of the Magistrate,  
That all degrees by virtue of that Grape,  
Grew perfect wise, sober, temperate.   

16. But I by craft and devilish invention,  
Desiring their subversion, cut those Vines  
Unseasonably, to hinder their extension  
In growth and spreading: And as oftentimes  
As I with blood the Roots should have made moist,  
A poison strong I closely in did foist.   

17. Which to conceal from men's detection,  
This trick I had, I suffered none to come  
Within that Paradise for to make collection,  
But I myself in person, or else some  
Of my confederates, whom I put in trust,  
Delivered them how, and to whom we lust.   

18. Many diseases hereupon did grow,  
The Ague, Palsy, Migraines, Scurf and Scab,  
The cause of sicknesses they did not know,  
For no man of the Grapes suspicion had.  
By this I got at ending of their days,  
All that they had for Rosemary and Bays.   

19 At length my hellish purpose was descried  
By one that vomited a poisoned Grape,  
By reason of an Antidote applied,  
And all the Country than did bear me hate,  
And for those faults which I committed there,  
They banished me, and so I thence came here.   

20. And all these Vines which here you planted see,  
Are of that sort, which I from thence did bring:  
But I have caused other Weeds to be  
Set with them, that they may together spring,  
And both at one time put into the Press,  
The Grapes and Weeds, to make a mingled mess.   

21. And to keep well those Weeds, I have ordained,  
They be continually vnderpropt with stakes,  
By such as I have purposely retained,  
Who in like case for their own lucre sakes,  
Ten times more curious are to trim and prime  
Their branches, than the branches of the Vine.   

22. This mingle mangle composition,  
Hath much besotted all the People's brains,  
And such is their fond supposition,  
They hold him cursed that from this drink refrains:  
The gains being great for selling of this Ale,  
Hath lift my head as high as Dragon's tail.   

23. And all the Country call me demi-god,  
Bending their knees to me with great devotion,  
And offer Gold, jewels and Emmerods',  
And all they have for this my potion:  
But out alas, their blind enchanted sight  
Sees not the Adder me that doth them bite.   

24. And that my gain may be enlarged the more,  
I have devised a Law on Pain of death,  
That none the juice of Grapes shall taste, before  
The juice of Weeds be mixed, whereby of breath  
I have bereaved thousands with this blade,  
Which for that purpose only I have made.   

25. The Angel answered, for this Impious fact,  
A judgement on thee suddenly shall come,  
Worse than the Serpent's curse, for his wild Act  
Which in deluding Eva he had done:  
Vengeance from Heaven shall one day drive thee out  
From this fair Vineyard with thy Rabble rout.   

26. Who pitifully shall lament thy case,  
The aspect thereof will be so vehement:  
But others shall rejoice at thy disgrace,  
And for deliverance from thy mischiefs sent.  
And therefore double shalt thou punished be,  
For thy delusion and wild Tyranny.   

27. And then me thought I was translated thence  
Into a Paradise replenished  
With fruitful Trees, Corn, Vines, and Herbs, from whence  
The Tyrant had before been banished:  
Who when be kept it was not so perfidious,  
As is the man that keeps it now Religious.   

28. For having Children, he instructs them how  
They may those Trees, Corn, Vines and herbs best keep  
From Caterpillars, Cankers, and the Sow,  
That longs into that place by stealth to creep,  
To spoil the Paradise; Of which sort there were  
Some by that Tyrant left of purpose there.   

29. So that this Paradise is like to flourish  
Until the final period of all things,  
For his fair issue know well how to nourish  
Those holy Plants, and those clear water-springs,  
Running therethrough to keep from foul pollution,  
Till all things have their final dissolution.   

30. And how provision is by virtue made  
To keep the Caterpillars from the Trees,  
Is thus; A fire underneath is laid,  
Whose smoke consumes them, as in swarms of Bees  
Is used commonly to rid the Drones,  
And so they prove continual fruitful ones.   

31. And that the Corn from Cankers may be clean,  
Thousands of careful labourers are fitted,  
To polish, cleanse, and winnow, by which mean,  
None but good Corn is to the ground committed:  
The like care is to clear the herbs from weeds,  
So there good Corn and good herbs only breed.   

32. But to keep out that beastly breed of Swine,  
Three thick-set hedges decently are placed  
About the Paradise, lest they should undermine,  
And so it might be utterly defaced:  
These Fences being strong, this stinking rout  
Shall ne'er get in, though they run round about.   

33. The first and out-most hedge is guarded well  
By Champions of valiant condition,  
Whowatch continually them to repel  
With shield, and spear, or sword, or such munition:  
And if the Swine but once come near that fence,  
One of those weapons sure shall beat them thence.   

34. But if the Swine do chance to sneak unseen,  
Of all that well approved outward guard,  
Within their hedge a little space between  
The first and second fence, them to reward,  
Lie beagles to discover the intrusion  
Of those, that wish to Paradise confusion.   

35. Being set on by this quick-sented crew,  
The second guard being huntsmen soon prepare,  
Who make those Swine their boldness for to rue,  
By force of javelin, Pistol, Pike, or Spear:  
Whose proved shields, and virtue of their Arms  
Them 'gainst a thousand boars, will save from harms.   

36. But say a foul Swine in a clean beast skin,  
Were closely put (as none but clean come there)  
Thinking by subtle policy to get in,  
Yet would it be descried ere it come near,  
For the third guard is clad in Arms complete,  
And search each beast that thither comes to eat.   

37. And they with complete furniture addressed,  
In single combat shun no fierce assault,  
Such manly courage resteth in their breast,  
From an whole host they never will revolt,  
But fight courageously and win the day,  
And carry conquest for their Prize away.   

38. This goodly Paradise thus is safely kept,  
From unclean beasts, chiefly from Wolves and Boars  
By virtues care, and provident respect,  
Who chief Commander is, and keeps the doors,  
And lets all in and out, and sets these guards,  
(Whom for their pains he daily gives rewards)  
And so the Lambs and silly Sheep feed free  
From the Wolves rapine, and the Swine's infection,  
Plenty of Corn is always seen to be,  
And fruits great store, by virtues good direction,  
Good Salad herbs abundant, water clear  
(As if it were distilled) in Rivers there.   

40. And those three Guards me thought devoutly prayed  
For the continuance of this heavenly place,  
And God grant Virtue all bappinesse they said,  
And his posterity, with increase of grace  
Mercy, and peace, for evermore. And then  
Legions of Angels answered Amen.   

THen toward me the Angel turned his face,  
And said he now had showed me good from evil,  
Virtue from vice, Celestial from base  
Terrestrial things, bright Angels from the Devil,  
And of these things to know the explanation,  
Read these few leaves and see the Demonstration,   

Which take and copy out with expedition,  
For I must leave you now to virtues guard,  
To whom present it without intermission,  
And he to you for this will give reward,  
I took my pen, as he gave me commission,  
And thus I writ the Visions exposition.    

The EXPOSITION.  1— One in a shape divine, 
BY these words is meant the Spirit of Truth, the Revelation of the Mystery of jesus Christ, the divine and heavenly operation of the holy Ghost.  Transported by the winds as swift as thought, 
Which is inspired, and breathed into our souls, thoughts and consciences, from the mouth of the most sacred Trinity: as Acts 2.2. it is said, that when the Apostles received the Holy Ghost, suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing, and mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they sat.  Whose face more gloious than the Sun did shine. 
The Word of Truth may well be said to be far more glorious than the Sun in brightness and shining, in respect of the integrity and eternity, thereof: for the Sun only giveth light unto the outward eyes, to guide our natural feet from stumbling: But this gracious visitation in Christ jesus hath lightened the darkness of our hearts, to guide our minds and affections, lest we stumble at errors and deadly sins, and so fall into perdition. S. john 1.4. speaking of the worthiness of the word, saith, It was life, and the life (meaning Christ jesus) was the light of men.  Me to an unknown Climate quickly brought. 
By this is to be understood a Representation unto us of such places, where the light of the Gospel hath not yet shined, and where the word of Truth is not yet preached, as amongst the Heathen people, Pagans, Infidels, Virginians, and other the like barbarous and brutish Nations, and as it was with us Gentiles in the time of the Law before our vocation, as it is written, we were sometimes strangers from the promise, Eph. 2.12.  
Where of Strange things that were within that Nation,  
And of their Natures he gave true relation.  
That is, the Spirit of grace doth demonstrate unto us, the strange Religions and Heresies of those foreign Nations, their vain superstitions, and blind Idolatry, and the effects and events of their errors: 1. Cor. 4.5. He will lighten things that are hid in darkness, and make the Counsels of the hearts manifest.  2 He showed me Oar of Gold,— 
All is not gold that glistereth, neither is this meant to be material Oar, but that which indeed (if it had been of the right touch) would have been far more precious than gold. It is meant by their Religion, which being of a counterfeit stamp, is but a superficies, fair without, but dross within; for instead of worshipping the living God, they adore a dead Idol of gold, and sometimes of wood and stone: some of them also worship the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars; some put their trust in their Coin, saying, with the covetous miser, Pecunia omnia potest: I pray God too many of those Idolaters be not amongst us; nay, some worship the Devil himself.  
We read in the 2. King. 16.3. That Ahaz King of jerusalem made his son to go thorough the fire, after the abominations of the Heathen, as a Sacrifice to the Idol Molech.  
Also, in the 2. Kings 21. It is said of Manasseth, that he built the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected up Altars for Baal, and made a grove as did Ahab King of Israel, and worshipped all the host of Heaven, and served them.  
And as in those times, they worshipped the Gods of their Nations, 2. King. 17.29. So is it now with those ignorant incredulous people in our days which know not the true God.  
— which being tried,  
As metals use to be, in burning fire,  
One should have thought would have been purified,  
But contrary it turned to filthy Mire,  
The Gospel of Christ jesus is compared to a burning fire, most vehement, which maketh a change of things through all the World: as in Luk 12.49. Christ saith, I am come to put fire on the earth, speaking of the Gospel, so then this is the meaning of the last verses, That the Religion of those Idolaters and Heathen people, being compared and examined with our Catholic and Apostolic Doctrine, it needs no other touchstone, it shows both inside and outside, that in respect thereof it is base and wild, and as dirt and dross to pure gold, as a pibble-stone to a precious Diamond.  
If we diligently peruse the Scriptures, we shall find that Idolatry is forbidden 500 times in the New and Old Testament with severe punishments: And God himself for the wild wickedness and abomination thereof, hath pronounced that the entisers of Idolatry seem they never so holy should be slain, Deut. 13.5.  
Blessed is the Tree whereby Righteousness cometh, but that is cursed that is made with hands, both it and he that made it: He because he made it, and it being a corruptible thing, because it was called God, Wisd. 14.7.8.  
And whosoever kept it afterward  
Should be with sprights and goblins strangely scared.  
Hear is to be noted, that after our consciences have been thoroughly tried, by the word of God, and that we have received by the spirit of Grace the knowledge of Christ jesus, if we revolt again from the truth, to serve strange Gods, the Lord will give us over to the temptations of Satan, hardness of heart, blindness of understanding, and will bring upon us war, famine, and all the curses mentioned in the Book of his Law, and in the end death and destruction, & after death perpetual damnation.  
It is evident in divers places of the Old Testament in every book, that the Kings of Israel so long as they kept the Commandments of God, and observed his Laws, as the Lord hath appointed, not according to their own imaginations, they prospered in all their doings, and many blessings were upon them: But when they went a whoring after strange Gods, the vengeance and wrath of God came upon them with many heavy curses pronounced: whereof read 2. King. 17.7. Exod. 22.20. also 23.32.33. Deut. 17. from 2. verse to 8. also 29. from the 18. to the last verse. also 30.17.18. Revel. 21.8.  
3. Besides the operation of this Oar  
Was, whosoever touched it to make blind  
And sottish, so that they could never more  
Have wit or sight in any perfect kind,  
Hear are described the effects of Idolatry, blindness and dullness of understanding: So here are blind Gods, and blind People:  
2. Sam. 5.8. When king David and his men went to jerusalem unto the jebusites, he promised preferment to those that would smite the Lame and Blind, meaning the Idols which his soul hated, as the text mentioneth.  
And Salom. Wisd. 14.26.27. saith, that the worshipping of Idols, which ought not to be named, is the beginning and the cause and end of all evil, for either they be mad, when they be merry, or prophesy lies, or live ungodly, or else lightly forswear themselves.  
The Apostle Paul also writing to the Eph. 4.17.18.19. exhorteth them that they will not walk as other Gentiles, in vanity of their mind, having their cogitation darkened, and being strangers from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their hearts, etc.  
And it may be truly applied unto them that is spoken by Isa. the Prophet cap. 59.10. They grope for the wall like the blind, and as one without eyes, they stumble in the noonday, as in the twilight, and they are in solitary places as dead Men.  
Except by bathing in one River pure,  
In Europe Northward where they might have cure.  
The word of God in divers places of the Scripture is likened to Rivers and waters, whereby is meant, that if those Idolatrous Nations have recourse to the holy Scriptures as they are now professed and taught in the Church of Great Britain, they shall be delivered and freed from their blindness and ignorance.  
john 4.14. Whosoever drinketh of the water (saith Christ) that I shall give him, shall never be more a thirst, but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.  
Ezech. 47.8.9. The Scriptures are called wholesome waters, in these words, These water's issue out toward the East Country, and run down into the plain, and shall go into one Sea, and the waters shall be wholesome, and every thing which moveth wheresoever the Rivers come shall live, and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither, for they shall be wholesome, and every thing shall live whither the River cometh.  
Also in the 36. ver. 25. God's Spirit is compared to clean water, where the Lord saith, I will pure clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean, yea, from all your filthiness, and from all your Idols will I cleanse you.  
And the Apostle Paul writing to the Eph. cap. 5. ver. 26.27. showeth how Christ sanctifieth and cleanseth his Church by the washing of water through the word, that he might make it unto himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blame.  
Lastly, Baptism (which these Heathen people have not) is a token, that God hath consecrated the Church to himself, and made it holy by his word, that is, his promise of free justification and sanctification in Christ.  
4. In this strange Country also was a flower  
Which this good Angel had no sooner gathered,  
But within one half quarter of an hour,  
As a thing blasted, suddenly it withered,  
And as the Marigould by the Sun is spread,  
This by the Sun shut up and seemed as dead.  
Certain it is, that there is a flower in the Indies, which when the Sun shineth it shuts itself close, as a Marigould openeth by the Sun. And there is a Tree called the shamefac'd-Tree, which groweth very fair and green, whose leaf if you touch, though you pluck it not from the Tree, yet it will shrink together for a season, like as if it should whither, and so continue until your departure from that place, but the purpose here is not to discover natural causes, but to make Spiritual use.  
Therefore, By this flower, is signified the weak faith of these Infidels, which as it is little or none at all, so it hath no sure foundation whereupon it is built, and therefore cannot stand against the power of the spirit of truth, no more than the Idol Dagon did before the Ark of the Lord, whereof it is written, 1. Sam. 5.2 3.4. That the Philistines took the Ark of God, and brought it into the house of their chief Idol Dagon, and set it by Dagon, And when they of Ashdod rose the next day in the morning, behold Dagon was fallen upon his face on the ground before the Ark of the Lord, And they took up Dagon and set him in his place again, And they rose up early in the morning next day, and behold Dagon was fallen again upon his face on the ground before the Ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and the two palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold, only the stump of Dagon was left to him: And so is it with this flower which properly I cannot call Faith, seeing the Apostle Paul 2. Thes. 3.2. saith, all men have not faith, but it is a kind of blind zeal in their blind Religion, which at the appearance and trial of the spirit of God withereth like a flower.  
5. The Angel then transferred me to a Land,  
Where huge deformed ugly Giants breed,  
Who spoiled and burnt good Corn which there did stand,  
And set Tobacco that foul stinking weed.  
By this land is conceived so much as is under the Dominion of the great Turk, where the people may properly be called deformed ugly Giants, in respect of their horrible foul Heresies and blasphemies which in them is more monstrous and damnable, then in the Heathen people before mentioned, which neither have heard of Christ since his coming, nor any type, figure, or Prophesy of him before his coming: But these Monsters have ever had the Law of Moses among them, and also the books of the Prophets, which likewise they have now in use; whereby the foreknowledge of the true Messiah was prefigured unto them: They did also know of his coming, they have heard his Doctrine, seen his miracles, he lived and died amongst them; Yet, these savage and wild Giants of the earth, which never were naturally borne as I may say in respect of Regeneration, waist and burn up (our Bibles wherein is written the Gospel of our blessed Saviour) that good seed which that great Husbandman Christ himself did sow within their Land, The bread of life, john. 6.48.  
I am the living bread (saith Christ) which came down from Heaven, If any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever: And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the World, joh. 6.51.  
This bread was given to the jews before any other Nation, which is within the Turks Dominion now (by Invasion,) being the elect people of God, before the calling of us the Gentiles, as appeareth, Math. 15.26. When the Canaanitish woman cried out to jesus for her daughter which was miserably vexed with a Devil; Christ answered, It is not good to take the children's bread, (which were the jews) and to cast it to whelps, whom Christ so called being strangers from the house of God: But Christ's holy name be glorified, that we now are made partakers of this heavenly bread, whereby we are made one body with him, 1. Cor. 10.17.  
But instead of this bread of sincerity and truth, 1. Cor. 5.8. These deformed Giants the Turks, have sowed another kind of seed, such Corn as will prove unto them as the bread of affliction mentioned in the 1. King. 22.27. Or as the bread of tears, Psal. 80.5. Or as the bread of Adversity, Isa. 30.20. For it is Tobacco, it is the black seed of blasphemy, which they have sown, a horrible contempt and defiance of the Gospel, and an approbrious injury and violence done to Christ himself, worse than the blasphemy of Pharaoh, saying, who is the Lord that I should hear his voice, and let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go, Exod. 5.2. Worse than the blasphemy of Olofernes, saying, Who is God but Nebuchadonozor? judith 6.2.5. Worse than the blasphemy of the Pharisees, that said, Christ cast out Devils by Belzebub the chief of Devils, Luke 11.15. For the Turk yet cease not to defy and blaspheme Christ jesus that was crucified about 1585. years past, terming himself in derision and scorn of the Saviour of the World, occupier and possessor of the Tomb of the hanged God of the jews: And in the Gates of their Temples (I tremble to think of their devilish rebellion against the Lord) they place the Image of Christ hanging upon the Cross with his head downwards, when they have taken a Christian, and they force him either to turn to their abominable Religion, or else put him to extreme and miserable slavery, in which desperate case, many Christians are drawn to revolt from their faith, and believe in Mahomet, and then when the Christians enter into their Church, they are constrained to spurn that Image on the face, in despite and defiance. Let the World judge what they do to Christ himself in their hearts, when to his Image they are so despiteful: For which cause this their odious blasphemy is compared to that stinking weed Tobacco: For as Tobacco being sucked into the mouth, causeth men to evacuate a noisome choking smoke, and maketh the body of Man black and unclean within: so doth their profession & their faith in their Religion make their souls black, and cause filthy blasphemies to come out of their mouths, as it is written of Antichrist, He opened his mouth unto blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name and his Tabernacle, and them that dwell in Heaven, Revelation 13.6.  One bade me taste,— 
Satan hath been a Tempter from the beginning, and is, 1. Thess. 3.5. and consequently the wicked which are the Children of the Devil are always ready to seduce and deceive the Children of God, and cause them to forsake God if it were possible, but such are enemies to Christ & deceivers.  
Many deceivers are entered into the World which confess not that jesus Christ is come in the flesh, He that is such a one is a deceiver and an Antichrist, 2. john 1.7.  
— the Angel bade me leave,  
For that would me quite of my life bereave.  
By the corruption of nature we daily commit sins of infirmity, but such as belong unto the Lord shall be kept and preserved by his grace from falling into heinous sins such as blasphemy is, we are delivered from the snares of death, the delusions of the Devil, and the temptations of the wicked, by the infusion of God's spirit, and the illumination of the Gospel.  
The Lord knoweth to deliver the godly out of temptation, 2. Peter 2.9.  
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, therefore I will deliver thee from the hour of temptation, Revel. 3.10.  
6. For this is not a man as you suppose,  
But a black fiend which human shape assumes,  
That takes Tobacco thus through mouth and nose,  
And brings from Hell these devilish perfumes.  
The first man Adam was made a living soul, 1. Cor. 15.45. After the Image of God according to his own likeness, Gen. 1.26. That is, in righteousness and true holiness, Ephe. 4.24. and continued in that state until his fall. The last Adam was made a quickening spirit, 1. Cor. 15.45. that is, Christ bringeth us from Heaven the spirit of life, whereby we are now in the state of Grace: Of which state the Turks have no part, because they deny and defy Christ.  
So then the Turks are the Children of the Devil according as Saint john writeth Cap. 8.44. Ye are of your father the Devil, and the lusts of your father you will do.  
As for their Blasphemy, of all the sins in the World that man can commit, it is so high & presumptuous against our Saviour that died for us, that the very light of our natural understanding, without any further probation of Scriptures, will tell our hearts and consciences, with fear and trembling (if we have any conscience at all, or except we have a seared conscience) that it is the very works of darkness, hellish, damnable, and devilish, and if there be any spirit of error and wickedness worse than Devils, it is their invention and Doctrine, For Devils know and confess Christ, Luke. 4.41. Oh miserable and wretched people, that having the shape of men, they should be worse than Devils.  
I started back seeing it was a Devil,  
And prayed, good Angel save me from this evil.  
By the starting back is meant, that we should not keep company with the wicked blasphemers of Christ, but fly from them: Put away therefore from among yourselves that wicked Man, 1. Cor. 5.13. which is spoken of those which are without, that is, which are not subject to God's word, and to the Discipline of the Church.  
The last verse signifieth, that we ought to pray in the holy-ghost. Jude 20. ver. Edify yourselves in your most holy Faith, praying in the holy-ghost.  
And Math. 6.9. Christ himself commandeth us to pray thus, Our Father etc. but deliver us from evil, etc.  7. Be not afraid quoth he— 
Hear is to be observed the singular love of Christ, that in any fear or danger he will comfort and strengthen such as belong to him: john 16.33. Christ speaking to his Disciples, saith, In the World ye shall have affliction, but be of good comfort, I have overcome the World: Wherefore let us say with the Apostle Paul 2. Cor. 1.3.4. Blessed be the God even the Father of our Lord jesus Christ, the Father of mercy, and the God of all comfort, which comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any affliction, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.  
— thou shalt that see  
Before that we depart this wicked Land  
Which never eye beheld:—  
Sometimes the Lord showeth signs and wonders that his power may be known, Exod. 34.10. Sometimes for the confirmation of the Doctrine of them that believe and establishing of their faith, Mark. 16.17. Sometimes preceding the day of judgement, Math. 24.29.30.31. So is it also with his sights, hear, and apparitions, josua 5.13.14.15: 2. King. 7.6.7. Acts 16.9. 18.9.  
— And then to me  
Appeared damned creatures in the flames to stand,  
Hear is the just judgement of the Lord seen upon the wicked for their unbelief: He that will believe and be baptised shall be saved, but he that will not believe shall be damned, Mar. 16.17. For the time is come, that judgement must begin at the house of God. If it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God? and if the righteous scarce be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear? 1. Pet. 4.17.18.  
Also 2. Thes. 2.8.9.10.11.12. The Apostle Paul speaking of the wicked man that shall be revealed, saith, The Lord shall consume him with the spirit of his mouth, and because that wicked man's coming is by the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and in all deceiveableness of unrighteousness among them that perish, he showeth, because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved, Therefore God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe lies, that all they might be damned which believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.  
Many examples may be produced out of the Scriptures to prove and declare the judgement of God against the wicked, will be terrible and fearful at the day of his second coming; and that Hell is prepared from the beginning for the Devil and his Angels, and all wicked persons. One more only shall suffice to show the Description of Hell, that these wicked blasphemers, & all others may be affrighted in their consciences, and convert and be saved: Isa. 30.33. The Prophet saith, that Tophet is prepared of old, that is, Hell, It is even prepared for the King, he hath made it deep and large, the burning thereof is fire and much wood, the breath of the Lord like a River of brimstone doth kindle it.  
These are Tabacconists that for this turn,  
Did whilst they lived beforehand learn to burn.  
These Tabacconists are those blaspheme's spoken of before, and such as despise the word of truth, and the Gospel of Christ jesus, whose wickedness is said to burn as fire whilst they live: Isa. 9.18.19. For wickedness burneth as a fire, it devoureth the briars and the thorns, and will kindle in the thick places of the Forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke, By the wrath of the Lord of Hosts shall the Land be darkened, & the people shall be as the meat of the fire.  
8. Then suddenly he snatched me up and flew,  
Until he came unto a thick-set Wood,  
Where trees of all sorts many thousands grew,  
And likewise shrubs innumerable stood,  
And look how many trees and shrubs there were,  
So many several fruits they all did bear.  
Hear is represented unto our eyes, the confused mixture of opinions and Sects in Religion of Amsterdam, a Town within the 17. Provinces, where it is certainly known, that there be more varieties of Doctrines, then in any one place of the World, as namely, Protestants, Papists, Atheists, Anabaptists, Brownists, Arians, the Family of Love, and such like, and I think some of no Religion at all, wherefore the place is compared to a Wood, the people to Trees, and their Sects to fruits, which may fitly be said to be of several kinds, in respect of the difference of opinions. Every tree is known by his fruit, whether it be good or evil, Math. 12.33. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of an evil treasure bringeth forth evil things, Math. 12.35.  
9 Some were like Apples, but were Crabs in taste,  
And in the eating had but sour digestion.  
This may be understood of the fruits of Man's inventions, which carry only a similitude of goodness, but are bad in themselves, as the Crab is like to an Apple, but is lesser and far worse in taste. Such is the hypocrisy of the Brownists, whose digestion is sour, (that is) their punishment certainly will be very grievous upon themselves, Seeing that the earth which sinneth not shall be made waist because of their wickedness, as in Micah. 7.13. Notwithstanding, the Land shall be desolate, because of them that dwell therein, and for the fruits of their inventions.  
Some were as bitter as the Oaken Mast,  
More fit for swine then any man's refection.  
These are the fruits of the flesh, which in many things are brutish. Ro. 7.18. I know (saith the Apostle Paul) that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me, but I find no means to perform that which is good. Gal. 5.19. The works of the flesh are manifest, which are Adultery, Fornication, Uncleanness, Wantonness, Idolatry, Witchcraft, Hatred, Debate, Emulations, Wrath, Contentions, Seditions, Heresies, Envy, Murders, Drunkenness, Gluttony, and such like. To all these every man is naturally prone, but two of these may be appropriated to the fruits of the Papists, to wit, Fornication and Idolatry, the one being tolerated, the other allowed by their Religion, so that it seemeth they never learned this lesson of Saint Paul, or else they scorn to allow his Doctrine, or else it is out of their book. But let them know as Saint Paul saith, That such shall not inherit the kingdom of God.  
Some were delicious sweet, and perfect good,  
Such as at first in Eden's Garden stood.  
These are the fruits of Righteousness, and of the Spirit, and may be said to proceed from a true zealous Protestant.  
Gal. 5.22. The fruit of the Spirit is Love, joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, and Temperance.  
10. But as that fruit was good and luscious,  
The situation of the Trees was bad,  
For none of them by means of under-bushes,  
Sufficient room to sprout their branches had,  
So that for want of elbow-room, a Tree,  
Not half so fruitful was as else might be.  
Many times it falls out that the godly are hindered by the wicked, that they cannot show their good works in such measure as they would. For the profession of the true Gospel of jesus Christ, is oftentimes eclipsed in them by the dark cloudy meetings, and mixture of Heresies of others, among whom they live, so that it doth not shine with his perfect light, especially among such as either refuse to hear the Gospel of Christ at all, or else if they hear it, they will pervert it, and make the construction thereof according to their own fantasies. So these ungodly people are compared to under-bushes, that hinder the propagation of God's holy word, and the growing and prospering of the fruits of the Spirit.  
And they are like to the Pharisees, that neither would believe the Gospel themselves, nor suffer others to believe, Math. 23.13. Add like to the jews spoken of in the 17. Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, where Paul being in Thessalonica, (as his manner was) went into their Synagogue, opening and alleging, that Christ must have suffered and risen again from the dead, and some believed, but the jews which believed not, took unto them certain vagabonds, and wicked fellows, and made a tumult in the City, and would have brought Paul out to the people.  
11. Unfruitful briers choked their sappy root,  
And with sharp pricks did goad their tender Rind,  
thorns would not let their springing Arms to shoot,  
Sprigs of wild Trees about their branches twined,  
As if they all malicious envy had  
At that good fruit, seeing their own was bad.  
Envy is one of the fruits of the flesh, as before mentioned, and therefore is altogether repugnant to the Spirit. And here is demonstrated unto us, the malice of the Children of the Devil against the Children of God. According as Christ saith to his Disciples, Ye shall be hated of all men for my sake, Math. 10.22. They that do maintain those wicked Heresies, and vain inventions, have their eyes evil, because the Protestant is good. The similitude of sharp pricking briars and thorns is alluded unto such as have heard the word, but the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of Riches, and the lusts of other things, enter in and choke the word, and it is unfruitful, Mark. 4.19.  
But that is not all the hurt they do, to be unfruitful in themselves, for the nature of such briars and thorns is to make the ground barren round about where they grow, and to hinder the growth of any thing, that is near thereunto.  
And they may be said to be wild Trees, which have not the knowledge of truth grafted in their hearts, of which there are too many in that place, and those of several Sects, so that it is now with the good Protestant in that place, as it was with the Children of Israel, who being but one people in their journey to the Land of promise, met with divers Nations that resisted them; & being there is but one truth, which the Protestants profess, there they are much cumbered and troubled with many hosts of Errors, but as the Lord ever gave the Conquest to the Israelites, so no doubt he will be to the Protestants.  
12. Pity it was the husbandman's respect,  
Did not root out those inconvenient lets;  
He might have remedied that great defect,  
By plucking up those prejudicial sets,  
What greater ruin and spoiling of a delicate fair garden then to suffer it to be overgrown with weeds? What greater confusion to a Commonwealth than errors in Religion? and as it belongs to the providence and care of a good Gardener to prevent the one: So it appertaineth to Magistrates and Ecclesiastical governors to remedy the other, so near as they can.  
But it falls out sometimes, that those weeds only which are grown great and apparent, are only plucked up, the rest being near the ground amongst good herbs are not so easily discerned, so is it with Sects, which if they once grow up and shed their seed, they cannot be cleansed, they multiply so fast, and grow so thick, that commonly they overgrow the good Religion. And likewise in goodly fruitful Orchards, where trees are pestered thick together, the bad trees that are unfruitful, hinder the prospering of the good trees, that they cannot be so fruitful as otherwise they might be. Even so, is it with the good and sound Religion of the Gospel, amongst other wicked Sects and divisions of opinions. But if labourers were purposely appointed for the one, and subordinate Ministers for the other (because the eye of the Magistrate cannot see all) both the one, and the other, might be freed from these great inconveniences.  
For those Trees properly are made to burn,  
As some to build, and some for other turn.  
The use of Trees is divers, according to their natures: some are for timber and building as we read, 1. King. 5.56. And behold (saith Solomon) I purpose to build an house unto the name of my Lord my God. Now therefore command that they hue me Cedar trees out of Lebanon: Of such trees, that is, of the faithful, God hath beautifully built his Church militant here on earth Yea are Gods husbandry, and God's building, 1. Cor. 3.9. Now as concerning Thorns and Briars, that is, the wicked, they were from the beginning ordained for the fire. And so likewise every tree though it bring forth fruit, yet if the fruit be not good, it is hewn down and cast into the fire, Math. 7.10. If any man abide not in me (saith Christ) he is cast forth as a branch, and withereth, and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they burn.  
13. This when I had perused curiously,  
The Angel led me to a goodly vineyard,  
Kept by a Tyrant, who swore furiously,  
That he would kill me with his bloody vineyard.  
By this Vineyard is meant the Church of Rome (in respect the Gospel of Christ is there preached, though with many heresies) and by the Tyrant is understood the Pope, whose bloody disposition I need not tell to the World, he is so well known, & manifested to be such as Solomon speaketh of, Pro. 28.15. As a Roaring Lion is a wicked Ruler over the poor people, for he can never be satisfied, but ever oppresseth and spoileth, And he is worse than Herod the tyrant, who sent forth and slew all the male Children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the Coasts thereof, from two year old and under: For the Pope he neither spareth men, women nor children, young nor old. The Prophet Micah. cap. 3.2. writing against the tyranny of false Prophets, saith, they hate the good and love the evil, they pluck off their skins from them, and their flesh from their bones, and they eat also the flesh of the people and break their bones, and chop them in pieces as for the pot, and as the flesh within the Cauldron. And as the Prophet Zeph. spoke concerning the City of jerusalem, so it may be fitly applied to the City of Rome: Zeph. 3.1.2.3.4. Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, she heard not the voice, she received not correction, she trusted not in the Lord, she drew not near unto her God, her princes within her are as roaring lions, her judges are as Wolves in the evening, which leave not the bones till the morrow, her Prophets are light and wicked persons, her priests have polluted the Sanctuary, they have wrested the Law.  The Angel saved me,— 
It is the Lord that delivereth us out of all adversity, 2. Sam. 4.9. David in the 22. Chapter of the same Book 2.3. verses, confesseth, that the Lord was his Rock, his fortress, and he that delivered him: saying further, God is my strength, in him will I trust, my shield, and the horn of my Salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour, thou hast saved me from violence. Every word of God is pure, he is a shield to them that trust in him, Pro. 30.5.  
— and compelled him to  
Declare the mischiefs which he there did do.  
It is the justice of God, that the wicked confess their sins to their condemnation, for they will not believe to obtain remission: and their own words shall be a sufficient proof to condemn them if there were no other thing.  
Every man shall be justified or condemned by the words of his own mouth, Math. 12.37. Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and confessed that he had sinned, and that the Lord is righteous, but he and his people were wicked, Exod. 9.27.  14. Then thus the Tyrant timorously said, 
This showeth that the power of God maketh the wicked afraid: The Israelites having seen the mighty power of God, feared the Lord, Exod. 14.31. Adam after he had sinned was afraid of God, Gen. 3.10.  
And the word of the Lord is herein fulfilled, for the Lord threateneth they shall be afraid in their chambers, which provoke him by Idolatry, Deut. 32.25.  
Northward from hence there is within a Land,  
Amidst the Sea, a fruitful Paradise made,  
Where goodly Vines in curious order stand,  
Which prove exceeding plentiful:—  
That is within this Island of great Britain, which lieth Northward from Rome, the Gospel of jesus Christ which is compared to a fruitful Paradise of Vines, which plentifully abound, and the profession thereof is spread throughout the same, like as goodly Vines flourish and spread. The Prophet David speaking of the Church, Psal. 80.8. compares it to a Vine, Thou hast brought a Vine out of Egypt, thou hast cast out the Heathen, and planted it, thou madest room for it, and didst cause it to take root, and it filled the Land, the mountains were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof are like the goodly Cedars, she stretched out her branches unto the Sea, and her boughs unto the River.  
I am the Vine (saith Christ) and my father is an husbandman, john 15.1.  
— And there  
I sometime great authority did bear.  
Too great was the Pope's authority in this Kingdom, when before the Reign of King Henry the eight he had the supremacy.  
15. And those fair Vines to all estates were free,  
As well the Ploughman as the Potentate,  
And every beggar might sufficed be,  
Without controlment of the Magistrate,  
The freedom of the Gospel is twofold: free of expense and restraint. The Apostle Paul 1. Cor. 9.18. speaking of the Preaching of the Gospel, saith thus, What is my reward then, verily, that when I preach the Gospel I make the Gospel of Christ free, that I abuse not mine authority in the Gospel, that is, that I be not chargeable to them to whom I preach, seeing that they think I preach it for gains.  
And the same Apostle, 2. Tim. 2.8.9. exhorting Timothy to be constant in trouble, to suffer manly, and to abide fast in the wholesome Doctrine of our Lord jesus Christ, bids him remember, that jesus Christ made of the seed of David, was raised again from dead, according to Saint Paul's Gospel, wherein the Apostle suffered trouble as an evil doer even unto bonds, but the word of God is not bound, thereby showing that notwithstanding his imprisonment, the word of God hath his race, and increaseth.  
That all degrees by virtue of that Grape,  
Grew perfect wise, sober, temperate.  
Who seek wisdom early shall find it, that is, they that study the word of God diligently, and with a desire to profit shall find wisdom: Riches and honour are with her, ever durable riches and Righteousness, that is, spiritual treasures and heavenly things, Pro. 8.17.16. Moses exhorting the people to keep the ordinances and laws of God, Deut. 4.6. tells them that is their wisdom and their understanding in the sight of the people, which shall hear all those ordinances, and shall say, only this people is wise, and of understanding, and a great Nation. The wisdom of the World is but foolishness with God, 1. Cor. 1.20. But unto them which are called both of the jews and Grecians, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, for the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men, 1. Cor. 1.24.25.  
Also the words of God are the words of sobriety and truth, as appeareth in the Acts of the Apostles 26.25. where the Apostle Paul rehearsing his conversation to approve his innocency, being accused before Festus, said, I am not mad noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and soberness.  
16. But I by craft and devilish invention,  
Desiring their subversion, cut those Vines  
Unseasonably, to hinder their extension  
In growth and spreading:—  
The Devil and the Pope have ever yet been envious against the propagation of the Gospel, and have laboured by all the devices that possibly they could, to extinguish, or at least to obumbrate the true light thereof, wherefore it was a subtle deceit of the Pope, to have the word of God set forth in the Latin Tongue, which the common people could not understand, whereby the knowledge of the Gospel was like the Sun in Eclipse, and could not be so generally spread as if it had been written in their natural English, so thereupon it may be said, that it was unseasonably cut, to hinder the extension thereof.  
The Apostle Paul, 1. Cor. 14.1.2. speaking against prayer and service in a strange tongue, exhorteth men to follow after love, and covet spiritual gifts, and rather, that they may prophesy, (that is, to expound the word of God to the edification of the Church) for he that speaketh a strange tongue, speaketh not unto men but unto God, for no man heareth him, (that is, understandeth him.)  
Also in the 4 and 5. verses of the same Chapter, the Apostle saith, he that speaketh strange language edifieth himself (for he profiteth none save himself) greater is he that prophesieth, than he that speaketh divers tongues, except he expound it that the Church may receive edification.  
— And as oftentimes  
As I with blood the Roots should have made moist,  
A poison strong I closely in did foist.  
That is, As often as the Pope and his Ministers should have sincerely delivered the word of God to the people according to truth, whereby it might have taken root in their hearts, So often they preached their own inventions, bringing in many horrible new heresies which poisoned the people's understanding. Saint Paul gave them other direction, 2. Tim. 2.15. Study (saith he) to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed dividing the word of truth aright. But the words of that holy Apostle, 1. Tim. 4.1.2.3. are truly verifide in the Pope and his Ministers. Now the spirit speaketh evidently, That in the latter times some shall departed from the faith, and shall give heed unto spirits of error, and doctrines of Devils (meaning false teachers) which speaking lies through hypocrisy, have their consciences burned with an hot Iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with giving thanks, of them which believe and know the truth. And as for the Gospel, as it is professed by them, Deut. 32.32.33. there it is deciphered, Their Vine is the Vine if Sodom and the Vines of Gomorah; their Grapes are Grapes of gall, their Clusters be bitter, their Wine is the poison of the Dragons, and the cruel gall of Asps.  
17. Which to conceal from men's detection,  
This trick I had, I suffered none to come  
Within that Paradise to make collection,  
To cast a mist before the people's eyes, that they might not discern the false Doctrine and superstitious ceremonies which were then brought into the Church, the Pope would suffer none to have the bible in English, lest their heresies should be detected, and their discipline despised, (for the Pope and his Ministers know in their consciences, if they have any consciences, (or else God lighten their understanding that they may know) that their Doctrine is a Doctrine of vanity, and the work of errors, according to the Prophet jere. 10.8. They altogether dote, and are foolish, for the stock is a Doctrine of vanity: Where because the people thought that having Images was a mean to serve God, and to bring them to the knowledge of him, the prophet showeth, that nothing more displeaseth God, nor bringeth man into greater errors and ignorance of God.  
But I myself in person, or else some  
Of my confederates, whom I put in trust,  
Delivered them how, and to whom we lust.  
The common people wanting the knowledge of the Latin tongue, were forced to receive the word from the Priests, delivered according to their own fantasies, and so were deluded by these false teachers: of whom the Apostle Peter prophesied, 2. Peter 2.1.2.3. But there were false Prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, which privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that hath bought them, and bring upon themselves swift damnation, and many shall follow their damnable ways, by whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of, and with covetousness shall they, with feigned words make merchandise of you, which is evidently seen in the Pope and his Priests, which by lies and flatteries sell men's souls, so that it is certain that he is not the successor of Simon Peter, but of Simon Magus.  
18. Many diseases hereupon did grow,  
The Ague, Palsy, Migraines, Scurf and Scab,  
This false Doctrine brought in by the Pope and his Priests hath wrought many sects, opinions and divisions in this our true Catholike-Church, and by that means, many doubts, questions and controversies did arise, which are compared to Agues, Palsies, and Migraines, and are as great a blemish to the true faith in jesus Christ, as a scurf or scab is to a natural man's body. For this cause saith Saint Paul, 1. Cor. 11.30. Many are sick and weak among you, and many sleep, that is, they died or be dead.  
The cause of sicknesses they did not know,  
For no man of the Grapes suspicion had.  
The Pope and his Priests will say that they are the people of God, make a fair outward show of sanctity in words, but not in Action, for they abuse God's name, and colour it with shadow of Religion to cloak their hypocrisy. The Prophet Micah 3.11. speaking of the heads of the house of jaakob and the Princes of the house of Israel, figureth out plainly the state of Rome: saying, They abhor judgement, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and jerusalem with iniquity, (that is, they build them houses by bribery) The heads thereof judge for rewards, and the Priests thereof teach for hire, and the Prophets thereof prophesy for money, yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, is not the Lord amongst us? no evil can come upon us: Which hypocrisy being thus cloaked with Religion, is the more free from suspicion of the people.  
By this I got at ending of their days,  
All that they had for Rosemary and Bays.  
The silly people were taught such blind devotion, that notwithstanding their daily offerings to Idols, which came to the use of the Priests, and whereby they grew exceeding rich, commonly at the time of their deaths, they would bequeath all, or the greatest part of their substance to massing Priests, for maintenance of lights, obits, and prayers for their souls, persuading themselves verily that they should never be saved without such fond babbling, and so the whole Kingdom almost came into the hands of the Churchmen. So those Dirges are alluded to a little Rosemary and bay, as to a thing of no value or respect, but they are hardly so good, for indeed the Rosemary and bay is a decent ornament for the corpse when it is carried to the grave, but as for the songs and prayers and their feighned power to do the soul of the dead any good, or to be any ornament thereunto, there is no true Christian but will hold him a very simple understanding man that imagines it. For as a man dieth, so shall he come to judgement. Eccles. 11.3. If the tree do fall toward the South or toward the North, in the place that the tree falleth there it shall be.  
19 At length my devilish purpose was descried  
By one that vomited a poisoned Grape,  
By reason of an Antidote applied,  
The whole circumstance hereof is largely and truly recorded in the book of the Martyrs of the kingdom of England, among the memorial and acts done in the time of the Reign of King Henry the eight, to which for brevity the Reader shall be referred. Thus much only may be said, That it pleased the Lord to illuminate the understanding of that renowned, virtuous and well affected king with the light of his truth, whereby he discerned the hypocrisy of the Pope and his ministers, And then caused the Bible to be printed in English, and the glorious Gospel of Christ jesus to be truly preached, and so the whole kingdom was plentifully fed with the heavenly and spiritual food of the Soul, which that famous and blessed King having received and digested, it was to him as a preservative, or an Antidote against the Heresies of Rome, and caused him as it were to vomit out those wild errors out of the Church of England.  
And all the Country than did bear me hate,  
And for those faults which I committed there,  
They banished me, and so I thence came here.  
Hear the people began to observe the Doctrine and institution of Saint Paul, that is, to fly from Idolatry, 1. Cor. 10.14. and to hate those detestable follies, and superstitious vanities which hindered them from the true service of God, according as our Saviour Christ saith, Luke 14.26. If any man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother, and Wife and Children, and Brethren and Sisters, yea, and his own life also (that is, he that casteth not off all affections and desires which draw us from Christ) cannot be my Disciple. And the government of the Church being settled according to the profession now used, the Pope was not only justly deprived of his Supremacy, but his authority and traditions were quite abolished out of the kingdom, his Ministers put to silence, their religious or rather irreligious houses (as I may rightly term them) utterly defaced, according as the Lord commanded. Deut. 12.2. Ye shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the Nations which ye shall possess served their Gods upon the high Mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree, Also ye shall overthrow their Altars, and break down their pillars, and burn their groves with fire, and ye shall hue down the graven Images of their Gods, and abolish their names out of that place.  
20. And all these Vines which here you planted see,  
Are of that sort, which I from thence did bring:  
The Pope and his Ministers in the manner of their worship in many things do much derogate from God's glory, insolently attributing their prayers either to dumb Idols, or to Saints, or Angels, which can do them no more good than the golden Calf that the Israelites worshipped, Exod. 22.4. Which afterwards Moses abolished, Exod. 32.20.  
Such was the Religion of the Romish Catholic when that Religion was here professed, and such or rather worse is it now at Rome.  
And I have caused other Weeds to be  
Set with them, that they may together spring,  
And both at one time put into the Press,  
The Grapes and Weeds, to make a mingled mess.  
By these Weeds is meant the worshipping of Idols invocation of Saints, their rabbling repetitions of Paternosters, Aue-maries' and Creeds, their superfluous Sacraments. Transubstantiation, their obits, lights, and prayers for the dead; the Pope's Bulls and Pardons, and many other such vain inventions which were never heard of in the time of the Apostles, nor since used in any Church but in theirs, neither indeed ought any such to be used, seeing the Lord hath forbidden it with his own mouth, as it is in Deut. 22.9. Thou shalt not sow thy Vineyard with divers kinds of seeds, lest thou defile the increase of the seed which thou hast sowed, and the fruit of the Vineyard. By this is meant, we should walk in simplicity and not to be curious of new inventions. But by this means it is true of them that was spoken by the Prophet Isa. to the jews, Isa. 1.22. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine is mixed with water, that is, whatsoever was pure in thee before is now corrupt though thou have an outward show.  
21. And to keep well those Weeds, I have ordained,  
They be continually vnderpropt with stakes,  
By such as I have purposely retained,  
Who in like case for their own lucre sakes,  
Ten times more curious are to trim and prime  
Their branches, than the branches of the Vine.  
By this is perceived that Birds of a feather will hold together, The Pope and his Prelates to make their Doctrine more probable, have conspired together like the false Prophets and Priests of jerusalem, Ezechiel 22.25.26. There is a conspiracy of her Prophets in the mids thereof like a Roaring Lion ravening the prey, they have devoured souls, they have taken the Riches and precious things, they have made her many widows in the midst thereof, her Priests have broken my law and have defiled mine holy things, they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither discerned between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, that is, they have neglected my service, and I am profaned amongst them. And these are such as the Apostle Paul told Titus of, Tit. 1.10. saying, there are many disobedient and vain talkers and deceivers of minds, whose mouths must be stopped, which subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for lucre's sake, 2 Tim. 3.6. Of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive simple women laden with sins, and led with divers lusts: And in the margin of that text, they are expounded to be Monks, Friars, and such hypocrites, which I also mean to be those whom the Pope hath retained and appointed in his Church to uphold his heresies.  
22. This mingle mangle composition,  
Hath much besotted all the People's brains,  
The Prophet Isa. speaking against the Israelites, to wit, of the hypocrites which were among them who were altogether corrupt in life and doctrine, crieth out against them. Isa. 28.7.8. They have erred because of wine, and are out of the way by strong drink, the Priest and the Prophet have erred by strong drink, they are swallowed up with wine, they have gone astray through strong drink, they fail in vision, they stumble in in judgement, for all their tables are full of filthy vomiting, no place is clean. And as natural wine immoderately taken besotteth the brains of the outward man, and causeth drunkenness, so the superfluity and dregs of the Romish heresies filleth the inward man's understanding with spiritual drunkenness, a beastly kind of life, vomiting their unclean errors out of their foul gorges, 
And such is their fond supposition,  
They hold him cursed that from this drink refrains:   
It is not unknown to any that know any thing at all of the Pope's malicious disposition, how he and his Prelates curse the children of God (that follow not his wild traditions) with Bell, Book and Candle, as they say: Witness his Bulls, which very often have been sent out against the Lords anointed Kings and Princes and their People and Nations, and also his excommunications. But as we are the children of Abraham the father of the faithful through Christ jesus, elected and called to our profession, so let us stand fast in our faith, and then the Lord will turn their curse upon their own heads, as he promised Abraham, saying; I will bless them that bless thee, and I will curse them that curse thee, Gen. 12.3.  
The gains being great for selling of this Ale,  
Hath lift my head as high as Dragon's tail.  
23. And all the Country call me demi-god,  
Bending their knees to me with great devotion,  
And offer Gold, jewels and Emmerods',  
And all they have for this my potion:  
The yearly profit which comes into the Pope's treasury for pardons and redemption of Souls out of Purgatory, amounteth to a great sum, The peterpence spoken of in the book of Martyrs paid quarterly to the Friars, came to above 500000 li. yearly alone, Their mortuaries, gifts and legacies for Requiems, obits, and lights, is an unknown value, The people's offerings at the Altar and to Images which come to the Priests use, is a secret gain. But if we reckon all the tricks which they have to get money, and add the profit together, it will arise unto an unspeakable mass of wealth. The Book of Martyrs in the time of King Henry the eight, demonstrateth many worthy memorial hereof, and other the devices of the Pope and his Prelates, to which I also refer the Reader. But by this means we see the Pope is grown mighty in riches and power, And as the Apostle Paul saith, 2. Thes. 2.4. speaking of Antichrist, he exalteth himself against all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he doth sit as God in the Temple of God, showing himself that he is God.  
But out alas, their blind enchanted sight  
Sees not the Adder me that doth them bite.  
The Apostle Paul to the Eph. 4.18. as before is said, exhorteth the Ephesians not to walk as other Gentiles in vanity of their mind, having their cogitations darkened, and being strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their hearts. Which example is very good for us to follow, Let us not walk as the Romish Catholics, for it is with them as it was with the Israelites when they provoked the Lord with strange Gods by changing his service for their superstitions, Deut. 32.28. They are a Nation void of Council, neither is there any understanding in them. For if the Romish Catholics were directed by the true light of the Gospel, which maketh all things manifest, Eph. 5.13. they would easily discern the delusions of the Pope and his Ministers, who deceiveth them as the Serpent deceived Eva.  
24. And that my gain may be enlarged the more,  
I have devised a Law on Pain of death,  
That none the juice of Grapes shall taste, before  
The juice of Weeds be mixed, whereby of breath  
I have bereaved thousands with this blade,  
Which for that purpose only I have made.  
Here is set forth the tyranny and bloody persecution of the Pope. We read Acts 8.1. that Stephen was stoned to death for the Gospel of jesus Christ, and that at that time there was a great persecution against the Church which was at jerusalem, and they were all scattered abroad through the Regions of judea and Samaria, except the Apostles.  
But if we turn over all the Histories of the jews and Gentiles, we shall not find greater examples of cruelty, and more devilish plots of treachery, against the true Church of God than hath been acted and conspired by the Pope and his confederates, Priests, jesuits, Friars, Monks, etc. and their followers. Witness that heavenly Communion of Saints, that great company of Martyrs which have patiently suffered death for the Gospel, by his cruel and bloody hand, some in this our Nation, and those an infinite number, some in France, Italy, Germany, and other places beyond the Seas. So that if there were no other argument, this were sufficient to prove that his inventions proceed from the Devil and not of God nor good men.  
We read in the Revel. 17.4. of a vision described of a woman arrayed in purple and scarlet and guilded with gold, etc. This woman is the Antichrist, that is, the Pope with the whole body of his filthy creatures: who afterwards in the 6. verse of the same Chapter (inferring his merciless severity) is said, to be drunken with the blood of Saints, and with the blood of the Martyrs of jesus.  
25. The Angel answered, for this Impious fact,  
A judgement on thee suddenly shall come,  
Worse than the Serpent's curse, for his wild Act  
Which in deluding Eva he had done:  
Vengeance from Heaven shall one day drive thee out  
From this fair Vineyard with thy Rabble rout.  
Here is set forth the judgement of him and all persecutors. The vision of the beast mentioned, Revel. 17.8. is meant by the Roman Empire, which being fallen into decay, the whore of Rome usurped authority, and as he proceeded from the Devil, thither shall return, as in the Margin of the Text. The words are these, The beast that thou hast seen was and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and shall go into perdition. And Revel. 18.2. the overthrow of Rome is described under the name of Babylon, thus, And the Angel cried out mightily with a loud voice, saying, It is fallen, it is fallen, Babylon that great City, and is become the habitation of Devils, and the hold of all foul spirits, and a Cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Again, Revel. 19.19.20. the destruction of Rome is prefigured in these words, And I saw the beast, and the Kings of the earth, and their warriors gathered together to make battle against him that sat on the horse and against his soldiers, (that is, the Pope and the worldly Princes shall fight against Christ) but the beast was taken, and with him that false Prophet that wrought miracles before him, whereby he deceived them that received the beasts mark, and them that worshipped his Image, These both were cast into a lake of fire burning with brimstone: (which will be accomplished at the second coming of Christ.) Also Revel. 20.10. there is his perpetual damnation set forth in these words, And the Devil that deceived them, was cast into a lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false Prophet shall be tormented even day and night for evermore.  
26. Who pitifully shall lament thy case,  
The aspect thereof will be so vehement:  
It is written of the whore of Babylon, Revel. 8. ver. 8.9.10.11. That her plagues shall come at one day, death, and sorrow, and famine, and she shall be burnt with fire, for strong is the Lord God which will condemn her, And the kings of the earth shall bewail her, & lament for her which have committed fornication and lived in pleasure with her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, and shall stand a far off for fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, the great City of Babylon, the mighty City, for in one hour is thy judgement come, And the Merchants of the earth shall weep and wail over her, for no man buyeth her ware any more, By that is meant both they that temporally have had profit by the strumpet, and also the spiritual Merchants shall for sorrow and want of their gain cry out and despair, for besides their spiritual livings, the Monks and Friars, as sometimes they were here in England, being stewards to Cardinals, Bishops and Abbots were temporal Merchants, and held and occupied Farms, Manors, and granges, etc.  
But others shall rejoice at thy disgrace,  
And for deliverance from thy mischiefs sent.  
The Children of God shall rejoice at the fall of Antichrist, as in the Revel. 19.1. praises are given to God for judging the whore, and for avenging the blood of his servants, in these words: And after these things I heard a great voice of a great multitude in Heaven, saying, Hallelujah, Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, be to the Lord our God, for true and righteous are his judgements, for he hath condemned the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants shed by her hand.  
And therefore double shalt thou punished be,  
For thy delusion and wild Tyranny.  
In the 137. Psal. ver. 8.9. They are said to be blessed that could repay the like to Babylon, where the Israelites were so tyrannously handled, O daughter of Babel worthy to be destroyed, blessed shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us, blessed shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy children against the stones. But in the Reu. 8.6. speaking of the whore of Rome, it is said that her reward shall be double, For there was a voice heard, saying, Reward her even as she hath rewarded you, and give her double according to her works, and in the cup that she hath filled to you fill her the double.  
27. And then me thought I was translated thence  
Into a Paradise replenished  
With fruitful Trees, Corn, Vines, and Herbs.  
By this Paradise is meant the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland A comprehensible Type of the incomprehensible excellency of the holy jerusalem, spoken of in the Revel. 21.10. descending out of Heaven from God. And by the Trees, Corn, Vines and Herbs, is understood how plentifully the word of God aboundeth there: for sometimes the Gospel of jesus is compared to a Tree, Revel. 22.2. Which beareth 12. manner of fruits, and gave fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree served to heal the Nations with: This is the tree of life, Christ the life of his Church, and is common to all his, and not peculiar to any one sort of people. Sometimes the Gospel is compared to Corn, as in the parable of the sour. Math. 13.3. Behold a sour went out to sow, etc. Sometimes it is compared to Vines, as before is mentioned in the 14. staff. And in respect the Gospel is the Spiritual food of the soul, it may be compared to herbs and any other sustenance, which is the natural food of the body, applying the one to the soul, spiritually, as the other is applied to the body naturally.  
— from whence  
The Tyrant had before been banished:  
Who when he kept it was not so perfidious  
As is the man that keeps it now Religious.  
This our Nation is the Paradise where the Pope sometime did bear such great authority, as before is relation made in the 14. staff: And from whence he and his errors were abolished as in the 19 staff: Whose perfidious treachery, he himself hath here already at large demonstrated. But the Lord be praised, we have now a Religious Sovereign Lord King James, who is supreme head and governor of our Church under God, to whom for sincerity and truth in Religion, the speech of Saint Paul may be appropriated, Eph. 4.20. That he hath learned Christ, and hath heard him, and been taught by him, as the truth is in jesus, that is, he hath cast off concerning the conversation in time past the old man, which is corrupt through the deceivable lusts, and is renewed in the spirit of his mind, and hath put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.  
And for integrity of life, he is like unto Samuel, 1. Sam. 12.3. And for uprightness in heart he is like unto those worthy Kings josias, Hezekiah and David, whose deserved commendations are singularly set forth in the Book of Ecclus. cap. 49. And God grant that he may long live to multiply his virtues in himself and his Royal issue.  
28. For having Children, he instructs them how  
They may those Trees, Corn, Vines and herbs best keep  
From Caterpillars, Cankers, and the Sow,  
That longs into that place by stealth to creep,  
To spoil the Paradise; Of which there were  
Some by that Tyrant left of purpose there.  
By the Caterpillars and Cankers is meant all such as either envy, or wish hurt to, or deprave, derogate or speak ill of the true Preaching of the Gospel of Christ, of what Religion or Sect soever they be: But by the Sow is particularly intended the Papist, of which sort their be too many yet remaining that do much hurt secretly to the weak members of our Church, animated and set on by the Pope, but by the Religious care of our virtuous King, the Paradise is pretty well rid of them, the Church is reasonably cleared, and the word of God more plentifully planted amongst us, than heretofore it hath been. And herein all the World may see his majesties great providence in the education of his children, for the continuance and upholding of the Gospel, according to the commandments of the Lord, Deut. 11.18.19. Therefore shall you lay up these my words in your heart, and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your head, that they may be as a frontlet between your eyes, and you shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  
29. So that this Paradise is like to flourish  
Until the final period of all things,  
For his fair issue know well how to nourish  
Those holy Plants, and those clear water-springs,  
Running therethrough to keep from foul pollution,  
Till all things have their final dissolution.  
Hear is set forth the excellent towardness of our renowned Prince Charles Prince of Wales, Fredrick Prince Elector Palatine, and the Lady Elizabeth his wife, as the issue of our royal King, which may well be said to be fair and beautiful: Not as Absalon, That was comely in outward proportion only, 2. Sam. 14.25. Nor as Saul, which was a goodly youngman and a fair, 1. Sam. 9.2. for among all the children of Israel there was none goodlier than he in person, Nor as the daughters of men, whom the sons of God saw were fair, Gen. 6.2. For this is but the beauty of the flesh which withereth and decayeth like grass, 1. Pet. 1.24.  
But their beauty is an everlasting beauty, which excelleth the beauty of all other Princes in Christendom, and like the Sun appears glorious to the whole World, their beauty is the Divine beauty of their souls, made and fashioned after the image of Christ jesus. The holy plants of that Paradise they have learned of their royal father to nourish, that is, they allow and maintain the Gospel truly preached amongst us, and to keep those clear watersprings from pollution, that is, that the word of God be not defiled with Heresies, whereupon dependeth a great hope of the prosperous estate of this kingdom, for the Lord hath promised, that whosoever meditateth his word continually, his days shall be multiplied, and the days of his children, as long as the Heavens are above the earth, Deut. 11.21.  
30. And how provision is by Virtue made  
To keep the Caterpillars from the Trees,  
Is thus; A fire underneath is laid,  
Whose smoke consumes them, as in swarms of Bees  
Is used commonly to rid the Drones,  
And so they prove continual fruitful ones.  
Under the name of Virtue is comprehended our royal King james, for whose desert no less name can be given him, seeing that God hath endued him with such full measure of Faith, knowledge, temperance, and godliness, which is evidently seen in that he is continually careful and provident that the Gospel of Christ may have free propagation, and so prove fruitful amongst his subjects, and that it be not hurt or violated by ill affected people, who as Caterpillars are consumed with fire, so are they utterly destroyed by the truth of the word professed, which is also compared to fire, Luke. 12.49.  
31. And that the Corn from Cankers may be clean,  
Thousands of careful labourers are fitted,  
To polish, cleanse, and winnow, by which mean,  
None but good Seed is to the ground committed:  
The like care is to clear the herbs from weeds,  
So there good Corn and good herbs only breeds.  
That the word of God be not mingled with the false Doctrines of Heretics, thousands of diligent preachers are provided, who are called labourers, Math. 9.37. who as Saint Paul saith, 2. Cor. 4.2. have cast from them the cloaks of shame (meaning such shifts and pretences as become not them that have such a great office in hand) and walk not in craftiness, neither handle the word of God deceitfully, but in declaration of the truth approve themselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God: And so deliver the word of God purely to the people.  
32. But to keep out that beastly breed of Swine,  
Three thick-set hedges decently are placed  
About the Paradise, lest they should undermine,  
And so it might be utterly defaced:  
These Fences being strong, this stinking rout  
Shall ne'er get in, though they run round about.  
The three thick-set Hedges are three sorts of people principally in this his majesties Dominions, which being true and sincere professors of the Gospel of Christ, and steadfast and confident in their profession, do keep out the Papists insinuation and encroaching into this Kingdom, with the traditions of their devilish inventions. And as long as they continue in the true faith of jesus Christ, it is impossible that the Pope with all his host of erroneous and subtle Clergy, shall ever have any place here, though they work never so closely, or diligently range about seeking to seduce from the true faith daily by cunning circumstances, such as they find or suppose to be weak members of the Church of Christ.  
33. The first and out-most hedge is guarded well  
By Champions of valiant condition,  
Who watch continually them to repel  
With shield, and spear, or sword, or such munition:  
And if the Swine but once come near that fence,  
One of those weapons sure shall beat them thence.  
The first outward hedge or defence consisteth of three degrees of people, vizt. Noblemen, Knights and Gentlemen of virtuous and Religious disposition which being of the number of the faithful, are well provided with their spiritual weapons, to repel the darts of the Papists. For by the shield, spear or sword is not meant those which are material: for the exercise of such weapons is forbidden in some respect, Math. 26.52. Put up thy sword (saith jesus) into his place, for all that take the sword shall perish with the sword. And Revel. 13.10. If any lead into Captivity, he shall go into Captivity (this is meant of leading souls captive) If any kill with a sword, he must be killed by a sword. Neither indeed is it the sword or bow or any other material weapon whereby God's children overcome, Ios. 24.12. But by this shield is understood the shield of faith, by the sword, the sword of the spirit. For the faithful have not only to strive against men and themselves, but also against Satan their spiritual enemy, which is most dangerous, for he is over our heads so that we cannot reach him, and therefore he must be resisted by God's grace. David by faith feared not to fight with the Giant Goliath with a sling and a stone, for he fling away from him his Armour and weapons which Saul put upon him, 1. Sam. 17.37.39. Nay, by faith we resist the Devil, and overcome both the World and him. 1. john 5.4. For all that is borne of God overcometh the World, and this is the victory that overcometh the World, even our faith.  
Also in the Revel. 19.15. the word of God is called a sharp twoedged sword, in these words, And out of his mouth went a sharpesword, that with it he should smite the Heathen, for he shall rule them with a rod of Iron, etc. These are infallible weapons which the weak faith of the Papists is not able to resist; which shows that their faith is but counterfeit, and that ours is the true Catholic and Apostolic.  
34. But if the Swine do chance to sneak unseen,  
Of all that well approved outward guard,  
Within their hedge a little space between  
The first and second fence, them to reward,  
Lie beagles to discover the intrusion  
Of those, that wish to Paradise confusion.  
Under the name of Beagles is comprehended all subordinate officers and Ministers, who are appointed by the superior powers to hunt out or make inquisition or search for all sly Recusants, Papists, jesuits, Priests and such like, who closely sneak and insinuate into the bosoms and hearts of many well disposed persons, attempting to extirpate and root out their well affected thoughts.  
35. Being set on by this quick-sented crew,  
The second guard, being huntsmen, soon prepare,  
Who make those Swine their boldness for to rue,  
By force of javelin, Pistol, Pike, or Spear:  
Whose proved shields, and virtue of their Arms,  
Them 'gainst a thousand boars, will save from harms.  
After these subordinate officers have found out any such, they report to the judges and Council of this Land, who are put in the place of the second Guard, & are likened to huntsmen, because indeed, if the knowledge of such persons come once to their ears, either they do utterly subdue them with their spiritual Arms, strong arguments of Religion; or else they chase them quite out of the Kingdom: whose wisdom in this I cannot sufficiently express, and whose worthiness I want experience to commend. Only thus much I have observed in them which now supply those eminent places of authority and justice, that they have a watchful care for the suppression of all heretical and diabolical Inventions that may happen to proceed from the fantastical delusions of seducers, and maintenance of such things as shall tend to virtuous institutions, and are so sufficiently furnished with the weapons of the spirit, that a thousand foolish blind Papists with all their philosophical devices, are not able to prevail against the least one of them, whereby is approved the sincerity and truth of their Religion, & the invincible power thereof; which as it worketh in them uprightness of heart; so it araieth them with many other virtuous induments, as mildness, aswell to poor as rich; indifferency, in the hearing of causes, aswell for strangers as their friends, sincerity in affection, soundness in their skill and judgement, constancy in their resolutions besides great prudence in politic government, and that which is the true token of a wise discreet judge, to be more apt to hear, see, and consider, then to speak or give judgement, which should be also in every person of what degree or condition soever, seeing that nature hath given all men two eyes, two ears, and but one tongue: To conclude, if any ●●ation upon the Earth be well supplied with a virtuous Council and upright judges, this Land may boast thereof, which is furnished with such as are spoken of Exod. 18.21. Men of courage, fearing God, men dealing truly, hating covetousness, Deut. 16.18. That judge the people with righteous judgement, that wrist not the Law, nor respect any person, nor take reward, which blindeth the wise and perverteth the words of the just.  

36. But say a foul Swine in a clean beasts skin,  
Were closely put (as none but clean come there)  
Thinking by subtle policy to get in,  
Yet would it be descried ere it come near,  
For the third guard is clad in Arms complete,  
And search each beast that thither comes to eat.   

37. And they with complete furniture addressed,  
In single combat shun no fierce assault,  
Such manly courage resteth in their breast,  
From an whole host they never will revolt,  
But fight courageously and win the day,  
And carry conquest for their Prize away.   
By this third Guard is meant the Reverend and learned Bishops of this Kingdom, which are complete in all things that appertain to their place and calling, and they are like a nest of Eagles, whose eyes steadfastly look upon the Sun without winking, whose judgements discern Divine Mysteries, whose profession in Ecclesiastical government is suitable to Christ's and the Apostles prescription, whose preaching & writing manifesteth the truth of their Religion, and whose godliness and virtue is seen by their life and conversation whose learning aboundeth like the Sea, and whose wisdom extendeth throughout the whole Land, God forbidden that ever bastard egg should be hatched in this nest, for what greater confusion than errors & divisions in Religion? These are they that search the Papists inside though they appear never so fair in the outside. These are the Tutch-stones that try the false faith of Recusants, These make the Priests and jesuits appear to the World as they are, like the Scribes and Pharisees, Math. 23.21. Hypocrites which make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of bribery and excess, And like painted Tombs which appear beautiful outward, but within are full of dead men's bones and of all filthiness: These are Gods warriors and Champions that are strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, Ephes. 6.10. That have put on the whole Armour of God, their loins girded with verity, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and their feel shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace, and have taken the shield of faith, the helmet of Salvation, and the sword of the spirit. Let no simple Romish Catholic presume to make trial of their profound knowledge, lest as they deserve, they suffer a disgraceful repulse.  

38. This goodly Paradise thus is safely kept  
From unclean beasts, chiefly from Wolves and Boars  
By virtues care, and provident respect,  
Who chief Commander is, and keeps the doors,  
And lets all in and out, and sets these guards,  
(Whom for their pains he daily gives rewards)   

39 And so the Lambs and silly Sheep feed free  
From the Wolves rapine, and the Swine's infection,  
Plenty of Corn is always seen to be,  
And fruits great store, by virtues good direction,  
Good Salad herbs abundant, water clear  
(As if it were distilled) in Rivers there.   
Oh that I had the spirit of perfect wisdom, that I might here set forth our Solomon, our Royal king in his true shape, of whose excellency I am ravished with admiration, O King, the Lord hath anointed 〈◊〉 with his holy Oil, as he anointed his servant David, Ps. 79.20. Prosper with thy glory, Ride upon the word of truth, and of meekness, and righteousness, Ps. 45.2.4. It is thy goodness and careful providence O King to elect such worthy and wise Bishops, Council, Nobility and judges, for the defence of this Kingdom, who are as Guards and bulwarks, Forts and defences against the Ravening Wolves, the merciless Papists, (who as they are the enemies of Christ may be so called, Mat. 10.16. also) That seek to devourethe silly Lambs your poor subjects. Acts 20.29.  
Thou art the sole Commander and Supreme head under God of this our temporal Paradise, the Lord make thee great in the Kingdom of Heaven at the day of thy dissolution. By thy protection we have plenty of spiritual Corn, the bread of life: plenty of spiritual fruits and herbs, the food of the soul: and plenty of spiritual water to refresh our spirits; to wit, the Word of God truly taught amongst us, the Gospel of Christ jesus; which as I have showed before, is thus in several places so compared. And under thee O King we are happy above many other Nations for the peace and tranquillity of our Land.  
40. And those three Guards me thought devoutly prayed  
For the continuance of this heavenly place,  
And God grant Virtue happiness they said,  
And his posterity, with increase of grace  
Mercy, and peace, for evermore. And then  
Legions of Angels answered, Amen.  
St. Paul writing to Timothy, 1. Tim. 2.23. declares, that it is a good and acceptable thing in the sight of God our Saviour, that supplications, prayers and intercessions be made for Kings and for all that be in authority, And herein is observed the allegiance of these eminent persons and the general love and duty of the people, whose daily Invocations of God according to the Apostles direction, are devoutly made for all Spiritual and Temporal blessings to be multiplied upon the King and his Royal issue, which, the Lord grant may be infinite without number or measure. Amen.  
FINIS.