I sing the progress of a deathless soul,
Whom fate, which God made, but doth not control,
Placed in most shapes; all times, before the law
Yoked us, and when, and since, in this I sing.
And the great world to his agèd evening
From infant morn, through manly noon, I draw.
What the gold Chaldee, or silver Persian saw,
Greek brass, or Roman iron, is in this one;
A work to outwear Seth’s pillars, brick and stone,
  And—Holy Writ’s  excepted—made to yield to none.

Thee, eye of heaven, this great soul envies not.
By thy male force is all we have begot;
In the first east thou now begin’st  to shine,
Suck’st early balm, and island spices there,
And wilt anon in thy loose-rein’d career
At Tagus, Po, Seine, Thames, and Danow dine,
And see at night thy western land of mine;
Yet hast thou not more nations seen than she,
That before thee one day began to be,
  And thy frail light being quench’d, shall long, long outlive thee.

Nor holy Janus, in whose sovereign boat
The church, and all the monarchies did float!
That swimming college, and free hospital
Of all mankind, that cage and vivary
Of fowls, and beasts, in whose womb, Destiny
Us and our latest nephews did install
—From thence are all derived, that fill this All—
Didst thou in that great stewardship embark
So divers shapes into that floating park,
  As have been moved and inform’d by this heavenly spark.

Great Destiny, the commissary of God,
That hast mark’d out a path and period
For everything, who, where we off-spring took,
Our ways and ends seest at one instant. Thou
Knot of all causes, thou whose changeless brow
Ne’er smiles nor frowns, O vouchsafe thou to look
And show my story, in thy eternal book.
That—if my prayer be fit—I may understand
So much myself, as to know with what hand,
  How scant or liberal this my life’s race is spann’d.

To my six lusters almost now outwore,
Except thy book owe me so many more,
Except my legend be free from the lets
Of steep ambition, sleepy poverty,
Spirit-quenching sickness, dull captivity,
Distracting business, and from beauty’s nets,
And all that calls from this, and to others whets,
O let me not launch out, but let me save
Th’ expense of brain and spirit, that my grave
  His right and due, a whole unwasted man may have.

But if my days be long, and good enough,
In vain this sea shall enlarge or enrough
Itself; for I will through the wave and foam.
And shall in sad lone ways,  a lively sprite,
Make my dark heavy poem light, and light.
For though through many straits and lands I roam,
I launch at Paradise, and I sail towards home;
The course I there began shall here be stay’d,
Sails hoiséd there, struck here, and anchors laid
  In Thames, which were at Tigris and Euphrates weigh’d.

For the great soul which here amongst us now
Doth dwell, and moves that hand, and tongue, and brow,
Which, as the moon the sea, moves us; to hear
Whose story with long patience you will long
—For ’tis the crown and last strain of my song—
This soul, to whom Luther and Mahomet were
Prisons of flesh; this soul, which oft did tear
And mend the wracks of th’ empire, and late Rome,
And lived when every great change did come,
  Had first in Paradise a low, but fatal room.

Yet nor low room, nor than the greatest, less,
If—as devout and sharp men fitly guess—
That Cross, our joy, and grief—where nails did tie
That All, which always was all, everywhere;
Which could not sin, and yet all sins did bear;
Which could not die, yet could not choose but die—
Stood in the self-same room in Calvary,
Where first grew the forbidden learned tree,
For on that tree hung in security
  This soul made by the Maker’s will from pulling free.

Prince of the orchard, fair as dawning morn,
Fenced with the law, and ripe as soon as born,
That apple grew, which this soul did enlive
Till the then climbing serpent, that now creeps
For that offence, for which all mankind weeps,
Took it, and to her whom the first man did wive
—Whom and her race only forbiddings drive—
He gave it, she to her husband; both did eat;
So perished the eaters, and the meat;
  And we—for treason taints the blood—thence die and sweat.

Man all at once was there by woman slain,
And one by one we’re here slain o’er again
By them. The mother poison’d the well-head,
The daughters here corrupt  us, rivulets;
No smallness ’scapes, no greatness breaks their nets;
She thrust us out, and by them we are led
Astray, from turning to whence we are fled.
Were prisoners judges, ’twould seem rigorous;
She sinned, we bear;  part of our pain is, thus
  To love them whose fault to this painful love yoked us.

So fast in us doth this corruption grow,
That now we dare ask why we should be so.
Would God—disputes the curious rebel—make
A law, and would not have it kept? Or can
His creatures’ will cross His? Of every man
For one, will God (and be just) vengeance take?
Who sinn’d? ’twas not forbidden to the snake
Nor her, who was not then made; nor is ’t writ
That Adam cropp’d, or knew the apple; yet
  The worm and she, and he, and we endure for it.

But snatch me, heavenly spirit, from this vain
Reckoning their vanities;  less is their gain
Than hazard still, to meditate on ill,
Though with good mind; their reason’s like those toys
Of glassy bubbles, which the gamesome boys
Stretch to so nice a thinness through a quill
That they themselves break, and  do themselves spill.
Arguing is heretics’ game, and exercise
As wrestlers perfects them. Not liberties
  Of speech, but silence; hands, not tongues, end heresies.

Just in that instant when the serpent’s gripe
Broke the slight veins, and tender conduit pipe,
Through which this soul from the tree’s root did draw
Life and growth to this apple, fled away
This loose soul, old, one and another day.
As lightning, which one scarce dares say he saw,
’Tis so soon gone—and better proof the law
Of sense than faith requires—swiftly she flew
To a dark and foggy plot; her, her fates threw
  There through th’ earth-pores,  and in a plant housed her anew.

The plant thus abled to itself did force
A place, where no place was; by nature’s course,
As air from water, water fleets away
From thicker bodies, by this root throng’d so
His spongy confines gave him place to grow;
Just as in our streets, when the people stay
To see the Prince, and so fill  up the way
That weasels scarce could pass, when she comes near
They throng and cleave up, and a passage clear,
  As if for that time their round bodies flatten’d were.

His right arm he thrust out towards the east,
Westward his left; th’ ends did themselves digest
Into ten lesser strings; these fingers were;
And as a slumberer stretching on his bed,
This way he this, and that way scattered
His other leg, which feet with toes upbear.
Grew on his middle part,  the first day, hair,
To show that in love’s business he should still
A dealer be, and be used well, or ill.
  His apples kindle;  his leaves force of conception kill.

A mouth, but dumb, he hath; blind eyes, deaf ears;
And to his shoulders dangle subtle hairs;
A young Colossus, there he stands upright;
And as that ground by him were conquered,
A leafy garland wears he on his head
Enchased with little fruits, so red and bright,
That for them you would call your love’s lips white,
So, of a lone unhaunted place possess’d,
Did this soul’s second inn, built by the guest,
  This living buried man, this quiet mandrake, rest.

No lustful woman came this plant to grieve,
But ’twas because there was none yet but Eve;
And she—with other purpose—kill’d it quite.
Her sin had now brought in infirmities,
And so her cradled child the moist-red eyes
Had never shut, nor slept since it saw light.
Poppy she knew, she knew the mandrake’s might;
And tore up both, and so cool’d her child’s blood.
Unvirtuous weeds might long unvex’d have stood;
  But he’s short-lived that with his death can do most good.

To an unfetter’d soul’s quick nimble haste
Are falling stars and hearts’ thoughts but slow-paced.
Thinner than burnt air flies this soul, and she
Whom four new coming and four parting suns
Had found, and left the mandrake’s tenant, runs
Thoughtless of change, when her firm destiny
Confined and enjail’d her, that seemed so free,
Into a small blue shell, the which a poor
Warm bird o’erspread, and sat still evermore,
  Till her enclosed child  kick’d, and pick’d itself a door.

Out crept a sparrow, this soul’s moving inn,
On whose raw arms stiff feathers now begin,
As children’s teeth through gums, to break with pain;
His flesh is jelly yet, and his bones threads;
All a new downy mantle  overspreads;
A mouth he opes, which would as much contain
As his late house, and the first hour speaks plain,
And chirps aloud for meat. Meat fit for men
His father steals for him, and so feeds then
  One that, within a month, will beat him from his hen.

In this world’s youth wise Nature did make haste,
Things ripen’d sooner, and did longer last.
Already this hot cock in bush and tree
In field and tent o’erflutters his next hen;
He asks her not, who did so taste, nor when,
Nor if his sister or his niece she be;
Nor doth she pule for his inconstancy
If in her sight he change, nor doth refuse
The next that calls; both liberty do use.
  Where store is of both kinds, both kinds may freely choose.

Men, till they took laws which made freedom less,
Their daughters and their sisters did ingress
Till now, unlawful, therefore ill ’twas not.
So jolly, that it can move this soul, is
The body, so free of his kindnesses,
That self-preserving it hath now forgot,
And slackeneth so the soul’s and body’s knot,
Which temperance straightens; freely on his she friends,
He blood, and spirit, pith, and marrow spends;
  Ill steward of himself, himself in three years ends.

Else might he long have lived; man did not know
Of gummy blood, which doth in holly grow,
How to make bird-lime, nor how to deceive
With feign’d calls, his nets, or enwrapping snare,
The free inhabitants of the pliant air.
Man to beget, and woman to conceive,
Ask’d not of roots, nor of cock-sparrows, leave.
Yet chooseth he, though none of these he fears,
Pleasantly three, than straiten’d twenty years,
  To live, and to increase his race himself outwears.

This coal with overblowing quench’d and dead,
The soul from her too active organs fled
To a brook; a female fish’s sandy roe
With the male’s jelly newly leaven’d was,
For they had  intertouch’d as they did pass;
And one of those small bodies, fitted so,
This soul inform’d, and abled it to row
Itself with finny oars, which she did fit.
Her scales seem’d yet of parchment, and as yet
  Perchance a fish, but by no name you could call it.

When goodly, like a ship in her full trim,
A swan, so white that you may unto him
Compare all whiteness, but himself to none,
Glided along, and as he glided watch’d,
And with his arched neck this poor fish catch’d.
It moved with state, as if to look upon
Low things it scorn’d, and yet before that one
Could think he sought it, he had swallow’d clear
This, and much such, and unblamed devour’d there
  All, but who too swift, too great, or well armed were.

Now swam a prison in a prison put,
And now this soul in double walls was shut,
Till melted with the swan’s digestive fire,
She left her house, the fish, and vapour’d forth.
Fate not affording bodies of more worth
For her as yet, bids her again retire
To another fish, to any new desire
Made a new prey; for he that can to none
Resistance make, nor complaint, sure is gone.
  Weakness invites, but silence feasts oppression.

Pace with the native stream this fish doth keep,
And journeys with her towards the glassy deep,
But oft retarded, once with a hidden net
Though with great windows—for when need first taught
These tricks to catch food, then they were not wrought
As now, with curious greediness to let
None ’scape, but few and fit for use to get—
As in this trap a ravenous pike was ta’en,
Who, though himself distress’d, would fain have slain
  This wretch; so hardly are ill habits left again.

Here by her smallness she two deaths o’erpass’d;
Once innocence ’scaped, and left the oppressor fast.
The net through-swum, she keeps the liquid path,
And whether she leap up sometimes to breathe
And suck in air, or find it underneath,
Or working parts like mills or limbecs hath
To make the water  thin, and air like  faith,
Cares not, but safe the place she’s come unto
Where fresh with salt waves meet, and what to do
  She knows not, but between both makes a board or two.

So far from hiding her guests, water is,
That she shows them in bigger quantities
Than they are. Thus her, doubtful of her way,
For game and not for hunger, a sea-pie
Spied through this traitorous spectacle, from high,
The silly fish where it disputing lay,
And to end her doubts and her, bears her away.
Exalted she is, but to th’ exalter’s good;
As are by great ones, men which lowly stood,
  It’s raised,  to be the raiser’s instrument and food.

Is any kind subject to rape like fish?
Ill unto man they neither do nor wish;
Fishers they kill not, nor with noise awake;
They do not hunt, nor strive to make a prey
Of beasts, nor their young sons to bear away;
Fowls they pursue not, nor do undertake
To spoil the nests industrious birds do make;
Yet them all these unkind kinds feed upon;
To kill them is an occupation,
  And laws make fasts and Lents for their destruction.

A sudden stiff land-wind in that self hour
To seaward forced this bird, that did devour
The fish; he cares not, for with ease he flies,
Fat gluttony’s best orator; at last,
So long he hath flown, and hath flown so fast,
That, leagues o’erpast at sea, now tired he lies,
And with his prey, that till then languish’d, dies.
The souls, no longer foes, two ways did err,
The fish I follow, and keep no calendar
  Of th’ other; he lives yet in some great officer.

Into an embryon fish our soul is thrown,
And in due time thrown out again, and grown
To such vastness, as if unmanacled
From Greece Morea were, and that, by some
Earthquake unrooted, loose Morea swum;
Or seas from Afric’s body had severed
And torn the hopeful promontory’s head.
This fish would seem these, and, when all hopes fail,
A great ship overset, or, without sail
  Hulling might—when this was a whelp—be like this whale.

At every stroke his brazen fins do take,
More circles in the broken sea they make
Than cannons’ voices, when the air they tear.
His ribs are pillars, and his high arch’d roof
Of bark, that blunts best steel, is thunder-proof.
Swim in him swallow’d dolphins without fear,
And feel no sides, as if his vast womb were
Some inland sea; and ever as he went
He spouted rivers up, as if he meant
  To join our seas with seas above the firmament.

He hunts not fish, but, as an officer
Stays in his court, at his own net, and there
All suitors of all sorts themselves enthrall,
So on his back lies this whale wantoning,
And in his gulf-like throat sucks everything
That passeth near; fish chaseth fish, and all,
Flyer and follower, in this whirlpool fall.
Oh, might not states of more equality
Consist? and is it of necessity
  That thousand guiltless smalls, to make one great, must die?

Now drinks he up seas, and he eats up flocks,
He jostles islands, and he shakes firm rocks.
Now in a roomful house this soul doth float,
And like a prince she sends her faculties
To all her limbs, distant as provinces.
The sun hath twenty times both crab and goat
Parched, since first launch’d forth this living boat.
’Tis greatest now, and to destruction
Nearest; there’s no pause at perfection;
  Greatness a period hath, but hath no station.

Two little fishes, whom he never harm’d,
Nor fed on their kind, two not throughly arm’d
With hope that they could kill him, nor could do
Good to themselves by his death—they did not eat
His flesh, nor suck those oils, which thence outstreat—
Conspired against him; and it might undo
The plot of all, that the plotters were two,
But that they fishes were, and could not speak.
How shall a tyrant wise strong projects break,
  If wretches can on them the common anger wreak?

The flail-finn’d thresher, and steel-beak’d sword-fish
Only attempt to do what all do wish.
The thresher backs him, and to beat begins;
The sluggard whale yields to oppression,
And to hide himself from shame and danger, down
Begins to sink; the sword-fish upward spins,
And gores him with his beak; his staff-like fins
So well the one, his sword the other plies,
That now a scoff, and prey, this tyrant dies,
  And—his own dole—feeds with himself all companies.

Who will revenge his death? or who will call
Those to account, that thought and wrought his fall?
The heirs of slain kings, we see, are often so
Transported with the joy of what they get,
That they revenge and obsequies forget;
Nor will against such men the people go,
Because he’s now dead to whom they should show
Love in that act; some kings by vice being grown
So needy of subjects’ love, that of their own
  They think they lose, if love be to the dead prince shown.

This soul, now free from prison and passion,
Hath yet a little indignation
That so small hammers should so soon down beat
So great a castle. And having for her house
Got the strait cloister of a wretched mouse
—As basest men, that have not what to eat,
Nor enjoy aught, do far more hate the great
Than they who good reposed estates possess—
This soul, late taught that great things might by less
  Be slain, to gallant mischief doth herself address.

Nature’s great masterpiece, an elephant,
The only harmless great thing, the giant
Of beasts, who thought none had, to make him wise,
But to be just and thankful, loth to offend
—Yet nature hath given him no knees to bend
Himself he up-props, on himself relies,
And foe to none, suspects no enemies—
Still sleeping stood; vex’d not his fantasy
Black dreams; like an unbent bow carelessly
  His sinewy proboscis did remissly lie.

In which, as in a gallery, this mouse
Walk’d, and survey’d the rooms of this vast house,
And to the brain, the soul’s bed-chamber, went,
And gnaw’d the life-cords there. Like a whole town
Clean undermined, the slain beast tumbled down.
With him the murderer dies, whom envy sent
To kill, not ’scape; for only he that meant
To die, did ever kill a man of better room;
And thus he made his foe his prey and tomb.
  Who cares not to turn back, may any whither come.

Next, housed this soul a wolf’s yet unborn whelp,
Till the best midwife, nature, gave it help
To issue. It could kill, as soon as go.
Abel, as white and mild as his sheep were
—Who, in that trade of church and kingdoms there
Was the first type—was still infested so
With this wolf, that it bred his loss and woe;
And yet his bitch, his sentinel, attends
The flock so near, so well warns and defends,
  That the wolf—hopeless else—to corrupt her intends.

He took a course, which since, successfully,
Great men have often taken, to espy
The counsels, or to break the plots of foes.
To Abel’s tent he stealeth in the dark,
On whose skirts the bitch slept; ere she could bark,
Attach’d her with straight grips; yet he call’d those
Embracements of love; to love’s work he goes,
Where deeds move more than words; nor doth she show
Nor much resist, nor needs he straiten so
  His prey, for, were she loose, she would nor bark nor go.

He hath engaged her; his, she wholly bides;
Who not her own, none others’ secrets hides.
If to the flock he come, and Abel there,
She feigns hoarse barkings, but she biteth not;
Her faith is quite, but not her love forgot.
At last a trap, of which some everywhere
Abel had placed, ends all his loss and fear,
By the wolf’s death; and now just time it was
That a quick soul should give life to that mass
  Of blood in Abel’s bitch, and thither this did pass.

Some have their wives, their sisters some begot,
But in the lives of emperors you shall not
Read of a lust, the which may equal this.
This wolf begot himself, and finished
What he began alive, when he was dead;
Son to himself, and father too, he is
A riddling lust, for which schoolmen would miss
A proper name. The whelp of both these lay
In Abel’s tent, and with soft Moaba,
  His sister, being young, it used to sport and play.

He soon for her too harsh and churlish grew,
And Abel—the dam dead—would use this new
For the field; being of two kinds thus made,
He, as his dam, from sheep drove wolves away,
And, as his sire, he made them his own prey.
Five years he lived, and cozen’d with his trade;
Then hopeless that his faults were hid, betray’d
Himself by flight, and by all followed,
From dogs, a wolf; from wolves, a dog he fled.
  And, like a spy to both sides false, he perished.

It quicken’d next a toyful ape, and so
Gamesome it was, that it might freely go
From tent to tent, and with the children play.
His organs now so like theirs he doth find,
That why he cannot laugh and speak his mind,
He wonders. Much with all, most he doth stay
With Adam’s fifth daughter, Siphatecia;
Doth gaze on her, and, where she passeth, pass,
Gathers her fruits, and tumbles on the grass;
  And wisest of that kind, the first true lover was.

He was the first that more desired to have
One than another; first that e’er did crave
Love by mute signs, and had no power to speak;
First that could make love faces, or could do
The vaulter’s somersaults, or used to woo
With hoiting gambols, his own bones to break,
To make his mistress merry, or to wreak
Her anger on himself. Sins against kind
They easily do, that can let feed their mind
  With outward beauty; beauty they in boys and beasts do find.

By this misled, too low things men have proved,
And too high; beasts and angels have been loved.
This ape, though else through-vain, in this was wise,
He reached at things too high, but open way
There was, and he knew not she would say nay.
His toys prevail not, likelier means he tries.
He gazeth on her face with tear-shot eyes,
And uplifts subtly with his russet paw
Her kidskin apron without fear or awe
  Of nature; nature hath no gaol,  though she hath law.

First she was silly and knew not what he meant.
That virtue, by his touches chafed and spent,
Succeeds an itchy warmth, that melts her quite;
She knew not first, nor cares not  what he doth,
And willing half, and more, more than half wroth,
She neither pulls nor pushes, but out-right
Now cries and now repents; when Thelemite,
Her brother, entered, and a great stone threw
After the ape, who, thus prevented, flew.
  This house, thus batter’d down, the soul possess’d a new.

And whether by this change she lose or win,
She comes out next where th’ ape would have gone in.
Adam and Eve had mingled bloods, and now,
Like chemic’s equal fires, her temperate womb
Had stew’d and form’d it; and part did become
A spongy liver, that did richly allow,
Like a free conduit on a high hill’s brow,
Life-keeping moisture unto every part;
Part hardened itself to a thicker heart,
  Whose busy furnaces life’s spirits do impart.

Another part became the well of sense,
The tender well-arm’d feeling brain, from whence
Those sinewy strings,  which do our bodies tie,
Are ravell’d out, and fast there by one end,
Did this soul limbs, these limbs a soul attend.
And now they join’d, keeping some quality
Of every past shape; she knew treachery,
Rapine, deceit, and lust, and ills enow
To be a woman. Themech she is now,
  Sister and wife to Cain, Cain that first did plough.

Whoe’er thou beest that read’st this sullen writ,
Which just so much courts thee, as thou dost it,
Let me arrest thy thoughts; wonder with me,
Why ploughing, building, ruling, and the rest,
Or most of those arts, whence our lives are blest,
By cursèd Caïn’s race invented be,
And blest Seth vex’d us with astronomy.
There’s nothing simply good, nor ill alone;
Of every quality Comparison
  The only measure is, and judge, Opinion.

SEE Sir, how as the Suns hot Masculine flame
Begets strange creatures on Niles durty slime,
In me, your fatherly yet lusty Ryme
(For, these songs are their fruits) have wrought the same;
  But though the ingendring force from whence they came
Bee strong enough, and nature doe admit
Seaven to be borne at once, I send as yet
But six; they say, the seaventh hath still some maime.
I choose your judgement, which the same degree
Doth with her sister, your invention, hold,
As fire these drossie Rymes to purifie,
Or as Elixar, to change them to gold;
You are that Alchimist which alwaies had
Wit, whose one spark could make good things of bad.

To the Lady Magdalen Herbert: of St. Mary Magdalen.
HER of your name, whose fair inheritance
Bethina was, and jointure Magdalo:
An active faith so highly did advance,
That she once knew, more than the Church did know,
The Resurrection; so much good there is
Deliver'd of her, that some Fathers be
Loth to believe one Woman could do this;
But, think these Magdalens were two or three.
Increase their number, Lady, and their fame:
To their Devotion, add your Innocence;
Take so much of th'example, as of the name;
The latter half; and in some recompence
That they did harbour Christ himself, a Guest,
Harbour these Hymns, to his dear name addrest. J.D.
DEIGNE at my hands this crown of prayer and praise,
 Weav'd in my low devout melancholie,
Thou which of good, hast, yea art treasury,
All changing unchang'd Antient of dayes;
  But doe not, with a vile crowne of fraile bayes,
Reward my muses white sincerity,
But what thy thorny crowne gain'd, that give mee,
A crowne of Glory, which doth flower alwayes;
The ends crowne our workes, but thou crown'st our ends,
For, at our end begins our endlesse rest;
The first last end, now zealously possest,
With a strong sober thirst, my soule attends.
'Tis time that heart and voice be lifted high,
Salvation to all that will is nigh;
That All, which alwayes is All every where,
Which cannot sinne, and yet all sinnes must beare,
Which cannot die, yet cannot chuse but die,
  Loe, faithfull Virgin, yeelds himselfe to lye
In prison, in thy wombe; and though he there
Can take no sinne, nor thou give, yet he'will weare
Taken from thence, flesh, which deaths force may trie.
Ere by the spheares time was created, thou
Wast in his minde, who is thy Sonne, and Brother;
Whom thou conceiv'st, conceiv'd; yea thou art now
Thy Makers maker, and thy Fathers mother;
Thou'hast light in darke; and shutst in little roome,
Immensitie cloysterd in thy deare wombe,
Now leaves his welbelov'd imprisonment,
There he hath made himselfe to his intent
Weake enough, now into our world to come;
  But Oh, for thee, for him, hath th'Inne no roome?
Yet lay him in this stall, and from the Orient,
Starres, and wisemen will travell to prevent
Th'effect of Herods jealous generall doome.
Seest thou, my Soule, with thy faiths eyes, how he
Which fils all place, yet none holds him, doth lye?
Was not his pity towards thee wondrous high,
That would have need to be pittied by thee?
Kisse him, and with him into Egypt goe,
With his kinde mother who partakes thy woe,
Ioseph turne backe; see where your child doth sit,
Blowing, yea blowing out those sparks of wit,
Which himselfe on the Doctors did bestow;
  The Word but lately could not speake, and loe,
It sodenly speakes wonders, whence comes it,
That all which was, and all which should be writ,
A shallow seeming child, should deeply know?
His Godhead was not soule to his manhood,
Nor had time mellowed him to this ripenesse,
But as for one which hath a long taske, 'tis good,
With the Sunne to beginne his businesse,
He in his ages morning thus began
By miracles exceeding power of man,
Hee faith in some, envie in some begat,
For, what weake spirits admire, ambitious, hate;
In both affections many to him ran,
  But Oh! the worst are most, they will and can,
Alas, and do, unto the immaculate,
Whose creature Fate is, now prescribe a Fate,
Measuring selfe-lifes infinity to'a span,
Nay to an inch. Loe, where condemned hee
Beares his owne crosse, with paine, yet by and by
When it beares him, he must beare more and die.
Now thou art lifted up, draw mee to thee,
And at thy death giving such liberall dole,
Moyst, with one drop of thy blood, my dry soule.
Shall (though she now be in extreme degree
Too stony hard, and yet too fleshly,) bee
Freed by that drop, from being starv'd, hard, or foule,
  And life, by this death abled, shall controule
Death, whom thy death slue; nor shall to mee
Feare of first or last death, bring miserie,
If in thy little booke my name thou enroule,
Flesh in that long sleep is not putrified,
But made that there, of which, and for which 'twas;
Nor can by other meanes be glorified.
May then sinnes sleep, and deaths soone from me passe,
That wak't from both, I againe risen may
Salute the last, and everlasting day.

Salute the last and everlasting day,
Joy at the uprising of this Sunne, and Sonne,
Yee whose just teares, or tribulation
Have purely washt, or burnt your drossie clay;
  Behold the Highest, parting hence away,
Lightens the darke clouds, which hee treads upon,
Nor doth hee by ascending, show alone,
But first hee, and hee first enters the way.
O strong Ramme, which hast batter'd heaven for mee,
Mild Lambe, which with thy blood, hast mark'd the path;
Bright Torch, which shin'st, that I the way may see,
Oh, with thy owne blood quench thy owne just wrath,
And if thy holy Spirit, my Muse did raise,
Deigne at my hands this crowne of prayer and praise.

THOU hast made me, And shall thy worke decay?
Repaire me now, for now mine end doth haste,
I runne to death, and death meets me as fast,
And all my pleasures are like yesterday;
  I dare not move my dimme eyes any way,
Despaire behind, and death before doth cast
Such terrour, and my feeble flesh doth waste
By sinne in it, which it t'wards hell doth weigh;
Onely thou art above, and when towards thee
By thy leave I can looke, I rise againe;
But our old subtle foe so tempteth me,
That not one houre my selfe I can sustaine;
Thy Grace may wing me to prevent his art,
And thou like Adamant draw mine iron heart.
Holy Sonnets.
As due by many titles I resigne
  My selfe to thee, O God, first I was made
By thee, and for thee, and when I was decay'd
Thy blood bought that, the which before was thine;
  I am thy sonne, made with thy selfe to shine,
Thy servant, whose paines thou hast still repaid,
Thy sheepe, thine Image, and, till I betray'd
My selfe, a temple of thy Spirit divine;
Why doth the devill then usurpe on mee?
Why doth he steale, nay ravish that's thy right?
Except thou rise and for thine owne worke fight,
Oh I shall soone despaire, when I doe see
That thou lov'st mankind well, yet wilt'not chuse me,
And Satan hates mee, yet is loth to lose mee.

O MIGHT those sighes and teares returne againe
Into my breast and eyes, which I have spent,
That I might in this holy discontent
Mourne with some fruit, as I have mourn'd in vaine;
  In mine Idolatry what showres of raine
Mine eyes did waste? what griefs my heart did rent?
That sufferance was my sinne; now I repent;
'Cause I did suffer I must suffer paine.
Th'hydroptique drunkard, and night-scouting thiefe,
The itchy Lecher, and selfe tickling proud
Have the remembrance of past joyes, for reliefe
Of comming ills. To (poore) me is allow'd
No ease; for, long, yet vehement griefe hath beene
Th'effect and cause, the punishment and sinne.

O H my blacke Soule! now thou art summoned
By sicknesse, deaths herald, and champion;
Thou art like a pilgrim, which abroad hath done
Treason, and durst not turne to whence hee is fled,
  Or like a thiefe, which till deaths doome be read,
Wisheth himselfe delivered from prison;
But damn'd and hal'd to execution,
Wisheth that still he might be imprisoned.
Yet grace, if thou repent, thou canst not lacke;
But who shall give thee that grace to beginne?
Oh make thy selfe with holy mourning blacke,
And red with blushing, as thou art with sinne;
Or wash thee in Christs blood, which hath this might
That being red, it dyes red soules to white.

I AM a little world made cunningly
Of Elements, and an Angelike spright,
But black sinne hath betraid to endlesse night
My worlds both parts, and (oh) both parts must die.
  You which beyond that heaven which was most high
Have found new sphears, and of new lands can write,
Powre new seas in mine eyes, that so I might
Drowne my world with my weeping earnestly,
Or wash it, if it must be drown'd no more:
But oh it must be burnt! alas the fire
Of lust and envie have burnt it heretofore,
And made it fouler; Let their flames retire,
And burne me ô Lord, with a fiery zeale
Of thee and thy house, which doth in eating heale.
THIS is my playes last scene, here heavens appoint
My pilgrimages last mile; and my race
Idly, yet quickly runne, hath this last pace,
My spans last inch, my minutes latest point,
  And gluttonous death, will instantly unjoynt
My body, and soule, and I shall sleepe a space,
But my'ever-waking part shall see that face,
Whose feare already shakes my every joynt:
Then, as my soule, to'heaven her first seate, takes flight,
And earth-borne body, in the earth shall dwell,
So, fall my sinnes, that all may have their right,
To where they'are bred, and would presse me, to hell.
Impute me righteous, thus purg'd of evill,
For thus I leave the world, the flesh, the devill.
At the round earths imagin'd corners, blow
 Your trumpets, Angells, and arise, arise
From death, you numberlesse infinities
Of soules, and to your scattred bodies goe,
  All whom the flood did, and fire shall o'erthrow,
All whom warre, dearth, age, agues, tyrannies,
Despaire, law, chance, hath slaine, and you whose eyes,
Shall behold God, and never tast deaths woe.
But let them sleepe, Lord, and mee mourne a space,
For, if above all these, my sinnes abound,
'Tis late to aske abundance of thy grace,
When wee are there; here on this lowly ground,
Teach mee how to repent; for that's as good
As if thou'hadst seal'd my pardon, with thy blood.
IF faithfull soules be alike glorifi'd
  As Angels, then my fathers soule doth see,
And adds this even to full felicitie,
That valiantly I hels wide mouth o'rstride:
  But if our mindes to these soules be descry'd
By circumstances, and by signes that be
Apparent in us, not immediately,
How shall my mindes white truth by them be try'd?
They see idolatrous lovers weepe and mourne,
And vile blasphemous Conjurers to call
On Iefus name, and Pharisaicall
Dissemblers feigne devotion. Then turne
O pensive soule, to God, for he knowes best
Thy true griefe, for he put it in my breast.
IF poysonous mineralls, and if that tree,
  Whose fruit threw death on else immortall us,
If lecherous goats, if serpents envious
Cannot be damn'd; Alas; why should I bee?
  Why should intent or reason, borne in mee,
Make sinnes, else equall, in mee more heinous?
And mercy being easie, and glorious
To God; in his sterne wrath, why threatens hee?
But who am I, that dare dispute with thee
O God? Oh! of thine onely worthy blood,
And my teares, make a heavenly Lethean flood,
And drowne in it my sinnes blacke memorie;
That thou remember them, some claime as debt,
I thinke it mercy, if thou wilt forget.
DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill mee.
  From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.
SPIT in my face you Jewes, and pierce my side,
Buffet, and scoffe, scourge, and crucifie mee,
For I have sinn'd, and sinn'd, and onely hee,
Who could do no iniquitie, hath dyed:
  But by my death can not be satisfied
My sinnes, which passe the Jewes impiety:
They kill'd once an inglorious man, but I
Crucifie him daily, being now glorified.
Oh let mee then, his strange love still admire:
Kings pardon, but he bore our punishment.
And Iacob came cloth'd in vile harsh attire
But to supplant, and with gainfull intent:
God cloth'd himselfe in vile mans flesh, that so
Hee might be weake enough to suffer woe.
WHY are wee by all creatures waited on?
 Why doe the prodigall elements supply
Life and food to mee, being more pure then I,
Simple, and further from corruption?
  Why brook'st thou, ignorant horse, subjection?
Why dost thou bull, and bore so seelily
Dissemble weaknesse, and by'one mans stroke die,
Whose whole kinde, you might swallow and feed upon?
Weaker I am, woe is mee, and worse then you,
You have not sinn'd, nor need be timorous.
But wonder at a greater wonder, for to us
Created nature doth these things subdue,
But their Creator, whom sin, nor nature tyed,
For us, his Creatures, and his foes, hath dyed.
WHAT if this present were the worlds last night?
 Marke in my heart, O Soule, where thou dost dwell,
The picture of Christ crucified, and tell
Whether that countenance can thee affright,
  Teares in his eyes quench the amasing light,
Blood fills his frownes, which from his pierc'd head fell.
And can that tongue adjudge thee unto hell,
Which pray'd forgivenesse for his foes fierce spight?
No, no; but as in my idolatrie
I said to all my profane mistresses,
Beauty, of pitty, foulnesse onely is
A signe of rigour: so I say to thee,
To wicked spirits are horrid shapes assign'd,
This beauteous forme assures a pitious minde.
BATTER my heart, three person'd God; for, you
As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow mee,'and bend
Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new.
  I, like an usurpt towne, to'another due,
Labour to'admit you, but Oh, to no end,
Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weake or untrue.
Yet dearely'I love you,'and would be loved faine,
But am betroth'd unto your enemie:
Divorce mee,'untie, or breake that knot againe,
Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you'enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee.
WILT thou love God, as he thee! then digest,
My Soule, this wholsome meditation,
How God the Spirit, by Angels waited on
In heaven, doth make his Temple in thy brest.
  The Father having begot a Sonne most blest,
And still begetting, (for he ne'r begonne)
Hath deign'd to chuse thee by adoption,
Coheire to'his glory,'and Sabbaths endlesse rest.
And as a robb'd man, which by search doth finde
His stolne stuffe sold, must lose or buy'it againe:
The Sonne of glory came downe, and was slaine,
Us whom he'had made, and Satan stolne, to unbinde.
'Twas much, that man was made like God before,
But, that God should be made like man, much more.

Father, part of his double interest
Unto thy kingdome, thy Sonne gives to mee,
His joynture in the knottie Trinitie
Hee keepes, and gives to me his deaths conquest.
  This Lambe, whose death, with life the world hath blest,
Was from the worlds beginning slaine, and he
Hath made two Wills, which with the Legacie
Of his and thy kingdome, doe thy Sonnes invest.
Yet such are thy laws, that men argue yet
Whether a man those statutes can fulfill;
None doth; but all-healing grace and spirit
Revive againe what law and letter kill.
Thy lawes abridgement, and thy last command
Is all but love; Oh let this last Will stand!
Since she whom I lov'd hath payd her last debt
To Nature, and to hers, and my good is dead,
And her Soule early into heaven ravished,
Wholly on heavenly things my mind is sett.
  Here the admyring her my mind did whett
To seeke thee God; so streames do shew their head;
But though I have found thee, and thou my thirst hast fed,
A holy thirsty dropsy melts mee yett.
But why should I begg more Love, when as thou
Dost wooe my soule for hers; offring all thine:
And dost not only feare least I allow
My Love to Saints and Angels things divine,
But in thy tender jealosy dost doubt
Least the World, Fleshe, yea Devill putt thee out.
SHOW me deare Christ, thy spouse, so bright and clear.
What! is it She, which on the other shore
Goes richly painted? or which rob'd and tore
Laments and mournes in Germany and here?
  Sleepes she a thousand, then peepes up one yeare?
Is she selfe truth and errs? now new, now outwore?
Doth she, and did she, and shall she evermore
On one, on seaven, or on no hill appeare?
Dwells she with us, or like adventuring knights
First travaile we to seeke and then make Love?
Betray kind husband thy spouse to our sights,
And let myne amorous soule court thy mild Dove,
Who is most trew, and pleasing to thee, then
When she'is embrac'd and open to most men.

OH, to vex me, contraryes meet in one:
Inconstancy unnaturally hath begott
A constant habit; that when I would not
I change in vowes, and in devotione.
  As humorous is my contritione
As my prophane Love, and as soone forgott:
As ridlingly distemper'd, cold and hott,
As praying, as mute; as infinite, as none.
I durst not view heaven yesterday; and to day
In prayers, and flattering speaches I court God:
To morrow I quake with true feare of his rod.
So my devout fitts come and go away
Like a fantastique Ague: save that here
Those are my best dayes, when I shake with feare.
SINCE Christ embrac'd the Crosse it selfe, dare I
His image, th'image of his Crosse deny?
Would I have profit by the sacrifice,
And dare the chosen Altar to despise?
  It bore all other sinnes, but is it fit
That it should beare the sinne of scorning it?
Who from the picture would avert his eye,
How would he flye his paines, who there did dye?
From mee, no Pulpit, nor misgrounded law,
Nor scandall taken, shall this Crosse withdraw,
It shall not, for it cannot; for, the losse
Of this Crosse, were to mee another Crosse;
Better were worse, for, no affiction,
No Crosse is so extreme, as to have none.

Who can blot out the Crosse, which th'instrument
Of God, dew'd on mee in the Sacrament?
Who can deny mee power, and liberty
To stretch mine armes, and mine owne Crosse to be?
Swimme, and at every stroake, thou art thy Crosse;
The Mast and yard make one, where seas do tosse;
Looke downe, thou spiest out Crosses in small things;
Looke up, thou seest birds rais'd on crossed wings;
All the Globes frame, and spheares, is nothing else
But the Meridians crossing Parallels.
Materiall Crosses then, good physicke bee,
But yet spirituall have chiefe dignity.
These for extracted chimique medicine serve,
And cure much better, and as well preserve;
Then are you your own physicke, or need none,
When Still'd, or purg'd by tribulation.
For when that Crosse ungrudg'd, unto you stickes,
Then are you to your selfe, a Crucifixe.
As perchance, Carvers do not faces make,
But that away, which hid them there, do take;
Let Crosses, soe, take what hid Christ in thee,
And be his image, or not his, but hee.
But, as oft Alchimists doe coyners prove,
So may a selfe-dispising, get selfe-love,
And then as worst surfets, of best meates bee,
Soe is pride, issued from humility,
For, 'tis no child, but monster; therefore Crosse
Your joy in crosses, else, 'tis double losse.
And crosse thy senses, else, both they, and thou
Must perish soone, and to destruction bowe.
For if the'eye seeke good objects, and will take

No crosse from bad, wee cannot scape a snake.
So with harsh, hard, sowre, stinking, crosse the rest,
Make them indifferent all; call nothing best.
But most the eye needs crossing, that can rome,
And move; To th'other th'objects must come home.
And crosse thy heart: for that in man alone
Points downewards, and hath palpitation.
Crosse those dejections, when it downeward tends,
And when it to forbidden heights pretends.
And as the braine through bony walls doth vent
By sutures, which a Crosses forme present,
So when thy braine workes, ere thou utter it,
Crosse and correct concupiscence of witt.
Be covetous of Crosses, let none fall.
Crosse no man else, but crosse thy selfe in all.
Then doth the Crosse of Christ worke fruitfully
Within our hearts, when wee love harmlesly
That Crosses pictures much, and with more care
That Crosses children, which our Crosses are.

Sleep sleep old Sun, thou canst not have repast
As yet, the wound thou took'st on friday last;
Sleepe then, and rest; The world may beare thy stay,
A better Sun rose before thee to day,
  Who, not content to'enlighten all that dwell
On the earths face, as thou, enlightned hell,
And made the darke fires languish in that vale,

As, at thy presence here, our fires grow pale.
Whose body having walk'd on earth, and now
Hasting to Heaven, would, that he might allow
Himselfe unto all stations, and fill all,
For these three daies become a minerall;
Hee was all gold when he lay downe, but rose
All tincture, and doth not alone dispose
Leaden and iron wills to good, but is
Of power to make even sinfull flesh like his.
Had one of those, whose credulous pietie
Thought, that a Soule one might discerne and see
Goe from a body,'at this sepulcher been,
And, issuing from the sheet, this body seen,
He would have justly thought this body a soule,
If not of any man, yet of the whole.
Desunt cætera.
TAMELY, fraile body,'abstaine to day; to day
My soule eates twice, Christ hither and away.
She sees him man, so like God made in this,
That of them both a circle embleme is,
  Whose first and last concurre; this doubtfull day
Of feast or fast, Christ came, and went away.
Shee sees him nothing twice at once, who'is all;
Shee sees a Cedar plant it selfe, and fall,
Her Maker put to making, and the head
Of life, at once, not yet alive, yet dead.

She sees at once the virgin mother stay
Reclus'd at home, Publique at Golgotha;
Sad and rejoyc'd shee's seen at once, and seen
At almost fiftie, and at scarce fifteene.
At once a Sonne is promis'd her, and gone,
Gabriell gives Christ to her, He her to John;
Not fully a mother, Shee's in Orbitie,
At once receiver and the legacie.
All this, and all betweene, this day hath showne,
Th'Abridgement of Christs story, which makes one
(As in plaine Maps, the furthest West is East)
Of the'Angels Ave,'and Consummatum est.
How well the Church, Gods Court of faculties
Deales, in some times, and seldome joyning these!
As by the selfe-fix'd Pole wee never doe
Direct our course, but the next starre thereto,
Which showes where the'other is, and which we say
(Because it strayes not farre) doth never stray;
So God by his Church, neerest to him, wee know,
And stand firme, if wee by her motion goe;
His Spirit, as his fiery Pillar doth
Leade, and his Church, as cloud; to one end both.
This Church, by letting these daies joyne, hath shown
Death and conception in mankinde is one;
Or'twas in him the same humility,
That he would be a man, and leave to be:
Or as creation he hath made, as God,
With the last judgement, but one period,
His imitating Spouse would joyne in one
Manhoods extremes: He shall come, he is gone:
Or as though one blood drop, which thence did fall,
Accepted, would have serv'd, he yet shed all;

So though the least of his paines, deeds, or words,
Would busie a life, she all this day affords;
This treasure then, in grosse, my Soule uplay,
And in my life retaile it every day.

LET mans Soule be a Spheare, and then, in this,
  The intelligence that moves, devotion is,
And as the other Spheares, by being growne
Subject to forraigne motions, lose their owne,
  And being by others hurried every day,
Scarce in a yeare their naturall forme obey:
Pleasure or businesse, so, our Soules admit
For their first mover, and are whirld by it.
Hence is't, that I am carryed towards the West
This day, when my Soules forme bends toward the East.
There I should see a Sunne, by rising set,
And by that setting endlesse day beget;
But that Christ on this Crosse, did rise and fall,
Sinne had eternally benighted all.
Yet dare I'almost be glad, I do not see
That spectacle of too much weight for mee.
Who sees Gods face, that is selfe life, must dye;
What a death were it then to see God dye?
It made his owne Lieutenant Nature shrinke,
It made his footstoole crack, and the Sunne winke.
Could I behold those hands which span the Poles,
And turne all spheares at once, peirc'd with those holes?

Could I behold that endlesse height which is
Zenith to us, and our Antipodes,
Humbled below us? or that blood which is
The seat of all our Soules, if not of his,
Made durt of dust, or that flesh which was worne
By God, for his apparell, rag'd, and torne?
If on these things I durst not looke, durst I
Upon his miserable mother cast mine eye,
Who was Gods partner here, and furnish'd thus
Halfe of that Sacrifice, which ransom'd us?
Though these things, as I ride, be from mine eye,
They'are present yet unto my memory,
For that looks towards them; and thou look'st towards mee,
O Saviour, as thou hang'st upon the tree;
I turne my backe to thee, but to receive
Corrections, till thy mercies bid thee leave.
O thinke mee worth thine anger, punish mee,
Burne off my rusts, and my deformity,
Restore thine Image, so much, by thy grace,
That thou may'st know mee, and I'll turne my face.
FATHER of Heaven, and him, by whom
It, and us for it, and all else, for us
Thou madest, and govern'st ever, come
And re-create mee, now growne ruinous:
  My heart is by dejection, clay,
And by selfe-murder, red.
From this red earth, O Father, purge away
All vicious tinctures, that new fashioned
I may rise up from death, before I'am dead.

O Sonne of God, who seeing two things,
Sinne, and death crept in, which were never made,
By bearing one, tryed'st with what stings
The other could thine heritage invade;
O be thou nail'd unto my heart,
And crucified againe,
Part not from it, though it from thee would part,
But let it be, by applying so thy paine,
Drown'd in thy blood, and in thy passion slaine.

O Holy Ghost, whose temple I
Am, but of mudde walls, and condensed dust,
And being sacrilegiously
Halfe wasted with youths fires, of pride and lust,

Must with new stormes be weatherbeat;
Double in my heart thy flame,
Which let devout sad teares intend; and let
(Though this glasse lanthorne, flesh, do suffer maime)
Fire, Sacrifice, Priest, Altar be the same.

O Blessed glorious Trinity,
Bones to Philosophy, but milke to faith,
Which, as wise serpents, diversly
Most slipperinesse, yet most entanglings hath,
As you distinguish'd undistinct
By power, love, knowledge bee,
Give mee a such selfe different instinct
Of these; let all mee elemented bee,
Of power, to love, to know, you unnumbred three.

For that faire blessed Mother-maid,
Whose flesh redeem'd us; That she-Cherubin,
Which unlock'd Paradise, and made
One claime for innocence, and disseiz'd sinne,
Whose wombe was a strange heav'n, for there
God cloath'd himselfe, and grew,
Our zealous thankes wee poure. As her deeds were
Our helpes, so are her prayers; nor can she sue
In vaine, who hath such titles unto you.


And since this life our nonage is,
And wee in Wardship to thine Angels be,
Native in heavens faire Palaces,
Where we shall be but denizen'd by thee,
As th'earth conceiving by the Sunne,
Yeelds faire diversitie,
Yet never knowes which course that light doth run,
So let mee study, that mine actions bee
Worthy their sight, though blinde in how they see.

And let thy Patriarches Desire
(Those great Grandfathers of thy Church, which saw
More in the cloud, then wee in fire,
Whom Nature clear'd more, then us Grace and Law,
And now in Heaven still pray, that wee
May use our new helpes right,)
Be satisfy'd, and fructifie in mee;
Let not my minde be blinder by more light
Nor Faith, by Reason added, lose her sight.

Thy Eagle-sighted Prophets too,
Which were thy Churches Organs, and did sound
That harmony, which made of two
One law, and did unite, but not confound;

Those heavenly Poëts which did see
Thy will, and it expresse
In rythmique feet, in common pray for mee,
That I by them excuse not my excesse
In seeking secrets, or Poëtiquenesse.

The Apostles.
And thy illustrious Zodiacke
Of twelve Apostles, which ingirt this All,
(From whom whosoever do not take
Their light, to darke deep pits, throw downe, and fall,)
As through their prayers, thou'hast let mee know
That their bookes are divine;
May they pray still, and be heard, that I goe
Th'old broad way in applying; O decline
Mee, when my comment would make thy word mine.

The Martyrs.
And since thou so desirously
Did'st long to die, that long before thou could'st,
And long since thou no more couldst dye,
Thou in thy scatter'd mystique body wouldst
In Abel dye, and ever since
In thine; let their blood come
To begge for us, a discreet patience
Of death, or of worse life: for Oh, to some
Not to be Martyrs, is a martyrdome.


Therefore with thee triumpheth there
A Virgin Squadron of white Confessors,
Whose bloods betroth'd, not marryed were,
Tender'd, not taken by those Ravishers:
They know, and pray, that wee may know,
In every Christian
Hourly tempestuous persecutions grow;
Tentations martyr us alive; A man
Is to himselfe a Dioclesian.
The cold white snowie Nunnery,
Which, as thy mother, their high Abbesse, sent
Their bodies backe againe to thee,
As thou hadst lent them, cleane and innocent,
Though they have not obtain'd of thee,
That or thy Church, or I,
Should keep, as they, our first integrity;
Divorce thou sinne in us, or bid it die,
And call chast widowhead Virginitie.

Thy sacred Academic above
Of Doctors, whose paines have unclasp'd, and taught
Both bookes of life to us (for love
To know thy Scriptures tells us, we are wrote

In thy other booke) pray for us there
That what they have misdone
Or mis-said, wee to that may not adhere;
Their zeale may be our sinne. Lord let us runne
Meane waies, and call them stars, but not the Sunne.
And whil'st this universall Quire,
That Church in triumph, this in warfare here,
Warm'd with one all-partaking fire
Of love, that none be lost, which cost thee deare,
Prayes ceaslesly,'and thou hearken too,
(Since to be gratious
Our taske is treble, to pray, beare, and doe)
Heare this prayer Lord: O Lord deliver us
From trusting in those prayers, though powr'd out thus.
From being anxious, or secure,
Dead clods of sadnesse, or light squibs of mirth,
From thinking, that great courts immure
All, or no happinesse, or that this earth
Is only for our prison fram'd,
Or that thou art covetous
To them whom thou lovest, or that they are maim'd
From reaching this worlds sweet, who seek thee thus,
With all their might, Good Lord deliver us.
From needing danger, to bee good,
From owing thee yesterdaies teares to day,
From trusting so much to thy blood,
That in that hope, wee wound our soule away,
From bribing thee with Almes, to excuse
Some sinne more burdenous,
From light affecting, in religion, newes,
From thinking us all soule, neglecting thus
Our mutuall duties, Lord deliver us.
From tempting Satan to tempt us,
By our connivence, or slack companie,
From measuring ill by vitious,
Neglecting to choake sins spawne, Vanitie,
From indiscreet humilitie,
Which might be scandalous,
And cast reproach on Christianitie,
From being spies, or to spies pervious,
From thirst, or scorne of fame, deliver us.
Deliver us for thy descent
Into the Virgin, whose wombe was a place
Of middle kind; and thou being sent
To'ungratious us, staid'st at her full of grace;
And through thy poore birth, where first thou
Glorifiedst Povertie,
And yet soone after riches didst allow,
By accepting Kings gifts in the Epiphanie,
Deliver, and make us, to both waies free.
And through that bitter agonie,
Which is still the agonie of pious wits,
Disputing what distorted thee,
And interrupted evennesse, with fits;
And through thy free confession
Though thereby they were then
Made blind, so that thou might'st from them have gone,
Good Lord deliver us, and teach us when
Wee may not, and we may blinde unjust men.
Through thy submitting all, to blowes
Thy face, thy clothes to spoile; thy fame to scorne,
All waies, which rage, or Justice knowes,
And by which thou could'st shew, that thou wast born;
And through thy gallant humblenesse
Which thou in death did'st shew,
Dying before thy soule they could expresse,
Deliver us from death, by dying so,
To this world, ere this world doe bid us goe.
When senses, which thy souldiers are,
Wee arme against thee, and they fight for sinne,
When want, sent but to tame, doth warre
And worke despaire a breach to enter in,
When plenty, Gods image, and seale
Makes us Idolatrous,
And love it, not him, whom it should reveale,
When wee are mov'd to seeme religious
Only to vent wit, Lord deliver us.
In Churches, when the'infirmitie
Of him which speakes, diminishes the Word,
When Magistrates doe mis-apply
To us, as we judge, lay or ghostly sword,
When plague, which is thine Angell, raignes,
Or wars, thy Champions, swaie,
When Heresie, thy second deluge, gaines;
In th'houre of death, the'Eve of last judgement day,
Deliver us from the sinister way.
Heare us, O heare us Lord; to thee
A sinner is more musique, when he prayes,
Then spheares, or Angels praises bee,
In Panegyrique Allelujaes;
Heare us, for till thou heare us, Lord
We know not what to say;
Thine eare to'our sighes, teares, thoughts gives voice and word.
O Thou who Satan heard'st in Jobs sicke day,
Heare thy selfe now, for thou in us dost pray.
That wee may change to evennesse
This intermitting aguish Pietie;
That snatching cramps of wickednesse
And Apoplexies of fast sin, may die;
That musique of thy promises,
Not threats in Thunder may
Awaken us to our just offices;
What in thy booke, thou dost, or creatures say,
That we may heare, Lord heare us, when wee pray.
That our eares sicknesse wee may cure,
And rectifie those Labyrinths aright,
That wee, by harkning, not procure
Our praise, nor others dispraise so invite,
That wee get not a slipperinesse
And senslesly decline,
From hearing bold wits jeast at Kings excesse,
To'admit the like of majestie divine,
That we may locke our eares, Lord open thine.
That living law, the Magistrate,
Which to give us, and make us physicke, doth
Our vices often aggravate,
That Preachers taxing sinne, before her growth,
That Satan, and invenom'd men
Which well, if we starve, dine,
When they doe most accuse us, may see then
Us, to amendment, heare them; thee decline:
That we may open our eares, Lord lock thine.
That learning, thine Ambassador,
From thine allegeance wee never tempt,
That beauty, paradises flower
For physicke made, from poyson be exempt,
That wit, borne apt high good to doe,
By dwelling lazily
On Natures nothing, be not nothing too,
That our affections kill us not, nor dye,
Heare us, weake ecchoes, O thou eare, and cry.
Sonne of God heare us, and since thou
By taking our blood, owest it us againe,
Gaine to thy self, or us allow;
And let not both us and thy selfe be slaine;
O Lambe of God, which took'st our sinne
Which could not stick to thee,
O let it not returne to us againe,
But Patient and Physition being free,
As sinne is nothing, let it no where be.
ETERNALL God, (for whom who ever dare
 Seeke new expressions, doe the Circle square,
And thrust into strait corners of poore wit
Thee, who art cornerlesse and infinite)
  I would but blesse thy Name, not name thee now
(And thy gifts are as infinite as thou:)
Fixe we our prayses therefore on this one,
That, as thy blessed Spirit fell upon
These Psalmes first Author in a cloven tongue;
(For 'twas a double power by which he sung
The highest matter in the noblest forme;)
So thou hast cleft that spirit, to performe
That worke againe, and shed it, here, upon
Two, by their bloods, and by thy Spirit one;
A Brother and a Sister, made by thee
The Organ, where thou art the Harmony.

Two that make one Iohn Baptists holy voyce,
And who that Psalme, Now let the Iles rejoyce,
Have both translated, and apply'd it too,
Both told us what, and taught us how to doe.
They shew us Ilanders our joy, our King,
They tell us why, and teach us how to sing;
Make all this All, three Quires, heaven, earth, and sphears;
The first, Heaven, hath a song, but no man heares,
The Spheares have Musick, but they have no tongue,
Their harmony is rather danc'd than sung;
But our third Quire, to which the first gives eare,
(For, Angels learne by what the Church does here)
This Quire hath all. The Organist is hee
Who hath tun'd God and Man, the Organ we:
The songs are these, which heavens high holy Muse
Whisper'd to David, David to the Iewes:
And Davids Successors, in holy zeale,
In formes of joy and art doe re-reveale
To us so sweetly and sincerely too,
That I must not rejoyce as I would doe
When I behold that these Psalmes are become
So well attyr'd abroad, so ill at home,
So well in Chambers, in thy Church so ill,
As I can scarce call that reform'd untill
This be reform'd; Would a whole State present
A lesser gift than some one man hath sent?
And shall our Church, unto our Spouse and King
More hoarse, more harm than any other, sing?
For that we pray, we praise thy name for this,
Which, by this Moses and this Miriam, is
Already done; and as those Psalmes we call
(Though some have other Authors) Davids all:
So though some have, some may some Psalmes translate,
We thy Sydnean Psalmes shall celebrate,

And, till we come th'Extemporall song to sing,
(Learn'd the first hower, that we see the King,
Who hath translated those translators) may
These their sweet learned labours, all the way
Be as our tuning; that, when hence we part,
We may fall in with them, and sing our part.

THOU, whose diviner soule hath caus'd thee now
To put thy hand unto the holy Plough,
Making Lay-scornings of the Ministry,
Not an impediment, but victory;
  What bringst thou home with thee? how is thy mind
Affected since the vintage? Dost thou finde
New thoughts and stirrings in thee? and as Steele
Toucht with a Loadstone, dost new motions feele?
Or, as a Ship after much paine and care,
For Iron and Cloth brings home rich Indian ware,
Hast thou thus traffiqu'd, but with farre more gaine
Of noble goods, and with lesse time and paine?
Thou art the same materials, as before,
Onely the stampe is changed; but no more.
And as new crowned Kings alter the face,
But not the monies substance; so hath grace
Chang'd onely Gods old Image by Creation,
To Christs new stampe, at this thy Coronation;
Or, as we paint Angels with wings, because
They beare Gods message, and proclaime his lawes,
Since thou must doe the like, and so must move,
Art thou new feather'd with cœlestiall love?
Deare, tell me where thy purchase lies, and shew
What thy advantage is above, below.
But if thy gainings doe surmount expression,
Why doth the foolish world scorne that profession,
Whose joyes passe speech? Why do they think unfit
That Gentry should joyne families with it?
As if their day were onely to be spent
In dressing, Mistressing and complement;
Alas poore joyes, but poorer men, whose trust
Seemes richly placed in sublimed dust;
(For, such are cloathes and beauty, which though gay,
Are, at the best, but of sublimed clay.)

Let then the world thy calling disrespect,
But goe thou on, and pitty their neglect.
What function is so noble, as to bee
Embassadour to God and destinie?
To open life, to give kingdomes to more
Than Kings give dignities; to keepe heavens doore?
Maries prerogative was to beare Christ, so
'Tis preachers to convey him, for they doe
As Angels out of clouds, from Pulpits speake;
And blesse the poore beneath, the lame, the weake.
If then th'Astronomers, whereas they spie
A new-found Starre, their Opticks magnifie,
How brave are those, who with their Engine, can
Bring man to heaven, and heaven againe to man?
These are thy titles and preheminences,
In whom must meet Gods graces, mens offences,
And so the heavens which beget all things here,
And the earth our mother, which these things doth beare,
Both these in thee, are in thy Calling knit,
And make thee now a blest Hermaphrodite.

I N what torne ship soever I embarke,
That ship shall be my embleme of thy Arke;
What sea soever swallow mee, that flood
Shall be to mee an embleme of thy blood;
  Though thou with clouds of anger do disguise
Thy race; yet through that maske I know those eyes,
Which, though they turne away sometimes,
They never will despise.

I sacrifice this Iland unto thee,
And all whom I lov'd there, and who lov'd mee;
When I have put our seas twixt them and mee,
Put thou thy sea betwixt my sinnes and thee.
As the trees sap doth seeke the root below
In winter, in my winter now I goe,
Where none but thee, th'Eternall root
Of true Love I may know.
Nor thou nor thy religion dost controule,
The amorousnesse of an harmonious Soule,
But thou would'st have that love thy selfe: As thou
Art jealous, Lord, so I am jealous now,
Thou lov'st not, till from loving more, thou free
My soule: Who ever gives, takes libertie:
O, if thou car'st not whom I love
Alas, thou lov'st not mee.
Seale then this bill of my Divorce to All,
On whom those fainter beames of love did fall;
Marry those loves, which in youth scattered bee
On Fame, Wit, Hopes (false mistresses) to thee.
Churches are best for Prayer, that have least light:
To see God only, I goe out of sight:
And to scape stormy dayes, I chuse
An Everlasting night.

  HOW sits this citie, late most populous,
Thus solitary, and like a widdow thus!
Amplest of Nations, Queene of Provinces
She was, who now thus tributary is!
Still in the night shee weepes, and her teares fall
Downe by her cheekes along, and none of all
Her lovers comfort her; Perfidiously
Her friends have dealt, and now are enemie.
   Unto great bondage, and afflictions
Juda is captive led; Those nations
With whom shee dwells, no place of rest afford,
In streights shee meets her Persecutors sword.
   Emptie are the gates of Sion, and her waies
Mourne, because none come to her solemne dayes.
Her Priests doe groane, her maides are comfortlesse,
And shee's unto her selfe a bitternesse.
   Her foes are growne her head, and live at Peace,
Because when her transgressions did increase,
The Lord strooke her with sadnesse: Th'enemie
Doth drive her children to captivitie.
   From Sions daughter is all beauty gone,
Like Harts, which seeke for Pasture, and find none,
Her Princes are, and now before the foe
Which still pursues them, without strength they go.

   Now in her daies of Teares, Jerusalem
(Her men slaine by the foe, none succouring them)
Remembers what of old, shee esteemed most,
Whilest her foes laugh at her, for what she hath lost.
   Jerusalem hath sinn'd, therefore is shee
Remov'd, as women in uncleannesse bee;
Who honor'd, scorne her, for her foulnesse they
Have seene; her selfe doth groane, and turne away.
   Her foulnesse in her skirts was seene, yet she
Remembred not her end; Miraculously
Therefore shee fell, none comforting: Behold
O Lord my affliction, for the Foe growes bold.
   Upon all things where her delight hath beene,
The foe hath stretch'd his hand, for shee hath seene
Heathen, whom thou command'st, should not doe so,
Into her holy Sanctuary goe.
   And all her people groane, and seeke for bread;
And they have given, only to be fed,
All precious things, wherein their pleasure lay:
How cheape I'am growne, O Lord, behold, and weigh.
   All this concernes not you, who passe by mee,
O see, and marke if any sorrow bee
Like to my sorrow, which Jehova hath
Done to mee in the day of his fierce wrath?
   That fire, which by himselfe is governed
He hath cast from heaven on my bones, and spred
A net before my feet, and mee o'rthrowne,
And made me languish all the day alone.

   His hand hath of my sinnes framed a yoake
Which wreath'd, and cast upon my neck, hath broke
My strength. The Lord unto those enemies
Hath given mee, from whom I cannot rise.
   He under foot hath troden in my sight
My strong men; He did company invite
To breake my young men; he the winepresse hath
Trod upon Juda's daughter in his wrath.
   For these things doe I weepe, mine eye, mine eye
Casts water out; For he which should be nigh
To comfort mee, is now departed farre;
The foe prevailes, forlorne my children are.
   There's none, though Sion do stretch out her hand,
To comfort her, it is the Lords command
That Iacobs foes girt him. Ierusalem
Is as an uncleane woman amongst them.
   But yet the Lord is just, and righteous still,
I have rebell'd against his holy will;
O heare all people, and my sorrow see,
My maides, my young men in captivitie.
   I called for my lovers then, but they
Deceiv'd mee, and my Priests, and Elders lay
Dead in the citie; for they sought for meat
Which should refresh their soules, they could not get.
   Because I am in streights, Iehova see
My heart o'rturn'd, my bowells muddy bee,
Because I have rebell'd so much, as fast
The sword without, as death within, doth wast.

   Of all which heare I mourne, none comforts mee,
My foes have heard my griefe, and glad they be,
That thou hast done it; But thy promis'd day
Will come, when, as I suffer, so shall they.
   Let all their wickednesse appeare to thee,
Doe unto them, as thou hast done to mee,
For all my sinnes: The sighs which I have had
Are very many, and my heart is sad.
Chap. II.
  HOW over Sions daughter hath God hung
His wraths thicke cloud! and from heaven hath flung
To earth the beauty of Israel, and hath
Forgot his foot-stoole in the day of wrath!
   The Lord unsparingly hath swallowed
All Jacobs dwellings, and demolished
To ground the strengths of Iuda, and prophan'd
The Princes of the Kingdome, and the land.
   In heat of wrath, the horne of Israel hee
Hath cleane cut off, and lest the enemie
Be hindred, his right hand he doth retire,
But is towards Iacob, All-devouring fire.
   Like to an enemie he bent his bow,
His right hand was in posture of a foe,
To kill what Sions daughter did desire,
'Gainst whom his wrath, he poured forth, like fire.
   For like an enemie Iehova is,
Devouring Israel, and his Palaces,
Destroying holds, giving additions
To Iuda's daughters lamentations.

   Like to a garden hedge he hath cast downe
The place where was his congregation,
And Sions feasts and sabbaths are forgot;
Her King, her Priest, his wrath regardeth not.
   The Lord forsakes his Altar, and detests
His Sanctuary, and in the foes hand rests
His Palace, and the walls, in which their cries
Are heard, as in the true solemnities.
   The Lord hath cast a line, so to confound
And levell Sions walls unto the ground;
He drawes not back his hand, which doth oreturne
The wall, and Rampart, which together mourne.
   Their gates are sunke into the ground, and hee
Hath broke the barres; their King and Princes bee
Amongst the heathen, without law, nor there
Unto their Prophets doth the Lord appeare.
   There Sions Elders on the ground are plac'd,
And silence keepe; Dust on their heads they cast,
In sackcloth have they girt themselves, and low
The Virgins towards ground, their heads do throw.
   My bowells are growne muddy, and mine eyes
Are faint with weeping: and my liver lies
Pour'd out upon the ground, for miserie
That sucking children in the streets doe die.
   When they had cryed unto their Mothers, where
Shall we have bread, and drinke? they fainted there,
And in the streets like wounded persons lay
Till 'twixt their mothers breasts they went away.

   Daughter Ierusalem, Oh what may bee
A witnesse, or comparison for thee?
Sion, to ease thee, what shall I name like thee?
Thy breach is like the sea, what help can bee?
   For thee vaine foolish things thy Prophets sought,
Thee, thine iniquities they have not taught,
Which might disturne thy bondage: but for thee
False burthens, and false causes they would see.
   The passengers doe clap their hands, and hisse,
And wag their head at thee, and say, Is this
That citie, which so many men did call
Joy of the earth, and perfectest of all?
   Thy foes doe gape upon thee, and they hisse,
And gnash their teeth, and say, Devoure wee this,
For this is certainly the day which wee
Expected, and which now we finde, and see.
   The Lord hath done that which he purposed,
Fulfill'd his word of old determined;
He hath throwne downe, and not spar'd, and thy foe
Made glad above thee, and advanc'd him so.
   But now, their hearts against the Lord do call,
Therefore, O walls of Sion, let teares fall
Downe like a river, day and night; take thee
No rest, but let thine eye incessant be.
   Arise, cry in the night, poure, for thy sinnes,
Thy heart, like water, when the watch begins;
Lift up thy hands to God, lest children dye,
Which, faint for hunger, in the streets doe lye.

   Behold O Lord, consider unto whom
Thou hast done this; what, shall the women come
To eate their children of a spanne? shall thy
Prophet and Priest be slaine in Sanctuary?
   On ground in streets, the yong and old do lye,
My virgins and yong men by sword do dye;
Them in the day of thy wrath thou hast slaine,
Nothing did thee from killing them containe.
   As to a solemne feast, all whom I fear'd
Thou call'st about mee; when his wrath appear'd,
None did remaine or scape, for those which I
Brought up, did perish by mine enemie.
Chap. III.
 I   AM the man which have affliction seene,
Under the rod of Gods wrath having beene,
   He hath led mee to darknesse, not to light,
   And against mee all day, his hand doth fight.
     Hee hath broke my bones, worne out my flesh and skinne,
   Built up against mee; and hath girt mee in
With hemlocke, and with labour;    and set mee
In darke, as they who dead for ever bee.
   Hee hath hedg'd me lest I scape, and added more
To my steele fetters, heavier then before.
   When I crie out, he out shuts my prayer:    And hath
Stop'd with hewn stone my way, and turn'd my path.
   And like a Lion hid in secrecie,
Or Beare which lyes in wait, he was to mee.
   He stops my way, teares me, made desolate,
   And hee makes mee the marke he shooteth at.

   Hee made the children of his quiver passe
Into my reines,    I with my people was
All the day long, a song and mockery.
   Hee hath fill'd mee with bitternesse, and he
Hath made me drunke with wormewood.    He hath burst
My teeth with stones, and covered mee with dust;
   And thus my Soule farre off from peace was set,
And my prosperity I did forget.
   My strength, my hope (unto my selfe I said)
Which from the Lord should come, is perished.
   But when my mournings I do thinke upon,
My wormwood, hemlocke, and affliction,
   My Soule is humbled in remembring this;
   My heart considers, therefore, hope there is.
   'Tis Gods great mercy we'are not utterly
Consum'd, for his compassions do not die;
   For every morning they renewed bee,
For great, O Lord, is thy fidelity.
   The Lord is, saith my Soule, my portion,
And therefore in him will I hope alone.
   The Lord is good to them, who on him relie,
And to the Soule that seeks him earnestly.
   It is both good to trust, and to attend
(The Lords salvation) unto the end:
   'Tis good for one his yoake in youth to beare;
   He sits alone, and doth all speech forbeare,
Because he hath borne it.    And his mouth he layes
Deepe in the dust, yet then in hope he stayes.
   He gives his cheekes to whosoever will
Strike him, and so he is reproched still.
   For, not for ever doth the Lord forsake,
   But when he'hath strucke with sadnes, hee doth take

Compassion, as his mercy'is infinite;
   Nor is it with his heart, that he doth smite;
   That underfoot the prisoners stamped bee,
   That a mans right the Judge himselfe doth see
To be wrung from him,    That he subverted is
In his just cause; the Lord allowes not this.
   Who then will say, that ought doth come to passe,
But that which by the Lord commanded was?
   Both good and evill from his mouth proceeds;
   Why then grieves any man for his misdeeds?
   Turne wee to God, by trying out our wayes;
   To him in heaven, our hands with hearts upraise.
   Wee have rebell'd, and falne away from thee,
Thou pardon'st not;    Usest no clemencie;
Pursuest us, kill'st us, coverest us with wrath,
   Cover'st thy selfe with clouds, that our prayer hath
No power to passe.    And thou hast made us fall
As refuse, and off-scouring to them all.
   All our foes gape at us.    Feare and a snare
With ruine, and with waste, upon us are.
   With watry rivers doth mine eye oreflow
For ruine of my peoples daughter so;
   Mine eye doth drop downe teares incessantly,
   Untill the Lord looke downe from heaven to see.
   And for my citys daughters sake, mine eye
Doth breake mine heart.    Causles mine enemy,
Like a bird chac'd me.    In a dungeon
They have shut my life, and cast on me a stone.

   Waters flow'd o'r my head, then thought I, I am
Destroy'd;    I called Lord, upon thy name
Out of the pit.    And thou my voice didst heare;
Oh from my sigh, and crye, stop not thine eare.
   Then when I call'd upon thee, thou drew'st nere
Unto mee, and said'st unto mee, do not feare.
   Thou Lord my Soules cause handled hast, and thou
Rescud'st my life.    O Lord do thou judge now,
Thou heardst my wrong.    Their vengeance all they have wrought;
   How they reproach'd, thou hast heard, and what they thought,
   What their lips uttered, which against me rose,
And what was ever whisper'd by my foes.
   I am their song, whether they rise or sit,
   Give them rewards Lord, for their working fit,
   Sorrow of heart, thy curse.    And with thy might
Follow, and from under heaven destroy them quite.
Chap. IV.
  HOW is the gold become so dimme? How is
Purest and finest gold thus chang'd to this?
The stones which were stones of the Sanctuary,
Scattered in corners of each street do lye.
   The pretious sonnes of Sion, which should bee
Valued at purest gold, how do wee see
Low rated now, as earthen Pitchers, stand,
Which are the worke of a poore Potters hand.
   Even the Sea-calfes draw their brests, and give
Sucke to their young; my peoples daughters live,
By reason of the foes great cruelnesse,
As do the Owles in the vast Wildernesse.

   And when the sucking child doth strive to draw,
His tongue for thirst cleaves to his upper jaw.
And when for bread the little children crye,
There is no man that doth them satisfie.
   They which before were delicately fed,
Now in the streets forlorne have perished,
And they which ever were in scarlet cloath'd,
Sit and embrace the dunghills which they loath'd.
   The daughters of my people have sinned more,
Then did the towne of Sodome sinne before;
Which being at once destroy'd, there did remaine
No hands amongst them, to vexe them againe.
   But heretofore purer her Nazarite
Was then the snow, and milke was not so white;
As carbuncles did their pure bodies shine,
And all their polish'dnesse was Saphirine.
   They are darker now then blacknes, none can know
Them by the face, as through the streets they goe,
For now their skin doth cleave unto the bone,
And withered, is like to dry wood growne.
   Better by sword then famine 'tis to dye;
And better through pierc'd, then through penury.
   Women by nature pitifull, have eate
Their children drest with their owne hands for meat.
   Iehova here fully accomplish'd hath
His indignation, and powr'd forth his wrath,
Kindled a fire in Sion, which hath power
To eate, and her foundations to devour.

   Nor would the Kings of the earth, nor all which live
In the inhabitable world beleeve,
That any adversary, any foe
Into Ierusalem should enter so.
   For the Priests sins, and Prophets, which have shed
Blood in the streets, and the just murthered:
   Which when those men, whom they made blinde, did stray
Thorough the streets, defiled by the way
With blood, the which impossible it was
Their garments should scape touching, as they passe,
   Would cry aloud, depart defiled men,
Depart, depart, and touch us not; and then
They fled, and strayd, and with the Gentiles were,
Yet told their friends, they should not long dwell there;
   For this they are scattered by Jehovahs face
Who never will regard them more; No grace
Unto their old men shall the foe afford,
Nor, that they are Priests, redeeme them from the sword.
   And wee as yet, for all these miseries
Desiring our vaine helpe, consume our eyes:
And such a nation as cannot save,
We in desire and speculation have.
   They hunt our steps, that in the streets wee feare
To goe: our end is now approached neere,
Our dayes accomplish'd are, this the last day.
   Eagles of heaven are not so swift as they
Which follow us, o'r mountaine tops they flye
At us, and for us in the desart lye.

   The annointed Lord, breath of our nostrils, hee
Of whom we said, under his shadow, wee
Shall with more ease under the Heathen dwell,
Into the pit which these men digged, fell.
   Rejoyce O Edoms daughter, joyfull bee
Thou which inhabitst Huz, for unto thee
This cup shall passe, and thou with drunkennesse
Shalt fill thy selfe, and shew thy nakednesse.
   And then thy sinnes O Sion, shall be spent,
The Lord will not leave thee in banishment.
Thy sinnes O Edoms daughter, hee will see,
And for them, pay thee with captivitie.
Chap. V.
   REMEMBER, O Lord, what is fallen on us;
See, and marke how we are reproached thus,
  For unto strangers our possession
   Is turn'd, our houses unto Aliens gone,
    Our mothers are become as widowes, wee
    As Orphans all, and without father be;
    Waters which are our owne, wee drunke, and pay,
    And upon our owne wood a price they lay.
    Our persecutors on our necks do sit,
    They make us travaile, and not intermit,
    We stretch our hands unto th'Egyptians
    To get us bread; and to the Assyrians.

    Our Fathers did these sinnes, and are no more,
    But wee do beare the sinnes they did before.
    They are but servants, which do rule us thus,
    Yet from their hands none would deliver us.
    With danger of our life our bread wee gat;
    For in the wildernesse, the sword did wait.
  The tempests of this famine wee liv'd in,
    Black as an Oven colour'd had our skinne:
  In Iudaes cities they the maids abus'd
    By force, and so women in Sion us'd.
  The Princes with their hands they hung; no grace
    Nor honour gave they to the Elders face.
  Unto the mill our yong men carried are,
    And children fell under the wood they bare.
  Elders, the gates; youth did their songs forbeare,
    Gone was our joy; our dancings, mournings were.
  Now is the crowne falne from our head; and woe
    Be unto us, because we'have sinned so.
  For this our hearts do languish, and for this
    Over our eyes a cloudy dimnesse is.
  Because mount Sion desolate doth lye,
    And foxes there do goe at libertie:
  But thou O Lord art ever, and thy throne
    From generation, to generation.
  Why should'st thou forget us eternally?
    Or leave us thus long in this misery?
  Restore us Lord to thee, that so we may
    Returne, and as of old, renew our day.
  For oughtest thou, O Lord, despise us thus,
    And to be utterly enrag'd at us?

SINCE I am comming to that Holy roome,
Where, with thy Quire of Saints for evermore,
I shall be made thy Musique; As I come
I tune the Instrument here at the dore,
  And what I must doe then, thinke here before.
Whilst my Physitians by their love are growne
Cosmographers, and I their Mapp, who lie
Flat on this bed, that by them may be showne
That this is my South-west discoverie
Per fretum febris, by these streights to die,
I joy, that in these straits, I see my West;
For, though theire currants yeeld returne to none,
What shall my West hurt me? As West and East
In all flatt Maps (and I am one) are one,
So death doth touch the Resurrection.
Is the Pacifique Sea my home? Or are
The Easterne riches? Is Ierusalem?
Anyan, and Magellan, and Gibraltare,
All streights, and none but streights, are wayes to them,
Whether where Iaphet dwelt, or Cham, or Sem.
We thinke that Paradise and Calvarie,
Christs Crosse, and Adams tree, stood in one place;
Looke Lord, and finde both Adams met in me;
As the first Adams sweat surrounds my face,
May the last Adams blood my soule embrace.

So, in his purple wrapp'd receive mee Lord,
By these his thornes give me his other Crowne;
And as to others soules I preach'd thy word,
Be this my Text, my Sermon to mine owne,
Therfore that he may raise the Lord throws down.

WILT thou forgive that sinne where I begunne,
Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive that sinne; through which I runne,
And do run still: though still I do deplore?
  When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For, I have more.
Wilt thou forgive that sinne which I have wonne
Others to sinne? and, made my sinne their doore?
Wilt thou forgive that sinne which I did shunne
A yeare, or two: but wallowed in, a score?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.
I have a sinne of feare, that when I have spunne
My last thred, I shall perish on the shore;
But sweare by thy selfe, that at my death thy sonne
Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;
And, having done that, Thou haste done,
I feare no more.

WILT thou forgive that sinn, where I begunn,
Wch is my sinn, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive those sinns through wch I runn
And doe them still, though still I doe deplore?
  When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
for I have more.
Wilt thou forgive that sinn, by wch I'have wonne
Others to sinn, & made my sinn their dore?
Wilt thou forgive that sinn wch I did shunne
A yeare or twoe, but wallowed in a score?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
for I have more.
I have a sinn of feare yt when I have spunn
My last thred, I shall perish on the shore;
Sweare by thy self that at my Death, thy Sunn
Shall shine as it shines nowe, & heretofore;
And having done that, thou hast done,
I have noe more.

 Grant me your mercy.
My redeemer, redeem me,
for I am yours.

I came from you.
You are my mind:
give me birth.

You are my treasure:
open for me.

You are my fullness:
accept me.

You are my rest:
give me unlimited perfection.

I pray to you,
you who exist and preexisted,
in the name exalted above every name,
through Jesus the anointed,
lord of lords,
king of the eternal realms.
Give me your gifts, with no regret,
through the human child,
the spirit,
the advocate of truth.

Give me authority, I beg of you,
give healing for my body, as I beg you,
through the preacher of the gospel,
and redeem my enlightened soul forever, and my spirit,
and disclose to my mind the firstborn of the fullness of grace.

Grant what eyes of angels have not seen,
what ears of rulers have not heard,
and what has not arisen in the hearts of people,
who became angelic,
and after the image of the animate god
when it was formed in the beginning.
I have the faith of hope.

And bestow upon me
your beloved, chosen, blessed majesty,
you who are the firstborn, the first-conceived,
and the wonderful mystery of your house.

For yours is the power and the glory and the praise and the greatness,
forever and ever.

I AM IN YOU AND YOU IN ME
 The perfect majesty is at rest in the ineffable light, in the truth of the mother of all these, and all of you that attain to me, to me alone who am perfect, because of the word. For I exist with all the greatness of the spirit, which is a friend to us and our kindred alike. Since I brought forth a word to the glory of our father, through his goodness, as well as an imperishable thought, that is, the word within him, it is slavery that we should die with Christ, with imperishable and undefiled thought. This is an incomprehensible marvel, the writing of the ineffable water, which is the word from us: I am in you and you are in me, just as the father is in you in innocence.
I COME FROM ABOVE AND AM INCARNATED
 Let us gather an assembly together. Let us visit that creation of his. Let us send someone forth in it, so that he may visit the thoughts in the regions below. And I said these things to the whole multitude of the great assembly of the rejoicing majesty. The whole house of the father of truth rejoiced that I am the one who is from them. I reflected upon the thoughts that came out of the undefiled spirit about the descent upon the water, that is, the regions below. And they all had a single mind, since it is from one source. They ordered me, and because I was willing, I came forth to reveal the glory to my kindred and my fellow spirits.
 For those who were in the world had been prepared by the will of our sister Sophia—she who is a whore —because of her innocence that has not been uttered. And she did not ask anything from the realm of all, nor from the greatness of the assembly, nor from the pleroma, when she previously came forth to prepare lodgings and places for the son of light and the fellow workers. She took materials from the elements below to build bodily dwellings from them. But having come into being in an empty glory, they ended in destruction in the dwellings in which they were. Since they were prepared by Sophia, they stand ready to receive the life-giving word of the ineffable One and the greatness of the assembly of all those who persevere and those who are in me.
 I visited a bodily dwelling. I cast out the one who was in it first, and I went in. And the whole multitude of the rulers became troubled. And all the matter of the rulers as well as all the powers born of the earth were shaken when they saw the likeness of the image, since it was mixed. And I was the one who was in the image, not resembling him who was in the body first. For he was an earthly man, but I, I am from above the heavens. I did not refuse them even to become Christ, but I did not reveal myself to them in the love that was coming forth from me. I revealed that I am a stranger to the regions below.
THE RULERS ARE DISTURBED
 There was a great disturbance in the whole earthly area, with confusion and flight, as well as in the plan of the rulers. And some were persuaded, when they saw the wonders that were being accomplished by me. And all those fled, those of the race that descended from the one who fled from the throne to the Sophia of hope, since she had earlier given the sign concerning us and all the ones with me—those of the race of Adonaios. Others also fled, as though sent from the world ruler and those with him, and brought every kind of punishment upon me. And there was a flight of their mind about what they would counsel concerning me, thinking that their own greatness is all, and speaking false witness, moreover, against the human and the whole greatness of the assembly. It was not possible for them to know who is the father of truth, the human of greatness. They took the name because of contact with ignorance—which is a burning and a vessel created to destroy Adam, whom they had made, in order to cover up those who are theirs in the same way. But they, the rulers, of the place of Yaldabaoth, reveal the realm of the angels, which human beings were seeking because they did not know the human of truth. For Adam, whom they had formed, appeared to them. And a fearful disturbance came about throughout their entire dwelling, lest the angels surrounding them rebel. For on account of those who were offering praise I died, but not really, because their archangel was vacuous.
THE WORLD RULER TRIES TO KILL ME
 And then a voice of the world ruler came to the angels: “I am god and there is no other god but me.” But I laughed joyfully when I examined his conceit. But he went on to say, “Who is the human?” And the entire host of his angels who had seen Adam and his dwelling were laughing at his smallness. And thus did their thought come to be removed outside the majesty of the heavens, away from the human of truth, whose name they saw, since he is in a small dwelling place. They are foolish and senseless in their empty thought, namely, their laughter, and it was contagion for them.
 The whole greatness of the fatherhood of the spirit was at rest in its places. And I was with him, since I have a thought of a single emanation from the eternal ones and the unknowable ones, undefiled and immeasurable. I placed the small thought in the world, having disturbed them and frightened the whole multitude of the angels and their ruler. And I was visiting them all with fire and flame because of my thought. And everything pertaining to them was brought about because of me. And there came about a disturbance and a fight around the seraphim and cherubim, since their glory will fade, and there was confusion around Adonaios on both sides and around their dwelling, up to the world ruler and the one who said, “Let us seize him.” Others again said, “The plan will certainly not materialize.” For Adonaios knows me because of hope. And I was in the mouths of lions. And as for the plan that they devised about me to release their error and their senselessness, I did not succumb to them as they had planned. And I was not afflicted at all. Those who were there punished me, yet I did not die in reality but in appearance, in order that I not be put to shame by them because these are my kinsfolk. I removed the shame from me, and I did not become fainthearted in the face of what happened to me at their hands. I was about to succumb to fear, and I suffered merely according to their sight and thought so that no word might ever be found to speak about them. For my death, which they think happened, happened to them in their error and blindness, since they nailed their man unto their death. Their thoughts did not see me, for they were deaf and blind. But in doing these things, they condemn themselves. Yes, they saw me; they punished me. It was another, their father, who drank the gall and the vinegar; it was not I. They struck me with the reed; it was another, Simon, who bore the cross on his shoulder. It was another upon whom they placed the crown of thorns. But I was rejoicing in the height over all the wealth of the rulers and the offspring of their error, of their empty glory. And I was laughing at their ignorance.
JESUS DESCENDS INCOGNITO AND LIBERATES THE GNOSTICS
 And I subjected all their powers. For as I came downward, no one saw me. For I was altering my shapes, changing from form to form. And so when I was at their gates I assumed their likeness. For I passed them by quietly, and I was viewing the places, and I was neither afraid nor ashamed, for I was undefiled. And I was speaking with them, mingling with them through those who are mine, and trampling on those who are harsh to them with zeal, and quenching the flame. And I was doing all these things because of my desire to accomplish what I desired by the will of the father above.
 And the son of the majesty, who was hidden in the region below, we brought to the height where I am with all these aeons, which no one has seen or known, where the wedding of the wedding robe is, the new one and not the old, which does not perish. For it is a new and perfect bridal chamber of the heavens, and I have revealed that there are three ways, which are an undefiled mystery in a spirit of this aeon, which does not perish, nor is it fragmentary, nor able to be spoken of; rather, it is undivided, universal, and permanent. For the soul, the one from the height, will not speak about the error that is here, nor transfer from these aeons, since it will be transferred when it becomes free and endowed with nobility in the world, standing before the father without weariness and fear, always mixed with the mind of power and of form. They will see me from every side without hatred. For since they see me, they are being seen and are mixed with them. Since they did not put me to shame, they were not put to shame. Since they were not afraid before me, they will pass by every gate without fear and will be perfected in the third glory.
 It was my cross that the world did not accept, my apparent exaltation, my third baptism in a revealed image. When they had fled from the fire of the seven authorities, and the sun of the powers of the rulers set, darkness overtook them. And the world became poor. After they bound him with many restraints, they nailed him to the cross, and they fastened him with four nails of brass. The veil of his temple he tore with his hands. There was a trembling that overcame the chaos of the earth, for the souls that were in the sleep below were released, and they arose. They walked about boldly, having shed jealousy of ignorance and unlearnedness beside the dead tombs; having put on the new human; having come to know that perfect blessed one of the eternal and incomprehensible father and the infinite light, which is I. When I came to my own and united them with myself, there was no need for many words, for our thought was with their thought. Therefore they knew what I was saying, for we took counsel about the destruction of the rulers. And therefore I did the will of the father, who is I.
 After we left from our home and came down to this world and came into being in the world in bodies, we were hated and persecuted, not only by those who are ignorant but also by those who think that they are advancing the name of Christ, since they were unknowingly empty, not knowing who they are, like dumb animals. They persecuted those who have been liberated by me, since they hate them—those who, should they shut their mouth, would weep with a profitless groaning because they did not fully know me. Instead, they served two masters, even a multitude. But you will become victorious in everything, in war and battles, jealous division and wrath. In the uprightness of our love we are innocent, pure, and good, since we have the mind of the father in an ineffable mystery.
THE IGNORANT RULERS AND THE PERFECT ONES
 For it was ludicrous. It is I who bear witness that it was ludicrous, since the rulers do not know that this is an ineffable union of undefiled truth, as exists among the children of light, of which they made an imitation, having proclaimed a doctrine of a dead man and lies so as to resemble the freedom and purity of the perfect assembly, and having joined themselves in their doctrine to fear and slavery, worldly cares, and abandoned worship, being small and ignorant, since they do not contain the nobility of the truth. For they hate the one in whom they are and love the one in whom they are not. For they did not know the knowledge of the greatness that it is from above and from a fountain of truth and not from slavery and jealousy, fear, and love of worldly matter. For that which is not theirs and that which is theirs they use fearlessly and freely. They do not desire because they have authority, and they have a law from themselves over whatever they will wish.
 But those who have not are poor, that is, those who possess nothing, and yet they desire something. And they lead astray those who, through them, have become like those who possess the truth of their freedom, so as to bring us under a yoke and constraint of care and fear. This person is in slavery. And one who is brought by constraint of force and threat has been guarded by god. But the entire nobility of the fatherhood is not guarded, since he guards what is his own by himself, without word and constraint. He is united with his will, he who belongs only to the thought of the fatherhood, to make it perfect and ineffable through the living water, to be with you mutually in wisdom, not only in word of hearing but in deed and fulfilled word. For the perfect ones are worthy to be established in this way and to be united with me, in order that they may not share in any enmity, in a good friendship. I accomplish everything through the good one, for this is the union of the truth, that they should have no adversary. But everyone who brings division—and such a one will learn no wisdom at all, because he brings division and is not a friend—is hostile to them all. But one who lives in harmony and friendship of brotherly love, naturally and not artificially, completely and not partially, this person is truly the desire of the father. This is the universal one and perfect love.
THE COUNTERFEIT FATHERS
 For Adam was a laughingstock, since he was made a counterfeit type of man by the realm of seven, as if he had become stronger than my brothers and me. We are innocent with respect to him, since we have not sinned. And Abraham and Isaac and Jacob were a laughingstock, since they, the counterfeit fathers, were given a name by the realm of seven, as if he had become stronger than my brothers and me. We are innocent with respect to him, since we have not sinned. David was a laughingstock in that his son was named the human son, having been influenced by the realm of seven, as if he had become stronger than the fellow members of my race and me. But we are innocent with respect to him; we have not sinned. Solomon was a laughingstock, since he thought that he was Christ, having become vain through the realm of seven, as if he had become stronger than my brothers and me. But we are innocent with respect to him. I have not sinned. The twelve prophets were laughingstocks, since they have come forth as imitations of the true prophets. They came into being as counterfeits through the realm of seven, as if he had become stronger than my brothers and me. But we are innocent with respect to it, since we have not sinned. Moses, a faithful servant, was a laughingstock, having been named the friend, since they perversely bore witness concerning him, who never knew me. Neither he nor those before him, from Adam to Moses and John the baptizer, none of them knew me or my brothers.
 For they had a doctrine of angels to observe dietary laws and bitter slavery, since they never knew truth, nor will they know it. For there is a great deception upon their soul making it impossible for them ever to find a mind of freedom in order to know him, until they come to know the human son. Now, concerning my father, I am he whom the world did not know, and because of this, the world rose up against my brothers and me. But we are innocent with respect to it; we have not sinned.
 For the ruler was a laughingstock because he said, “I am god, and there is none greater than I. I alone am the father, the lord, and there is no other god but me. I am a jealous god, who brings the sins of the fathers upon the children for three and four generations.” As if he had become stronger than my brothers and me! But we are innocent with respect to him, in that we have not sinned, since we mastered his teaching. Thus he is in an empty glory and does not agree with our father. And so through our fellowship we overcame his teaching, since he was vain in an empty glory. And he does not agree with our father, for he was a laughingstock with judgment and false prophecy.
 O you who do not see, who do not see your blindness, that this is who was not known. They have never known him, nor have they known about him. They did not listen to a reliable report. Therefore they proceeded in a judgment of error, and they raised their defiled and murderous hands against him as if they were beating the air. And the senseless and blind ones are always senseless, always being slaves of law and earthly fear.
I AM CHRIST, THE HUMAN SON

SAMAEL’S SIN
 Because of the reality of the authorities, inspired by the spirit of the father of truth, the great messenger referring to the authorities of the darkness told us that “our contest is not against flesh and blood, rather, the authorities of the universe and the spirits of wickedness.” I have sent you this because you inquire about the reality of the authorities.
 Their chief is blind. Because of his power and his ignorance and his arrogance he said, with his power, “I am god; there is no other but me.”
 When he said this, he sinned against all. This speech rose up to incorruptibility. Then there was a voice that came forth from incorruptibility, saying, “You are wrong, Samael,” that is, god of the blind.
 His thoughts became blind. And having expelled his power—that is, the blasphemy he had spoken—he pursued it down to chaos and the abyss, his mother, at the instigation of Pistis Sophia. She established each of his offspring in conformity with its power, after the pattern of the realms that are above, for by starting from the invisible world the visible world was invented.
 As incorruptibility looked down into the region of the waters, her image appeared in the waters, and the authorities of the darkness became enamored of her. But they could not lay hold of that image which had appeared to them in the waters, because of their weakness, since beings that merely have soul cannot lay hold of those that have spirit. For they were from below, while it was from above.

THE CREATION OF ADAM AND EVE
 This is the reason why incorruptibility looked down into the region, so that, by the father’s will, she might bring all into union with the light.
 The rulers laid plans and said, “Come, let us create a human that will be soil from the earth.” They modeled their creature as one wholly of the earth.
 The rulers have bodies that are both female and male, and faces that are the faces of beasts. They took some soil from the earth and modeled their man, after their body and after the image of god that had appeared to them in the waters.
 They said, “Come, let us lay hold of it by means of the form that we have modeled, so that it may see its male partner and we may seize it with the form that we have modeled,” not understanding the partner of god, because of their powerlessness. And he breathed into his face, and the man came to have a soul and remained on the ground many days. But they could not make him rise because of their powerlessness. Like storm winds they persisted in blowing, that they might try to capture that image which had appeared to them in the waters. And they did not know the identity of its power.
 Now, all these events came to pass by the will of the father of all. Afterward the spirit saw the man of soul on the ground. The spirit came forth from the adamantine land. It descended and came to dwell in him, and that man became a living soul. And the spirit called his name Adam, since he was found moving upon the ground.
 A voice came forth from incorruptibility for the assistance of Adam. The rulers gathered together all the animals of the earth and all the birds of heaven and brought them in to Adam to see what Adam would call them, that he might give a name to each of the birds and all the beasts.
 The rulers took Adam and put him in the garden, that he might cultivate it and keep watch over it. They issued a command to him, saying, “From every tree in the garden shall you eat, but from the tree of knowledge of good and evil don’t eat, nor touch it. For the day you eat from it you will surely die.”
 They said this to him, but they did not understand what they said. Rather, by the father’s will, they said this in such a way that he might in fact eat, and that Adam might not regard them as would a man of an exclusively material nature.
 The rulers took counsel with one another and said, “Come, let us cause a deep sleep to fall on Adam.” And he slept. Now, the deep sleep that they caused to fall on him, and he slept, is ignorance. They opened his side, which was like a living woman. And they built up his side with some flesh in place of her, and Adam came to be only with soul.
 The woman of spirit came to him and spoke with him, saying, “Rise, Adam.” And when he saw her, he said, “It is you who have given me life. You will be called ‘mother of the living.’ For she is my mother. She is the physician, and the woman, and she has given birth.”

ADAM AND EVE IN THE GARDEN
 The authorities came up to their Adam. When they saw his female partner speaking with him, they became very excited and enamored of her. They said to one another, “Come, let us sow our seed in her,” and they pursued her. And she laughed at them for their foolishness and blindness. In their clutches she became a tree and left before them her shadowy reflection resembling herself, and they defiled it foully. And they defiled the seal of her voice, so that by the form they had modeled, together with their own image, they made themselves liable to condemnation.
 Then the female spiritual presence came in the form of the snake, the instructor, and it taught them, saying, “What did he say to you? Was it, ‘From every tree in the garden shall you eat, but from the tree of recognizing evil and good do not eat’?”
 The woman of flesh said, “Not only did he say ‘Don’t eat,’ but even ‘Don’t touch it. For the day you eat from it, you will surely die.’”
 The snake, the instructor, said, “It is not the case that you will surely die, for out of jealousy he said this to you. Rather, your eyes will open and you will be like gods, recognizing evil and good.” And the female instructing power was taken away from the snake, and she left it behind, merely a thing of the earth.
 And the woman of flesh took from the tree and ate, and she gave to her husband as well as herself, and those beings, who possessed only a soul, ate. And their imperfection became apparent in their lack of knowledge. They recognized that they were naked of the spiritual, and they took fig leaves and bound them around themselves.
 Then the chief ruler came, and he said, “Adam, where are you?”—for he did not understand what had happened.
 Adam said, “I heard your voice and was afraid because I was naked, and I hid.”
 The ruler said, “Why did you hide, unless it is because you have eaten from the tree from which alone I commanded you not to eat? You have eaten!”
 Adam said, “The woman you gave me gave me fruit and I ate.” And the arrogant ruler cursed the woman.
 The woman said, “The snake led me astray and I ate.” They turned to the snake and cursed its shadowy reflection, so it was powerless, and they did not comprehend that it was a form they themselves had modeled. From that day, the snake came to be under the curse of the authorities. Until the perfect human was to come, that curse fell on the snake.
 They turned to their Adam and took him and expelled him from the garden along with his wife, for they have no blessing, since they too are under the curse.
 Moreover, they threw human beings into great distraction and into a life of toil, so that their human beings might be occupied by worldly affairs and might not have the opportunity of being devoted to the holy spirit.

EVE BEARS CHILDREN
 Now, afterward she bore Cain, their son, and Cain cultivated the land. Thereupon he knew his wife. Again becoming pregnant, she bore Abel, and Abel was a herdsman of sheep. Cain brought in from the crops of his field, but Abel brought in an offering from among his lambs. God looked upon the votive offerings of Abel, but he did not accept the votive offerings of Cain. And fleshly Cain pursued Abel his brother.
 God said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”
 He answered, saying, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
 God said to Cain, “Listen! The voice of your brother’s blood is crying up to me. You have sinned with your mouth. It will return to you: anyone who kills Cain will let loose seven vengeances, and you will exist groaning and trembling upon the earth.”
 And Adam knew his partner Eve, and she became pregnant and bore Seth to Adam. And she said, “I have borne another man through god, in place of Abel.”
 Again Eve became pregnant, and she bore Norea. And she said, “He has produced for me a virgin as an assistance for many generations of human beings.” She is the virgin whom the forces did not defile.
 Then humankind began to multiply and improve.

THE FLOOD
 The rulers took counsel with one another and said, “Come, let us cause a flood with our hands and obliterate all flesh, from man to beast.” But when the ruler of the forces came to know of their decision, he said to Noah, “Make yourself an ark from wood that does not rot and hide in it, you and your children and the beasts and the birds of heaven from small to large—and set it upon Mount Sir.”
 Then Orea came to him, wanting to board the ark. When he would not let her, she blew upon the ark and caused it to be consumed by fire. Again he made the ark, for a second time.

NOREA BATTLES THE RULERS
 The rulers went to meet her, intending to lead her astray. Their supreme chief said to her, “Your mother Eve came to us.”
 But Norea turned to them and said to them, “It is you who are the rulers of the darkness; you are accursed. You did not know my mother. Instead it was your own female that you knew. For I am not your descendant. Rather, it is from the world above that I am come.”
 The arrogant ruler turned with all his might, and his countenance was like a blazing fire. He said to her presumptuously, “You must service us, as did also your mother Eve. . . .”
 But Norea turned with power and, in a loud voice, she cried out up to the holy one, the god of all, “Rescue me from the rulers of unrighteousness and save me from their clutches—at once!”
 The great angel came down from the heavens and said to her, “Why are you crying up to god? Why do you act so boldly toward the holy spirit?”
 Norea said, “Who are you?”
 The rulers of unrighteousness had withdrawn from her. He said, “I am Eleleth, sagacity, the great angel who stands in the presence of the holy spirit. I have been sent to speak with you and save you from the grasp of the lawless. And I shall teach you about your root.”

THE REVELATION OF ELELETH
 Now, as for that angel, I cannot speak of his power. His appearance is like fine gold and his raiment is like snow. No, truly, my mouth cannot bear to speak of his power and the appearance of his face.
 Eleleth, the great angel, spoke to me. “It is I,” he said, “who am understanding. I am one of the four luminaries who stand in the presence of the great invisible spirit. Do you think these rulers have any power over you? None of them can prevail against the root of truth, for on its account he has appeared in the final ages, and these authorities will be restrained. And these authorities cannot defile you and that race, for your abode is in incorruptibility, where the virgin spirit lives, who is superior to the authorities of chaos and to their universe.”
 But I said, “Sir, teach me about these authorities. How did they come into being? By what genesis, and out of what material, and who created them and their power?”
 The great angel Eleleth, understanding, spoke to me: “Incorruptibility inhabits limitless realms. Sophia, who is called Pistis,wanted to create something, alone, without her partner, and what she created was celestial.
 “A veil exists between the world above and the realms below, and shadow came into being beneath the veil. That shadow became matter, and that shadow was projected apart. And what she had created came to be in matter, like an aborted fetus. It assumed a shape molded out of shadow, and became an arrogant beast resembling a lion. It was androgynous, as I have already said, because it derived from matter.
 “Opening his eyes he saw a vast quantity of endless matter, and he turned arrogant, saying, ‘I am god, and there is no one but me.’
 “When he said this, he sinned against all. And a voice came from above the realm of absolute power, saying, ‘You are wrong, Samael,’ that is, god of the blind.
 “And he said, ‘If any other thing exists before me, let it become visible to me!’ Immediately Sophia pointed her finger and introduced light into matter, and she pursued it down to the region of chaos. And she returned up to her light. Once again darkness returned to matter.
 “This ruler, by being androgynous, made himself a vast realm, an endless precinct. And he contemplated creating offspring for himself, and created seven offspring, androgynous like their parent.
 “And he said to his offspring, ‘I am the god of all.’
 “Zoe the daughter of Pistis Sophia shouted, saying to him, ‘You are wrong, Sakla’ (for which the alternate name is Yaldabaoth). She breathed into his face, and her breath became a fiery angel for her; and that angel bound Yaldabaoth and cast him down into Tartaros, at the bottom of the abyss.
 “Now, when his offspring Sabaoth saw the strength of that angel, he repented and condemned his father and his mother matter.
 “He loathed her, but he sang songs of praise up to Sophia and her daughter Zoe. And Sophia and Zoe found him and put him in charge of the seventh heaven, below the veil between above and below. And he is called ‘god of the forces, Sabaoth,’ since he is up above the forces of chaos, for Sophia placed him there.
 “Now, when these events had come to pass, he made himself a huge four-faced chariot of cherubim and harps and lyres and an infinity of angels to act as ministers.
 “Sophia took her daughter Zoe and had her sit at his right to teach him about the things that exist in the eighth heaven, and the angel of wrath she placed at his left. Since that day, his right has been called life, and the left has signified the unrighteousness of the realm of absolute power above. It was before your time that they came into being.
 “Now, when Yaldabaoth saw him in this great splendor and at this height, he envied him, and the envy became something androgynous, and this was the origin of envy. And envy engendered death, and death engendered his offspring and gave each of them charge of its heaven. All the heavens of chaos became full of their multitudes.
 “But it was by the will of the father of all that they all came into being, after the pattern of all the things above, so that the sum of chaos might be attained.
 “There, I have taught you about the pattern of the rulers and the matter in which it was made visible, along with their parent and their universe.”

EPILOGUE
 But I said, “Sir, am I also from their matter?”
 “You, together with your offspring, are from the primeval father. Their souls come from above, out of the incorruptible light. Therefore, the authorities cannot approach them, since the spirit of truth resides in them, and all who have known this way exist deathless in the midst of dying people. Still, the offspring will not become known now. Instead, after three generations it will come to be known and free them from the bondage of the authorities’ error.”
 Then I said, “Sir, how much longer?” He said to me, “Until the moment when the true human, within a modeled form, reveals the existence of the spirit of truth that the father has sent.
 “Then he will teach them about everything. And he will anoint them with the unction of life eternal, given him from the generation without a king.
 “Then they will be free of blind thought. And they will trample on death, which comes from the authorities. And they will ascend into the limitless light where this offspring belongs.
 “Then the authorities will relinquish their ages. And their angels will weep over their destruction, and their demons will lament their death.
 “Then all the children of the light will truly know the truth and their root and the father of all and the holy spirit. They will all say with a single voice, ‘The father’s truth is

The holy book of the Egyptians about the great invisible Spirit, the Father whose name cannot be uttered, he who came forth from the heights of the perfection, the light of the light of the aeons of light, the light of the silence of the providence <and> the Father of the silence, the light of the word and the truth, the light of the incorruptions, the infinite light, the radiance from the aeons of light of the unrevealable, unmarked, ageless, unproclaimable Father, the aeon of the aeons, Autogenes, self-begotten, self-producing, alien, the really true aeon.
Three powers came forth from him; they are the Father, the Mother, (and) the Son, from the living silence, what came forth from the incorruptible Father. These came forth from the silence of the unknown Father.
And from that place, Domedon Doxomedon came forth, the aeon of the aeons and the light of each one of their powers. And thus the Son came forth fourth; the Mother fifth; the Father sixth. He was [...] but unheralded; it is he who is unmarked among all the powers, the glories, and the incorruptions.
From that place, the three powers came forth, the three ogdoads that the Father brings forth in silence with his providence, from his bosom, i.e., the Father, the Mother, (and) the Son.
The <first> ogdoad, because of which the thrice-male child came forth, which is the thought, and the word, and the incorruption, and the eternal life, the will, the mind, and the foreknowledge, the androgynous Father.
The second ogdoad-power, the Mother, the virginal Barbelon, epititioch[...]ai, memeneaimen[...], who presides over the heaven, karb[...], the uninterpretable power, the ineffable Mother. She originated from herself [...]; she came forth; she agreed with the Father of the silent silence.
The third ogdoad-power, the Son of the silent silence, and the crown of the silent silence, and the glory of the Father, and the virtue of the Mother, he brings forth from the bosom the seven powers of the great light of the seven voices. And the word is their completion.
These are the three powers, the three ogdoads that the Father, through his providence, brought forth from his bosom. He brought them forth at that place.
Domedon Doxomedon came forth, the aeon of the aeons, and the throne which is in him, and the powers which surround him, the glories and the incorruptions. The Father of the great light who came forth from the silence, he is the great Doxomedon-aeon, in which the thrice- male child rests. And the throne of his glory was established in it, this one on which his unrevealable name is inscribed, on the tablet [...] one is the word, the Father of the light of everything, he who came forth from the silence, while he rests in the silence, he whose name is in an invisible symbol. A hidden, invisible mystery came forth:
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
(the 7 vowels, 22 times each.)
And in this way, the three powers gave praise to the great, invisible, unnameable, virginal, uncallable Spirit, and his male virgin. They asked for a power. A silence of living silence came forth, namely glories and incorruptions in the aeons [...] aeons, myriads added on [...], the three males, the three male offspring, the male races ... (IV 55, 5-7 adds: ... the glories of the Father, the glories of the great Christ, and the male offspring, the races ...) ... filled the great Doxomedon-aeon with the power of the word of the whole pleroma.
Then the thrice-male child of the great Christ, whom the great invisible Spirit had anointed - he whose power was called 'Ainon' - gave praise to the great invisible Spirit and his male virgin Yoel, and the silence of silent silence, and the greatness that [...] ineffable. [...] ineffable [...] unanswerable and uninterpretable, the first one who has come forth, and (who is) unproclaimable, [...] which is wonderful [...] ineffable [...], he who has all the greatnesses of greatness of the silence at that place. The thrice-male child brought praise, and asked for a power from the great, invisible, virginal Spirit.
Then there appeared at that place [...], who [...], who sees glories [...] treasures in a [...] invisible mysteries to [...] of the silence, who is the male virgin Youel.
Then the child of the child, Esephech, appeared.
And thus he was completed, namely, the Father, the Mother, the Son, the five seals, the unconquerable power which is the great Christ of all the incorruptible ones. ...
(1 line unrecoverable)
... holy [...] the end, the incorruptible [...], and [...], they are powers and glories and incorruptions [...]. They came forth ...
(5 lines unrecoverable)
... This one brought praise to the unrevealable, hidden mystery [...] the hidden ...
(4 lines unrecoverable)
... him in the [...], and the aeons [...] thrones, [...] and each one [...] myriads of powers without number surround them, glories and incorruptions [...] and they [...] of the Father, and the Mother, and the Son, and the whole pleroma, which I mentioned before, and the five seals, and the mystery of mysteries. They appeared ...
(3 lines unrecoverable)
... who presides over [...], and the aeons of [...] really truly [...] and the ...
(4 lines unrecoverable)
... and the really truly eternal aeons.
Then providence came forth from silence, and the living silence of the Spirit, and the Word of the Father, and a light. She [...] the five seals which the Father brought forth from his bosom, and she passed through all the aeons which I mentioned before. And she established thrones of glory, and myriads of angels without number who surrounded them, powers and incorruptible glories, who sing and give glory, all giving praise with a single voice, with one accord, with one never-silent voice, [...] to the Father, and the Mother, and the Son [...], and all the pleromas that I mentioned before, who is the great Christ, who is from silence, who is the incorruptible child Telmael Telmachael Eli Eli Machar Machar Seth, the power which really truly lives, and the male virgin who is with him, Youel, and Esephech, the holder of glory, the child of the child, and the crown of his glory, [...] of the five seals, the pleroma that I mentioned before.
There, the great self-begotten living Word came forth, the true god, the unborn physis, he whose name I shall tell, saying, [...]aia[...] thaOthOsth[...], who is the son of the great Christ, who is the son of the ineffable silence, who came forth from the great invisible and incorruptible Spirit. The son of the silence and silence appeared ...
(1 line unrecoverable)
... invisible [...] man and the treasures of his glory. Then he appeared in the revealed [...]. And he established the four aeons. With a word he established them.
He brought praise to the great, invisible, virginal Spirit, the silence of the Father, in a silence of the living silence of silence, the place where the man rests ...
(2 lines unrecoverable)
Then there came forth at/from that place the cloud of the great light, the living power, the mother of the holy, incorruptible ones, the great power, the Mirothoe. And she gave birth to him whose name I name, saying three times,
IEN IEN EA EA EA
For this one, Adamas, is a light which radiated from the light; he is the eye of the light. For this is the first man, he through whom and to whom everything came into being, (and) without whom nothing came into being. The unknowable, incomprehensible Father came forth. He came down from above for the annulment of the deficiency.
Then the great Logos, the divine Autogenes, and the incorruptible man Adamas mingled with each other. A Logos of man came into being. However, the man came into being through a word.
He gave praise to the great, invisible, incomprehensible, virginal Spirit, and the male virgin, and the thrice-male child, and the male virgin Youel, and Esephech, the holder of glory, the child of the child and the crown of his glory, and the great Doxomedon-aeon, and the thrones which are in him, and the powers which surround him, the glories and the incorruptions, and their whole pleroma which I mentioned before, and the ethereal earth, the receiver of God, where the holy men of the great light receive shape, the men of the Father of the silent, living silence, the Father and their whole pleroma, as I mentioned before.
The great Logos, the divine Autogenes, and the incorruptible man Adamas gave praise, (and) they asked for a power and eternal strength for the Autogenes, for the completion of the four aeons, in order that, through them, there may appear [...] the glory and the power of the invisible Father of the holy men of the great light which will come to the world, which is the image of the night. The incorruptible man Adamas asked for them a son out of himself, in order that he (the son) may become father of the immovable, incorruptible race, so that, through it (the race), the silence and the voice may appear, and, through it, the dead aeon may raise itself, so that it may dissolve.
And thus there came forth from above the power of the great light, the Manifestation. She gave birth to the four great lights: Harmozel, Oroiael, Davithe, Eleleth, and the great incorruptible Seth, the son of the incorruptible man Adamas.
And thus the perfect hebdomad, which exists in hidden mysteries, became complete. When she receives the glory, she becomes eleven ogdoads.
And the Father nodded approval; the whole pleroma of the lights was well pleased. Their consorts came forth for the completion of the ogdoad of the divine Autogenes: the Grace of the first light Harmozel, the Perception of the second light Oroiael, the Understanding of the third light Davithe, the Prudence of the fourth light Eleleth. This is the first ogdoad of the divine Autogenes.
And the Father nodded approval; the whole pleroma of the lights was well pleased. The <ministers> came forth: the first one, the great Gamaliel (of) the first great light Harmozel, and the great Gabriel (of) the second great light Oroiael, and the great Samlo of the great light Davithe, and the great Abrasax of the great light Eleleth. And the consorts of these came forth by the will of the good pleasure of the Father: the Memory of the great one, the first, Gamaliel; the Love of the great one, the second, Gabriel; the Peace of the third one, the great Samblo; the eternal Life of the great one, the fourth, Abrasax. Thus were the five ogdoads completed, a total of forty, as an uninterpretable power.
Then the great Logos, the Autogenes, and the word of the pleroma of the four lights gave praise to the great, invisible, uncallable, virginal Spirit, and the male virgin, and the great Doxomedon-aeon, and the thrones which are in them, and the powers which surround them, glories, authorities, and the powers, <and> the thrice-male child, and the male virgin Youel, and Esephech, the holder of glory, the child of the child and the crown of his glory, the whole pleroma, and all the glories which are there, the infinite pleromas <and> the unnameable aeons, in order that they may name the Father the fourth, with the incorruptible race, (and) that they may call the seed of the Father the seed of the great Seth.
Then everything shook, and trembling took hold of the incorruptible ones. Then the three male children came forth from above, down into the unborn ones, and the self-begotten ones, and those who were begotten in what is begotten. The greatness came forth, the whole greatness of the great Christ. He established thrones in glory, myriads without number, in the four aeons around them, myriads without number, powers and glories and incorruptions. And they came forth in this way.
And the incorruptible, spiritual church increased in the four lights of the great, living Autogenes, the god of truth, praising, singing, (and) giving glory with one voice, with one accord, with a mouth which does not rest, to the Father, and the Mother, and the Son, and their whole pleroma, just as I mentioned <before>. The five seals which possess the myriads, and they who rule over the aeons, and they who bear the glory of the leaders, were given the command to reveal to those who are worthy. Amen.
* * * Then the great Seth, the son of the incorruptible man Adamas, gave praise to the great, invisible, uncallable, unnameable, virginal Spirit, and the <male virgin, and the thrice-male child, and the male> virgin Youel, and Esephech, the holder of glory and the crown of his glory, the child of the child, and the great Doxomedon-aeons, and the pleroma which I mentioned before; and asked for his seed.
Then there came forth from that place the great power of the great light Plesithea, the mother of the angels, the mother of the lights, the glorious mother, the virgin with the four breasts, bringing the fruit from Gomorrah, as spring, and Sodom, which is the fruit of the spring of Gomorrah which is in her. She came forth through the great Seth.
Then the great Seth rejoiced about the gift which was granted him by the incorruptible child. He took his seed from her with the four breasts, the virgin, and he placed it with him in the fourth aeon (or, in the four aeons), in the third great light Davithe.
After five thousand years, the great light Eleleth spoke: "Let someone reign over the chaos and Hades." And there appeared a cloud whose name is hylic Sophia [...] She looked out on the parts of the chaos, her face being like [...] in her form [...] blood. And the great angel Gamaliel spoke to the great Gabriel, the minister of the great light Oroiael; he said, "Let an angel come forth, in order that he may reign over the chaos and Hades." Then the cloud, being agreeable, came forth in the two monads, each one of which had light. [...] the throne, which she had placed in the cloud above. Then Sakla, the great angel, saw the great demon who is with him, Nebruel. And they became together a begetting spirit of the earth. They begot assisting angels. Sakla said to the great demon Nebruel, "Let the twelve aeons come into being in the [...] aeon, worlds [...]." [...] the great angel Sakla said by the will of the Autogenes, "There shall be the [...] of the number of seven [...]." And he said to the great angels, "Go and let each of you reign over his world." Each one of these twelve angels went forth. The first angel is Athoth. He is the one whom the great generations of men call [...]. The second is Harmas, who is the eye of the fire. The third is Galila. The fourth is Yobel. The fifth is Adonaios, who is called 'Sabaoth'. The sixth is Cain, whom the great generations of men call the sun. The seventh is Abel; the eighth Akiressina; the ninth Yubel. The tenth is Harmupiael. The eleventh is Archir-Adonin. The twelfth is Belias. These are the ones who preside over Hades and the chaos.
And after the founding of the world, Sakla said to his angels, "I, I am a jealous god, and apart from me nothing has come into being," since he trusted in his nature.
Then a voice came from on high, saying, "The Man exists, and the Son of the Man." Because of the descent of the image above, which is like its voice in the height of the image which has looked out through the looking out of the image above, the first creature was formed.
Because of this, Metanoia came into being. She received her completion and her power by the will of the Father, and his approval, with which he approved of the great, incorruptible, immovable race of the great, mighty men of the great Seth, in order that he may sow it in the aeons which had been brought forth, so that through her (Metanoia), the deficiency may be filled up. For she had come forth from above, down to the world, which is the image of the night. When she had come, she prayed for (the repentance of) both the seed of the archon of this aeon, and <the> authorities who had come forth from him, that defiled (seed) of the demon-begetting god which will be destroyed, and the seed of Adam and the great Seth, which is like the sun.
Then the great angel Hormos came to prepare, through the virgins of the corrupted sowing of this aeon, in a Logos-begotten, holy v

The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth
 “My father, yesterday you promised me you would take my mind to the eighth heavenly sphere and after that you would take me to the ninth. You said this is the sequence of the tradition.”
 “Yes, my child, this is the sequence, but the promise was made about human nature. I said to you when I first made the promise, ‘If you remember each of the stages.’ After I received the spirit through the power, I established the action for you. Clearly understanding dwells within you. In me it is as if the power were pregnant, for when I conceived from the spring that flows to me, I gave birth.”
 “Father, you have spoken every word rightly to me, but I am amazed at what you say. You said, ‘The power in me.’”
 He said, “I gave birth to it as children are born.”
 “Then, father, I have many siblings if I am to be counted among the generations.”
 “Right, child. This good thing is counted . . . always. So, child, you must know your siblings and honor them rightly, since they have come from the very same father. For each of the generations have I addressed. I have named them, since they are offspring like these children.”
 “Then, father, do they have a day?”
 “Child, they are spiritual, for they exist as forces that nurture other souls. That is why I say they are immortal.”
 “Your word is true. From now on it cannot be refuted. Father, begin the discourse on the eighth and the ninth, and count me also with my siblings.”
 “Let us pray, child, to the father of the universe, with your siblings, who are my children, that the father may grant the spirit of eloquence.”
 “How do they pray, father, when they are united with the generations? Father, I want to obey.”
 “. . . It is right for you to remember the progress you have experienced as wisdom in the books. Child, recall your early childhood. You have posed, as children do, senseless and foolish questions.”
 “Father, I have experienced progress and foreknowledge from the books, and they are greater than what is lacking—these matters are my first concern.”
 “Child, when you understand the truth of your statement, you will find your siblings, who are my children, praying with you.”
 “Father, I understand nothing else than the beauty I have experienced in the books.”
 “This is what you call the beauty of the soul—the edification you have experienced in stages. May the understanding come to you, and you will teach.”
 “I have understood, father, each of the books, and especially. . . .”
 “Child, . . . in praises from those who raise them.”
 “Father, I shall receive from you the power of the discourse you will utter. As it was spoken to the two of us, let us pray, father.”
 “Child, it is fitting for us to pray to god with all our mind and all our heart and our soul, and to ask god that the gift of the eighth reach us, and that each receive from god what belongs to god. Your job is to understand, mine is to be able to utter the discourse from the spring that flows to me.”
PRAYER FOR THE ASCENT TO THE EIGHTH AND THE NINTH
 “Let us pray, father:
 I call upon you,
 who rules over the kingdom of power,
 whose word is an offspring of light,
 whose words are immortal,
 eternal, immutable,
 whose will produces life for the semblances everywhere,
 whose nature gives form to substance,
 by whom the souls of the eighth and the angels are moved . . . ,
 whose word reaches all who exist,
 whose forethought reaches everyone here,
 who produces everyone,
 who has divided the eternal realm among spirits,
 who has created everything,
 who, being self within self, supports everything,
 being perfect,
 the invisible god one speaks to, in silence,
 whose image is moved when it is ordered,
 and it is ordered,
 mighty one in power,
 who is exalted above majesty,
 who is superior to the honored ones,
 ZOXATHAZO
 A
 OO EE
 OOO EEE
 OOOO EE
 OOOOOO OOOOO
 OOOOOO UUUUUU
 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
 ZOZAZOTH
 Lord, grant us wisdom from your power that reaches us,
 that we may relate to ourselves the vision of the eighth and the ninth.
 Already we have advanced to the seventh,
 since we are faithful
 and abide in your law.
 Your will we fulfill always,
 we have walked in your way
 and have renounced . . .
 so your vision may come.
 Lord, grant us truth in the image.
 Grant that through spirit we may see
 the form of the image that lacks nothing
 and accept the reflection of the fullness
 from us through our praise.
 And recognize the spirit within us.
 From you the universe received soul.
 From you, one unconceived,
 one that has been conceived came into being.
 The birth of the self-conceived is through you,
 the birth of all conceived things that exist.
 Accept these spiritual offerings from us,
 which we direct to you
 with all our heart and soul and strength.
 Save what is within us,
 and grant us immortal wisdom.”
VISION OF THE EIGHTH AND THE NINTH
 “Child, let us embrace with love. Be happy. Already the power, light, is coming to us from them. I see, I see ineffable depths. How shall I tell you, child? . . . How shall I tell you about the universe? I am mind, and I see another mind, one that moves the soul. I see the one that moves me from pure forgetfulness. You have given me power. I see myself. I want to speak. Fear seizes me. I have found the beginning of the power above all powers, without beginning. I see a spring bubbling with life. I have said, child, that I am mind. I have seen. Speech cannot reveal this. For all of the eighth, child, and the souls in it, and the angels, sing a song in silence. I, mind, understand.”
 “How does one sing a song through silence?”
 “Can no one speak to you?”
 “I am silent, father. I want to sing a song to you while I am silent.”
 “Sing it. I am mind.”
 “I understand mind, Hermes. You cannot be known, since you stay in yourself. I am happy, father. I see you laughing. The universe is happy. No creature will lack your life, for you are the lord of the inhabitants everywhere. Your forethought keeps watch. I call you father, eternal realm of eternal realms, great divine spirit, who through spirit sends moisture on everyone. What do you tell me, father Hermes?”
 “Child, I say nothing about this. It is right before god for us to be silent about what is hidden.”
 “Trismegistos, don’t let my soul be deprived of the great, divine vision. Everything is possible for you as master of the universe.”
 “Praise again, child, and sing while you are silent. Ask what you want in silence.”
 When he finished praising, he called out, “Father Trismegistos, what shall I say? We have received this light, and I myself see this same vision in you. I see the eighth, and the souls in it, and the angels singing a song to the ninth and its powers. I see the one with the power of them all, creating those in the spirit.”
 “From now on it is good for us to remain silent, with head bowed. From now on do not speak about the vision. It is fitting to sing a song to the father till the day of leaving the body.”
 “What you sing, father, I also want to sing.”
 “I am singing a song in myself. While you rest, praise. You have found what you seek.”
 “But is it right, father, for me to praise when my heart is filled?”
 “What is right is for you to sing praise to god so it may be written in this imperishable book.”
 “I shall offer up the praise in my heart as I invoke the end of the universe and the beginning of the beginning, the god of the human quest, the immortal discovery, the producer of light and truth, the sower of reason, the love of immortal life. No hidden word can speak of you, lord. My mind wants to sing a song to you every day. I am the instrument of your spirit, mind is your plectrum, and your guidance makes music with us. I see myself. I have been strengthened by you, for your love has reached us.”
 “Yes, my child.”
 “O grace! After this, I thank you with my song. You gave me life when you made me wise. I praise you. I invoke your name hidden in me,
A
O EE
O EEE
OOO III
OOOO OOOOO
OOOOO UUUUUU
OOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOO.
 You exist with spirit. I sing to you in a devout manner.”
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE TEXT
 “Child, copy this book for the temple at Diospolis in hieroglyphic characters, and call it the Eighth Reveals the Ninth.”
 “I shall do it, father, as you command.”
 “Child, copy the contents of the book on turquoise steles. Child, it is fitting to copy this book on turquoise steles in hieroglyphic characters, for mind itself has become the supervisor of these things. So I command that this discourse be carved into stone and that you put it in my sanctuary. Eight guards watch over it with . . . the sun: the males on the right have faces of frogs, and the females on the left have faces of cats. Put a square milkstone at the base of the turquoise tablets, and copy the name on the azure stone tablet in hieroglyphic characters. Child, you must do this when I am in Virgo, and the sun is in the first half of the day, and fifteen degrees have passed by me.”
 “Father, all you say I shall gladly do.”
 “Write an oath in the book, so that those who read the book may not use the wording for malicious purposes or to subvert fate. Rather, they should submit to the law of god and not transgress whatsoever, but in purity ask god for wisdom and knowledge. And whoever will not be conceived in the beginning by god develops through the general and instructional discourses. Such a person will not be able to read what is written in this book, even though the person’s conscience is pure within and the person does nothing shameful and does not go along with it. Rather, such a person progresses by stages and advances in the way of immortality, and so advances in the understanding of the eighth that reveals the ninth.”
 “I shall do it, father.”
 “This is the oath: I adjure you who will read this holy book, by heaven and earth and fire and water and seven rulers of substance and the creative spirit in them and the god not conceived and the self-conceived one and the one who has been conceived, that you guard what Hermes has communicated. God will be at one with those who keep the oath and everyone we have named, but wrath will come upon each of those who violate the oath. This is the perfect one who is, child.”