The Court of the Gentiles Part 2, Encomium 4 – Encomium 5
To the Author on both Parts of this Learned Work.
1.
HE's a wiſe Maſter of a Feaſt,
And bravely treats the Gueſts he did invite,
Who firſt preſents unto their ſight
That Food whoſe gratefull taſt
Will edge the Appetite,
And with a pleaſing Sharpneſs ſtill
Prepare the Stomach it does fill:
Reſerving that till laſt
Whoſe more ſubſtantiall Good
Deſerves the name of Satisfying Food;
And is beſides the Choiceſt Diſh of all the Reſt.
So prudently have you
Contriv'd the Learned Banquet here
Set out and offer'd to our view;
In that you firſt excite
And whet the Mind's delight,
And in the Rear,
Vouchaſe to Entertain it with the daintieſt Cheer.
From your firſt great Performance we can tell
Where Letters, Words, and Languages
Began, and how they did increaſe:
By whom the Infant World was taught to ſpell,
And Liſp a Syllable:
By what Gradations then it grew
In Age, and Learning too;
Untill with times, and pains expence
At length it came to Read, and Write in ſenſe.
2.
HiſtorieFirſt Hiſtorie preſents us in her ſcene
The brave Atchievements of Heroick men,
Whoſe deathleſs Actions rightly claim
To them a never dying Name:
Their praiſes with their Better Parts do crave
A juſt exemption from the Grave,
And out-live all transactions that have been,
Since Chance upon our rowling Orb a ſporting ſate,
And laugh'd to ſee,
A Mimick Ape, that ſhee
Made all things ſuhject unto Change like that.
Next ſprightly Poetrie took birth,
PoetrieThat fair Minerva of the Brain,
Which is the only Child on Earth,
Since heavy Curſes taught it how to mourn,
And Mourn in Vain,
That ever yet was Born
Without the Parents groans and Pain.
She on impoliſh'd Natures homely Face
Stroak'd the rude Features into fair,
And many a Beauteous grace
She lively painted there,
Where before dull, and Swarthy Colours did appear.
The Laſt in Time, not Dignity or Name,
Smooth Oratorie came
OratorieBy Nature ſmooth, by Culture gay,
Since ſhe has got the Artful trick
To Cloath her ſelf in the Array
And Trappings of Trim Rhetorick,
And all her gracefull Colours to diſplay:
Theſe little Arts that we were taught before;
Branches of Knowledge and no more,
Refreſh'd our Minds; how raviſh'd ſhall we be
Now you produce Philoſophi…,
PhiloſophieWhich to theſe frugall Branches is the well grown Tree?
A Tree whoſe Heavenly Fruit
The Worlds ſunk vigour does recruit;
Forces thoſe Spirits briskly to advance
That ſoaking lay in ſottiſh Ignorance;
A Tree that's pleaſant to the eyes,
Like that which grew in Paradiſe,
And much to be deſired to make one wiſe:
OnelyOnly in this their Difference does appear:
Not Touch, not Taſte, not Eat
Was written on the Fruit of that,
'Twas fruit indeed, but not for meat,
And onelyonly to be fear'd, and Wonder'd at:
Each man from this, that will,
May pluck, and Eat, aed eat his fill;
Nothing but Abſtinence alone forbidden here.
3.
While man was yet ſo juſt and good,
That nothing he of evil undeſtood,
The very Deitie
Took pleaſure in his Companie,
Came often from his Paradiſe above
Where Everlaſting pleaſures flow,
Drawn by the Cords of Love
To viſit that below,
And read his Adam Lectures of Philoſophie.
But he with knowledge ſated wanton grew,
And his Proud Will
Would know not onelyonly Good, but Ill;
And would indeed be God-like too:
Complain's his Stock is ſcant, and ſmall,
And by a reach at more he forfeits all:
All but enough to make him ſee
From whence he fell, and ſo bewayl his Miſerie
Then not without Induſtrious Pain
Some Scraps of what was loſt he did regain,
In Equal ſweat of the ſame Brow
Both eat his Bread, and earn'd his Knowledge too:
By piece-meal ſeruing from his Memorie,
What blur'd, and blotted there did lie.
So little the Philoſopher
Did in his Judgment Erre,
That ſayd Mans Learning is no more
Then to Remember what he knew before.
From the Firſt Parent of Mankind
Sin, and Philoſophie.
Was all the Patrimony left behind
For bank erupt Poſteritie
Thus he together to his tainted Blood
Tranſmits ſo great an Ill, ſo great a Good.
Dealing with us as one who brought
A deadly Poyſon, and an Antidote.
From Adam Seth, to thee
(Thou worthy Grand-child of the Deitie)
deſcends Philoſophie:
She with thy Learned Pillars ſtood,
Ma…gre the Envious waſhings of rhe Flood:
Thoſe Pillars as a ſtable Ark ſhe found
To keep her too from being Drown'd.
But the greateſt Danger that ſhe er'e was in
The mighty Deluge was of ſin,
Where ſadly ſhe, as juſtly did complain
That a lewd Pagan train
Debauchd her with ſlight Sophiſtrie,
With ſuperſtition, and Idolatrie:
Whence ſhe became more frothy, and more vain,
Then very Ignorance could be:
Beſt things abus'd prove worſt of all: So he
That ſcoffs at Scripture, fall's to Blaſphemie:
But was ſhe no where pure? no where
Allow'd her Virgin-Garb to wear?
Of all the Earth Iudea's little ſpot
Defil'd her not:
There ſhe reign'd Queen, and had the chief Command,
Next Holineſſe, the Empreſſe in that Holy Land.
4.
No ſooner was ſhe ſeated on the Throne,
But winged Fame flew out,
PheniciaInforming all the Neighbours there about:
Phenicia firſt; Phenicia firſt went down
Pretending to congratulate
Iudea's bliſſful State;
But her deſign was to improve her own:
Nor were her thoughts without ſucceſs, and vain,
Fot fraighted well with Knowledge ſhe made back again:
Hence was it firſt Phenicia knew
What fruit on Palm-Trees grew:
Palm-Trees ſhe had before, which ſtood
An Idle, and an Uſeleſs Wood,
Barren as Females, whe… …he Male's not by:
'Twas now they did begin t'o increaſe and multiply.
EgyptNext up does Aegypt come
And all ſhe finds ſhe carries home:
'Twas here Philoſophie a Goddeſſe prov'd
Enjoy'd her Temple, and her Shrine,
Egypt, that worſhip'd what ſhe feard, or lov'd,
L…v'd her, and then adord her as Divine,
Then to Chaldea was ſhe Captive lead,Chaldea.
And tempted there to ſin;
She that above 3 thouſand years had been
Modeſt, and Humble, now perks up the Head;
For in Chaldea did ſhe find
Sparks of the old Ambitious mind,
Of reaching Heaven, and ſcorning odds
To live Inferiour to the Gods.
Go too, ſay they,
What though our Fathers Babel-plot
Succeeded not,
But in their Tower's Confuſion ruin'd lay;
Howe're 'twas nobly don,
And the Deſign was Generous, and High;
Let us their Children try:
The Father he may creep on earth,Aſtrologie. whilſt the bold ſon
With more of Scorn, than Pitie views, him from the diſtant ſky.
Then up ſhe got amongſt the Stars,
And ſate her down by Deſtinie
There learn'd of her the lower world's affairs;
Common concerns ſhe did reveal,
But the great Buſineſs of the world conceal,
And bid her there leſs eagerly to pry:
But as the Deſtinie did look,
And turn'd the leaves that were
Writ in a diſmal Character,
She ſlily peep'd into the Dooms-day Book,
And whiſper'd down the Fates
Of ſlaggering Kingdoms, and declining States.
5
When Learning thus in th' Eaſt grew great, and when
Philoſophers as common were as Men,
Then firſt Adventurous GreeceGreece.
In little ſhips ſwom or'e the Main,
In queſt of This fam'd Golden Fliece,
More rich then that their Jaſon did obtain,
With much more Danger, and with much leſs Gain.
Some to Phenicia ſayl, and ſome
Down into Egypt, and Judea come;
Where ſtraight they found
That Truth out-did Fames Trumpet's ſound:
For every common Merchant there
Vented his Learning with his ware,
Both kept enough, and had enough to ſpare.
Had not the far fam'd Samian Peer
Been Tutour'd, & Inſtructed here,
His Tranſmigrating Soul had been
In Speculation Weak, and Thin
Voyd of it's Learned Superſtition
It might to Greece, and us unknown
Have fitly paſſ'd into the ſilly Aſs agen.
Here was the ſoaring Plato taught
Each lofty, and refined Thought;
Diviner Notions fram'd to raiſe
Man above Dreggy Matter, and
Whatever does deſervedly command
As much our Admiration, as our Praiſe,
Was all made his at ſecond hand.
His Honey'd Eloquence,
In which he's yet alive,
Was all tranſported hence,
With greedy Lips ſuck'd from the ſacred Hive:
So much he does to Moſes owe
For what we thought in his own Mouth to grow.
Nor muſt we him of all forget,
Whom Learning's Jaded Children yet
Grace with the Character,
And ſwelling Stile of the Philoſopher.
He to the learn'd Nilean ſtrand,
If not ev'n to the Holy Land
With his victorious Scholar went,
(More likely Jove's then Philip's ſon
Who conquer'd Earth, as he the Heavens had done)
The Learned world to ſubjugate intent
As he the whole to overmaſter meant:
Accordingly they carryed it;
That a Monopoly of power, and this of wit:
This in a proud deſign to raiſe
Eternal Pillars to hi's immortal Praiſe,
He plunders all the Learning of the Eaſt,
Rifles each famous Librarie,
Each Treaſurie of Learned pains,
Dragging old Authors from their Ruſtie chains
Into a worſe Captivitie:
But ſtill reſerving to himſelf the Beſt,
He cruelly condem'd to fatal flames the Reſt,
So did the Aged Aſian Phoenix burn,
And to the Stagirite that European Phoenix turn.
6.
Thus have we ſeen thee Greece aſſume,
And put on wiſdome, as a borrow'd plume:
W' have ſeen thee in thy Ruffe, and Pride,
When as thou didſt not onelyonly thoſe
Flout, and deride,
From whom thy Greatneſs roſe,
But ſtamp'dſt Barbarian the whole world beſide.
We ſee thee now of all thy Braverie bereft,
Quite ſtrip'd, and naked left,
Thy ſelfe at Length inheriting that Name
Thou others proudly gav'ſt, and well deſerv'ſt the ſame.
And now thou glorious Light,
Since Greece is wrapt in gloomie Night,
(For 'tis thy abſence makes it ſo)
Tell me, next whither didſt thou go,
Freely to ſcatter, and Diſpence
Thy Bleſſed Influence?
This Sun below, like that above,
Was ſurely born in th'e Eaſt,
And does with that the ſame way move,
Still travayling on tow'ards the Weſt.
And here could I but have my will,
That which has parallel'd the Sun before,
Should do the ſame in one thing more;
As that has done,
Once or'e the Plains of Gibeon;
This Radiant Illuſtrious Light ſhould or'e the Weſt ſtand ſtill:
Should or'e the Weſt
In full Meridian Luſtre ſtand,
And there the leſſer Lights not darken, but command;
That ſo they jointly all
In ſmooth, and equall Harmonie may fall,
And prove officious Handmayds to the beſt,
The beſt, and cleareſt Light that does adorn
Our Hemiſphere; who to give proof that ſhe
Was Heaven-born,
Wears no leſs Stile then of Divinitie;
And while preſerv'd in her bright Puritie
Will in the Britiſh Firmament
No leſs be our defence, then Ornament:
Here fixing her own Tutelarie God,
Who in the floating world hath ſo long ſettled her Abode.
On the Parts of this Learned Work THE COURT OF THE GENTILES.
Of LEARNING if you'd have the Total, add
Together Things with Words; th…t Total's had.
Of Learning Words challenge but for their Share
The ſurface; Things the Solid Bodie are.
Bodies their Surface offers to our Eys;
Our Mind by Words (their Surface) Things deſcries
Words without Things a Parot's Learning give:
Things without Words make grown Men Infants live.
Learning of Words and Things compos'd is then
It Self made perfect, and makes perfect Men.
PHILOLOGIE of Words the Knowledge brings;
PHILOSOPHIE's the higher Schole of Things:
But Scholars both, to SCRIPTURE, and the JEW,
For what in either Kind is rare, if true.
The Jews now Cruel once were Kind; when they
Both Treaſures lent, both without Ʋſurie,
To Stranger Gentiles; who yet prov'd to be
As unjuſt Debtors, as the Jews were free
And friendlie Creditors; and having gain'd
Their Goods in hand; in hand their Goods detaind:
At length denie the Principal; and plead
Their Stock of Learning all of their own Breed.
A COURT erected; th' AUTHOR to extract
A fair Confeſſion of ſo foul a Fact,
Puts them upon the Learned Rack; and ſhows
The Jewiſh Book for all the Gentile ows.
In all finds for the Jew: and was't not fit,
The Author JUDGE in his own COURT ſhould ſit?
Where both he ſo performs, you'l doubt, which he
Better PHILOLOGER, or PHILOSOPHER he?
Favour in one were in the other Spite:
BOTH BEST conclude him, and you do him Right.