The Court of the Gentiles, Encomia
Argumentum hujus Libri omni Literaturae genere refertiſsimi.
Poeticis Coloribus delineatum.
CEnſeri Veteres puerili ardore laborant
Stulti homines, gaudentque Vetuſti Sordibus Aevi.
Arcas ut incedit Sublimibus altus Alutis?
Ertoreſque novos Lunam docer; at magis Ipſe
Errat, dum, tantae conculcans Lumina Stellae,
Antiqui vanam ſectatur Nominis umbram.
Nec minus inſanit celebris Gens Cecropidarum,
Terrigenam jactans Colubrum, aurataſque Cicadas;
Et magis hiſce loquax, primos Heliconis ut Ortus,
Barbariem & Graia domitam toto Orbe Minerva,
Invectaſque Artes Terris, Vocumque Figuras
1Phaenices primi Literarum Inventores in rei memoriam uniceis utebantur Characteribus.(Hae quamvis rubeant) oſtentat Graecia mendax!
India ſic comedit Proavos, Ventriſque Sepulchro
Ingratis mos eſt Natis tumulare Parentes.
Sed Locus hic Sacer eſt; Soleas tandem exuat Arcas
Lunatas; & Coeleſti contenta Columbae
Cedere Noctis Avis proprias nunc advolet umbras,
Atque canat Carmen, pateant quod Furta, ferale.
Auritas nondum Sylvas attraxerat Orpheus
Carminibus; Cadmuſve ſuas exituxerat Arces.
Nondum Mortales invadere Tecta Tonantis
Mente levi, pictoſque Polum diffindere in Orbes
Norant thaletis ductu; nec Graecia magna
Pythagorae majoris adhuc perceperat Artes.
Cum Deus ardentis tonuit de Culmine Montis;
Inſcripſit que decem binis Praecepta Tabellis;
Multiplices addens Ritus, & Carmina juſta,
Unde rudem potuit Praetor compeſeere Turbam.
Hoc de Fonte Sacro divina Noemata, Leges,
Omnigenaſque Artes rudis hactenus imbibit Orbis;
Doctus cuncta, niſi hoc, Veteres celare Magiſtros.
Pennatos hinc Maeonius Subduxit Ocellos
2Platonici fingebant Homerum in Pavonem abiſſe, ob varietatem Materiae Poeticis ornatam Coloribus referente Pier. Hierog. l. 24.Pavo, alias plane Caecus manſiſſer Homerus.
Ceſſerat in vacuum Spectrum, quo fingitur Ortus,
Divinus Plato, ſectantique illuſerat Orbi;
Ni verum quaerens variis Erroribus illud
Faecundis tandem Judaeae invenerat Oris.
Sic nudata ſuis furtivis Graecia Plumis,
Solas nunc Ululas, Sileni ac jactitet 3Silenum utpote Antiquarium pingebant Veteres longis inſignem Auriculis.Aures.
Ʋpon this ELABORATE Work.
1.
IF with attentive eye we look
Ʋpon the ſix dayes volumne of the Book,
Where God, and mighty Nature both appear,
Wrot in an Ʋniverſal Character:
We ſtill ſhall find in eve'ry part
Space, and dominion left for Art.
Or rather all our Arts are but to know,
How, and from whence was made ſo great a ſhow,
As in this Scean of life has bin,
Though dark'ned by the vail of Sin:
How from wilde Motion, and its matter grew
Number, and Order too:
And did in Artful Figures ſmoothly fall;
What made this Graceful meaſur'd dance of All?
How circling Motion doth ſwift time divide,
And round the flipp'ry Sphear
(Though no Intelligence be conjur'd there)
The reſtleſs Seaſons ſlide?
And by what mighty ſtroke the earthen Ball did pierce
To the fixt navel of the Ʋniverſe;
Whilſt Stars, and Sun, (who runs the Day,
But walkes the year) do never ſtay:
Where all thoſe Arts, and Men begun,
That o're the Earth are run:
And what's the Coaſt,
That firſt can boaſt
Safety to both their Treaſures, when
Cities were built for Buſineſs, and for Men.
2.
And would we know from whom
Philoſophy did come,
With all her handmaid Train
Of Sciences, again
To make the Tree of Knowledge grow,
And unto all her pretious fruites beſtow:
Whoſe taſte does ne'er from Paradiſe dethrone,
But would the Ʋniverſe make one:
Though yet of Knowledge it has bin the fate,
To have a ſtreight, and narrow gate;
Like that of life, which few do enter at.
To find the Sacred pedigree,
To Ancient Hebrews look, and ſee
How thence this Saviour too did ſpring,
And to mankind Salvation bring
From black Ignorance ruſhing in,
As the great Shilo did from blacker Sin.
3.
Haile holy Land! thou Canaan made to flow
With milke and honey, and with knowledge too:
As Rivers from their ſpring, Arts from thee Riſe,
Both in perpetual Circulation
Into their Sea their mighty Ciſtern run,
Whence they refunded are agen:
And ſtill to needy places roll their prize.
For Knowledg with the liquid main muſt glide,
And by an inexhausted Sourſe
Muſt carry on its everlaſting Courſe;
And, with the Sun, both round the Earth ſtill ſlide.
Some places doe their greater Tydes adore:
Learning ſtill Sounds, and Shallows knew,
Its Streights, and wide Ocean too:
And oh that it may hear of Rocks no more
(Tempeſts their rage here giving o're)
But allways pay its peaceful Tribute to the ſhore.
4.
Haile ſlender-limb'd Mediterranean!
Where ſhips thoſe floating Iſles began
In the worlds infant age
Their watry pilgrimage.
Iſls ne're more Fortunate can be;
Nor can Apollo a more happy Delos ſee.
Haile Libanus thou ſacred Grove!
Whoſe Trees did Trees of knowledge prove;
For thence it was that skilful Tyre,
Whom all with thanks admire,
Her veſſels took
To load the neighb'ring brook,
Fraught with her riches, and her learning too,
Both given more for uſe, then ſhow.
She thus to forreign Climes at once imparts
Both of her Countreys Fruits, and of her Arts.
5.
Phenicia muſt with Palmes no longer crown
Sanchoniathon, falling down,
Like Dagon, to the Ark, who there adores
Diviner stores.
Nor let proud Babilon
Beroſus bear ſo high upon;
His Works were Babel-like Confuſion.
Nor Aegypt Hermes boaſt, or Manetho
Her' leventh Learned Plague, the great'ſt ſhe knew
Theſe Gyant Authors, or their pigmie Frie
Can neer with Moſes vie,
For truth, or for Antiquitie;
They all in one long Row like Cyphers ſtand,
He at thier Head the Figure to Command;
They all had ſignified juſt naught,
Had he not all their force of wiſedome taught.
If holy Cherubs up ariſe,
And o're the Ark their Wings diſplay
Their Reverence to pay
To his ten VVords, ten ſacred Categories
Let's ne're on Heathen Authors feed;
Two Tables he hath richlier furniſhed
And all his, like the volumnes of the skie,
Evince their own Divinitie,
Both clear, and conſtant ſhow
(The clouds are from below)
Both equally diſpence
To workes and labours All,
Ʋpon this Earthen Ball
Their Heav'nly Influence;
But with this Difference;
His more eſpecially impart
To Humane Learning, and to Art.
So moving here
In as much Nobler, as a Narrower Sphear.
6.
Supream Idea both of Truth and Good?
To God, and Angels kin,
Why ſhouldſt not thou the Ʋniverſal flood
Eſcape of Tyrant Sin?
Pitty! ſo chaſte a Virgin ſhould be forc'd to wear
Apparel of an Harlot ſtill,
Turne proſtitute againſt herwill.
In Heathen Temples when ſhe would appear
There's nought but Scean, and pageant of her there:
They ſtill conceal the Real Saint,
And ſhow ſome Iezabel in paint;
This ſtill has bin Religions fate,
She alwayes in her vaile as Mourning ſate;
And like the Ancient Jew,
Whence her Original ſhe drew
Long has her cruel Pharaohs ſeen,
And long in bondage been.
Where ere ſhe mov'd,
The whole World her wide Wilderneſs hath prov'd;
Far worſe, then that in which
The holy men their Tents did pitch:
For ſtill ſhe had in ſight
Much of their Cloud, but little of their light
7.
The Sun about the aged world
Three thouſand years was hurl'd,
When Greece both young, and weak
Learnt firſt to ſpeak;
And we can tell,
When ſhe began to ſpell;
For all her pride, and learned Crew,
We knew her Alpha, and Omega too.
Phenician Cadmus, when he Thebes did raiſe
('Tis his humilities, or Fortunes praiſe)
Reſolv'd to ſet
His Alphabet,
Towards the left began,
And ſo it alwaies ran;
Leaving to Ancient Hebrews ſtill the Right hand ſpace.
For Reve'rend Age the Place.
And if we ſcan their letters All,
Some are Rough Guttural,
Some Dentals hiſſing far,
Some Palatins, and Linguals are,
And Others they are murmuring Labial.
When theſe with their great train of Vowels move,
Which at the others feet do ſtand,
Yet them command,
They do ſo comprehenſive prove,
They read each Sound and Note that Nature can
Expreſſe by Man.
This Holy Language was for Natures Empire fit,
But Sin and Babel ruin'd it.
So pure, and of ſo Vniverſal ſenſe,
God thought it beſt for Innocence.
Others her Daughters be,
The Rev'rend Mother ſhe.
Though Tongues, like men, are fraile,
And both muſt faile:
Her Vniverſal Empire to maintain,
She in her Num'rous off ſpring o're the World doth reign.
8.
Arabia the happy made the World ſo
Preſerving Arts from Overthrow.
Mecha did the great Stagirit admit,
Mahomet Prince of Armes, but him of Wit:
The Saracens and he
Did joyn in Monarchie.
Long had Philoſophy in that great School
Maintain'd her Intellectual Rule;
Had ſhe not fled from Ruines of the Eaſt,
To ſhelter with the Eagle in the Weſt.
She longer would have liv'd ſo near her ancient ſeat,
Her long conſumption there to cure, to get
Her youthful vigor, and her health repair,
By breathing in ſo ſweet an air.
She with the Roman Eagle, as ſhe flew,
Would fain her Age renew,
Be made a Chriſtian too:
But to her, and the Holy Dove
The Eagle did too cruel prove,
Both in the Fright
Fled out of ſight,
And neither found an Ark, or Reſting place;
So Barbarous was then of things, and Men the Face.
9.
Great Bochart did the Exile trace, ne're made to ſtray
(Mens Errors hers encreas'd throughout her way)
The barren wilderneſſe he past,
And Canaan found at laſt.
His Canaan too methinks does yield
Fruits of a pleaſant Field.
But chiefly when this Learned Author's found
The Trees to prune, and cultivate the Ground;
The plenty ſhed
With Care is gathered,
The Vintage great, ſo Rich the ſtore,
The Preſſes ſure muſt needs run ore:
Yet theſe firſt Fruits but earneſt are of more:
Theſe pleaſe our Taſte, and ſight,
But ſtill increaſe our Appetite:
Who as on Jordan's Banks now ſtand
Expecting t'ſee the other part of the bleſt Promis'd Land.
On the Subject of this Book.
1.
AS Wards, who long ſuppoſe
All, that they ſpend, to be
Their Guardians Liberality,
Not what Inheritance beſtows,
Their thanks to others ignorantly pay
For that, which they
At laſt perceive to be their own,
To their rich Anceſtors oblig'd alone.
So we as vainly thought,
Our ſelve, to Greece much bound,
For Arts, which we have found,
To be from higher Ages brought;
By their, as well as our fore-Fathers taught.
2.
Inſatiate Greeks! who not content
VVith the Worlds Continent,
Affect an Intellectual Regiment.
Why ſhould you learned Jews deſpiſe,
Of whom you learnt thereto to riſe?
And with their Detriment
Promote your Gain?
To brighten your own Glory, theirs diſtain?
So as we ſee the Sun
Obſcur'd by his own exhalation:
And vexed water boyling o're
(Howe'er Sedate before)
Put out that Fire,
By which it did aſpire.
Nay you have got the Wile
The Jews to wrong, and the whole World beguile;
While thoſe your Maſters you Barbarians ſtyle.
Your learned Stagirite
Did Plato's Nipple ne'er ſo bite;
As your Platonicks thoſe Breaſts do,
With purer Milk which freelier flow.
But ſome to ſhew their skill are proud to hit.
Thoſe Fencers, who firſt taught them it.
And Knave, and Rogue are Parrats pay
To him, who taught them Language to eſſay.
3.
Should all you grand Impoſtors now awake,
Small pleaſure you would take,
To ſee your Country you ſo dearly priz'd,
And with ſtoln Arts ſo Civiliz'd,
Grown Barbarous again:
Sure ſuch Relapſe you would confeſſe a Curſe,
For wronging Hebrews thus:
How well might you complain,
The Jewiſh Doctors you had rob'd in vain?
In all your great Deſigns thus croſt,
And Voyages to Canaan loſt:
Since that Arts plunder'd Golden Fleece
Was or reſtol'n, or ſtole away, from Greece.
(4)
Yet ſhould you Greece call learned now,
I would believe you ſpake as true.
As when you ſay 'twas ſo before,
You ſayl'd from the Phenician Shore:
I ſhould as ſoon believe it too,
That all ev'n now are Poets there,
As that you Poets were,
Before your Linus had great Moſes read,
And Sacred Scripture pillaged.
But though w' allow ye not to be
Thoſe, who invented Poeſy;
Yet this you muſt neer be deny'd,
YOU ARE THE FIRST OF POETS THAT ERE LY'D.