to GONDIBERT.
31
Moses, David, and Solomon, for their Songs, Psalms, and Anthems; the Second being the acknowledg'd Favorite of God, whom he had gain'd by excellent Praises in sacred Poesie. And I fear (since Poesie is the clearest light, by which they find the soul who seek it) that Poets have in their fluent kindness diverted from the right use, and spent too much of that spiritual talent in the honour of mortal Princes: for divine Praise (when in the high perfection, as in Poets, and onely in them) is so much the uttermost and whole of Religious worship, that all other parts of Devotion serve but to make it up.
89
Gondibert lib. 2. Canto 6.Praise, is Devotion fit for mighty Minds;
The diff'ring World's agreeing Sacrifice;
Where Heaven divided Faiths united finds:
But Pray'r in various discord upward flies.
Gondibert lib. 2. Canto 6.Praise, is Devotion fit for mighty Minds;
The diff'ring World's agreeing Sacrifice;
Where Heaven divided Faiths united finds:
But Pray'r in various discord upward flies.
90
For Pray'r the Ocean is, where diversly
Men steer their course, each to a sev'ral Coast;
Where all our Int'rests so discordant be,
That half beg winds by which the rest are lost.
For Pray'r the Ocean is, where diversly
Men steer their course, each to a sev'ral Coast;
Where all our Int'rests so discordant be,
That half beg winds by which the rest are lost.
91
By Penitence when We our selves forsake,
'Tis but in wise design on piteous Heaven;
In Praise We nobly give what God may take,
And are without a Beggars blush forgiven.
By Penitence when We our selves forsake,
'Tis but in wise design on piteous Heaven;
In Praise We nobly give what God may take,
And are without a Beggars blush forgiven.
92
Its utmost force, like Powder's, is unknown;
And though weak Kings excess of Praise may fear,
Yet when 'tis here, like Powder dang'rous grown,
Heavens Vault receives what would the Palace tear.
Its utmost force, like Powder's, is unknown;
And though weak Kings excess of Praise may fear,
Yet when 'tis here, like Powder dang'rous grown,
Heavens Vault receives what would the Palace tear.
After this contemplation, how acceptable the voice of Poesie hath been to God, we may (by descending fromHeaven
