"He [Satan] sew'd his Tares of Errors, and did blind / With clouds of darknesse, Man's true eye, the Mind."
— Pordage, Samuel (bap. 1633, d. c. 1691)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by T. R. for Lodowick Lloyd
Date
1661
Metaphor
"He [Satan] sew'd his Tares of Errors, and did blind / With clouds of darknesse, Man's true eye, the Mind."
Metaphor in Context
O avarice! for Gold, and Silver's prize,
The golden Truth, thou 'ast turn'd to drossy Lyes!
Best things corrupted prove the worst of all:
By Rome's false Limbo, doth true LIMBO fall.
The Christian Churches first blest Founders sure,
Their Streams delated from the Fountain pure:
Heav'n put that breath into their mouths, which they
Inspired thus, to others did conveigh.
The holy Ghost upon them breath'd, nor was
Their Words corrupted by an humane glosse.
Then flourish'd Truth, and all our Hyerarchie
Rejoyc'd so pure a Church on Earth to see.
No pitchy clouds of error then did presse
'Twixt their eyes, and the Sun of Righteousnesse;
The Truth shon then as clear, as doth the Sun
Mounted in 's golden Chariot, at noon.
(Christs Church sees clearly still where e'r it be
Scatter'd, through others; and the Head is he)
But envious Sathan, when he saw Truth so
Extreamly spread, and o're the World to grow;
He sew'd his Tares of Errors, and did blind
With clouds of darknesse, Man's true eye, the Mind.
These faster than the true Wheat grew; this crop
Of evil weeds, did soon the Wheat o're-top.
Darknesse grew on apace; anon the Day
Could not its Light but here and there display,
Th'rough the small cranies of dark clouds: then 'twas
Pride, and Ambition in Rome's Church took place:
Then crept in all those Ceremonies; then
The Truth gave place unto the wiles of Men.
Then Avarice, with her hook'd Talons made
Such Laws, which turn'd Religion to a Trade,
And for the Love of Money did disguise
Fair Truth, and cloath'd her with a pack of Lies.
Something of precious Truth; something of Day,
Under disguise; under the clouds there lay.
Your Silver ISIS about Chelsy's not,
The same, as where his bubling springs do put
First forth their Crystal Heads near Thorlton, for
Churne's, Windrushe's, and Cherwell's waters there
And Tame's, Coln's, Brents, with his clear streams do run:
So on the other side he entertain
Doth Ock, Lad, Kennet, Surrie's Rivers too,
Whose severe Waters with his mingle do:
Yet with these may at Chelsy run the same
Pure waters, which from his clear spring-head came.
So pure Religion's streams, by this time had
With many of Hel's Stygian stream-lets spread,
Which were polluted with their Waters, yet
Amongst them Truth's pure Crystal streams did flit,
But so bemudded that they scarce were seen
But by those clear eyes who did dive for them.
The snowy flow'r is mixed with the Bran:
The chaff with Wheat; one sift the other fan
We must: not fling them both away, and make
Th' one uselesse for us, for the other's sake.
We must beware when that the Tares we cull,
Lest we with them the Wheat up also pull.
Fifteen Cent'ries, and two decades of years,
After Christ's death, from Isleben appears
A Light by which Rome's muddy streams were seen,
By which the Truth men strove to cull between
Error's black clouds; But Zeal them so possest,
They her rejected, 'cause by Rome's hands drest.
So fearful were they of a Romish dresse,
That Truth they 'ad rather leave, than her possesse
In that false Habit; many Truth's despis'd
Were thus, because by Rome they were disguis'd.
Among the rest, and not the least, this place,
This Region which thou now behold'st, one was:
And 'cause Rome's fopperies had obscur'd the Light
Of it, forsooth they it discarded quite:
And by the ears it from existence whorry,
For fear of entertaining Purgatory.
The golden Truth, thou 'ast turn'd to drossy Lyes!
Best things corrupted prove the worst of all:
By Rome's false Limbo, doth true LIMBO fall.
The Christian Churches first blest Founders sure,
Their Streams delated from the Fountain pure:
Heav'n put that breath into their mouths, which they
Inspired thus, to others did conveigh.
The holy Ghost upon them breath'd, nor was
Their Words corrupted by an humane glosse.
Then flourish'd Truth, and all our Hyerarchie
Rejoyc'd so pure a Church on Earth to see.
No pitchy clouds of error then did presse
'Twixt their eyes, and the Sun of Righteousnesse;
The Truth shon then as clear, as doth the Sun
Mounted in 's golden Chariot, at noon.
(Christs Church sees clearly still where e'r it be
Scatter'd, through others; and the Head is he)
But envious Sathan, when he saw Truth so
Extreamly spread, and o're the World to grow;
He sew'd his Tares of Errors, and did blind
With clouds of darknesse, Man's true eye, the Mind.
These faster than the true Wheat grew; this crop
Of evil weeds, did soon the Wheat o're-top.
Darknesse grew on apace; anon the Day
Could not its Light but here and there display,
Th'rough the small cranies of dark clouds: then 'twas
Pride, and Ambition in Rome's Church took place:
Then crept in all those Ceremonies; then
The Truth gave place unto the wiles of Men.
Then Avarice, with her hook'd Talons made
Such Laws, which turn'd Religion to a Trade,
And for the Love of Money did disguise
Fair Truth, and cloath'd her with a pack of Lies.
Something of precious Truth; something of Day,
Under disguise; under the clouds there lay.
Your Silver ISIS about Chelsy's not,
The same, as where his bubling springs do put
First forth their Crystal Heads near Thorlton, for
Churne's, Windrushe's, and Cherwell's waters there
And Tame's, Coln's, Brents, with his clear streams do run:
So on the other side he entertain
Doth Ock, Lad, Kennet, Surrie's Rivers too,
Whose severe Waters with his mingle do:
Yet with these may at Chelsy run the same
Pure waters, which from his clear spring-head came.
So pure Religion's streams, by this time had
With many of Hel's Stygian stream-lets spread,
Which were polluted with their Waters, yet
Amongst them Truth's pure Crystal streams did flit,
But so bemudded that they scarce were seen
But by those clear eyes who did dive for them.
The snowy flow'r is mixed with the Bran:
The chaff with Wheat; one sift the other fan
We must: not fling them both away, and make
Th' one uselesse for us, for the other's sake.
We must beware when that the Tares we cull,
Lest we with them the Wheat up also pull.
Fifteen Cent'ries, and two decades of years,
After Christ's death, from Isleben appears
A Light by which Rome's muddy streams were seen,
By which the Truth men strove to cull between
Error's black clouds; But Zeal them so possest,
They her rejected, 'cause by Rome's hands drest.
So fearful were they of a Romish dresse,
That Truth they 'ad rather leave, than her possesse
In that false Habit; many Truth's despis'd
Were thus, because by Rome they were disguis'd.
Among the rest, and not the least, this place,
This Region which thou now behold'st, one was:
And 'cause Rome's fopperies had obscur'd the Light
Of it, forsooth they it discarded quite:
And by the ears it from existence whorry,
For fear of entertaining Purgatory.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "eye" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Samuel Pordage, Mundorum Explicatio Wherein are Couched the Mysteries of the External, Internal, and Eternal worlds (London: T.R. for Lodowick Lloyd, 1661). <Link to EEBO>
Theme
Mind's Eye
Date of Entry
04/17/2006
Date of Review
12/21/2011
