GOD gave us Clothes to hide our nakedness,
And we by them do it expose to view,
Our pride and unclean minds, to an excess,
By our apparel we to others shew.
THE SINNER AND THE SPIDER
WHAT black, what ugly crawling thing at thou!
A Spider, ay; truly a filthy creature!
Not filthy as thyself in name or feature.
My name intailed is to my creation ;
My features from the God of thy salvation.
I am a Man, and in God's image made;
I have a soul shall neither die nor fade:
God has possessed me with human reason;
Speak not against me, lest thou speakest treason.
For if I am the image of my Maker,
Of slanders laid on me he is partaker.
I know thou art a creature far above me,
Therefore I shun, I fear, and also love thee.
But though thy God hath made thee such a creative,
Thou hast against Him often play'd the traitor.
Thy sin has fetch'd thee down; leave off to boast;
Nature thou hast defiled; God's image lost.
Yea thou thyself a very beast hast made,
And art become like grass, which soon doth fade.
Thy soul, thy reason, yea thy spotless state,
Sin has subjected to th' most dreadful fate.
But I retain my primitive condition,
I've all but what I lost by thy ambition.
Thou venom'd thing, I know not what to call thee,
The dregs of nature surely did befal thee:
Thou wast composed o' th' dross and scum of all :
Men hate thee, and in scorn thee Spider call.
My venom's good for something, since God made it;
Thy nature sin hath spoil'd, and doth degrade it.
Thou art despoil'd of good; and though I fear thee,
I will not, though I might, despise and jeer thee.
Thou say'st, I am the very dregs of nature,
Thy sin's the spawn of devils, 'tis no creature.
Thou say'st man hates me, 'cause I am a spider;
Poor man! thou at thy God art a derider.
My venom tendeth to my preservation ;
Thy pleasing follies work out thy damnation.
Poor man! I keep the rules of my creation,
Thy sin has cast thee headlong from thy station.
I hurt no body willingly; but thou
Art a self-murderer: thou know'st not how
To do what's good; no, for thou lovest evil :
Thou fly'st God's law, adherest to the devil.
Thou ill-shap'd thing! there's an antipathy
'Twixt Man and Spiders, 'tis in vain to lic;
Stand off, I hate thee: if thou dost come nigh me,
I'll crush thee with my foot: I do defy thee.
They are ill-shaped, who warped are by sin,
Hatred in thee to God hath long time been
No marvel then, indeed, if me his creature,
Thou dost defy, pretending name and feature.
But why stand off? My presence shall not throng thee, 'Tis not my venom, but thy sin doth wrong thee.
Come, I will teach thee wisdom, do but hear me,
I was made for thy profit, do not fear me.
But if thy God thou wilt not hearken to,
What can the Swallow, Ant, and Spider do?
Yet I will speak, I can but be rejected:
Sometimes great things, by small means are effected.
Hark, then though Man is noble by creation,
He's lapsed now to such degeneration
As not to grieve, so careless is he grown,
Though he himself has sadly overthrown,
And brought to bondage every earthly thing,
Even from the very Spider to the King:
This we poor sensitives do feel and see;
For subject to the curse you made us be.
Tread not upon me, neither from me go :
'Tis Man which has brought all the world to woe.
The law of my creation bids me teach thee;
I will not for thy pride to God impeach thee.
I spin, I weave, and all to let thec see,
Thy best performances but cobwebs be.
Thy glory now is brought to such an ebb,
It doth not much excel the Spider's web;
My webs, becoming snares for traps and flies,
Do set the wiles of hell before thine eyes;
Their tangling nature is to let thee see,
Thy sins (too) of a tangling nature be.
My den, or hole, for that 'tis bottomless,
Doth of damnation shew the lastingness,
My lying quiet till the fly is catch'd,,
Shews secretly, hell hath thy ruin hatch'd;
In that I on her seize, when she is taken,
I shew who gathers whom God hath forsaken.
The fly lies buzzing in my web to tell
How sinners always roar and howl in heli.
Now since I shew thee all these mysteries, How canst thou hate me, or me scandalize?
Well, well; I will no more be a derider;
I did not look for such things from a spider.
Come, hold thy peace; what I have yet to say,
If heeded, may help thee another day.
Since I an ugly ven'mous creature be,
There's some resemblance 'twixt vile Man and me.
My wild and heedless runnings are like those
Whose ways to ruin do their souls expose.
Day-light is not my time, I work in th' night,
To shew, they are like me, who hate the light.
The Maid sweeps one web down, I make another,
To shew how heedless one's convictions smother.
My web is no defence at all to me;
Nor will false hopes, at judgment, be to thec.
O Spider, I have heard thee, and do wonder,
A Spider should thus lighten, and thus thunder!
Do but hold still, and I will let thee see,
Yet in my ways more mysteries there be.
Shall not I do thee good, if I tell thee tell,
I shew to thee a four-fold way to hell?
For since I set my webs in sundry places,
I shew men go to hell in divers traces.
One I set in the window, that I might Shew some go down to hell with gospel light One I set in a corner, as you see,
To shew how some in secret snared be.
Gross webs, great store, I set in darksome places,
To shew how many sin with brazen faces.
Another web I set aloft on high,
To shew there's some professing men must die.
Thus in my ways, God wisdom doth conceal;
And by my ways, that wisdom doth reveal.
I hide myself when I for flies do wait,
So doth the devil when he lays his bait:
If I do fear the losing of my prey,
I stir me, and more snares upon her lay.
This way, and that, her wings and legs I tie,
That, sure as she is catch'd, so she must die.
But if I see she's like to get away,
Then with my venom, I her journey stay.
All which, my ways, the devil imitates
To catch men, 'cause he their salvation hates.
O spider, thou delightest me with thy skill;
I pri'thee, spit this venom at me still.
I am a spider, yet I can possess
The palace of a king, where happiness
So much abounds. Nor, when I do go thither,
Do they ask what, or whence I come, or whither
I make my hasty travels; no, not they;
They let me pass, and I go on my way.
I seize the palace; do with hands take hold
Of doors, of locks, or bolts; yea, I am bold,
When in, to clamber up unto the throne,
And to possess it, as if 'twere my own.
Nor is there any law forbidding me
Here to abide, or in this palace be.
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