quote · Legacy record

The Bible? That’s the Book, The Book indeed, The Book of Books; On which who looks, As he should do, aright, shall never need Wish for a better light To guide him in the night. Or, when he hungry is, for better food To feed upon, Than this alone, If he bring stomach and digestion good: And if he be amiss, This the best physic is. It is the looking-glass of souls, wherein All men may see, Whether they be Still, as by nature they are, deform’d with sin; Or in a better case, As new adorn’d with grace. ’Tis the great Magazine of spiritual arms, Wherein doth lie The Artillery Of heaven, ready charged against all harms, That might come by the blows Of our infernal foes. God’s cabinet of reveal’d counsel ’tis: Where weal and woe Are order’d so, That every man may know which shall be his; Unless his own mistake False application make. It is the index of Eternity. He cannot miss Of endless bliss, That takes this chart to steer his voyage by, Nor can he be mistook, That speaketh by this Book. A Book to which no other Book can be compared For excellence; Pre-eminence Is proper to it, and cannot be shared. Divinity alone Belongs to it, or none. It is the Book of God. What if I should Say, God of Books? Let him that looks Angry at this expression, as too bold His thoughts in silence smother, Till he find such another.

The Bible? That’s the Book, The Book indeed, The Book of Books; On which who looks, As he should do, aright, shall never need Wish for a better light To guide him in the night. Or, when he hungry is, for better food To feed upon, Than this alone, If he bring stomach and digestion good: And if he be amiss, This the best physic is. It is the looking-glass of souls, wherein All men may see, Whether they be Still, as by nature they are, deform’d with sin; Or in a better case, As new adorn’d with grace. ’Tis the great Magazine of spiritual arms, Wherein doth lie The Artillery Of heaven, ready charged against all harms, That might come by the blows Of our infernal foes. God’s cabinet of reveal’d counsel ’tis: Where weal and woe Are order’d so, That every man may know which shall be his; Unless his own mistake False application make. It is the index of Eternity. He cannot miss Of endless bliss, That takes this chart to steer his voyage by, Nor can he be mistook, That speaketh by this Book. A Book to which no other Book can be compared For excellence; Pre-eminence Is proper to it, and cannot be shared. Divinity alone Belongs to it, or none. It is the Book of God. What if I should Say, God of Books? Let him that looks Angry at this expression, as too bold His thoughts in silence smother, Till he find such another.

Approximate author period: c. 1612 AD · renaissance