God the Soul of the World
One mind runs through the whole universe and holds it together. The poem's big idea, in a few lines.
[p. 12] The Sea ¹⁴runs round, and with its circling WavesThe Floud at once divides, and joyns the Halves.
To this vast Frame in which four parts conspireOf different form, Air, Water, Earth and Fire,United ¹⁵God the World's Almighty SoulBy secret methods rules and guides the Whole;By unseen passes He himself conveysThrough all the Mass, and every part obeys.To proper Patients He kind Agents bringsIn various Leagues binds disagreeing Things.Makes some Powers act, and some receive their Force;And thus whilst Nature keeps her Vital Course,Though different Powers the several Things divide,The World seems One, and all its parts ally'd.
The notes
¹⁴ It was the Opinion of the ancient Poets, and some others, that the Sea was as a Girdle to the Earth, that it ran round it as an Horizon, and divided the upper Hemisphere from the lower. (Creech’s note, 1697)
¹⁵ Release this Soul from that union which the Stoicks foolishly assign'd, and then to hold a Soul of the World and Providence is all one. (Creech’s note, 1697)
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The text is Thomas Creech's 1697 verse translation, checked word by word between three scans of the same type (the 1697 printing, the 1700 printing and a third copy). The long s is printed as s; every other spelling is Creech's. Pages are cited as the 1697 printing numbers them. The portrait is William Marshall’s engraving of Lilly from the front of the 1659 printing (Wellcome Library, public domain).