He letteth in, he letteth out to wend
All that to come into the world desire
A thousand thousand naked babes attend
About him day and night, which doe require,
That he with fleshly weedes would them attire:
Such as him list, such as eternall fate
Ordained hath, he clothes with sinfull mire,
And sendeth forth to live in mortall state,
Till they againe returne backe by hinder gate
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1 letteth: (Angus: Bible Handbook)
“To LET means to hinder, Roman 1:13.”
wend: to change from form or condition into another
(OED).
2 world: a vast quantity; a vast extent of time,
an age, an eternity (OED).
desire: physical or sensual appetite; lust (OED);
and “The word so translated is generally regarded as the
caper plant (common in Syria), which yields a pungent pickle,
stimulating to the appetite (Angus: Bible Handbook) Eccl.
xii 5, Rom. 1:24.
5 fleshly: sexual, carnal 4….human and
not divine (OED), “FLESH means what is tender and teachable,
as in Eze. xi 19. It means, also, human nature, without any reference
to its sinfulness, John i.14; or, more commonly, human nature
as corrupt and sinful, Rom. 8:5 (Angus: Bible Handbook).
weedes: a wild herbaceous plant that is useless
and lacking in beauty, it hinders ‘the growth of superior
vegetation’ (OED).Spenser FQ Bk. III I, 49, line 6 “Emongst
the roses grow some wicked weeds.” See also Matt. 13: 24-30
& 36-39.
6 list: I please, choose, like, care, or desire
(OED). “1590 Spenser FQ I vii 35, when him list the prouder
lookes subdew.”
fate: that which has been spoken; The central
idea of the word in Latin centers around a sentence or doom handed
down by the gods (OED). The OED also states it is the ultimate
power, or agency by which…certain events are unalterably
predetermined from eternity. Matt. 25:46.
7 Ordained: To appoint or assign (OED). “In
the context used, foredetermined “ (Angus, Bible Handbook:
72). I Cor. 2:7, Rom. 8: 30; Rom. 9:11.
sinfull: “SIN, a city of Egypt, mentioned
only by Ezekial 30.15,16. The name is Hebrew, or, at least Semitic,
perhaps signifying “clay”. It is identified in the
Vulgate with Pelusium, ‘the clayey or muddy’ town.
Its antiquity may perhaps be inferred from the mention of the
wilderness of Sin in the journeys of the Israelites-Exodus 16:1
(Smith, Dictionary of the Bible: 398). mire: a piece
of swampy ground (OED).
9 hinder: located behind at the back or rear,
posterior, hinder gate (OED). gate: the gate of heaven, hell,
paradise, where the word may originally have apprehended in a
material sense. Also the gate of death used to denote a rear approach
to death (OED).
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More Biblical and Intratextual
References
1 world: Bk. I, viii, 50, line 2, “And
from the world that her discouered wide,” Spenser’s
FQ.
2 desire: Bk. II, iii, 23, line 9 “She
broke his wanton darts, and quenched bace desire.” Spencer’s
FQ. Rom. 1:24 “Wherefore alfo God gaue them vp to their
hearts luftes, vnto vncleanneffe, to defile their owne bodies
betweene themselves” (Geneva Bible, 1599: 505).
3 babes: Bk. I, viii, 35, line 6, “With
blood of guiltless babes, and innocents trew,” Spenser’s
FQ. John 1:13 “Which are borne not of blood, nor of the
will of flefh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (Geneva
Bible, 1599; England).
thousand: Bk. I, x, 51, line 6 “In heuenly
throne, where thousand Angels shine?”
5 fleshly: Eze. 11:19 “And I will giue
them one heart, and I will put a new fpirit within their bowels:
and I will take the ftonie heart out of their bodies, and will
giue them an heart of flefh” (Gen. Bible: 312). John 1:14
“And the Word was made (k) flefh, and dwelt among vs,”
(Gen. Bible: 479). (K-Annotation: “He was formed and made
man by the operation of the holy Ghoft without the operation of
man.”
weedes: Bk. I, ix, 28, line 8, “So creeping
close, as Snake in hidden weedes” FQ. Matt. 13: 24-30 &
36-39 “Another parable he propofed to/ them, faying, The
Kingdom of heaven is refembled to a man that fowed good feed/
in his field. 25 But when men were fleep, his ene-/ my came and
ouerfowed (a) cockle among the/ wheat, and went his way./ 26 And
when the blade was shot vp, &/ had brought foorth fruit, then
appeared/ alfo the cockle./ 27 And the fervants of the goodman
of the houfe coming faid to him, Sir didst/ thou not fow good
feed in thy field? Whence/ then hath it cockle?/ 28 And he faid
to them, The enemy man/ hath done this. And the fervants faid
to/ him, VVilt thou wee goe and gathered it/ vp?/ 29 And he faid,
No: I left perhaps gathe-/ ring vp the cockle, you may root vp
the/ wheat alfo together with it./ 30 Suffer both to grow vntill
har-/ uest, and in the time of haruest I will lay/ and binde it
into bundles to burne, but the/ wheat gather ye into my barne.
// 36 Then hauing dimiffe the multi-/ tudes: he came into the
houfe, and his Dif-/ ciples came vnto him, faying, Expound vs./
the parable of the cockle of the field./ 37 VVho made anfwer &
faid to them,/ He that foweth good feed, is the Sonne of/ man./
38 And the field, is the world. And the/ good feed? thefe are
children of the/ Kingdome. And the cockle are the children/ of
the wicked one./ 39 And the enemy that fowed them, is/ the deuill”
(Rhemists translation, 1582). (a-cockle is from OE times, which
means to render or represent the zizania of the Vulgate…3.
Sometimes applied to other corn-weeds. OED).
6 fate: Matt. 25:46 “And thefe fhall goe
into punifhment euerlasting: but the iuft, into life euerlafting”
(Rhemists translation: 120, Thomas Cartwright: A Confutation
of the Rhemists Translation; Great Britain). Matt. 25:46
“And thefe fhall go into euerlasting paine, and the righteous
into life eternall” (Gen. Bible, 1599).
7 sinfull: Exd. 16:1 “Afterward all the
Congregation of the children of Ifrael departed from Elim, and
came to the wilderneffe of Sin (which is betweene Elim and Sinai)
the fifteenth Day of the Second moneth after their departing out
of the land of Egypt” (Gen. Bible).
ordained: Rom. 8:30 “And whom he hath predeftinated
them alfo he hath called & whom he hath iuftified. And whom
hee hath iuftified: them alfo hath he glorified” (Rhemists
Translation). Annotation: “The doctrine of predeftination,
how to be reuerenced and what is teacheth vs…Gods predeftination
taketh not away freewill” (Rhemists translators). Rom. 9:11
“For yer the children were borne, and when they had neither
done good nor euill (that the purpofe of God might remaine according
to election, not by works, but by him that calleth)” (Gen.
Bible). I Cor. 2:7 “But wee fpeake the wifdome of God in
a myfterie, even the hid wifedome, which God had determined before
the world, unto our glory” (Gen. Bible).
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