DIVINE FANCIES: Digested into EPIGRAMS, MEDITATIONS, AND OBSERVATIONS. BY FRA: QVARLES.  
LONDON, Printed by M. F. for JOHN MARRIOT, and are to be sold at his Shop in St. Dunstan's Churchyard in Fleetstreet. 1633.   

TO THE ROYAL BUD OF MAJESTY, and Centre of all our Hopes and Happiness, CHARLES, Prince of Great BRITAIN, France and Ireland, SON and HEIR Apparent to the High and Mighty CHARLES, by the Grace of GOD, King of Great BRITAIN, FRANCE, and IRELAND, etc.  
Illustrious Infant:  
GIve me leave to acknowledge myself thy Servant, ere thou know'st thyself my Prince: My Zeal burns me, and my desires are impatient: My breeding Muse longs for green fruit, and cannot stay thy ripeness: Sweet Babe; The loyalty of my Service makes bold to consecrate these early Leaves to thy sacred Infancy, not knowing how to glorify themselves, more, then by the Patronage of such Princely Innocence. Model of Sweetness, Let thy busy Fingers entertain this slender Present, and let thy harmless Smiles crown it: When thy Infancy hath cracked the Shell, let thy Childhood taste the Kernel; In the mean while, let thy little hands and Eyes peruse it: Lugge it in thy tender Arms, and lay thy burden at thy Royal Parents feet; for whose sake, it may gain some honour from their glorious Eyes. Heaven bless thy Youth with Grace, and crown thy Age with Glory: Angels conduct thee from the Cradle, to the Crown: Let the English Rose, and the French Lily flourish in thy lovely Cheek: And let their united Colours presage an everlasting League. Let the eminent Qualities of both thy renowned Grandfathers meet in thy Princely Heart; that thou mayst, in Peace, be honourable; and in War, victorious. And let the great addition of thy Royal Parents Virtues make thee up a most incomparable Prince, the firm Pillar of our happiness, and the future Object of the Worlds wonder  
Expected, and prayed for by Your Highness' most Loyal and humble servant, FRA: QVARLES.   

TO THE RIGHT Honourable and truly virtuous Lady, MARY Countess of Dorset, Governess to that Royal Infant, CHARLES, Prince of Great BRITAIN, France, and Ireland, the Mirror of unstained HONOUR.  
Most excellent LADY,  
YOU are that Star, which stands over the place, where the Babe lies; By whose directions light, I am come from the East, to present my Myrrh, and Frankincense to the young Child: Let not our Royal JOSEPH, nor his Princely MARY be afraid; there are no Herod's here; We have all seen his Star in the East, and have rejoiced: Our loyal hearts are full; for our eyes have seen him, in whom our Posterity shall be blessed: To him, most honourable Lady, I address my thoughts; To Him, I presume to consecrate these Lines; which, since it hath pleased our gracious Sovereign to appoint you the Governess of his Royal Infancy, I have made bold to present, first, to your noble hands; not daring, in my very thoughts to disjoin, whom his Sacred Majesty, in so great Wisdom, hath put together; or to consider severally, where his Highness hath made so in violable a Relation. Madam, May your Honour's increase with your hours, and let eternal Glory crown your Virtues; that when this Age shall sleep in Dust, our Children, yet unborn, may honour your glorious Memory, under the happiness of his Government, whose Governess you are; which shall be daily the Subject of his Prayers, who is  
The sworne-Servant of your Ladyship's Perfections, FRA: QVARLES.   

To the Readers.  
REaders, I will not (like One that knows the strength of his own Muse) commit Rape upon your Understandings, nor rail at your Ignorances', if our Wits jump not: I have written at my own peril; understand you at your own pleasures: I have nor so little Man in me, as to want my faults; nor so much Fool in me as to think it; nor so little Modesty, as to swear it; nor so much Child in me as to whine at Zoilus: My request is, That the faultless hand may cast the first stone, So although I cannot avoid the common Lot of man, Error; I may escape the punishment of the Common Man, Censure.  
I here present thee with a Hive of Bees; laden, some with Wax, and some with Honey: Fear not to approach; There are no Wasps; there are no Hornets, here: if some wanton Bee should chance to buzz about thine ears, stand thy Ground, and hold thy hands: There's none will sting thee, if thou strike not first: If any do; she hath Honey in her Bag, will cure thee too: In plainer terms, I present thee with a Book of Fancies; Among which, as I have none to boast of; so (I hope) I shall have none to blush at. All cannot affect all: If some please all; or all, some, 'tis more than I expect; I had once thought to have melted the Title, and cast it into several Books, and have lodged Observations, Meditations, and Epigrams by themselves; but new thoughts have taken place: I have required no help of Herald, either to place, or to proclaim them. Cards, well shuffled, are most fit for Gamesters: And oftentimes, the pastime of Discovery adds pleasure to the Enjoyment: The Generous Falconer had rather retrieve his Partridge in the open Fields, then meet her in his covered Dish. Only this: when you read a Meditation, let me entreat thee to forget an Epigram.  
Farewell.   

AD LECTORES VTRIVSque GENERIS.  
Candide, si mala sint nostra inter carmina, parce;  
Et bona si quae sint, Zoile, parco tibi.   

To GOD.  
GLorious and Great; whose power did divide  
The Waves, and made them Walls on either side;  
That didst appear in Cloven-tongues of Fire;  
Divide my thoughts: and with thyself, inspire  
My soul; O cleave my Tongue, and make it scatter  
Various Expressions in a various Matter;  
That like the painful Bee, I may derive  
From sundry Flowers, to store my slender Hive:  
Yet, may my Thoughts not so divided be,  
But they may mix again, and fix in Thee.   
DIVINE FANCIES, Digested into EPIGRAMS, MEDITATIONS, AND OBSERVATIONS.  


1.  
On the Music of Organs.  
OBserve this Organ: Mark but how it goes:  
'T is not the hand of him alone that blows  
The unseen Bellowes; nor the Hand that plays  
Upon th'apparent note-dividing Keys,  
That makes these wel-composed Ayres appear  
●●fore the high Tribunal of thine ear●:  
They both concur: Each acts his several part:  
Th'one gives it Breath; the other lends it Art.  
Man is this Organ: To whose every action  
Heaven gives a Breath (a Breath without coaction)  
Without which Blast we cannot act at all;  
Without which Breath, the Universe must fall  
To the first Nothing it was made of: seeing  
In Him we live, we move, we have our Being:  
Thus filled with his Diviner breath, and backed  
With his first power we touch the Keys and act:  
He blows the Bellowes: As we thrive in skill,  
Our Actions prove, like Music, Good or Ill   

2  
On the contingency of Actions.  
I Saw him dead; I saw his Body fall  
Before Death's Dart; whom tears must not recall:  
Yet is he not so dead, but that his Day  
Might have been lengthened, had th'untrodden way  
To life been found: He might have ●ose again,  
If something had, or something had not been:  
What mine sees past, heavens eye foresaw to come  
He saw, how that contingent Act should sum  
The towall of his Days: His knowing Eye  
(As mine doth see him dead) saw he should die  
That very fatal hour; yet saw his death,  
Not so so necessary, but his Breath  
Might been enlarged unto a longer date,  
Had he neglected This, or taken That:  
All times to Heaven are now, both first and last;  
He see● things present, as we see them past.   

3.  
On the Sacraments.  
THe Loaves of Bread were five; the Fishes two,  
Whereof the Multitude was made partaker.  
Who made the Fishes? God: But tell me, who  
Gave being to the Loaves of Bread? the Baker:  
Even so th●se Sacraments, which some call seven,  
Five were ordained by Man, and two, by Heaven.   

4.  
On the Infancy of our Saviour.  
Hail blessed Virgin, full of heavenly Grace,  
Blessed above all that sprang from humane race;  
Whose Heav'n-saluted Womb brought forth in One,  
A blessed Saviour, and a blessed Son:  
O! what a ravishment 'thad been, to see  
Thy little Saviour perking on thy Knee!  
To see him nuzzle in thy Virgin Breast!  
His milk white body all unclad, undressed;  
To see thy busy Fingers clothe and wrap  
His spradling Limbs in thy indulgent Lap!  
To see his desperate Eyes▪ with Childish grace,  
Smiling upon his smiling Mother's face!  
And, when his forward strength began to bloom,  
To see him diddle up and down the Room!  
O, who would think, so sweet a Babe as this,  
Should ere be slain by a falsehearted kiss!  
Had I a Rag, if sure thy Body wore it,  
Pardon sweet Babe, I think I should adore it,  
Till then, O grant this Boon, (a boon far dearer)  
The Weed not being, I may adore the Wearer.   

5.  
On judas Iscariot.  
WE rail at judas, him that did betray  
The Lord of life; yet do it day by day.   

6.  
On the life and death of Man.  
THe World's a Theatre; The Earth, a Stage  
Placed in the midst; whereon both Prince & Page,  
Both rich and poor; fool, wiseman; base, and high;  
All act their Parts in Life's short Tragedy:  
Our Life's a Tragedy: Those secret Rooms  
Wherein we tire us, are our Mother's Wombs;  
The Music ushering in the Play, is Mirth  
To see a Manchild brought upon the Earth:  
That fainting gasp of Breath which first we vent  
Is a Dumb-Shew, presents the Argument:  
Our newborn Cries that newborn Griefs bewray,  
Is the sad Prologue of th'ensuing Play:  
False hopes, true fears, vain joys, and fierce distracts  
Are like the Music that divides the Acts:  
Time holds the Glass, and when the hower's run,  
Death strikes the Epilogue; and the Play is done.   

7▪  
On the seven liberal Sciences of a Christian.  

Grammar.  
IT is an Art, that teaches not t'excel  
In Writing, Speaking, as in Doing well.   

Logic.  
IT is an Art sometimes of Plotting treason  
Against the Crown and Dignity of Reason.   

Rhetoric.  
IT is an Art, whereby he learns t'increase  
His knowledge of the time, to Hold his Peace.   

Arythmeticke.  
IT is an Art, that makes him apt to raise  
And number out God's Blessings, and his Days.   

Music.  
IT is a potent Science, that infringes  
Strong Prison doors, and heaves them from their hinges.   

Astronomy.  
IT is an Art of taking out the Lead  
From hi● dull Brows, and lifting ●p the Head.   

Geometry.  
IT is an Art, instructs him how to have  
The World in scorn; and measure out his Grave.    

8.  
Christ's four houses.  
HIs first house was the blessed Virgin's Womb;  
The next, a Cratch; the third, a Cross▪ the fourth a Tomb.   

9  
Of Light and Heat.  
MArk but the Sunbeams, when they shine most bright,  
They l●●d this lower world both heat & light:  
They both are Children of the selfsame Mother,  
Twins; not subsisting one without the other;  
They both conspire unto the Common good,  
When, in their proper places, understood:  
Is't not rebellion against Sense to say,  
Light helps to quicken: Or, the Beams of day  
May lend a Heat, and ye● no Light at all?  
'Tis true, some obvious Shade may chance to fall  
Upon the quickened Plant, yet not so great,  
To quench the 〈◊〉 of the Heat:  
The Heat cannot be parted from the Light,  
Nor yet the Light from Heat; They neither might  
Be mingled in the Act, nor found asunder:  
Distinguish now fond man; or stay and wonder: Know then;  
Their virtues differ though themselves agree;  
Heat vivifies; Light gives man power to see  
The thing so vivifyed: no Light, no Heat;  
And where the heat's but small, the light's not great:  
They are inseparable, and sworn Lovers,  
Yet differing thus; That quickens; This discovers:  
Within these lines a sacred Mystery lurks:  
The Heat resembles Faith: the Light; Good works.   

10.  
On Judas Iscariot.  
SOme curse that traitor judas life and limb▪  
God knows, some curse themselves, in cursing him.   

11.  
On the possession of the Swine.  
WHen as our blessed Saviour did un-devill  
The Man possessed; the Spirits, in conclusion,  
Entered the Swine (being active still in evil)  
And drove them headlong to their own confusion.  
Dru●kards, beware, and be advised then,  
They'll find you as y'are Swine▪ if not, as Men:   

12.  
On a Sun●Dyall.  
THis horizontal Dial can bewray  
To the sad Pilgrim, the hour of the Day:  
But if the Sun appear not his Adviser,  
His eye may look, yet he prove never the wiser:  
Alas, alas; there's nothing can appear,  
But only Types, and shadowed Figures there:  
This Dial is the Scripture; and the Sun,  
God's holy Spirit; We, the zookers on:  
Alas, that saceed Letter, which we read,  
Without the Quickening of the Spirit's dead:  
The knowledge of our Peace improves no better,  
Then if our Eye had not beheld a Letter:  
ay, but this glorious Sun shines always bright:  
I, but we often stand in our own light:  
Use then the day, for when the day is gone,  
There will be darkness: there will be no Sun.   

13.  
On the three Christian Graces.  

Faith.  
IT is a Grace, that teaches to deprave not  
The Goods we have; To have the goods we have not.   

Hope.  
IT is a Grace▪, that keeps th'Almighty blameless,  
In long delay: And men (in begging) shameless.   

Charity.  
IT is a Grace, or Art to get a Living  
By selling Land; and to grow rich, by giving.    

14.  
On a Feast.  
THe Lord of Heaven and Earth has made a Feast,  
And every Soul is an invited Guest:  
The Word's the Food; the Levits are the Cooks;  
The Father's Writings are their Dyet-bookes;  
But seldom used; for 'tis a fashion grown,  
To recommend made Dishes of their own:  
What they should boil, they bake; what r●st, they broil;  
Their luscious Salads are too sweet with Oil:  
In brief, 'tis now a days too great a fault,  
T'have too much Pepper, and too little Salt.   

15.  
On Dives.  
THat drop-requesting Dives did desire  
His Brothers might have warning of that Fire,  
Whose flames he felt: Could he, a Fiend, wish well  
To Man? What, is there Charity in Hell?  
Each Soul that's damned is a Brand of fire,  
To make Hell so much hotter; And the nigher  
In blood or love they be, that are tormented,  
The more their pains & torments are augmented:  
No wonder then, if Dives did desire,  
His Brothers might have warning of that Fire▪   

16.  
On outward show.  
IVdge not that Field, because 'tis Stubble,  
Nor Him that's poor, and full of trouble▪  
Though t'one look bare; the other thin;  
Judge not; Their Treasure is within.   

17.  
On the reading of the Scriptures.  
IN reading of the Sacred Writ; beware,  
Thou climb no Style, when as a Gap stands fair▪   

18.  
On the life of Man.  
Our Life's the Model of a Winter's Day;  
Our soul's the Sun, whose faint and feeble Ray  
Gives our Earth light; a light but weak, at strongest,  
But low, at highest; very short, at longest:  
The childish Tears, that from our eyes do pass,  
Is like the Dew that pearls the morning grass:  
When as our Sun is but an hour high,  
We go to School, to learn; are whipped, and cry:  
We truant up and down; we make a spoil  
Of precious Time, and sport in our own Toil:  
Our Bed's the quiet Grave; wherein we lay  
Our weary Bodies, tired with the Day:  
The early Trumpet, like the Morning Bell,  
Calls to account; where they that have learnt well  
Shall find Reward; And such as have misspent  
Their Time, shall reap an earned punishment:  
No wonder, then, to see the Sluggards eyes,  
So loath to go to Bed; so loath to rise.   

19  
On the Crowing of a Cock.  
THe Crowing of a Cock doth oft foreshow  
A change of Wether: Peter found it so:  
The Cock no sooner crew, but by and by  
He found a Change of weather in his eye:  
't's an easy thing to say, a●d to swear too,  
we'll dye for Christ; but 'tis as hard to do.   

20.  
On Mammon.  
MAmmon's grown rich: Does Mammon boast of that?  
The Stalled Ox, as well may boast, he's fat.   

21.  
On Church-contemners▪  
THose Church-contemners, that can easily weigh  
The profit of a Sermon with a Play;  
Whose testy stomaches can digest, as well,  
A proffered Injury, as a Sermon-bell;  
That say unwonted Prayers with the like wills,  
As queasy Patients take their loathed Pills:  
To what extremity would they be driven,  
If God, in judgement, should but give them Heaven.   

22.  
On Morus.  
HE is no Fleming: For he cannot Swill:  
No Roman; for his stomach's fleshly still:  
He cannot be a jew; he was baptised:  
Nor yet a Gentile; he was circumcised:  
He is no True man; for he lies a trot:  
Profane he is not; for he swears ye not:  
What is he then? One Feast without a Bill  
Shall make him all; or which of all ye will.   

23.  
On the Hypocrite.  
NO man's condition is so base as his;  
None more accursed than he: For Man esteems  
Him hateful, 'cause he seems not what he is:  
God hates him, 'cause he is not what he seems;  
What grief is absent, or what mischief can  
B● added to the hate of God and Man?   

24.  
On a Pilgrim.  
THe weary Pilgrim, oft, doth ask, and know▪  
How far he's come; how far he has to go●▪  
His way is tedious, and his heart's oppressed,  
And his desire is to be at Rest:  
Our life's a Wayfare; yet fond Man delays  
T'enquier out the number of his Days;  
He cares not, He, how slow his hours spend;  
His journey's better than his journeys end.   

25.  
On the Needle of a sun-dial.  
BEhold this needle; when the Arctic s●one  
Hath touched it, how it trembles up and down;  
Hunts for the Pole; and cannot be possessed,  
Of peace, until it find that point, that rest:  
Such is the heart of Man; which, when it hath  
Attained the virtue of a lively faith,  
It finds no rest on earth, makes no abode,  
In any Object, but his heaven, his God.   

26.  
On Afffiction.  
WHen thou afflict'st me, Lord, if I repine,  
I show myself to be mine own, not thine.   

27.  
On a Sundial.  
Go light a Candle: By that light, make trial,  
How the night spends itself, by the Sundial▪  
Go, search the Scripture; Labour to increase  
In the diviner knowledge of thy Peace  
By thy own light, derived from thy mother:  
Thou mayst as easily do the one, as t'other.   

28.  
On PETER.  
When walking Peter was about to sink  
Into the sea, In what a case d'ye think,  
he'd been; if he had trusted his complaint  
To th'intercession of some helpful Saint:  
Believe it; if Rome's doctrine had been sound,  
And sound followed, Peter had been drowned.   

29  
On Merits.  
FIe, Rome's abused: Can any be thought able  
To merit heaven by works: 'tis a mere fable:  
If so; stout Rome had never been so faint  
To move her suit by a Collateral Saint.   

30.  
On Servio▪  
SErvio serves God▪ Servio has bare relation  
(Not to God's Glory) but his own salvation:  
Servio serves God for life: Servio, 'tis well:  
Servio may find the cooler place in Hell.   

31.  
A soliloquy.  
WHere shall I find my God O where, O where  
Shall I direct my steps, to find him there?  
Shall I make search in swelling Bags of Coin?  
Ah no; For God and Mammon cannot join:  
Do Beds of Down contain this heavenly stranger?  
No no; he's rather cradled in some Manger:  
Dwells he in wisdom? Is he gone that road?  
No no; Man's wisdom's foolishness with God:  
Or hath some new Plantation, yet unknown,  
Made him their King, adorned him with their Crown?  
No, no, the kingdoms of the earth think scorn  
T'adorn his Brows with any Crown but Thorn.  
Where shall I trace; or where shall I go wind him?  
My Lord is gone; and O! I cannot find him:  
I'll ransack the dark Dungeons: I'll inquire  
Into the Furnace, after the seventh fire.  
I'll seek in daniel's Den, and in Paul's prison;  
I'll search his Grave▪ and see if he be risen:  
I'll go to th'house of mourning; and I'll call  
At every Almes-abused Hospital:  
I'll go and ask the widow, that's oppressed;  
The heavy laden, that enquiers rest:  
Il● search the Corners of all broken hearts;  
The wounded Conscience, and the soul that smarts;  
The contrite spirit filled with filial fear;  
I, there he is; and no where else, but there:  
Spare not to scourge they pleasure, O my God,  
So I may find thy presence, with thy Rod.   

32.  
On Daniel in the Den.  
FIerce Lions roaring for their prey? and than  
Daniel thrown in? And Daniel yet remain  
Alive? There was a Lion, in the Den,  
Was daniel's friend, or Daniel had been slain:  
Among ten thousand Lions, I'd not fear,  
Had I but only daniel's Lion there.   

23.  
On those that deserve it.  
O When our Clergy, at the dreadful Day,  
Shall make their Audit; when the judge shall say  
Give your accounts: What, have my Lambs been fed?  
Say, do they all stand sound? Is there none dead  
By your defaults? come shepherds, bring them forth  
That I may crown your labours in their worth:  
O what an answer will be given by some!  
We have been silenced: Canons struck us dumb;  
The Great ones would not let us feed thy flock,  
Unless we pla●'d the fools, and wore a Frock:  
We were forbid unless we'd yield to sign  
And cross their brows, they say, a mark of thine.  
To say the truth, great judge, they were not fed,  
Lord, here they be; but, Lord, they be all dead.  
Ah cruel Shepherds! Could your conscience serve  
Not to be fools, and yet to let them starve?  
What if your Fiery spirits had been bound  
To Antic Habits; or your heads been crowned  
With Peacock's Plumes; had ye been forced to feed  
Your Saviour's dear-bought Flock in a fools weed;  
He that was scorned, reviled; endured the Curse  
Of a base death, in your behalves; nay worse,  
Swallowed the cup of wrath charged up to th' brim,  
Durst ye not stoop to play the fools for him?   

34.  
Do this and live.  
Do this and live? 'tis true, Great God▪ then who  
Can hope for life? for who hath power to Do?  
Art thou not able? Is thy Task too great?  
Canst thou desire help? Canst thou entreat  
Aid from a stronger Arm? Canst thou conceive  
Thy Helper strong enough? Canst thou believe,  
The sufferings of thy dying Lord can give  
Thy drooping shoulders rest? Do this and live.   

35.  
On joseph and his Mistress.  
WHen as th'Egyptian Lady did invite  
Well-favoured joseph to unchaste delight,  
How well the motion and the place agreed!  
A beastly Place, and 'twas a beastly Deed:  
A place well seasoned for so foul a sin;  
To● sweet to serve so foul a Master in▪   

36.  
On Scriptum est.  
SOme words excel in virtue, and discover  
A rare conclusion, thrice repeated over.  
Our Saviour thrice was tempted: thrice repressed  
Th'assaulting tempter with thrice SCRIPTUM EST.  
If thou wouldst keep thy soul secure from harm,  
Tho● knowst the words: It is a potent Charm.   

37.  
On the flourishing of the Gospel.  
HOw do our Pastures flourish, and refresh  
Our uberous Kine, so fair, so full of flesh!  
How do our thriving cattle feed our young  
With plenteous Milk; & with their flesh the strong▪  
Heaven blessed our Charles, and he did our late james,  
From pharoh's troubles, and from pharoh's Dreams.   

38.  
On Ioseph's Speech to his Brethren.  
Go, ●etch your Brother (said th'Egyptian Lord)  
If you intent our Garniers shall afford  
Your craving wants their so desired supplies;  
If He come not, by Pharaoh's life, y'are Spies:  
Even as your Suits expect to find our Grace,  
Bring him; or dare not to behold my face:  
Some little food, to serve you on the way,  
We here allow, but not to feed delay;  
When you present your Brother to our Hand,  
Ye shall have plenty, and possess the Land;  
Away; and let your quick obedience give  
The earnest of your Faiths; Do this and live:  
If not; your wilful wants must want supply,  
For ye are Spies, and ye shall surely dye:  
Great God, th'Egyptian Lord resembles Thee;  
The Brother's jesus; and the Suitors We.   

39  
Of common Devotion.  
Our God and Soldiers we alike adore  
Even at the Brink of danger; not before:  
After deliverance, both alike requited;  
Our God's forgotten, and our Soldiers slighted.   

40.  
On the Day of judgement.  
O When shall that time come, when the loud Trump  
Shall wake my sleeping Ashes from the Dump  
Of their sad Urn! That blessed Day, wherein  
My glorified, my metamorphized Skin  
Shall circumplexe and terminate that fresh  
And new refined substance of this flesh!  
When my transparent Flesh, discharged from groan●s,  
And pains, shall hang upon new polished Bones!  
When as my Body shall re-entertaine  
Her cleansed Soul, and never part again!  
When as my Soul shall, by a new Indenture,  
Possess her newbuilt house, come down and enter!  
When as my Body and my Soul shall plight  
Inviolable faith, and never fight  
Nor wrangle more, ●or alcercat, again,  
About that strife-begetting question, Sin!  
When Soul and Body shall receive their Doom  
Of O ye Blessed of my Father, Come!  
When Death shall be exiled, and damned to dwell  
Within her proper and true Centre, Hell!  
Where that old Tempter shall be bound in Chains,  
And overwhelmed with everlasting pains;  
Whilst I shall sit, and, in full Glory, sing  
Perpetual Anthems to my judge, my King.   

41.  
On Death.  
Why should we not, as well, desire Death,  
As Sleep? No difference, but a little Breath:  
'Tis all but Rest; 'tis all but a Releasing  
Our tired limbs; Why then not alike pleasing?  
Being burdened with the sorrows of the Day,  
We wish for night; which, being come, we lay  
Our Bodies down; yet when our very Breath  
Is irksome to us, weare afraid of Death:  
Our Sleep is oft accompanied with ●rights,  
Distracting Dreams and dangers of the nights;  
When in the Sheets of Death, our body's sure  
From all such Evils, and we sleep secure:  
What matter, Down, or Earth? what boots it whether?  
Alas, Our Bodye's sensible of neither:  
Things that are senseless feel nor pains nor ease;  
Tell me; and why not Worms as well as Fleas?  
In Sleep, we know not whether our closed eyes  
Shall ever wake; from Death weare sure to rise:  
I, but 'tis long first: O, is that our fears?  
Dare we trust God for Nights? and not for Years?   

42.  
On the Body of Man.  
Man's Body's like a House: His greater Bones,  
Are the main Timber; And the lesser Ones,  
Are smaller Splints: His Ribs are Laths, daubed over,  
Plastered with flesh and blood: his Mouth's the Door:  
His Throat's the narrow Entry: And his Heart  
Is the Great Chamber, full of curious Art:  
His Midreife, is a large partition Wall,  
'Twixt the Great Chamber, and the spacious Hall:  
His Stomach is the Kitchen, where the Meat  
Is often but half sod, for want of Heat:  
His Spleen's a Vessel, Nature does allot  
To take the skim, that rises from the Pot:  
His Lungs are like the Bellowes that respire  
In every office, quickening every Fire:  
His Nose, the Chimney is, whereby are vented  
Such Fumes, as with the Bellowes are augmented:  
His Bowels are the Sink, whose part's to drain  
All noisome filth, and keep the Kitchen clean:  
His Eyes like Crystal Windows clear and bright  
Lets in the Ob●ect, and le's out the sight:  
And as the Timber is, or great or small,  
Or strong or weak; 'tis apt to stand, or fall;  
Yet is the likeliest Building sometimes known,  
To fall by obvious Chances; overthrown,  
Ofttimes by Tempests, by the full mouthed Blasts  
Of Heaven; Sometimes by Fire; Sometimes it wastes  
Through unadvised neglect: Put case, the Stuff  
Were ruin-proofe; by nature, strong enough,  
To conquer Time and Age: Put case, it should  
Ne'er know an end, Alas, Our Leases would:  
What hast thou then, proud flesh and blood, to boast?  
Thy Days are evil, at best,; but few, at most;  
But sad, at merryest▪ and but weak, at strongest;  
Unsure, at surest; and but short, at longest,   

43.  
On the young man in the Gospel.  
HOw well our Saviour and the landed Youth  
Agreed a little while? And, to say truth,  
Had he had will and power in his hand,  
To keep the Law, but as he kept his Land;  
No doubt, his soul had found the sweet fruition  
Of his own choice desires without Petition:  
But he must Sell and Follow; or else, not  
Obtain his heaven: O now his heavens too hot:  
He cannot stay; he has no business there:  
he'll rather miss, then buy his heaven too dear:  
When Broth's too hot for hasty hounds, how they  
Will lick their scalded lips, and sneak away!   

44.  
On Man's goodness and God's love.  
GOd loves not Man, because that Man is good;  
For Man is sinful, because Flesh and Blood:  
We argue false: It rather may behoove us,  
To think us good, 'cause God thinks good to love us▪  
He that shall argue up from Man to God,  
Takes but the pains to gather his own Rod:  
Who from such Premises, shall drawe's Conclusion,  
Makes but a Syllogism of his own confusion.   

45.  
On Man's Plea.  
Man's Plea to Man, is, That he never more  
Will beg, and that he never begged before:  
Man's Plea to God, is, That he did obtain  
A former Suit, and therefore sues again.  
How good a God we serve; that when we sue,  
Makes his old gifts th'examples of his new!   

46.  
On Furio.  
FVrio will not forgive; Furio beware:  
Furio will curse himself in the Lord's Prayer.   

47.  
On Martha and Mary.  

MArtha, with joy, received her blessed Lord;  
Her Lord she welcomes, feasts, and entertains:  
Marry sa●e silent▪ hairs, but speaks no word;  
Martha takes all, and Mary takes no pains:  
Mary's to hear▪ to feast him Martha's care is;  
Now which is greater, Martha's love, or Mary's?   

Martha is full of trouble, to prepare;  
Martha respects his good beyond her own:  
Mary sits still at ease, and takes no care;  
Mary desires to please herself, alone:  
The pleasure's mary's; Martha's all the care is;  
Now which is greater, Martha's love, or mary's?   

'tis true; Our blessed Lord was Martha's Guest;  
Mary was his; and, in his feast, delighted:  
Now which hath greater reason to love best,  
The bountiful Invitor, or th'invited?  
Sure, both loved well; But Mary was the debtor,  
And therefore should, in reason, love the better▪   

mary's was spiritual; Martha's love was carnal;  
T'one kissed his hand; The other, but the Glove:  
As far as mortal is beneath eternal,  
So far is Martha's less than mary's love:  
How blessed is he, Great God, whose heart remembers  
mary's to Thee; and Martha's to thy Members!    

48.  
On our Blessed Saviour.  
WE often read our blessed Saviour wept;  
But never laughed, and seldom that he slept:  
Ah, sure his heavy eyes did wake, ●●d weep  
For us that sin, so oft, in Mirth, and Sleep.   

49.  
On Sins.  
SI●●es, in respect of Man, all mortal be;  
All venial, jesus, in respect of Thee.   

50.  
On Man's behaviour to God.  
WE use our God, as Vs'rers do their bands;  
We often bear him in our hearts, our hands▪  
His Paths are beaten, and his Ways are trod,  
So long as he's a profitable God:  
But when the Money's paid, the Profit's taken,  
Our Bands are cancelled, and our God's forsaken.   

51.  
On Man's Cruelty.  
ANd darest thou venture still to live in Sin,  
And crucify thy dying Lord again?  
Were not his Pangs sufficient? must he bleed  
Yet more? O, must our sinful pleasures feed  
Upon his Torments; and augment the Story  
Of the sad passion of the Lord of Glory!  
Is there no pity? Is there no remorse  
In humane breasts? Is there a firm di●ors●  
Betwixt all mercy, and the hearts of Men?  
Parted for ever? ne'er to meet again?  
No mercy bides with us: '●is thou, alone,  
Hast it, sweet Jesus, for us, that have none  
For Thee: Thou hast ●ore-stal'd our Markets so,  
That all's Above, and we have none Below:  
Nay, blessed Lord, we have not wherewithal  
To serve our shiftless selves, unless we call  
To thee, that art our Saviour, and hast power  
To give, and whom we crucify, each hour:  
weare cruel (Lord) to thee, and ourselves too;  
JESV forgive's; we know not what we do.   

52.  
Man's Progress.  
THe Earth is that forbidden Tree that grows  
Ith' midst of Paradise; Her Fruit that shows  
So sweet, so fair, so pleasing to the eyes,  
Is worldly pleasure in a fair disguise:  
The Flesh suggests: The fruit is ●aire and good  
Apt to make wise, and a delicious Food;  
It hath a secret virtue, wherewithal  
To make you Gods; and not to dye at all.  
Man ●asts, and tempts the frailty of his Brother;  
His Brother eats; One bits calls on another:  
His guilty Conscience opes his eyes; He sees,  
He sees his empty nakedness▪ and flees;  
He stitches slender Fig-leaves, and does frame  
Poor Arguments t'●xcuse his Sin, his Shame:  
But in the cooler evening of his Days,  
The voice calls Adam: Adam's in a Maze:  
His Conscience bids him run: The voice pursues;  
Poor Ad●m trembles, ere he knows the news:  
Adam must quit the Garden, lest he strive  
To taste the saving Tree of life, and live;  
Poor Man must go; But whether is he bound?  
Even to the place from whence he came, the ●round.   

53.  
On the two great Floods.  
TWo Floods I read of; Water, and of Wine;  
The first was Noah's; Lot, the last was thine:  
The first was the Effect▪ The last, the Cause  
Of that foul Sin, against the sacred Laws  
Of God and Nature, Incest: Noah found  
An Ark to save him, but poor Lot was drowned;  
Good N●ah found an Ark; but L●t found none:  
weare safer in God's hands then in our own:  
The former flood of waters did extend  
But some few days; this latter has no end;  
They both destroyed, I know not which the worst:  
The last is even as General, as the first:  
The first being ceased; the world began to fill;  
The last depopulates, and wastes it still:  
Both Floods over welmed both Man and beast together;  
The last is worst, if there be best of either:  
The first are ceased: Heaven vowed it by a Sign;  
When shall we se● a Rainbow after Wine?   

54.  
On Fuca.  
FVca▪ thou quo●'●t the Scriptures on thy side,  
And mak'st Rebec●a patronise ●hy pride;  
Thou sayest that she wore Earrings: Did she so?  
Know this withal, She bore the Pitcher too:  
Thou may'st, like h●r, we●re Earrings, if thy pride  
Can stoop to what, Rebecca did beside.   

55.  
On Abraham's servant.  
THis faithful Servant will not feed, u●till  
He do his trust-reposing Masters will:  
There's many, now, that will not eat before  
They speed their Master's work: They'll drink the more.   

56.  
On Alexander.  
NO marvel, thou great Monarch, didst complain  
And weep, there were no other worlds to gain;  
Thy griefs and thy complaints were not amiss;  
H'as Grief enough, that finds no world but this.   

57  
On rash judgement.  
IVdge not too fast: This Tree that does appear  
So barren, may be fruitful the next year:  
Hast thou not patience to expect the hour?  
I fear thy own are Crabs they be so ●ower:  
Thy Judgement oft may tread beside the Text;  
A Saul to day, may prove a Paul, the next.   

58.  
On Jacob's purchase.  
HOw poor was Jacob's motion, and how strang●  
His offer! How unequal was th'exchange!  
A mess of Porridge for Inheritance?  
Why could not hungry E●au strive t'enhaunce  
His price a little? So much underfoot?  
Well might he give him Bread and drink to boot:  
An easy price! The case is even our own;  
For toys we often sell our Heaven, our Crown.   

59  
On Esau.  
WHat hast thou done? Nay what shall Esau do?  
Lost both his Birthright, and his Blessing too!  
What hath poor Esau left, but empty tears,  
And Plaints, that cannot reach the old man's ears?  
What with thy Father's Diet, and thine own,  
Thy Birthright's aliened, and thy Blessing's gone:  
How does one mischief overtake an other:  
In both, how overtaken by a Brother?  
Could thy imperious stomach but have stayed,  
And if thy Fathers had not been delayed,  
Thou hadst not need have wept and pleaded so,  
But kept thy Birthright, and thy Blessing too:  
Had thy unprosp'rous, thy unlucky hand  
Dispatched thy Venz'on, as it did thy Land,  
Thy sorrows had not made so great a Heap,  
That had not been so dear; nor this, so cheap:  
Had thine given place but to thy Father's will,  
Th'ad'st had thy Birthright; and thy Blessing still.   

60.  
On the absence of a blessing.  
THe blessing gone, what does there now remain?  
Esau's offended; jacob must be slain:  
The heart of man once emptied of a Grace,  
How soon the Devil jostles in the place!   

61.  
On the younger Brother.  
I Know, the Elder and the Younger, too,  
Are both alike to God; Nor one, nor other  
Can plead their years, But yet we often do  
Observe, the Blessing's on the younger Brother:  
The Scripture notes it, but does spare to show  
A reason; therefore, I despair to know.   

62.  
On Kain.  
BEfore that Monster spilt his Brother's blood,  
W'●re sure the fourth part of the world was good:  
O, what a dearth of goodness did there grow,  
When the Fourth part was murdered at a blow!   

63.  
On the righteous Man.  
Promise's is d●tt: And Det implies a payment:  
How can the righteous, then doubt food, & raiment?   

63.  
On Faith, Love, and Charity.  
BY nature Faith is fiery, and it tends  
Still upward: Love, by native course, descends:  
But Charity, whose nature doth confound  
And mix the former two, moveth ever round:  
Lord, let thy Love descend, and then the Fire  
Of sprightly Faith shall kindle, and aspire:  
O, then, my circling Charity shall move  
In proper motion, mixed of Faith and Love.   

64.  
On Jacob's Pillow.  
THe Bed, was Earth: The raised Pillow, Stones,  
Whereon poor jacob rests his head, his Bones;  
Heaven was his Canopy; The Shades of night  
Were his drawn Curtains, to exclude the Light:  
Poor State for isack's heir! It seems to me,  
His cattle found as soft a Bed, as He:  
Yet God appeared there, his joy, his Crown;  
God is not always seen in Beds of Down:  
O, if that God shall please to make my Bed,  
I care not where I rest my Bones, my Head;  
With Thee, my wants can never prove extreme;  
With Jacob's Pillow, give me Jacob's Dream.   

65.  
On Faith.  
FAith does acknowledge Gifts, although we have not;  
It keeps unseen those Sins, Confession hid not;  
It makes us to enjoy the Goods we have not;  
It counts as done, those pious deeds, we did not;  
It works; endowes; it freely ●accepts; it hides:  
What Grace is absent where true Faith abides?   

66▪  
On Zacheus.  
ME thinks, I see, with what a busy haste,  
Zacheus climbed the Tree: But, O, how fast  
How full of speed, canst thou imagine (when  
Our Saviour called) he powdered down again!  
He ne'er made trial if the boughs were sound,  
Or rotten; nor how far 'twas to the ground:  
There was no danger feared: At such a Call,  
he'll venture nothing, that dare fear a fall:  
Needs must he down, by such a Spirit driven▪  
Nor could he fall, unless he fell to Heaven:  
Down came Zacheus, ravished from the Tree;  
Bird that was shot, ne'er dropped so quick as he.   

67.  
On the Thief and Slanderer.  
THe Thief, and Sland'rer are almost the same;  
T'one steals my goods; the tother, my good name:  
T'one lives in scor●e; the other dies in shame.   

68  
On Abram● pleading for Sodom.  
HOw loath was righteous Abraham to cease,  
To beat the price of lustful Sodoms peace!  
Mark how his holy boldness intercepts  
God's justice; Brings his Mercy down, by steps:  
He dare not bid so few as Ten, at first;  
Nor yet from Fifty righteous persons, durst  
His Zeal, on sudden, make too great a fall,  
Although he wished salvation to them all.  
Great God: Thy dying Son has power to clear  
A world of sins, that one shall no● appear  
Before thine angry eyes: What wonder then,  
To see thee fall, from Fifty down to Ten!   

69.  
On Man's goodness.  
THy hand, great God, created all things good;  
But Man rebelled, and in defiance stood  
Against his own Creation, and did stain,  
Nay lost that goodness which the Beasts retain▪  
What ●ap has Man, poor Man, above the rest,  
That hath less goodness left him, than a Beast!   

70.  
On Zacheus.  
Short-legged Zacheu●▪ 'Twas the happiest Tree  
That ever mortal climbed; I mean, to Thee:  
Thy pains in going up, received the Crown  
Of all thy labour, at thy coming down:  
Thy Statures lowness gave thee fair occasion  
To mount that Tree; that Tree, to find Salvation:  
But was't the Tree, Zacheus? No, 'twas He,  
Whose bleeding Body died upon the Tree.   

71.  
On the Roman, Turk, and Atheist.  
THe Roman worships God upon the wall;  
The Turk, a false God; Th' Atheist, none at all.   

72.  
On Babel's Building.  
GReat God, no sooner borne, but we begin  
Babel's accursed Foundation, by our Sin:  
Our thoughts, our words, our deeds are ever yielding  
The sad materials of our sinful Building:  
Should not thy Grace prevent it, it would even  
Rise, and rise up, until it reached to heaven:  
Lord, ere our Building shall begin to show,  
Confound our Language, and our Building too▪   

73.  
On the Thief and the Liar.  
THe Liar and the Thief have one Vocation;  
Their difference is but only in their Fashion:  
They both deceive; but diversely proceed;  
The first deceives by Word; the last, by Deed.   

74.  
On the Egyptians Famine.  
Mark but the course the pined Egyptians run:  
When all their coin, when all their corn is done:  
They come to joseph, and their stomaches plead;  
They change their beasts for corn, their flocks for bread,  
Yet still they want: Observe what now they do;  
They give their Lands, and yield their Bodies too:  
Now they have Corn enough; and now, they shall  
Have seed to sow their barren soil withal;  
Provided that the fi●t of their increase  
Be Pharoes: Now their stomaches are at peace:  
Thus when the Famine of the Word shall strike  
Our hungry Souls; our Souls must do the like:  
We first must part with, (as by their directions)  
Our Flocks, our Beasts, our Bestial Affections;  
When they are gone, what then must Sinners do?  
Give up their Lands, their Souls, and Bodies too:  
O, than our hearts shall be refreshed and fed,  
We shall have seed to sow, and present Bread:  
Allowing but the fifth of our increase,  
We shall have plenty, and our souls have peace▪  
How art thou pleased, good God, that Man should live!  
How slow art thou to take! how free to give!   

75.  
On Zacheus.  
WEll climbed, Zacheus; 'Twas a step well given;  
Fron hence tooth Tree; & from the Tree to Heaven!   

76.  
On the Ploughman.  
I Hear the whistling Ploughman, all day long,  
Sweetening his labour with a cheerful song:  
His Bed's a Pad of Straw; His diet, course;  
In both, he fares not better than his Horse:  
He seldom slakes his thirst, but from the Pump,  
And yet his heart is blithe; his visage, plump▪  
His thoughts are ne'er acquainted with such things.  
As Griefs or Fears; He only sweats, and sings:  
When as the Landed Lord, that cannot dine  
Without a Qualm, if not refreshed with Wine;  
That cannot judge that controverted case,  
'Twixt meat & mouth, without the Bribe of Sauce▪  
That claims the service to the purest linen,  
To pamper and to shroud his dainty skin in,  
Groans out his days, in labouring to appease  
The rage of either Business, or Disease:  
Alas, his silken Robes, his costly Diet  
Can lend a little pleasure, but no Quiet:  
The untold sums of his descended wealth  
Can give his Body plenty, but not Health:  
The one, in Pains, and want, possesses all;  
Tother, in Plenty, finds no peace at all;  
'Tis strange! And yet the cause is easily known;  
Tone's at Gods finding; t'other, at his own.   

77.  
On a happy Kingdom.  
THat Kingdom, and none other, happy is,  
Where Moses, and his Aar●n meet, and kiss.   

78.  
On God's appearance to Moses.  
G●● first appeared ●o Moses, in the Myre;  
The next time he appeared, h●appeard in Fire;  
The third time, he was known to Moses eye  
Upon mount Sinai, clothed in Majesty.  
Thrice God appears to Man: first, ●allowing in  
His ●oule pollution, and base Myre of Sin;  
And like to Pharaoh's daughter does bemoan  
Our helpless State, and draws us, for his own:  
The next ●ime, he appears in Fire, whose bright  
And gentle flames consume not, but give light;  
It is the Fire of Grace; where man is bound  
To d'off his Sh●●●s, because 'tis holy ground:  
The last appearance shall be in that Mount,  
Where every Soul shall render an Account  
Of good or evil; where all things Transitory  
Shall cease▪ & Grace be crowned with perfect Glory.   

79.  
On Gods Law.  
Thy Sacred Law, O God,  
Is like to MO●ES ●od●  
If we 〈◊〉 i● i● our hand,  
It will do Wonders in the Land;  
If we slight and throw it to the Ground;  
'Twill 〈…〉  
A Wound that Flesh and Blood cannot endure,  
Nor salve, until the Brazen Serpent cure:  
I wish not, Lord, thou shouldst withhold it;  
Nor would I have it, and not hold it:  
O ●each me the●● my God▪  
To handle MOS●S Rod.   

80.  
On Pharo●●s brick.  
Our God's not like to Pha●o●; to require  
His 〈…〉 for Fi●e:  
His workmen wanted Straw, and yet were lashed,  
For not performance: We have Straw unthrasht,  
Yet we are idl●, and we w●●ch, and kick  
Against our Burdens, and return no Brick:  
We spend our 〈…〉 the S●abl●,  
And then we cry▪ Alas! W● are not able;  
Think not on Isra●ls sufferings, in that day,  
When thy offended Justice shall repay  
Our labo●●; Lord▪ when 〈…〉  
Think, 〈◊〉 was a Tyrant; Thou▪ a ●od.   

81.  
On the insa●iablenesse of Man's heart.  
THis Globe of earth has not the power to fill  
The Heart of Man, but it desires still:  
By him that seeks, the Cause is easily found;  
The Heart's Triangular; The Earth is Round;  
He may be full; but, never to the brim  
Be filled with Earth, till earth be filled with him.   

82.  
On Pharoe's ●ard-heartednes.  
Plague's after Plagues? And yet not Pharaoh yield  
T'enlarge poor Israel? Was thy heart so steeled,  
Rebellious Tyrant, that it dare withstand  
The oft repeated judgements of heavens hand?  
Could neither Mercies oil, nor judgements thunder  
Dissolve, nor break thy flinty heart in sunder?  
No, no, what Sun beams soften not, they harden;  
Purposed Rebellions are asleep to Pardon.   

83.  
On the change of Pharoe's fortunes.  
OBserve what peace great Pharo's kingdom found  
while joseph lived; what blessi●gs●round ●round  
His happy days! heavens plague-inf●icting hand  
Was then a stranger to his peaceful Land:  
Peace was entailed upon his Royal Thron●;  
His Land had Plenty, when the World had none;  
His full desires over-flowd their Brim,  
Favours cam● down unasked, unsought by him:  
His Sceptre flourished, from a God unknown,  
No need to tro●ble any of his own:  
While joseph lived, his Blessings had no end;  
That God was his, whilst he was Joseph's Friend:  
These temporal Blessings heaven doth, often, share  
Unto the wicked, at the Goodman's Prayer:  
But joseph dies: And Ios●phs Sons must fall  
Beneath their Burdens, and be scourged withal;  
Whilst Tyrant Pharoh's more severer hand  
Keeps them laborious Prisoners in his Land:  
God oft permits his Children to be hurled  
Into distress, to wean them from the world:  
But pharoh's Blessings alter with his Brow;  
The budding sceptre's turned a Serpent now:  
His Land must groan; her plagues must still increase,  
Till Jacob's Offspring shall find Jacob's peace;  
God's Children are the Apples of his Eye,  
Whose touch is death, if being touched, they cry:  
Now Tyrant Pharaoh dares no longer choose,  
Israel must go: Pharaoh, reputes, pursues;  
Pharaoh wants Brick; Pharaoh, ere long, I fear,  
Will find the purchase of his Brick too dear:  
Moses holds forth his Rod: The Seas divide;  
The Waves are turned to Walls on either side:  
They pass secure; Pharaoh pursues them still:  
God leaves his Children to the brunt of Ill:  
The Chariot- Wheels fly off, the Harness cracks;  
One wants a Nail; the next, a Hammer lacks:  
How Man is crossed and puzzled in that Plot,  
Where Heaven denies success, and prospers not!  
Moses holds forth his Rod: The Eastern wind  
Calls back the Tides: The parted Waters joined,  
And overwhelmd great Pharo and Pharaoh's Host;  
None scaped to ●ell the news: All drowned, and lost:  
Thus thrives Rebellion: Plagues, nor doing good,  
Ofttimes conclude their Ceremony in Blood:  
Thus hardened hearts grow more and more obdure;  
And Heaven cuts off, when Earth is most secure.   

84.  
On the first born●.  
THe Fir●● Borne of th' Egyptians all were slain,  
From him that holds the Sceptre to the Swain:  
But all that are Firstborn in Israel, be  
Accepted, Lord, and sanctified to Thee:  
Thy looks are always turned upon the Prime  
Of all our Actions, Words, our thoughts, our time;  
Thy pleased Eye is fixed upon the First;  
And from the Womb weare thy, or else accursed.   

85.  
On baptised Infants.  
I Dare not judge those judgements, ill advised,  
That hold such Infants sa●'d, as dye, baptised.  
What hinders Life? Original hath been  
New was●t away; There's yet, no Actual Sin:  
Death is th'Effect of Sin: The Cause being gone,  
What ground is lef● for Death to work upon?  
I know not: But of Israel's sons 'tis found,  
Moses was saved; I read that none was drowned.   

86.  
On the grumbling Israelites.  
NO sooner out, but grumble? Is the Brick  
So soon forgotten? 'Tis a common trick:  
Serve God in Plenty? Egypt can do thus▪  
No thanks to serve our God, when God serves us:  
Some sullen Curs, when they perceive a Bone,  
Will wag their Tails and faun; But snarl, if none.   

87.  
On Man's Rebellion.  
O, How perverse is Flesh and Blood! in whom  
Rebellion blossoms from the very Womb!  
What Heaven commands, how lame we are to do!  
And things forbid how soon persuaded t●  
We never read rebellious Israel did  
Bow to strange Gods, till Israel was forbid.   

88  
On Israel.  
HAd Israel, in her want, been truly humbled,  
Isr'el had prayed, & ground to heaven; not grumbled:  
But Isr'el wanted food. Isr'els' complaint  
Could not be servant, Isr'el being faint:  
Isr'el gets food: Now Isr'el is so full,  
That her Devotion, and her Zeal is dull:  
Lord when art thou in season? When's the time,  
To do thee service? When's our Zeal in prime?  
'Tis always either not full ripe or wasting:  
We can not serve our God nor Full nor Fasting.   

89.  
On the Sinners Refuge.  
HE that shall shed, with a presumptuous hand,  
The blood of Man; must, by thy just command  
Be put to death: The Murderer must dye;  
Thy Law denies him refuge where to fly:  
Great God Our hands have slain a man; nay further,  
They have committed a presumptuous murder,  
Upon a guiltless Man; Na●, what is worse,  
They have betrayed our Brother to the Curse  
Of a reproachful death▪ Nay, what exceeds,  
It is our Lord, our dying Saviour bleeds:  
Nay more; It is thy Son; thy only Son;  
All this have we, all this our hands have done:  
On what dear Objects shall we turn our eye?  
Look to the Law? O, by the Law, we die:  
Is there no Refuge, Lord? No place that shall  
Secure our Souls from Death? A●, none at all?  
What shall poor Mortals do? Thy Laws are j●st,  
And most irrevocable: Shall we trust  
Or fly to our own Merits, and ●e freed  
By our good Works? I; there were help indeed!  
Is there no City for a Soul to fly,  
And save itself: Must we resolve to dye?  
O Infinite! O (not to be expressed?)  
Nay, not to be conceived by the breast  
Of Men or Angels! O transcendent Love!  
Incomprehensible! as far above  
The reach of Man, as man's deserts are under  
The sacred Benefit of so ●lest a Wonder!  
That very Blood our sinful hands have shed,  
Cries loud for Mercy, and those Wounds do plead  
For those that made them: he that pleads, forgives;  
And is both God and Man; both dead, and lives;  
He, whom we murdered, is become our G●arden;  
he's Man, to suffer; and he's God to pardon:  
Here's our Protection; Here, our Refuge City,  
Whose living springs run Piety and Pity:  
Go then, my Soul, and pass the common Bounds  
Of Passion, Go, and kneel before his Wounds;  
Go touch them with thy lips: thou needst not fear;  
They will not bleed afresh, though Thou be there:  
But if they do, that very Blood, thou spilt,  
Believe't, will plead thy Pardon, not thy Guil●.   

90.  
On the deposing of Princes.  
I Know not by what virtue Rome deposes  
A Christian Prince: Did Aaron command Moses?  
If sacred Scriptures mention such a thing,  
Sure Rome has colour to depose a King.   

91.  
On PETER'S Keys.  
THe power of Peter does all power excel;  
He opens Heaven; He shuts the Doors of Hell:  
The Keys are his; In what a ●a●e were they,  
Should Peters● Successors mistake the K●y?   

92.  
On Offerings.  
ARe all such Offerings, as are crushed, and bruised,  
Forbid thy Altar? May they not be used?  
And must all broken things be set apart?  
No, Lord: Thou wilt accept a Broken Heart.   

93  
On Usurers.  
OF all men, Vs'rers are not least accursed;  
They rob the spital, pinch th'Afflicted worst.  
In others grief they're most delighted in;  
Whilst Givers suffer for the Takers sin:  
O how unjust a Trade of life is that,  
Which makes the labourers lean; and th' idle, fat!   

94.  
On Repentance.  
CAnst th●● recover thy consumed Flesh,  
From the well-feasted Worms? Or put on fresh?  
Canst thou redeem thy Ashes from the dead?  
Or quit thy Carcase from her sheet of Lead?  
Canst thou awaken thy earth-closed eyes?  
Unlock thy Marble Monument, and rise?  
All this thou mayst perform, with as great ease,  
As to Repent thee, mortal, when thou please:  
It is thy Grave, not Bed that thou art in:  
thouart not asleep, but thou art dead in Sin.   

95.  
On Wine and Water.  
NAture and Grace, who ever tasted both,  
Differ as much, as Wine and Water doth:  
This cleanses, (if not grossly stained with Sin)  
The outward Man: but scours not, within:  
That cheers the heart, & makes the Courage bold,  
Quickens and warms dead spirits that are cold:  
It fires the Blood, and makes the Soul divine:  
O ●hat my Water, Lord, were turned to Wine!   

96.  
On balam's Ass.  
THe Ass, that for her slowness, was ●orbid  
To be employed in God's service, did  
Perform good service now, in being slow:  
The Ass received stripes, but would not go:  
She balked the way, and Balam could not guide her:  
The Ass had far more wisdom than the Rider:  
The Message being bad, the Ass was loath  
To be the Bearer: 'Twas a happy sloth;  
'Twas well for Balam: Had his Ass but tried  
Another step, Balam had surely died:  
Poor Ass! And was thy faithful service paid  
With oft-repeated strokes? Hadst thou obeyed,  
Thy Lord had bought thy travel, with his blood:  
Such is Man's payment, often, bad for Good:  
The Ass begins to question with his Master,  
Argues the case, pleads why he went no faster:  
Nay, shows him mysteries, far beyond his reach▪  
Sure, Godwants Prophets, when dull Asses preach:  
The Ass perceives the Angel, and falls down;  
When Balam sees him not; or ●ees, unknown:  
Nor is't a wonder: for God's Spirit did pass  
From blindfold Balam, into balam's Ass.   

97.  
On some raw Divines.  
SOme raw Divines, no sooner are Espoused  
To their first Wives, and in the Temple housed,  
But strait the Peace is broke: They now begin  
T'appoint the Field, to fight their Battles in:  
Schoolmen must war with School men; text with text:  
The first's the Chaldees Paraphrase; the next  
The Septuagints: Opinion thwarts Opinion;  
The Papist holds the first; The last, th' Arminian;  
And then the Counsels must be called t'advice,  
What this of Lateran says; what that of Nice:  
And here the point must be anew disputed;  
Arrius is false; and Bellarmine's confuted:  
Thus with the sharp Artill'ry of their Wit,  
They shoot at Random, careless where they hit:  
The slightly studied Fathers must be prayed,  
Although on small acquaintance, in to aid,  
Whose glorious Varnish must impose a gloss  
Upon their Paint, whose gold must gild their dross:  
Now Martin Luther must be purged by them,  
From all his Errors, like a Schoolboys Theme;  
Free-wil's disputed, Consubstantiation▪  
And the deep Ocean of Predestination,  
Where, daring venture, oft, too far into't,  
They, Pharo like, are drowned both Horse and Foot:  
Forgetting that the Sacred Law enjoins  
New-married men to sit beneath their Vines,  
And cheer their Wives: They must not venture out  
To War, until the Year be run about.   

98.  
On Buying of the Bible.  
'tIs but a folly to rejoice, or boast,  
How small a price, thy wel-bought pennyworth cost:  
Until thy death, thou shalt not fully know  
Whether thy Purchase be good cheap, or no;  
And at that day, believe't, it will appear,  
If not extremely cheap, extremely dear.   

99  
On the Buying of the New Testament.  
REader, If thou wilt prove no more  
Than what I term thee, even before  
Thou ask the price, turn back thine eye;  
If otherwise, unclasp, and buy:  
Know then, the Price of what thou buyest,  
Is the dear Blood of jesus Christ;  
Which Price is over-deare to none,  
That dares protect it with his own:  
If thou stand guilty of the price,  
Even save thy purs-strings, and be wise:  
Thy money will but, in conclusion,  
Make purchase of thy own Confusion:  
But if that guilt be done away,  
Thou mayst as safely buy, as pay.   

100  
To my BOOK.  
MY Little Pinnace, strike thy Sails,  
Let slip thy Anchor? The Win●e fails:  
And Seamen oft, in Calms do fear  
That foul, and boy ●●rous ●●ather's near;  
If a 〈◊〉 Storm should rise  
And bl●●●er from Censorious Eyes,  
Although the swelling Wa●es be rough,  
And proud, thy 〈◊〉 sa●e enough:  
Rest, Rest a while, ●ill ebbing Tides  
Shall make thee staunch, and breme thy sides;  
When Winds shall serve, hoist up thy Sail,  
And fly before a prosperous Gale▪  
That all the Coasters may resort,  
And bid thee welcome to thy PORT.   
The end of the first Book.   

DIVINE FANCIES.  
The second Book.  

1.  
To Almighty GOD.  
LORD, Thou requirest the first of all our Time,  
The first of all our Actions, and the prime  
Of all our Thoughts; And, Lord, good reason, we,  
When Thou giv'st all, should give the First to Thee:  
But O, we often rob thee of thy due,  
Like Elies' Children, whom thy vengeance slew:  
We pinch thy Offering to enlarge our Fee;  
We keep the Fat, and carve the Lean to thee:  
We thrust our three-toothed Fleshhook in thy Pot,  
That only, what the Fleshhook taketh not,  
We share to thee: Lord, we are still deceiving;  
We take the Prime, and feed thee with our leaving:  
Our Sluttish Bowls are creamed with soil & filth,  
Our Wheat is full of Chaff; of Tares, our Tilth:  
Lord, what in Flesh and Blood can there be had,  
That's worth the having, when the best is bad,  
Here's nothing good, unless thou please to make it;  
O, then, if ought be worth the taking, take it.   

2.  
On God's Diet.  
Dear Lord; when we approach thy sacred Fire,  
To burn our Sacrifice, thou dost require  
The Heads of every Beast that dies; the Hearts;  
Th'enclosed Fat●; and all the Inward parts:  
Our Senses and our Memories must be,  
All set apart and sanctified to Thee;  
The strength of our Desires, the best perfections  
Of our imperfect Wills, the choice Aflections  
Of our refined hearts must all conjoin  
To seek thy Glory: They must all be thine:  
I know thy Diet, Lord; Of all the rest,  
Thou dost affect the Head and Pur●nance, best.   

3.  
On Moses Birth and Death.  
WE read; no sooner newborn Moses crept  
Into this vale of Tears, but th'Infant wept;  
But, being warned of his Death, his Last,  
We find it storied, that he sung as fast:  
These several Passions found their reason, why;  
He died to live, but he was borne to dye:  
To whom this Transitory life shall bring  
Just cause to weep; there, death gives cause to sing.   

4.  
On Ieptha's Vow.  
VIctorious jeptha, could thy Zeal allow  
No other way, then by a rash-made Vow,  
T'express thy Thanks? A Vow, whose undertaking  
Was even a Sin more odious, than the making:  
'Twas cruel Piety that taught thee how  
To paddle in thy Daughters' Blood: But thou,  
Unlucky Virgin! was there none to ●e▪  
Betwixt thy Father's mortal Brow▪ and Thee?  
Why cam'st thou forth, sweet Virgin? To what end  
Mad'st thou such needless haste? Thou cam'st, to lend  
Thy filial Triumph to thy Father's Wreath;  
Thou thought'st to meet a Blessing, and not Death:  
Rash jeptha▪ may not thy repentance quit  
That Vow, when Rashness was the Cause of it?  
O canst thou not dispense with that, wherein▪  
Thy strict Religion's a presumptuous Sin?  
Is she unhappy, or thou cruel rather?  
Unhappy Child▪ and too too cruel Father.   

5.  
On Jesus and Samson.  
AN Angel did to M●no●hs wife appear,  
And brought the news her barren Womb should bear:  
Did not another Angel, if not He,  
Thrice blessed Virgin, bring the same to thee?  
The Wife of M●no●h (nine months being run)  
Her He●v'n-saluted womb brought forth a Son:  
To thee, sweet Virgin, full of Grace and Heaven,  
A Child was borne, to us a Son was given:  
The name of hers was Samson, borne to fight  
For captived Israel, and a Nazarite:  
Thine was a Naz'rite too, and bor●e to ease us  
From Satan's burdens, and his name is jesus:  
S●●pson esponsed, and took in Marriage her  
That was the child of an Idolater;  
Our jesus took a wife, that bowed the knee  
And worshipped unknown 〈◊〉; as well as she:  
Assaulted Sa●pso● me●, and had to do  
With ● fierce Lion; ●oyld, and 〈◊〉 him too:  
Our conquering jesus purchased higher fame;  
His arm encountered Death▪ and overcame▪  
〈…〉  
〈…〉  
〈…〉  
〈…〉  
〈…〉  
〈…〉  
But what! Is Samson singular in this?  
Did not our jesus do the like to his?  
Samson propounds a Riddle, and does hide  
The folded Mystery in his faithless Bride:  
Our blessed jesus propounds Riddles too,  
Too hard for Man, his Bride unsought, t'undo:  
The Bride forsakes her Samson; does betrothe her  
To a new Love, and falsely weds another:  
And did not the adulterous jews forgo  
Their first Love jesus, and forsake him too?  
Displeased Samson had the choice to wed  
The younger Sister in the Elders stead:  
Displeased Jesus had espoused the Younger;  
God send her fairer; and affections stronger:  
Samson sent Foxes on his fiery errant,  
Among their corn, & made their crimes his warrant:  
Offended Jesus shows as able signs  
Of wrath: His Foxes have destroyed their Vines:  
Our Sampsons' love to Delilah was such,  
That for her sake poor Samson suffered much:  
Our Jesus had his Delilah: For her  
His Soul became so great a sufferer.  
Samson was subject to their scorn and shame:  
And was not Jesus even the very same?  
Sampson's betrayed to the Philistians hands,  
Was bound a while, but quickly broke his bands:  
Jesus the first, and s●cond day, could be  
The Graves clos● prisoner; but, the third was free:  
In this they differed; Jesus dying Breath  
Cried out for Life; but Sampsons' called for Death:  
Father forgive them; did our Jesus cry;  
But Samson, Let me be revenged and dye:  
Since then, sweet Saviour, 'tis thy Death must ease us,  
We fly from Samson, and appeal to jesus.   

6.  
On Elyes' double ●ensure.  
When barren Hanna, prostrate on the Floor,  
In heat of zeal and passion, did implore  
Redress from Heaven, censorions Ely thought  
She had been drunk, and checked her for her fault;  
Rough was his Censure, and his Check, austere;  
Where mildness should be used, weare oft severe.  
But when his lustful Sons, that could abuse  
The House of God, making her Porch their Stues,  
Appeared before him, his indulgent tongue  
Compounded rather then rebuked the wrong;  
He dare not shoot, for fear he wound his Child;  
Where we should be severe, weare oft too mild:  
Unequal Ely! was thy Sentence just,  
To censure Zeal, and not to punish Lust?  
Could thy parental mildness but have past  
The former by as easily, as the last,  
Or had the last, by just proportion, been  
Rated but like the first supposed sin,  
Perchance thy aged head had found increase  
Of some few days, and gone to sleep, in peace:  
Passions misplaced are dangerous: Let all  
Remember Elis Faults, with Elis Fall.   

7.  
On the refining of Gold.  
HAst thou observed how the curious hand  
Of the Refiner seeks to understand  
The inadult'rate pureness of his Gold?  
He weighs it first, and after does enfold  
In Lead; and then, commits it ●o the Fire;  
And, as the Lead consumes, the Gold draws ●igher  
To his perfection, without waist or loss  
Of his pure substance, but his weight, his dross:  
The Great Refiner of Man's base Heart  
Uses the like, nay shows the selfsame Art;  
He weighs it, first, and finding it too full  
Of Trash and Earth, he wraps it in some dull  
And leaden cross, of Punishment, or Sin;  
Then, tries it in Afflictions Fire; wherein,  
The Lead and Dross evaporate together,  
And leaves the Heart refined, and quit of ●ither:  
Thus though Man's Heart be lessened by the Cross,  
And lighter; 'Tis but lighter by the Dross.   

8.  
On Dagon and the Ark.  
WHat news with Dagon? Is thy Shrine so hot,  
Thou canst not keep it? Or has Dagon got  
The falling sickness, that his Godship's found  
On such a posture, prostrate on the Gro●nd?  
Poor helpless God But stay! Is Dagon grown  
So weak ith'hamms: Nor stand, nor rise, alone?  
A God, and cannot rise? 'tis very odd!  
He must have help, or lie: A proper God  
Well, Dagon must require help of hands;  
Up Dagon go●s the second time, and stands  
As confident as though his place had been  
His own, in Fee: Down Dagon falls again:  
But Dagon's shrewdly martyred with the jump,  
Lost hands and Head; and nothing left but stump:  
Sure, all's not well with Dagon, now a late;  
he's either sick, or much forgot the State,  
Belonging to so great a God: Has none  
Offered some stinking Sacrifice, or blown  
Some nauseous fume into his Sacred Nose,  
And made his God-ship dizzy? Or who knows,  
Perchance h'as taken Pett, and will resign  
His sullen place, and quit his empty Shrine:  
No wonder, a false God should stoop, and lie  
Upon the floor when as a true God's by:  
It was unlikely Dagon should forbear  
Respite of Homage, when the Ark was there:  
If I would worship a false God at all,  
It should be one that would not scorn to fall  
Before his Betters: whose indifferent arm,  
If it could do no good, could do no harm;  
I'd rather choose to bend my idle knee,  
Of all false gods, to such a God as He,  
Whose spirit's not too quick: The fabulous Frogg  
Found greater danger in the stork, than Log:  
And to conclude, I'd choose him, Dagon-like,  
Not having Head, to plot; nor Hand, to strike.   

9  
On Saul and David.  
Sure, Saul as little looked to be a King,  
As I: and David dreamt of such a thing,  
As much as he; when both alike did keep,  
The one his Father's Asses; t'other, Sheep:  
Saul must forsake his Whip: And David flings  
His Crook aside; And they must both be Kings:  
Saul had no sword; and David, then, no spear,  
There was none Conquered, nor no conqueror there;  
There was no sweat; There was no blood, to shed;  
The unsought Crown besought the wearers head;  
There was no Stratagem; No Opposition;  
No taking parts; No jealous Competition:  
There needs no Art; There needs no sword to bring,  
And place the Crown, where God appoints the King.   

10.  
On David and Goliath.  
SAthan's the great Goliath, that so boasts  
And threats our Israel, and defies her Hosts:  
Those smother Stones courageous David took  
From the soft bosom of the silver Brooke,  
Are Scriptum ests: The Sling, that gives them flight,  
Is Faith; That makes them fly, and fly aright:  
Lord, lend me David's Sling, and then I know,  
I shall have David's strength and courage too;  
Give me but skill to pick such Stones, as these,  
And I will meet Goliath, when he please.   

11.  
On Saul's Witch.  
WHen Saul received no answer down from heaven  
How quickly was his jealous passion driven  
A despr'ate Course! He needs must cure the Itch  
Of his extreme desires, by a Witch:  
When we have lost our way to God, how level,  
How easy to be found's the way toth' Devil.   

12.  
On the necessity of God's presence.  
When thou wert present with thy strengthening Grace,  
Saul prophesied, and fought:  
But when, Great God, thou didst withdraw thy face,  
Murder was in his thought:  
Thus, as thou giv'st, or tak'st away thy hand,  
We either fall, or stand.   

13.  
David's Epitaph on Jonathan.  
HEre lies the fairest Flower, that stood▪  
In Isr'els' Garden; now, in Blood;  
Which, Death to make her Garland gay,  
Hath cropped, against her Triumph Day:  
Here, here lies He, whose Actions penned  
The perfect Copy of a Friend:  
Whose milk-white Vellum did incur  
No least suspicion of a Blur:  
Here lies th' example of a Br●ther,  
Not to be followed by another;  
The fair indented Counterpart  
Of David's Joy, of David's Heart:  
Rest then; For ●ver, rest alone;  
Thy Ashes can be touched by none,  
Till Death hath picked one such another:  
Here lies a Flower, a Friend, a Brother.   

14.  
On God's Word.  
GOds sacred W●rd is like the Lamp of Day,  
Which softens wax, but makes obdure the clay;  
It either melts the Heart, or more obdures;  
It never falls in vain; It wounds, or cures:  
Lord, make my breast thy Hive, and then I know,  
Thy Bees will bring in Wax and Honey too.   

15.  
On Man.  
BY Nature, Lord, men worse than Nothing be;  
And less than N●thing, if compared with Thee;  
If less and worse than Nothing, tell me than,  
Where is that Something, thou so boasts, proud Man?   

16.  
On Ahaz●Diall  
Man's Heart's like Ahaz Dial; If it flees  
Not forward; it goes backward ten Degrees.   

17.  
On Lust.  
LVst is an Ignis fatuus, that arises  
From the base Earth, that plays her wanton prizes,  
In solitary Hearts, and ever haunts  
Dark places, whose deceitful flame enchants  
The wand'ring steps of the diverted stranger,  
Still tempting his misguided feet to danger:  
She never leaves, till by her fair delusion,  
She brings him headlong to his own confusion.   

18.  
On Thamar and Ammon.  
SHe must be loved; Then courted; and what more?  
Enjoyed; then hated; then expelled the door:  
Ammon must be discov'red; must obtain  
Licence to Feast; and then, be drunk; then slain:  
O what Repose is had in sinful Breath,  
Whose love, in hate; whose mirth concludes in death!   

19  
On Love and Lust.  
THey're wide, that take base Lust, for Love's half-brother,  
Yielding two Fathers, but the self same Mother:  
Lust is a Monster, that's conceived and bred  
Of the abused Will; maintained, and fed  
With sensual thoughts; Of nature rude, uncivil;  
Of life, robustious; and whose Sire's the Devil:  
But Love's the Child of th'uncorrupted Will,  
Nourished with Virtue, poisoned with the swill  
Of base respects; Of nature, sweet and mild;  
In manners, gentle; easily known▪ whose Child;  
For, by the likeness, every eye may gather,  
That he's the Offspring of a heavenly Father:  
This, suffers all things; That, can suffer nothing;  
This, never ends; That, ever ends in loathing:  
T'one loves the Darkness most: The other, Light:  
The lasts the Child of Day; The first, of Night;  
The one is meek; The other, full of Fire;  
This never laggs; That ever apt to tire;  
T'one rash and furious; Tother mild and sage;  
That dies with youth; whilst This survives with age;  
The One's courageous; T'other full of Fears;  
That seeks; The other baulks both eyes and ears:  
In brief, to know them both aright, and miss not;  
In all respects, t'one is, what tother is not:  
So far from Brothers, that they seem disjoined,  
Not in Condition only, but in kind:  
Admit a falsehood: that they had one Mother,  
The best that L●st can claim's a Bastard Brother▪  
Great God, must thou be conscious of that Name,  
Which jealous Mortals ●ount the height of shame?  
And not thy Nuptial Bed alone defiled,  
But to be charged with the base-born Child?  
And yet not moved? and yet not move thy Rod?  
Hast thou not cause to be a jealous God?  
Can thy just jealousies, Great God, be grounded  
On Man's disloyalty, not Man confounded?   

20.  
On a Tinderboxe.  
MY Soul is like to Tinder, whereinto  
The Devil strikes a Spark, at every blow;  
My Heart's the Flint; The Steel Temptation is;  
And his Suggestions hit, and never miss:  
His Hand is sure; My Tinder apt to catch,  
Soon sets on fire every proffered Match.   

21.  
On ACHITOPHEL.  
SAge were thy Counsels, and as well applied,  
If thou hadst had but Loyalty on thy side:  
I like thy last Design (above the rest)  
When thou hadst set thy house in order, best;  
In all Exploits, the Rule is not so ample,  
Not half so beneficial as th' Example:  
Th'Almighty prosper Christian Crowns; and bless  
All such like Counsels, with the like success:  
Confound Achitophel: and, Lord, impart  
His Head to us; and to our Foes, his Heart.   

22.  
On Sinne.  
Unhappy man! Whose every breath  
Is Sin: Whose every Sin is death:  
SIN, first Original; Then our actual Sin:  
Our Sins that sally forth: Our Sins that lurk within,  
Our wilful Sins; and worlds of Sins, by chance,  
Our conscious Sins; our Sins of darker Ignorance,  
Our o●t-repeated Sins●never ●never reckoned:  
'Gainst the first Table Sins: Sins done against the second,  
Our pleading Sins; our Sins without a cause:  
Our gospel- Sins; rebellious Sins against thy laws:  
Our Sins against our vows; fresh Sins again:  
Sin of infirmity; and high presumptuous Sin:  
Thus like our Lines, our Lives begin,  
Continue, and conclude in Sin:   

23▪  
On the Sun and stars.  
Our dying Saviour's like the setting Sun;  
His Saints, on earth, are like the Stars of night:  
Experience tells us, till the Sun be gone,  
The stars appear not▪ and retain no light:  
Till Sunset we discern no Stars at all,  
And Saints receive their Glory, in his fall:   

24.  
On Absalon and Samson.  
Sampsons' defect▪ and thy excess of hair,  
Gave him his death, oth'ground; thee, thine i'th' air;  
His thoughts were too depressed; thine sored too high;  
As mortals live, so oftentimes, they die:   

25.  
On God's favour.  
GOds favour's like the Sun, whose beams appear  
To all that dwell in the world's Hemisphere,  
Though not to all alike▪ To some they express  
Themselves more radiant, and to others; less:  
To some, they rise more early; and they fall  
More late to others, giving day to all:  
Some soyles more gross, and breathing more impure  
And earthy vapours forth, whose fogs obscure  
The darkened Medium of the moister air;  
Whilst other Soils, more perfect, yield more rare  
And purer Fumes; whereby, those Beams appear,  
To some, less glorious; and to some, more clear:  
It would be ever Day; Day, always bright,  
Did not our interposed Earth make night:  
The Sun shines always strenuous and fair,  
But, ah▪ our sins, our Clouds benight the air:  
Lord, drayne the Fens of this my Boggy soul,  
Whose grosser vapours make my day so foul;  
Thy SON hath strength enough to chase away  
These rising Fogs, and make a glorious Day:  
Rise, and shine always clear; but most of all,  
Let me behold thy glory, in thy Fall;  
That being set, poor I (my flesh being hurled  
From this) may meet thee, in another world.   

26.  
On a spiritual Fever.  
MY soul hath had a Fever, a long while;  
O, I can neither relish, nor digest,  
My nimble Pulses beat; my veins do boil:  
I cannot close mine eyes, I cannot rest:  
O, for a Surgeon, now, to strike a Vain!  
That, that would lay my Heat, and ease my Pain:  
No, no, It is thy Blood, and not my own,  
Thy Blood must cure me, jesus, or else none.   

27.  
On David's choice.  
FAmine? the Sword? the Pestilence? which is least,  
When all are great? which worst, when bad's the best?  
It is a point of Mercy, yet, to give  
A choice of death to such, as must not live:  
But was the choice so hard? It seems to me,  
There was a worse, and better of the three,  
Though all extreme: Me thinks, the help of hands  
Might suage the first; The bread of foreign lands  
Might patch their lives, & make some slender shift  
To save a while, with necessary thrift:  
Me thinks, the second should be less extreme  
Than that; Alas! poor Israel could not dream  
Of too much peace, that had so oft division  
Among themselves, and foreign opposition:  
Besides, their King was martial; his acts glorious;  
His heart was valiant, and his hand victorious;  
Me thinks a Conqueror; a Man o'th' sword  
Should ne'er be puzzled a● so poor a word:  
In both, however, David, at the worst,  
Might well presume he should not die the first▪  
But oh, the Plague's impartial, It respects  
No quality of Person, Age, nor Sex:  
The Royal breast's as open to her hand  
As is the losest Peasant in the land:  
Famine? the Sword? the Pestilence? David free,  
To take his choice? and pick the worst of three?  
He that gave David power to re●use,  
Instructed David, in the Art to choose;  
He knew no foreign Kingdone could afford  
Supply, where God makes Dearth: He knew the Sword  
Would want an arm; the arm would want her skill;  
And skill, success, where heaven prepares to kill:  
He knew▪ there was no trust, no safe recourse  
To Martial man, or to his warlike horse;  
But it is Thou, Great God▪ the only close  
Of his best thoughts, and the secure repose  
Of all his trust; He yields to kiss thy Rod;  
Israel was thine, and thou art Israel's God:  
He kn●w thy gracious wont, thy wont Grace;  
He knew, thy Mercy took the upper place  
Of all thy Attributes; 'Twas no adventure  
To cast himself on Thee, the only Centre  
Of all his hopes; Thy David kn●w the danger  
To fall to th'hands of man; or friend, or stranger:  
Thus David's filial hopes, being anchored fast  
On Gods known Mercy, wisely ●hose the last:  
If thou wilt give me David's heart: I'll voice,  
Great God, with David; and make David's choice:  
But stay; dear Lord, my tongue's too bold, too free,  
To speak of choice, that merits all the Three.   

28.  
On Man's unequal division.  
LOrd, 'tis a common course; weare apt and free  
To take the Best, and share the worst to Thee:  
We Fleet the Mornings for our own Design;  
Perchance, the Flotten Afternoons are thine:  
Thou giv'st us Silk; we offer Cammills hair.  
Thy Blessings march i'th' Front; our thanks, i'th' Rear▪   

29.  
On Beggars.  
NO wonder that such swarms of Beggars lurk  
In every street: 'Tis a worse trade to work  
Then beg: Yet some, if they can make but shift  
To live, will think it scorn to thrive by gift;  
'Tis a brave mind; but yet no wise forecast;  
It is but Pride, and Pride will stoop at last;  
We all are Beggars; should be so, at least;  
Alas! we cannot work: The very best  
Our hands can do, will not maintain to live;  
We can but hold them up, whilst others give:  
No shame for helpless Man, to pray in aid;  
Great Sol'mon scorned not to be free o'th' Trade;  
He begged an Alms and blushed not; For the Boon  
He got, was tr●ble fairer than his Crown:  
No wonder that he thrived by begging, so;  
He was both Beggar and a Chooser too:  
O who would trust to Work, that may obtain  
The Suit he begs, without or sweat, or pain!  
O what a privilege, Great God, have we,  
That have the Honour, but to beg on thee!  
Thou dost not ●right us with the torturing Whips  
Of Bedels'; nor dost answer our faint lips  
With churlish language; Lord, thou dost not praise  
The stricter Statute of last Henry's days:  
Thou dost not damp us with the empty voice  
Of Nothing for ye: If our clamorous noise  
Should chance t'importune, turn'st thy gracious eye  
Upon our wants, and mak'st a quick supply:  
Thou dost not brand us with th'opprobrious name  
Of idle vagabonds: Thou knowst weare lame,  
And cannot work; Thou dost not, Pharo-like,  
Deny us Straw, and yet require Brick:  
Thou canst not hear us groan beneath our Task,  
But freely giv'st, what we have Faith to ask:  
The most, for which my large desire shall plead,  
To serve the presents but a Loaf of Bread,  
Or but a Token (even as Beggars use;)  
That, of thy love, will fill my slender Cruse:  
Lord, during life, I'll beg no greater Boon,  
If at my Death, thou'lt give me but a Crown.   

30.  
On the two Children.  
MY Flesh and Spirit, Lord, are like those pair  
Of Infants, whose sad Mothers did repair  
To justice: T'one is quick; the other dead:  
The two promiscuous Parents that do plead  
For the live Child, is Thee and Satan, Lord:  
Both claim alike; justice calls forth the Sword,  
And seeing both, with equal tears, complain,  
Proffers to cleave the Children both in twain▪  
And make them equal sharers in the same  
That both do challenge, and what both disclaim:  
Satan applauds though motion, and replied;  
Nor thine, nor mine, but let them both divide;  
And give alike to both: But thou, dear Lord,  
Dislik'st the justice of th'unequal Sword:  
Rather than share it dead, thou leav'st to strive,  
And wilt not owned at all, if not alive:  
The Sword's put up, & strait condemns the other  
To be the false; calls Thee, the natural Mother:  
Lord of my Soul: It is but Satan's wild,  
To cheat thy bosom of thy living Child;  
he'd have the Question by the Sword decided,  
Knowing the soul's but dead, if once divided:  
My better part is thine, and thine alone;  
Take thou the Flesh, and let him gnaw the Bone:   

31.  
On two Mysteries.  
A Perfect Virgin, to bring forth a Son!  
One, three entire; and Three, entirely One!  
Wonder of Wonders! How might all this come?  
We must be deaf, when th' holy Spirit's dumb;  
Spare to inquire it: Thou shalt never know,  
Till Heaven dissolve, and the last Trump shall blow.   

32.  
A form of Prayer.  
IF thou wouldst learn, not knowing how, to pray,  
Add but a Faith, and say as Beggars say;  
Master, I'm poor, and blind, in great distress;  
Hungry and ●ame, and cold, and comfortless:  
O, secure him, that's gravelled on the Shelf  
Of pain, and want, and cannot help himself;  
Cast down thine eye upon a wretch▪ and take  
Some pity on me for sweet jesus sake:  
But hold! Take heed this Clause be not put in,  
I never begged before, nor will again:  
Note this withal, That Beggars move their plaints  
At all times o'er tenus, not by Saints.   

33.  
On Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.  
IT spreads: The sweet perfume of Salomon's Fame  
Affects the Coasts; And his illustrious name  
Cannot be hid: The unbelieved report  
Must fly with Eagles wings to th'honoured Court  
Of princely Sheba: Sheba must not rest,  
Until her eye become th'invited Guest  
Of Fame's loud Trumpet; her impatience strives  
With lightfoot Time, while her Ambition drives  
Her Chariot wheels, and gives an airy passage  
To'th'quick deliv'ry of her heart's Embassage:  
True wisdom planted in the hearts of Kings,  
Needs no more glory than the glory'it brings;  
And, like the Sun, is viewed by her own light,  
B'ing, by her own reflection, made more bright:  
The emulous Queen's arrived; she's gone toth' Court;  
No eye-delighting Masque? no Princely Sport,  
To entertain her? No, her ●ye, her ear  
Is taken up, and scorns to see, to hear  
Inferior things: Sh'allowes her ear, her eye  
No less than Oracles, and Majesty:  
How, empty pastimes do resolve and fly  
To their true nothing, when true wisdome's by!  
Th'arrived Queen has Audience; moves; disputes;  
Wise Solomon attends; replies; confutes;  
She objects; he answers; She afresh propounds;  
She proves; maintains it; he decides; confounds:  
She smiles; she wonders, being overdazed  
With his bright beams, stands silent; stands amazed:  
How Scripture-like Apo●rypha's appear  
To common Books! how poor, when Scripture's near!  
The Queen is pleased, who, never yet did know  
The blast of Fame, less prodigal, then now;  
For now, the greatest part of what she knew  
By Fame, is found the least of what is true;  
We often find that Fame, in prime of youth,  
Does add to Falsehood, and subtract from Truth:  
The thankful Queen does, with a liberal hand,  
Present him with the Riches of her Land:  
Where Wisdom goes before we often find  
That temporal Blessings seldom stay behind:  
Lord, grant me wisdom; and I shall possess  
Enough; have more, or have content with less.   

33.  
On REHOBOAM.  
COuld dying Parents, at their peaceful death,  
Make but a firm Assurance, or bequeath  
Their living Virtues; Could they recommend  
Their wisdom to their heirs; Could hearts descend  
Upon the bosom of succeeding Sons,  
As well as Sceptres do; as well as Th●●nes;  
Sure Rehobeams Reign had found increase  
Of Love and Honour, and had died in peace:  
Kingdoms are transitory: Sceptres go  
Fron hand, to hand, and Crowns, from brow, to brow,  
But Wisdom marches on another guise:  
They●● two things; to be Worldly great, and wise;  
It was the self same Sceptre that came down  
From Solomon to thee: The self same Crown,  
That did encl●se his Princely brows, and thine;  
Th● 〈◊〉 same flesh and blood, the next o'th'Line;  
The self same people were alive, to bless  
The prosperous days; But not the same success:  
Where rest the fault? what secret mischief can  
Vn-same thy peace? 'Twas not the self same Man.   

34.  
On the Prophet slain by a Lyon.  
'tWas not for malice; not for want of Food,  
The obvious Lion shed this Prophet's blood:  
Where faithless man neglects the sacred Law  
Of God; there, beasts abate their servile awe  
To man: When Man dares take a dispensation,  
By sin, to frustrate th'end of Man's Creation,  
The Beasts, Ofttimes, by man's Example, do  
Renounce the end of their Creation too:  
The Prophet must abstain: He was forbid;  
He must not eat: And yet the Prophet did:  
Th'obedient Lion had command to shed  
That Prophet's Blood: and see, the Prophet's dead:  
O, how corrupts the nature of Man's Will,  
That breaks those Laws which very Beasts fulfil!   

35.  
On Ahab.  
HOw Ah●b longs! Ahab must be possessed  
Of Naboths' Vineyard, or can find no rest:  
His tongue must second his unlawful eye:  
Ahab must sue: and Naboth must deny:  
Ahab grows sullen; he can eat no Bread;  
His Body prostrates on his restless Bed:  
Unlawful lust immoderate often brings  
A loathing in the use of lawful things:  
ahab's defier must not be withstood,  
It must be purchased, though with Naboths' Blood;  
Witness must be suborned: Naboth must lie  
Open to Law; must be condemned; and dye:  
His goods must be confiscate to the Crown;  
Now Ahab's pleased; The Vineyard's now his own▪  
Unlawful Pleasures, when they jostle further  
Then ordinary bounds; oft end in murder.  
Me thinks, the Grapes that cluster from that Vine,  
Should (being pressed) afford more blood than wine.   

36.  
On Rehoboam.  
PEople have Balances; wherein to weigh  
Their new-crowned Princes; which can soon bewray  
Their native worth: Some counterpoise th'allow:  
Unhappy Israel had not weights enough,  
To weigh thy Fingers▪ Heads can never rest  
In peace, when their poor members are oppressed:  
Had thy unlucky Fingers weighed no more  
Than thy light judgement; had thy judeement bore  
But half the burden of thy Finger's weight,  
Thou hadst been prosperous, both in Crown, and State:  
The Lion's known by's Paw; The people spends  
Their Judgement of a Prince by's Fingers ends.   

37.  
On Leprous Naaman.  
THe Leper, prompted with his loathsome grief,  
Seeks to the King of Israel for relief:  
But Naaman's vain desires could not thrive;  
Israel's no God; to hill, or make alive:  
The Moral Man is of too mean a Stature,  
To reach his hand above the head of Nature:  
The willing Prophet undertakes the Cure;  
The Leper must go wash, and be secure  
From his Disease: He must go paddle strait,  
In Iordan's water: 'Tis a fair Receipt:  
And why in jordan? Have our Syrian streams  
Less power than Isr'els'? sure the Prophet dreams:  
How hard it is for Mortals to rely  
On Faith! How apt is sense, to question, why?  
The Cure perpl●xes more than the Disease;  
Prophets prescribe no better means then these?  
I looked his Ceremonious hand should struck  
The place; I looked the Prophet should invoke:  
Some men would feign he clean, if God would stay  
Their times, or would but cure them their own way:  
The tetchy Leper is displeased; he'll hence:  
The jordan Prophet dallies against sense:  
His wiser servants urge their hasty Lord  
To Iordan's streams: He washes; is restored▪  
How good a God have we, whose grace fulfils  
Our choice desires ofttimes against our wills!  
The Leper's cleansed; And now he does applaud  
Not Isr'els' streams alone, but Isr'els' God:  
The Prophet must have thanks, and Gold beside;  
The thanks are taken, but the Gold's denied:  
Who would not deal with Thee, that are not nice,  
To sell such pennyworths at so small a price!  
Naaman, in lieu of his refused reward,  
Vows the true God; provided, when his Lord  
Shall serve i'th' house of Rimmon, if he bow  
For fashion-sake, he may secure his Vow:  
Some will not stick to lend their God a house,  
Might they reserve one room for their own use:  
Gehazi thinks the Cure too cheap; He soon  
O'ertakes the Lepers Chariot, asks a Boon  
I'th' Prophet's name: But mark what did befall;  
He got his Boon; but got his plague withal:  
Unlawful gains are lest what they appear,  
And ill got Gold is a always bought too dear:  
Lord, I did wash in jordan, and was cured;  
My Flesh, that false Gehazi, hath procured  
A sinful purchase, having overrun  
The cleansed Naaman of my Soul: What's done  
By false Gehazi, let Gehazi bear;  
Let Naamans' Leprosy alone stick there;  
O, cleanse them both, or if that may not be,  
Lord, strike Gehazi; and keep Naaman free,   

38.  
On Chamber-Christians.  
NO matter whether (some there be that say)  
Or go to Church, or stay at home, if pray:  
Smiths dainty Sermons have, in plenty, stored me  
With better stuff, than Pulpits can afford me:  
Tell me, why prayest thou; Heaven commanded so:  
Art not commanded to his Temples too?  
Small store of manners! when thy Prince bids Come,  
And feast at Court; to say, I've ●●at at home.   

39  
On the Widows Cruse.  
LOrd, I'm in debt, and have not where withal  
To pay: My score is great; my wealth but small;  
My house is poorly furnished, and my Food  
Is slender; I have nothing that is good:  
Lord, if my wasted Fortunes prove no better,  
My Debt is even as desperate as the Detter:  
All the relief thy servant this long while,  
Hath had, is but a little Cruse of Oil;  
There's none will give of Alms: I neither get  
Enough to satisfy my wants, nor debt:  
Lord, if thee please to show the self same Art  
Upon the slender vessel of my Heart,  
The Prophet did, upon the Widows Cruse,  
I shall have Oil to sell, have Oil to use;  
So shall my Debt be paid, and I go free;  
No Debt is desperate, in respect of Thee.   

40.  
On the swimming Axe.  
THe borrowed Axe fell in: 'Twas lost; lamented;  
The Prophet moved; the Workman discontented;  
A Stick he ●ne down; and by the Prophet's hand,  
Thrown in; the Axe did float, and came aland:  
And why a Stick? Had that the power to call  
The massy ●ron up? Sure, none at all:  
Moses must use his Rod; Moses I doubt it,  
Had been but lame, but impotent without it;  
Nor could that Rod have scourged Pharaoh's Land,  
Had it been waved by an other hand:  
God often works by means, and yet not so,  
But that he can, as well without them, too.  
God can save Man without the help of Man,  
But will not; Wills not always that he can:  
Something is left for us: we must not lie  
Ith' ditch, and cry, And if we die we die:  
We must not lie like Blocks, relying on  
The workman's Axe; There's something must be done:  
The workman's Axe perchance had never been  
Recalled again, if not the stick thrown in:  
We must be doing, yet those Deeds, as our,  
Have no more native virtue, nay, less power  
To save us, than that stick had, to recall  
The Axe from the deep bottom of his Fall:  
I will be doing; but repose in Him;  
Throw I in sticks: he'll make my Iron swim.   

41.  
On Baal's Priests.  
IEhu's crowned King; jehu the King must fall  
To ahab's Gods: jehu must worship Baal:  
The gods-divided people must go call  
Baal's sacred Priests: jehu must worship Baal:  
None must be left behind; They must come all;  
jehu must burn a Sacrifice to Baal:  
The Priests come puffing in; both great and small  
Must wait on jehu that must worship Baal:  
Baal's house is filled and crowded to the wall  
With people, that are come to worship Baal.  
What must there now be done? what Offering shall  
Perfume Baal's nostrils? even the Priests of Baal:  
Baal's holy Temple's now become a Stall  
Of Priestly flesh; of fleshly Priests for Baal;  
How would our Gospel's flourish, if that all  
Princes, like jehu, would but worship Baal!   

42.  
On the Tempter.  
HOw dares thy Bandog, Lord, presume t'approach  
Into thy sacred pre●ence? or encroach  
Upon thy choice possessions, to devour  
Thy sporting Lambs? To counterfeit thy po'wr,  
And to usurp thy Kingdom, even as He  
Were, Lord, at least, a Substitute to Thee?  
Why dost not rate him? why does he obtain  
Such favour to have liberty of his Chain?  
Have we not Enemies to counterbuff,  
Enough? Is not the Flesh, the World enough  
To foil us? this abroad, and that at home;  
But must that Satan, must that Bandog come  
T'afflict the weak, and take the stronger side?  
O, are there not enough, enough beside?  
Is there not odds enough, when we have none  
But mighty Foes; nay, Rebels of our own,  
Beneath a false disguise of love and peace,  
That still betray us? Are not these, all these  
Sufficient, to encounter and o'rthrow,  
Poor sinful Man; but must that Bandog too,  
Assault us, Lord? We dare not cast our eyes  
Our timorous eyes to Heaven, we dare not rise  
From off our aching knees, to plead our case,  
When he can commune with thee face to face;  
Nay more, were it but possible to do,  
Would draw thee, Lord, to his bold Faction too.  
Lord, lend me but thy power to resist  
What Foes thou send'st, and send what Foes thou list:  
It is thy Battle: If thou please to warm  
My blood, and find the strength, I'll find the Arm;  
March thou i'th' Front, I'll follow in the Rear;  
Come then ten thousand Bandogs, I'll not fear.   

43.  
On a cipher.  
CYphers to Ciphers added, seem to come  
(With those that know not Art) to a great sum:  
But such as skill in Numeration, know,  
That worlds of Ciphers, are but worlds of show:  
We stand those Ciphers, ere since Adam's fall;  
We are but show: we are no sum at all:  
Our bosome-pleasures, and delights, that do  
Appear so glorious, are but Ciphers too:  
High-prized honour, friends, This house; The tother,  
Are but one cipher added to another:  
Reckon by rules of Art, and tell me, than,  
How great is thy Estate, Ingenious Man?  
Lord, be my Figure, Than it shall be known  
That I am Something: Nothing, if alone:  
I care not in what place, in what degree;  
I do not weigh how small my Figure be:  
But as I am, I have nor worth, nor vigure:  
I am thy cipher; O, be thou my Figure.   

44.  
On Haman and Mordecay.  
THe King would fain take rest; But thought denies  
To pay her nightly Tribute to his eyes:  
The Persian Chronicle must be brought, to set  
His eyes in quiet, till they're paid the debt:  
He turns the leaves; The first he lights upon,  
Is the true service Mordecay had done:  
Heaven often works his ends, at such a season,  
When Man has will to banish sense, and Reason:  
His loyal service must be now recalled  
To blessed remembrance: Haman must be called  
To Council; questioned, but not know the thing  
The King intends: He must advise the King,  
What Ceremony must be used, what Cost,  
What Honour, where the King shall honour most;  
Observe but in the Progress of this Story,  
How God turns Factor for his Servants glory:  
Haman persuaded that such honour can  
Fit none but him; ne'er questions, Who's the Man;  
His more ambitious thoughts are now providing  
A Horse of State, for his own Princely riding;  
In brief; his judgement is, That such a One,  
Must lack no Honour, but the Royal Throne:  
How apt is Man to flatter his own heart!  
How fair a Debtor to his false desert!  
The royal Horse is ready, all things fit,  
That could be broached by a vainglorious wit:  
Haman expects his answer; His Ambition  
Spurs on, wants nothing but his large Commission:  
Haman must haste with all the speed he can,  
And see it done: But Mordecay's the man▪  
God often crownes his Servants at their Cost,  
That hate their persons, and disdain them most:  
Lord, if thou please to make me but thine own,  
I shall have Honour, spite of Honour's frown.   

45.  
On Jobs Temptations.  
GOd questions Satan: Boasts his jobs desert,  
In the perfection of a Simple Heart:  
jobs Faith was servant; Satan was as i'll  
To yield it; but must yield against his will;  
Condemns it to be Servile, to be bought  
With Gods own coin? Does job ●erve God for nought?  
It is a common trick, the Tempter uses,  
The Faith he cannot conquer, he abuses.  
Alas, that Faith requires not so much praise,  
'Tis a good Faith, as Faiths go now a days:  
Is it not strengthened by thy indulgent hand,  
That blessed his Labours, and enriched his Land?  
Puff out the Fire: his Faith will quickly i'll:  
Satan puff thou; nay Satan puff thy will:  
Nor Ebb nor Flood of small, or great estate,  
Are certain Badges of God's love or Hate:  
What's now to do? Poor job must be bereaven  
Of all his stronger Herds; Fire, sent from Heaven,  
Must burn his fruitful Flocks, that none remain;  
His houses fall; and all his Children slain;  
And yet not ●●rse? Alas, poor job addresses  
His thoughts to heaven; he worships God & blesses▪  
The lively Faith that can retain her God,  
May groan; but seldom rav● beneath the Rod.  
But what says Satan now? The hedge is broke,  
That fenced my Servant job: What further Cloak  
For his uprightness hath he? what pretence  
For his continued Love and Innocence?  
Has not thy malice had her own desire?  
'Twas sound puffed; thy Puffs have blown the ●ire:  
Gods Trials are like Bellows: Satan's Blower,  
Blows out false Faiths, makes true ones blaze the more.  
True Lord; His Raith is tough: But Snails as well  
Can thrive without, as live within their Shell:  
To save a life who would not lose some skin?  
Touch but his Horns; O how he'll draw them in  
Satan I give thy malice leave, be free  
To peel the Bark, but spare to touch the Tree.  
Fear not ye little flock: The greatest ill  
Your Foes can does to scratch; They cannot kill.  
What now's th'exploit? Afflicted job does lie,  
A very Hospital of misery:  
I think, that all the Ulcers that have been  
In Egypt cu●'d, are broken out again  
In his distempered Flesh; yet job is still  
The very same, nor charged his God with ill:  
A Faith that lodges in a double Breast,  
May stand the touch; None but true Faiths the Test:  
If these be Flames poor man must swelter in,  
He needs a World a patience, not to sin.   

46.  
On bawling Curs.  
I Feard the world and I were too acquainted;  
I hope my fears are, like her Joys, but painted:  
Had I not been a Stranger, as I passed,  
Her bawling Curs had never barked so fast.   

47.  
On DAVID.  
STands it with State, that Princely David, who  
Did wear the Crown, should play the Harper too?  
He plays and sings; His glory ne'er disdains  
To dance, and to receive a Crown for's pains:  
'tis no disparagement, 'tis no misprision  
Of State, to play before the Great Musician.   

48.  
On ABRAHAM.  
THe word is out: Poor Abr'am must be gone;  
Must take his Isaak; take his only Son;  
The Son of his Affection; him, from whom,  
From whose blessed loins so many Kings must come:  
Even him must Abr'am slay, Abr'am must rise,  
And offer Isaac a burnt Sacrifice.  
God scorns the Offals of our faint desires;  
He gives the best, and he the best requires.  
Abr'am forbears to question; thinks not good  
To reason, to advise with Flesh and Blood;  
Begs not young isaack's life, nor goes about  
T'object the Law of Murder; makes no doubt:  
He rises, rises early, leads his Son;  
Hastes where this holy Slaughter must be done:  
Where God bids Go, that very Breathes a warrant:  
We must not linger there: Haste crowns the Arrant.  
His Servants must no further: They must stay:  
Private Devotion claims a private Way:  
They must abide with th' Ass, whilst th'aged Sire  
In t'one hand takes the knife: in t'other, Fire:  
The sacred Wood of Offering must be piled  
On the young shoulders of th'obedient Child:  
O here mine eye must spend a tear to see  
Thee bear that Wood, great God, that, since, bore Thee:  
Mistrustless Isaac seeing the wood, the fire,  
The sacrificing Knife, begins t'enquire,  
But where's the Sacred Lamb, that must be slain?  
Resolved Abr'am (lest the flesh should gain  
Too much of Nature) says not, Thou my Son  
Art he: but, The Almighty will provide ●s one:  
Where God commands, 'tis not enough t'effect,  
But we must balk th'occasion of neglect.  
The faithful Abra'm now erects an Altar:  
Order the wood: what tongue can choose but falter,  
To tell the rest? He lays his hands upon  
His wondering Isaac, binds his only Son:  
He lays him down, unsheath's his Priestly knife:  
Vp-heaves his arm, to take his isaack's life.  
True faith is active: Covets to proceed  
From thought to action; and from will to deed:  
Before the strengthened stroke had time to fall,  
A Sudden voice from Heaven cries hold: Recall  
Thy threatening Arm, and sheathe thy ●oly Knife,  
Thy Faith has answered for thy Isaac's life;  
Touch not the Child; thy Faith is throughly shown,  
That has not spared thine own, thine only Son:  
How easy is our God, and liberal, who  
Counts it as done, what we have will to do!   

49.  
On Censorio.  
CEnsorio takes in hand, by sharp reproof,  
To mend his Brother's error, and to snuff  
His darkened Flame; and yet Censorio's crimes  
Are ranked among the foulest of the Times:  
Let none presume, Censorio, to control  
Or top the dim light of another's Soul,  
If not more pure than him, that is controlled:  
The Temple-Snuffers must be perfect Gold.   

50.  
On Mordecay and Haman.  
TWo Steeds appointed were by Hamans' hand;  
The one at Grass; The other Steed did stand  
In Persia's Mues: The former was providing  
For Mordecay: the last for Hamans' riding:  
But since, in order, last things prove the worst,  
Hamans' ambition drove him to the First:  
But see, proud Hamans' prouder Steed did cast  
His glorious rider, whilst the jew sits fast:  
What matter Haman? Fortu●●, though no Friend  
Of thine, first brought thee to thy journeys end.   

51.  
On three Fools.  
THe Wise man says, It is a Wise man's part,  
To keep his tongue close prisoner in his heart;  
If he be then a Fool, whose thought denies,  
There is a God, how desperately unwise,  
How more than Fool is he, whose language shall  
Proclaim in public, There's no God at all!  
What then are they, nay Fools, in what degree,  
Whose Actions shall maintain't? Such fools are we.   

52.  
On miserable Man.  
ADam, the highest pitch of perfect nature,  
And lively image of his great Creator,  
Declined his God; and, by one sinful Deed,  
Destroyed himself, and ruined all his seed:  
How wretched, then, how desp'rate's our Condition,  
Whose every minute makes a repetition  
Of greater sins, against both light of Nature,  
And Grace, against Creation and Creator!  
Alas! we claim not by descent, alone,  
But add by hourly purchase of our own:  
There is no breach of Loyalty, no sin  
We are imperfect, and unpractised in;  
Shall not a world of Sins bring ruin, then,  
To One; when one Sin slew a world of men?   

53.  
On Man's two enemies.  
TWo potent Enemies attend on Man;  
T'one fat and plump; The other lean and wan;  
T'one fauns and smiles; The other weeps as fast;  
The first Presumption is; Despair, the last:  
That feeds upon the bounty of full Treasure;  
Brings jolly news of Peace, and lasting pleasure:  
This feeds on want, unapt to entertain  
God's Blessings: Finds them ever in the wain:  
Their Maxims disagree; But their Conclusion  
Is the self same: Both jump in Man's Confusion:  
Lord, keep me from the first, or else, I shall  
Sore up and melt my waxen wings, and fall:  
Lord, keep the second from me; lest I, then,  
Sink down so low, I never rise again:  
Teach me to know myself, and what I am,  
And my Presumption will be turned to shame:  
Give me true Faith, to know thy dying Son,  
What Ground has then Despair to work upon?  
T'avoid my shipwreck upon either Shelf,  
O, teach me, Lord, to know my God; my self.   

54.  
On Queen ESTER.  
ILlustrious Princess, had thy chance not been,  
To be a Captive, thou hadst been no Queen:  
Such is the Fortune, our Misfortune brings;  
Had we not first been Slaves, w'ad ne'er been Kings.   

55.  
On Slanders.  
HAve slanderous tongues been busy to defame  
The precious Ointment of my better name?  
Or hath censorious baseness gone about  
With her rude blast to puff my Taper out?  
They have: And let their full mouthed bellowes puff:  
It is their Breath that s●inks, and not my Snuff:  
ay, let them snarl and burst, that I may smile,  
Do, let them jerk, and I will laugh the while:  
They cannot s●rike beyond my patience; No,  
I'll bear, and take it for an Honour too;  
The height that my Ambition shall fly,  
Is only to deserve their Calumny:  
O, what a judgement 'twere, if such as they  
Should but allow my Actions, and betray  
My'endangered ●ame, by their malign applause,  
To good Opinion, That were a just Cause  
Of Grief indeed! but to be made the Story  
Of such base tongues, it is my Crown, my Glory:  
I, let them spend their Dust against the wind,  
And bark against the Moon, till they be blind,  
And weary; Let their malice not forbear  
To bawl at Innocence, to wound and tear  
An absent name, whilst their un●allowed tongues  
Make me a glorious Martyr in their wrongs:  
I beg no Favour: Nay, my heart's desire  
Is still to be calcined by such a Fire:  
That, in conclusion, all men may behold  
A fair gilt Counter, from a Crown of Gold.  
Great God, I care not this, how foul I seem  
To Man; May I be fair in thy esteem:  
It matters not how light I seem to be  
To the base world, so I be weight to thee.   

56.  
On NABUCHADNEZZER.  
WHat luckless Accident hath bred such odds  
Betwixt great Babel's Monarch, and his Gods,  
That they so oft disturb him, and affright  
His broken slumbers with the Dreams of night!  
Alas, what hath this Princely Dreamer done,  
That he must quit the Glory of his Throne,  
His Royal Sceptre, his Imperial Crown?  
Must be expelled his Honour, and come down  
Below the meanest Slave, and, for a Season,  
Be banished from the use, the Act of Reason?  
Must be exiled from humane shape, and chew  
The cud, and must be moistened with the dew  
Of heaven; nay, differ in no other thing  
From the bruit beast, but that he was a King?  
What ail thy Gods, that they are turned so rough,  
So full of rage? what, had they meat enough  
To fill their golden Stomaches? Was thy knee  
Bend oft enough? what might the reason be?  
Alas, poor harmless things! it was not they;  
'Twas not their wills: I dare be bold to say,  
They knew it not: It was not they that did it;  
They had no power to act, or to forbid it:  
Deservest thou not, Great King, the style of Beast,  
To serve such Gods, whose Deities can digest  
Their servants open wrongs? that could dispense  
With what they'endure, without the least offence;  
Illustrious Beast, methinks thy bettered state  
Has no great reason to complain of Fate:  
Thou art more near to him thou didst adore,  
By one degree, then ere thou wert before:  
●Tis some promotion; That there is less odds  
‛ Betwixt thy Nature, and thy senseless Gods.   

57  
On PARTIO.  
HAst thou forsaken all thy Sins, but One?  
Believe it, Partio, thoust forsaken None.   

58.  
On Ignorance.  
THe greatest Friend Religion hath t'advance  
Her glory's unaffected Ignorance:  
The burning Taper lends the fairest light,  
And shines most glorious, in the shades of night.   

59  
On a great Battle.  
When my rebellious Flesh doth disagree  
With my resisting Spirit; me thinks, I see  
Two mighty Princes draw into the Field,  
Where one must win the Day; the other, yield:  
They both prepare; Both strike up their Alarms;  
Both march; Both well appointed in their Arms;  
They both advance their Banners: T'one displays  
A bloody Cross: The other Colours blaze  
A Globe terrestrial: Nature carries one,  
And Grace the other: Each by's Ensign's know:  
They meet, encounter, blows exchange for blows:  
Dart is returned for Dart: They grapple, Close:  
Their Fortune's hurried with unequal Sails,  
Sometimes the Cross; sometimes, the Globe prevails.  
We are that Field; And they that strive to win us,  
Are God and Satan; Those, that war within us,  
The Flesh, the Spirit: No parting of the Fray,  
Till one shall win: the other, lose the Day:  
My God, O weaken this rebellious Flesh,  
That dares oppose: O, quicken and refresh  
My dull and coward Spirit, that would yield,  
And make proud Satan Master of the Field:  
Dear Lord, the Fields thy own; thou thoughtst it good  
To purchas't with my dying Saviour's Blood:  
'Tis thine, Great God, by title, and by right;  
Why should thou question, what's thy own, by fight?  
Lord, keep possession thou, and let th'accurst  
And base Usurper do his best, his worst.   

60.  
On the World.  
THe World's an Inn; and I, her Guest,  
I eat, I drink, I take my Rest:  
My Hostess Nature, does deny me  
Nothing, wherewith she can supply me:  
Where, having stayed a while, I pay  
Her lavish Bills, and go my way.   

61.  
On the Sabbath.  
AWay my thoughts: Away my words, my deeds;  
Away, what ever nourishes and feeds  
My frail delights: Presume not to approach  
Into my presence; dare not once t'encroach  
Upon the hallowed Temple of my Soul;  
Ye are not for this Day, y'are all too foul:  
Abide ye with the Ass, till I go yonder,  
And cleave the Isaac of my heart in sunder:  
I must go sacrifice: I must go pray,  
I must perform my holy vows, to day:  
Tempt not my tender frailty: I enjoin  
Your needful absence; y'are no longer mine:  
But if it may not be, that we must sever  
Our yoked affections, and not part for ever;  
Yet give me leave, without offence, to borrow,  
At least, this day, although we meet to morrow.   

62.  
On Prayer.  
IN all our Prayers, th' Almighty does regard  
The judgement of the Balance, not the Yard:  
He loves not Words, but Matter; 'Tis his pleasure  
To buy his Wares by Weight, and not by Measure.   

63.  
On. FIDO.  
Findest thou no comfort on this fickle Earth?  
No Joy at all? No Object for thy Mirth?  
Nothing but Sorrow? Nothing else, but toil?  
What, do thy days show nothing, worth a smile?  
Do worldly pleasures no contentment give?  
Content thee, Fido, thoust not long to live.   

64.  
On CHARISSA.  
Wouldst thou, Charissa, wish thy fortunes better,  
Then, by thy act, to make thy God thy Detter?  
I'll teach thee how to do't: Relieve the poor,  
And thou mayst safely set it on God's Score:   

65.  
On RAYMOND SEBUND.  
I Wonder, Raymond, thy illustrious Wit,  
Strengthened with so much learning, could commit  
So great a Folly, as to go about,  
By Nature's feeble light, to blazen out  
Such Heav'n-bred Mist'ryes, which the hearts of Men  
Cannot conceive, much less the darkened Pen  
Express; such secrets, at whose depth, the Choir  
Of blessed Angels tremble, and admire:  
Could thy vainglory lend no easier task  
To thy sublime Attempt, then to unmask  
The glorious Trinity, whose Tri-une face  
Was ne'er discovered by the eye of Grace,  
Much less by th'eye of Nature, being a story  
Objected only to the Eye of Glory?  
Put out thy light, bold Raymond, and be wise;  
Silence thy tongue, and close thy'ambitious eyes:  
Such heights as these, are Subjects far more fit  
For holy Admiration, then for Witt.   

66.  
On Sins.  
MY Sins are like the hairs upon my head,  
And raise their Audit to as high a score;  
In this they differ; These do daily shed,  
But, ah, my sins grow daily more and more:  
If, by my Hairs, thou number out my sins,  
Heaven make me bald, before that day begins.   

67.  
On the Gospel.  
Our Gospel thrives the more by foreign jars;  
It overcomes in outward opposition:  
But O, it suffers still, in Civil Wars,  
And loses Honour by a home-division:  
If thou assist, I care not, Lord, with whom  
I war abroad, so I have peace at home.   

68  
On the days of Man.  
LOrd, if our days be few, why do we spend  
And lavish them unto so evil an end?  
Lord, if our days be evil, why do we wrong  
Ourselves, and Thee, to wish our Day so long?  
Our days decrease; but, still, our evils renew;  
Great God, we make them evil; Thou mak'st them few.   

69.  
On Sins.  
MY Sins are like the Sands upon the shore;  
Which every Ebb lays open to the Eye:  
In this they differ; These are covered over  
With every Flood; My sins still open lie:  
If thou wilt make mine Eyes a Sea of tears,  
O, they will hide the sins of all my years.   

70.  
On KAIN and DAVID.  
THeir Sins were equal; Equal was their guilt:  
They both committed Homicide; Both spilt  
Their Brother's guiltless blood: Nay, of the twain,  
The first occasion was less foul, in Kain:  
'Twas likely Kains Murder was in heat  
Of blood; There was no former grudge, no threat:  
But david's was a Plot; He took the life  
Of poor Vriah, to enjoy his Wife:  
Was justice equal? Was her Balance even?  
Kain was punished: David was forgiven:  
Both came to trial: But good David did  
Confess that Sin, which cursed Kain hid:  
Kain bewailed the punishment; wherein,  
His Sin had plunged him: David wails his Sin:  
If I lament my sins; Thou wilt forbear  
To punish, Lord; or give me strength, to bear.   

71.  
On PLAUSUS.  
PLausus of late, hath raised an Hospital,  
Repay'rd a Church; Founded a College Hall:  
Plausus hath built a holy Temple; vowed it  
To God: Erects a School, and has endowed it:  
Plausus hath given, through his abundant pity,  
A spital to the blind, and lame o'th' City:  
Plausus allows a Table for the poor  
O'th' ●Parish; besides those, he seeds at door:  
Plausus relieves the Prisons; Mends the Ways;  
Maintains a Lecture, on the Market days:  
Plausus, in brief, for bounty bears the Bell;  
Plausus has done much Good; but nothing, Well.   

72.  
On Sins.  
MY Sins are like the Stars, within the skies;  
In view, in number, even as bright, as great:  
In this they differ: These do set and rise;  
But ah, my Sins do rise, but never seit:  
Shine Son of glory, and my sins are gone,  
Like twinkling Stars, before the rising Sun.   

73.  
On change of Weathers.  
ANd were it for thy profit, to obtain  
All Sunshine? No vicissitude of Rain?  
Thinkst thou, that thy laborious Plough requires  
Not Winter frosts, as well as Summer fires?  
There must be both: Sometimes these hearts of ours  
Must have the sweet, the seasonable Showers  
Of Tears; Sometimes, the Frost of i'll despair  
Makes our desired sunshine seem more fair:  
Wethers that most oppose to Flesh and Blood,  
Are such as help to make our Harvest good:  
We may not choose, great God; It is thy Task:  
We know not what to have; nor how to ask.   

74.  
On PROSPER.  
TAke heed, thou prosperous sinner, how thou liv'st  
In Sin, and thriv'st;  
Thou, that dost flourish in thy heaps of gold,  
And sums untold;  
Thou, that hadst never reason to complain  
Of Cross, or pain.  
Whose unafflicted Conscience never found  
Nor Check, nor Wound.  
Believe it, Prosper, thy deceitful Lease  
Allows thee neither wealth, nor joy, nor Peace.  
Thy golden heaps are nothing but the price  
Of Paradise;  
Thy Flattering pleasures, and thy airy ●oyes,  
But painted Toys;  
Thy peaceful Conscience is but like a Dog,  
Tied in a Clog;  
Believe it, Prosper, thy deceitful Lease  
Allows thee neither Wealth, nor joy, nor Peace:  
Thy heaps of Gold will stand thee in no steed,  
At greatest need;  
Thy Empty Pleasures, will convert thy laughter,  
To groans, hereafter.  
Thy silent Conscience, when enlarged, will roar,  
And rage the more:  
Believe it, Prosper, thy deceitful Lease,  
Affords thee neither Wealth, nor joy, nor Peace.   

75.  
On the Sight of a Plague bill.  
FIve thousand in a week, in one poor City?  
Because it was thy Pleasure, 'twas no pity;  
Why should thou pity us, Just God, when we  
Could never find a time to pity thee?  
Thou never strik'st without a reason why,  
Nor often, then: We easily cast our eye  
Upon the punishment, but blind toth' sin,  
That far transcends the judgement it calls in:  
O, if the weekly Bills of our Transgression  
Could but appear, and make as deep impression  
In our sad hearts, to make our hearts but know  
As great a sorrow, as our Plague-bills do;  
No doubt, no doubt but heavens avenging hand  
Would turn a Stranger to our prosperous Land  
O, if that weekly Catalogue of Si●  
Could, with our City Bills be brought but in;  
And be compared we'd think our Bills not high,  
But rather wonder there are men, to dye.   

76.  
On theatres.  
Fix days were made for work; the seventh, for rest;  
I read of none, that Heaven ordained for Play;  
How have our loser theatres transgressed  
The Decalogue, that make it every Day:  
Me thinks that they should change their Trade for shame,  
Or honour't with a more laborious name,   

77.  
On Players and Ballad mongers.  
Our merry Ballads, and lascivious Plays  
Are much alike: To common censure, both  
Do stand or fall: T'one sings; the other says;  
And both are Frippries of another's Froth:  
In short; They're Priest and Clark of Belials Altar;  
T'one makes the Sermon; Tother tunes the Psalter.   

78.  
On God and the King.  
Our God and Prince (whom God for ever bless)  
Are both, in Mercy, of a Constitution:  
Both slow, till mere necessity shall press,  
To put their penal Laws in Execution:  
And mark, How in a like success they join;  
At both we grumble; and at both, repine.   

79.  
On the life and death of Man.  
THe life of Man is but th'imperfect Story  
Of his Adventure, towards future Glory;  
For death to finish: Who will stick to say,  
A glorious Even foretells a glorious Day?   

80.  
On FOX.  
THere was a time, (wo-worth that heavy time)  
When rav'no●is Foxes did devour the prime,  
And choice of all our Lambs: But Heaven did raise  
A more ingenuous Fox, in after days,  
Whose high immortal Pen redeemed their breath,  
And made those Lambs revive, in spite of death:  
To see, how mutual Saintly Favours be!  
Thou gav'st them life, that now give life to thee.   

81.  
On the Book of Common Prays.  
THe Book of Common Prayer excels the rest;  
For Prayers that are most Common are the be●●.   

82.  
To MUNDANO.  
Wouldst thou Mundano, prove too great, too strong  
For peevish Fortunes angry brow to wrong?  
Renounce her power: Banish Fortune hence,  
And trust thee to the hands of Providence;  
The poorest heart that ever did importune  
heavens aid, is far above the frowns of Fortune.   

83.  
On Rome's Sacrifices.  
IT cannot be excused: It is a wrong  
Proceeding from a tootoo partial tongue,  
To say, The proffered service of false Ro●●  
Had no good savour, and did never come  
Tothth' gates of Heaven; Eye, poor Rome's belyde;  
For when our Troops of glorious Martyrs died,  
In that warm age, who were their Priests? By whom  
Was their blood shed? Was't not by holy Rome?  
Such sweet Perfumes, I dare be bold to say,  
Rome never burned before, nor since that day:  
A sweeter Incense, save his dying Son,  
Heaven ne'er accepted since this World begun.   

84.  
On a dead Man.  
IT is a common use to entertain  
The knowledge of a great man, by his Train:  
How great's the deadman then? There's none that be  
So backed with troops of Followers, as Herald   

85.  
On corner Sinners.  
Such men are like to Owls; They take delight,  
To make the night their day; their day, the night,  
They hate the Sun, and love dark corners best;  
But they shall howl, when day-birds are at rest.   

86.  
On the Kite.  
Mark but the soaring Kite; and she will read  
Brave rules for Diet; teach thee how to feed;  
She flies aloft; She spreads her airy plumes  
Above the reach, above the nau●ious ●umes  
Of dangerous earth; She makes herself a stranger  
T'inferiour things, and checks at every danger;  
At length, she stoops; and, with a brave disdain,  
She strikes her prey, and mounts her up again;  
By her example, learn to use the earth,  
And thou shalt find less mischief, and m●●● mirth.   

87.  
On FORMIO.  
FOrmio bewails his Sins, with the same heart,  
As Friends do Friends, when they're about to part,  
Believe it, F●rmio will not entertain  
A merry Thought, until they meet again.   

88  
On bosom sins.  
HOw loath is Flesh, to yield! the Spirit, to win  
The glorious Conquest of a Bosom sin!  
O, how th'ingenious Flesh will plead! abuse  
The height of Wit, to argue, or excuse:  
At length, it yields: O, give it leave to stay  
A year, a month; a week; at least, a day;  
And if not so, yet let my breaking heart  
But hug it once or twice, before we part;  
Let me but take my leave, my thoughts shall bind me  
From the least touch; let me but look behind me:  
Nay sin, Gehezi●like, will have a blow  
At cleansed Naamans' bounty, ere she go.   

89.  
On the Echo.  
AN Echoes nothing, but a forced rebound,  
Or airy repercussion of a Sound,  
Proceeding from some hollow place, well known  
To have to Bulk, no Being of her own:  
It is no Substance; nothing, but a Noise;  
An empty sound; the picture of a voice:  
Such is my Courtly Friend, At my request,  
he'll breathe his service from his hollow breast,  
And Echo-like for every word that's blown  
Into his ears, returns me two, for one;  
But when they come to th'Test, alas they're found  
More light than Air, mere shadows of a Sound;  
I'll trust my God; His bounty still affords  
As many deeds, as my false Friends do words.   

90  
On a Water-Mill.  
THe formal Christian's like a Water-mill:  
Until the Floodgate's open, he lies still:  
He cannot work at all; he cannot dream  
Of going: till his wheels shall find the stream.   

91.  
On PAUL and APOLLO'S.  
'tIs not, what this man, or what that man saith,  
Brings the least stone, toth'building of my faith;  
My ear may ramble, but my Conscience follows  
No man: I'm neither Paul's, nor yet Apollo's:  
When Scripture gold lies by me, is it just  
To take up my Salvation, upon Trust?  
My Faith shall be confined to no man's Lists;  
I'll only follow Paul, as Paul is Christ's.   

92.  
On MORUS.  
IF a poor timorous Hare but cross the way,  
Morus will keep his chamber all the day;  
What Evill●ortends ●ortends it, Morus? It does show,  
That Morus is not wise, for thinking so.  
But Morus keeps his Chamber: There will be,  
Morus, one Fool the lo●●e abroad by Thee.   

93.  
On some Faiths.  
SOme Faiths are like those Mills, that cannot grind  
Their C●rne, unless they work against the Wind:   

94.  
On the Temporizer.  
HE seems to be a Man of War; His sail  
Being filled and prospered with a foreright Gale,  
Makes speedy way; and, with her Keel, divides  
The sparkling furrows of the swelling Tides;  
Or if the wind should slack, or ●●ase to blow,  
Can make a shift to Tide it to and fro;  
But if it prove a Storm, or the wind cro●●e,  
His wavering Bottom soon gins to toss  
Upon the troubled ●aves, without regard  
Of either stear●, or yet the seaman's ●ard;  
His prouder Courage quails, & the rough weather  
Transports his wand'ring keel, he knows not whither;  
Till, after many a ruin-threatening knock,  
He's overwhelmd or splitt upon a Rock.   

95.  
On our sins.  
IT is an Error even as foul, to call  
Our sins too great for pardon, as too small.   

96.  
On the Hypocrite.  
he's like a Christmas Candle, whose good name  
Crowns his fair actions with a glorious flame;  
Burns clear and bright, and leaves no ground for doubt  
To question, but he stinks at going out;  
When Death puffs out his Flame, the snuff will tell  
If he were Wax or Tallow, by the smell.   

97.  
On Secret mungers.  
HE, that at Secrets, shall compose his aim,  
Is like the Fly that sports about the Flame;  
He never leaves to buzz, until he brings  
Hi●selfe to ruin; or at least, his wings:  
And like a desperate Fly, though he has been  
Once scorched, he'll venture at the Flame again.   

98.  
On a Fly.  
THe Sun-delighting Fly repairs, at first  
To the full Cup, only to quench her thirst;  
But, oftentimes, she sport's about the Brink,  
And sips so long till she be drowned in drink:  
When wanton leisure shall present thine eye  
With lavish Cups, Remember but the Fly.   

99  
On Scripture and Apocrypha.  
When as the Scripture opens to mine eyes,  
I see my Lord in's Bed: But when I meet  
Th' Apocrypha at th'end, me thinks it lies,  
Like his well countenanced Page, at the Beds feet;  
Who wears his Lords old clothes, made less; & says  
His own Inventions in his Master's Phrase.   

100  
To my BOOK.  
HEre comes a Critic; Close thy Page:  
Thou art no Subject for this Age:  
And censure, oftentimes, ye know,  
Will strike the Dove, and spare the Crow:  
But hold; Thy Gild does not require  
That thou shouldst lurk, or yet retire;  
Be open as the Eye of Noon:  
And let Dogs bark against the Moon:  
Thou hast no Luster of thy own,  
But what's derived from Heaven alone:  
Fear not: Thy Heav'n-instructed Page,  
Will either please, or teach the Age.   
The end of the second Book.   

DIVINE FANCIES.  
The third Book.  

1.  
On old Wine and new.  
OLd crazy Casks are not designed to hold  
New-Wines; nor yet new Vessels, for the Old:  
Old must, with Old; and new, with new, be filled:  
Else will the vessels break, and Wine be spilld:  
These empty Vessels are thy heart and mine;  
The Law and Gospel represents the Wine:  
The news the Spirit, and the old's the Letter;  
With reverence to the Text, The news the better.   

2.  
On ZACHARIAS and the blessed Virgin.  
HIs tongue required a Sign, which might afford  
A clearer Evidence, than the Angel's word;  
And had it too: Until those things shall come  
To pass, his faithless lips are stricken dumb:  
Our blessed Virgin, at her Salutation,  
Seemed even as faithless, on the self same fashion  
Her lips replied: And how can these things be?  
Hard justice! why he punished, and not she?  
The Reason's easy to be riddeld out;  
Hers was the voice of Wonder; His, of doubt.   

3.  
On a Picture.  
SOme Pictures, with a foreright eye, if seen,  
Present unto the view some beauteous Queen;  
But step aside, and it objects the shape;  
On this side, of an Owl; on that, an Ape:  
Look full upon the world, It proves the Story,  
And beauteous Picture of th' Almighty's Glory;  
But if thy change of posture lead thy sight  
From the full view, to th' left hand, or the right,  
It offers to thine eye, but painted Toys,  
Poor antic Pleasures, and deceitful joys.   

4.  
On SERVIO.  
SErvio's in Law: If Servio cannot pay  
His Lawyer's Fee, Servio may lose the day,  
No wonder, formal Servio does trudge  
So oft to Church: He goes to Bribe his Judge.   

5.  
On PETER'S Cock.  
THe Cock crowed once, And Peter's careless ear  
Could hear it, but his eye not spend a tear:  
The Cock crowed twice, Peter began to creep  
To th' Fire side, but Peter could not weep:  
The Cock crowed thrice: Our Saviour turned about,  
And looked on Peter; Now his tears burst out:  
'Twas not the Cock, It was our Saviour's Eye.  
Till he shall give us tears, we cannot cry.   

6.  
On AMBIDEXTER.  
GOd keep my Goods, my Name, they never fall  
Into the Net of Ambidexters' Laws;  
But, for a Cause, he seldom prays at all;  
But curses, evermore, without a Cause:  
I'd rather have his Curses, all the day,  
Then give his Conscience the least cause to pray.   

7.  
On Lazarus, the damosel, and a sinner.  
LAz'rus come forth? why could not Laz'rus plead,  
I cannot come, great God, for I am dead:  
Dam'sell arise? when Death had closed her eyes,  
What power had the Damsel to arise?  
Sinner repent? Can we as dead, in sin,  
As Laz'rus, or the Damsel, live again?  
Admit we could; could we appoint the hour?  
The Voice that calls, gives, and gives then the power.   

8.  
On Sinne.  
HOw, how am I deceived! I thought my bed  
Had entertained a fair, a beauteous Bride:  
O, how were my believing thoughts misled  
To a false Beauty, lying by my side!  
Sweet were her Kisses, full of choice delight;  
My Fancy found no difference in the night.  
I thought they were true joys, that thus had led  
My darkened Soul, But they were false Alarms;  
I thought I'd had fair Rachel in my Bed,  
But I had blear eyed Leah in my arms:  
How seeming sweet is Sin, when clothed with Night;  
But, when discovered, what a loathed delight.   

9  
On Repentance.  
'tIs not, to Cry God mercy, or to sit  
And droop; or to confess, that thou hast failed;  
'tis, to bewail the sins, thou didst commit,  
And not commit those sins, thou hast bewailed:  
He that bewails, and not forsakes them too,  
Confesses, rather, what he means to do.   

10.  
On Man.  
MAn is a moving Limbeck, to distil  
Sweet smelling waters; where withal to fill  
Gods empty B●ttle: Lord do thou inspire  
Thy quickening spirit; Put in thy sacred Fire;  
And than mine eyes shall never cease to drop,  
Till they have brimmed thy Bottle, to the Top:  
I can do nothing, Lord, till thou inspire:  
I'm a cold Limbeck, but expecting Fire.   

11.  
On the pouring out of our hearts.  
'tIs easy to pour in: But few, I doubt,  
Attain that curious Art, of pouring out:  
Some pour their hearts, like oil, that there resides  
An unctions substance still, about the sides:  
Others, like Wine; which, though the substance pass,  
Does leave a kind of savour in the Glass;  
Some pour their hearts like Milk, whose hue distaines  
Though neither Substance, nor the scent remains:  
How shall we pour them, then; that smell, nor matter,  
Nor colour stay? Pour out your hearts like water.   

12.  
On Friends.  
GOd shield me from those friends, I trust; and be  
My firm defence from such, as trust not Thee.   

13.  
On the Hypocrite.  
he's like a Bulrush; seems so smooth, that not  
The eye of Cato can descry a knot:  
Pill but the Bark, and strip his smother skin,  
And thou shalt find him spongy, all within:  
His brows are always ponderous as Led,  
He ever droops, and hangs his velvet head:  
He washes often; but, if thou inquire  
Into his depth, his roots are fixed in mire.   

14.  
On SERVIO.  
SErvio would thrive; and therefore, does obey  
God's Law, and shuts up Shop o'th' Sabbath day:  
Servio would prosper in his home affairs,  
And therefore dares not miss his Dyet-Prayres.  
Servio must put to Sea, and does implore;  
Toth'end, that he might safely come ashore.  
Servio's in Suit, and therefore must be tied  
To morning prayer, until his Cause be tried:  
Servio begins to loath a Single life,  
And therefore prays for a high-portioned Wife:  
Servio would feign be thought religious too,  
And therefore prays as the Religious do:  
Servio still prays for Profit, or Applause;  
Servio will seldom pray, without a Cause.   

15.  
On the Devil's Masterpiece.  
THis is the height the Devil's Art can show,  
To make man proud, because he is not so.   

16.  
On our Saviour's Fishing.  
WHen as our blessed Saviour took in hand  
To be a Fisher; Mark the rule he keeps;  
He first puts off a little from the Land;  
And, by degrees, he launchd into the Deeps:  
By whose example, our Men-fishers hold  
The self same course; They do the same, or should.   

17.  
On Man's greatest Enemy.  
OF all those mortal enemies, that take part  
Against my Peace, Lord, keep me from my Heart.   

18.  
On the Hypocrite.  
he's like a Reed, that always does reside,  
Like a well planted Tree, by th'water side;  
He bears no other fruit, but a vain brag  
Of formal sanctity; A very Flag:  
he's round, and full of substance, to the show;  
But hollow hearted, if enquired into:  
In peaceful seasons, when the weather's fair,  
Stands firm; but shakes, with every blast of Air.   

19  
On the holy Scriptures.  
WHy did our blessed Saviour please to break  
His sacred thoughts in Parables; and speak  
In dark Enigmas? Whosoe'er thou be  
That findest them so, they were not spoke to Thee:  
In what a case is he, that haps to run  
Against a post, and cries, How dark's the Sun?  
Or he, in Summer, that complains of Frost?  
The Gospell's hid to none, but who are lost:  
The Scripture is a Ford, wherein, 'tis said,  
An Elephant shall swim; a Lamb may wade.   

20.  
On Man's heart.  
NAture presents my heart in Ore;  
Fair civil carriage gilds it o'er;  
Which, when th'Almighty shall behold  
With a pleased eye, he brings to gold:  
Thus changed, the Temple Ballance weighs it;  
If dross remain, the Touch betrays it;  
Afflictions Furnace, then refines it:  
God's holy Spirit stamps and coins it:  
No Coin so currant; it will go  
For the best Wares, that Heaven can show,   

21.  
On Drunkenness.  
MOst Sins, at least, please Sense; but this is treason  
Not only against the crown of Sense, but Reason.   

22.  
On a Kiss.  
ERe since our blessed Saviour was betrayed  
With a Lip-Kisse, his Vicar is afraid:  
From whence, perchance, this common use did grow  
To kiss his other End; I mean his Toe.   

23.  
On the Alchemist.  
THe patient Alchemist, whose vain desire,  
By Art, is to dissemble nature's Fire,  
Employs his labour, to transmute the old,  
And base substance into perfect Gold:  
He laughs at unbelievers, scorns and flouts  
Illiterate Counsel; neither cares, nor doubts:  
Until, at length, by his ingenious Itch,  
he's brought most poor, in seeking to be rich:  
Such is the Civillman; that by his even  
And level actions hopes to merit Heaven;  
He thinks, by help of Nature, to acquire,  
At least to counterfeit the Sacred Fire  
Of saving Grace, to purge and to refresh  
His base desires, and change his stone, to flesh:  
He spurns at Counsel; He derides and jerks  
Those whining Spirits that renounce their works;  
Till, too much trusting to their doing well,  
In seeking Heaven, they find the flames of hell,   

24.  
On the ten Lepers.  
TEn Lepers cleansed? And but one, of ten  
Return the cleanser thanks? Ungrateful Men!  
But Ten i'th' Hundred? ' That's a Gain that we  
Receive or Sue, yet oft deny it Thee.   

25.  
On the last Epigram.  
HOw, how, am I deceived, that speak to thee  
Of Interest, when the purchase was in Fee!  
Thou mad'st a clean Conveyance to the Ten,  
And ne'er expectd'st the Principal again:  
Lord, we must reckon by another Rate:  
They gave not one years' Purchase for th' Estate:  
Lord, how we palter with thee! We pretend  
A present Payment, till w'obtaine our End:  
And then we crave, and crave a longer Day,  
Then pay in Driblets; or else, never pay.   

26.  
On the Box of Ointment.  
IT is no wonder, he, above the rest,  
Whom thirty pieces tempted to betray  
The Lord of Glory to his death, professed  
The Box of Ointment was but cast away:  
He that dare murder at so small a cost,  
May easily think the charge in Burial, lost.   

27.  
On MARY and JUDAS.  
Marry did kiss him: judas kissed him too,  
But both their aims were covered in a mist;  
Both kiss our Saviour; but their kisses do  
Differ as far as did the Parts they kissed:  
There's danger still, where double hearts do steal  
The form of Love, or wear the cloak of Zeal.   

28.  
On our Saviour and his Vicar.  
ME thinks thy Vicar General bears the Keys,  
And executes thy Place, with greater case.  
And in one jubilee, enjoys more mirth,  
Then thou, my dying Lord, didst from thy Birth,  
Alas: Thou hadst not, wherewithal to fill  
Thy craving stomach: He has Cates at will:  
Thy empty Costers had not to defray  
Thy Tribute charge: To him Kings Tribute pay;  
Foxes have holes; Thou hadst not, whereupon  
To rest thy wakeful head: He snorts in Down:  
In short, Thy life was nothing but the Story  
Of Poverty; and his, of Princely Glory:  
When tempting Satan would have given thee all  
The wealth and glory of the World, to fall  
And worship him; at thy refusal, Lord,  
Thy Vicar took the Tempter at his word;  
So came thy wants so great; so great his store;  
The Vicar soso rich; the Lord, so poor.   

29.  
On the great Prelate.  
Our Saviour's Feet were kissed: The people do  
The very same to thee, great Prelate, too;  
O, who will seal but such another Kiss  
Upon thy Lips, our Saviour had on his!   

30.  
On Idolatry.  
CAn common madness find a thing, that's more  
Repugnant to the very Laws of Nature;  
That the Creator's Image should adore  
The senseless Image of a sensual creature!  
If such be Gods; if such our helpers be,  
O, what are Men! How more than Beasts are we!   

31.  
On the Tables of Stone.  
THat stony Table could receive the print  
Of thy just Laws; Thy Laws were written in't:  
It could be hewed, and letters graven thereon;  
Sure, Lord, my Heart is harder than that Stone.   

32.  
On Man's three Enemies.  
THere's three, that with their fiery Darts, do level  
Against my Soul, the World, the Flesh, the Devil.  
Lord, give me patience, if not strength; For there  
Are Three t' afflict me; I'm but One, to bear.   

33.  
☞ On DINAH. ☜  
WHen Dinahs' careless Eye was grown too lavish  
To entertain, Sechem found time to ravish:  
It is no less than silent invitation,  
Although we scorn the Sin, to give th' occasion:  
Sure, Dinahs' Resolution was too strong,  
Or to admit, or not resist a Wrong,  
And scorns to stoop to the adulterers arms;  
We often burn, intending but to warmes:  
She went but out to see, Perchance, to hear  
What Lust could say: What harm to lend an ear?  
Another's Sin, sometimes, procures our shames:  
It stains our Bodies; or, at least, our Names.   

34.  
On. FIDO.  
MArk, when the good man prospers with his Plot,  
he's still envied; despised, if prosper not;  
The Wicked have no peace with God; And, then,  
How canst thou, Fido, look t'have peace with men?   

35.  
On JACOB.  
HOw Iacob's trooped: Laban pursues with one  
Great Troop; and Esau meets him with another.  
Laban resolves to apprehend his Son:  
Esau, to be revenged upon his Brother:  
Me thinks I see how Jacob stands supplied,  
Like Virtue with a Vice on either side:  
Laban pursues him, to regain his Gods:  
Esau, t'avenge his Birthright and his Blessing:  
What hope has jacob now? 'Twixt both, 'tis odds,  
There will be either Death or Dispossessing:  
God takes delight to turn our helper, then,  
When all our helps and hopes are passed with men.  
Laban encounters jacob: He requires  
His Gods: And Esau's near at hand, by this:  
Laban's appeased; and quenched are Esau's Fires;  
T'one leaves him; Tother meets him with a Kiss;  
Iacobs in league with both: The Soul that shall  
Have peace with God, has League and peace with all.   

36.  
On Drunkenness.  
IT is a Thief; that, oft, before his face,  
Steals Man away, and lays a Beast in's place.   

37.  
On a Tennis-court.  
MAn is a Tennis-court: His Flesh, the Wall:  
The Gamesters God, & Satan. Th'heart's the Ball:  
The higher and the lower Hazards are  
Too bold Presumption, and too base Despair:  
The Rackets, which our restless Balls make fly,  
Adversity, and sweet Prosperity:  
The Angels keep the Court, and mark the place,  
Where the Ball falls, and chaulk out every Chase:  
The Line's a Civil life, we often cross,  
o'er which, the Ball not flying, makes a Loss:  
Detractors are like Standers-by, that bet  
With Charitable men: Our Life's the Sett;  
Lord, In this Conflict, in these fierce Assaults,  
Laborious Satan makes a world of Faults;  
Forgive them Lord, although he ne'er implore  
For favour: They'll be set upon our score:  
O, take the Ball, before it come toth'ground,  
For this base Court has many a false Rebound:  
Strike, and strike hard, but strike above the Line:  
Strike where thou please, so as the Sett be thine.   

38.  
On Abel's Blood.  
ABel was silent, but his Blood was strong,  
Each drop of guiltless blood commands a tongue,  
A tongue, that cries; 'Tis not a tongue, implores  
For gentle Audience, 'Tis a tongue that roars  
For hideous Vengeance: 'Tis a tongue that's bold  
And full of Courage, and that cannot hold:  
O, what a noise my Blessed Saviour's Blood  
Makes now in heaven! how strong it cries! how loud!  
But not for Vengeance: From his side, has sprung  
A world of drops; From every drop, a Tongue.   

39  
On the Memory.  
DOes thy corrected Frailty still complain  
Of thy disloyal Memory? dost retain  
Nothing that's Good? And is the better part  
Of what thou hear'●, before it warm thy heart,  
Snatched from thy false Remembrance? Is the most  
Of what th'inspired Prophets tell thee, lost  
In thy unhospitable ears? And not  
To be recalled? Quite buried? Quite forgot?  
Fear not: Thou hast a Chanc'lour in thy Breast,  
That keeps th' Exchequer, and hoards up the least,  
The poorest Sum: No, no, thou needst not fear,  
There's nothing will be lost that's taken there:  
Thinkst thou, that thou hast lost that piece of Gold  
That's dropped into a fairer Heap, untold?  
Or canst thou judge that Fire, closed about  
With raked up Embers, 'cause not scene, is out?  
Gold, lost in greater sums, is still thine own;  
And raked up Embers will, in time, be blown  
To Flames: Believe't the Words thine ears have lost,  
Thy heart will find, when thou shalt need them most.   

40.  
On the Babel-Builders.  
Sure, if those Babel-Builders had thought good  
To raise their heav'n-high Tower before the flood,  
The wiser sort of people might deride  
Their Folly, and that Folly had salved their Pride;  
Or had their Faiths but enterprised that Plot,  
Their hearts had finished what their hands could not;  
'Twas not for love of Heaven: nor did they aim  
So much to raise a Building; as a Name:  
They that by Works shall seek to make intrusion  
To Heaven, find nothing but their own Confusion.   

41.  
On ESAV and JACOB.  
ESau goes forth; strives, with his own disquiet,  
To purchase Venison for his father's Diet:  
jacob abides at home; and, by his Mother,  
Is taught the way, how to supplant his brother:  
There's some that hunt, like Esau, sweat and toil,  
And seek their Blessing by their own Turmoil;  
Whilst others crave assistance, and bewray  
Their wiser weakness, in a safer Way:  
O, if the Church my Mother will instruct me;  
Make savoury Meat, and clothe me, and conduct me  
Into my Father's Arms, these hands shall never  
Trust to the poorness of their own Endeavour:  
Bring I a Kid but of my Mother's dressing,  
'Twill please my Father, and procure my Blessing.   

42.  
On several Sins.  

Gross Sinne.  
IS like a Shower, which ere we can get in  
Into our Conscience, wets us to the skin:   

Sin of Infirmity.  
IS like the falling of an April Shower;  
'Tis often Rain, and Sunshine, in an hour.   

Sin of Custom.  
IS a long Shower, beginning with the Light  
Ofttimes continuing till the Dead of Night.   

Sin of Ignorance.  
IT is a hideous Mist, that wetts amain,  
Though it appear not in the form of Rain.   

Crying Sin.  
IT is a sudden Shower, that tears in sunder  
The Cope of Heaven, & always comes with Thunder.   

Sin of Delight.  
IS like a feathered shower of Snow, not felt,  
But soaks to th' very skin, when ere it melt:   

Sin of Presumption.  
DOes like a Shower of Hail, both wet and wound  
With sudden Death: or strikes us to the Ground.   

The Sin of Sins.  
IT is a sulphurous Shower, such as fell  
On Sodom, strikes, and strikes to th' Pit of Hell.    

43.  
On these Showers.  
GOod God what Weather's here! These souls of our  
Have still the luck to travel in a Shower:  
Lord, we are cold and pitifully drenched;  
Not a dry third; And all our Fyer's quenched:  
Our very Blood is cold; Our trembling knees  
Are mutual Andvils; Lord, we stand and freeze:  
Alas we find small comfort from the Eye  
Of Heaven; These showering clouds, our sins, do fly  
Betwixt the Sun and us: We dry no more,  
Then if the Sun had given his office o'er:  
Nay Lord; if now and then those Beams do chance  
To break upon's, and lend a feeble glance  
Upon our reeking souls, ere we begin  
To feel the warmth, weare doused and drenched again:  
In what a case are we! Our nightly damps  
And daily storms, have filled our Souls with Cramps,  
With wavering Palseyes', and our hoarser tongues  
Can do thee service, nor in Prayers, nor Songs:  
Our Zeals are Aguish; hot and cold: They be  
Extremely hot toth' World, as cold to Thee;  
Our Blood has got a Fever: Lord, it must  
Be set on fire with every wanton Lust:  
What worlds of mischiefs are there, that prevail not  
Upon our fainting Souls? What is't we ail not,  
That Wet and Cold can bring? Yet have no power  
To keep us in, but dabble in the Shower:  
Shine forth, bright Sun of glory; Be as fierce,  
As these eclipsing Clouds are black; Disperse  
And clear them with thy stronger beams, that thus  
Dare interpose betwixt thy Glory ' and us:  
Reflect on my distempered Soul; Refine  
This vaporous Earth, this sinful Flesh of mine,  
That, though some Drops m●●● fall, I may have power,  
Sheltered by thee, t'avoid the down right Shower;  
O let my dabbled Spirit still retire  
To thee, and warm her by thy Sacred Fire;  
That having ravilled out some weary hours,  
She may arrive where's neither Clouds nor Showers.   

44.  
On DIVES and LAZARUS.  
DId ever judge more equally proceed  
To punish Sin? so right, in kind, and nature?  
Poor Laz'rus was refused a Crum of Bread;  
And Dives was denied a Drop of Water:  
Children are oftentimes so like the Mother,  
That men may easily know the one, by th'other.   

45.  
On two Suitors.  
THe Soul is like a Virgin; for whose love  
Two jealous Suitors strive: Both daily move  
For Nuptial favour; Both, with Lover's Art,  
Plead for the Conquest of the Virgin's heart:  
The first, approaching, knocked, and knocked again;  
The Door being oped, at his entering in,  
He blushed; and (as young bashful Lovers use)  
Is more than half discouraged, ere he sues:  
At length, that love, that taught him what to fear,  
Gave resolution to present her ear  
With what he hoped, and in a lover's fashion,  
He oft repeats the Story of his Passion:  
He vows his Faith, and the sincere perfection,  
Of undissembled, and entire Affection;  
He sues for equal mercy from her Eye;  
And must have love, or else, for love, must dye:  
His present means were short: He made profession  
Of a fair jointure, though but small possession:  
And in word, to make his passion good,  
He offers to deserve her with his Blood:  
The other boldly enters: with the strong  
And sweet-liped Reth'ricke of a Courtly tongue,  
Salutes her gentle ears: His lips discover  
The amorous language of a wanton Lover:  
He smiles and fauns, and now and then le's fly  
Imperious glances from his sparkling Eye;  
Bribes her more orient neck with pearl; with charms▪  
- Enclosing Bracelets decks her ivory Arms;  
He boasts th' extent of his Imperial Power,  
And offers Wealth and Glory for a Dower:  
Betwixt them both the Virgin stands perplexed;  
The first Tale pleased her well, until the next  
Was told: She liked the one, the other▪ Loath  
To make a choice: She could affect them Both:  
The one was jocund, full of sprightly mirth:  
The other, better borne; of nobler birth:  
The second sued in a completer fashion;  
I, but the first showed deeper wounds of Passion:  
The first was sadly modest: And the last  
More rudely pleasant: His fair looks did cast  
More amorous flames; But yet the tother's eye  
Did promise greater Nuptial Loyalty:  
The lasts more rich; yet Riches, but for life,  
Make a poor Widow, of a happy Wife:  
The first's Estate's but small, if not made good  
By Death: Fair jointures comfort Widow hood:  
Whom shall this Virgin 〈◊〉 Her thoughts approve  
The last, for present wealth, the first, for love:  
Both may not be enjoyed: Her heart must smother  
Her love to one, if she affect the other:  
Ah, silly Virgin, Is the choice so hard  
In two extremes? Can thy weak thoughts reward  
Two so unequal, with a like Respect?  
Know'st thou not which to slight, & which t'affect?  
Submit to better judgement, and advise  
With thy best Friend: O trust not thine own eyes:  
This last, that seems so pleasant, so acute,  
Is but a Slave, dressed in his Lords old Suit:  
He brags of Glory, and of Princely Power,  
When he is kicked and baffled every hour:  
The Treasure that he boasts is not his own,  
He basely stole it, and the Theft is known;  
For which, he is arraigned, condemned to th'pains  
Of death; His sentence is, to hang in Chains:  
His plott's to bring thee in as deep as He;  
Believe't; It is thy Blood he seeks, not Thee:  
The Bribes he gave thee, are but stolen: Fond Girl,  
Discard those Bracelets, and disclaim that Pearl:  
The first, whose oft repeated knocks did crave  
Admittance, was the Lord to that base slave:  
His Faith is loyal, and as firm his Vow:  
To him, his life's not half so dear, as thou:  
That wealth, that honour, that dissembled power,  
That pleasant Peasant offered as a Dower,  
Is that fair Lords: Nor peace, nor pow'r●or ●or wealth  
Can any challenge from him, but by stealth:  
Match there, my Soul, and let thy sacred Vows  
Plight holy Contracts with so sweet a Spouse:  
His left hand's full of treasure; And his right;  
Of peace, and honour, and unknown delight:  
he'll give thee wealth; and in that wealth, content,  
For present means; And (when thy Glass has spent  
Her latest Sand, that Time untransitory  
Thy days) a Jointure of Eternal Glory.   

46.  
On the old and new Garment.  
NEw Garments being brought, who is't that would  
Not scorn to live a Prisoner to the Old?  
Yet though our bounteous Saviour, at his cost,  
Presents us new, we love the old ones most:  
Alas, they pinch us! O, they sit too straight!  
They are too cumbersome! too great a weight!  
No, no; the old were too too light, too great;  
So we have ease, we care not to be neat:  
Like tired Jades, our better wills repair  
To a foul Stable, then t'a Rod● that's fair.   

47.  
On Man's co-operation.  
WE are not Blocks: We must expect the Call;  
And, being called, must move, and rise withal:  
The Voice were needless, and as good be dumb,  
As, with the Call, not give the power to come:  
Deserves he food, that thinks it vain to gape?  
Christ takes his Spouse by Contract, not by Rape.   

48.  
On the old and new Tables.  
THe former Tables of the Law were broken,  
And left no Monuments of themselves, no token,  
No Sign that ever such things were: But mark,  
The later were kept holy in the Ark:  
Those Tables are our Hearts. Can we be bold  
To look for new, and yet not break the old?  
Or can the ruins of the old find place  
In th' Ark of Glory, not repaired by Grace?  
Dismount, O blessed Moses, and renew  
Those Tables thou hast broken, or make new.   

49.  
On a Crucifix.  
WHy not the Picture of our dying Lord,  
As of a Friend? Nor this, nor that's adored:  
Does not th' eternal Law command, that thou  
Shalt even as well forbear to make, as bow?  
Not to so good an end? T'advance his passion?  
The Gold being pure, what matter for the Fashion;  
Take heed: The purest gold does often take  
Some loss, some prejudice, for the fashion's sake:  
Not to a Civil end? To garnish Halls?  
To deck our windows? To adorn our Walls?  
Shewbread must not be common: And the Cruse  
Of holy Oil admits no Civil use:  
No, no; the beauty of his Picture lies  
Within; 'tis th'object of our Faith, not Eyes.   

50.  
On praying to Saints.  
NOt pray to Saints? Is not the Warrant ample,  
If backed with Scripture? strengthened with example?  
Did not that sweltering Dives make complaint  
For water? was not Abraham a Saint?  
Why should reform Churches than forbid it?  
'Tis true: But tell me; what was He, that did it?   

51.  
On Confession.  
EXperience tells, That Agues are about  
To wear away, when as our Lips break out:  
In Spiritual Fevers, there's the same expression  
Of Health, when lips break forth into Confession:  
But mark: These hopeful Symptoms never do  
Confirm the Ague gone, but fair to go:  
They do not always work, what they portend;  
Confession profits not, unless we mend.   

52.  
On solomon's Rejoice.  
YOung man Rejoice: What jolly mirth is here?  
Let thy heart cheer thee: What delicious Cheer?  
In thy young days; Thy Cates will relish sweeter.  
Walk thy own ways: Thy Cares will pass the fleeter:  
Please thine own heart: Carve where it likes thee best:  
Delight thine eyes: And be a Joyful Guest:  
But know withal, The Day will come, whereon  
Thy judge will doom thee for the deeds thoust done:  
O what a Feast! O what a Reck'ning's here!  
The Cates are sweet; The Shot's extremely dear:  
Lord, I have been, and am a daily Guest  
(Too oft invited) at the Young man's Feast:  
The Reck'ning's great; Although I cannot pay,  
I can confess; Great God, before this Day,  
I had been dragged to the redeemlesse jail,  
Hadst thou not pleased t'accept my Saviour's Bail;  
Lord, he must bear't I doubt: For I can get  
Nor Coin to pay, nor labour out the Debt:  
I cannot dig, my joints are stark and lame,  
But I can beg, although I beg with shame;  
I have no Grace in begging; can receive  
The first repulse: I have no Faith, to crave:  
If th'entertainments of the Feast be these;  
Lord give me Famine; take the Feast that please:   

53  
On Bread.  
TAke up that bit of Bread: And understand,  
What 'tis thou holdest in thy careless hand:  
Observe it with thy thoughts, and it will read thee  
An useful Lecture, even as well as feed thee;  
We stir our Lands, or give directions how;  
But God must send a season for the Plough:  
We sow our Seed; But sow our seed in vain,  
If Heaven deny the first, the later Rain;  
Small proof in Showers, if heavens pleased hand shall cease  
To bless those showers, nor crown than with increase.  
The tender Blades appear, before thine eye,  
But, varefresht by heaven, as soon they die:  
The infant Ears shoot forth, and now begin  
To corn: But God must hold his Mildews in:  
The Harvest's come: But Clouds conspire together  
Hands cannot work, till heaven shall clear the weather:  
At length 'tis reaped: Between the Barn and Furrow  
How many Offices poor Man runs thorough!  
Now God has done his part: The rest we share  
To Man: His providence takes now the care:  
No; yet it is not ours: The use alone,  
Not bare possession makes the thing our own:  
Thy swelling Barns have crowned thy full desire;  
But heaven, when Mows should sweat, can make them  
I, but the Sheaves are thrashed, & the heap lies  
In thy full Garnier. He that sent the Fly's fire;  
To Pharees Court, can, with as great an ease,  
Send thee more wasteful vermin if he please:  
Perchance 'tis grounded, kneded: and what though?  
God's Curse is often tempered with the Dough;  
Believe't the fruits of all thy toil, is mine,  
Until they be enjoyed, as much as thine:  
But now t'has fed thee: Is thy soul at rest?  
Perchance, thy stomach's dainty to digest.  
No, if heavens following favour do not last  
From the first Furrow to the very Taste,  
Thy labour's lost: The Bread of all thy travill,  
Without that blessing, feeds no more than Gravill:  
Now wasteful Man, thou mayst repose again  
That Model of God's providence and thy pain:  
That bit of Bread; And if thy Dog should fawn  
Upon thy lap, let not so dear a Pawn  
Of greater plenty be contemned and lost;  
Remember how it came, and what it cost.   

54.  
On Faith and Reason.  
TRue Faith and Reason, are the Souls two Eyes:  
Faith evermore looks upward, and discryes  
Objects remote; but Reason can discover  
Things only near; sees nothing that's above her;  
They are not Matches; Often disagree;  
And sometimes both are closed, and neither see:  
Faith views the Sun; and Reason, but the shade;  
T'one courts the Mistress; t'other woos the Maid:  
That fees the Fire; This, only but the Flint;  
The truebred Christian always looks asquint.   

55.  
On Carnal Mirth.  
Who seeks to quench by help of Carnal friends  
Those fiery Errants that the conscience sends,  
Redeems his Peace, but with a further spoil;  
Drinks in a Fever: quenches Fire with Oil.  
Lord, if thou strike my Conscience; and that, Me:  
I will expect, and trust no Friend, but Thee.   

56.  
On Prayer.  
PRayre's like a Vapour fumed from earth; that flies  
To th' Gates of Heaven: It never rots i'th' Skies:  
If Faith and it be joined, it will obtain,  
And melt into a first and later Rain;  
If Faith forsake her, and they part in sunder,  
It falls in Thunderbolts; at least, in Thunder.   

57  
On ANNA.  
What faithful Anna by her Tears had done  
Deserved the double duty of a Son:  
She was a double Parent; pleased to do  
A double Office; bore, and got him too:  
Thus Samuel was (It was less strange than rare)  
Borne of her Body, gotten by her Prayer.   

58.  
On a Gift.  
NO loss to give to thee; the gift is more  
Our own, being given, great God; then 'twas before.   

59  
On myself.  
IF Righteous Ely was not vengeance-free,  
How shall I scape! He was a Saint, to me:  
Nay, Lord, how would my heart & comfort fail,  
If I should weigh thy Mercies in our Scale!   

60.  
On justification and Sanctification.  
LOrd, thou hast promised, in and for thy Christ,  
To sanctify where ere thou Iustifi'st:  
Lord, all my Evils are Justified in thee;  
Lord, let those Evils be sanctified to me.   

61.  
On Man's Love.  
WHen think we, Lord: on thee! & when we do,  
How feeble are our thoughts, & sinful too!  
How basely do our crooked Souls engage  
Themselves to heaven? We make thy Glory, Page  
To our Salvation: Man's more servile heart  
Loves what he'd have thee, Lord, not what thou art:  
This is the very best of Man; wherein  
weare apt to think we merit more, than Sin.  
But there's a base Love: Our chief respects  
Have mere relation to our own Defects,  
Like Dogs we fawn upon our Master's Laps,  
With dirty feet, and only love for Scraps.  
But there's a base yet: We love for fear,  
Finding, like Kain, more than we can bear,  
And, were it not for shame, our hearts would be  
As warm to Satan, as, great God, to Thee:  
But there's a base yet: And base none:  
We love thee, to be loved of man alone:  
We force a Zeal; usurp the name of Pure;  
That we may sin more closely, more secure,  
We love thee only to abuse thee, just  
As Whores love Husbands, but to cloak their lust:  
How art thou martyred in our lustful Fires!  
How made a Stale to catch our wild desires!  
Lord, I will love as far as lies in me,  
Thee for thy self, and all things else in Thee:   

62.  
On filial love and servile.  
THey're not alike, although alike appear:  
T'one fears for love: The other loves for Fear.   

63.  
On Grapes.  
IT is received, That seed of Grapes being sown,  
Brings forth degenerate Clusters, or else none:  
But Stocks being grafted prove a fruitful Vine,  
Whose pleasing Berries yield a generous wine;  
We are thy Vineyard, Lord; These Grapes of our,  
By Nature, are degenerous and sour;  
But if thou please to graft us, we shall bear  
Delicious fruit; which being pressed, shall cheer  
The hearts of Angels, and that blessed Trine  
Of perfect glory with their sprightly Wine.   

64.  
On joy and Grief.  
LOrd, if my Griefs were not opposed with joy,  
They would destroy:  
And if my Mirth were not allayed with Sadness,  
It would be Madness:  
While this, with that, or that, with this contends,  
They're both my Friends:  
But when these happy Wars do chance to cease,  
I have no peace:  
The more my earthly Passions do contest,  
The more my heavenly ' Affection's are at rest.   

65.  
On Doves and Serpents.  
WE must have Doves and Serpents in our heart,  
But how they must be marshaled there's the Art;  
They must agree, and not be far asunder;  
The Dove must hold the wily Serpent under:  
Their natures teach what places they must keep,  
The Dove can fly, the Serpent only creep.   

66.  
On Christ, and ourselves.  
I Wish a greater knowledge, then t'attain  
The knowledge of myself; A greater Gain  
Then to augment myself; A greater Treasure  
Then to enjoy myself; A greater Pleasure  
Then to content myself: How slight, and vain  
Is all selfe-Knowledge, Pleasure, Treasure, Gain;  
Unless my better knowledge could retrieve  
My Christ; unless my better Gain could thrive  
In Christ; unless my better Wealth grow rich  
In Christ; unless my better Pleasure pitch  
On Christ; Or else my Knowledge will proclaim  
To my own heart how ignorant I am:  
Or else my Gain, so ill improved, will shame;  
My Trade, and show how much declined I am:  
Or else my Treasure will but blur my name  
With Bankrupt, and divulge how poor I am;  
Or else my Pleasures, that so much inflame  
My thoughts, will blab how full of fores I am:  
Lord, keep me from myself; 'Tis best for me,  
Never to own myself, if not in Thee.   

67.  
On Man.  
AT our Creation, but the Word was said,  
And we were made:  
No sooner were, but our false hearts did swell  
With Pride, and fell:  
How slight is Man! At what an easy cost  
he's made and lost!   

68  
On Death.  
WE all are going to the self same Place,  
We only differ in our Way, our Pace:  
One treads the common Road of Age: Another  
Travels, directed by the hand os's Brother:  
Some cross the Waves, perchance the nearer way;  
Some by the winged Shaft that flies by Day;  
Some ride on Fevers▪ others beat the hoof,  
With horses in their hands, and make a proof  
Of their own strrngth; Others more fairly pace  
On beds of Down; some ride a speedy race  
On hot-mouthd Surfeits, emulous for the Cup:  
Some hotly mounted fiercely gallop up.  
On spurgaled Broils, whose Frantic motions send  
Their hasty spirits to their journeys end:  
Some ride upon the racking Steeds of Treasure;  
Others false-gallop on the backs of Pleasure:  
All journey forwards to the selfsame Place;  
Some, the next way; and some, the faster pace:  
All post an end; till beaten out of Breath,  
They all arrive at the great gates of Death;  
Lord, in this common Road, I do not care  
What pace I travel, so my Way be fair.   

69.  
On the life of Man.  
Our Life is nothing but a Winter's Day;  
Some only break their Fast, and so, away:  
Others stay Dinner, and depart full fed;  
The deepest Age but sups, and goes to bed:  
he's most in debt, that lingers out the Day;  
Who dies betimes, has less; and less to pay.   

70.  
On God's Image.  
IT was a dainty piece! In every part,  
Drawn to the life, and full of curious Art:  
It was as like thee as a shadow could  
Be like a substance; There was none but would  
Have known thee by't: There needed then no name,  
No golden Characters, that might proclaim  
Whose Picture 'twas: the Art was so divine  
That very Beasts did reverence, as thine:  
But now, alas, 'tis blurred: the best that we  
Or they can judge, is this, 'twas made for thee:  
Alas'tis faded, soiled with hourly dust,  
Sullied, and shadowed with the smoke of Lust;  
So swarthy as if that glorious face of thine  
Were tawnyed underneath the torrid Line:  
How is thy Picture altered! How ill used  
By our neglects! How slubbered! How abused!  
Her Cedar Frame's disjointed, warped and broke;  
Her curious Tablet's tainted with the smoke:  
The Objects both offensive, and the savour;  
Retaining neither Beauty, nor thy Favour:  
Lord, let not thy displeased eye forsake  
Thy handiwork; for the bad keeper's sake:  
Behold it still; and what thou seest amiss,  
Pass by: Think what it was; not what it is:  
What though her beauty and her colours fade?  
Remember; O, 'twas like thee when 'twas made.  
There is a great Apelles that can limb  
With thy own pencil; we have sought to Him:  
His skilful hand will wash off all the soil,  
And cleanse thy Picture with his sacred Oil:  
he'll make't more fair than 'twas; at least, the same;  
he'll mend the Tablet, and renew the Frame:  
Till then; be pleased to let thy Picture be  
Acknowledged thine: 'Twas made for none but Thee.   

71.  
On the Penny.  
HE that endured the Tyranny of Heat;  
The Morning-sorrowes, and the Midday-sweat;  
The Evening-toyle, and burden of the Day,  
Had but his promised Penny for his pay:  
Others, that loitered all the Morning; stood  
Ith' idle Market, whose unpractised blood  
Scarce felt the warmth of labour, nor could show  
A blush of Action, had his Penny too.  
What Wages can we merit, as our own?  
Slaves that are bought with price, can challenge none,  
But only Stripes: alas, if Servants could  
Do more, then bid, they do but what they should▪  
When man endeavours, and where heaven engages  
Himself by promise, they are Gifts, not Wages,  
He must expect: We must not look t'obtain  
Because we Run; Nor do we run in vain:  
Our Running shows th'effect, produces none:  
The Penny's given alike to every one,  
That works i'th' Vineyard: Equal price was shared  
T'unequall works: Therefore no Reward:  
Lord, set my hands a work: I will not serve  
For Wages, lest thou give what I deserve.   

72.  
On a Christian.  
THe Generous Christian must as well improve  
Ith' quality of the Serpent, as the D●ve;  
He must be Innocent; afraid, to do  
A wrong; And crafty, to prevent it too:  
They must be mixed, and tempered with true love;  
An Ounce of Serpent, serves a Pound of Dove.   

73.  
On God's bounty.  
GOd freely gives; as freely we receive;  
It is not, Do; but Ask, and thou shalt have.   

74.  
On Sins.  
MY Sins are like to Mountains, that arise  
Above the Clouds, & threat the threatening skies;  
Lord, give me Faith; and let that Faith be proved,  
In leaving not a Mountain unremooved.   

75.  
On the life of Man.  
A Thousand years, with God (the Scriptures say)  
Are reckoned but a Day;  
By which account; this measured Life of our  
Exceeds not much an hour;  
The half whereof Nature does claim and keep  
As her own debt for sleep:  
A full sixth part or what remains, we riot  
In more than needful Diet:  
Our Infancy, our Child hood, and the most  
Of our green youth is lost:  
The little that is left, we thus divide;  
One part to clothe our Pride;  
An other Share we lavishly deboyse  
To vain, or sinful joys;  
If then, at most, the measured life of Man  
Be counted but a Span,  
Being halfed and quartered, and disquartered thus,  
What, what remains for us?  
Lord, if the Totall of our days do come  
To soso poor a sum;  
And if our shares so small, so nothing be,  
Out of that Nothing, what remains to Thee?   

76.  
On the children's Bread.  
THy strengthening Graces are the children's Bread,  
Which makes thy thriving Children strong & able  
Honour, and Riches are the Crumbs that feed  
The D●ggs that lurk beneath their Master's Table:  
Lord, if thy gracious pleasure will allow  
But Bread, I'm sure I shall have Crumbs enough:   

77.  
On Trust and care.  
Our Trust in God, for Riches; neither must  
Exclude our Care; nor Care exceed our Trust.   

78.  
On RUSCUS.  
ILliterate Ruscus heard Pedantius preach;  
Admired the Church man's learning, & commended  
Such things alone, that were above his Reach;  
But meanly slighted what he appprehended:  
What hinders then to think that Ruscus hath  
At least the twilight of a Bastard Faith?   

79.  
On the receiving of the Lords Supper.  
MEn take the Sacred Seals of their Salvation,  
As some do Physic, not for health, but fashion:  
The Day preceding, and the following Day,  
There's none so strict; none so reformed as they:  
They kerb the fury of their wanton Riot,  
And call their Surfeits to a stricter Diet:  
The Time expired, the first Assault that haps,  
Prevails, and strikes them to a worse Relapse;  
Like Dogs to vomits they return again,  
As though they'ad past a Patent now to sin:  
Let such Day-Christians, on the very top  
Of all their mirth, remember Judas Sopp   

80.  
On Faith.  
TH'oft shaken Tree grows faster at the root;  
And faith's most firm, that's sometimes urged with Doubt.   

81.  
On the Story of Man?  
THe word was spoke; And what was Nothing, must  
Be made a Chaos of confused Dust:  
The word was spoke: The Dust began to thicken  
To a firm Clay: The Clay began to quicken:  
The grosser substance of that Clay thought good  
To turn to Flesh: The moister turned to Blood:  
Received Organs: and those Organs, Sense;  
It was embellished with the Excellence  
Of Reason: It became the Height of Nature,  
Being stamped with th'Image of the great Creator:  
But, Lord, that glorious Image is defaced:  
Her Beautye's blasted, and her Tablet's razed:  
This Height of nature has committed Treason  
Against itself: Declined both Sense and Reason;  
Mere Flesh and Blood, containing but a Day  
Of painted Pleasure, and but breathing Clay:  
Whose Moisture, dried with his own sorrow, must  
Resolve, and leave him to his former Dust;  
Which Dust, the utter object of our loathing,  
Small time consumes, & brings to his first Nothing:  
Thus, from this Nothing, from this Dust, began  
Thus Something, turned to Dust, to Nothing; Man.   

82.  
On ANANIAS.  
THe Land was his: The land was his, alone;  
'Twas sold, And now the Money was his own:  
The power remained in the Possessors hand,  
To keep his money, or have kept his Land:  
But once devoted to the Churches good,  
And then concealed, it cost his life, his blood:  
If those that give, may not resume again,  
Without a Punishment, without a Sin,  
What shall become of those, whose unjust power  
despoils the widowed Temple of her Dower:  
Who take her Profits, and in stead of giving  
Increase to her revenues, make a living  
Upon her Ruins, growing plump and full  
Upon her Wants, being clothed in her Wool;  
While she sustains th'extremes of cold and hunger,  
To pamper up the fat Advousion-monger;  
Who thrust their Fleshhooks in their thirsty Pot,  
And only leave her what they value not:  
The whilst her sacred Priests, that daily tread  
Their slighted Corn, must beg their early Bread;  
Or else, be forced to purchase easy shares  
With the dear price of their ungranted prayers:  
Let such turn back their sacrilegious eyes,  
And see how breathless Ananias lies:  
Behold the Wages that his sin procures,  
That was a Molehill, to these Alps of yours:  
He took not from the Church: Did but conceal  
Some part he gave; But your false fingers steal  
Her main Inheritance, her own Possession;  
His was but bare deceit, yours bold Oppression:  
O, if no less than the first death was due  
To him, what death d'ye thinks prepared for you?  
So often as your pampered Eyes shall look  
On your Estates, think on the Flying Book.   

83.  
On pious Uses.  
THey that, in life, oppress, and then bequeath  
Their Goods to pious uses at their death,  
Are like those Drunkards, being laid to sleep,  
That belch and vomit what they cannot keep:  
To Gods and Man's acceptance, I presume  
Their several Actions send the like perfume.   

84.  
On SOPHRONIA.  
THe chaste Sophronia knows not how to scape  
Th'inevitable danger of a Rape;  
Cruel Sophronia draws her hasty knife  
And would relieve her Chastity with life:  
Doubtful Sophronia knows not what to do,  
She cannot keep the one, and t'other too:  
Sophronia's in a straight; One eye is fixed  
O'th' seventh Commandment; t'other, on the sixth;  
To what Extremes is poor Sophronia driven!  
Is not Sophronia left at Six and Seven?   

85.  
On the knowing Man.  
he's like a lusty Soil, whose Moisture feeds,  
If not a world of Corn, a world of Weeds.   

86.  
On Rome's Pardon.  
IF Rome could pardon sins, as Romans hold,  
And if such Pardons might be bought for Gold,  
An easy judgement might determine which  
To choose: To be religious, or else Rich;  
Nay Rome does pardon: Pardons may be sold;  
we'll search no Scriptures, but the Mines, for Gold.   

87.  
On the World.  
THe World, composed of heaven & earth, 's the story  
Of God's Eternal, and Man's temporal Glory.   

88  
On formal Devotion.  
MEn do God Service with the same devotion,  
As the soul Body takes his loathed Potion:  
They stay and stay, then gulp it down in haste,  
Not for the pleasure, but to have it past:  
Whose druggy Taste goes so against their mind;  
That, oft, the better part is left behind,  
And what is taken, 's taken but in vain,  
It either works not, or comes up again.   

89  
On heavenly Manna.  
O What a world of heavenly Manna falls  
Within the Circuit of our happy Walls!  
With how great joy would neighbouring lands receive  
The Fragments of those Fragments, that we leave!  
Our furnished Markets flourish all the year:  
We need no Ephaths, nor yet Omers here:  
We take, unmeasured, from the bounteous heap;  
Thanks never were so dear: not that, so cheap:  
We never hoard, but toss from hand to hand,  
As if that Famine had forsworn the Land;  
Our satiate stomaches are so lavish fed,  
That we even sleight, and wanton with our Bread:  
Ah Lord! I fear when careless children play  
With their spoiled Bread, 'tis time to take away.   

90.  
On natural Sins.  
TO murder Parents, or our selves, has been,  
Though falsely, counted an unnatural Sin:  
By Nature, we are apt to fall into 't;  
I rather think't unnatural not to do't:  
If heaven should but forsake us, 'twere again.  
The very course of Nature, not to sin.   

91.  
On the Ark.  
IF Floods of Tears should drown my world of Sin,  
Alas, my floating Ark retains within,  
A cursed Cham to store the World again:  
What then? so long as holy Sem vouchsafeth  
But to divide a Tent with bashful japheth.   

92.  
On SOPHRONIA.  
SOphronia chooses rather to commit  
Self Murder, then by violence, to submit  
Her ventured honour to th'injurious trust  
Of the eye sparkling Tyrants furious Lust:  
What means Sophronia? Dare her conscience frame,  
To act a Sin, but to prevent a Shame?   

93.  
On a fair Prospect.  
Look up; And there, I see the fair abode  
And glorious Mansion of my gracious God:  
Look down; In every garnished corner lies  
Favours objected to my wondering eyes:  
Look on my right hand; There, the sweet increase  
Of Joys present me with a joyful Peace:  
Look on my left hand; There, my Father's Rod  
Sublimes my knowledge, from myself, to God:  
Look forward; There, I see the lively Story  
Of Faith's improvement and of future Glory:  
Look backward: There, my thankful eye is cast  
On Sins remitted, and on Dangers past:  
Look inwards; And mine eye is made partaker  
Of the fair Image of my glorious Maker:  
Look up; or down; About, above, or under;  
Nothing but Objects of true Love and wonder.   

94.  
A Resolution.  
IF thou hast given me Wealth, great God, I crave  
Content; and Grace to have the goods I have;  
If otherwise; thy will be done: I crave not  
So much, to have, as use the goods I have not:  
Lord, make me Thine: And then I shall appear,  
If not thy Almoner, yet thy Beadsman, here.   

95.  
On the world's Welcome.  
Earth's Entertainments are like those of jael,  
Her left hand brings me Milk; Her right, a nail.   

96.  
On our Meditation upon God.  
When thy ambitious knowledge would attempt  
So high a Task as God, she must exempt  
All carnal sense; Thy Reason must release  
Her power; Thy Fancy must be bound toth' peace;  
Thy Spirits must be rapt; They must exile  
Thy flesh, and keep a Sabbath for a while;  
Thou must forget thyself, and take strong Bands  
Of thy own Thoughts, and shake eternal hands  
With thy rebellious Lusts; discard and clear  
Thy heart of all Ideas; Then, with Fear,  
And holy Reverence, thou must think of One,  
As though he were not to be thought upon:  
Conceive a Spiritual, a most perfect Being,  
Pure, simple; At the selfsame instant, seeing  
Things Present, Past, and Future; One, whose Might,  
Whose Wisdom, justice, Mercy, (in a height  
Above Exceeding) is Himself, being Great  
Without a Quantity, and most Complete  
Without Degrees; Eternal without space  
Of time: At all times Present, without Place:  
Think thus: And when thy thoughts can sore no higher,  
Stay there, Stand humbly silent, and admire.   

97.  
On Faith.  
HE that wants Faith, and apprehends a Grief  
Because he wants it, hath a true Belief.  
And he that grieves, because his grief's so small,  
H'as a true Grief, and the best Faith of all.   

98.  
On Man's Folly.  
Idiots, and Sense-bound Lunatics discern  
'Twixt Salt and Sugar; very Babes will learn  
To know a Counter from the currant Coin;  
Bruit Beasts, by ' Instinct of Nature, will decline  
Th'alluring Bait, and sense-beguiling Snare;  
Though that seem ne'er so sweet; this, ne'er so fair:  
Yet Man, heaven's greatest Masterpiece will choose,  
What Fools, and Madmen, Beasts, and Babes refuse:  
Delights in dangerous Pleasures, and beneath  
The name of joys, pleases himself to death.   

99  
On Glory.  
THat Saint, in Heaven, whose Glory is the least,  
Has even as perfect Glory, as the best:  
There's no Degrees; but in a finite Treasure:  
No difference 'twixt Paul's glory & mine, but measure.   

100  
On Reward.  
WHen holy Scriptures mention the Rewarding  
Of works, we read not, For, but still According.   
The end of the third Book.   

DIVINE FANCIES.  
The fourth Book.  

1.  
A Good Morrow.  
'tIs day: Unfold thine Arms; Arise, and rouse  
Thy leaden Spirits, and pay thy Mcrning Vows;  
Send up thy Incense; Let her early smoke  
Renew that League thy very dreams have broke;  
Then mayst thou work or play; Nothing shall be  
Displeasing to thy God, that pleases thee.   

2.  
A Good-night.  
CLose now thine eyes, and rest secure;  
Thy Soul is safe enough; thy Body sure;  
He that loves thee, he that keeps  
And guards thee, never slumbers, never sleeps.  
The smiling Conscience in a sleeping breast  
Has only peace, has only rest:  
The music and the mirth of Kings  
Are all but very Discords, when she sings:  
Then close thine Eyes and rest secure;  
No Sleep so sweet as thine, no rest so sure.   

3.  
On a Printing-House.  
THe world's a Printing-house: our words, our thoughts  
Our deeds, are Characters of several sizes:  
Each Soul is a Compos'ter; of whose saults  
The Levits are Correctors: Heaven revises;  
Death is the common Press; from whence, being driven,  
weare gathered Sheet by Sheet, & bound for Heaven.   

4.  
A Dialogue between GABRIEL and MARY.  GABRIEL. 
Hail blessed Marry:  MA, 
What celestial tongue  
Calls sinful Mary blessed?  GAB: 
It is I:  MA. 
Who art thou?  GA. 
I am Gabriel that belong  
To the high Choir of Heaven:  MA. 
I faint, I die.  GA. 
Fear not sweet Virgin; all the Earth shall be Son  
Made debtors to thy Womb, and blessed in Thee.  MA. 
How Lord?  GA': 
Thy Virgin womb shall bear a  
That shall redeem the world.  MA. 
My Lord, how can  
Such wonders come to pass; such things be done  
By a poor Virgin, never known by Man?  GA. 
The holy Ghost, at his appointed hour,  
Shall make thee pregnant by his sacred power:  MA. 
Wonder of wonders!  GA. 
At whose height the Choir  
Of heaven stand ravished, tremble, & admire.  MA. 
O may it be according to thy Word:  GA. 
Before that twice five Moons completed be  
Thou shalt be known the Mother of our Lord,  
And thou shalt dance thy Saviour on thy knee.  MA. 
Both heaven & earth shall triumph; & the frame  
Of hell shall tremble at Maria's name:  GA. 
All Ages past, and present, and to come,  
Shall joy in Mary, and in mary's womb.   

5  
On RHEMUS.  
IF Heaven would please to purge thy Soul as well  
As Rome thy purse, thou needst not fear a Hell.   

6.  
On the life of Man.  
Man's day's a Song, composed by th'great Musician,  
Full of harmonious Airs and dainty choice;  
But spoilt with Discords, and too much Division;  
Abused and lost for want of skill, and voice:  
We miss our Rests, and we neglect our Graces;  
Our life the Treble, and our death the Base is:   

7.  
On MARY.  
Four mary's are eternised for their worth;  
Our Saviour found out three, our Charles, the fourth.   

8.  
On the Church.  
LEt not thy blackness move thee to despair,  
Black Women are beloved of men that's fair:  
What if thy hair, her flaxen brightness lack?  
Thy face is comely, though thy Brow be black.   

9  
On the two Essences.  
GOds sacred Essence represents the bright  
And glorious body of the greater light:  
'Tis perfect; hath a Being of her own,  
Giving to all, receiving light from none:  
Man's Essence represents the borrowed light  
And feeble lustre of the Lamp of night:  
Her Rays are faint, and her Reflection thin,  
Distained with natural blemishes within;  
Inconstant, various; having, of her own,  
No light at all; or light, as good as none:  
When too much earth shall interpose, and slips  
Betwixt these Lights, our souls are in th' Eclipse.   

10.  
On our Saviour's Passion.  
THe earth did tremble; and heavens closed eye  
Was loath to see the Lord of Glory dye;  
The Skies were clad in mourning, & the Spheres  
Forgot their harmony; The Clouds dropped tears:  
Th'ambitious Dead arose to give him room;  
And every Grave did gape to be his Tomb;  
Th'affrighted heaven's sent down elegious Thunder;  
The World's Foundation loosed, to lose their Founder;  
Th'impatient Temple rend her Veil in two,  
To teach our hearts what our sad hearts should do:  
Shall senseless things do this, and shall not I  
Melt one poor drop to see my Saviour dye?  
Drill forth my Tears; and trickle one by one,  
Till you have pierced this heart of mine, this Stone.   

11.  
On PETER.  
What luck had Peter! For he took a Fish  
That stored his purse, as well as filled his dish;  
Whose bounty did enrich, as well as feed him;  
But they are better Fishers that succeed him:  
He catcht by chance: These catch the like by skill:  
He catcht but once: These catch them when they will:  
They cast their Angles into better Seas;  
Their baits are only for such Fish as these:  
Brave sport, and full of curious pleasure! Come,  
There is no Fishing to the Sea— of Rome.   

12.  
On HERODIAS.  
I'll tell thee, Light-skirts, whosoever taught  
Thy feet to dance, thy dancing had a Fault:  
Thou'lt find it dear, Herodias, if thou dost  
Compare thy pennyworth with the price it cost.   

13.  
On Faith and Hope.  
HOw much the stronger, Hopes on life rely,  
So much the weaker is my Faith, to dye.   

14.  
On Water and Wine.  
THe happy difference and sweet change of life,  
When a chaste Virgin turns a loyal Wife,  
Our blessed Lord, in Cana did divine,  
And turned cold Water into lusty Wine.   

15.  
On Age.  
HOw fresh blood dotes! O how green Youth delires!  
It most disdains the thing it most desires.   

16.  
On a Figtree.  
A Christian's like a Figtree, that does bear  
Fruit, green, or ripe, or blossoms all the year:  
No wonder then, our Saviour cursed that Tree;  
Figg-trees are always dead, where no Figgs be.   

17.  
On RHEMUS.  
RHemus, upon a time I heard thee tell,  
A Wall divideth Purgatory ' and Hell;  
And that a gold-bought Mass will clear th'offence  
That brought us thither, and redeem us thence:  
Ah Rhemus, what demented Soul would spare  
To ruin Wife, or to dis-land an Heir,  
Rather than feel such torments, you pretend,  
That equal Hell in all but Time, and end:  
Ah Rhemus, If the power of Gold be such,  
How dare you be so bold to dye so rich!   

18.  
On JACOB.  
ne'er boast thy Bargain, jacob: For poor we  
Have made a better contract far, then thee:  
We envy not his Land thou didst inherit;  
Our Brother took our Flesh; gave us his Spirit.   

19  
On SIMON MAGUS.  
SImon, bring Gold enough; and I will tell thee,  
Where thou shalt buy what Peter would not s●l thee:  
Repair to his Successors; They are free  
And frolic Gamesters; not so strict as He:  
Nay, if thy Gold be weak, they will not stand  
To sell good pennyworths at the second hand:  
They'll sell good cheap, but they'll not give to any;  
No, Paternoster where there is no Penny:  
No, if thy purse be like an empty Shell,  
They will not give, what Peter would not sell.   

20.  
On the Bishop of Rome.  
ADmit, great Prelate, that thou wert that Rock  
Whereon the Church was founded; coldst unlock  
The gates of Heaven; and, with thy golden Key,  
Make Hell thy Prisoner, and the Fiends obey,  
Thy Papal dignity would far be greater,  
If thou wert Simon, but as well as Peter.   

21.  
On MILO.  
DO; strive to enter Milo, though the Gate  
Be narrow, and the rugged passage strait;  
Lessen thyself, and fast thy carcase thin;  
Take in thy Flesh, 'twill get thee easier in:  
Look up to heaven, 'twill raise thy body'uprighter;  
Give liberal alms, 'twill make thee tread the lighter:  
Sweat forth thy base corruptions, and inherit  
Thy promised Crown▪ half lost for want of spirit;  
Let not thy destard, and dull thoughts disdain  
Those works which cold despair mistakes, as vain;  
Take heed; Let not thy queasy Soul repine  
Against those Actions which are none of thine:  
Heaven bids thee shine; what if thy Rays be dim,  
Do thou thy best; leave the success to Him:  
Follow thy Work; And when thy Soul shall be  
Gathered from hence, thy Works shall follow thee.   

22.  
On Rome.  
GOod Works abound in Rome: 'Tis well they do,  
'Tis the best string they challenge to their Bow:  
But every he's no Monk, that wears a Hood,  
'Tis well, if they're well done, as well as good:  
When wand'ring Passengers have lost their way,  
No sort of men that ride so fast as they.   

23.  
On three days and nights.  
THou know'st our dying Saviour did repose  
On Friday; On the Sabbath, he arose;  
Tell me, by what account can he be said  
To lodge three days and nights among the dead?  
He died for all the World: what wanted here,  
Was full supplied in t'other Hemisphere.   

24.  
On TOBITS Dog.  
WHat luck had Tobits dog! what grace! what glory  
Thus to be Keneled in th'eternal Scory!  
Until th' Apocrypha and Scripture sever,  
The memory of Tobits dog shall live for ever:   

25.  
On the Gospel.  
When two Evangelists shall seem to vary  
In one discourse, they're diverse, not contrary;  
One Truth doth guide them both; One spirit doth  
Direct them; doubt not, to believe them both.   

26.  
On SERVIO.  
SErvio, 'Tis scarcely worth thy pains, to smother  
Or to subdue one Sin, and hug another:  
Believe it Servio, he that is in thrall  
To one, is a potential Slave to all.   

27.  
On FORMIO.  
FOrmio will keep the Sabbath, read and pray,  
His lips are sealed from oaths upon that day;  
Formio is clad in black, and will absent  
His fleshly thoughts, this holy time of Lent.  
Thinkst thou that Formio's shaking hands with Sin?  
No, 'tis but giving hands to meet again.   

28.  
On JOHN and JESUS.  
IOhn was the Morningstar that did forerun  
The long-wished rising of our Glorious Sun:  
The first word that john's preaching lips expressed  
Was this, Repent: Our Saviour's first, was, Blessed:  
john makes th'incision; jesus makes it sound;  
jesus ne'er cures, where john ne'er made a wound.   

29.  
On dispossessing.  
WE read, A broiled Fishes heart will scare  
A frighted Devil from a troubled breast:  
We read again, By Fasting, and by Prayer  
The fierce Demoniack's only dispossessed:  
What this affirms, that flatly does deny;  
With reverence to the Text, The t'one's a Lye.   

30.  
On HERODIAS.  
I Have a young Herodias lives within me,  
That never leaves to dance, until she win me  
To grant her Suit; will never cease to plead  
Until I give her my john Baptists head:  
O than my sorrow would be passed her date,  
And I, like H●rod, should repent too late.   

31.  
On MALFIDO.  
Sathans' Injections are like Weeds that fall  
Into thy Garden, darted o'er the Wall,  
Whose loathsome smell unscent thy sweeter Flowers;  
But grow not there, unless we make them ours:  
They'll dye, neglected; If thou lend them room,  
They'll stink; But easily thrown from whence they come:  
Fear not, Malfido; those they be that spoil  
Thy Flowers, that suck their substance from the soil.   

32.  
On Slanders.  
WHen undeserved report distaines my name,  
It shames not, but perchance prevents a Shame.   

33.  
On Law and Gospel.  
THe Law is rough; The Gospel mild and calm;  
That lanced the Bile; & this powers in the Balm.   

34.  
On abosome Sin.  
THat Sin that finds more credit than the rest,  
That is thy Darling, leans upon thy breast;  
That, in the B●some of thy heart does lie;  
That dips within thy dish, Says, Is it I?  
That gives thee kisses? that's the Sin that slays thee,  
O that, O that's the judas, that betrays thee.   

35.  
On the World.  
THe World's a Book, writ by th'eternal Art  
Of the great Maker, printed in Man's heart;  
'Tis falsely printed, though divinely penned,  
And all th' Erratas will appear at th' end.   

36.  
On my Soul.  
MY weatherbeaten Soul long time has been  
Becalmed, and tiding in the Sea of Sin;  
But now afflictions Storm does drive and toss  
Her battered Keel: The wind is loud and cross:  
Fear fills her tattered Sails, & doubts do drive her,  
She knows not where; and of all hopes deprive her:  
Thus, thus transported by the troubled Air  
Amongst the swallowing Quicksands of despair,  
If not prevented by a greater power,  
She looks for wreck and ruin every hour;  
O, that mine eyes could rain a Shower of Tears,  
That, that would lay the Storm of all my Fears.   

37.  
On the Cuckoo.  
THe idle Cuckoo, having made a Feast  
On Sparrows Eggs, lays down her own i'th' Nest;  
The silly Bird she owns it, hatches, feeds it;  
Protects it from the weather, clocks and breeds it;  
It neither wants repose nor yet repast,  
And joys to see her Chicken thrive so fast:  
But when this gaping Monster has found strength  
To shift without a helper, she at length  
Not caring for that tender care that bred her,  
Forgets her parent, kills the Bird that fed her:  
The Sin we foster in our bosom, thus  
Ere we have left to feed it, feeds on us.   

38.  
On TOBIT.  
WAs it not time to send his son to Rages,  
For money, when his wife spun hard for wages?  
Was't not high time for him to post away,  
That for an Angel paid a Groat a day?   

39  
On DAVID.  
WHo ever sung so high, so rapt an 〈◊〉  
As David prompted by heroic Clio?  
But when thy more divine Urania sung,  
What glorious Angel had so sweet a tongue?  
But when Melpomene began to sing,  
Each word's a Rapture, or some higher thing:  
Sweet were thy triumphs; sweet those joys of thine;  
O, but thy Tears were more than most Divine.   

40.  
On a Monument.  
SEest thou that Mon'ment? Dost thou see how Art  
Does polish nature to adorn each part  
Of that rare Work, whose glorious Fabric may  
Commend her beauty to an after day?  
Is't not a dainty Pe●ce? And apt to raise  
A rare advantage to the Maker's praise?  
But know'st thou what this dainty Piece encloses?  
Beneath this glorious Marble there reposes  
A noisome putrid Carcase, half devoured  
By crawling Cannibals, disguised, deflowered  
With loathed Corruption, whose consuming sent  
Would poison thoughts, although it have no vent:  
Even sucha Piece art thou, who ere thou be  
That readst these Lines: This Monument is Thee:  
Thy Body is a Fabric, wherein Nature  
And Art conspire to heighten up a Creature  
To sum Perfection, being a living Story  
And rare Abridgement of his Maker's Glory;  
But full of loathsome Filth, and nasty mire  
Of lust, uncurbed Affections, base desire;  
Curious without, but most corrupt within  
A glorious Monument of inglorious Sin.   

41.  
On PLAUSUS.  
PLausus has built a Church: And lest his Glory  
Should dye, has boasted his vainglorious Story  
Upon the painted Wall, and built to Fame  
A large Memorial of his doubtful Name:  
Plausus, 'tis bravely done; Thy Deeds make known  
Thou either seek'st Gods glory, or thy own.   

42.  
On CENSORIO.  
THou blamest the Age, condemns the days of crimes,  
If thou wouldst mend thy Faults, 'twould mend the Times.   

43.  
On fools of both kinds.  
SOme scorn the Cross, whilst others fall before it:  
Some sit and take the Bread, and some adore it:  
Some are too bold, and others too too nice:  
Fools act a Sin whilst they decline a Vice.   

44.  
On the name of JESUS.  
IT is the common course of man to double  
The name of jesus in the times of Trouble:  
The name of Lord is not a style to please us;  
Iesu's no Lord with us; if Lord, no jesus.   

45.  
On the Woman with the Issue.  
HOw could thy Soul, fond Woman, be assured  
Thy long disease could be so easily cured?  
What? couldst thou think the touch of cloth was good  
To dry the Fountain of thy flowing Blood?  
Or was't because our blessed Saviour wore it?  
Or why? I read not, that thou didst adore it:  
He ne'er so much as owned thee, Woman: Sure,  
Thy Faith, and not his Garments wrought the Cure   

46.  
On our Redemption.  
WE were created at a Word, a Breath;  
Redeemed with no less than Blood & Death:  
How much greater labour is it, than,  
To wash a Sinner, then to make a Man!   

47.  
On Gods Arme.  
'tWas not, that he was weak; or thou so strong;  
He died so soon, or that thou liv'st so long:  
The headstrong Ox is haled to the slaughter,  
When the poor worm crawls many a Summer after:  
When heavens victorious arm shall please to strike,  
The Giant and the Pigmy are alike.   

48.  
On our blessed Saviour.  
O Thou that wert the King of heaven and earth,  
How poorly wert thou attended at thy Birth!  
A Manger was thy Cradle, And a Stable  
Thy Privy Chamber, mary's knees thy Table;  
Thiefs were thy Courtiers, & the Cross, thy Throne;  
Thy Diet, Gall; A wreath of Thorns, thy Crown:  
All this, the King of Glory endured, and more,  
To make us Kings that were but Slaves before.   

49.  
On CORDUPLO.  
Keep in thy Actions, and maintain the Fences  
Of thy closed lips, Corduplo, and thy Senses;  
Thou shalt deceive both Man and Devil too,  
And mayst be damned, and yet they never know;  
The Devil's power of knowledge never delves  
Into our hearts, till we proclaim ourselves.   

50.  
On Dreams.  
Who dreams a Sin, & not his dreams forbid it  
An entertainment, sins, as if he did it;  
Which if thy slumbering Soul could not prevent,  
thouart safe, if thou hast dreamt thou didst repent.   

51.  
On ADAM.  
How soon, poor Adam, was thy Freedom lost!  
Forfeit to death ere thou hadst time to boast;  
Before thy Triumph, was thy Glory done,  
Betwixt a rising and a Setting Sun:  
How soon that ends, that should have ended never!  
Thine eyes ne'er slept, until they slept for ever:   

52.  
On Sins and Blessings.  
WE write thy common Blessings, Lord, upon  
A sliding stream; no sooner writ, but gone:  
Thy more illustrious Favours we entrust  
To the dry Sand, defaced with every Gust:  
But, Lord, our Scroll of Sins are written down  
On during Marble, or some harder stone;  
And our extreme misdoings are thought good  
To be inscribed, like Draco's Laws, in blood:  
Lord, let us change our Tables, or our Story,  
And we shall have more Comfort; Thou, more Glory.   

53.  
On CELIA.  
CElia complains, her Heart cannot be well;  
Nor will not, Celia, till it cease to swell;  
'Tis tootoo proud with blood, perverse and stout;  
It must be lanced to let the humour out:  
Alas no lance can pierce it; It is grown  
More hard than Raunce, or th' Adamantine stone.  
Then Celia, like an Adamant, thou must  
Make the incision with her own made dust.   

54.  
On PUSILLUS.  
PVsillus can be jocund, never whines  
When he is full, but still, in want, repines;  
And, like a bad-nosed ●ound, that hunts not true,  
he's at a Fault, if not the Game in view:  
Be well advised Pusillus; Heaven may chance,  
To pipe no more, if thou give over to dance.   

55.  
On Belief.  
THe Devils do believe; I know they do;  
But their Belief does make them tremble too.   

57  
On CRASTINIO.  
Passed time is gone, the Future is to be;  
Crastinio, say, which most belongs to thee?  
The first, thou further goest and further from;  
And thou mayst dye before the last shall come:  
The first, Crastinio's now grown out of date;  
Perchance the last may come, but come too late:  
The lasts uncertain, and the first is gone,  
The present than Crastinio's thine, or none.   

58.  
On an Hourglass.  
Man's life is like an Hourglass, wherein  
Each several sand that passes is a Sin:  
And when the latest sand is spent and run,  
Our Sins are finished, as our lives are done.   

59  
On KAIN.  
KAin, 'tis true: It was, and did appear  
A Punishment too great for thee to bear:  
If thou hadst had a Faith, and couldst have been  
As much oppressed and loaded with thy Sin,  
Thy greater patience either might outworn it,  
Or found more able Shoulders to have borne it.   

59  
On TICIO.  
TIcio stands gaping for the clouded Sun  
To be informed how fast the hours run;  
Ah, foolish Ticio, art thou sound in mind,  
To lose by seeking, what thou seek'st to find?   

60.  
On SORTIO.  
SOrtio, that mak'st a Trade of gaming, know  
Thou breakest two great commandments at a throw:  
The third thou break'st by thy abuse of Lot;  
Thou breakest the Tenth, that bids thee Covet not:  
Now tell me, Sortio, whether sins most high,  
He that plays fair, or he that helps a Die?   

61.  
On RAYMOND SEBUND.  
HOnour to high-brained Raymond, And no less  
To thy renowned Scholar, great Du Plesse:  
Your high attempts object to our dull Sight  
The God of Nature, by dull Nature's Light:  
But what has Raymond, and Du Plessis done?  
They light but two bright Tapers to the Sun.   

62.  
To HENRY Earl of Holland.  
'tIs not the Sunshine of great Caesar's Eye,  
Nor our Opinion makes thy Honour fly  
So fair a pitch; Nor need thy Glory claim  
Assistance from thy Blood, t'enrich thy Name:  
But what it is that mounts thee up so high,  
The World shall tell thee, Henry, and not I:  
Blood gives no Virtue; nor Opinion, Glory;  
And Princely Favours are but Transitory;  
heavens Act is mingled with great Caesar's Eye:  
Heaven gave thee wings, and Cesar bids thee fly.   

63.  
On Drunkards and Idolaters.  
WHich is the greater Sin, and which the less?  
Which finds the sharper? which the milder Rod?  
To turn Gods glorious Image to a Beast,  
Or turn the Image of a Beast to God?  
Thrice happy is that soul, and more than thrice,  
That buys no knowledge at so dear a price.   

64.  
On dying.  
HE that would dye once well, must often try;  
Practice does bring perfection how to dye:  
The Law's our Tutor; and the World our School,  
Wherein weare taught by ' example, as by Rule:  
The Rods Affliction, which being laid away,  
The Gospel comes, and begs us leave to play.   

65.  
On Ravens and Lilies.  
ARe not the Ravens, great God, sustained by Thee?  
And wilt thou clothe the Lilies, and not me?  
I'll ne'er distrust my God, for Cloth, and Bread,  
Whilst Lilies flourish, and the Ravens be fed.   

66.  
On degrees of Sin.  
Cvrses' proportion to the Sins degree:  
Adam had one; Eve, two; the Serpent, three.   

67.  
A last Will.  
MY Life's my dying day; wherein I, still,  
Am making, alter, and correct my Will:  
My Soul I do bequeath to God; provided  
Some smaller Legacies may be divided  
Among my Friends: Item my Sins I give  
To my dear jesus, whether die or live:  
Item, I give the World, that did refresh  
The tender frailty of my feeble Flesh,  
My lesser Cares: I do bequeath moreover,  
To my poor body, homespun cloth, to cover  
And hide her shame, and Food for needful diet;  
Some Sleep, but not immoderate, to quiet  
Distempered Nature, and in her Vacation,  
Some lawful Pleasures for her Recreation;  
My Charity, to my poor helpless brother,  
I give; my Prayers to the true Church my Mother;  
Whose watchful eyes I must desire, still,  
To be the Overseers of my Will.   

68  
On our JESUS.  
he's like a Rock, which when we strive to shun  
We are in danger to be wrecked upon;  
But when our wide-spred Arms seek Refuge there,  
It will secure us from the harms we fear.   

69.  
To King CHARLES'.  
THe Common wealth is like an Instrument;  
The diverse sorts of people represent  
The strings, all differing in degrees, in places;  
Some trebles, and some Means, and some are Bases:  
The potent Rulers the Musicians are;  
The music, sometimes peace, and sometimes war;  
The Laws are like the Ruled Books that lie  
Before their eyes, and which they practice by:  
Play on great Charles; Heaven make thy strings as strong,  
And true, as thou art skilful: Ravish long  
The world's wide ears, with thy diviner Airs,  
That whosoever to thy Land repairs,  
May thence return amazed, and tell the Story  
Of Britain's Triumph, in great Charles his Glory.   

70.  
A Riddle.  
THe Goods we spend we keep; and what we save,  
We lose, and only what we lose, we have.   

71.  
On GLORIOSO.  
NEro vaunt Glorioso, that thou oft reliev'st  
The poor; Glorioso, 'tis not thine, thou giv'st:  
Boast what's thy own; Thou art the poor man's Sieve;  
Thy wealth was given thee, with a Clause, to give;  
Put case it were thy own thou gav'st; what then?  
Thy own Applause hath paid thy own again.   

72.  
On JUDAS:  
TWo hundred pence! What's that to thee? But say  
That so much Ointment had been cast away;  
The coin that paid for't, judas, was not thine;  
O judas, that's the cause thou didst repine.   

73.  
On IMPROPRIATOR.  
LOrd, how he swells! as if he had, at least,  
A Common wealth reposed in his breast:  
A Commonwealth? ●Twas shrewdly guessed, I tell ye;  
He has a Leash of Churches in his Belly.   

74.  
On the same.  
PRodigious Stomach! what a cruel deal  
It can devour! wholeChurches at a meal:  
'Tis very strange that Nature should deliver  
So good ● Stomach to so bad a Liver.   

75.  
On LUCRO.  
LVcro, it is believed, thy Conscience, either  
Is very wide, or made of stretching leather:  
Me thinks thy Conscience rather seems too small;  
So far from large, I fear thoust none at all.   

76.  
To GOD.  
IF thou shouldst strike a blow for every slip  
That mortals make, or spur for every trip,  
Within a moment's space, here would be found  
No place left free t'inflict an other wound:  
Hackneys and spurgalled jades would happier be,  
And in condition, better far, than We.   

77.  
On Sleep and Death.  
IT is received, that Sleeps the elder brother;  
I see no reason for't▪ I think, the other:  
Though Sleep does now usurp the upper hand,  
I'm sure that death does sweep away the Land.   

78.  
To RHEMUS.  
THy Conscience tells thee, that to make debate  
'twixt Prince and People; to subvert a State;  
To violate a Truce, to murder Kings  
Are lawful; nay, are meritorious things:  
Thou hast a Freedom more than we, wherein  
To do against thy Conscience, and not sin.   

79.  
On GLORIOSO.  
HE that relieves his brother in distress,  
And seeks no 〈◊〉 Applause, does nothing less  
Than lend to his Redeemer, laying down  
A worthless 〈◊〉, to take up a Crown:  
But if vainglory prompt thy tongue to boast,  
It is not lent, Glorioso; 'Tis but lost.   

80.  
To GOD.  
I Wonder, Lord, thou shouldst so much desire  
Our younger days, when as the greene-wood fire  
Of feeble Nature is but newly blown;  
When every room's unfurnished; and not one  
Fit for the presence of so great a Guest;  
None trimmed with Art; no, not so much as dressed  
With common sense; when as th'unburnished print  
Of thy fair Image, taken from the Mint  
But now, has not the least embellishment  
Of heavenly knowledge: Lord, what hast thou meant,  
To make such choice, to choose a time so ill,  
When we have neither means, nor yet a will  
To entertain? Would not our deeper Age,  
Wherein the Toys of Childhood, and the rage,  
The fire of lustful Youth shall be abated,  
Wherein our riper Souls shall be estated  
In richer Knowledge, and the strength of Reason;  
O might not, might not this been thought a season,  
A time more aptly chosen of the twain,  
For thee to come; and us, to entertain?  
No; thou, great God, that art our wise Creator,  
Wert better read in our rebellious Nature:  
Thou knewst the Bow of our corrupted will  
Stood bend to mischief, would be drawn to ill  
By every Arm; Thou knewst that every hour  
Gave new increase to strength, and double power  
To draw those sinful Shafts that shoot at heaven;  
Thou knewst our easy Nature would be driven  
By every Breath, and that our thoughts would fall  
From bad to worse; from worse, to worst of all;  
Thou know'st that growing Time would more unlevell  
Our rugged Wills, and tookst the best of evil:  
Lord, take it, and betimes; that, being possessed  
Of that, thou mayst prescribe for all the rest.   

81.  
On PARTIO.  
THou sayst thy will is good, and glory'st in it,  
And yet forgettest thy Maker every minit:  
Say Partio, was there ever Will allowed  
When the Testators memory was not good?   

82.  
On an evil Conscience.  
WHat hells of Horror, an evil Conscience brings.  
What strange Chimeras! what prodigious things!  
A pregnant womb of wonders! Every minit  
We Sin; but least, when most we sin again it.   

83.  
To MUNDANO.  
Ne'er think, Mundaeno, that one Room will hold  
Thy God, and all thy gold;  
If ere they chance to meet within a heart,  
They'll either fight, or part;  
So long as Earth seems glorious in thine eyes,  
Thy thoughts can never rise;  
Believe't Mundano, by how much more near  
Thou getst to Heaven, the less will earth appear.   

84.  
To my Friend.  
Wouldst thou be prosperous, though the bended brow  
Of Fortune threaten thee? He teach thee how:  
Call home thy dearest wishes, and recall  
Thy hopes; Expect the worst that can befall:  
If come; thy heart will be the more secure,  
The less amazed, and abler to endure:  
If it come not, Expectance is no loss;  
Perchance it arms thee for another Cross:  
Thus wisely sheltered under this relief,  
Thy joy shall be the less; and less, thy Grief.   

85.  
To Malfido.  
Cheer up Malfido, Lay thy thoughts more level;  
Make sure of Grace, and ne'er suspect thy Food:  
He that is Good, can give a thing that's evil  
No more, than thou, being evil, canst wish a good:  
He better knows to give, than thou, to beg;  
Thou whinest for Stones, and grumblest at an Egg:  
O, let his better will suspend thy wish,  
And thou shalt find no Scorpion; if, no Fish.   

86.  
On CRUCIO.  
THou still complain'st that sorrows do attend thee,  
And that their savours do so much annoy thee:  
Mistake not; they are weapons, to defend thee;  
They be not Engines, Crucio, to destroy thee;  
Wilt thou mislike thy Crops of swelling Corn,  
Because theyare trenched, & fenced about with thorn?   

87.  
To RHEMUS.  
'tIs true; we are but dust; but worms; nay men,  
That are more base then either; And what then?  
Shall worms, or dust, or men be well advised,  
To go in person (where we have despised)  
Before a God, a glorious God? I do;  
Who bids thee Come, will bid thee Welcome too:  
Rhemus, when called in person, you appear  
By Proxy, tell me where's your manners, there?  
'Tis better to be wisely bold, then make  
Thyself unmannerly, for manners sake:  
Some ill-bred Clowns there be, that, being loath  
To foul a Napkin, draw a filthy Cloth.   

88  
To MACIO.  
Droop not beneath thy wants, as if forlorn,  
Thou must be made a jewel, to be worn  
In Abraham's bosom: Macio, he that comes  
To Abraham's bosom, finds his way, by Crumms.   

89.  
On Reproof.  
'tIs not enough to strive again the Act,  
Or not to do't; we must reprove the Fact  
In others too; The Sin, being once made known  
To us, if not reproved, becomes our own:  
We must dissuade the Vice, we scorn to follow;  
We must spit out, as well as never swallow.   

90.  
On CURIO.  
TWo Ears to let in Knowledge; Nature gave;  
To entertain true Faith, one heart we have;  
Why so? I'll tell thee Curio, in brief,  
Our knowledge twice exceeds our half belief.   

91.  
On ZELUSTUS.  
ZElustus thinks, his pains are worth his labour  
If he love God, though he traduce his Neighbour:  
His hot-mouthed Zeal false-gallops on so fast  
In the first Tableed tears in the last:  
Art thou a faithful Steward of God's store,  
Zelustus, that spendst Six, and keep'st but Four?   

92.  
On Philautos.  
PHilauto's Charity is like a Mouse  
That keeps at home, and never leaves the house,  
Till it be fired: It stirs for no man's cause,  
Unless to feed on Crumms of vain Applause:  
Take heed, Philautos, lest thou heed too late;  
The Mouse, in time, will eat up thy Estate.   

93.  
On Dubius.  
DVbius, Thy ears are two, Thy tongue but one;  
Hear God and Priest, Confess to God alone.   

94.  
To Sir Julius Cesar, Master of the Rol●es.  
THe high Perfections, wherewith heaven does please  
To crown our transitory days, are these;  
Goods well possessed▪ and not possessing thee:  
A faithful Friend; equal in love, degree:  
Lands fruitful, and not conscious of a Curse:  
A boastlesse hand, a Charitable purse:  
A smiling Conscience, A contented Mind;  
A sober knowledge, with true Wisdom, joined:  
A Breast, well tempered; Diet without Art,  
Surfeit, or want; A wisely-simple Heart.  
Pastimes ingenious, lawful, manly, sparing;  
A Spirit not contentious rash, but daring:  
A Body healthful, found, and fit for labour;  
A House well ordered, and an equal Neighbour:  
A prudent wife, and constant to the roof;  
Sober, but yet not sad, and fair enough;  
Sleep seasonable, moderate, and secure;  
Actions heroic, constant, blameless, pure,  
A life, as long as fair; and when expired,  
A glorious Death, unfeard, as undesired.   

95.  
On LUCRO.  
LVcro, how poor thy Tyrant-wealth has made thee!  
How miserable poor! It has betrayed thee  
To thy own seeming self; And it is grown  
As little, thine, or less than thou, thy own:  
Alas, poor Lucro, how thy fruitful pawns  
Abuse thy Stomach, that so often yawns.  
For a good Morsel, whilst thy Saint does room,  
Like a D●coy, t'entice evil Angels home,  
Whose more imperious presence must control  
And fright the peace of thy perplexed Soul!  
Lucro, be slave no longer to thy pelse;  
Sub due thy Gold, and make thyself, thyself:  
But if thy Saint be grown too strong for thee,  
He tell thee Lucro; Turn thy Saint to me.   

96.  
On MENDAX.  
Fair-spoken Mendax, on the least occasion,  
Swears by his Faith, and by his own Salvation;  
Is rash●brayne Mendax, well advised, then,  
To pawn his Faith in God, for Faith with Men?  
Sure, small's thy Wit or Credit, to be drawn  
For Wares so poor, to leave so great a Pawn.   

97.  
On BLANDUS.  
When ere I wish my Blandus a Good morrow  
He is my Servant: If I come to borrow,  
Or but salute my Blandus passing by,  
I am your Servant, Blandus does reply:  
If court my Blandus, I must understand,  
He is my Servant, and does kiss my hand;  
Discourse with Blandus, every Clause shall be  
I am your Servant: If he drink to me  
My Servant does it; I return his Love,  
My Servant pledges: If my lips do move  
A Suit, he is my Servant; Though I do  
Abuse my Blandus, he's my Servant too:  
How blessed am I, his service should be such  
To me! He never told his God so much:  
How much, dear Blandus, hast thou bound me thine,  
That art his Servant, not so much, as mine!   

98.  
On Rebellio.  
THe stout Rebellio, scourged by his God,  
Slights his Correction, and ne'er owns the Rod;  
Take heed, Rebellio; Be not stout too long;  
Neglected Stripes do oft return more strong;  
A stubborn Silence more ill nature shows,  
Then Sobs of Stomach, and deserves more blows.   

99  
On God and Gold.  
MY God and Gold cannot possess one heart:  
My God and I; or Gold and I must part.   

100  
To JAMES Archbishop of Armagh.  
REnowned Prelate, I nor know nor care  
What secret virtue's in Saint Patrick's Chair;  
If any; I dare boldly say, 'tis more  
Since thou satst there, then ere it was before:  
Go on, great Patriarch; If thy higher Story  
(As sure it will) shall drown S. Patrick's Glory:  
Iërna will, (as now Iërna vaunts)  
Be known, as well as called, The Isle of Saints.   

101.  
On a waking Conscience.  
THere is a kind of Conscience some men keep,  
Is like a Member that's benumbed with sleep;  
Which, as it gathers Blood, and wakes again,  
It shoots, and pricks, and feels as big as ten.   

102.  
On our Affections.  
O How preposterous our Affections burn!  
We serve the world, love God, to serve our turn.   

103.  
On ZELUSTUS.  
ZElustus wears his clothes, as he were clod  
To frighten Crows, and not to serve his God;  
As if the Symptoms of Regeneration  
Were nothing but a Christian out of Fashion.   

104.  
On REBELLIO.  
What? ever whining? Evermore alike,  
Both when heaven strikes & when he leaves to strike?  
Not stroke thy stomach down, when as thy God  
Is friends with thee, and thrown aside the Rod?  
Take heed, Rebellio, heaven do not reply  
Upon thy Sobs, and he that made thee cry  
For thy own Good, reward not thy repining  
With a new Rod, & scourge thee worse for whining.   

105.  
On ZELUSTUS.  
NOt thy Geneva Ruff, nor steeple Hat  
With flagging Eaves, or Cepresse out of date;  
Thy nock-shorn Cloak, with a round narrow Cape;  
Thy Russet hose crosse-garterd with a Tape;  
Thy Antic Habit, of the old Translation,  
Made for the purpose in despite of Fashion;  
'tis none of these, Zelustus, that can bring  
Thy zeal in credit; none of these can wring  
The least applause from heaven: Heaven never meant  
A Christians Conscience should be bound or bend  
To shapes; Zelustus, we can scarce divide  
An Affectation from a secret Pride.   

106.  
On CONSCIO.  
ARt thou reviled, and slandered? and yet whine?  
I fear thouart guilty: Is that heart of thine  
So faint (if guiltless) that it cannot stoop  
Beneath so poor a Burden, and not droop?  
He that has fire at home may well refrain  
To blow his singers, Conscio, or complain  
The weather's cold abroad: Make sure within,  
And let them censure, let them snarl again:  
Thou mayst appear, but not be this, the worse;  
If Conscience bless thee, Do, let Shemei curse.   

107  
To GOD.  
THy sacred will be done, great God,  
To spend, or to suspend thy Rod:  
If possible, my will's to miss it;  
If otherwise, to stoop, and kiss it.   

108.  
On Devotion.  
WE must not only be to God, but show  
To Man; Paul's Cloak must be remembered too   

109  
On the Christian.  
'tIs not enough that the King's Daughter should  
Be fair within; She must be clad in Gold;  
The curious Needle clothes her whiter skin;  
she's rich without, and glorious all within:  
The true borne Christian, must, as well, be clod  
With lives to men, as lined with hearts to God.   

110.  
On Mercy and justice.  
GOds Mercy and his justice is the same;  
'tis but the Object that divides the Name.   

111  
On AULICUS.  
BEfore that Aulicus was made a Lord,  
He was my Friend; we might exchange a word,  
As well as hearts; He could be never weary  
Of my society; was jocund, merry;  
Ingenious, and as jealous to offend;  
He was enjoyed, He could enjoy his friend:  
But now he swells, looks big, his Favours change,  
A● well as Fortunes: Now his eyes are strange:  
His thoughts are Counsels, curious webs of State;  
And all his Actions must be wondered at;  
His Speeches must be Laws, and every word  
An Oracle, to be admired, adored:  
Friendship must now be service: A new mould  
Must have new Matter, melted from the old:  
O Aulicus, 'twere well, if thou couldst do  
The very same in spiritual honour too.   

112.  
To RHEMUS.  
FAith must be joined to works: Rhemus, I wonder,  
What God has joined, thou dar'st presume to sunder!   

113.  
On TORTUS.  
'tIs not the bearing of the Cross, or Cup  
Of thy Affliction; Thou must take them up:  
Nor is't the taking up, alone, will do;  
Tortus, thou must take up, and follow too.   

114.  
On GRACCHUS.  
Gracchus' so often did repeat a Lie,  
Past on, with Credit, from his very youth,  
That now his Conscience has forborn to cry  
Against it, and persuades him 'tis a Truth:  
'tis well for Gracchus; He has gained thereby;  
He now may tell the same, and never lie.   

115.  
On PHARES.  
THou sayst, it is a Supper, and is fit  
To use the Posture of a Meal, to sit:  
Can thy Discretion, Phares, or thy zeal  
Give carnal Gestures to a spiritual Meal?  
A heavenly Supper and a fleshly Heart?  
Thy Posture has discovered what thou art.   

116.  
On the same.  
YOu'll take it sitting: Pray; and no man know it:  
You'll do, and yet you will not seem to do it:  
You'll bow your Heart, although you bend no Knee:  
'Tis like your Self; You seem, not what you be.   

117.  
To my BOOK.  
SO; Now, 't is time to wain thee from my breast;  
Thy Teeth grow sharp, my Babe, It will be best  
For both: Thy hasty Nurse is come to take thee  
From my fond arms: ne'er whimper; he will make thee  
A dainty golden Coat: Let it suffice thee,  
Thou art mine still: how ere; Thy Nurse will prise thee  
For his own sake and thine: When thou art strong,  
And sure of foot, he'll let thee sport among  
Thy fellow●children; He will let thee see  
The World, which thou hadst never seen, with me:  
Thou mayst do well; if Fortune strike thee luck,  
And fair Opinion; Thou didst never suck  
But one good Friday, and thou mayst improve  
As well in Merit, as in pop'ular love:  
Thou hast six Brethren (borne as well as thee  
Of a free Muse) legitimate and free;  
Pages to Cesar, and in Caesar's Court,  
Besides an Ishmael, that attends the Port  
Of a great Lord, an Honourable Peer  
Of this blessed Realm: If ere thou wander, there.  
They'll bid thee welcome, at the times of leisure,  
Perchance, and bring thee to the hand of Cesar:  
Thou art but young, and tender, (for who knows  
The paths of Fate?) perhaps, and one of those  
Whom Clotho favours not; perchance, thy Twine  
May be produced (for thou art half divine)  
To after Ages, to the utmost date  
Of Time; who knows? but we subscribe to Fate:  
Perchance, thy Fortune's to be bought and sold;  
Was not young joseph served the like of old?  
Thy Bondage may, like his, be made perchance,  
A step to Honour, and a means t'advance  
Thy higher Fortunes, and prepare thy hand  
To ease a dearth, if dearth should strike the Land:  
But I transgress, my B●be: 'Tis time to part;  
The Laws of Nature break the Rules of Art;  
Once more farewell: Let heavens high blessings shine  
On my poork Babe, as my poor Babe has mine.   
The end of the fourth and last Book.