All forreign wifdom doth amount to this,
To take all that is given; whether wealth,
Or love, or language, nothing comes amifs:
A good digeftion turneth all to health:
And then, as far as fair behaviour may,
Strike off all scores; none are fo clear as they
Keep all thy native good, and naturalizer
All forreign of that name; but fcorn their ill:
Embrace their activenefs, not vanities..
ro Who follows all things, forfeiteth his will.
If thou observest strangers in each fit,
In time they'l run thee out of all thy wit.:
Affect in things about thee cleanliness,
That all may gladly board thee, as a flower.
Is Slovens take up their stock of noisomness-
Beforehand, and anticipate their last hour.
Let thy minds fweetness have his operation
upon thy body, clothes, and habitation.
In Alms regard thy means, and others merit.
20 Think heav'n a better bargain than to give.
Only thy fingle market-money for it,
Joyn hands with God to make a man to live.
Give to all fomething; to a good poor man,
Till thou change names, and be where he began
25 Man is Gods image; but a poor
Chrifts ftamp to boot: both images regard.
God reckons for him, counts the favour his:
Write, So much giv'n to God; thou shalt be heard.
Let thy alms go before, and keep heav'ns gate
30 Open for thee; or both may come too late.
Reftore to God his due in tithe and time:
A tithe purloin'd cankers the whole eftate.
Sundays obferve: think, when the bells do chime,
'Tis Angels mufick; therefore come not late.
God then deals bleffings: if a King did fo,
Who would not hafte, nay give, to fee the show?
Twice on the day his due is understood;
For all the week thy food fo oft he gave thee.
Thy cheer is mended; bate not of the food,
Because 'tis better, and perhaps may fave thee.
Thwart not th' Almighty God: O be not cross.
Faft when thou wilt, butwhen 'tis gain, not loss.
Though private prayer be a brave defign,
Yet publick hath more promifes, more love,
And love's a weight to hearts, to eyes a fign.
We all are but cold fuiters; let us move
Where it is warmeft. Leave thy fix and seven; Pray with the moft: for where most pray, is heaven.
When once thy foot enters the Church, be bare.
God is more there than thou: for thou art there
Only by his permiffion. Then beware,
And make thy felf all reverence and fear.
Kneeling ne're fpoil'd filk stocking quit thy ftate. All equal are within the Churches gate.
Refort to Sermons, but to Prayers most:
Praying's the end of Preaching. Obe dreft;
Stay not for th' other pin: why, thou haft loft
A joy for it worth worlds. Thus hell doth jeft
Away thy bleffings, and extreamly flout thee,
Thy clothes being faft,but thy foul loofe about thee.
In time of service seal up both thine eyes,
And send them to thine heart; that spying fin,
They may weep out the flains by them did rise..
Thofe doors being fhut, all by the ear comes in..
5 Who marks in church-time others fymmetry,
Makes all their beauty his deformity,
Let vain or bufie thoughts have there no part:
Bring not thy plough, thy plots, thy pleatures thither.
Christ purg'd his temple; fo muft thou thy heart.
10 All worldly thoughts are but thieves met together
To cozen thee. Look to thy actions well:
For Churches are either our Heaven or Hell.
Judge not the preacher; for he is thy judge;
If thou mislike him, thou conceiv'ft him not.
15 God calleth preaching folly. Do not grudge
To pick out treasures from an earthen
pot. The worst speak fomething good: if all want fenfe, God takes a text, and preacheth patience.
He that gets patience, and the bleffing which
20 Preachers conclude with, hath not loft his pains.
He that by being at Church escapes the ditch,
Which he might fall in by companions, gains.
He that loves Gods abode, and to combine
With Saints on earth fhall one day with them shine.
25 Jeft not at Preachers language or expreffion :
How know'st thou but thy fins made him miscarry?
Then turn thy faults and his into confession :
God fent him, whatfoe're he be: O tarry,
And love him for his Mafter: his condition, 30 Though it be ill, makes him no l Physician.
None fhall in hell fuch bitter pangs endure,
As those who mock at Gods way of falvation.
whom oyl and balfams kill, what falve can care?<
They drink with greedinefs a full damnation.
The Jews refused thunder; and we, folly.
Though God do hedge us in, yet who is holy?
Sum up at night what thou haft done by day;.
And in the morning, what thou haft to do.
Dreffe and undreffe thy foul: mark the decay
And growth of it: if with thy watch, that too
Be down, then wind up both : fince we shall be
Moft furely judg'd, make thy accounts agree.
In brief, acquit thee bravely; play the man.
Look not on pleafures as they come, but go.
Defer not the leaft vertue: lifes poor span
Make not an ell, by trifling in thy wo.
If thou do ill, the joy fades, not the pains:
If well, the pain doth fade, the joy remains.
Hou, whom the former precepts have Sprinkled, and taught how to behave Thy felf in Church; approach, and tafte The Churches mystical repaft.
Avoid profaneness; come not here:
Nothing but holy, pure, and clear, Or that which groneth to be fo,
May at his peril further go.
|