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النشر الإلكتروني

1

THE

CHURCH-PORC H.

Hou, whofe fweet youth and early hopes inhance

TH

Thy rate and price, and mark thee for a treasure;
Hearken unto a verfer, who may chance
Rhyme thee to good, and make a bait of pleasure.
A verfe may find him, who a fermon flies,
And turn delight into a facrifice.

Beware of luft: it doth pollute and foul
Whom God in baptifm wafh'd with his own
blood.

It blots thy leffon written in thy foul;

The holy lines cannot be understood.

How dare those eyes upon a bible look,
Much less tow❜rds God, whofe luft is all their
book.

Wholly abftain, or wed. Thy bounteous Lord
Allows thee choice of paths: take no by-ways;
But gladly welcome what he doth afford;
Not grudging, that thy luft hath bounds and
stays.

Continence hath his joy: weigh both; and fo
If rottennefs have more, let heaven go.

If God had laid all common, certainly
Man would have been th'inclofer: but fince now
God hath impal'd us, on the contrary

Man breaks the fence, and every ground will plough.

O what were man, might he himself misplace! Sure to be cross he would fhift feet and face.

Drink

1

Drink not the third glafs, which thou canst not tame,
When once it is within thee; but before

May'st rule it as thou lift and pour the fhame,
Which it would pour on thee, upon the floor.
It is moft just to throw that on the ground,
Which would throw me there, if I keep the round.
He that is drunken, may his mother kill
Big with his fifter he hath loft the reins,
Is outlaw'd by himself: all kind of ill
Did with his liquor flide into his veins.

The drunkard forfeits man, and doth divest
All worldly right, fave what he hath by beast.
Shall I, to please another's wine-fprung mind,
Lofe all mine own? God hath giv'n me a measure
Short of his cann and body: muft I find
A pain in that wherein he finds a pleasure?

Stay at thy third glafs: if thou lofe thy hold,
Then thou art modeft, and the wine grows bold.
If reafon move not gallants, quit the room,
(All in a fhipwreck thift their feveral way)
Let not a common ruin thee intomb:
Be not a beast in courtefy, but stay,.

Stay at the third cup, or forgo the place,
Wine above all things doth God's ftamp deface.
Yet, if thou fin in wine or wantonnefs,
Boast not thereof; nor make thy fhame thy glory.
Frailty gets pardon by fubmiffiveness;

But he that boafts, fhuts that out of his ftory.

He makes flat war with God, and doth defy,
With his poor clod of earth, the fpacious fky.
Take not his name, who made thy mouth, in vain :
It gets thee nothing, and hath no excuse.
Luft and wine plead a pleasure, av'rice gain:
But the cheap fwearer, thro' his open fluice,
Lets his foul run for naught, as little fearing.
Were I an Epicure, I could bate fwearing.
When

When thou doft tell another's jeft, therein
Omit the oaths, which true wit cannot need:
Pick out of tales the mirth, but not the fin.
He pares his apple, that will cleanly feed.
Play not away the virtue of that name,

Which is thy beft ftake, when griefs make
thee tame.

The cheapest fins most dearly punish'd are;
Because to fhun them alfo is fo cheap:
For we have wit to mark them, and to fpare.
O crumble not away thy foul's fair heap.

If thou wilt die, the gates of hell are broad:
Pride and full fins have made the way a road.

:

Lie not: but let thy heart be true to God,
Thy mouth to it, thy actions to them both
Cowards tell lies, and those that fear the rod;
The stormy working foul fpits lies and froth,
Dare to be true. Nothing can need a lie:
A fault, which needs it moft, grows two
'thereby.

Fly idleness: which yet thou canst not fly
By dreffing, miftreffing, and complement.
If those take up thy day, the fun will cry
Against thee for his light was only lent.

God gave thy foul brave wings; put not those

feathers

Into a bed, to fleep out all ill weathers.

Art thou a magiftrate? then be severe :
If ftudious, copy fair, what time has blurr❜d;
Redeem truth from his jaws: if foldier,
Chase brave employments with a naked sword
Throughout the world. Fool not: for all may
have,

If they dare try, a glorious life, or grave.

O England

O England, full of fin, but most of sloth!
Spit out thy phlegm, and fill thy breast with glory.
Thy gentry bleats, as if thy native cloth
Transfus'd a fheepishness into thy story:

Not that they all are fo; but that the most
Are gone to grafs, and in the pasture loft.

This lofs fprings chiefly from our education. Some till their ground, but let weeds choak their fon:

Some mark a partridge, never their child's fafhion.

Some ship them over, and the thing is done.

Study this art, make it thy great defign;
And if God's image move thee not, let thine.

Some great estates provide, but do not breed
A maft'ring mind; so both are lost thereby :
Or else they breed them tender, make them need
All that they leave: this is flat poverty.

For he that needs five thousand pound to live,
Is full as poor as he that needs but five.

The way to make thy fon rich, is to fill
His mind with rest, before his trunk with riches:
For wealth without contentment, climbs a hill
To feel those tempefts, which fly over ditches.

But if thy fon can make ten pound his measure

Then all thou addest may be called his treasure.

When thou doft purpose aught, (within thy pow'r)
Be fure to do it, though it be but small.
Conftancy knits the bones, and make us stowre,
When wanton pleasures beckon us to thrall.
Who breaks his own bond, forfeiteth him-
felf:

What nature made a ship, he makes a shelf.

Do

Do all things like a man, not fneakingly: Think the king fees thee ftill; for his king does. Simp'ring is but a lay-hypocrify:

Give it a corner, and the clue undoes.

Who fears to do ill, fets himself to tafk: Who fears to do well, fure fhould wear a mask.

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Look to thy mouth; diseases enter there.
Thou haft two fconces, if thy ftomach call;
Carve, or difcourfe; do not a famine fear.
Who carves, is kind to two; who talks, to all.
Look on meat, think it dirt, then eat a bit;
And fay withal, Earth to earth I commit.

Slight thofe who say, amidst their fickly healths,
Thou liv'ft by rule. What doth not so, but man?
Houses are built by rule, and common wealths.
Entice the trusty fun, if that you can,

From his ecliptic line: beckon the sky. Who lives by rule then, keeps good company. Who keeps no guard upon himself, is flack, And rots to nothing at the next great thaw. Man is a fhop of rules, a well-trufs'd pack, Whose every parcel underwrites a law.

Lofe not thyself, nor give thy humours way :
God gave them to thee under lock and key.
By all means use fometimes to be alone..
Salute thyfelf: fee what thy foul doth wear.
Dare to look in thy cheft; for 'tis thine own:
And tumble up and down what thou find❜ft there.
Who cannot reft till he good fellows find,
He breaks up house, turns out of doors his mind.
Be thrifty, but not covetous; therefore give
Thy need, thine honour, and thy friend his due.
Never was scraper brave man. Get to live;
Then live, and use it: elfe, it is not true

That thou haft gotten. Surely use alone
Makes money not a contemptible stone.

Never

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