vices raigne God wanteth power say they of what we can The other would performe that which is vaine Both faultie in one fault and both alike Must haue the stroke which our lawes iudgements strike He calls himselfe a sonne from heauens descent What can earths force aualie gainst heauens defence His life by immortalitie is lent Then how can punishment his wrath incense Though death her selfe in his arraignment decke He hath his lifes preseruer at a becke verse 21 As doth the Basiliske with poysoned sight Blinde euery function of a mortall eye Disarme the bodies powers of vitall might Rob heart of thought make liuing life to die So doth the wicked with their vices looke Infect the spring of clearest vertues brooke This Basiliske mortalities chiefe foe And to the hearts long-knitted arterie Doth sometime perish at her shadowes showe Poysning her selfe with her owne poysoned eie Needs must the sting fall out with ouer-harming Needs must the tong burne out in ouer-warming verse 22 So fares it with the practisers of vice Laden with many venomous adders stings Sometimes are blinded with their owne deuice And tunes that song which their destruction sings Their mischeife blindeth their mischeiuous eies Like Basiliskes which in their shadow dies They goe and yet they cannot see their feete Like blinded pilgrimes in an vnknowen way Blind in perceiuing things which be most meete But neede nor sight nor guide to goe astray Tel them of good they cannot vnderstand But tell them of a mischeife that 's at hand The Basiliske was made to blind the sight verse 23 24 The adder for to sting the worme to creepe The viper to deuoure the dog to bite The nightingale to wake when others sleepe Onely man differs from his makers will Vndoing what is good and doing ill A god-like face he had a heauenly hue Without corruption image without spottes But now is metamorphosed anewe Full of corruption image full of blottes Blotted by him that is the plot of euill Vndone corrupted vanquisht by the deuill Chapter III. verse 1 BVt euery cloude can not hide Phoebus face Nor shut the casement of his liuing flame Nor is there euery soule which wanteth grace Nor euery hart seducde with mischiefs name Life cannot liue without corruption World cannot be without destruction Nor is the body all corrupt or world Bent wholie vnto wickednes assault The adder is not alwaies seene vncurlde Nor euery soule found guiltie in one fault Some good some bad but those whom vertues guard Heauen is their hauen comfort their reward verse 2 3 Thrice happy habitation of delight Thrice happy step of immortalitie Thrice happy soules to gaine such heauenly sight Springing from heauens perpetuitie Oh peacefull place but oh thrice peacefull soules Whom neither threats nor strife nor wars control They are not like the wicked for they liue Nor they like to the righteous for they die Each of their liues a differing nature giue One thinkes that life endes with mortalitie And that the righteous neuer liue againe But die as subiects to a grieuous paine verse 4 What labouring soule refuseth for to sweat Knowing his hire his paiment his reward To suffer winters colde and summers heate Assured of his labours due regard The Bee with summers toile will lade her hiue In winters frost to keepe herselfe aliue And what diuinest spirit would not toile And suffer many torments many paines This worlds destruction heauie laboures foile When heauen is their hire heauens ioy their gaines Who would not suffer torments for to die When deaths reward is immortalitie verse 5 Paine is the entrance to eternall ioy Death endeth life and death beginneth life Beginneth happy endeth in annoy Begins immortall peace ends mortall strife Then seeing death and paines bring ioy and heauen What need we feare deaths pain when life is giuen Say sicknes or infairmities disease As many harmes hang ouer mortall heades Should be his worlds reward yet heauen hath ease A salue to cure and quiet resting beds God maketh in earths world lament our pleasure That in heaueÌ„s world delight might be our treasure verse 6 Faire may the shadow bee the substance foule After the â—â—…all followeth the trust The clearest skinne may haue the soulest soule The purest golde will looner take the ruste The brooke though nere so cleare may take some foile The hart thogh nere so strong may take some foile Wouldst thou be counted iust make thy selfe iust Oh purifie thy mire be spotted heart For god doth trie thy actions ere he trust Thy faith thy deeds thy wordes and what thou art He will receiue no mud for clearest springs Nor thy vnrighteous wordes for righteous things verse 7 As God is perfit God and perfit good So hee accepteth none but perfit mindes They euer prosper flourish liue and bud Like blessed plants far from destructions winds Still bud nere fade still flourish nere decay Stil rise nere fall still spring nere fade away Who would not couet to be such a plant Who would not wish to stand in such a ground Sith it doth neither fruit nor blessing want Nor ought which in this plant might not be found They are the righteous which enioye this earth The figure of an euer-bearing birth verse 8 The small is alwayes subiect to the great The yong to him which is of elder time The lowest place vnto the highest seate And pale-facde Phoebe to bright Phoebus clime Vice is not gouerner of vertues place But blushes for to see see so bright a face Vertue is chiefe and vertue will be chiefe Chiefe good and chiefe Astraea Iustice mate Both for to punish and to yeeld reliefe And haue dominion ouer euery state To rghit the wrongs which wickednes hath done Deliuering Nations from life-lasting mone verse 9 Oh you whose causes plungeth in despaire Sad facde petitioners with griefes request What seeke you heere 's nor Iustice nor her heire But woe and sorrow with deaths dumbe arrest Turne vp your woe blinde eyes vnto the skie There sits the Iudge can yeeld you remedie Trust in his power he is the truest God True God true Iudge true Iustice and true guide All trueth is placed in his trueths abode All vertues seated at his verouous side He will regarde your sure and ease your plaint And mollifie your miseries constraint verse 10 Then shall you see the Iudges of the earth Summoned with the trumpet of his ire To giue account and reckning from their birth Where worthy or vnworthy of their hire The godly shall receiue their labours triall The wicked shall receiue their ioyes deniall They which did sleepe in sinne and not regarded The poore mans fortune prostrate at their feete Euen as they dealt so shall they be rewarded When they their toyled soules destruction meet From Iudges they petitioners shall be Yet want the sight which they do sue to see verse 11 That labour which is grounded on delight That hope which reason doth enrich with hap That merite which is
to flye sin run into sin And thinke to end when they do new begin God made the earth the earth denies their sute Nor can they harbor in the centres womb God knowes their thoughts although their tongs be mute And heares the sounds from forth their bodies tomb Sounds ah no sounds but man himselfe hee heares Too true a voice of mans most falsest feares verse 10 Oh see destruction houering ore thy head Mantling her selfe in wickednes array Hoping to make thy body as her bed Thy vice her nutriment thy soule her pray Thou hast forsaken him that was thy guide And see what followes to asswage thy pride Thy roaring vices noyse hath cloyd his eares Like foaming waues they haue orewhelmde thy ioy Thy murmurings which thy whole body beares Hath bred thy waile thy waile thy lifes annoy Vnhappy thoughts to make a soules decay Vnhappie soule in suffering thoughts to sway verse 11 Then sith the height of mans felicitie Is plung'd within the pudle of misdeedes And wades amongst discredits infamie Blasting the merit of his vertues seedes Beware of murmuring the chiefest ill From whence all sin all vice all paines distill O heauie doome proceeding from a tong Heauie light tong tong to thy owne decay In vertue weake in wickednesse too strong To mischiefe prone from goodnesse gone astray Hammer to forge misdeedes to temper lies Selling thy life to death thy soule to cries verse 12 Must death needs pay the ransome of thy sin With the dead carcasse of descending spirit Wilt thou of force be snared in his gin And place thy errour in destructions merit Life seeke not for thy death death comes vnsought Buying the life which not long since was bought Death and destruction neuer needs a call They are attendants on liues pilgrimage And life to them is as their playing ball Grounded vppon destructions anchorage Seeke not for that which vnsought will betide Nere wants destruction a prouoking guide verse 13 Will you needs act your owne destruction Will you needs harbour your owne ouerthrowe Or will you cause your owne euersion Beginning with dispaire ending with woe Then die your hartes in tyrannies arraie To make acquittance of destructions pay What do you meditate but on your death What doe you practise but your liuing fall Who of you all haue any vertues breath But ready armed at a mischiefes call God is not pleased at your vices sauour But you best pleased when you lose his fauour verse 14 He made not death to be your conqueror But you to conquer ouer death and hell Nor you to bee destructions seruitor Enhoused there where Maiestie should dwell God made man to obay at his beheast And man to be obayde of euery beast He made not death to be our labours hire But we our selues made death through our desart Here neuer was the kingdome of hell fire Before the brand was kindled in mans hart Now man defieth God all creatures man Vice flourisheth and vertue lieth wan verse 15 O fruitefull tree whose roote is alwaies greene Whose blossomes euer bud whose fruites encrease Whose toppe celestiall vertues seat hath been Defended by the soueraintie of peace This tree is righteousnes ô happy tree Immortalized by thine owne decree O hatefull plant whose roote is alwaies drie Whose blossomes neuer bud whose fruites decrease On whom sits the infernall deitie To take possession of so foule a lease This plant is vice O too vnhappy plant Euer to die and neuer fill deaths want verse 16 Accursed in thy growth dead in thy roote Cancred with sin shaken with euery winde Whose top dooth nothing differ from the foote Mischiefe the sappe and wickednesse the rhinde So the vngodly like this withered tree Is slacke in doing good in ill too free Like this their wicked growth too fast too slowe Too fast in slouth too slow in vertues hast They thinke their vice a friend when t is a foe In good in wickednes too slow too fast And as this tree decayes so do they all Each one copartner of the others fall Chapter II. verse 1 INdeede they doe presage what wil betide With the misgiuing verdict of misdeeds They knowe a fall will follow after pride And in so foule a hart growes manie weeds Our life is short quoth they no t is too long Lengthned with euill thoughts and euill tong A life must needs be short to them that dies For life once dead in sin doth weakely liue These die in sin and maske in deaths disguise And neuer thinke that death new life can giue They say life dead can neuer liue againe O thoughts ô wordes ô deeds fond foolish vaine verse 2 Vilde life to harbor where such death abodes Abodes worse then are thoughts thoughts worse then words Wordes halfe as ill as deeds deeds sorrowes odes Odes ill inchaunters of too ill records Thoghts words and deeds conoyined in one song May cause an Eccho from destructions tong Quoth they t is chaunce whether we liue or die Borne or abortiue be or neuer bee Wee worship fortune shee 's our deitie If she denies no vitall breath haue wee Here are wee placed in this orbe of death This breath once gone we neuer looke for breath verse 3 Betweene both life and death both hope and feare Betweene our ioy and griefe blisse and dispaire We here possesse the fruite of what is here Borne euer for to die and die deaths heire Our heritage is death annexde to life Our portion death our death an endlesse strife What is our life but our liues tragedy Extinguishde in a momentary time And life to murder life is cruelty Vnripely withering in a flowrie prime And vrne of ashes pleasing but the showes Once dry the toiling spirit wandring goes verse 4 Like as the traces of appearing clouds Giues way when Tytan resalutes the sea With new-changd flames guilding the Oceans flouds Kissing the cabinet where I hetis lay So fares our life when death doth giue the wound Our life is led by death a captiue bound When Sol bestrides his golden mountaines toppe Lightning heauens tapors with his liuing fire All gloomye powers haue their diurnall stoppe And neuer gaines the darknes they desire So perisheth our name when wee are dead Our selues nere cald to mind our deeds nere read verse 5 What is the time wee haue what be our daies No time but shadowe of what time should be Daies in the place of houres which neuer staies Beguiling sight of that which sight should see As soone as the begin they haue their fine Nere waxe still waine nere stay but still decline Life may be cald the shadowe of effect Because the cloude of death doth shadow it Nor can our life approaching death reiect They both in one for our election sit Death followes life in euery degree But life to followe death you neuer see verse 6 Come we whose olde decrepit age doth hault Like limping winter in our winter sin Faultie wee know we are tush what 's a fault A
mountaines tops My honour shall bee placed in deceit And counterfait new shewes of little weight verse 10 My pen doth almost blush at this replie And faine would call him wicked to his face But then his breath would answeâ—… with a lie And staine my inck with an vntruths disgrace Thy maister bids thee write the pen sayes no But when thy maister bids it must be so Call his hart ashes oh too mild a name Call his hope vile more viler then the earth Call his life weaker then a clayeie frame Call his bespotted heart an ashye hearth Ashes earth clay conioyn'd to heart hope life Are features loue in being natures strife verse 11 Thou mightst haue chose more stinging wordes then these For this he knowes he is and more then lesse In saying what he is thou dost appease The foming anger which his thoughts suppresse Who knowes not if the best be made of clay The worst must needs be clad in foule array Thou in performing of thy maisters will Dost teach him to obay his lords commaunds But he repugnant is and cannot skill Of true adoring with heart-heau'd vp hand Hee hath a soule a life a breath a name Yet is he ignorant from whence they came verse 12 My soule saith he is but a mappe of shoes No substance but a shadow for to please My life doth passe euen as a pastime goes A momentary time to liue at ease My breath a vapour and my name of earth Each one decaying of the others birth Our conuersation best for there is gaines And gaine is best in conuersations prime A mart of lucre in our conscience raignes Our thoughts as busie agents for the time So we get gaine ensnaring simple men It is no matter how nor where nor when verse 13 We care not how for all misdeedes are ours We care not where if before God or man We care not when but when our crafts haue powres In measuring deceit with mischiefes fanne For wherefore haue we life forme and ordaining But that we should deceiue and still be gaining I made of earth haue made al earthen shops And what I sell is al of earthy sale My pots haue earthen feete and earthen tops In like resemblance of my bodies vale But knowing to offend the heauens more I made fraile images of earthy store verse 14 O bold accuser of his owne misdeedes O heauy clod more than the earth can beare Was neuer creature clothde in sauage weedes Which would not blush when they this mischief hear Thou toldst a tale which might haue bin vntolde Making the hearers blush the readers olde Let them blush still that heares be olde that reades Then boldnes shal not raigne nor youth in vice Thrice miserable they which rashly speeds With expedition to this bold deuice More foolish than are fooles whose misery Cannot be changde with new felicitie verse 15 Are not they fooles which liue without a sence Haue not they misery which neuer ioy Which takes an idoll for a Gods defence And with their self-willd thoghts themselues destroy What folly is more greater than is here Or what more miserie can wel appeere Call you them gods which haue no seeing eyes No noses for to smell no eares to heare No life but that which in deaths shadow lies Which haue no hands to feele no feete to beare If gods can neither heare liue feele nor see A foole may make such gods of euery tree verse 16 And what was he that made them but a foole Conceiuing follie in a foolish braine Taught and instructed in a wodden schoole Which made his head run of a wodden vaine T was man which made them he his making had Man full of wood was wood and so ran mad He borrowed his life and would restore His borrowed essence to another death He faine would be a maker though before Was made himselfe and God did lend him breath No man can make a god like to a man He sayes he scornes that worke he furder can verse 17 He is deceiude and in his great deceit He doth deceiue the folly-guided harts Sin lies in ambush he for sin doth waite Here is deceit deceiude in either parts His sin deceiueth him and he his sin So craft with craft is mewed in either gin The crafts-man mortall is craft mortall is Each function nursing vp the others want His hands are mortall deadly what is his Onely his sins buds in destructions plant Yet better he than what he doth deuise For he himselfe doth liue that euer dies verse 18 Say call you this a God where is his head Yet headlesse is he not yet hath he none Where is his godhead fled his power dead His raigne decayed and his essence gone Now tell me is this God the God of good Or else Siluanus monarch of the wood There haue I pierst his barke for he is so A wooden god fainde as Siluanus was But leauing him to others let vs go To senslesse beasts their new adoring glasse Beasts which did liue in life yet died in reason Beasts which did seasons eate yet knew no season verse 19 Can mortall bodies and immortall soules Keepe one knit vnion of a liuing loue Can sea with land can fish agree with foules Tygers with lambes a serpent with a doue Oh no they cannot then say why doe wee Adore a beast which is our enimy What greater foe than folly vnto wit What more deformitie than vgly face This disagrees for follie is vnfit The other contrary to beauties place Then how can senslesse heads deformed shoes Agree with you when they are both your foes Chapter XVI verse 1 OH call that word againe they are your friends Your liues associats and your loues content That which begins in them your follie ends Then how can vice with vice be discontent Beholde deformitie sits on your heads Not hornes but scornes not visage but whole beds Beholde a heap of sins your bodies pale A mountaine-ouerwhelming villany Then tell me are you clad in beauties vale Or in destructions pale-dead liuerie Their life demonstrates now aliue now dead Tormented with the beasts which they haue fed verse 2 3 You like to Pelicans haue fed your death With follies-vaine let bloud from follies veyne And almost sterude your selues stopt vp your breath Had not Gods mercie helpt and easde your paine Beholde a new-found meat the Lord did send Which taught you to be new and to amend A strange disgested nutriment euen quailes Which taught them to be strange vnto misdeeds When you implore his aide he neuer failes To fill their hunger whom repentance feeds You see when life was halfe at deaths arrest Hee new created life at hungers feast verse 4 Say is your God like this whom you ador'd Or is this God like to your handie frame If so his power could not then afford Such influence which floweth from his name Hee is not painted made of wood and stone But he substantiall is and rules alone He can oppresse and