Then Pleasure came, who, liking not the fashion,
Began to make balconies, terraces,

Till she had weakened all by alteration;

But reverend laws, and many a proclamation
Reformed all at length with menaces.

Then entered Sin, and with that sycamore

Whose leaves first sheltered man from drought and

dew,

Working and winding slily evermore,

The inward walls and summers * cleft and tore;
But Grace shored these, and cut that as it grew.

Then Sin combined with death in a firm band,
To raze the building to the very floor;

Which they effected,-none could them withstand;
But Love and Grace took Glory by the hand,
And built a braver palace than before.

VANITY.

POOR silly soul, whose hope and head lie low;
Whose flat delights on earth do creep and grow;
To whom the stars shine not so fair as eyes,
Nor solid work as false embroideries;

Hark! and beware, lest what you now do measure,
And write for sweet, prove a most sour displeasure.

* A summer or sommer is a main beam or girder. The name is now seldom used, except in the compound term, bressumur or brest-summer.

† As "Grace" grew.

O hear betimes, lest thy relenting
May come too late!

To purchase heaven for repenting
Is no hard rate.

If souls be made of earthly mould,
Let them love gold;

If born on high,

Let them unto their kindred fly;
For they can never be at rest

Till they regain their ancient nest.
Then, silly soul, take heed! for earthly joy
Is but a bubble, and makes thee a boy.

COLOSSIANS III. 3.

OUR LIFE IS HID WITH CHRIST IN GOD.

My words and thoughts do both express this notion,

That LIFE hath with the sun a double motion.
The first IS straight, and our diurnal friend:
The other HID, and doth obliquely bend.
One life is wrapt IN flesh, and tends to earth;
The other winds t'wards HIM whose happy birth
Taught me to live here so THAT still one eye
Should aim and shoot at that which IS on high-
Quitting with daily labour all MY pleasure,
To gain at harvest an eternal TREASURE.*

Read the words in capitals downwards: they form "My life is hid in Him that is my treasure."

VANITY.

THE fleet astronomer can bore

And thread the spheres with his quick-piercing mind: He views their stations, walks from door to door,

Surveys, as if he had designed

To make a purchase there; he sees their dances,
And knoweth long before

Both their full-eyed aspècts, and secret glances.

The nimble diver with his side

Cuts through the working waves, that he may fetch
His dearly-earned pearl, which God did hide

On purpose from the venturcus wretch;
That he might save his life, and also hers
Who with excessive pride

Her own destruction and his danger wears.

The subtile chymic can divest
And strip the creature naked, till he find
The callow principles within their nest:
There he imparts to them his mind.
Admitted to their bed-chamber, before
They appear trim and drest

To ordinary suitors at the door.

What hath not man sought out and found, But his dear God? who yet His glorious law Embosoms in us, mellowing the ground

With showers and frosts, with love and awe; So that we need not say, "Where's this command?" Poor man! thou searchest round

To find out death, but missest life at hand.

LENT.

WELCOME, dear feast of Lent! who loves not thee, He loves not temperance or authority,

But is composed of passion.

The Scriptures bid us fast; the Church says, Now:
Give to thy mother what thou wouldst allow
To every corporation.

The humble soul, composed of love and fear,
Begins at home, and lays the burden there,
When doctrines disagree:

He says, "In things which use hath justly got,
I am a scandal to the Church," and not

"The Church is so to me."

True Christians should be glad of an occasion
To use their temperance, seeking no evasion,
When good is seasonable;

Unless authority, which should increase
The obligation in us, make it less,
And power itself disable.

Besides the cleanness of sweet abstinence,
Quick thoughts and motions at a small expense,
A face not fearing light ;

Whereas in fulness there are sluttish fumes,

Sour exhalations, and dishonest rheums,
Revenging the delight.

Then those same pendent profits, which the spring And Easter intimate, enlarge the thing,

And goodness of the deed.

Neither ought other men's abuse of Lent
Spoil the good use; lest by that argument
We forfeit all our Creed.

It's true, we cannot reach Christ's fortieth day;
Yet to go part of that religious way

Is better than to rest:

We cannot reach our Saviour's purity;
Yet are we bid, "Be holy e'en as He."
In both let's do our best.

Who goeth in the way which Christ hath gone,
Is much more sure to meet with Him, than one
That travelleth by-ways.

Perhaps my God, though He be far before,
May turn, and take me by the hand, and more,
May strengthen my decays.

Yet, Lord, instruct us how to improve our fast
By starving sin, and taking such repast
As may our faults control:

That ev'ry man may revel at his door,
Not in his parlour; banqueting the poor,
And among those his soul.