Page:The Temple (2nd ed) - George Herbert (1633).djvu/15

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The Church-porch.

Perirrhanterium.
Hou, whose sweet youth and early hopes inhance
Thy rate and price, and mark thee for a treasure;
Hearken unto a Verser, who may chance
Ryme thee to good, and make a bait of pleasure.
 A verse may finde him, who a sermon flies,
 And turn delight into a sacrifice.

Beware of lust: it doth pollute and foul
Whom God in Baptisme washt with his own blood.
It blots thy lesson written in thy soul;
The holy lines cannot be understood.
 How dare those eyes upon a Bible look,
 Much lesse towards God, whose lust is all their book?

Abstain wholly, or wed. Thy bounteous Lord
Allows thee choise of paths: take no by-wayes;
But gladly welcome what he doth afford;
Not grudging, that thy lust hath bounds and staies.
 Continence hath his joy: weigh both; and so
 If rottennesse have more, let Heaven go.

If God had laid all common, certainly
Man would have been th'incloser: but since now
God hath impal'd us, on the contrarie
Man breaks the fence, and every ground will plough.
 O what were man, might he himself misplace!
 Sure to be crosse he would shift feet and face.

Drink