II.

JAMES i. 15.

Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

L

1.

AMENT, lament, look, look, what thou hast done: Lament the world's, lament thine own estate : Look, look, by doing, how thou art undone ; Lament thy fall, lament thy change of state: Thy faith is broken, and thy freedom gone, See, see too soon, what thou lament'st too late. Ó thou that wert so many men, nay, all Abridg'd in one! how has thy desp'rate fall Destroy'd thy unborn seed, destroy'd thyself withal!

2.

Uxorious Adam, whom thy Maker made
Equal to angels that excel in pow'r,

What hast thou done? O why hast thou obey'd
Thy own destruction? Like a new-cropt flow'r,
How does the glory of thy beauty fade!

How are thy fortunes blasted in an hour!

How art thou cow'd, that had'st the pow'r to quell
The spite of new-fall'n angels, baffle hell,

And vie with those that stood, and vanquish those that fell!

3.

See how the world (whose chaste and pregnant womb Of late conceiv'd, and brought forth nothing ill)

Is now degenerated, and become

A base adultress, whose false births do fill

The earth with monsters, monsters that do roam
And rage about, and make a trade to kill:

Now

Now glutt'ny paunches; lust begins to spawn;
Wrath takes revenge, and avarice a pawn;

Pale envy pines, pride swells, and sloth begins to yawn.

4.

The air that whisper'd, now begins to roar;
And blust'ring Boreas blows the boiling tide;
The white-mouth'd water now usurps the shore,
And scorns the pow'r of her tridental guide;
The fire now burns, that did but warm before,
And rules her ruler with resistless pride:

Fire, water, earth, and air, that first were made
To be subdu'd, see how they now invade ;

They rule whom once they serv'd, command where once obey'd.

5.

Behold, that nakedness, that late bewray'd

Thy glory, now's become thy shame, thy wonder; Behold, those trees, whose various fruits were made For food, now turn'd a shade to shrowd thee under ; Behold, that voice (which thou hast disobey'd),

That late was music, now affrights like thunder: Poor man! are not thy joints grown sore with shaking

To view th' effect of thy bold undertaking,

That in one hour didst mar what Heav'n six days was making?

S. AUGUST. lib. i. de Lib. Arbit.

It is a most just punishment, that man should lose that freedom which man could not use, yet had power to keep, if he would; and that he who had knowledge to do what was right, and did not, should be deprived of the knowledge of what was right: and that he who would not do righteously when he had the power, should lose the power to do it when he had the will.

Hugo

1

Dum Coelum afpicio Solum defpicio.
While to high Heav'n our fervent Thoughts arise.
The Soul all Earthly Treasures can despise.

Hugo de Anima.

They are justly punished, that abuse lawful things; but they are most justly punished, that use unlawful things; thus Lucifer fell from heaven; thus Adam lost his paradise.

EPIG. 2.

See how these fruitful kernels, being cast

Upon the earth, how thick they spring! how fast!
A full-ear'd crop and thriving, rank and proud;
Prepost'rous man first sow'd, and then he plough'd.

III.

PROV. xiv. 13.

Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness.

A

LAS! fond child,

1.

How are thy thoughts beguil'd

To hope for honey from a nest of wasps?

Thou may'st as well

Go seek for ease in hell,

Or sprightly nectar from the mouths of asps.

The world's a hive,

2

From whence thou derive

No good, but what thy soul's vexation brings :
But case thou meet

Some petti-petti-sweet,

Each drop is guarded with a thousand stings.

Why dost thou make

3.

These murm'ring troops forsake

The safe protection of their waxen homes?

Their hive contains

No sweet that's worth thy pains;

There's nothing here, alas! but empty combs,

For