SR
← The Temple: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations/Book 1 · The Church-porch
Chapter 3HerbTemple.1.3

The Church-porch

The Church-porch

The purifying sprinkler.1 You whose sweet youth and early hopes raise your worth and value, and mark you out as a treasure: listen to a writer of verse, who may by chance rhyme you toward the good, and make pleasure the bait.2 A verse may find the one who flees a sermon, and turn delight into a sacrifice.✦ Beware of lust; it pollutes and fouls the one whom God washed clean in baptism with his own blood.✦ It blots out the lesson written in your soul, making the holy lines impossible to understand. How dare those eyes look upon a Bible, let alone toward God, when lust is the only book they read?3 Abstain completely, or marry. Your generous Lord allows you a choice of paths: take no byways; but gladly welcome what he provides, not resenting that your lust has bounds and restraints.4 Continence has its joy: weigh both; and so, if rottenness has more, let Heaven go.5 If God had left everything in common, man would certainly have been the one fencing it off. But since God has fenced us in, it's the opposite: man breaks the fence and wants to plow every field.6 Oh, what would man become if he could put himself in the wrong place!7 Just to be contrary, he would surely switch his feet and face.8 Don't drink the third glass—you can't tame it once it's inside you; but before that, you can rule it as you please, and pour the shame it would pour on you onto the floor. It's only just to throw on the ground what would throw me there if I keep going round after round.9 A drunk man might kill his own mother while she's pregnant with his sister. He's lost control and become an outlaw; every kind of evil has slid into his veins along with the liquor.1011 The drunkard forfeits his humanity and strips himself of every worldly right, except for what he retains as a beast.1213 Should I, just to please someone else's wine-inflamed mind, lose all of my own? God has given me a measure short of his cup and body; must I find pain in what he finds pleasure?14 Stay at the third glass: if you lose your hold, then you're the modest one, and the wine grows bold. If reason doesn't move those gallants, leave the room. (In a shipwreck, everyone takes their own way.) Don't let a shared ruin bury you with them. Don't be a beast for the sake of courtesy; hold firm—stop at the third cup, or give up the place. Wine, more than anything else, defaces God's stamp.✦15 Still, if you sin through wine or wantonness, don't boast about it—and don't make your shame your glory. Frailty wins pardon through humble submission; but the one who boasts shuts that pardon out of his story.16 He wages open war against God, and with his poor clod of earth defies the vast sky.17 Don't take the name of the One who made your mouth in vain; it gains you nothing, and there's no excuse for it. Lust and wine might claim the excuse of pleasure, and greed might claim the excuse of gain, but the casual swearer lets his soul drain away for nothing, through an open sluice, and with just as little fear.18 Even if I were an Epicure, I could still give up swearing.19 When you retell someone else's joke, leave out the oaths in it: true wit doesn't need them. Take the fun from stories, but not the sin. Whoever wants to eat cleanly pares the apple first.20 Don't gamble away the worth of your good name—it's your best stake when griefs bring you low.21 The cheapest sins are the ones most dearly punished, because avoiding them is also so cheap: we have the sense to notice them and to hold back. Oh, don't crumble away your soul's fair store.22 If you want to die, the gates of hell are broad: pride and full-grown sins have made the way a road.23 Don't lie; but let your heart be true to God, your mouth true to your heart, and your actions true to both. Cowards tell lies, and so do those who fear the rod; the stormy, agitated soul spits out lies and froth.24 Dare to be true. Nothing can need a lie: a fault that needs one most grows into two by it.25 Flee idleness — which you still can't escape by dressing up, chasing lovers, and empty compliments.26 If those take up your day, the sun will cry out against you: for his light was only lent. God gave your soul brave wings; don't stuff those feathers into a bed to sleep through every hard season.27 Are you a magistrate? Then be severe. If you're a scholar, copy cleanly what time has blurred; redeem truth from its jaws. If you're a soldier, chase noble work with a bare sword throughout the world.✦28 Don't play the fool: for anyone can have, if they dare try, a glorious life—or a glorious grave.29 Oh, England! full of sin, but most of all, sloth! Spit out your phlegm and fill your chest with glory: your gentry bleats, as if your native cloth had transfused a sheepishness into your story; not that they all are so, but most have gone to grass and are lost in the pasture.30 This loss comes mainly from our education. Some till their land, but let weeds choke their son; some track a partridge, but never their child's ways.31 Some ship them overseas, and the job is done.32 Study this art; make it your great design. And if God's image doesn't move you, let your own.33 Some people leave great estates but never raise a mind that can master them; so both are lost that way. Or else they raise their children soft and make them need everything they inherit: that is pure poverty. For anyone who needs five thousand pounds just to live is fully as poor as the one who needs only five. The way to make your son rich is to fill his mind with rest before you fill his chest with riches: because wealth without contentment climbs a hill only to feel the storms that fly over the ditches.✦34 But if your son can make ten pounds his standard, then everything you add may be called his treasure.35 When you resolve to do something within your power, be sure to do it, even if it's only a small thing. Constancy knits the bones and makes us sturdy when wanton pleasures beckon us into bondage.36 Whoever breaks his own bond forfeits himself: what nature made a ship, he turns into a sandbank.37 Do everything openly and courageously, not sneakily. Remember that the king always sees you—because his own King does.38 Simpering is just a worldly form of hypocrisy: give it even a corner, and the whole thing unravels.39 Whoever fears doing wrong gets to work. Whoever fears doing right should definitely wear a mask. Watch your mouth; diseases enter there. You have two defenses if your stomach calls: carve, or talk; don't fear a famine.40 Whoever carves is kind to two; whoever talks, to all. Look at the food, think of it as dirt, then eat a little; and say as you do, Earth to earth I commit.✦41 Ignore those who, in their own sickly health, say you live by a rule. What doesn't live that way—except man?42 Houses are built by rule, and so are commonwealths. Lure the faithful sun, if you can, from its ecliptic path; beckon the sky.43 Whoever lives by rule, then, keeps good company. Whoever keeps no watch over himself grows slack, and rots to nothing at the next great thaw. A person is a shop of rules, a tightly bound pack, whose every parcel underwrites a law.44 Don't lose yourself, and don't give free rein to your moods: God gave them to you under lock and key.45 Make it a habit to spend time alone. Greet yourself: see what your soul is wearing.46 Dare to look in your chest—it's yours—and tumble up and down whatever you find there.47 Whoever can't rest until he finds good company breaks up house and turns his mind out of doors.48 Be thrifty, but not covetous: so give your needs their due, your honor its due, and your friend what he is owed.✦ A miser was never a brave man.49 Get enough to live on; then live and use it; otherwise, you haven't truly gained it.50 Surely use alone keeps money from being a contemptible stone. Never spend more than you earn. Youth may break even with the year; but age, if it means to hit the mark, shoots short with the bow and keeps reducing its stake, as the day shortens—and its life with it.51 Your children, relatives, and friends call on you; before your journey, part fairly with everything.52 Yet even while you're thriving, still suspect some evil—lest getting gain get the better of you and leave you dull to everything else.✦53 Wealth is the conjurer's devil: when he thinks he has it, the devil has him.✦54 You can safely touch gold, but if it sticks to your hands, it wounds you to the quick. What good does it do if a bag of stones—or gold—around your neck ends up drowning you?✦55 Lift your head. Take the stars as your currency—stars that no skill can count, yet they can still be yours.✦56 No one is as wasteful as the scraping miser: she loses three things for every one she saves—her soul, her rest, and her good name.✦57 By no means go into debt: take your own measure. If you can't live on twenty pounds a year, you won't be able to live on forty either; you're a person who lives for pleasure, the kind of person who is simply too expensive for their own good.58 The finicky spendthrift makes his cloth too wide, and spares himself, but would scold his tailor.59 Don't spend on hopes. Those who try to make their fortunes by clothes that plead their case, when real worth and service fail, want their story believed on the strength of their oaths, and they're like empty ships under sail.60 Old courtiers know this; so set out in such a way that you can keep going all day.61 In clothes, inexpensive good looks take the prize.62 Wisdom is a finer thing than any shop ever sold.63 So don't say, "This will look good with that lace," but, "This, worn with good judgment, will look fine."64 Too much fussiness is a never-ending courtship of nothing by hard work—folly that takes forever to finish.65 Don't play for profit; play for the sport of it. Whoever plays for more than he can lose with pleasure stakes his heart—perhaps his wife's too, and the children she has borne. Servants and churches also play their part.66 Only a herald who goes that way finds his cracked name at last in the church glass.67 If you still love gambling at so high a cost, learn this lesson that has cost old gamblers dearly: Are you losing? Get up. Are you winning?68 Get up while you're winning.69 Those who try to sit through losing hands are ruined. Gambling is civilian gunpowder: even in peacetime it blows up whole households with everything they've gained.70 In conversation, boldness now holds sway. But know that nothing is as foolish as empty boldness: so first fill your mind with solid courage, then march boldly forward—gain real worth.71 Boldness gilds it nicely and presents it well.72 Be kind to everyone. Is your temperament sour?73 Then keep that kind of company; make them your alloy: get a sharp-tongued wife, a servant who will scowl.7475 A stumbler stumbles least on a rugged path. Command yourself first of all. He knows the war of life whose passions all follow him as he goes.76 Don't be quick to pick a quarrel. The person who doesn't dare to speak plainly and directly is the bigger coward of the two.77 Don't think your reputation will break at every little tug. Show by great deeds that you could stoop to petty ones—and then don't do them: that will be your wisdom, and it will turn your self-restraint into bravery.78 If every little trifle can unsettle your reputation, it's a thin web that poisonous fancies spin. But a great soldier's honor was made of thicker stuff, the kind that can take a blow. Wisdom picks its friends; civility handles the rest. A petty slight cleanly avoided goes over well with the best people. Don't laugh too much: the witty man laughs least. For wit is news only to ignorance. Laugh less at your own doings, or you'll share in the jest yourself and only advance the joke further.79 Don't make abuse your sport: for the fly that feeds on dung is colored by it. From your mirth, pick out whatever is profane, filthy, or abusive, like stones from a field. These are the scum that coarse wits overflow with: a refined mind can drop them freely and still not be any less.80 Everything is full of jest: nothing so plain that it can't be witty, if you've got the knack.81 Wit is an unruly engine, striking wildly—sometimes a friend, sometimes the engineer. Do you have the knack for it? Don't pamper it with fondness, but if you lack it, don't pay too high a price for it.82 Many people, reaching for wit beyond their ability, have only managed to become a costly fool for an hour.83 A sober, wise courage is the truly brave temperament—the kind that leads the charge and swallows up the cities.84 The giggler is a milkmaid, frightened out of his little songs by plague or a lit warning beacon.85 Then he's the butt of the joke: the fun lands on him, and the serious man is the cock of all his jokes.86 When dealing with people of rank, use respectful boldness; that balance gives them their due while taking nothing from your own. How you serve them—whether with care or with coldness—will proportionately make or mar your fortunes.87 Don't enable anyone in their sins; flattery makes you a partner with the devil in their damnation.88 Don't envy greatness; doing so only makes you worse and increases the distance between you. Don't be your own worm. Yet a competitive zeal that doesn't hurt others, but may make you better, is a good spur.8990 Correct the spite of your passions; then those beasts may draw you toward the blessed light.9192 When someone unworthy is raised to a high position, don't strip the office of its honor because of the person holding it.93 It's the shrine you venerate, not the beast that carries it on its back. It doesn't matter to me if the cloth of state is plain tapestry rather than rich arras.94 Keep your friend close to your heart: wear his eyes always there, so he can see what's inside. If need requires it, you are his sacrifice; your drops of blood must pay down all his fear. But love is lost; the way of friendship is gone—though David had his Jonathan, and Christ his John.95 Yet don't stand surety if you're a father.96 Love is a personal debt.97 I cannot give away my children's right, nor should he take it: rather both friends should die than hinder them from living.98 Fathers first enter into bonds for Nature's ends, and they are her sureties before they are a friend's.99 If you're single, put all your goods and land at the disposal of love—but even then, don't give more than everything you have.100 Give one estate, just as you have one life. No one who has already committed themselves is obligated to work for two.101 God made me one person; love doesn't make me any more than that, until labor comes along and makes my weakness count for more.102 In your conversation, if you want to please, all such talk is courteous, useful, new, or witty. Usefulness comes from hard work, wit from ease; courtesy grows at court; news in the city.103 Get a good stock of these, then draw the card that best suits the person who hears you speak.104 Skillfully draw everyone toward what they know best; that way you please both yourself and them. (But proud ignorance would rather lose its rest than show its cards.) From their treasure, steal what to ask next.105 Doubts well raised lock the speaker to you and preserve your stock.106 If you're the master gunner, don't spend everything you can say at once; conserve it carefully, and give people their turns to speak: don't shut down your own wit and other people's by talking too freely, as if you were making your will.107108 A polite guest wouldn't do all the talking any more than they would eat the entire feast.109 Stay calm when you argue: fierceness turns error into a fault, and truth into discourtesy. Why should I take another man's mistakes harder than his sicknesses or his poverty?110 Out of love, I should—but anger isn't love, and it isn't wisdom either: so move gently.111 Calmness is a great advantage; if you let someone else get worked up, you can warm yourself by their fire, observe their digressions, and benefit from their agitation—just as skilled fencers let their opponent's heat tire them out. Truth doesn't live in the clouds: the bow up there often aims at the sphere, but never hits it.✦112 Pay close attention to what someone else says: many people are full of themselves and only answer their own idea. Take it all in; then, with equal care, balance each dram of reason like a potion.113 If truth is with your friend, stand with them both: share in the victory, and own the truth.114 Be useful where you live, so that people both miss you and keep wanting your welcome presence.115 Kindness, real abilities, and high position are the way to win this.116 Find out people's needs and wishes, and meet them there. All worldly joys fall short of the one joy of doing kindnesses.117 Set your manner low and your aims high; that way you'll be both humble and magnanimous. Don't let your spirit sink. Whoever aims at the sky shoots much higher than the one who aims only at a tree.118 A grain of glory mixed with humility cures both a fever and a lethargy.119 Keep your mind always bent on the work, always planning where, when, and how it can be done. Slackness breeds worms; but the steady traveler, though he dismounts sometimes, still goes on.120 Only active, energetic spirits truly live.121 Write on the others: Here lies so-and-so. Don't make light of even the smallest loss—whether in love or honor: keep track of everything. Shine like the sun into every corner: see whether your stock of credit is swelling or falling. Those who say, "I don't care," I count as lost; and trying to teach them won't repay the cost.122 Don't scorn anyone's love, even if they come from a humble place. (Love is a gift fit for a mighty king.) Still less should you make anyone your enemy. Just as guns destroy, so can a little sling. The skilled craftsman never refuses the humblest tool he may happen to need.123 All foreign wisdom comes down to this: take everything that's given—whether wealth, love, or language; nothing comes amiss. A good digestion turns it all to health. And then, as far as fair behavior can, strike off every score; none are so clear as they.124 Keep all the good that is native to you, and take in every good thing from abroad that is called good—but spurn their evil. Embrace their energy, not their vanities.125 Whoever follows everything forfeits their will. If you copy foreigners in every whim and fashion, in time they'll run you out of all your wits.126 Keep your surroundings clean, so that everyone will be glad to come near you, as they would a flower.127 Sloppy people stockpile their filth in advance, and so live out their final hour early.128 Let the sweetness of your mind work its effect on your body, clothes, and home.129 When giving alms, consider what you can afford and what others deserve.130 Think of heaven as a better bargain than paying only your ordinary market money for it.131132 Join hands with God to help a person live. Give something to everyone; and to a good poor man, keep giving until you trade places and stand where he began.133 Man is God's image; but a poor man is Christ's stamp as well: regard both images.134 God reckons for him and counts the favor as His: write, 'So much given to God,' and you'll be heard.135 Let your alms go ahead of you and keep heaven's gate open for you; or both may come too late. Give God what you owe him in tithe and time; a stolen tithe ruins the whole estate.✦ Keep Sundays: when the bells chime, think of it as music from the angels, so don't be late. God then distributes blessings; if a king did that, who wouldn't hurry—or even pay—to see it?136 Twice on that day His due is understood; for all week long He so often gave you your food. Your fare is better now; don't skimp on the food, because it's better, and it may even save you.137 Don't thwart the Almighty God: Oh, don't be cross.138 Fast when you want; but then it's gain, not loss. Though private prayer is a good thing, public prayer holds more promises and more love. And love is a weight on hearts, a sign for the eyes.✦139 We're all just cold petitioners; let's go where it's warmest.140 Leave your own concerns; pray with the many, for where most pray is heaven.✦141 Once your foot enters the church, uncover your head.142 God is more there than you are: for you're only there by his permission.143 So beware, and make yourself all reverence and fear. Kneeling never spoiled a silk stocking: drop your rank.144 All are equal within the church's gate.145 Go to sermons, but go to prayers most of all: praying is the point of preaching. Oh, get dressed! Don't wait for that other pin: you've already lost a joy worth worlds for it.146 That's how hell jokes your blessings away and thoroughly mocks you—your clothes fastened tight, but your soul hanging loose about you. During the service, close your eyes and turn them to your heart, so that when they spot sin, they may weep away the stains that entered through them: with those doors shut, everything comes in through the ear. Anyone who studies other people's looks during church turns all their beauty into his own deformity. Don't let vain or busy thoughts have any place there: don't bring your plow, your schemes, or your pleasures along. Christ cleansed his temple; so you must cleanse your heart. All worldly thoughts are nothing but thieves who've met together to cheat you.147 Watch your actions carefully: for churches are either our heaven or our hell. Don't judge the preacher; for he is your Judge: if you dislike him, you haven't truly taken him in.148 God calls preaching folly. Don't begrudge picking treasures out of a clay pot. Even the worst say something good: if it all lacks sense, God takes a text and preaches patience.149 Anyone who gains patience, and the blessing preachers end with, hasn't wasted his effort.150 Anyone who, by being at church, escapes the ditch he might fall into through companions, gains.151 Anyone who loves God's house, and loves to join with the saints on earth, will one day shine with them.✦152 Don't mock a preacher's language or delivery. How do you know it wasn't your sins that made him falter? Then turn both your faults and his into confession. God sent him, whoever he is. Stay, and love him for his Master's sake. Even if his own condition is bad, that doesn't make him a bad physician.153 No one in hell will suffer such bitter pangs as those who mock at God's way of salvation. When oil and balsam kill them, what salve can cure them?154 They greedily drink a full measure of damnation. The Jews refused thunder; and we refuse folly.✦155 Even though God hedges us in, who is holy?✦ At night, sum up what you've done through the day; and in the morning, what you have to do. Dress and undress your soul: mark its decay and growth. If, like your watch, it too has run down, then wind them both up; since we will most surely be judged, make your accounts agree.156 In short, carry yourself bravely; be a man.✦ Don't look at pleasures as they come, but as they go.157 Don't put off even the least virtue: don't lengthen your short life by wasting time in your sorrow.✦158 If you do wrong, the joy fades, not the pains; if you do right, the pain fades, the joy remains.

Read the original English

Perirrhanterium. THou, 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 not the third glasse, which thou canst not tame, When once it is within thee; but before Mayst rule it, as thou list; and poure the shame, Which it would poure on thee, upon the floore. It is most 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 Bigge with his sister: he hath lost the reins, Is outlawd by himself: all kinde of ill Did with his liquour slide into his veins. The drunkard forfets Man, and doth devest All worldly right, save what he hath by Beast.

Shall I, to please anothers wine-sprung minde, Lose all mine own? God hath giv'n me a measure Short of his canne, and bodie; must I finde A pain in that, wherein he findes a pleasure? Stay at the third glasse: if thou lose thy hold, Then thou art modest, and the wine grows bold.

If reason move not Gallants, quit the room, (All in a shipwrack shift their severall way) Let not a common ruine thee intombe: Be not a beast in courtesie; but stay, Stay at the third cup, or forgo the place. Wine above all things doth Gods stamp deface.

Yet, if thou sinne in wine or wantonnesse, Boast not thereof; nor make thy shame thy glorie. Frailtie gets pardon by submissivenesse; But he that boasts, shuts that out of his storie. He makes flat warre with God, and doth defie With his poore clod of earth the spacious skie.

Take not his name, who made thy mouth, in vain: It gets thee nothing, and hath no excuse. Lust and wine plead a pleasure, avarice gain: But the cheap swearer through his open sluce Lets his soul runne for nought, as little fearing. Were I an Epicure, I could bate swearing.

When thou dost tell anothers jest, therein Omit the oathes, which true wit cannot need: Pick out of tales the mirth, but not the sinne. He pares his apple, that will cleanly feed. Play not away the vertue of that name, Which is thy best stake, when griefs make thee tame.

The cheapest sinnes most deerely punisht are; Because to shun them also is so cheap: For we have wit to mark them, and to spare. O crumble not away thy souls fair heap. If thou wilt die, the gates of hell are broad: Pride and full sinnes 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 stormie working soul spits lies and froth. Dare to be true. Nothing can need a ly: A fault, which needs it most, grows two thereby.

Flie idlenesse, which yet thou canst not flie By dressing, mistressing, and complement. If those take up thy day, the sunne will crie Against thee: for his light was onely lent. God gave thy soul brave wings; put not those feathers Into a bed, to sleep out all ill weathers.

Art thou a Magistrate? then be severe: If studious; copie fair, what time hath blurr'd; Redeem truth from his jawes: if souldier, 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! full of sinne, but most of sloth! Spit out thy flegme, and fill thy brest with glorie: Thy Gentry bleats, as if thy native cloth Transfus'd a sheepishnesse into thy storie: Not that they all are so; but that the most Are gone to grasse, and in the pasture lost.

This losse springs chiefly from our education. Some till their ground, but let weeds choke their sonne: Some mark a partridge, never their childes fashion. Some ship them over, and the thing is done. Studie this art, make it thy great designe; And if Gods image move thee not, let thine.

Some great estates provide, but doe not breed A mast'ring minde; so both are lost thereby: Or els they breed them tender, make them need All that they leave: this is flat povertie. For he, that needs five thousand pound to live, Is full as poore as he that needs but five.

The way to make thy sonne rich, is to fill His minde with rest, before his trunk with riches: For wealth without contentment, climbes a hill To feel those tempests, which fly over ditches. But if thy sonne can make ten pound his measure, Then all thou addest may be call'd his treasure.

When thou dost purpose ought, (within thy power) Be sure to do it, though it be but small. Constancie knits the bones, and makes us stowre, When wanton pleasures becken us to thrall. Who breaks his own bond, forfeiteth himself: What nature made a ship, he makes a shelf.

Do all things like a man, not sneakingly: Think the king sees thee still; for his King does. Simpring is but a lay-hypocrisie: Give it a corner, and the clue undoes. Who fears to do ill, sets himself to task: Who fears to do well, sure should wear a mask.

Look to thy mouth; diseases enter there. Thou hast two sconses, if thy stomack call; Carve, or discourse; 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 say withall, Earth to earth I commit.

Slight those who say amidst their sickly healths, Thou liv'st by rule. What doth not so, but man? Houses are built by rule, and common-wealths. Entice the trusty sunne, if that you can, From his Ecliptick line: becken the skie. Who lives by rule then, keeps good companie.

Who keeps no guard upon himself, is slack, And rots to nothing at the next great thaw. Man is a shop of rules, a well truss'd pack, Whose every parcell under-writes a law. Lose not thy self, nor give thy humours way: God gave them to thee under lock and key.

By all means use sometimes to be alone. Salute thy self: see what thy soul doth wear. Dare to look in thy chest; for 'tis thine own: And tumble up and down what thou find'st there. Who cannot rest till he good fellows finde, He breaks up house, turns out of doores his minde.

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: els, it is not true That thou hast gotten. Surely use alone Makes money not a contemptible stone.

Never exceed thy income. Youth may make Ev'n with the yeare: but age, if it will hit, Shoots a bow short, and lessens still his stake, As the day lessens, and his life with it. Thy children, kindred, friends upon thee call; Before thy journey fairly part with all.

Yet in thy thriving still misdoubt some evil; Lest gaining gain on thee, and make thee dimme To all things els. Wealth is the conjurers devil; Whom when he thinks he hath, the devil hath him. Gold thou mayst safely touch, but if it stick Unto thy hands, it woundeth to the quick.

What skills it, if a bag of stones or gold About thy neck do drown thee? raise thy head; Take starres for money; starres not to be told By any art, yet to be purchased. None is so wastfull as the scraping dame: She loseth three for one; her soul, rest, fame.

By no means runne in debt: take thine own measure. Who cannot live on twentie pound a yeare, Cannot on fourtie: he's a man of pleasure, A kinde of thing that's for it self too deere. The curious unthrift makes his cloth too wide, And spares himself, but would his taylor chide.

Spend not on hopes. They that by pleading clothes Do fortunes seek, when worth and service fail, Would have their tale beleeved for their oathes, And are like empty vessels under sail. Old courtiers know this; therefore set out so, As all the day thou mayst hold out to go.

In clothes, cheap handsomnesse doth bear the bell. Wisedome's a trimmer thing, then shop e're gave. Say not then, This with that lace will do well; But, This with my discretion will be brave. Much curiousnesse is a perpetuall wooing Nothing with labour, folly long a doing.

Play not for gain, but sport. Who playes for more, Then he can lose with pleasure, stakes his heart; Perhaps his wives too, and whom she hath bore: Servants and churches also play their part. Onely a herauld, who that way doth passe, Findes his crackt name at length in the church-glasse.

If yet thou love game at so deere a rate, Learn this, that hath old gamesters deerely cost: Dost lose? rise up: dost winne? rise in that state. Who strive to sit out losing hands, are lost. Game is a civil gunpowder, in peace Blowing up houses with their whole increase.

In conversation boldnesse now bears sway. But know, that nothing can so foolish be, As empty boldnesse: therefore first assay To stuffe thy minde with solid braverie; Then march on gallant: get substantiall worth. Boldnesse guilds finely, and will set it forth.

Be sweet to all. Is thy complexion sowre? Then keep such companie; make them thy allay: Get a sharp wife, a servant that will lowre. A stumbler stumbles least in rugged way. Command thy self in chief. He lifes warre knows, Whom all his passions follow, as he goes.

Catch not at quarrels. He that dares not speak Plainly and home, is coward of the two. Think not thy fame at ev'ry twitch will break: By great deeds shew, that thou canst little do; And do them not: that shall thy wisdome be; And change thy temperance into braverie.

If that thy fame with ev'ry toy be pos'd, 'Tis a thinne webbe, which poysonous fancies make: But the great souldiers honour was compos'd Of thicker stuffe, which would endure a shake. Wisdome picks friends; civilitie playes the rest. A toy shunn'd cleanly passeth with the best.

Laugh not too much: the wittie man laughs least: For wit is newes onely to ignorance. Lesse at thine own things laugh; lest in the jest Thy person share, and the conceit advance. Make not thy sport, abuses: for the fly That feeds on dung, is coloured thereby.

Pick out of mirth, like stones out of thy ground, Profanenesse, filthinesse, abusivenesse. These are the scumme, with which course wits abound: The fine may spare these well, yet not go lesse. All things are bigge with jest: nothing that's plain But may be wittie, if thou hast the vein.

Wit's an unruly engine, wildly striking Sometimes a friend, sometimes the engineer: Hast thou the knack? pamper it not with liking: But if thou want it, buy it not too deere. Many affecting wit beyond their power, Have got to be a deare fool for an houre.

A sad wise valour is the brave complexion, That leads the van, and swallowes up the cities. The gigler is a milk-maid, whom infection, Or a fir'd beacon frighteth from his ditties. Then he's the sport: the mirth then in him rests, And the sad man is cock of all his jests.

Towards great persons use respective boldnesse: That temper gives them theirs, and yet doth take Nothing from thine: in service, care, or coldnesse Doth ratably thy fortunes marre or make. Feed no man in his sinnes: for adulation Doth make thee parcell-devil in damnation.

Envie not greatnesse: for thou mak'st thereby Thy self the worse, and so the distance greater. Be not thine own worm: yet such jealousie, As hurts not others, but may make thee better, Is a good spurre. Correct thy passions spite; Then may the beasts draw thee to happy light.

When basenesse is exalted, do not bate The place its honour, for the persons sake. The shrine is that which thou dost venerate; And not the beast, that bears it on his back. I care not though the cloth of state should be Not of rich arras, but mean tapestrie.

Thy friend put in thy bosome: wear his eies Still in thy heart, that he may see what's there. If cause require, thou art his sacrifice; Thy drops of bloud must pay down all his fear: But love is lost; the way of friendship's gone, Though David had his Jonathan, Christ his John.

Yet be not surety, if thou be a father. Love is a personall debt. I cannot give My childrens right, nor ought he take it: rather Both friends should die, then hinder them to live. Fathers first enter bonds to Natures ends; And are her sureties, ere they are a friends.

If thou be single, all thy goods and ground Submit to love; but yet not more then all. Give one estate, as one life. None is bound To work for two, who brought himself to thrall. God made me one man; love makes me no more, Till labour come, and make my weaknesse score.

In thy discourse, if thou desire to please: All such is courteous, usefull, new, or wittie. Usefulnesse comes by labour, wit by ease; Courtesie grows in court; news in the citie. Get a good stock of these, then draw the card; That suites him best, of whom thy speech is heard.

Entice all neatly to what they know best; For so thou dost thy self and him a pleasure: (But a proud ignorance will lose his rest, Rather then shew his cards) steal from his treasure What to ask further. Doubts well rais'd do lock The speaker to thee, and preserve thy stock.

If thou be Master-gunner, spend not all That thou canst speak, at once; but husband it, And give men turns of speech: do not forestall By lavishnesse thine own, and others wit, As if thou mad'st thy will. A civil guest Will no more talk all, then eat all the feast.

Be calm in arguing: for fiercenesse makes Errour a fault, and truth discourtesie. Why should I feel another mans mistakes More, then his sicknesses or povertie? In love I should: but anger is not love, Nor wisdome neither: therefore gently move.

Calmnesse is great advantage: he that lets Another chafe, may warm him at his fire, Mark all his wandrings, and enjoy his frets; As cunning fencers suffer heat to tire. Truth dwells not in the clouds: the bow that's there, Doth often aim at, never hit the sphere.

Mark what another sayes: for many are Full of themselves, and answer their own notion. Take all into thee; then with equall care Ballance each dramme of reason, like a potion. If truth be with thy friend, be with them both: Share in the conquest, and confesse a troth.

Be usefull where thou livest, that they may Both want and wish thy pleasing presence still. Kindnesse, good parts, great places are the way To compasse this. Finde out mens wants and will, And meet them there. All worldly joyes go lesse To the one joy of doing kindnesses.

Pitch thy behaviour low, thy projects high; So shalt thou humble and magnanimous be: Sink not in spirit. Who aimeth at the sky, Shoots higher much then he that means a tree. A grain of glorie mixt with humblenesse Cures both a fever and lethargicknesse.

Let thy minde still be bent, still plotting where, And when, and how the businesse may be done. Slacknesse breeds worms; but the sure traveller, Though he alight sometimes, still goeth on. Active and stirring spirits live alone. Write on the others, Here lies such a one.

Slight not the smallest losse, whether it be In love or honour: take account of all; Shine like the sunne in every corner: see Whether thy stock of credit swell, or fall. Who say, I care not, those I give for lost; And to instruct them, 'twill not quit the cost.

Scorn no mans love, though of a mean degree; (Love is a present for a mightie king) Much lesse make any one thine enemie. As gunnes destroy, so may a little sling. The cunning workman never doth refuse The meanest tool, that he may chance to use.

All forrain wisdome doth amount to this, To take all that is given; whether wealth, Or love, or language; nothing comes amisse: A good digestion turneth all to health: And then as farre as fair behaviour may, Strike off all scores; none are so cleare as they.

Keep all thy native good, and naturalize All forrain of that name; but scorn their ill: Embrace their activenesse, not vanities. Who follows all things, forfeiteth his will. If thou observest strangers in each fit, In time they'l runne thee out of all thy wit.

Affect in things about thee cleanlinesse, That all may gladly board thee, as a flowre. Slovens take up their stock of noisomnesse Beforehand, and anticipate their last houre. Let thy mindes sweetnesse have his operation Upon thy body, clothes, and habitation.

In Almes regard thy means, and others merit. Think heav'n a better bargain, then to give Onely thy single market-money for it. Joyn hands with God to make a man to live. Give to all something; to a good poore man, Till thou change names, and be where he began.

Man is Gods image; but a poore man is Christs stamp to boot: both images regard. God reckons for him, counts the favour his: Write, So much giv'n to God; thou shalt be heard. Let thy almes go before, and keep heav'ns gate Open for thee; or both may come too late.

Restore to God his due in tithe and time: A tithe purloin'd cankers the whole estate. Sundaies observe: think when the bells do chime, 'Tis angels musick; therefore come not late. God then deals blessings: If a king did so, Who would not haste, nay give, to see the show?

Twice on the day his due is understood; For all the week thy food so oft he gave thee. Thy cheere is mended; bate not of the food, Because 'tis better, and perhaps may save thee. Thwart not th' Almighty God: O be not crosse. Fast when thou wilt; but then 'tis gain, not losse.

Though private prayer be a brave designe, Yet publick hath more promises, more love: And love's a weight to hearts, to eies a signe. We all are but cold suitours; let us move Where it is warmest. Leave thy six and seven; Pray with the most: for where most pray, is heaven.

When once thy foot enters the church, be bare. God is more there, then thou: for thou art there Onely by his permission. Then beware, And make thy self all reverence and fear. Kneeling ne're spoil'd silk stocking: quit thy state. All equall are within the churches gate.

Resort to sermons, but to prayers most: Praying 's the end of preaching. O be drest; Stay not for th' other pin: why thou hast lost A joy for it worth worlds. Thus hell doth jest Away thy blessings, and extreamly flout thee, Thy clothes being fast, but thy soul loose about thee.

In time of service seal up both thine eies, And send them to thine heart; that spying sinne, They may weep out the stains by them did rise: Those doores being shut, all by the eare comes in. Who marks in church-time others symmetrie, Makes all their beautie his deformitie.

Let vain or busie thoughts have there no part: Bring not thy plough, thy plots, thy pleasures thither. Christ purg'd his temple; so must thou thy heart. All worldly thoughts are but theeves met together To couzin thee. Look to thy actions well: For churches are either our heav'n or hell.

Judge not the preacher; for he is thy Judge: If thou mislike him, thou conceiv'st him not. God calleth preaching folly. Do not grudge To pick out treasures from an earthen pot. The worst speak something good: if all want sense; God takes a text, and preacheth patience.

He that gets patience, and the blessing which Preachers conclude with, hath not lost his pains. He that by being at church escapes the ditch, Which he might fall in by companions, gains. He that loves Gods abode, and to combine With saints on earth, shall one day with them shine.

Jest not at preachers language, or expression: How know'st thou, but thy sinnes made him miscarrie? Then turn thy faults and his into confession: God sent him, whatsoe're he be: O tarry, And love him for his Master: his condition, Though it be ill, makes him no ill Physician.

None shall in hell such bitter pangs endure, As those, who mock at Gods way of salvation. Whom oil and balsames kill, what salve can cure? They drink with greedinesse a full damnation. The Jews refused thunder; and we, folly. Though God do hedge us in, yet who is holy?

Summe up at night what thou hast done by day; And in the morning, what thou hast to do. Dresse and undresse thy soul: mark the decay And growth of it: if with thy watch, that too Be down, then winde up both; since we shall be Most surely judg'd, make thy accounts agree.

In brief, acquit thee bravely; play the man. Look not on pleasures as they come, but go. Deferre not the least vertue: lifes poore span Make not an ell, by trifling in thy wo. If thou do ill; the joy fades, not the pains: If well; the pain doth fade, the joy remains.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Rom.12.1 — Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable worship.
  2. ↩Rev.1.5 — and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth — to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
  3. ↩Gen.1.26-Gen.1.27;Matt.22.20-Matt.22.21 — Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Gen.1.27 — So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Matt.22.20 — And he said to them, 'Whose image is this, and whose inscription?' Matt.22.21 — They said, "Caesar's." Then he said to them, "Therefore give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
  4. ↩Eph.5.16;Col.4.5 — making the most of the time, because the days are evil. Col.4.5 — Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the time.
  5. ↩1Tim.6.6 — But godliness with contentment is great gain.
  6. ↩Gen.3.19 — By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground, for from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
  7. ↩Rom.13.7 — Pay to all what you owe: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
  8. ↩1Tim.6.9-1Tim.6.10 — But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. 1Tim.6.10 — For the root of all evils is the love of money, which some, reaching for it, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
  9. ↩Matt.6.24;1Tim.6.9-1Tim.6.10 — No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. 1Tim.6.9 — But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. 1Tim.6.10 — For the root of all evils is the love of money, which some, reaching for it, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
  10. ↩Mark.8.36;Matt.16.26;Matt.18.6 — For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Matt.16.26 — For what will it benefit a person if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will a person give in exchange for their life? Matt.18.6 — But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
  11. ↩Matt.6.19-Matt.6.20 — Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Matt.6.20 — But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.
  12. ↩Mark.8.36;Matt.16.26 — For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Matt.16.26 — For what will it benefit a person if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will a person give in exchange for their life?
  13. ↩Gen.9.13-Gen.9.16 — I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Gen.9.14 — When I bring clouds over the earth, the rainbow will be seen in the clouds. Gen.9.15 — And I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature, all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. Gen.9.16 — When the bow is in the clouds, I will look upon it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature, all flesh that is on the earth.
  14. ↩Mal.3.8-Mal.3.11;Lev.27.30 — Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' The tithe and the offering. Mal.3.9 — You are cursed with a curse, yet you are robbing Me — this whole nation. Mal.3.10 — Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house. And put me to the test in this, says the LORD of hosts; I will surely open the windows of heaven for you and pour down blessing for you until there is no more need. Mal.3.11 — And I will rebuke the devourer for your sake, and he will not destroy the fruit of your soil; neither will the vine fail you in the field, says the LORD of hosts. Lev.27.30 — And every tithe of the land, from the seed of the land and from the fruit of the tree, is the LORD's; it is holy to the LORD.
  15. ↩Matt.18.19-Matt.18.20 — Again, truly I say to you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. Matt.18.20 — For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them.
  16. ↩Matt.18.20 — For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them.
  17. ↩Dan.12.3;Matt.13.43 — And those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. Matt.13.43 — Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let the one who has ears, hear.
  18. ↩1Cor.1.18-1Cor.1.23 — For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1Cor.1.19 — For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will set aside." 1Cor.1.20 — Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 1Cor.1.21 — For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through its wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the proclaimed message. 1Cor.1.22 — For Jews demand signs, and Greeks seek wisdom, 1Cor.1.23 — but we proclaim Christ crucified: to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness,
  19. ↩Job.1.10 — Have you not put a hedge around him, around his house, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock have spread across the land.
  20. ↩1Cor.16.13;2Sam.10.12;1Chr.19.13 — Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. 2Sam.10.12 — Be strong, and let us be strong for our people and for the cities of our God; and the LORD will do what is good in his eyes. 1Chr.19.13 — Be strong, and let us strengthen ourselves for our people and for the cities of our God; and may the LORD do what is good in his eyes.
  21. ↩Ps.39.5 — Make known to me, LORD, my end, and the measure of my days—what it is—that I may know how fleeting I am.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Source title Perirrhanterium (Greek/Latin for a vessel used to sprinkle purifying water). Herbert uses it as the heading for this porch of moral counsel that cleanses the reader before entering The Church.
  2. 2 ↩Verser is Herbert's modest term for a maker of verse (not a grand claim to be a poet). Rate and price are valuation language: youth and promise increase your estimated worth. Make a bait of pleasure means use the delight of rhyme as lure to draw the reader toward virtue.
  3. 3 ↩Source 'whose lust is all their book' attaches to the lustful eyes/person, not to God; modernized wording preserves that attachment while keeping the book metaphor.
  4. 4 ↩Source 'staies' = stays/restraints (limits that hold desire in place), not 'stays' as remains.
  5. 5 ↩Ironic challenge, not counsel: if you judge corrupt pleasure the greater good, you are choosing to forfeit Heaven.
  6. 6 ↩Herbert's enclosure metaphor: 'laid all common' = left open as shared ground; 'th'incloser' = the one who would enclose and claim it; 'impal'd' = fenced with pales/stakes (set moral bounds). 'Every ground will plough' keeps the field metaphor for restless trespass beyond those bounds.
  7. 7 ↩'Misplace' means set himself out of his proper station or order—not merely lose his way geographically. The line asks what chaos man would make of himself if he could rearrange his own place.
  8. 8 ↩'Crosse' = cross-grained, contrary, perverse. 'Shift feet and face' = reverse his orientation, put head where feet should be—Herbert's image of willful self-inversion.
  9. 9 ↩Source 'keep the round' means continue the drinking circuit (round after round); rendered as 'keep going round after round' to preserve both the circular-drinking sense and the floor-fall irony.
  10. 10 ↩"Bigge with his sister" = pregnant with his sister; Herbert's extreme case for how far drunken violence can go.
  11. 11 ↩"lost the reins" keeps Herbert's image of self-control dropped, as when a rider drops the reins of a horse.
  12. 12 ↩"forfets Man" = forfeits the dignity/status of Man (rational human nature), not a particular person named Man.
  13. 13 ↩"by Beast" = by virtue of brute/animal nature; the only remaining claim is sub-rational.
  14. 14 ↩Early modern 'canne' is a drinking vessel (can/cup/tankard); 'measure short of his canne, and bodie' means God allotted the speaker less capacity than the other drinker's cup and physical endurance.
  15. 15 ↩God's stamp: the image of God impressed on the human person (as a mint stamps a coin); wine mars that divine imprint.
  16. 16 ↩submissivenesse rendered as humble submission: not mere meek manners, but lowly acknowledgment that opens the way to pardon.
  17. 17 ↩flat warre = open/outright war, not 'level' or 'dull'; poore clod of earth keeps Herbert's image of the body as mere dirt set against heaven.
  18. 18 ↩Source 'sluce' is the older spelling of 'sluice' (floodgate): the image is of the soul draining freely through an open gate.
  19. 19 ↩'Bate' means abate/forgo: even a pleasure-seeker would drop swearing, since it yields neither pleasure nor profit.
  20. 20 ↩Herbert's proverb-image: if you want clean nourishment (or clean pleasure), peel away what is rotten or unwholesome—here, the sin and oaths in the tale.
  21. 21 ↩"Play not away" is gambling language; "stake" continues the wager image. "That name" is read as your reputation (your good name), which remains your surest credit when sorrow humbles you.
  22. 22 ↩Source 'souls fair heap' read as possessive soul's + fair heap (good accumulated store of the soul); 'heap' rendered 'store' for clarity while keeping the image of a gathered pile being chipped away.
  23. 23 ↩'full sinnes' rendered as full-grown sins (complete, unchecked, flagrant), in contrast to the 'cheapest' small sins of the preceding lines.
  24. 24 ↩Early modern 'stormie working' pictures a soul churning like a rough sea: agitated, laboring under disturbance, and throwing up lies like spray and foam.
  25. 25 ↩Source 'ly' is early-modern spelling of 'lie'. 'Grows two thereby' means the original fault plus the covering lie become two faults.
  26. 26 ↩Herbert's 'complement' is the early-modern spelling for courtly compliment/courtesy; rendered as empty compliments. 'Mistressing' is active pursuit of mistresses/love-affairs, not mere social company.
  27. 27 ↩'Brave wings' keeps Herbert's sense of fine, courageous capacity for flight; the feathers-into-a-bed image turns that gift into soft bedding for dodging trials ('ill weathers').
  28. 28 ↩Early modern 'copie fair' means restore/make a fair (clean) copy of corrupted text; 'brave employments' means noble or gallant enterprises, not mere jobs; 'naked sword' is an unsheathed sword.
  29. 29 ↩'a glorious life, or grave' is zeugmatic: 'glorious' governs both life and grave—either an honorable life or an honorable death.
  30. 30 ↩"Phlegm" keeps Herbert's humoral image: the cold, sluggish humor thought to breed inertia. "Gone to grass" keeps the livestock metaphor—turned out to pasture and living soft, idle lives.
  31. 31 ↩fashion = manner, character, bearing; the line is elliptical: some carefully mark game, but never mark their child's formation.
  32. 32 ↩ship them over = send children abroad (often to the Continent) for schooling, then treat parental duty as finished.
  33. 33 ↩Gods image = the child as bearer [REDACTED] the divine image; thine = your own image in the child (likeness, reputation, self-interest). Herbert appeals first to duty before God, then to self-regard if that fails.
  34. 34 ↩trunk keeps Herbert's early-modern sense of the body or a storage chest for valuables, set against minde; either reading supports the mind-before-money counsel.
  35. 35 ↩make ten pound his measure means take about ten pounds as the standard of what he needs—so further gifts become true surplus, not endless necessity.
  36. 36 ↩Source 'stowre' is Early Modern for stout/sturdy/strong; rendered 'sturdy' for firmness under temptation, not mere physical bulk.
  37. 37 ↩Source 'shelf' is a nautical shoal or sandbank on which ships wreck; rendered 'sandbank' to keep the ship/wreck contrast clear for modern readers.
  38. 38 ↩Herbert capitalizes the second 'King' to mark God as the earthly king's sovereign; the line hinges on divine oversight standing behind human authority.
  39. 39 ↩'Simpring' = simpering (affected, coy manner). 'Lay-hypocrisie' = worldly/secular hypocrisy rather than religious profession. 'Clue' = clew, a ball of thread: once affectation gets a foothold, the skein comes undone.
  40. 40 ↩Early Modern sconses/sconces = bulwarks or defenses. Here: two safe courses when hunger presses—serve by carving, or keep conversation going—so you need not eat as if famine were at the door.
  41. 41 ↩Keeps the burial-office cadence (earth to earth) as a memento mori at table: food is earth returning to earth, so eat sparingly and without pride.
  42. 42 ↩so points back to living by rule (s1); the sense is that nearly everything keeps a rule except human beings.
  43. 43 ↩becken = beckon; the challenge is ironic—you cannot pull the sun or sky off their ordered course.
  44. 44 ↩Herbert's 'well truss'd pack' is a tightly lashed bundle of goods; 'under-writes a law' keeps the commercial-legal image that each parcel is bound under, and guarantees, a rule.
  45. 45 ↩'Humours' are temperaments and impulses (early modern psychology), not mere whimsy; rendered as 'moods' for contemporary clarity while keeping the sense of forces to be governed.
  46. 46 ↩Herbert's 'Salute thy self' is self-address and self-examination, not social courtesy; 'what thy soul doth wear' figures the soul's condition as clothing.
  47. 47 ↩'Chest' is the household coffer/trunk, used as a figure for the interior store of the self: what you keep hidden and own.
  48. 48 ↩'Breaks up house' and 'turns out of doors his mind' figure the sociable man who cannot bear solitude: he dismantles domestic order and casts the mind outdoors into company instead of keeping it at home.
  49. 49 ↩Source 'scraper' = a grasping penny-pincher or miser; 'brave' here means gallant/spirited, not merely physically courageous.
  50. 50 ↩Source 'els' = else/otherwise; 'Get to live' = secure a livelihood, not merely 'begin living'.
  51. 51 ↩make Ev'n with the yeare = spend up to a full year's income (break even); Shoots a bow short = deliberately under-shoot the mark, i.e. spend less; stake = the amount put at risk.
  52. 52 ↩journey here is the final departure of death; fairly part with all = dispose of your goods justly among those with claims on you, rather than clutching them to the end.
  53. 53 ↩Source 'misdoubt' means keep suspecting or be wary of; 'gaining gain on thee' is wordplay: the pursuit of gain encroaches on / overtakes the one who gains.
  54. 54 ↩'Conjurer's devil' is the familiar spirit a magician thinks he controls; Herbert's point is that wealth works the same way—possession reverses.
  55. 55 ↩Early modern 'What skills it' = 'What does it avail / what good is it'; rendered in plain contemporary English.
  56. 56 ↩'Take stars for money' keeps Herbert's conceit: trade earthly coin for heavenly wealth. 'Not to be told by any art' = beyond any craft of counting; 'yet to be purchased' = still obtainable (by right living / spiritual pursuit), not bought in a market sense.
  57. 57 ↩'Scraping dame' = the penny-pinching, grasping woman (miser). 'Wastfull' = wasteful. 'Fame' = reputation / good name, not celebrity.
  58. 58 ↩"for it self too deere" means costing more than it is worth to maintain—too dear even for its own upkeep, not merely "precious."
  59. 59 ↩"curious" here is early modern for finicky/fastidious (especially about dress), not "inquisitive"; "unthrift" is a spendthrift.
  60. 60 ↩"pleading clothes" = dress that argues one's claim at court—show meant to win favor when merit falls short—not clothes used in a lawsuit.
  61. 61 ↩"set out so... hold out to go" is thrift-as-endurance: equip and spend so your means last the whole course, not a flash of early display.
  62. 62 ↩bear the bell = take first place / win the prize (lead-bell idiom); cheap handsomnesse = neat attractiveness that costs little, not shabbiness.
  63. 63 ↩then = than; trimmer = neater/more elegant; shop e're gave = any shop ever provided.
  64. 64 ↩brave here means handsome/splendid in dress, not courageous; discretion = tasteful judgment in how one appears.
  65. 65 ↩curiousnesse = over-finicky care about dress/ornament; perpetuall wooing Nothing with labour = endlessly pursuing emptiness through labor; long a doing = long in the doing.
  66. 66 ↩Source 'Then' is Early Modern 'than'. 'wives' is singular possessive ('wife's'). 'whom she hath bore' = the children she has borne. 'play their part' means household and church also get drawn into the stake and the ruin.
  67. 67 ↩'church-glasse' is the church window (often heraldic/donor glass). 'crackt name' means a broken reputation, and may also suggest a damaged or dishonored name in the glass.
  68. 68 ↩rise up means leave the table after a loss, parallel to rise in that state after a win; not mere recovery of composure.
  69. 69 ↩in that state = while still in the winning condition; leave the table ahead, do not press on.
  70. 70 ↩civil = civilian/domestic rather than military; increase = accumulated wealth, gains, and household prosperity.
  71. 71 ↩Early modern 'braverie' can mean courage, fine show, or substantial quality; rendered as 'solid courage' to contrast with 'empty boldness,' while 'substantial worth' carries the parallel claim to real substance.
  72. 72 ↩Source spelling 'guilds' is early modern for 'gilds' (covers with gold), not guild membership; 'it' points back to the substantial worth just named.
  73. 73 ↩Early modern 'complexion' means disposition or natural temper, not skin tone; 'sowre' is sour/crabbed.
  74. 74 ↩'Allay' is the period spelling of 'alloy': a tempering admixture. Herbert's counsel is that hard, sharp company can temper a sour nature, much as rough ground makes a stumbler careful.
  75. 75 ↩'Lowre' = lour/lower: frown or look sullen.
  76. 76 ↩'Lifes warre' = life's war: the ongoing battle of self-government. The one who truly knows that war is the one whose passions march behind him, not ahead of him.
  77. 77 ↩"Plainly and home" means frankly and to the point—speech that hits home, not merely domestic speech.
  78. 78 ↩"Twitch" is a slight pull or provocation. "That thou canst little do" is read as capacity for petty/mean acts (which restraint then refuses), not as inability. "Braverie" is courage/gallantry, not showy display.
  79. 79 ↩Early modern 'conceit' here means a witty idea or jest, not vanity or pride; rendered as 'the joke' to keep that sense clear.
  80. 80 ↩Source 'course wits' = coarse/unrefined wits; 'the fine' = the refined wit; 'not go lesse' = not be diminished in substance or wit by leaving the scum out.
  81. 81 ↩Source 'bigge with jest' = pregnant/loaded with joke; 'the vein' = native turn or talent for wit.
  82. 82 ↩want = lack (Early Modern sense), not desire; deere = dear/expensive.
  83. 83 ↩deare fool = expensive/costly fool: they pay a high price for a brief hour of looking clever and only look foolish.
  84. 84 ↩sad here means serious/sober, not sorrowful; complexion means temperament or cast of character.
  85. 85 ↩gigler = giggler/frivolous laugher; fir'd beacon = a signal fire lit as a danger warning; ditties = light songs.
  86. 86 ↩sport = butt of the joke/entertainment; cock of = top dog or master of; sad man continues the sober/serious sense from s1.
  87. 87 ↩respective boldnesse = boldness that still shows due respect (not cringing, not insolent). ratably = in due proportion; marre or make = ruin or establish your fortunes.
  88. 88 ↩parcell-devil = part-devil / a share of the devil; flattery makes you an accomplice in the other person's damnation.
  89. 89 ↩Early modern 'jealousie' here means emulous rivalry or aspiring zeal, not the spiteful envy of others' greatness just forbidden in s1.
  90. 90 ↩Keep Herbert's image: do not be the worm that gnaws yourself from within (self-torment by envy).
  91. 91 ↩The passions figured as beasts that, once their spite is corrected, can pull the soul toward blessed light (chariot/beast-of-burden image).
  92. 92 ↩Early modern 'happy' often means blessed/fortunate; rendered 'blessed light' to keep the moral-ascent sense without sounding merely cheerful.
  93. 93 ↩Source 'bate ... its honour' means withhold or diminish the honor due the office/place; 'basenesse' is moral lowliness exalted to rank, not mere social low station.
  94. 94 ↩'Cloth of state' is the ceremonial canopy of dignity over high office; 'arras' is rich tapestry; 'mean' here means humble or plain, not cruel.
  95. 95 ↩"Pay down all his fear" keeps Herbert's debt-settlement image: risk your life to clear what he dreads, not merely to comfort him.
  96. 96 ↩surety = legal/financial guarantor for another's debt or promise, not mere emotional support.
  97. 97 ↩personal debt: the obligation of love is owed in one's own person and resources; it cannot be paid by mortgaging what belongs to dependents.
  98. 98 ↩Source then is early-modern than ('rather both should die than...').
  99. 99 ↩bonds / sureties: fathers are already pledged guarantors of Nature's purposes (procreation and provision) before they may become guarantors for a friend.
  100. 100 ↩Source 'then' is early modern spelling for 'than'. 'Submit to love' means place property under love's claim (as in marriage), not merely feel affection.
  101. 101 ↩'Thrall' means bondage or servitude. The relative clause limits the claim: the person who has already put himself under obligation is not bound to support a double load.
  102. 102 ↩'Score' can mean to tally, reckon, or multiply a count. Rendered as 'count for more' to keep the sense that later labor (work, or the burdens love eventually brings) enlarges what one limited person must bear — not that love itself multiplies the self.
  103. 103 ↩ease: not mere laziness, but facility/leisure—wit comes lightly, usefulness by labor.
  104. 104 ↩draw the card: card-playing metaphor—choose the conversational suit that fits your hearer.
  105. 105 ↩Source 'then' is the early spelling of comparative 'than'. 'Shew his cards' keeps Herbert's card-game metaphor for revealing what one knows (or doesn't). 'Steal from his treasure' means draw the next questions from the other person's own store of knowledge, not commit theft.
  106. 106 ↩'Stock' continues the prior discourse-as-capital metaphor: a well-posed question keeps the other person talking and saves your own store of material.
  107. 107 ↩Herbert's military metaphor for the chief speaker in conversation—the one with the heaviest verbal firepower. Kept as 'master gunner' to preserve the image.
  108. 108 ↩'Forestall' here means preempt or crowd out; 'make your will' means dispose of everything at once, as in a last will and testament—i.e., dump your whole store of words in one go.
  109. 109 ↩Early modern 'then' = modern 'than' (comparison).
  110. 110 ↩Early modern 'then' = modern 'than'; 'feel' means take to heart / feel keenly, not mere sensation.
  111. 111 ↩'In love I should' is elliptical for 'I should feel/care only in love' (picking up s2); anger is denied as both love and wisdom.
  112. 112 ↩Herbert's 'bow' may be read as the rainbow in the clouds, or as an archer's bow aiming from cloudy heights; either way the point is that lofty, cloudy reasoning aims at truth and misses.
  113. 113 ↩dramme (dram): a small apothecary weight; Herbert's image is of carefully measuring reason as a pharmacist measures medicine.
  114. 114 ↩troth: here truth/true report (not the marital-fidelity sense); confesse a troth = admit and stand by what is true.
  115. 115 ↩Early modern want here means feel the lack of / miss, paired with wish as desire; both are retained as miss and keep wanting.
  116. 116 ↩good parts = gifts, talents, accomplishments; great places = high office or station; compass = achieve or secure.
  117. 117 ↩go less to = amount to less than / are inferior to.
  118. 118 ↩Source 'then' is Early Modern spelling for 'than' (comparison), not temporal 'then'.
  119. 119 ↩'Glory' here is a modest rightful honor/aspiration, not empty vanity: a little of it tempered by humility heals both the fever of pride and the sluggishness of low spirits.
  120. 120 ↩Herbert's image: neglected flesh or goods breed worms (decay). Kept literal rather than flattened to generic 'idleness ruins you.'
  121. 121 ↩Early modern 'live alone' here means 'only they live' (the rest are as good as dead), not 'live in solitude.' Confirmed by the epitaph line that follows.
  122. 122 ↩'quit the cost' is early modern commercial idiom for 'repay/make good the expense'; rendered as 'repay the cost' to keep Herbert's ledger metaphor.
  123. 123 ↩Early modern 'cunning' means skillful/expert, not deceitful; rendered 'skilled'.
  124. 124 ↩Early modern 'scores' means debts or accounts on the tally. 'Strike off' is to cancel or settle them; 'clear' means free of outstanding debt. The point is fair conduct that wipes the slate clean.
  125. 125 ↩Herbert’s 'of that name' means goods that truly go by the name of good; 'naturalize' is kept as a deliberate civic metaphor for making foreign virtues your own.
  126. 126 ↩'observest' here means watch-and-imitate; 'fit' is the early-modern sense of a mood, phase, or fashion rather than a medical seizure alone.
  127. 127 ↩Early modern 'board' can mean approach or sit at table with; rendered as 'come near you' to keep the flower simile natural. 'Affect' is taken as cultivate/make a point of, not as emotional pretension.
  128. 128 ↩'Anticipate their last hour' is taken as bringing death's corruption forward in time (they already smell of the grave), not merely expecting death.
  129. 129 ↩Early modern 'his' is the neuter possessive referring to 'sweetness' (its), not a male person.
  130. 130 ↩Early modern 'merit' here means desert/worthiness of help, not spiritual merit in a scholastic sense; 'means' is capacity to give.
  131. 131 ↩Source 'then' is Early Modern for 'than'.
  132. 132 ↩Commercial metaphor: alms as purchase of heaven; 'single market-money' means a mere going market coin/price, i.e. a token sum rather than a generous gift.
  133. 133 ↩'Change names' means exchange conditions/stations: give so freely that you take the poor man's place and he takes yours.
  134. 134 ↩Early modern 'to boot' means 'as well / into the bargain'; 'stamp' is the mint-mark or impression, not a postage stamp.
  135. 135 ↩'God reckons for him, counts the favour his' means God credits the kindness done to the poor man as done to God himself, and treats the poor man as party to the account.
  136. 136 ↩'deals blessings' means distributes or hands out blessings (as a ruler deals gifts), not bargains or negotiates.
  137. 137 ↩Early modern 'cheere' means table-fare/provisions (with overtones of comfort); rendered as 'fare' to keep the food metaphor with the next clause.
  138. 138 ↩Source 'crosse' means contrary/obstinate and also plays on the Cross; kept as 'cross' to preserve both senses.
  139. 139 ↩Early modern 'brave' here means fine/excellent/splendid, not merely courageous; 'designe' is purpose or undertaking.
  140. 140 ↩Suitors/petitioners seeking favor; rendered 'petitioners' to keep the prayer-request sense clear in modern English.
  141. 141 ↩Likely a small private handful or scant company, set against praying with 'the most' (the larger congregation). Less securely, some readers hear a glance at fixed private prayer-counts (cf. seven times a day).
  142. 142 ↩Early modern 'be bare' here means bare-headed (uncover as reverence); less likely barefoot, though holy-ground imagery may still echo.
  143. 143 ↩Source 'then' is early modern spelling of 'than'; 'Onely' normalized to 'only'.
  144. 144 ↩'quit thy state' = leave off rank, station, or social pomp; rendered as 'drop your rank' for plain force without losing the social-status sense.
  145. 145 ↩Source 'equall' and possessive 'churches' modernized to 'equal' and "church's".
  146. 146 ↩Early modern 'why' after the colon is causal/remonstrative ('for' / 'indeed'), not a question: fussing over the last pin costs a joy worth worlds.
  147. 147 ↩Source 'couzin' is Early Modern 'cozen' (to cheat/defraud), not 'cousin'.
  148. 148 ↩Early modern conceiv'st him not means fail to receive/grasp him (the sermon and the man), not mere opinion about his person.
  149. 149 ↩want sense = lack sense (not desire sense). The worst = the worst preachers/sermons.
  150. 150 ↩"The blessing which preachers conclude with" is the closing benediction of the sermon or service, not a generic good wish.
  151. 151 ↩"Ditch" is figurative: moral danger or ruin into which bad company can lead, not a literal roadside trench.
  152. 152 ↩"Gods abode" (God's abode) means God's dwelling—the church—rather than heaven alone; the line pairs love of that house with fellowship among the faithful now.
  153. 153 ↩Physician keeps Herbert's medical metaphor for the preacher as a minister of soul-cure; the point is that a flawed messenger can still carry sound remedy.
  154. 154 ↩Herbert's medical image: the gospel's own healing remedies (oil, balsam) become lethal to those who mock them; if the cure itself kills, nothing milder can heal.
  155. 155 ↩Elliptical parallel: Israel refused God's thunderous revelation; we refuse the gospel's apparent folly. 'Thunder' evokes Sinai's peals; 'folly' evokes the preached cross as foolishness to the world.
  156. 156 ↩"Dress and undress your soul" keeps Herbert's clothing image for careful daily tending of the interior life (putting on / taking off spiritual condition), not mere physical routine.
  157. 157 ↩Herbert's counsel is to judge pleasures by their departure, not their arrival—i.e., by the emptiness or cost they leave behind.
  158. 158 ↩A span is a short hand-measure; an ell is a much longer cloth-measure. Herbert means: don't stretch life's short length by wasting time fretting over your troubles.

The Temple: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations companion

A prayer for every moment, already on your phone

Chosen Portion puts a curated historic prayer in front of you each day — so the words are there before the moment arrives.

Chosen Portion is the digital descendant of the carried prayer book: the short daily prayers this collection preserves, delivered one a day to your pocket.

  • One short, memorable prayer delivered daily — build your repertoire a card at a time
  • Prayers matched to real situations: fear, gratitude, decisions, grief, sleep
  • Save favourites into your personal pocket collection you can open anywhere
Chosen Portion — Daily Prayer (free iOS app) →