Schola Cordis or the Heart of it Selfe, gone away from God ::

The heart thou giv'st as a great gift, my love,
Brought to the triall nothing such will prove,
If Iustice equall ballance tell thy sight
That weighed with my Law it is too light.

Ode. 20.

1

'Tis true indeed, an heart
Such as it ought to be,
Entire, and sound in ev'ry part,
Is alwayes welcome unto me.
He that would please me with an offering
Cannot a better have, although he were a King.

2

And there is none so poore,
But if he will he may
Bring me an heart, although no more,
And on mine altar may it lay.
The sacrice which I like best, is such
As rich men cannot boast, and poore men need not grutch

3

Yet ev'ry heart is not
A gift sufficient,
It must be purg'd from ev'ry spot,
And all to pieces must be rent.

Though thou hast sought to circumcise, and bruise't,
It must be weighed too, or else I shall refuse't.

4

My ballances are just,
My Law's an equall weight,
The beame is strong, and thou maist trust
My steady hand to hold it streight.
Were thine heart equall to the world in sight,
Yet it were nothing worth, if it should prove too light.

5

And so thou see'st it doth,
My pond'rous Law doth presse
This scale, but that, as fill'd with froth,
Tilts up, and makes no shew of stresse.
Thine heart is empty sure, or else it would
In weight, as well as bulke, better proportion hold.

6

Search it, and thou shalt find
It wants integrity,
And is not yet so thorow lin'd
With single ey'd sincerity,
As it should be: some more humility
There wants to make it weight, and some more constancy.

7

Whilst windy vanity
Doth puffe it up with pride,
And double fac'd hypocrisie
Doth many empty hollowes hide,
It is but good in part, and that but little,
Wav'ring unstaidnesse makes its resolutions brittle.

8

The heart, that in my sight
As currant coyne would passe,

Must not be the least graine too light,
But as at first it stamped was.
Keep then thine heart till it be better growne,
And, when it is full weight, I'll take it for mine owne.

9

But if thou art asham'd
To find thine heart so light,
And art afraid thou shalt be blam'd,
I'll teach thee how to set it right,
Adde to my Law my Gospell, and there see
My merits thine, and then the scales will equall be.

University of Virginia Library

The weighing of the Heart.

Epigr. 20.

Ode. 20.

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