Ivvenilia :: :: University of Virginia Library

So in some measure I have now made knowne
What foule Abuses Time to me hath showne;
And what Man is, I have explain'd some crimes
That I have noted in these present times.
Then though I have by some beene counted idle,
This shewes I have not given Time the bridle
To runne away unmannag'd; but did use it
Then best; when I most seemed to abuse it.

Here sinfull man thou maist behold in part
Thy miserable estate and what thou art.
Thy Passions; thy vanities here see,
In part (I say) for all there cannot be:
Thy waverings and thy frailties I've explain'd,
With thy presumption and have nothing fain'd.
If thou hast read it then I hope thou know'st,
Though thou seem'st bad, thou worse art then thou show'st
And I doe trust thy wretchednesse espide,
Will quell thy most intolerable pride.

I mus'd a while thou wert so prone to sinning,
But 'twas thy fault I see from the beginning:
And as the Lord himselfe once said, so still,
Th' imaginations of thy heart are ill.
That's one maine cause; then to performe an evill,
Thou hast the pronenesse of the flesh; the Divell;

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With bad examples for thy instigation;
Besides in ill the Worlds rash approbation.

But yet would I not have thee think (oh man!)
That I with Tymon the Athenian,
Desire to make thee so much feele: by woe,
To goe and hang thy selfe; I meane not so,
Nor seeke to drive thee thereby to despaire,
'Tis not my purpose my intent's more faire.
This I would have thee doe, sith flesh is fraile,
And Satan will be busie to prevaile,
With heed and care watch over thy affection,
And in thy doings follow this direction.

First, see if't be thy flesh that mooves thee to
Those things thou art so oft about to do.
Next, to consider well it doth behove thee,
What kind of men they are that doe approve thee.
For true it is, (as I have oft beene taught)
What flesh desires and most approves is naught.
And sith to thrust thee forward unto evill,
Thou hast an ill heart, proud flesh, and the devill,
With bad example; learne (oh man) to season
Thy heart with sacred thoughts, with truth and reason
Thy flesh with labour, and with fasting, tame,
And 'twill not be so subject unto blame.
Prevent the divels baits and his temptations
With earnest prayers and good Meditations:
And see thou heed to thy companions giv'st,
Sith thou wilt be as those with whom thou liv'st;
Yea, sith thou art so subject unto sin,
Shun all occasions that may draw thee in.

So when thy God shall see thou hast a will,
And truly dost desire to mend what's ill;
He will accept it (for his sonnes deere sake)
And thee more willing and more able make.

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Yea, should thy sinnes more red than scarlet grow,
Yet he would make them whiter than the snow.
Thy now black soule (were it thrice more defil'd)
As innocent as is the new-borne child:
And thy most miserable body farre
More glorious than is the brightest Starre.
But if thou, without care or heed, dost leane
Vnto those lusts of flesh that are uncleane,
If thou take pleasure and delight to doe them,
Quite giving over thy desires unto them,
They both in soule and body too, will make thee
So foule a Leper that God will forsake thee;
His holy Angels and his Saints abhorre thee,
And onely devils make entreaty for thee;
Yea, thou shalt in Gehynnon, waile with them,
That are excluded new Ierusalem.