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A Collection of Emblemes

Ancient and Moderne: Quickened VVith Metricall Illvstrations, both Morall and Divine: And disposed into Lotteries, That Instruction, and Good Counsell, may bee furthered by an Honest and Pleasant Recreation. By George Wither

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Illvstr. XVI.
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150

Illvstr. XVI.

[As soone as our first Parents disobey'd]

Our Dayes, untill our Life hath end,
In Labours, and in Hopes, wee spend.

As soone as our first Parents disobey'd,
Forthwith a Curse, for their offence, was layd,
Inforcing them, and their succeeding race,
To get their Food, with sweatings of the Face.
But, afterward, this Doome to mitigate,
(And ease the miseries of their estate)
God gave them Hope, that she might helpe them beare
The burthens of their Travaile, and their care.
A Woman with an Anchor, and a Spade,
An Emblem of that Mystery is made:
And, this Estate, wee all continue in,
By God's free Mercie, and our proper Sinne.
By Sinne, the Labour is on us intail'd;
By Grace, it is, that Hoping hath not fail'd;
And, if in Hope, our Labours wee attend,
That Curse will prove a Blessing, in the end.
My Lot is Hope, and Labour; and, betweene
These Two, my Life-time hath prolonged beene:
Yet, hitherto, the best of all my Paine,
With most of all my Hopes have beene in vaine;
And to the VVorld-ward, I am like to wast
My time in fruitlesse labours, till the last.
However, I have still my Hopes as faire
As hee, that hath no temptings to Despaire;
And, change I will not, my last howres for theirs,
Whose Fortune, more desirable appeares;
Nor cease to Hope and Labour, though, of most,
My Hope and Labour be adjudged lost:
For, though I lose the shaddow of my Paines,
The stubstance of it, still, in God, remaines.