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

The whole round world is not enough to fill
The Hearts three corners, but it craveth still.
Onely the Trinity, that made it, can
Suffice the vast triangled heart of man.

Ode. 10.

1

The thirsty earth and barren wombe cry, Give:
The grave devoureth all that live:
The fire still burneth on, and never saith,
It is enough: The horseleech hath
Many more daughters: but the heart of man
Outgapes them all as much as heav'n one span.

2

Water hath drown'd the earth: the barren wombe
Hath teem'd sometimes, and been the tombe
To its owne swelling issue: and the grave
Shall one day a ficke surfeit have:
When all the fuell is consum'd, the fire
Will quench it selfe, and of it self expire.

3

But the vast heart of man's insatiate,
His boundlesse appetites dilate
Themselves beyond all limits, his desires
Are endlesse still: whilst he aspires
To happinesse, and faine would find that treasure
Where it is not, his wishes know no measure.

4

His eye with seeing is not satisfi'd,
Nor's eare with hearing: he hath tri'd
At once to furnish ev'ry sev'rall sense
With choise of curious objects, whence
He might extract, and into one unite
A perfect quintessence of all delight.

5

Yet, having all that he can fancy, still
There wanteth something more to fill
His empty appetite. His mind is vext,
And he is inwardly perplext
He knowes not why: when as the truth is this,
He would find something there where nothing is.

6

He rambles over all the faculties,
Ransacks the secret treasuries
Of Art and Nature, spells the Universe
Letter by letter, can reherse
All the Records of time, pretends to know
Reasons of all things, why they must be so.

7

Yet is not so contented, but would faine
Prie in Gods Cabinet, and gaine
Intelligence from heav'n of things to come,
Anticipate the day of Doome,

And read the issues of all actions so,
As if Gods secret counsells he did know.

8

Let him have all the wealth, all the renowne,
And glory, that the world can crowne
Her dearest darlings with; yet his desire
Will not rest there, but still aspire.
Earth cannot hold him, nor the whole creation
Containe his wishes, or his expectation.

9

The heart of man's but little, yet this All
Compared thereunto's but small,
Of such a large unparallel'd extense
Is the short-lin'd circumference
Of that three-corner'd figure, which to fill
With the round world is to leave empty still.

10

Go greedy soule, addresse thy selfe to heav'n,
And leave the world, as 'tis, bereav'n
Of all true happinesse, or any thing
That to thine heart content can bring,
But there a trine-une God in glory sits,
Who all grace-thirsting hearts both fills and fits.

University of Virginia Library

The insatiablenesse of the Heart.

Epigr. 10.

Ode. 10.

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