THE Font, I say.

XI. THE FONT.

Why not? And why not near
To the Church door? Why not of stone?

Is not that blessed fountain open'd here,
From whence that water flows alone,

Which from sin and uncleanness washeth clear?

And may not beggars well contented be
Their first alms at the door to take?
Though, when acquainted better, they may see
Others within that bolder make.

Low places will serve guests of low degree.

What? Is he not the rock, out of whose side
Those streams of water-blood run forth?
The elect and precious corner-stone well tried?
Though the odds be great between their worth,
Rock-water and stone vessels are allied.

But call it what, and place it where you will:
Let it be made indifferently

Of any form, or matter; yet, until

The blessed Sacrament thereby Impaired be, my hopes you shall not kill.

To want a complement of comeliness
Some of my comfort may abate,
And for the present make my joy go less:
Yet I will hug mine homely state,

And poverty with patience richly dress.

Regeneration is all in all,

Washing, or sprinkling, but the sign, The seal, and instrument thereof; I call The one, as well as the other, mine, And my posterity's, as federal.

If temporal estates may be convey'd,
By covenants on condition,

To men, and to their heirs; be not afraid,
My soul, to rest upon

The covenant of grace by mercy made.

Do but thy duty, and rely upon't,
Repentance, faith, obedience,

Whenever practised truly, will amount
To an authentic evidence,
Though the deed were antidated at the Font.

XII. THE READING-PEW.

HERE my new enter'd soul doth first break fast,
Here seasoneth her infant taste,

And at her mother-nurse, the Church's dugs
With labouring lips and tongue she tugs,
For that sincere milk, which alone doth feed
Babes new-born of immortal seed:

Who, that they may unto perfection grow,
Must be content to creep before they go.

They, that would reading out of Church exclude,
Sure have a purpose to obtrude

Some dictates of their own, instead of God's
Revealed Will, his Word. 'Tis odds,

U

They do not mean to pay men current coin,
Who seek the standard to purloin,

And would reduce all trials to their own,
Both touch-stones, balances, and weights, alone.

What reasonable man would not misdoubt

Those Comments, that the text leave out? And that their main intent is alteration, Who dote so much on variation, That no set Forms at all they can endure To be prescribed, or put in ure? Rejecting bounds and limits is the way, If not all waste, yet common all to lay.

But why should he, that thinks himself well
Be discontent that such a one,

As knows himself an infant yet, should be

Dandled upon his mother's knee,

grown,

And babe-like fed with milk, till he have got

More strength and stomach? Why should not Nurslings in Church, as well as weanlings, find Their food fit for them in their proper kind.

Let them that would build castles in the air,
Vault thither, without step or stair;
Instead of feet to climb, take wings to fly,
And think their turrets top the sky.
But let me lay all my foundations deep,

And learn, before I run, to creep.

{low,

Who digs through Rocks to lay his ground-works May in good time build high, and sure, though slow.

To take degrees, per saltum, though of quick
Dispatch, is but a truant's trick.

Let us learn first to know our letters well,
Then syllables, then words to spell ;
Then to read plainly, ere we take the pen
In hand to write to other men.

I doubt their preaching is not always true, Whose way to the Pulpit's not the reading Pew.

XIII. THE BOOK OF COMMON-PRAYER.

WHAT prayer by the book? and Common?

Yes. Why not?

The spirit of grace,

And supplication,

Is not left free alone

For time and place;

But manner too. To read, or speak by rote,
Is all alike to him that prays

With's heart, that with his mouth he says.

They that in private by themselves alone

Do

pray, may take

What liberty they please,

In choosing of the ways,
Wherein to make

Their soul's most intimate affections known
To him that sees in secret, when

They are most conceal'd from other men.

But he, that unto others leads the way
In public prayer,

Should choose to do it so,

As all, that hear, may know
They need not fear

To tune their hearts unto his tongue, and say
Amen; nor doubt they were betray'd

To blaspheme, when they should have pray'd.

Devotion will add life unto the letter.

And why should not

That, which authority

Prescribes, esteemed be
Advantage got?

If the Prayer be good, the commoner, the better.
Prayer in the Church's words, as well
As sense, of all prayers bears the bell.

XIV. THE BIBLE.

THE Bible? That's the Book. The Book indeed, The Book of Books;

On which who looks,

As he should do, aright, shall never need
Wish for a better light

To guide him in the night:

Or, when he hungry is, for better food
To feed upon,

Than this alone,

If he bring stomach and digestion good:
And if he be amiss,

This the best physic is.