Are but as husks and shells;

Yet he that knows the kernel's worth,
If even those fend forth

Some Aromatic smells,

Will not esteem it waste, left, Judas-like,

Through Mary's fide he Christ himself should strike.

Lord, without whom we cannot tell
How to speak or think, well,
Lend us thy helping hand,
That what we do may pleasing be,
Not to ourselves but thee,

And answer thy command:

So that, not we alone, but thou mayst say
Amen to all our prayers, pray'd the right way.

XXI. THE OVERSEER OF THE POOR.

THE

HE Church's Almoner takes care, that none
In their neceffity

Shall unprovided be

Of maintenance, or employment; thofe alone,
Whom careless Idleness,

Or riotous excess,

Condemns to needlefs want, he leaves to be
Chaften'd a while by their own poverty.

Thou gracious Lord, rich in thyself, doft give
To all men liberally,
Upbraiding none.

Thine eye

all. In thee we live,

We move, and have our being:

But there is more than seeing.

For the poor with thee: they are thy special charge; To them thou doft thine heart and hand enlarge.

Four forts of poor there are, with whom thou deal'ft. Though always differently,

With fuch indifferency,

That none hath reafon to complain: thou heal'ft
All those whom thou doft wound:

If there be any found

Hurt by themselves, thou leavest them to endure
The pain, till the pain render them fit for cure.

Some in the world are poor, but rich in faith:
Their outward poverty
A plentiful fupply

Of inward comforts and contentments hath.

And their eftate is bleft,

In this above the reft,

It was thy choice, whilst thou on earth didst stay, And hadft not whereupon thy head to lay.

Some

poor

in spirit in the world are rich,
Although not many fuch:

And no man needs to grutch

Their happiness, who to maintain that pitch,

Have an hard task in hand,
Nor eafily can withstand

The ftrong temptations that attend on riches :
Mountains are more exposed to storms than ditches.

Some rich in the world are spiritually poor,
And deftitute of grace,

Who may perchance have place

In the Church upon earth; but heaven's door

Too narrow is to admit

Such camels in at it,

Till they fell all they have, that field to buy,
Wherein the true treasure doth hidden lie.

Some fpiritually poor, and deftitute

Of grace in the world are poor,
Begging from door to door,

Accurfed both in God's and man's repute,
Till by their miseries

Tutor'd they learn to prize

Hungering and thirsting after righteousness, Whilft they're on earth, their greatest happiness.

Lord, make me poor in spirit, and relieve
Me how thou wilt thyself,

No want of worldly pelf

Shall make me discontented, fret and grieve.
I know thine alms are beft:

But, above all the rest,

Condemn me not unto the hell of riches, Without thy grace to countercharm the witches.

XXII. THE CHURCH-WARDEN.

TH

HE Church's guardian takes care to keep
Her buildings always in repair,

Unwilling that any decay fhould creep
On them, before he is aware.

Nothing defaced,

Nothing displaced

He likes; but most doth long and love to fee
The living ftones order'd as they should be.

Lord, thou not only fupervifor art

Of all our works, but in all those,

Which we dare own, thine is the chiefest part; For there is none of us, that knows How to do well;

Nor can we tell

What we should do, unless by thee directed:
It profpers not that's by ourselves projected.

That which we think ourselves to mend, we mar, And often make it ten times worse :

Reforming of religion by war

Is the chymic bleffing of a curse.

Great odds it is

That we shall mifs

Of what we looked for: Thine ends cannot
By any but by thine own means be got.

'Tis ftrange we so much dote upon our own Deformity, and others scorn:

As if ourselves were beautiful alone;

When that which did us most adorn
We purposely

Choose to lay by,

Such decency and order, as did place us
In highest esteem, and guard as well as grace us.

Is not thy daughter glorious within,

When clothed in needle-work without?

Or is 't not rather both their shame and fin,
That change her robe into a clout,
Too narrow, and

Too thin, to ftand

Her need in any ftead, much less to be
An ornament fit for her high degree.

Take pity on her, Lord, and heal her breaches;
Clothe all her enemies with fhame:
All the despite that's done unto her reaches
To the difhonour of thy name.
Make all her fons

Rich precious ftones,

To shine each of them in his proper place,
Receiving of thy fulness grace for grace.

XXIII. THE DEACON.

THE

HE Deacon! That's the Minister.
True, taken generally;

And without any finifter

Intent, used specially,

He's purposely ordained to Minister,

In facred things, to another officer.

At whofe appointment, in whofe ftead,
He doth what he should do,

In fome things, not in all: is led

By law, and custom too.

Where that doth neither bid, nor forbid, he
Thinks this fufficient authority: