V.

PSALM CXix. 37.

Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity.

OW like the threads of flax,

That touch the flame, are my inflam'd desires! How like to yielding wax,

My soul dissolves before these wanton fires!

The fire but touch'd, the flame but felt,
Like flax, I burn; like wax, I melt.

2.

O how this flesh doth draw
My fetter'd soul to that deceitful fire!
And how th' eternal law

Is baffled by the law of my desire!
How truly bad, how seeming good,
Are all the laws of flesh and blood!

3.

O wretched state of men,

The height of whose ambition is to borrow
What must be paid again

With griping int'rest of the next day's sorrow!
How wild his thoughts! how apt to range!
How apt to vary! apt to change!

How intricate and nice

4.

Is man's perplexed way to man's desire!

Sometimes upon the ice

He slips, and sometimes falls into the fire;
His progress is extreme and bold,

Or very hot, or very cold.

The

O turn away mine Eyes; nor let the Vain And Wanton lure me to their idle Train

5.

The common food he doth

Sustain his soul-tormenting thoughts withal,
Is honey in his mouth

To-night, and in his heart to-morrow gall;
'Tis oftentimes, within an hour,
Both very sweet, and very sour.

If sweet Corinna smile,

6.

A heav'n of joys breaks down into his heart :
Corinna frown awhile,

Hell's torments are but copies of his smart:
Within a lustful heart doth dwell

A seeming heav'n, a very hell.

7.

Thus worthless, vain, and void

Of comfort, are the fruits of earth's employment,
Which, ere they be enjoy'd,

Distract us, and destroy us in th' enjoyment;
These be the pleasures that are priz'd,

When Heav'n's cheap pen'worth stands despis'd.

8.

Lord, quench these hasty flashes,

Which dart as lightning from the thund'ring skies,
And ev'ry minute dashes

Against the wanton windows of mine eyes ♦

Lord, close the casement, whilst I stand

Beneath the curtain of thy hand.

S. AU

S. AUGUST. Soliloq. Cap. iv.

O thou Sun, that illuminateth both heaven and earth! woe be unto those eyes that do not behold thee: woe be unto those blind eyes which cannot behold thee: woe be unto those which turn away their eyes, that they will not behold thee: woe be unto those that turn away their eyes, that they may behold vanity.

S. CHRYS. sup. Matt. xix.

What is the evil woman but the enemy of friendship, an avoidable pain, necessary mischief, a natural temptation, a desirable calamity, a domestic danger, a delectable inconvenience, and the nature of evil, painted over with the colour of good?

EPIG. 5.

'Tis vain, great God! to close mine eyes from ill,
When I resolve to keep the old man still;
My rambling heart must cov'nant first with thee,
Or none can pass betwixt mine eye and me.

ESTHER