It is by the Vicar's skirts that the
Devil climbs into the Belfry.
So clomb the first grand thief into God's fold;
So since into his church lewd hirelings climb.
He of their wicked ways
Shall them admonish, and before them set
The paths of righteousness.
And truths divine came mended from that tongue.
The gracious Dew of Pulpit Eloquence,
And all the well-whip'd Cream of Courtly Sense.
He was a shrewd and sound divine
Of loud Dissent the mortal terror;
And when, by dint of page and line,
He 'stablished Truth, or startled Error,
The Baptist found him far too deep,
The Deist sighed with saving sorrow,
And the lean Levite went to sleep,
And dreamt of eating pork to-morrow.
His sermon never said or showed
That Earth is foul, that Heaven is gracious,
Without refreshment on the road
From Jerome, or from Athanasius.
And sure a righteous zeal inspired,
The hand and head that penned and planned them,
For all who understood, admired—
And some who did not understand them.
The lilies say: Behold how we
Preach without words of purity.
I have taught you, my dear flock, for above thirty years how to live; and I will show you in a very short time how to die.
Sermons in stones and good in every thing.
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven.
Whiles, like a puff 'd and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own rede.
He who the sword of heaven will bear
Should be as holy as severe;
Pattern in himself to know,
Grace to stand, and virtue go.
It is a good divine that follows his own instructions; I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching.
Perhaps thou wert a priest,—if so, my struggles
Are vain, for priestcraft never owns its juggles.
He taught them how to live and how to die.
By thy language cabalistic,
By thy cymbal, drum, and his stick.
With a little, hoard of maxims preaching down a daughter's heart.
A little, round, fat, oily man of God.
"Dear sinners all," the fool began, "man's life is but a jest,
A dream, a shadow, bubble, air, a vapour at the best.
In a thousand pounds of law I find not a single ounce of love,
A blind man killed the parson's cow in shooting at the dove;
The fool that eats till he is sick must fast till he is well,
The wooer who can natter most will bear away the belle."
And then again the women screamed, and every staghound bayed;
And why? because the motley fool so wise a sermon made.
Le sermon edifie, et 1'example detruit.
The sermon edifies, the example destroys.
(Practice what you preach)
PREJUDICE
He hears but half who hears one party only.
Prejudice renders a man's virtue his habit, and not a series of unconnected acts. Through just prejudice, his duty becomes a part of his nature.
Chi non esce dal suo paese, vive pieno di pregjudizi.
He who never leaves his country is full of prejudices.
