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To teſtifie the armes of Chaſtitie?
Hence had the huntreſſe Dian her dred bow
Faire ſilver-ſhafted Queene for ever chaſt
Wherewith we tam'd the brinded lioneſſe
And ſpotted mountaine pard, but ſet at nought
The frivolous bolt of Cupid, gods and men
Fear'd her ſterne frowne, & ſhe was queen oth' woods.
What was that ſnakie headed Gorgon ſheild
That wiſe Minerva wore, unconquer'd virgin
Wherewith ſhe freez'd her foes to congeal'd ſtone?
But rigid looks of Chaſt auſteritie
And noble grace that daſh't brute violence
With ſudden adoration, and blancke aw.
So deare to heav'n is ſaintly chaſtitie
That when a ſoule is found ſincerely ſo,
A thouſand liveried angels lackie her
Driving farre off each thing of ſinne, and guilt,
And in cleere dreame, and ſolemne viſion
Tell her of things that no groſſe eare can heare,
Till oft converſe with heav'nly habitants
Begin to caſt a beame on th' outward ſhape
The unpolluted temple of the mind
And turnes it by degrees to the ſouls eſſence
Till all bee made immortall; but when luſt
By unchaſt looks, looſe geſtures, and foule talke
But most by leud, and laviſh act of ſin
Lets in defilement to the inward parts,
The ſoule growes clotted by contagion,
Imbodies, and imbrutes, till ſhe quite looſe
The divine propertie of her firſt being.
Such are thoſe thick, and gloomie ſhadows damp
Oft ſeene in Charnell vaults, and Sepulchers
