Wouldst thou (wise Husband) haue thy mariage Bed
(Without Society,) to glut Desire?
Then Thou, and It must oft be sundered,
With Loue, and leaue, to make Lone more intire:
For, no ioy vnder Heau'n, but satiates;
The more it is the lesse while it endures;
And, the lesse vs'd, the more it consolates:
The truth whereof, too well-knowne proofe assures
Too much of whatsoere, produced by Nature,
Makes Nature too too much disordered:
Too much of Venus lessens strength and stature
In the Ingendrers and Ingendered,
And Fire, and Flax must flame, if they do touch,
And Men and Women ioyne that (bare) embrace:
Who then do seldome part before too much
Their deerest Embracements doth too much debase
To wed a wife, and not to Bed her too
Were too vnkind a part for Grooms to play:
To woo, and not vse that for which we woo
Were Faith, and Hope through strange Loue to betray:
But yet to bed hir, and to Lie still by her
In more vnkindly done then not to Bed hir:
And better were it, for Thee, quite to fly hir
Then not to vse hir well, when thou hast wed hir
And well thou dost not vse hir, she may deeme
If well thou dost not then thy selfe approue:
And though of Action she may carelesse seeme,
Yet may she feare thy slouth is sin in loue
Then must Temptation on thy weaknesse work
If still thou Bed, or rarely Bed thy Wife:
In each of which, Temptation still doth lurke;
And all Temptation tendeth but to Strife
Then they from strife, are free, that can, and will
In marriage Duties vse the Golden Meane;
For so their Loue is without Measure still,
And Soules and Bodies are as stronge, as cleane!
But, all that married are haue not the Guift
So to Deuide themselues, sith Bedds some haue
But for them selues (poore Soules) wherewith they shift,
Who, being One, haue Two, but on's their Graue
In reason these should be together thrust,
Sith they are onely rich in cold Desire,
Who lie togeather more for heate, then Lust:
Heate, that comes only from Afflictions fire.
Fleshe these do touch as oft as flesh they tast
That's seld [God wott] so Flesh, and they, are Two;
A blessed odds that makes the Striuers chast,
And makes them liue well though it them vndoo
Now if this Lore dislikes some youthfull Blouds
That still do boyle with heate of Loue, or Lust,
[Which must bee coold (still) in Lusts running Floudds]
Then must they do, perforce what needs they must
Ye let them know, to know each other so
Both Grace, and Nature thereby takes offence:
A man may make his Wife, — well, lett that go, —
The name of Whore fitts not Obedience
But Marriage is by Heau'n, aucthorised,
Sith, by the Heau'n-wright, wronght in Paradice:
Then, who defiles Hir vndefiled Bedd,
Makes his not vertuous, but a Vaile for Vice
And ouer much, doth ouer much Defile
That blessed Bedd, which Grace doth purifie:
Then lett not Sinne oremuch it selfe beguile
To think that Bedd, so much doth sanctifie
And if that any man a wife hath gott
That lookes but for so much , accurst is Hee:
And Wiues that haue like Husbands to their Lott,
Are like accurst, so, both accursed bee,
That one, by Heau'n, accurst, by Happ, the other;
So, both are curst though in a diuerse kinde
But, blessed Father, and a blessed Mother
Those curst, by Happ, may make, if blest in mind
Then, if wee ought, before a Friend we choose,
To cate much Salt with him, him all to tast
Wee neede to cate ten times as much with those
Whose All wee make our All vntill our last:
For in that Match our selues wee make or marre;
Then had wee neede to leaue, before wee take:
That's leaue our Choise, by choosing better farre
Then, leaue our life, ere faith, or Choise forsake.
Now, you that yet are free, must needs bee bound
To him that hath thus freed you (ere this Tye)
From casting Anchor where you may bee drownd
In Seas of Lust, and waues of Miserie
Be sure of Sea roome ere these Surges swell,
That may lie hidd in deep'st profundities:
Keepe well that Compasse that may guide you well,
In mists of Loue to cleere Felicitie
The fairest Face hath not still fairest grace:
Nor yet the Black, in show, still blacke in Deede:
Who oft are bright in Mind, though black in Face
And oft the fairest Flowers beare blackest Seede
Then lest faire Coulor, coulor fowlest Vice,
Iudge thou of Coulors by cleere Iudgments Eye:
If Coulor should to death thy life entice,
Die, without Coulor, ere for Coulor die:
So that thou liue (and neuer coulor dying
Which show of life) thy life still glorifying!