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CORDIS PONDERATIO.

Quod mihi donasti magno pro munere non est, Si neget hoc justi ponderis aqua bilan.x.

The WEIGHING of the HEART.

This Gift of thine will not appear so great,
Unless when tried it proves of proper Weight.

The WEIGHING of the Heart.

PROV. XXI. 2.

The Lord pondereth the heart.

EPIG. 20.

THE heart thou giv'st as a great gift, my love,
Brought to the trial, nothing such will prove ;

If justice equal balance tell thy sight,
That, weighed with my law, it is too light.

ODE XX.

1.

'Tis true, indeed, an heart,
Such as it ought to be,
Intire and sound in ev'ry part,
Is always welcome unto me.

He that would please me with an offering,
Cannot a better have, altho' he were a king.

2.

And there is none so poor,

But, if he will, he may

Bring me an heart, altho' no more,
And on mine altar may it lay.

The sacrifice which I like best, is such

As rich men cannot boast, and poor men

need not [grutch.

Yet

3.

Yet ev'ry heart is not
A gift sufficient,

It must be purg'd from ev'ry spot,
And all to pieces must be rent.

Tho' thou hast sought to circumcise, and bruise't,
It must be weighed too, or else I shall refuse't.

4.

My balances are just,

My law's an equal weight;

The beam is strong, and thou may'st trust
My steady hand to hold it streight.

Were thine heart equal to the world in sight,
Yet it were nothing worth, if it should prove too light.

5.

And so thou seest it doth ;

My pond'rous law doth press

This scale; but that, as fill'd with froth,
Tilts up, and makes no shew of stress.

Thine heart is empty sure, or else it would
In weight, as well as bulk, better proportion hold.

6.

Search it, and thou shalt find

It wants integrity;

And yet is not so thorough lin'd

With single-ey'd sincerity,

As it should be: some more humility

There wants to make it weight, and some more con

[stancy.

Whilst

7.

Whilst windy vanity

Doth puff it up with pride,
And double-fac'd hypocrisy

Doth many empty hollows hide,

It is but good in part, and that but little,
Wav'ring unstaidness makes its resolutions brittle.

8.

The heart, that in my sight
As current coin would pass,
Must not be the least grain too light,
But as at first it stamped was.

Keep then thine heart till it be better grown,
And, when it is full, I'll take it for mine own.

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But if thou art asham'd

To find thine heart so light,

And art afraid thou shalt be blam'd,
I'll teach thee how to set it right.

Add to my law my gospel, and there see
My merits thine, and then the scales will equal be.

The

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