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[verse 27] My hart & mind hath wisely searcht, both good & bad to know,
[verse 28] And worse thē death a womans snares, I found: God sheld thē fro.
27.
I haue com∣passed about both I & mine heart, to know and to enquire and to search wisedome and reason, and to know the wic∣kednesse of fol∣ly, and the foo∣lishnesse of madnesse.
That knowledge which I had, I did bestow
With heart and mind in searching round about,
The true effect of euery thing to know,
And of effects the causes out of doubt
(For happie they are held that can define
Of causes and effect, how they incline.)
And chiefly I obseru'd, whence good and ill
Haue their originall and nutriment,
What bounds they haue, and how the soule they kill,
And in the vse of them sought mans intent:
And so of mirth, of folly, and delight,
And what so seemd, most pleasant vnto sight.
28.
And I find more bitter then death, the woman whose heart is as nets and snares, and her hands as bands: he that is good before God shall be deliuered from her, but the sinner shall be taken by her.
And loe, I found all sinne to end with shame,
Yea euen the sinne which doth most men allure,
The lawlesse loue of women of defame,
Who bitterer plagues (then death) to vs procure,
Insnaring in their bands of beauties gift
The wretched soules, which yeeld vnto their drift.
A fatall furie of the flesh (alasse)
In idle braine begot, with plentie fed,
Whose smallest sparckles to a flame do passe,
If by the eye the fancie will be led,
But such as God doth loue, shall lust refraine,
Whilst wicked ones intrapped do remaine.