Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903.
By George Herbert (15931633)Sin
LORD with what care hast Thou begirt us round! | |
Parents first season us: then schoolmasters | |
Deliver us to laws; they send us bound | |
To rules of reason, holy messengers, | |
Pulpits and Sundays, sorrow dogging sin, | 5 |
Afflictions sorted, anguish of all sizes, | |
Fine nets and stratagems to catch us in, | |
Bibles laid open, millions of surprises, | |
Blessings beforehand, ties of gratefulness, | |
The sound of glory ringing in our ears; | 10 |
Without, our shame; within, our consciences; | |
Angels and grace, eternal hopes and fears. | |
Yet all these fences and their whole array | |
One cunning bosom-sin blows quite away. | |