In seat sit thou quiet, and walk not about,
For ’tis most unseemly, without any doubt.
’Tis fit in a fair, or in some market-town,
And not in God’s house for to walk up and down.
The church is ordained for sermons, orations,
And prayers divine for the soul’s recreations.
And not like a playhouse, unhallowed to be,
Despising the reverence to God’s Majesty.
Give ear most attentive to what thou shalt find,
For God’s word is light to the godly in mind.
Great ease cometh (out of the reverent text)
For troubled in heart and in conscience perplexed.
Do all this with duty and reverend heart,
And God will reward thee full well for thy part.
Observe well the times, for to stand or to kneel,
The more inward ease of thy heart shalt thou feel.
To kneel on the ground with one knee alone,
Is even as comely as though it were none.
How can thy devotion be hearty and sound,
If thou do refuse to lay knees to the ground?
’Tis like to the soldier, who mockingly came,
Saluting our Saviour, and gave Him the name
(Hail King of the Jews) his knee was so bent,
Not with any duty, nor godly intent.
If thou in the church alone chance to be,
Still let heart and thy tongue be so free,
As never to cease; but with due veneration,
To call to the Lord with unfeigned contemplation.
Let neither thy tongue be talking nor tattling,
Nor settle of any thing to be a-prattling,
Nor let thine eyes walk, nor cast them about,
For of that devotion there is a great doubt.
NECESSARY RULES TO BE OBSERVED FOR THE GUIDING OF CHILDREN IN THEIR
APPAREL AND OTHERWISE
Let not children have their pleasures in the ordering of their garments.
Some delight to have them jagged and cut; but such fantasticness ought
to be reformed by wiser and elder, considering their foolishness is
beyond measure, if all may be done at their pleasure; and ancient
writers repute them out of their wits and madmen that favour it.
Again, painted and gawdy apparel is not so fantastic in children’s eyes;
but as costly to the parents’ purses, whereby ancient writers proclaim
such parents fellow-fools with their children.
The modesty and decency of the vestments of children are strong and
good, not curious to the eye alone: and such as are clean and without
foulness or filthiness: which after the estate and means of the parents
ought to be principal, so long as by the craftsman it be made with
reasonable and good form and fashion.