Saturday, October 10, 2009

sin seeps in

A poem by Francis Quarles compares various kinds of sin to various types of wet weather by which we become soaked.  

On several Sins.

Gross Sin. 
Is like a Show'r, which ere we can get in  
Into our Conscience, wets us to the skin:  

Sin of Infirmity. 
Is like the falling of an April Shower;  
'Tis often Rain, and Sun-shine, in an hour.  

Sin of Custom. 
Is a long Shower, beginning with the Light  
Oft-times continuing till the Dead of Night.  

Sin of Ignorance.
It is a hideous Mist, that wets amain,  
Though it appear not in the form of Rain.  

Crying Sin.
It is a sudden Shower, that tears in sunder  
The Cope of Heav'n, & alway comes with Thunder.  

Sin of Delight. 
Is like a feathered Shower of Snow, not felt,  
But soaks to th' very skin, when ere it melt:  

Sin of Presumption. 
Does like a Shower of Hail, both wet and wound  
With sudden Death: or strikes us to the Ground.  

The Sin of Sins. 
It is a sulph'rous Shower, such as fell  
On Sodom, strikes, and strikes to th' Pit of Hell.