[* _Reede_, precept.]
Then rouze thy selfe, O Earth! out of thy soyle*,
In which thou wallowest like to filthy swyne,
And doest thy mynd in durty pleasures moyle**, 220
Unmindfull of that dearest Lord of thyne;
Lift up to him thy heavie clouded eyne,
That thou this soveraine bountie mayst behold,
And read, through love, his mercies manifold.
[* _Soyle_, mire.]
[** _Moyle_, defile.]
Beginne from first, where he encradled was 225
In simple cratch*, wrapt in a wad of hay,
Betweene the toylfull oxe and humble asse,
And in what rags, and in how base aray,
The glory of our heavenly riches lay,
When him the silly shepheards came to see, 230
Whom greatest princes sought on lowest knee.
[* _Cratch_, manger.]
From thence reade on the storie of his life,
His humble carriage, his unfaulty wayes,
His cancred foes, his fights, his toyle, his strife,
His paines, his povertie, his sharpe assayes, 235
Through which he past his miserable dayes,
Offending none, and doing good to all,
Yet being malist* both by great and small.
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