Well-worthy of our better Heeding were, That _Holy Pen-mans_ Lesson, who hath sayd, We should _be slow to Speake, and swift to Heare_; If, well, the nature of the _Tongue_ we waigh’d. For, if we let it loose, it getteth _Wings_, And, flies with wanton Carelesnesse, about; It prateth in all places, of _All things_; Tells _Truth_ and _Lyes_, and babbleth _Secrets_ out. To speake, of things unknowne, it taketh leave, As if it had all Knowledge in Possession; And, _Mysteries_ (which no Man can conceive) Are thought fit Objects for the _Tongues_ Expression. With _Truth_ it mixeth _Errors_; sayes, unsayes; And, is the _Preacher_ of all _Heresies_. That Heart, which gives it motion, it betrayes; And, utters Curses, Oathes, and Blasphemies. It spreads all Slanders, which base Envie raiseth; It moveth Anger, and begetteth Hates: It blameth _Vertue_; filthy Deeds it praiseth; And, causeth Vproares, Murthers, and Debates. Yea, tis the chiefest _Factor_ for the Devill; And, yet, with speeches feignedly-sincere, It otherwhile reproveth what is Evill, And, will in Lowly-words, a _Saint_ appeare. Now this is knowne; we, next of all, should learne, How we may shunne the Mischiefe being knowne; How, we bad _Tongues_, in _Others_, may discerne; And, how to guide and moderate our _Owne_. And, reason good; for, none can apprehend, What Mischiefe doth an Evill _Tongue_ attend. _The =Minde= should have a fixed Eye On Objects, that are plac’d on High._ [Illustration: ΟΥΜE ΒΛLΨΟΝ ΑΝΩ ILLVSTR. XLIII. _Book. 1._]