he poetical impressiveness
of the old ceremonial, and the ideas which clung to it, its pomp, its
beauty, its suggestiveness, very far removed from the iconoclastic
temper of the Puritans. In his _View of the State of Ireland_, he notes
as a sign of its evil condition the state of the churches, "most of them
ruined and even with the ground," and the rest "so unhandsomely patched
and thatched, that men do even shun the places, for the uncomeliness
thereof." "The outward form (assure yourself)," he adds, "doth greatly
draw the rude people to the reverencing and frequenting thereof,
_whatever some of our late too nice fools may say_, that there is
nothing in the seemly form and comely order of the church."

"Ah! but (said th' Ape) the charge is wondrous great,
To feede mens soules, and hath an heavie threat."
"To feed mens soules (quoth he) is not in man;
For they must feed themselves, doo what we can.
We are but charged to lay the meate before:
Eate they that list, we need to doo no more.
But God it is that feeds them with his grace,
The bread of life powr'd downe from heavenly place.
Therefore said he, that with the budding rod
Did rule the Jewes, _All shalbe taught of God_.
That same hath Jesus Christ now to him raught,
By whom the flock is rightly fed, and taught:
He is the Shepheard, and the Priest is hee;
We but his shepheard swaines ordain'd to bee.
Therefore herewith doo not your selfe dismay;
Ne is the paines so great, but beare ye may,
For not so great, as it was wont of yore,
It's now a dayes, ne halfe so streight and sore.
They whilome used duly everie day
Their service and their holie things to say,
At morne and even, besides their Anthemes sweete,
Their penie Masses, and their Complynes meete,
Their Diriges, their Trentals, and their shrifts,
Their memories, their singings, and their gifts.
Now all those needlesse works are laid away;
Now once a weeke, upon the Sabbath day,
It is enough to doo our small devotion,
And then to follow any merrie motion.
Ne are we tyde to fast, but when we list;
Ne to weare garments base of wollen twist,
But with the finest silkes us to aray,
That before God we may appeare more gay,
Resembling Aarons glorie in his place:
For farre unfit it is, that person bace
Should with vile cloaths approach Gods m