"Your Guilt will stretch your Conscience on the Rack, / You'll be arraign'd, and punish'd for the Fact."
— Pennecuik, Alexander (d. 1730)
Place of Publication
Edinburgh
Publisher
Printed by John Mosman and Company for the Author
Date
1720
Metaphor
"Your Guilt will stretch your Conscience on the Rack, / You'll be arraign'd, and punish'd for the Fact."
Metaphor in Context
"Rude Men, will ye debauch Joacim's Wife,
"Who's Bosom is the Solace of his Life:
"My Virtue cropt, will not Joacim say,
"I'll throw her like a wither'd Weed away,
"Your Motive hath no Force; What's Privicy?
"The supreme Legislator, GOD, is nigh:
"No Solitude excludes his peircing Eye.
"Your Guilt will stretch your Conscience on the Rack,
"You'll be arraign'd, and punish'd for the Fact.
"Dare you, O Judges, break thro' Virtue's Rules?
"Shall God's Vicegerents turn the Devil's Tools?
"Virtue abolish'd, Anguish and Cheeks remains,
"Sathan usurps its Room, the Empire gains;
"He manacles the Soul with adamantine Chains.
"With bosom Rackets, bandy'd too and fro,
"Where shall the helpless, hopeless Sinner go?
"To penal Fire, amongst the damn'd below.
"Plung'd deep in Guilt, Hell triumphs in his Fall,
"The Sinner's Heart is bitter as the Gall:
"Pleasure is grafted upon Innocence;
"Virtue doth Joy, and Peace, and Love dispense.
"Who would not amiable Virtue love,
"Which makes us look on Earth, like Saints above:
"Repent in time your Wickedness of Heart,
"Virtue's the Life, and ornamental Part.
"Check these Emotions doth your Souls invade,
"And hate the hellish lothsome Plot you've laid:
"You know the Statute-Books, When was't you saw,
"Rape and Adult'ry privileged by Law?
"Scandal to ermine Robes, and Judgement-Seat,
"Turn City-Rakes, Intrigue with vain Cocquet.
"Who's Bosom is the Solace of his Life:
"My Virtue cropt, will not Joacim say,
"I'll throw her like a wither'd Weed away,
"Your Motive hath no Force; What's Privicy?
"The supreme Legislator, GOD, is nigh:
"No Solitude excludes his peircing Eye.
"Your Guilt will stretch your Conscience on the Rack,
"You'll be arraign'd, and punish'd for the Fact.
"Dare you, O Judges, break thro' Virtue's Rules?
"Shall God's Vicegerents turn the Devil's Tools?
"Virtue abolish'd, Anguish and Cheeks remains,
"Sathan usurps its Room, the Empire gains;
"He manacles the Soul with adamantine Chains.
"With bosom Rackets, bandy'd too and fro,
"Where shall the helpless, hopeless Sinner go?
"To penal Fire, amongst the damn'd below.
"Plung'd deep in Guilt, Hell triumphs in his Fall,
"The Sinner's Heart is bitter as the Gall:
"Pleasure is grafted upon Innocence;
"Virtue doth Joy, and Peace, and Love dispense.
"Who would not amiable Virtue love,
"Which makes us look on Earth, like Saints above:
"Repent in time your Wickedness of Heart,
"Virtue's the Life, and ornamental Part.
"Check these Emotions doth your Souls invade,
"And hate the hellish lothsome Plot you've laid:
"You know the Statute-Books, When was't you saw,
"Rape and Adult'ry privileged by Law?
"Scandal to ermine Robes, and Judgement-Seat,
"Turn City-Rakes, Intrigue with vain Cocquet.
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Streams from Helicon: or, Poems on Various Subjects. In Three Parts (Edinburgh: Printed by John Mosman, 1720). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
08/11/2004
