Advice, To Guard Against Poem by Rees Prichard

SHOU'D Satan promise thee, or house or land,
If thou wou'dst kneel and worship at his feet :
Tell him, he has not at his own command
A foot of ground, besides th' infernal pit.

Shou'd Satan ever tempt thy hands to touch
Thy neighbour's wife, and to defile his bed:
Tell him that vengeance ever waits on such,
And hovers dreadful o'er each guilty head.

Shou'd Satan tempt thee o'er thy bowl to stay,
'Till drunkenness has overwhelm'd thy soul:
Tell him that drunkards at the latter day,
Shall in fierce floods of fire and sulphur roll.

Shou'd Satan prompt thy tongue to swear and curse,
And make thy Saviour's blood and wounds its theme,
Tell him there can be no transgression worse,
Than thy Redeemer's suff'rings to blaspheme.

Shou'd Satan ever tempt thee to oppress
The Orphan - say, 'tis scarce a greater sin
To pull out Christ's own eyes - than to distress
The helpless Orphan, that has lost his kin.

Shou'd Satan prompt thee, to make use of fraud,
Or make thee play the perjur'd liar's part -
Tell him, the righteous Judge, th' eternal God,
Has fix'd an hatred of them in thy heart.

Shou'd Satan tempt thee, in the gloom of night,
The secret works of darkness to transact -
Tell him, that God, who is the source of light,
With his all-seeing eyes surveys each fact.

Whene'er he tempts thee foully to belie,
Or ridicule a brother, maim'd or lame -
He fain wou'd then persuade thee to defie
The living Lord, and curse thy Maker's name.

Whene'er he prompts thee to repeat or make
A lie - to slay thy precious soul he aims
With shameless front, or plunge it in the lake,
That ever rages with sulpherous flames.

Whene'er he seeks to drive thee to despair,
He thinks to force thee to the realms below,
Where bloody Cain, and Saul, and Judas are,
Though thou the truest penitence shou'dst show.

Whenever Satan by his efforts tries
To turn thy footsteps from the temple-door -
He slily seeks to keep thee from the skies;
Because at church thou didst not Christ adore.

Tho' he attempts to make thee turn away,
Whilst God's own Ministers the Gospel preach,
He only aims to barricade the way,
Lest thou shou'd chance the tree of life to reach.

If in the church he tries to make thee nod,
(Where Christians shou'd, to pray'r alone, resort)
He only strives to make thee mock thy God,
In his own temple, and his holy court.

Beware of sleeping, then, when thou shou'dst pray:
Worse than a Devil is the man, that dares
To mock his God, upon a Sabbath day,
And on his knees, with hypocrite airs.

Shou'd Satan ever tempt thee to delay,
At the communion-table to appear;
Thy seal of pardon he'd fain steal away,
By hindring thee to pay thy homage there.

If from thy heart, the Gospel of the Lord
Which thou hast heard, he studies to efface -
He tries to rob thee of the pow'rful word,
By which alone thou canst improve in grace.

If he can once prevail on thee to bear
A Christian name, yet no religion have -
He'll make the servant of the Lord appear
The Devil's drudge, and most devoted slave.

If he a fruitless faith wou'd have thee boast,
On which no works concomitant attent -
Thou'lt find it, dead - and find it, to thy cost,
A faith, that cannot save thee, in the end.

Shou'd he from penitence thy soul restrain,
'Till death, and make thee each good work postpone:
He hinders thee God's mercy to obtain,
Until perhaps the time of mercy's gone.

Satan will leave no sort of scheme untry'd,
By means whereof he may expect success,
No stone unturn'd, no measure unapply'd -
'Till, if he can, he brings thee to transgress.

The tempter roves about, both night and day -
By night and day, then of his wiles beware:
For there's no place, wherein he will not lay
His toils, our heedless footsteps to ensnare.

At church, in thy own grounds, at home, abroad,
Intent on work, or unreserv'd at play,
At table, in thy bed, or on the road,
Satan, where-e'er thou art, wou'd there betray.

Be therefore, like a warrior, still prepar'd,
And never fail thy panoply to wear,
And on thy actions keep a constant guard -
Lest Satan shou'd thy soul in pieces tear.

Woe unto him, who was in Childhood wild,
In youth, a spendthrift, and a churl, in age!
Since he, thereby, has Satan's will fulfill'd,
Throughout his life, in ev'ry diff'rent stage.

Take heed, my soul - of Satan's wiles beware:
He always aims all ages to trepan -
In all thy paths he'll lay a latent snare,
To catch thy careless feet, whene'er he can.

He'll strive to make thee pass thy youthful days,
Ever in fruitless, vain pursuits employ'd,
In dancing, riot, and such idle ways -
Ways of all virtue and all merit void.

In manhood, he will try to take thee in,
With women and with wine thy time to waste,
And thy pure vessel to defile with sin,
With foul concupiscence, and deeds unchaste.

When age comes on, he'll labour to divert
Thy thoughts from God, and penitence sincere,
And ev'ry purpose of thy soul pervert
To muck-worm avarice and worldly care.

Endeavour then, whatever stage thou'rt in,
From Satan's snares to extricate thy mind,
Who'll seek thy utter ruin by the sin,
To which he finds thy nature most inclin'd.