Emblem IV.26: Apollo shoots not ev'ry day

Apollo shoots not ev'ry day,
But, sometime on his Harpe doth play.

THere are a sort of people so severe,
That, foolish, and injurious too, they are;
And, if the world were to bee rul'd by these,
Nor Soule, not Bodie, ever should have ease.
The Sixe dayes, (as their wisdomes understand)
Are to bee spent in Labour, by command,
With such a strictnesse, that they quite condemne
All Recreations which are us'd in them.
That, which is call'd the Sabbath, they confine
To Prayers, and all Offices-divine,
So wholly, that a little Recreation,
That Day, is made a marke of Reprobation:
And, (by this meanes) the reason is to seeke,
When their poore Servants labour all the weeke,
(Of which, they'l bate them nothing) how it tyes
Them, to observe the sixe-fold Sacrifice
By some injoyn'd; and gives them such due Rest,
As God allowed, both to Man and Beast.
Hee, gave the Woods, the Fields, and Meddowes, here,
A time to rest, as well as times to beare.
The Forrest Boasts, and Heards, have howres for play,
As well as time to graze, and hunt their prey:
And, ev'ry Bird some leasure hath to sing,
Or, in the Aire, to sport it on her wing.
And, sure, to him, for whom all these were made,
Lesse kindnesse was not meant, then these have had.
The Flesh will faint, if pleasure none it knowes;
The Man growes madd, that alway muzing goes.
The Wisest men, will sometimes merry bee:
And, this is that, this Emblem teacheth me.