The egg, when laid, by warmth is made a chicken, And Christ, by grace, those dead in sin doth quicken. The shell doth crack, the chick doth chirp and peep, The flesh decays, as men do pray and weep. But chicks from rotten eggs do not proceed, Nor is a hypocrite a saint indeed. The rotten egg, though underneath the hen, If crack'd, stinks, and is loathsome unto men. The hypocrite, sin has him in possession, He is a rotten egg under profession.
Some eggs bring spiders, and some men appear More venom'd than the worst of spiders are.
Thus divers eggs do produce divers shapes, As like some men as monkeys are like apes. But this is but an egg, were it a chick, Here had been legs, and wings, and bones to pick. Click here to return to your spot.