Works

God doth embrace the good with love; and gains
The good by mercy, as the bad by pains.

'Tis worse than barbarous cruelty to show
No part of pity on a conquered foe.

Where pleasures rule a kingdom, never there
Is sober virtue seen to move her sphere.

All are not ill plots that do sometimes fail;
Nor those false vows which ofttimes don't prevail.

Here I myself might likewise die,
And utterly forgotten lie,
But that eternal poetry
Repullulation gives me here
Unto the thirtieth thousand year,
When all now dead shall reappear.

Wantons we are, and though our words be such,
Our lives do differ from our lines by much.

That princes may possess a surer seat,
'Tis fit they make no one with them too great.

Those possessions short-liv'd are,
Into the which we come by war.

Let others to the printing-press run fast;
Since after death comes glory, I'll not haste.

Love and the Graces evermore do wait
Upon the man that is a potentate.

Who with a little cannot be content,
Endures an everlasting punishment.

Give Want her welcome if she comes; we find
Riches to be but burdens to the mind.

To mortal men great loads allotted be,
But of all packs, no pack like poverty.

'Tis never, or but seldom known,
Power and peace to keep one throne.

First offer incense; then, thy field and meads
Shall smile and smell the better by thy beads.
The spangling dew dredged o'er the grass shall be
Turn'd all to mell and manna there for thee....

First offer incense, then thy field and meads
Shall smile and smell the better by thy beads.
The spangling dew, dredg'd o'er the grass, shall be
Turn'd all to mell and manna there for thee....

A prayer that is said alone
Starves, having no companion.
Great things ask for when thou dost pray,
And those great are which ne'er decay.
Pray not for silver, rust eats this;...

God, He rejects all prayers that are slight
And want their poise: words ought to have their weight.

Good precepts we must firmly hold,
By daily learning we wax old.

Predestination is the cause alone
Of many standing, but of fall to none.