Works

True rev'rence is, as Cassiodore doth prove,
The fear of God commix'd with cleanly love.

Like to the income must be our expense;
Man's fortune must be had in reverence.

All things are open to these two events,
Or to rewards, or else to punishments.

Still to our gains our chief respect is had;
Reward it is that makes us good or bad.

God could have made all rich, or all men poor;
But why He did not, let me tell wherefore:
Had all been rich, where then had patience been?
Had all been poor, who had His bounty seen?

Roaring is nothing but a weeping part
Forced from the mighty dolour of the heart.

Men must have bounds how far to walk; for we
Are made far worse by lawless liberty.

Sabbaths are threefold, as St. Austin says:
The first of time, or Sabbath here of days;
The second is a conscience trespass-free;
The last the Sabbath of Eternity.

What though the sea be calm? Trust to the shore;
Ships have been drown'd, where late they danced before.

For my neighbour I'll not know,
Whether high he builds or no:
Only this I'll look upon,
Firm be my foundation.
Sound or unsound, let it be!
'Tis the lot ordain'd for me....

Partly work and partly play
Ye must on S. Distaff's day:
From the plough soon free your team,
Then come home and fodder them.
If the maids a-spinning go,
Burn the flax and fire the tow;...

Christ, I have read, did to His chaplains say,
Sending them forth, Salute no man by th' way:
Not that He taught His ministers to be
Unsmooth or sour to all civility,
But to instruct them to avoid all snares...

When we 'gainst Satan stoutly fight, the more
He tears and tugs us than he did before;
Neglecting once to cast a frown on those
Whom ease makes his without the help of blows.

For all our works a recompence is sure;
'Tis sweet to think on what was hard t'endure.

Although our suffering meet with no relief,
An equal mind is the best sauce for grief.

Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt;
Nothing's so hard but search will find it out.

Shame is a bad attendant to a state:
He rents his crown that fears the people's hate.

He who has suffered shipwreck fears to sail
Upon the seas, though with a gentle gale.

This lady's short, that mistress she is tall;
But long or short, I'm well content with all.

Suffer thy legs, but not thy tongue to walk:
God, the Most Wise, is sparing of His talk.