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| I WOULD I were an excellent divine, | |
| That had the Bible at my fingers’ ends; | |
| That men might hear out of this mouth of mine | |
| How God doth make his enemies his friends; | |
| Rather than with a thundering and long prayer | 5 |
| Be led into presumption, or despair. | |
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| This would I be, and would none other be, | |
| But a religious servant of my God; | |
| And know there is none other God but he, | |
| And willingly to suffer mercy’s rod,— | 10 |
| Joy in his grace, and live but in his love, | |
| And seek my bliss but in the world above. | |
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| And I would frame a kind of faithful prayer, | |
| For all estates within the state of grace, | |
| That careful love might never know despair, | 15 |
| Nor servile fear might faithful love deface; | |
| And this would I both day and night devise | |
| To make my humble spirit’s exercise. | |
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| And I would read the rules of sacred life; | |
| Persuade the troubled soul to patience; | 20 |
| The husband care, and comfort to the wife, | |
| To child and servant due obedience; | |
| Faith to the friend, and to the neighbor peace, | |
| That love might live, and quarrels all might cease. | |
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| Prayer for the health of all that are diseased, | 25 |
| Confession unto all that are convicted, | |
| And patience unto all that are displeased, | |
| And comfort unto all that are afflicted, | |
| And mercy unto all that have offended, | |
| And grace to all, that all may be amended. | 30 |
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