XIX. Anthony Munday. Stanzas. Edward Farr, ed. 1845. Select Poetry, Chiefly Devotional, of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth

Edward Farr, ed. Select Poetry of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. 1845.

Stanzas

XIX. Anthony Munday

From “The Complaint of Jonas,” which forms a section of “The Mirror of Mutabilitie.”

YOU therefore that remain on earth,
Let this your minde suffise;
Feare still for to displease the Lord—
Be not to worldly wise.

Fix stil your minde on heauenly things,	5
That neuer wil decay—
The rest are but as shadows heer,
And soone wil passe away.

What vantage is it for a man
To haue of riches store,	10
And for to want the fear of God,
Which stil should be before?

The more a man doth fixe his minde
Vpon that filthy drosse,
The more endamaged is his soule	15
Vnto the vtter losse.

For welth doth pamper him so much,
That God is clene forgot,
And then at last vnto his pain
Vpon him falls the lot;	20

So that all good and vertuous men
From company refuse him,
And where before he was esteem’d,
Now they disdain to vse him. * * * * * * *
Turne vnto God, and God to you	25
Wil turn his cheerful face;
Flye slauish sloth, and then be sure
That God will you imbrace.

For idlenes is enemye
To goodnes, as men say;	30
Therefore doo shun the enemye,
And on the vertue stay.

Let all that haue you preter-past
Examples be to you,
How you may learn in all assayes	35
Vile sin for to eschew.

And thus if you direct your wayes,
You walk the path so right,
That heauen is your inheritance
In foyle of Sathan’s spight.	40