Upon the place beneath :* it is twice bless'd;
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes:
"Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above the scepter'd sway,
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings;
It is an attribute to God himself;†

And earthly power doth then show likest God's,
When mercy seasons justice.

Consider this,

That in the course of justice, none of us

Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.‡

729

God's mercies to be remembered.

Let never day nor night unhallow'd pass,

But still remember what the Lord hath done.

9-iv. 1.

730

The same.

22-ii. 1.

Heaven set ope thy everlasting gates,

To entertain my vows of thanks and praise!

731

Provocation against Heaven.

22-iv. 9.

The heavens do low'r upon you, for some ill;

Move them no more, by crossing their high will.§

35-iv. 5.

732

Divine judgment.

If my suspect be false, forgive me, God;

For judgment only doth belong to thee!

22-iii. 2.

22-iii. 3.

Forbear to judge, for we are sinners all.

734

The terrors of guilt in death.

O thou eternal Mover of the heavens,
Look with a gentle eye upon this wretch!

* Mercy is seasonable in the time of affliction, as clouds of rain

in the time of drought.-Eccles. xxxv. 20.

† Micah vii. 18.

Matt. vi. 12, 14, 15.

§ Deut. ix. 8. Ps. cvi. 43.

O, beat away the busy meddling fiend,
That lays strong siege unto this wretch's soul,
And from this bosom purge this black despair!

735

The danger of trifling before God. Take heed, you dally not before your king; Lest He, that is the supreme King of kings, Confound your hidden falsehood.

736

22-iii. 3.

24-ii. 1.

Murder.

The great King of kings

Hath in the table of his law commanded,
That thou shalt do no murder.

Take heed; for he holds vengeance in his hand,

To hurl upon their heads that break his law.

737

The same.

Blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries,

24-i. 4.

Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth.*

738

Submission to God's will.

Put we our quarrel to the will of Heaven,
Who, when he sees the hours ripe on earth,
Will rain hot vengeance on offenders' heads.

God will be avenged for the deed;

Take not the quarrel from his powerful arm;
He needs no indirect nor lawless course,
To cut off those that have offended him.

740

17-i. 1.

17-i. 2.

24-i. 4.

Trust in Providence.

Confess yourself to heaven;

Repent what's past: avoid what is to come :

And do not spread the compost on the weeds,

To make them ranker.

*Gen. iv. 10.

Matt. iii. 8.

36-iii. 4.

† Prov. iii. 6.

§ Manure.

742

True repentance.

Arraign your conscience,

And try your penitence, if it be sound,

Or hollowly put on.

But lest you do repent, As that the sin hath brought you to this shame,*— Which sorrow is always toward ourselves, not heaven; Showing, we'd not spare heaven,† as we love it, But as we stand in fear.

Try what repentance can: What can it not?
Yet what can it, when one can not repent?
O wretched state! O bosom, black as death!
O limed soul, that, struggling to be free,
Art more engaged!

5-ii. 3.

36-iii. 3.

When I would pray and think, I think and pray
To several subjects: Heaven in my mouth,

As if I did but only chew His name;

And in my heart, the strong and swelling evil
Of my conception.

745

The same.

Pray, can I not,

Though inclination be as sharp as will;
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent;
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect.

5-ii. 4.

36-iii. 3.

May one be pardon'd, and retain the offence?
In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice;
And oft tis seen, the wicked prize, itself
Buys out the law: But 'tis not so above:
There is no shuffling, there the action lies
In his true nature; and we ourselves compell'd

* 2 Cor. vii. 10.

† Spare to offend heaven.

Rom. ii. 5.

36-iii. 3.

Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence.

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:
Words, without thoughts, never to heaven go.

748

God's care over his creatures.

He that doth the ravens feed,

Yea, providently caters for the sparrow,*
Be comfort to my age!

36-iii. 3.

10-ii. 3.

10-iv. 3.

To tell you what I was, since my conversion
So sweetly tastes, being the thing I am.

750

Submission to the Divine will.

I shall be well content with any choice,
Tends to God's glory, and my country's weal.

751

21-v. 1.

God the Christian's hope.

God shall be my hope,

My stay, my guide, and lantern to my feet.†

752

Self-abasement.

22-ii. 3.

Being free from vainness and self-glorious pride;
Giving full trophy, signal, and ostent,

Quite from himself, to God.

Withhold thine indignation, mighty Heaven,
And tempt us not to bear above our power!‡

754

God the widow's friend.

Heaven, the widow's champion and defence.§

20-v. 1.

16-v. 6.

17-i. 2.

*Matt. vi. 26.
1 Cor. x. 13.

† Ps. xxxvii. 39.-xlvi. 1.-cxix. 105. § Exod. xxii. 22, 23. Ps. lxviii. 5.

The words of heaven;-on whom it will, it will;
On whom it will not, so; yet still 'tis just.* 5-i. 3.

Chosen from above,

By inspiration of celestial grace.

21-v. 4.

758

Want of resignation.

God is much displeased,

That you take with unthankfulness his doing;
In common worldly things, 'tis call'd-ungrateful,
With dull unwillingness to repay a debt,
Which with a bounteous hand was kindly lent;
Much more to be thus opposite with heaven,
For it requires the debt it lent you.†

759

Authority given from God.

24-ii. 2.

From whom hast thou this great commission?

From that supernal Judge, that stirs good thoughts

In any breast of strong authority,

To look into the blots and stains of right.

760

Faith in supernatural power.

What impossibility would slay

In common sense, sense saves another way.‡

761

The evil of feigned prayer.

16-ii. 1.

11-ii. 1.

That high All-seer which I dallied with,
Hath turn'd my feigned prayer on my head,
And given in earnest what I begg'd in jest.
Thus doth he force the swords of wicked men

To turn their own points on their master's bosoms.

24-v. 1.

*Rom. ix. 15.-It shows that Shakspeare had a most correct idea of the nature of Divine sovereignty.

† Job i. 21.

Rom. iv. 18-21.