A Godly Mediation: Give me thy grace, good Lord, To set the world at nought', To set my mind fast upon thee. And not to hang upon the blast of men's mouths. To be content to be solitary, Not to long for worldly company, Little and little utterly to cast off the world, And rid my mind of all the business thereof. Not to long to hear of any worldly things, But that the hearing of worldly phantasies may be to me displeasant. Gladly thinking of God, Piteously to call for his help, To lean unto the comfort of God, Busily labour to love him. To know mine own vility and wretchedness, To humble and meeken myself under the mighty hand of God, To bewail my sins passed, For the purging of them, patiently to suffer adversity. Gladly to bear my pergatory here, To be joyful of tribulations, To walk the narrow way that leadeth to Life…..
Written by Sir Thomas More, Knight, while he was prisoner in the Tower of London, the year of our Lord 1534.