‘A Hymn to God the  Father’

 

Hear me, O God!

A broken heart

Is my best prayer;

Use still thy rod

That I may prove

Therein thy love.

 

If thou hadst not

Been stern to me,

But left me free,

I had forgot

Myself and Thee.

 

For sin’s so sweet,

As minds ill bent

Rarely repent,

Until they meet

Their punishment.

 

Who more can crave

Than thou hast done,

That gav’st a son

To free a slave,

First made of nought,

With all since bought?

 

Ben Jonson (1572-1637)