How do I spin my time away

In caring how to get

Ungodly wealth, and fret

My self to sweat,

As if thou, Lord, hadst meant this clay

No after life, no reckoning day….

 

Quicken my dull-drooping spirit

That it may praise thy name,

Cleanse it from sin and blame,

Take from it shame.

Grant that by my Saviour’s merit

Eternity it may inherit.

 

Let it not grovelling lie pressed down

With earth, but mount and gain

An everlasting reign;

Let it retain

No dross, and when it shall have thrown

Its cover off, grant it a crown.

 

Henry Colman, Divine Meditations, 1640.