| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Elizabethan Verse. 1907. | | | | Sonnet Prefixed to His Majesty’s Instructions to His Dearest Son, Henry the Prince | | By King James I. (1566–1625) |
| | | GOD gives not kings the style of gods in vain, | |
| For on His Throne His sceptre do they sway; | |
| And as their subjects ought them to obey, | |
| So kings should fear and serve their God again. | |
| If then ye would enjoy a happy reign, | 5 |
| Observe the statutes of your Heavenly King, | |
| And from His Law make all your laws to spring, | |
| Since His lieutenant here ye should remain: | |
| Reward the just; be steadfast, true, and plain; | |
| Repress the proud, maintaining aye the right; | 10 |
| Walk always so as ever in His sight, | |
| Who guards the godly, plaguing the profane, | |
| And so ye shall in princely virtues shine, | |
| Resembling right your mighty king divine. | | | | |
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