"Of a Contented Spirit"

Following up on yesterday's post (UPDATE:  Which, for some reason, was not posted!  Sorry!) about the possible contemporary relevance of the English recusants, here are some lines from Lord Thomas Vaux, "Of a Contented Spirit":

WHEN all is done and said, in the end this shall you find:
He most of all doth bathe in bliss that hath a quiet mind;
And, clear from worldly cares, to dream can be content
The sweetest time in all this life in thinking to be spent.
The body subject is to fickle Fortune’s power,	5
And to a million of mishaps is casual every hour;
And death in time doth change it to a clod of clay;
Whenas the mind, which is divine, runs never to decay.
Companion none is like unto the mind alone,
For many have been harmed by speech,—through thinking, few or none;	10
Fear oftentimes restraineth words, but makes not thought to cease;
And he speaks best that hath the skill when for to hold his peace.
Our wealth leaves us at death, our kinsmen at the grave;
But virtues of the mind unto the heavens with us we have:
Wherefor, for Virtue’s sake, I can be well content	15
The sweetest time of all my life to deem in thinking spent.