| KINDE pitty chokes my spleene; brave scorn forbids | |
| Those tears to issue which swell my eye-lids; | |
| I must not laugh, nor weepe sinnes, and be wise, | |
| Can railing then cure these worne maladies? | |
| Is not our Mistresse faire Religion, | 5 |
| As worthy of all our Soules devotion, | |
| As vertue was to the first blinded age? | |
| Are not heavens joyes as valiant to asswage | |
| Lusts, as earths honour was to them? Alas, | |
| As wee do them in meanes, shall they surpasse | 10 |
| Us in the end, and shall thy fathers spirit | |
| Meete blinde Philosophers in heaven, whose merit | |
| Of strict life may be imputed faith, and heare | |
| Thee, whom hee taught so easie wayes and neare | |
| To follow, damn'd? O if thou dar'st, feare this; | 15 |
| This feare great courage, and high valour is. | |
| Dar'st thou ayd mutinous Dutch, and dar'st thou lay | |
| Thee in ships woodden Sepulchers, a prey | |
| To leaders rage, to stormes, to shot, to dearth? | |
| Dar'st thou dive seas, and dungeons of the earth? | 20 |
| Hast thou couragious fire to thaw the ice | |
| Of frozen North discoueries? and thrise | |
| Colder then Salamanders, like divine | |
| Children in th'oven, fires of Spaine, and the line, | |
| Whose countries limbecks to our bodies bee, | 25 |
| Canst thou for gaine beare? and must every hee | |
| Which cryes not, Goddesse, to thy Mistresse, draw, | |
| Or eate thy poysonous words? courage of straw! | |
| O desperate coward, wilt thou seeme bold, and | |
| To thy foes and his (who made thee to stand | 30 |
| Sentinell in his worlds garrison) thus yeeld, | |
| And for forbidden warres, leave th'appointed field? | |
| Know thy foes: The foule Devill (whom thou | |
| Strivest to please,) for hate, not love, would allow | |
| Thee faine, his whole Realme to be quit; and as | 35 |
| The worlds all parts wither away and passe, | |
| So the worlds selfe, thy other lov'd foe, is | |
| In her decrepit wayne, and thou loving this, | |
| Dost love a withered and worne strumpet; last, | |
| Flesh (it selfes death) and joyes which flesh can taste, | 40 |
| Thou lovest; and thy faire goodly soule, which doth | |
| Give this flesh power to taste joy, thou dost loath. | |
| Seeke true religion. O where? Mirreus | |
| Thinking her unhous'd here, and fled from us, | |
| Seekes her at Rome; there, because hee doth know | 45 |
| That shee was there a thousand yeares agoe, | |
| He loves her ragges so, as wee here obey | |
| The statecloth where the Prince sate yesterday. | |
| Crantz to such brave Loves will not be inthrall'd, | |
| But loves her onely, who at Geneva is call'd | 50 |
| Religion, plaine, simple, sullen, yong, | |
| Contemptuous, yet unhansome; As among | |
| Lecherous humors, there is one that judges | |
| No wenches wholsome, but course country drudges, | |
| Graius stayes still at home here, and because | 55 |
| Some Preachers, vile ambitious bauds, and lawes | |
| Still new like fashions, bid him thinke that shee | |
| Which dwels with us, is onely perfect, hee | |
| Imbraceth her, whom his Godfathers will | |
| Tender to him, being tender, as Wards still | 60 |
| Take such wives as their Guardians offer; or | |
| Pay valewes. Carelesse Phrygius doth abhorre | |
| All, because all cannot be good, as one | |
| Knowing some women whores, dares marry none. | |
| Graccus loves all as one, and thinkes that so | 65 |
| As women do in divers countries goe | |
| In divers habits, yet are still one kinde, | |
| So doth, so is Religion; and this blind- | |
| nesse too much light breeds; but unmoved thou | |
| Of force must one, and forc'd but one allow; | 70 |
| And the right; aske thy father which is shee, | |
| Let him aske his; though truth and falshood bee | |
| Neare twins, yet truth a little elder is; | |
| Be busie to seeke her, beleeve mee this, | |
| Hee 's not of none, nor worst, that seekes the best | 75 |
| To adore, or scorne an image, or protest, | |
| May all be bad; doubt wisely; in strange way | |
| To stand inquiring right, is not to stray; | |
| To sleepe, or runne wrong, is. On a huge hill, | |
| Cragged, and steep, Truth stands, and hee that will | 80 |
| Reach her, about must, and about must goe; | |
| And what the hills suddennes resists, winne so; | |
| Yet strive so, that before age, deaths twilight, | |
| Thy Soule rest, for none can worke in that night. | |
| To will, implyes delay, therefore now doe: | 85 |
| Hard deeds, the bodies paines; hard knowledge too | |
| The mindes indeavours reach, and mysteries | |
| Are like the Sunne, dazling, yet plaine to all eyes. | |
| Keepe the truth which thou hast found; men do not stand | |
| In so ill case here, that God hath with his hand | 90 |
| Sign'd Kings blanck-charters to kill whom they hate, | |
| Nor are they Vicars, but hangmen to Fate. | |
| Foole and wretch, wilt thou let thy Soule be tyed | |
| To mans lawes, by which she shall not be tryed | |
| At the last day? Oh, will it then boot thee | 95 |
| To say a Philip, or a Gregory, | |
| A Harry, or a Martin taught thee this? | |
| Is not this excuse for mere contraries, | |
| Equally strong? cannot both sides say so? | |
| That thou mayest rightly obey power, her bounds know; | 100 |
| Those past, her nature, and name is chang'd; to be | |
| Then humble to her is idolatrie. | |
| As streames are, Power is; those blest flowers that dwell | |
| At the rough streames calme head, thrive and do well, | |
| But having left their roots, and themselves given | 105 |
| To the streames tyrannous rage, alas, are driven | |
| Through mills, and rockes, and woods, and at last, almost | |
| Consum'd in going, in the sea are lost: | |
| So perish Soules, which more chuse mens unjust | |
| Power from God claym'd, then God himselfe to trust. | 110 |
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