 | Three Hundred Sonnets |  |
289
TO CERTAIN PRELATES.
Were ye not posted upon Zion-hillWardens and warriors, sworn and paid to keep
From harms and heresies your Master's sheep,
From thieves that plunder and from wolves that kill?
And how did ye such heavenly trust fulfil?
Let England tell it out: these purple lords
Over God's heritage, who love to sleep,
Welcomed the wolf; fawned on the powers of ill,—
And, all for prudence, smiled with courtly words
On old insidious Rome:—why were ye sent
Save as protesting champions of the right?
Why thus arrayed in spiritual might,
If in the day of battle ye repent
Of honour, courage, truth,—and will not fight?
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