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Yet hath not power aught ill to do.

Then is the axiom clearly true,

That he who made all things in earth

And heaven, ne’er gave foul evil birth.

E’en as a shadow hideth not.

Except the light, one single jot

Of matter, so in equal wise

The man in whom no virtue lies,

By God was simply left all void

Of good. His soul then if destroyed

And lost for ever by gross sin,

Did not from God perdition win.

Also the Scriptures go so far,

Well knowing what the wicked are,

As say a sinner is no man.

To prove this were none other than

Mere waste of time, for is it not

In many a Scripture found, God wot?

Yet natheless, if thou wilt but bear

Some short space with me, thou shalt hear,

Among a thousand reasons, some

Which, staying not for others, come

Within my mind. The common end

Toward which all living things should tend

Forsake they, yet the first it is,

And highest of all things, ywis.

And other reasons might, if sought,

Be found, why wicked men are nought,

By him who notes the road they fare.

Seeing they live all unaware

Of that one end and aim which each

And all on earth should strive to reach.