Page:The Pilgrim's Progress, the Holy War, Grace Abounding Chunk1.djvu/13

Rh By calves and sheep, by heifers and by rams,

By birds and herbs, and by the blood of lambs,

God speaketh to him; and happy is he

That finds the light and grace that in them be.

Be not too forward, therefore, to conclude

That I want solidness—that I am rude:

All things solid in show, not solid be;

All things in parable despise not we,

Lest things most hurtful lightly we receive,

And things that good are of our souls bereave.

My dark and cloudy words, they do but hold

The truth, as cabinets enclose the gold.

The prophets used much by metaphors

To set forth truth; yea, whoso considers

Christ, his apostles too, shall plainly see

That truths to this day in such mantles be.

Am I afraid to say that holy writ,

Which for its style and phrase puts down all wit,

Is everywhere so full of all these things—

Dark figures, allegories? Yet there springs

From that same book that lustre, and those rays

Of light, that turn our darkest nights to days.

Come, let my carper to his life now look,

And ﬁnd there darker lines than in my book

He findeth any; yea, and let him know,

That in his best things there are worse lines too.

May we but stand before impartial men,

To his poor one I dare adventure ten,

That they will take my meaning in these lines

Far better than his lies in silver shrines.