Page:What cheer, or, Roger Williams in banishment (1896).pdf/18

 VII.

And, while the holy book he pondered o'er, And often told, to cheer his consort's breast, How, for their faith, the blest apostles bore The exile's wanderings and the dungeon's pest, A heavy foot approached his humble door, And some one, opening, instant entrance prest: A well-known elder was he, strict and sour,— Strong in a church ensphered in civil power.

VIII.

"I come," he said in accents hard and stern, "The Governor's and Council's word to bear: They are convened, and hear, with deep concern, That thou abusest their indulgence fair; Ay, with resentment and abhorrence learn  That still thou dost thy specious tenets share With visitors, who, smit therewith, discern Strange godliness in thee, and from us turn.

IX.

"Till spring we gave; and thou wast not to teach Thy interdicted doctrines here the while, But curb thy tongue, or with submissive speech  The church regain, and quit thy errors vile; Of which condition thou committest breach,  And dost her saints from Salem's church beguile; And plan, 'tis said, to found in easy reach A State where Antichrist himself may preach.

X.

"From such a State our blessed elders see The church may, even here, the infection share; And therefore have the Council made decree,  That to the wilderness thou shalt not fare;