My zeal deride,
And all my deeds misconster.
Boldly I preach, &c.
I un-hors'd the Whore of Babel,
With the lance of Inspiration;
I made her stink,
And spill the drink
In her cup of abomination.
Boldly I preach, &c.
I have seen two in a vision
With a flying book[2] between them.
I have been in despair
Five times in a year,
And been cur'd by reading Greenham.[3]
Boldly I preach, &c.
I observ'd in Perkin's tables[4]
The black line of damnation;
Those crooked veins
So stuck in my brains,
That I fear'd my reprobation.
Boldly I preach, &c.
In the holy tongue of Canaan
I plac'd my chiefest pleasure:
Till I prick'd my foot
With an Hebrew root,
That I bled beyond all measure.
Boldly I preach, &c.
I appear'd before the archbishop,[5]
And all the high commission;
I gave him no grace,
But told him to his face,
That he favour'd superstition.
Boldly I preach, hate a cross, hate a surplice,
Mitres, copes, and rochets:
Come hear me pray nine times a day,
And fill your heads with crotchets.
NOTES
- Emanuel College, Cambridge, was originally a seminary of Puritans.
- Alluding to some visionary exposition of Zech. ch. v. ver. 1; or, if the date of this
song would permit, one might suppose it aimed at one Coppe, a strange enthusiast,
whose life may be seen in Wood's Athen. vol. ii. p. 501. He was author of a book,
intitled,The Fiery Flying Roll: and afterwards published a recantation, part of whose
title is,The Fiery Flying Roll's Wings clipt, &c. - See Greenham's Works, fol. 1605, particularly the tract intitledA sweet Comfort for
an afflicted Conscience.