148 BAXTER'S ?OEMS. As thorns and briars, prick men to the bone, So these by hurtful hands and cruel laws . They're humble minister-s, but rule as lords, Servants of all, yet vice-kings under Christ : On pain of hell, all must obey their words, If you will serve God, you must se,rve them first . Heav'ns keys are theirs, their right we must not doubt To curse and cast out those whom Christ takes in . These they by words, themselves indeed shut out, By mortal, fleshly, and malignant sin. Christ's house a place of. merchandize is made, Children cast out, his table spread for dogs; To make sound Christians odious is their trade, To curse God's saints, and cast their pearls to hogs . The holy Catholic church is in their creed, Which is, all true believers upon earth ; Of whom Christ only is the king and head, To him they joined are in the new birth. But these men mean one corrupt sect alone, About the fourth part of the whole are they ; Cut off, and separated from the rest as none, Their pope and councils that do not obey. ,.The ·saints communion they in words profess Themselves, and dead men's images they mean ; None pass for saints who do not wear this dress , The best, if not their subjects are unclean . Call them but heretics, and they may kill A thousand saints, and by it Heaven may win ; Such is the power of a papal will, To make a_virtue of the greatest sin
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