And till they first began to cant 765
And sprinkle down the Covenant,
We ne’er had call in any place,
Nor dream’d of teaching down free grace,
But join’d our gifts perpetually
Against the common enemy. 770
Although ’twas ours and their opinion,
Each other’s Church was but a RIMMON;
And yet, for all this gospel-union,
And outward shew of Church-communion,
They’ll ne’er admit us to our shares 775
Of ruling Church or State affairs;
Nor give us leave t’ absolve, or sentence
T’ our own conditions of repentance;
But shar’d our dividend o’ th’ Crown,
We had so painfully preach’d down; 780
And forc’d us, though against the grain,
T’ have calls to teach it up again: 
For ’twas but justice to restore
The wrongs we had receiv’d before;
And when ’twas held forth in our way, 785
W’ had been ungrateful not to pay;
Who, for the right w’ have done the nation,
Have earn’d our temporal salvation;
And put our vessels in a way
Once more to come again in play. 790
For if the turning of us out
Has brought this Providence about,
And that our only suffering
Is able to bring in the King,
What would our actions not have done, 795
Had we been suffer’d to go on? 
And therefore may pretend t’ a share,
At least; in carrying on th’ affair. 
But whether that be so, or not,
W’ have done enough to have it thought; 800
And that’s as good as if w’ had done’t,
And easier pass’t upon account: 
For if it be but half deny’d,
’Tis half as good as justifi’d. 
The world is nat’rally averse 805
To all the truth it sees or hears
But swallows nonsense, and a lie,
With greediness and gluttony
And though it have the pique, and long,
’Tis still for something in the wrong; 810
As women long, when they’re with child,
For things extravagant and wild;
For meats ridiculous and fulsome,
But seldom any thing that’s wholesome;
And, like the world, men’s jobbernoles 815
Turn round upon their ears, the poles;
And what they’re confidently told,
By no sense else can be control’d. 
And this, perhaps, may prove time means
Once more to hedge-in Providence, 820
For as relapses make diseases
More desp’rate than their first accesses,
If we but get again in pow’r,
Our work is easier than before
And we more ready and expert 825
I’ th’ mystery to do our part. 
We, who did rather undertake
The first war to create than make,
And when of nothing ’twas begun,
Rais’d funds as strange to carry ’t on; 830