Take them to be pure streams; their filth seek in the grout.
Just stir them up a little, for a trial’s sake;
Thou’lt see their mud discolour all the water’s lake.
There’s ooze at bottom of the pond,—be sure of that,—
However clear the surface of the dull dead flat.70
Our greatest teacher is endowed with fair device.
He digs a conduit in the very soil of vice.
How can he make the water of that conduit pure?
All human wisdom’s but one spark from God’s vast store.
Does sword inflict a wound in its own handle,—blade?