He ought,—so Satan spake; he must,—so Atheism urgeth;
He may,—it was the libertine's thought; he doth,—the bad world said it.
But thou of humbler heart, thou student wiser for simplicity,
While Nature warneth thee betimes, heed the loving counsel of Religion.
True, this change is good, and penitence most precious;
But trust not thou thy change, nor rest upon repentance:
For all we are corrupted at the core, smooth as surface seemeth;
What health can bloom in a beautiful skin, when rottenness hath fed upon the bones?
And guilt is parcel of us all; not thou, sweet nursling of affection,
Art spotless, though so passing fair,—nor thou, mild patriarch of virtue.