I un-hors'd the Whore of Babel, 40
With the lance of Inspiration;
I made her slink,
And spill the drink
In her cup of abomination.
Boldly I preach, &c.
I have seen two in a vision 45
With a flying-book[868] between them.
I have been in despair
Five times in a year,
And been cur'd by reading Greenham.[869]
Boldly I preach, &c.
I observ'd in Perkin's tables[870] 50
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 55
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,[871] 60
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: 66
Come hear me pray nine times a day,
And fill your heads with crotchets.
FOOTNOTES:
[867] Emanuel college, Cambridge, was originally a seminary of Puritans.
[Fuller has left us the following anecdote of Sir Walter Mildmay, the founder of Emanuel, in his History of the University of Cambridge. "Coming to court after he had founded his college, the queen told him, 'Sir Walter, I hear you have erected a Puritan foundation.' 'No madam,' saith he, 'far be it from me to countenance anything contrary to your established laws; but I have set an acorn, which, when it becomes an oak, God alone knows what will be the fruit thereof.'">[
[868] 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.
[869] See Greenham's Works, fol. 1605, particularly the tract intitled, A sweet Comfort for an afflicted Conscience.