Anglican clergy called to account

14 Apr 2022 | Church | 0 comments

O, when our clergy, at the Dreadful Day,

Shall make their audit, when the Judge shall say

‘Give your accounts. What have my lambs been fed?

Say, do they all stand sound? Is there none dead

By your defaults? Come, shepherds, bring them forth

That I may crown your labours in their worth.’

O, what an answer will be given by some!

‘We have been silenced: Canons struck us dumb:

The great ones would not let us feed thy flock,

Unless we played the fools and wore a frock:

We were forbid unless we’ld yield to a sign

And cross their brows – they say, a mark of thine.

To say the truth, great Judge, they were not fed,

Lord, here they be; but Lord, they all be dead.’

 

Francis Quarles (1592-1644), On Those that Deserve It.

Notes from the Compiler

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