He saves the sheep, the goats he doth not save. So rang, Tertullian's sentence, on the side Of that unpitying Phrygian Sect which cried: "Him can no fount of fresh forgiveness lave, Who sins, once washed by the baptismal wave." -- So spake the fierce Tertullian. But she sighed, The infant Church! of love she felt the tide Stream on her from her Lord's yet recent grave. And then she smiled; and in the Catacombs, With eyes suffused but heart inspired true, On those walls subterraneam, where she hid Her head in ignominy, death, and tombs, She her good Shepherd's hasty image drew -- And on his shoulders, not a lamb, a kid. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL THE TROUBADOUR by HORTENSE DE BEAUHARNAIS GOD'S OMNIPRESENCE; A HYMN by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE VERSES WRITTEN ON A PAPER by WILLIAM COLLINS (1721-1759) THE MAYOR OF SCUTTLETON by MARY ELIZABETH MAPES DODGE |