Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SEEKER, by MATTHEW GREEN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SEEKER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When I first came to london, I rambled about
Last Line: Tis plain, without turnpikes, so nothing to pay.'
Subject(s): Friends, Religious Society Of; Quakers


1 WHEN I first came to London, I rambled about
From sermon to sermon, took a slice and went out.
Then on me, in divinity bachelor, tried
Many priests to obtrude a Levitical bride;
And urging their various opinions, intended
To make me wed systems, which they recommended.

2 Said a lech'rous old friar skulking near Lincoln's-Inn,
(Whose trade's to absolve, but whose pastime's to sin;
Who, spider-like, seizes weak Protestant flies,
Which hung in his sophistry cobweb he spies;)
'Ah! pity your soul, for without our church pale,
If you happen to die, to be damn'd you can't fail;
The Bible you boast, is a wild revelation:
Hear a church that can't err if you hope for salvation.'

3 Said a formal non-con, (whose rich stock of grace
Lies forward exposed in shop-window of face,)
'Ah! pity your soul: come, be of our sect:
For then you are safe, and may plead you're elect.
As it stands in the Acts, we can prove ourselves saints,
Being Christ's little flock everywhere spoke against.'

4 Said a jolly church parson, (devoted to ease,
While penal law dragons guard his golden fleece,)
'If you pity your soul, I pray listen to neither;
The first is in error, the last a deceiver:
That ours is the true church, the sense of our tribe is,
And surely in medio tutissimus ibis.'

5 Said a yea and nay friend with a stiff hat and band,
(Who while he talked gravely would hold forth his hand,)
'Dominion and wealth are the aim of all three,
Though about ways and means they may all disagree;
Then pr'ythee be wise, go the quakers' by-way,
'Tis plain, without turnpikes, so nothing to pay.'





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