Where long and deeply hath been fixed the root
In the blest soil of gospel truth, the Tree,
(Blighted or scathed tho’ many branches be,
Put forth to wither, many a hopeful shoot)
Can never cease to bear celestial fruit.
Witness the Church that oft-times, with effect
Dear to the saints, strives earnestly to eject
Her bane, her vital energies recruit.
Lamenting, do not hopelessly repine,
When such good work is doomed to be undone,
The conquests lost that were so hardly won:
All promises vouchsafed by Heaven will shine
In light confirmed while years their course shall run,
Confirmed alike in progress and decline.
Read all of William Wordsworth's poems · About William Wordsworth
More by William Wordsworth
- Ecclesiastical Sonnets - Part II. - XI - Transubstantiation
- Ecclesiastical Sonnets - Part II. - XII - The Vaudois
- Ecclesiastical Sonnets - Part II. - XIII - Praised Be The Rivers, From Their Mountain Springs
- Ecclesiastical Sonnets - Part II. - XIV - Waldenses
- Ecclesiastical Sonnets - Part II. - XIX - Abuse Of Monastic Power
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