Religion

Clerical Integrity

by William Wordsworth 1770–1850

From Ecclesiastical Sonnets

Religion

Nor shall the eternal roll of praise reject
Those Unconforming; whom one rigorous day
Drives from their Cures, a voluntary prey
To poverty, and grief, and disrespect,
And some to want--as if by tempests wrecked
On a wild coast; how destitute! did They
Feel not that Conscience never can betray,
That peace of mind is Virtue's sure effect.
Their altars they forego, their homes they quit,
Fields which they love, and paths they daily trod,
And cast the future upon Providence;
As men the dictate of whose inward sense
Outweighs the world; whom self-deceiving wit
Lures not from what they deem the cause of God.

MLA

Wordsworth, William. “Clerical Integrity.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/wordsworth/518/.

Chicago

Wordsworth, William. “Clerical Integrity.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/wordsworth/518/.

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