Page:Romance of the Rose (Ellis), volume 1.pdf/260

Yet hath not power aught ill to do.
Then is the axiom clearly true,
That he who made all things in earth
And heaven, ne’er gave foul evil birth.6670
E’en as a shadow hideth not.
Except the light, one single jot
Of matter, so in equal wise
Vile men are nought The man in whom no virtue lies,
By God was simply left all void
Of good. His soul then if destroyed
And lost for ever by gross sin,
Did not from God perdition win.
Also the Scriptures go so far,
Well knowing what the wicked are,6680
As say a sinner is no man.
To prove this were none other than
Mere waste of time, for is it not
In many a Scripture found, God wot?

Yet natheless, if thou wilt but bear
Some short space with me, thou shalt hear,
Among a thousand reasons, some
Which, staying not for others, come
Within my mind. The common end
Toward which all living things should tend6690
Forsake they, yet the first it is,
And highest of all things, ywis.
And other reasons might, if sought,
Be found, why wicked men are nought,
By him who notes the road they fare.
Seeing they live all unaware
Of that one end and aim which each
And all on earth should strive to reach.