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“The Pilgrim Fathers”

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

WELL WORTHY TO BE MAGNIFIED ARE THEY

Who, with sad hearts, of friends and country took

A last farewell, their loved abodes forsook,

And hallowed ground in which their fathers lay;

Then to the new-found World explored their way,

That so a Church, unforced, uncalled to brook

Ritual restraints, within some sheltering nook

Her Lord might worship and his word obey

In freedom. Men they were who could not bend;

Blest Pilgrims, surely, as they took for guide

A will by sovereign Conscience sanctified;

Blest while their Spirits from the woods ascend

Along a Galaxy that knows no end,

But in His glory who for Sinners died.