Am I mad, O noble Festus,
When zeal and godly knowledge
Have put me in hope
To deal with the Pope,
As well as the best in the college?
Boldly I preach, hate a cross, hate a surplice,
Mitres, copes, and rotchets;
Come hear me pray nine times a day,
And fill your heads with crochets.

In the house of pure Emanuel
I had my education,
Where my friends surmise
I dazzl'd my eyes
With the light of revelation.
Boldly I preach, &c.

They bound me like a bedlam,
They lash'd my four poor quarters;
Whilst this I endure,
Faith makes me sure
To be one of Fox's martyrs.
Boldly I preach, &c.

These injuries I suffer
Through Anti-Christ's persuasion:
Take off this chain,
Neither Rome nor Spain
Can resist my strong invasion.
Boldly I preach, &c.

Of the beast's ten horns (God bless us!)
I have knock'd off three already;
If they let me alone
I'll leave him none:
But they say I am too heady.
Boldly I preach, &c.

When I sack'd the Seven-hill'd City,
I met the great red Dragon;
I kept him aloof
With the armour of proof,
Though here I have never a rag on.
Boldly I preach, &c.

With a fiery sword and target,
There fought I with this monster:
But the sons of pride
My zeal deride,
And all my deeds misconster.
Boldly I preach, &c.

I unhors'd the Whore of Babel,
With the lance of Inspiration;
I made her stink,
And spill the drink
In the cup of abominations.
Boldly I preach, &c.

I have seen two in a vision
With a flying book between them.
I have been in despair
Five times a year,
And been cur'd by reading Greenham.
Boldly I preach, &c.

I observ'd in Perkins' Tables
The black lines of damnation;
Those crooked veins
So stuck in my brains,
That I fear'd my reprobation.
Boldly I preach, &c.

In the holy tongue of Canaan
I plac'd my chiefest pleasure:
Till I prick'd my foot
With an Hebrew root,
That I bled beyond all measure.
Boldly I preach, &c.

I appear'd before the archbishop,
And all the high commission;
I gave him no grace,
But told him to his face,
That he favour'd superstition.
Boldly I preach, hate a cross, hate a surplice,
Mitres, copes, and rotchets:
Come hear me pray nine times a day,
And fill your heads with crotchets.