What is all righteousness that men devise–
What, but a sordid bargain for the skies?
But Christ as soon would abdicate his own,
As stoop from heav’n to sell the proud a throne.
William Cowper, “Truth,” Table Talk and Other Poems.
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Thank you! Cowper (the poet quoted here) has some amazing gems like this, hidden in very long and winding poems that make difficult reading. Another favorite is this passage in The Task—IIRC it is the conclusion:
Come then, and added to thy many crowns
Receive yet one, the crown of all the earth,
Thou who alone art worthy! it was thine
By ancient covenant ere nature’s birth,
And thou hast made it thine by purchase since,
And overpaid its value with thy blood. …
Come then, and added to thy many crowns
Receive yet one, as radiant as the rest,
Due to thy last and most effectual work,
Thy word fulfilled, the conquest of a world!
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