Thou tell'st me from the wrath to come to flee,
"'Tis safest to believe" thy coward's plea:
⁠What! dost thou think my spirit's poor as thine?
Such doctrines are for bond-slaves, not the free.

What's true is true, what's false is false, and I
Refuse for gain to palter with a lie:
⁠The truth in scorn of consequence I seek.
And dare to ask of God or Devil Why?

Such Truth as will to reach it may attain,
Such certitude as studious toil may gain,
⁠This do I seek, and having found hold fast,
Though it bring bitter sorrow in its train.

The creeds are many, there is but one Truth:
Art sure thou hast discovered it in sooth?
⁠Thou that hast taken thy beliefs on trust,
And putt'st thy faith in Merry-Andrew Booth!

Though Truth's clear face may not be manifest,
'Tis easy to bring Falsehood to the test;
⁠Easy its vain pretensions to expose
When in the scales of reason 'tis assessed.