XI "Of more or less

 "Of more or less where God doth reign¹,

There is no chance," she gently said,

"For, whether large or small his gain,

Here every man alike is paid.

No niggard churl² our High Chieftain,

But lavishly³ His gifts are made,

Like streams from a moat that flow amain,

Or rushing waves that rise unstayed.

Free were his pardon whoever prayed

Him who to save man's soul did vow⁴,

Unstinted his bliss⁵, and undelayed,

For the grace of God is great enow."

"But now thou wouldst my wit checkmate,

Making my wage as wrong appear;

Thou say'st that I am come too late,

Of so large hire to be worthy⁶ here;

Yet sawest thou ever small or great,

Living in prayer and holy fear,

Who did not forfeit⁷ at some date

The meed of heaven to merit clear?

Nay⁸ much the rather, year by year,

All bend from right and to evil bow;

Mercy and grace their way must steer⁹,

For the grace of God is great enow."

"But enow of grace have the innocent

New-born, before the sacred shrine¹⁰,

They are sealed with water in sacrament,

And thus are brought into the vine.

Anon the day with darkness blent,

Death by its might makes to decline;

Who wrought¹¹ no wrong ere hence they went,

The gentle Lord receives, in fine;

They obeyed His will, they bore His sign,

Why should He not their claim allow?

Yea, and reward them, I opine,

For the grace of God is great enow."

"'T is known enow that all mankind

At first were formed for perfect bliss;

Our forefather¹² that boon¹³ resigned,

All for an apple's sake, I wis;

We fell condemned¹⁴, for folly¹⁵ blind,

To suffer sore in hell's abyss;

But One a remedy did find

Lest we our hope of heaven should miss.

He suffered on the cross for this,

Red blood ran from His crownèd brow;

He saved us by that pain of His,

For the grace of God is great enow."

"Enow there flowed from out that well,

Blood and water from His broad wound:

The blood bought us from bale of hell,

And from second death deliverance found.

The water is baptism, truth to tell,

That followed-the spear so sharply ground,

And washes away the guilt¹⁶ most fell

Of those that Adam in death had drowned.

Now is there nothing in earth's great round,

To bar from the bliss wherewith God did endow

Mankind,—restored to us safe and sound,

For the grace of God is great enow."

1 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

2 churl   

n.吝啬之人；粗鄙之人

参考例句：

• The vile person shall be no more called liberal,nor the churl said to be bountiful.愚顽人不再称为高明、吝啬人不再称为大方。
• He must have had some ups and downs in life to make him such a churl.他一生一定经历过一些坎坷，才使他变成这么一个粗暴的人。

3 lavishly   

adv.慷慨地，大方地

参考例句：

• His house was lavishly adorned.他的屋子装饰得很华丽。
• The book is lavishly illustrated in full colour.这本书里有大量全彩插图。

4 vow   

n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓

参考例句：

• My parents are under a vow to go to church every Sunday.我父母许愿，每星期日都去做礼拜。
• I am under a vow to drink no wine.我已立誓戒酒。

5 bliss   

n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福

参考例句：

• It's sheer bliss to be able to spend the day in bed.整天都可以躺在床上真是幸福。
• He's in bliss that he's won the Nobel Prize.他非常高兴，因为获得了诺贝尔奖金。

6 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

7 forfeit   

vt.丧失；n.罚金，罚款，没收物

参考例句：

• If you continue to tell lies,you will forfeit the good opinion of everyone.你如果继续撒谎，就会失掉大家对你的好感。
• Please pay for the forfeit before you borrow book.在你借书之前请先付清罚款。

8 nay   

adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者

参考例句：

• He was grateful for and proud of his son's remarkable,nay,unique performance.他为儿子出色的，不，应该是独一无二的表演心怀感激和骄傲。
• Long essays,nay,whole books have been written on this.许多长篇大论的文章，不，应该说是整部整部的书都是关于这件事的。

9 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

10 shrine   

n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣

参考例句：

• The shrine was an object of pilgrimage.这处圣地是人们朝圣的目的地。
• They bowed down before the shrine.他们在神龛前鞠躬示敬。

11 wrought   

v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的

参考例句：

• Events in Paris wrought a change in British opinion towards France and Germany.巴黎发生的事件改变了英国对法国和德国的看法。
• It's a walking stick with a gold head wrought in the form of a flower.那是一个金质花形包头的拐杖。

12 forefather   

n.祖先；前辈

参考例句：

• What we are doing today is something never dreamed of by our forefather.我们今天正在做的是我们祖先所不敢想的。
• These are the customs of forefather hand down to us.这些都是先辈传给你们的习俗。

13 boon   

n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠

参考例句：

• A car is a real boon when you live in the country.在郊外居住，有辆汽车确实极为方便。
• These machines have proved a real boon to disabled people.事实证明这些机器让残疾人受益匪浅。

14 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

15 folly   

n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话

参考例句：

• Learn wisdom by the folly of others.从别人的愚蠢行动中学到智慧。
• Events proved the folly of such calculations.事情的进展证明了这种估计是愚蠢的。

16 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。