The Gospel

Oh how unlike the complex works of man,
Heaven's easy, artless, unencumbered plan!
Inscribed above the portal, from afar
Conspicuous as the brightness of a star,
Legible only by the light they give,
Stand the soul-quickening words-BELIEVE AND LIVE.
Too many, shocked at what should charm them most,
Despise the plain direction and are lost.
W. Cowper