a bit more on preyen

To prayer, repentance, and obedience due,
Though but endeavored with sincere intent,
Mine ear shall not be slow, mine eye not shut.
And I will place within him as a guide,
My umpire Conscience; whom if they will hear,
Light after light well used they shall attain,
And to the end persisting, safe arrive.
This my long sufferance, and my day of grace,
They who neglect and scorn shall never taste;
But hard be hardened, blind be blinded more,
That they may stumble on, and deeper fall;

*John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book III, Lines 191-201