  Emblem of Ignorance and Cruelty, Ensign of Superstition's brutal reign, Banner of Despotism's foul career, Signal of Reason laid upon its bier, Image of dark and gross Idolatry, Object of worship since the Christ was slain! The sign of the impostor and the fool, By which they conquer and command the throng, The cross is lifted upward everywhere Man will submissive bow and mutter prayer, The minion meek, or church's thoughtless tool, Or worse, the cunning priest who knows the wrong. When Satan tempted Christ upon the Mount, He said: "But worship me, the world is thine!" And said: "Get thee behind; worship thy Lord!" And thus called Satan to a quick account, For his attempt to humble the divine. Christ taught no worship and believed in none; His teaching was of equal Brotherhood; But, if there must be worship, it was meet That he who claimed it should bow at the feet Of him of whom 'twas claimed; the evil one So claiming should bow down before the good. Christ did not ask for worship, nor it seek; This he abhorred in every form and phase; He was resolved to ever upright stand; 'Twas to rebuke he gave that stern command; And he who claims the homage of the weak His low condition to the wise betrays. Satan still tempts all greedy human kind With his rewards of selfishness and lust; He would their minds in superstition steep, And mercilessly every soul would keep Forever to the lower realms confined, Where all is turned to ashes and to dust. Oh! what a world of malice Christ awoke In Satan when he bade him "get behind!" Then all the fury of the fiends of hell Around his earthly way exhaled their spell; He suffered hellish tortures of the mind. He lived alone; he was not understood By those with whom he most communed and taught; His sole support was love and faith in truth And principles he'd pondered from his youth; He saw right living and the doing good Must bring a future life with gladness fraught. But hell would not consent to tolerate The presence here on earth of one who chose To be so independent of its sway; It would not do to longer let him stay, And so the vicious tools of hell and hate Were set to work his teachings here to close. He long had seen or guessed how it would end; But faith in principle in him was strong, And he would not consent to change his course Nor to retract, nor turn to such resource As would the purpose of his foes unbend, And thus his labors on the earth prolong. But he resolved to carry on the fight Beyond the grave, and to contend for power And freedom to reject the homage base Which Satan claimed, and meet him face to face In his own realms of cruelty and night, And try his title there to freedom's dower. It was a faith sublime that thus could nerve The Nazarene to face the death they chose; But patiently he met his fate alone, Without complaint, and scarcely gave a groan, So sure was he that Freedom he could serve And in the end could conquer all his foes. It was not long before the end was reached, So far as earth could end his grand career; His body lifeless hung upon the cross; Yet still his deadly foes were at a loss How to annul the doctrines he had preached Lest they forever should torment them here. So they resolved upon a double course— They would pervert what they could not destroy; Their earthly agents were induced to choose The bloody cross as symbol of their views, Which they proclaimed were Christ's, and were the source Of all their power—His name made a decoy. The banner of the cross they raised aloft, To conquer by this sign of all that's vile; "Christians" they called themselves, and fiends in glee Must have rejoiced their bloody course to see, As with brute force, or threats, or pleadings soft, They coupled hell's dark doings with its guile. To blind belief they added blinder faith, And relegated reason to the shades; Dark superstition ruled the bloody hour, The world bowed down before religion's pow'r, And truthfully the page of history saith Mankind gave up to riots and to raids. It was a very pandemonium here, A hell on earth, a night without a star; Good manners and good morals passed away, Corruption and pollution ruled the day, And Pity left the earth without a tear, While pallid Justice trembling stood afar. Contending sects and creeds each other tore; A word or syllable gave cause for war, And e'en a single letter made men tear Each other and profane the decent air With angry words, and drench their hands in gore, Performing all that Heaven must abhor. Men lost all reason, women lost all shame, And gross indecency ruled day and night; Fortunes were given to the rotten priests, Who rated virtue lower than the beasts; Pollution of the maiden or the dame Alike was holy in the priestly sight. At first, it was a strug |
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