 | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere
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Scandal the third—the last—
Cleric concubinage ill named a marriage:
The canons old and use of purest times
Forbade the bond. A Sacrament is marriage,
The image of Christ's bridal with His Church.
God's Church hath ever honoured holy marriage,
Banned all beside. There's nought so like that Church
As hearth of peasant pure with children girt:
Ay, but a celibate clergy is its fence!
The unfaithful weds the mart, the farm, the shop:
The faithful priest is wedded to his charge;
I have heard such clerics cry, ‘We are not angels!’
I answered, ‘No, nor men, if, bound by vows,
Ye lack the strength to keep them.’
| The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere
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