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 | Poems by John Godfrey Saxe. Complete in one volume : thirty-fifth edition |  |
'T is little marvel that their honored name
Bears, as it must, some maculæ of shame;
'T is only pity that they e'er forgot
The golden lessons their experience taught;
Thought ‘Toleration’ due to ‘saints alone,
And ‘Rights of Conscience’ only meant their own
Enforcing laws, concocted to their need,
On all nonjurors to the ruling creed,
Till Baptists groaned beneath their iron heel,
And Quakers quaked with unaccustomed zeal!
Bears, as it must, some maculæ of shame;
'T is only pity that they e'er forgot
The golden lessons their experience taught;
Thought ‘Toleration’ due to ‘saints alone,
And ‘Rights of Conscience’ only meant their own
Enforcing laws, concocted to their need,
On all nonjurors to the ruling creed,
Till Baptists groaned beneath their iron heel,
And Quakers quaked with unaccustomed zeal!
| Poems by John Godfrey Saxe. Complete in one volume : thirty-fifth edition | |