Fifty of the Protestant Ballads and " The Anti-Ritualistic Directorium, " of Martin F. Tupper ... New; and reprinted |
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COMPROMISE. |
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 | Fifty of the Protestant Ballads |  |
COMPROMISE.
I
This did the mischief! attempting of oldThe sheep with the goats (while reforming) to fold;
With Jesuit morals resolved then and there
To hunt with the hounds, and to run with the hare;
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And try to squeeze angular sticks in round holes;
With feeble indulgence all faiths to confound,
And make things all smooth for all rivals all round,
That Gallio, Mammon, and Antichrist's self
Might count to the Church for the sake of their pelf.
II
Ay,—that was the fault and the shame and the sin,The fester without and the canker within;
Reformation left much to be after reformed,
And errors survived though their fortress was stormed;
Our tent was stretched weakly, so long and so wide
It lets in the weather on every side,—
For the Papist quite high, for the Puritan low,
And the ropes and the pegs are all loose in their row,
While winds of false doctrine get under too oft
The flapping old canvas and hoist it aloft.
III
True courage is needed for faithfulness hereTo strengthen the stakes, as the storm threatens near;
Our trumpets must blare out a blast fully blown,
Not maunder uncertain in sucking-dove tone;
We Protestants, clergy and laymen, must stand
For truth, light and liberty over the land,
And stamp out those stale superstitions of yore,
The lies that old priestcraft invents evermore,
Confessing, absolving, and doting on man,
With reason and godliness placed under ban!
| Fifty of the Protestant Ballads | |