Fifty of the Protestant Ballads :: :: University of Virginia Library

Well; let the foe smite us with blame as before;
No doubt there is much to bewail and amend,—
And precious as balm shall be blame if it cure,
The frown of that foe is the smile of a friend;

For all are but men,—and perfection is found
Nowhere on earth where the meddler is man,
But everywhere follies and failings abound
And we all must fall short, let us strive as we can.

They charge then,—that paltry ambitions are strong
In desk and in pulpit as well as elsewhere,
That eloquent helpers not often last long
Incumbents' parochial glories to share;
That rector and curate keep separate spheres
With the rich and the poor, with greatest and least,
While brotherly kindness too seldom endears
The bargain and sale between deacon and priest.

If thus for a possible few they speak sooth,
Oh, fling all such littleness frankly aside!
Our pastors are equals for God and His truth,
Priests, deacons, and bishops, all pledged against pride:
So, let no good curate, whose toil day and night
Though earnest and pious is nearly unpaid,
Be snubbed by his rector and kept out of sight
As a serf of the Church, and inferior in grade!

We stand not on ranks; the true servant of Christ,
With orders from heaven far more than of earth,
Is higher in calling than prelate or priest
Though deacon—or lay—by his heavenly birth;

But we take outer orders and forms and degrees
As governments, helps, and convenience of men,
Which God will ignore if His Sov'reignty please,
And pour His free grace through the press or the pen.

Mere office is little; the temple well served,
Good character sanctifies station and place,
And Protestants never have wavered nor swerved
From claiming that works must bear witness to grace;
Our bishops, when faithful, are bishops indeed,
Old Winchester! Durham! we hail you with joy;
But mere consecration of vest or of creed
Cannot help to save souls, but may help to destroy.

This is not, it may be, the Catholic sense
Which councils and fathers and schoolmen would own,
But the rational faith and conviction intense
A Protestant gains from the Scriptures alone;
We trust not in men; whether fathers, or sons,—
They are fallible all, in a Council, or out;
And the Church, not of earthly, but heavenly ones,
Is built of all churches within—and without.