Fifty of the Protestant Ballads and " The Anti-Ritualistic Directorium, " of Martin F. Tupper ... New; and reprinted |
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| VI. | VI.
GUILDS: MORALS: ENGLAND'S RESOLVE. |
 | Fifty of the Protestant Ballads |  |
112
VI. GUILDS: MORALS: ENGLAND'S RESOLVE.
Join some sly Guild: St. Anything will suit,
St. Sarah Pattens, or St. Jeemes le-Boot,
Martyr, or Virgin, just to tie up tight
Your sworn Society in Riband might:
Secret conspiracy is all your aim;
So, take your oaths, and make your little game;
Together undermining England's soil,
Much mischief may be done by such shrewd toil,
Much to make Protestants—a gain indeed!
Renounce their Hanoverian queen and creed,
Much to dismember and to dissipate
Their odious union of the church and state:
Then, as inquisitors of old could kill
In secret conclave, you may work your will,
Unitedly destroying any man
Whose sturdy patriotism hates your plan;
Pulling him down, as jackals hunt by night
The lion whom by day they fear to fight!
Ay, ay; the Jesuit and Freemason too
Should thus be mingled craftily in you,
That spider's web enmeshing all the land
By—Well! “the wicked joining hand in hand!”
St. Sarah Pattens, or St. Jeemes le-Boot,
Martyr, or Virgin, just to tie up tight
Your sworn Society in Riband might:
Secret conspiracy is all your aim;
So, take your oaths, and make your little game;
Together undermining England's soil,
Much mischief may be done by such shrewd toil,
Much to make Protestants—a gain indeed!
Renounce their Hanoverian queen and creed,
Much to dismember and to dissipate
Their odious union of the church and state:
Then, as inquisitors of old could kill
In secret conclave, you may work your will,
Unitedly destroying any man
Whose sturdy patriotism hates your plan;
Pulling him down, as jackals hunt by night
The lion whom by day they fear to fight!
Ay, ay; the Jesuit and Freemason too
Should thus be mingled craftily in you,
That spider's web enmeshing all the land
By—Well! “the wicked joining hand in hand!”
Your morals: No you mustn't be found out
In things lay fools may make a fuss about:
True; there are many, pure in words and ways,
Of whom it were unjust to hint dispraise;
Ascetic through continual service, still
With Martha's toil a Mary's part they fill:
But, in mere Form, excessive and of course,
Abides—(let Oxford testify its force)
An evil hardening process for the soul
Warping young natures from clean self-control:
And, so much washing argues so much dirt,
And absolution's cheap, without much hurt,
And your confessional is handy,—Yes,
One may as well have something to confess!
And there's Perpetual Celebration too,
Perpetual license to begin anew!
So, keep things quiet, or you stir up strife;
But to force piety on private life
Is just to drag religion from its perch,—
That eagle is a fixture of the church,
Not to be suffered out of doors to roam
With methodists who dare to pray at home,
Nor to be desecrated in the least
Save by continual service, with a priest;
So, chancel work perfunctorily achieved,
Leave your religion there, and feel relieved,
Playing at fast and loose, when out of church,
And leaving morals slightly in the lurch!
In things lay fools may make a fuss about:
True; there are many, pure in words and ways,
Of whom it were unjust to hint dispraise;
113
With Martha's toil a Mary's part they fill:
But, in mere Form, excessive and of course,
Abides—(let Oxford testify its force)
An evil hardening process for the soul
Warping young natures from clean self-control:
And, so much washing argues so much dirt,
And absolution's cheap, without much hurt,
And your confessional is handy,—Yes,
One may as well have something to confess!
And there's Perpetual Celebration too,
Perpetual license to begin anew!
So, keep things quiet, or you stir up strife;
But to force piety on private life
Is just to drag religion from its perch,—
That eagle is a fixture of the church,
Not to be suffered out of doors to roam
With methodists who dare to pray at home,
Nor to be desecrated in the least
Save by continual service, with a priest;
So, chancel work perfunctorily achieved,
Leave your religion there, and feel relieved,
Playing at fast and loose, when out of church,
And leaving morals slightly in the lurch!
All said and done,—how long will English sense
Endure these treasons, and not drive them hence?
How long shall stale old tyrannies be found
Rising again, like phantoms from the ground,
And not be crushed and banished as of yore
By sons of those who routed them before?—
We will not stand it!—Let Belgravians hope
For thraldom, and the blessing of the Pope;
Let fashionables to confession crowd,
And absolution purify the proud;
But England's Mighty People, true and just,
Is mad against such flagrant breach of trust
As many priests, ay, bishops, in church pay
Dare to commit, and think unchecked they may!
Not so!—They leave us,—or they leave behind
Their Romish lies that poison heart and mind;
And, if they still sow treason here at home,
Off with them,—by and in the mass—to Rome!
Endure these treasons, and not drive them hence?
How long shall stale old tyrannies be found
Rising again, like phantoms from the ground,
114
By sons of those who routed them before?—
We will not stand it!—Let Belgravians hope
For thraldom, and the blessing of the Pope;
Let fashionables to confession crowd,
And absolution purify the proud;
But England's Mighty People, true and just,
Is mad against such flagrant breach of trust
As many priests, ay, bishops, in church pay
Dare to commit, and think unchecked they may!
Not so!—They leave us,—or they leave behind
Their Romish lies that poison heart and mind;
And, if they still sow treason here at home,
Off with them,—by and in the mass—to Rome!
| Fifty of the Protestant Ballads | |