 | Lays of the Highlands and Islands |  |
BRAEMAR:
THE THREE CHURCHES.
The clear bell o'er the moor sounds far;
And, through the lone sparse-peopled glen,
Its weekly freight the Sabbath car
Brings down of grave God-fearing men.
And, through the lone sparse-peopled glen,
Its weekly freight the Sabbath car
Brings down of grave God-fearing men.
Three churches in the village stand;
This serves the State, and that is Free,
The third doth own the Pope's command,
And God in Heaven claims all the three.
This serves the State, and that is Free,
The third doth own the Pope's command,
And God in Heaven claims all the three.
'Tis well. Some men do sigh for unity,
And for God's sheep one fold prepare,
To live a faultless fair community,
Somewhere on Earth, or in the air.
And for God's sheep one fold prepare,
To live a faultless fair community,
Somewhere on Earth, or in the air.
163
Fond fools! in father Noah's ark,
(The learn'd can tell how long ago),
Had every dog its separate bark,
And every face its diverse show.
(The learn'd can tell how long ago),
Had every dog its separate bark,
And every face its diverse show.
Look round on sky, and sea, and plain,
This glowing scene of bright divinity,
One single law, as with a chain,
Doth bind the various vast infinity.
This glowing scene of bright divinity,
One single law, as with a chain,
Doth bind the various vast infinity.
From breeze-borne moth to stable-man
One type informs the breathing race;
The law, that rules God's Protean plan,
Is sameness with a shifting face.
One type informs the breathing race;
The law, that rules God's Protean plan,
Is sameness with a shifting face.
All units from one centre flow,
And all the strangely-woven strife
Of high and low, and swift and slow,
Makes music in a larger life.
And all the strangely-woven strife
Of high and low, and swift and slow,
Makes music in a larger life.
As the huge branches of a tree
Clash, when the stormy buffets blow;
Hostile they seem, but one they be,
And by the strife that shakes them grow.
Clash, when the stormy buffets blow;
Hostile they seem, but one they be,
And by the strife that shakes them grow.
164
So the vast world of adverse things,
That with a reeling fury nod,
Battles of churches and of kings,
Have one unshaken root in God.
That with a reeling fury nod,
Battles of churches and of kings,
Have one unshaken root in God.
Who this believes will fear no harm
From counted articles, or beads;
There's room in God's wide-circling arm
For all that swear by all the creeds.
From counted articles, or beads;
There's room in God's wide-circling arm
For all that swear by all the creeds.
Creeds are but school-books, kindly given
To teach our stammering tongues to spell
His name; all help the good to Heaven,
And none can save the bad from Hell.
To teach our stammering tongues to spell
His name; all help the good to Heaven,
And none can save the bad from Hell.
| Lays of the Highlands and Islands | |