 | Jones Very : The Complete Poems |  |
The Puritan Church and State
I.
They envied not the vast Cathedral's pile,Its high-hung roof filled with the organ's sound,
Its pictured windows, and the long-drawn aisle,
With dim religious light o'er all around;
Its ceremonial forms seemed stiff and cold,
No more the vesture of Immortal Truth;
But rather like her cast off garments old,
Which once she wore in infancy and youth.
In manhood's form to them did she appear,
From childish rites and childish errors free,
In virtue and in discipline severe,
And beckoned them across an unknown sea;
In a new world, with worship free and pure,
To found a Church which ever should endure.
Poem No. 641; c. 1878–80
549
II.
New depths of truth within God's holy Word,They saw from age to age would be revealed;
As men, to Revelation's light restored,
Pondered the Book by Priestcraft long concealed.
By this the Reformation of the Church they sought,
That pure and perfect it might rise again;
Built on the Corner Stone, that brings to naught
The creeds and systems formed by erring men:
The right to search the Scriptures they maintained,
Each for himself, unbiassed and alone;
Such was the right, which Christ himself proclaimed,
Who would to every soul his truth make known;
That each from human bondage might be free,
And all in one great family agree.
Poem No. 352; c. 1878–80
III.
Not bound by slavish bondage to the Past,They a new form of Government unfold;
Which shall the mighty monarchies outlast,
Founded by kings and conquerors of old;
For this was founded on the Rights of man,
And all alike might in its freedom share;
No worldly scheme, no narrow, selfish plan
Did they for this vast continent prepare.
Self government their high and noble aim,
Events their teacher, Providence their guide,
Their Polity a gradual growth became;
Oft was the State by error, conflict tried;
Yet still advancing towards the perfect goal,
The highest good and welfare of the whole.
Poem No. 361; c. 1878–80
| Jones Very : The Complete Poems | |