Christ taught utmost fulfillment of the law,
Which special favors could not set aside;
His was no kingdom of this world, no scheme
Of courtiers or of crown; no idle dream
Of weak and wicked selfishness, to awe
The mass and rear a structure based on pride.
He founded on the rock of truth and fact,
And everlasting principles of good;
He bade men love each other and be just
In all their dealings, to avoid all lust,
And be sincere and true in every act,
Rememb'ring all are of one Brotherhood.
No lead or following of the blind he taught,
Nor a self-immolating flag unfurled;
His enemies, with subtlety most keen,
By torturing his language make it mean
The very opposite of what he sought
To teach unto a blind, unthinking world.
He wanted men to use their reason here,
In all things of this world and world to come—
To seek for truth, for truth would make them free,
Nor bend to any power known the knee;
And he abhorred the rule of coward fear,
That's born of hell, and strikes the reason dumb.
Quickly the Nazarene refused the bribe
Proffered by Satan's hand upon the Mount;
He turned indignantly from world and crown,
Rebuking with a stern and honest frown
The tempter and his cunning; but the tribe
Of Mammon since has grown beyond all count.
If all men saw, like Christ, through Satan's wiles,
And promptly gave rebuke to his demand,
The crown would crumble and the cross decay,
And Mammon's bribes be counted worthless clay;
A world redeemed would roll in Heaven's smiles,
With plenty, peace and joy on every hand.
What shall it profit man the world to gain
And yield his soul thereby to hell's control?
To give is far more blest than to receive—
For giving to the needy doth relieve
The giver of a surplus that would pain,
If not bestowed, by clogging of the soul.
We channels of transmission are; the flow
Of life is measured by what we transmit;
If we doth freely give, in reason's bound,
What we receive, and pass the blessings
We gather strength and joy as on we go,
Receiving more, the more the benefit.
When men shall rise above the plane of clowns,
And look upon this life with vision clear,
With reason seeking for the better way
That leads to Justice and to Freedom's sway,
Then dupes and priests, then kings, and gods, and crowns,
At last, will from this planet disappear.
To worship an imaginary king,
Makes subjects for the monarchs here on earth;
The mind accustomed to submissive moods
Is ready to receive the mental foods
Which priests and parasites may choose to bring—
Messes of potage for its rights of birth.