Oh! let it come, this concord of the blest,
And speedily, upon this earth of ours—
That Mammon's throne may be at once o'erthrown,
And all his idols broken—every one;
That every soul upon the law may rest,
Defying all the arts of wicked powers.
And it will come, must come, or soon or late,
And every heart will feel the quickening thrill;
The hosts of night around the earth must fly
To lower depths, the righteous mount on high;
And then will end this reign of selfish will,
Amid the blaze of the Harmonial Day.
[Idolatry.]
Idolatry is born of Ignorance;
Its sire is Fear, and cruel are its bands;
Cunning and Greed come forward to advance
Its many claims; the tyrant understands
It gives him consequence when he commands,
And helps to keep his subjects dull and weak;
The priest upholds it with his crafty hands,
And by it keeps himself both fat and sleek,
With conscience tenfold harder than his brassy cheek.
Idolatry has human thought defiled,
And filled the heart of man with groundless fear;
It likens God unto the chieftain wild,
Whose will is absolute and rule austere—
Who scatters curses with a hand severe
On all who do not choose to bow and praise,
Bestowing gifts on those who may appear
By word or deed, or both, his power to raise,
Regardless of their merits or their wicked ways.
The poor idolator expects to gain
In special favors from the god he owns;
He mouths his prayers expecting to obtain
Some kind of blessing through his pleading tones,
While bowing low upon his marrow-bones,
And has no thought of principle or law;
He thinks his very abjectness atones
For all offenses, and he stands in awe
Lest he offend the priest who smites him with his jaw.
Idolatry but feeds the soul on stones,
And makes it fear the living and the dead;
It worships arbitrary power in bones
From which all power to harm or bless has fled;
It puts a halo round some dead man's head
And worships him as one whose blood atones
For all the sins the human race hath bred;
It fills the air with hideous wails and groans,
With genuflexions that the most abjectness owns.