[THE CROSS.]
Emblem of Ignorance and Cruelty,
Ensign of Superstition's brutal reign,
Banner of Despotism's foul career,
Signal of Reason laid upon its bier,
Image of dark and gross Idolatry,
Object of worship since the Christ was slain!
The sign of the impostor and the fool,
By which they conquer and command the throng,
The cross is lifted upward everywhere
Man will submissive bow and mutter prayer,
The minion meek, or church's thoughtless tool,
Or worse, the cunning priest who knows the wrong.
When Satan tempted Christ upon the Mount,
He said: "But worship me, the world is thine!"
But Christ refused the service and reward,
And said: "Get thee behind; worship thy Lord!"
And thus called Satan to a quick account,
For his attempt to humble the divine.
Christ taught no worship and believed in none;
His teaching was of equal Brotherhood;
But, if there must be worship, it was meet
That he who claimed it should bow at the feet
Of him of whom 'twas claimed; the evil one
So claiming should bow down before the good.
Christ did not ask for worship, nor it seek;
This he abhorred in every form and phase;
He was resolved to ever upright stand;
'Twas to rebuke he gave that stern command;
And he who claims the homage of the weak
His low condition to the wise betrays.
Satan still tempts all greedy human kind
With his rewards of selfishness and lust;
He would their minds in superstition steep,
And mercilessly every soul would keep
Forever to the lower realms confined,
Where all is turned to ashes and to dust.
Oh! what a world of malice Christ awoke
In Satan when he bade him "get behind!"
Then all the fury of the fiends of hell
Around his earthly way exhaled their spell;
Beset by every snare hell could evoke,
He suffered hellish tortures of the mind.
He lived alone; he was not understood
By those with whom he most communed and taught;
His sole support was love and faith in truth
And principles he'd pondered from his youth;
He saw right living and the doing good
Must bring a future life with gladness fraught.
But hell would not consent to tolerate
The presence here on earth of one who chose
To be so independent of its sway;
It would not do to longer let him stay,
And so the vicious tools of hell and hate
Were set to work his teachings here to close.