He long had seen or guessed how it would end;
But faith in principle in him was strong,
And he would not consent to change his course
Nor to retract, nor turn to such resource
As would the purpose of his foes unbend,
And thus his labors on the earth prolong.
But he resolved to carry on the fight
Beyond the grave, and to contend for power
And freedom to reject the homage base
Which Satan claimed, and meet him face to face
In his own realms of cruelty and night,
And try his title there to freedom's dower.
It was a faith sublime that thus could nerve
The Nazarene to face the death they chose;
But patiently he met his fate alone,
Without complaint, and scarcely gave a groan,
So sure was he that Freedom he could serve
And in the end could conquer all his foes.
It was not long before the end was reached,
So far as earth could end his grand career;
His body lifeless hung upon the cross;
Yet still his deadly foes were at a loss
How to annul the doctrines he had preached
Lest they forever should torment them here.
So they resolved upon a double course—
They would pervert what they could not destroy;
Their earthly agents were induced to choose
The bloody cross as symbol of their views,
Which they proclaimed were Christ's, and were the source
Of all their power—His name made a decoy.
The banner of the cross they raised aloft,
To conquer by this sign of all that's vile;
"Christians" they called themselves, and fiends in glee
Must have rejoiced their bloody course to see,
As with brute force, or threats, or pleadings soft,
They coupled hell's dark doings with its guile.
To blind belief they added blinder faith,
And relegated reason to the shades;
Dark superstition ruled the bloody hour,
The world bowed down before religion's pow'r,
And truthfully the page of history saith
Mankind gave up to riots and to raids.
It was a very pandemonium here,
A hell on earth, a night without a star;
Good manners and good morals passed away,
Corruption and pollution ruled the day,
And Pity left the earth without a tear,
While pallid Justice trembling stood afar.
Contending sects and creeds each other tore;
A word or syllable gave cause for war,
And e'en a single letter made men tear
Each other and profane the decent air
With angry words, and drench their hands in gore,
Performing all that Heaven must abhor.
Men lost all reason, women lost all shame,
And gross indecency ruled day and night;
Fortunes were given to the rotten priests,
Who rated virtue lower than the beasts;
Pollution of the maiden or the dame
Alike was holy in the priestly sight.