Oh! let the scales fall from the eyes of men,
And all the horrors of the cross appear;
Then Satan's reign on earth will have an end,
And men no more the craven knee will bend;
But Justice, Freedom, Love, and Truth, will then
Bring in the prophesied millennial year.
[THE CROWN.]
Symbol of all that's mean and base in man—
Of pompous pride and cringing cowardice,
Of titled folly and of plodding slaves,
Of groaning labor robbed by cunning knaves,
Of priests and lordlings, an infernal clan,
Who live by force, and fraud, and artifice.
The crown, associated with the cross,
Is held up by the church as the reward
Of souls that blindly follow in the lead
Of priests who advocate a stupid creed!
"A crown of gold," and nothing else, for loss
Of common sense, full payment can accord!
"No cross, no crown"—self-evidently true,
But not in the delusive sense implied;
If men beneath the cross would not bow down,
No devil, pope, or king, could wear a crown;
But they will wear it all the ages through
That men are willing to be crucified.
A crown denotes that some usurper rules,
And subjects, weak and ignorant, submit;
But in a realm where all are equal, free,
No one can rule, none can submissive be;
But hell and tyrants love to torture fools,
And only fools will long consent to it.
The weak in mind, abused and plundered here,
Have silly hopes that they will all be kings,
Because the sons of Mammon tell them so;
While to the yoke they bow their necks below,
They praise a tyrant in another sphere
Who is to crown them over underlings!