T. D. Curtis

“ 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 ”

“ But, next to Mammon, men adore the god of war.
Or saints, or books, or images, or cross,
No matter what the object worshiped be,
'Tis all the same—idolatrous and gross;
It may be done in all sincerity,
Or only done in base hypocrisy,
As is the fancy of the worshiper;
Both classes bend the superstitious knee,
Hoping their god his favors will confer,
Howe'er the supplicant in life and tho't may err!
There is no efficacy in what's done
By way of worship; all is empty show,
External form; in not a single one
Does it inspire a strong desire to go
The straight and narrow path of duty. ”

“ Thro' Mammon and the Church hell rules to-day,
And flaunts the cruel cross before our eyes;
Losing its hold on State, the church demands
All privileges which our thoughtless hands
Will grant unto its agents, who would slay
The Nazarene again as sacrifice.
Hell still is tempting men with wealth and power,
And finds of Judases a fearful host;
Free thought and speech it everywhere assails,
Religion's sure decay loudly bewails,
But while it reads the tokens of the hour,
It still persists in threat and empty boast. ”

“ 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? ”

“ The Cross and Crown. 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. ”

“ Or churches; so the mass submits and delves.
The world is told that men should bear the cross
Of robbery, oppression, want and woe,
Pg 23 On earth, that they a crown above may wear,
And ease their souls in everlasting prayer
Unto a God who shall repay all loss
By special gifts to those who bow most low!
The church has always taught submission here,
Not to the laws of being, but of state;
Hell calls for "stronger governments" to rob
And hold in terror the uprising mob
Which it provokes and seeks to rule thro' fear—
A horrid rule of wrong, and force, and hate. ”

“ All hearts that Mammon's bribes could buy or lure.
And with success they carried out their scheme,
And made the world do homage unto hell;
With God to threaten vengeance unto all,
And Devil to affright them at their call,
With blood of God's own Son—a horrid stream—
To wash men's souls, they have succeeded well! ”

“ Such scenes the world had never known before,
So fierce did angry passion's billows toss;
Hell seemed let loose, and scarce a Heavenly ray
Shone in the hearts of men to light the way;
All virtue gone, or rotten to the core,
O'er all there rose the dark and bloody cross.
But brutal passion cannot always rule ”

“ Whatever priests, those messengers of night,
See fit to drop into the gaping ear.
He bids us bow to creeds and servile forms,
And walk submissive under Mammon's reign;
Pg 27 Before him all must bend the cringing knee,
And shout his praise in fulsome minstrelsy;
His followers no love of freedom warms;
He rules them, all through penalty and pain.
With ceremonies, rites, and cunning tricks,
He seeks to captivate the human will;
Thus far his agents have, alas! too well
Succeeded in their wicked work of hell,
Which at no subterfuge or falsehood sticks ”

“ Which priests and parasites may choose to bring—
Messes of potage for its rights of birth.
Our God is light, intelligence, and love—
Is reason, freedom, justice, and the truth;
He does not rule through blind belief in creeds,
But fact and judgment—good expressed in deeds
Of brotherly assistance, and above
All aims to subjugate the minds of youth. ”

“ It fills the air with hideous wails and groans,
With genuflexions that the most abjectness owns.
The gods are many which the world adores;
They may be stocks and stones, or creeds and books,
Or saints or heroes; there are many scores
Of idols, both of good and evil looks,
To which the idol-serving worldling crooks
The favor-seeking hinges of the knee;
And then audaciously he freely brooks
Disfavor of the many gods, that he
May serve at Mammon's shrine and roll in luxury!
Pg 34
The known and unknown gods are set aside
When Mammon's glitt'ring chariot rolls along ”

“ Who now are trampled on by Mammon's brood;
You must hold up to scorn the evil-doer,
Put down the foul and raise aloft the good and pure.
Pg 38
In no belief or unbelief, nor prayer,
Can men redemption from their errors find;
No worship of the things of earth of air,
Or heaven or hell, or of the human mind,
Can from a single fetter e'er unbind
One sinning brother. Only deeds alone
Done in the love of what is good and kind,
Can for the smallest human wrong atone ”

“ As hell recedes, the church enfeebled grows,
And fast approach the last expiring throes;
It now may curse and rave, but dare not kill,
And views with anguish Freedom's lusty youth.
The present church is a continuance
Of the abomination that held sway
Pg 13 When Christ was on the earth; the change it made
Was but in form, not spirit; it essayed
To make the world believe that no advance
Could e'er be made for which it did not pray.
It fought all progress of the human race,
And sought to limit human thought and speech ”

“ To gain advantage, be it great or small;
That selfishness can never raise men higher.
And only deeds of good can aid those who aspire.
Throw creeds and books and churches to the winds,
Save as they furnish food for human thought ”

“ That shrouds the cross and crown; but every act
Is met by hell's dark minions, as of old.
With faggot and the prison's loathsome cell,
They've done their worst to stifle human thought
Pg 20 And stop research amid the fields of lore,
Their plea that it is impious to explore
The realms of Nature's secrets, or to tell
Aught to the mass of men by priests not taught. ”

“ And none will seek his neighbor to despoil.
And there will be abundance everywhere,
With want and fear of want forever gone;
No more will men indulge in worldly lust;
The aims of life will be above the dust ”