So trembling Tyranny her venom breathed,
To blast the other glory he bequeathed, (9)
Frowned on the righteous Cause the Bard adored,
And loathed the Light his various genius poured.
Yet still that Cause was strong, that Light endured;
Weak bigots only for a time obscured;
Bold Liberty her utmost had not dared,
Nor Truth toiled on as far, and then despaired.
Ah! true; her after march was sad and slow,
Checked by the traitor, troubled by the foe!
Yet on she urged her Heaven-attended course,
The voice of Conscience stayed the arm of Force,
Each year saw struggling Faith a chain unbind,
And fear and tyranny alike declined.
But Priestcraft would not own and weep her fault, Cursed in each claim of Conscience a revolt, With more than words the hallowed claim repelled, In impotent disdain each right withheld, Essayed rash conflict with an adverse age, And scattered blots on history's fairer page;
Though Love and Knowledge spurned her as they grew,
Her old ally, obsequious Law, stood true:
In martyr guise the great Two Thousand smiled, *
When statutes doomed and jealous hate exiled,
Preferred the painful service of their Lord
To ritual servitude their hearts abhorred,
And led the faithful flock that would not flee,
Where envy might not vex their liberty!
Yet here malignant priests and cringing Law
Combined to blast the men they could not awe,
Unfettered prayer, spontaneous homage banned, †
Smote stubborn piety with vengeful hand,
And chased our fathers from each cherished seat
Which home endeared, where bitter toil was sweet.
Bereft alike of sanctuary and home,
Reduced to pray by stealth; compelled to roam,
* Non compliance with the celebrated act of Uniformity (13 & 14 Car. II. c. 4) cost 2000 ministers their livings.
+ The act against conventicles, 16 Car. 11, c. 2, forbids all assemblies for worship, unless according to the forms established by law, and punishes such offences with fine and imprisonment.
The Five Mile act, 17 Car. 11, c. 4 prohibits all nonconforming preachers to abide anywhere within five miles of their former ministerial residence, and denounces penalties against disobedience.
No light affliction glorified our sires,
Though spared convincing racks, and cleansing fires!
Here mitred tyrants scourged their victims well;
The sister realm a darker tale can tell; (10)
Worn Caledonia felt the harpy brood,
They multiplied her pangs and drank her blood!
Nor mind can half conceive, nor words convey
The full idea of their demon-sway.
The people, severed from the rites they loved,
Were bound by forms their prelate-lords approved;
The hired apostate aimed each bigot blow,*
And half excused the swords that laid him low;
The land, congenial home for Turkish slaves,
Was stocked with dungeons and laid out in graves!
O yes! recal the consecrated wild
Where Faith broke forth, unfettered, undefiled!
James Sharp, once a Presbyterian delegate, but raised to the archbishoprick of St. Andrews, on condition of persecuting his former fellow worshippers, was murdered on the Magus Moor in Fife, A.D. 1679, by some of those whom his savage oppression had driven to desperation.
The lonely rapture of the rustic throng,
The potency of prayer, the joy of song,
Words of salvation from the lips they loved,
And courage heightened and faint zeal reproved!
Then as devotion warms and rapture speeds,
In swift succession note the tramp of steeds,
The sudden gleam of arms, the boding shout,
The charge, the blow, the struggle, and the rout,
The pastor slaughtered ere his prayer was done,
The mingling anthem silenced by the gun,
Saints bold to suffer, butchers prompt to slay,
And crowds to deadlier vengeance borne away!
Forejudged, foredoomed, behold them made to wait
While legal murderers aggravate their fate;
There peace of soul and raptured blaze of eye;
Here venomed hate and brutal ribaldry;
The tempted treason, the perfidious lure;
Strength to contemn and virtue to endure;
By changing torture that endurance tried,
And death thrice vanquished ere the victim died,
The soul from 'neath her fleshly garment rent,
Pangs feebly strong, and vengeance vainly spent!
Yes! more than vainly! with each deed of blood
Revolted Faith at fiercer distance stood;
Oppression lurked where once its car careered;
The tyrant fled, the prelate disappeared.
The bloodless strife that broke the iron rule,
And chased from either realm the bigot fool,
That raised the law above a king's control,
And left a lightened load upon the soul,
On Erin none but blasting gifts bestowed;
Hate-blended terror framed the monstrous code, (12)
Nor only stripped the tree of Freedom bare,
But breathed o'er Life's whole bloom a blighting air—
To more than woe the odious race consigned,
Proscribed the needful nurture of the mind,
Refused the seeds of knowledge leave to fall,
And made the schoolmaster a criminal;
Waged war with nature, loosed her dearest tie,
Withdrew his offspring from the parent's eye,
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