Page:Prometheus Bound, and other poems.djvu/204

 We pass these things,—because "the times" are prest With necessary charges of the weight Of all the sin; and "Calvin, for the rest, Made bold to burn Servetus—Ah, men err!"— And, so do Churches! which is all we mean To bring to proof in any register Of theological fat kine and lean— So drive them back into the pens! refer Old sins with long beards, and "I wis and ween," Entirely to the times—the times—the times! Nor ever ask why this preponderant, Infallible, pure Church could set her chimes Most loudly then, just then; most jubilant, Precisely then—when mankind stood in crimes Full heart-deep, and Heaven's judgments were not scant. Inquire still less, what signifies a Church Of perfect inspiration and pure laws, Who burns the first man with a brimstone torch, And grinds the second, bone by bone, because The times, forsooth, are used to rack and scorch! What is a holy Church, unless she awes The times down from their sins? Did Christ select Such amiable times, to come and teach Love to, and mercy? Why, the world were wrecked, If every mere great man, who lives to reach A little leaf of popular respect, Attained not simply by some special breach In his land's customs,—by some precedence In thought and act—which, having proved him higher Than his own times, proved too his competence Of helping them to wonder and aspire.