Page:The cry for justice - an anthology of the literature of social protest. - (IA cryforjusticea00sinc).pdf/383

 any of yours. The time is not come for the wearing of garments of gold.

"Mock not, nor slander. Your ostentation is a travesty of the Most High, and a defamation of your Saviour.

"Do you esteem the kingdom of God a trifle, that you array yourself and rejoice, while the world still lies in despair and in shackles?

"You are so commanded to serve your Father in spirit and in truth, and you have served Him with the letter and with lies.

"His prophets, who loved the truth better than their lives, you have burned at the stake, and have made them martyrs

"You pull the carriage of prince and moneyed man, and make grimaces before the powerful.

"They build your churches, and you say masses for them, although they be Satan himself

"What have you done for the sheep committed to your care—for the poor and bereaved—for the oppressed and the disinherited?

"Submission you have taught them—ay—submission to Mammon. You have taught them to bow meekly to Satan.

"God's light—the light of knowledge—you have withheld from them. Woe be to you!

"You have taught them to beg, and to kiss the rod that smote them. You have cloaked the shame of alms-receiving, and have prated of honor in servitude.

"Thus have you humbled man, and disfigured the human soul

"Of the love of the Father you have made commerce—a sinful merchandise. Not because you love virtue do you preach it, but because of the sweet profit. You