ON THE SECULARISTS' NOTION OF MAKING OUR CHURCHES INTO MUSEUMS AND EXHIBITIONS

[ZaunköniG]

ON THE SECULARISTS' NOTION OF MAKING OUR
CHURCHES INTO MUSEUMS AND EXHIBITIONS.

What noble work our seculars can do !
Behold their church museum ; come and see
The mighty change, the change from false to true,
To sense and fact from idle mystery !
Apes, mummies, minerals are scatter'd o'er
The nave ; new wines and patents meet our eyes ;
Young prigs and gnostic maidens pace the floor ;
The altar's self is mask'd with butterflies.
Ah ! guileless symbols of ungodly scorn !
If your bright wings were still alive and free,
How would ye float and tremble silently
About the holy place, this blessed morn !
Alas ! our science is but shame and loss,
When pack'd and pinn'd to overlay the cross !