WAR IN PEACE:
POPERY, PUSEYISM.
BIBLE
CHURCH-OF-ENGLANDISM.
ADDRESSED TO THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND
BY ONE OF THEMSELVES.
LONDON: HOPE & CO., 16 GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
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WAR IN PEACE;
POPERY, PUSEYISM, CHURCH-OF-ENGLANDISM.
A Dramatic Dialogue
BETWEEN THREE PILGRIMS AND A VENERABLE HERMIT.
ADDRESSED TO
THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND
BY
ONE OF THEMSELVES.
LONDON:
HOPE & CO., 16 GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
MDCCCLV.


At vos
Dicite Pontifices in sancto quid facit aurum ?
Nempè hoc quod Veneri donatæ à virgine pupæ.
Quid damus id Superis, de magnâ quod dare lance
Non possit magni Messalæ lippa propago;
Compositum jus, fasque animi sanctosque recessus
Mentis et incoctum generoso pectus honesto
Hæc cedo ut admoveam templis et farre litabo.
PERSII Satira 11.


WAR IN PEACE.
INTRODUCTION.
ONE evening, gentle reader, as I sat,
And thought on this thing, and half-dream'd on that,
My mind unconsciously began to trace
The sects and superstitions of our race.
Mesmer appeared, and, dress'd in serge and hood,
Amidst a group of prostrate phantoms stood.
Did the old adder in the garden know,
That through an apple mesmerism could flow?
If so, he used it not "pro bono publico."
Thus musing, I was rapt into a trance,
The visionary world seemed to advance,
Displaying clear to my astonished sight
The mystic scene which I essay to write.
Critics, remit the rigour of your art,
Probe not too deep the language of the heart;
I could not bear to see my native land
Betwixt the Lord and Baal wav'ring stand-
Oh! choose Elijah's God, seek mercy at His hand!






I.
v
Sweet sang the birds, and brightly shone the sun,
His sultry noontide heat scarce yet begun;
The morning mist, by zephyr charmed away,
Showed where the cool luxurious landscape lay.
I saw a road, divergent into three,
Marked by the branches of an aged tree,
At whose gnarled trunk three pilgrims chanced to meet;
And I beheld them cordially greet
Each other, ere they sought to rest their weary feet.


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WAR IN PEACE.
II.
One looked the elder from his shaven crown,
His sallow cheek, and uninviting frown,
Which he with ease could change into a smile,
Outwardly all Nathaniel without guile.
The next, although his head was not so bare,
Seemed to my mind as rev'rend with grey hair;
His form was tall and portly, and he took
No heed a gift-horse in the mouth to look,
And "laisser faire" was written in his well-thumb'd book.
III.
The third was young, and very clerkly dress'd,
One from his intonation would have guess'd
That sound to him was better far than sense,
And to his mind of greater consequence.
The guiding tree stood on a rising ground,
With little hillocks dotted all around;
. Here they reposed, each choosing from the rest
That mossy spot he thought would suit him best,
When each in turn his fellow pilgrims twain address'd.


WAR IN PEACE.
7
IV.
The tonsured pilgrim first took up the word,
Not loud but most distinctly was he heard:
He said in Britain, with an aching heart,
He'd seen the Catholics unjustly smart;
Rail'd at John Knox and all his rabble rout,
Who turn'd Queen Mary to the right about,
And dimm'd the brightness of her brilliant eye
With his disgusting yell, "No Popery!
Thus wringing from her bosom oft a bitter sigh.
V.
""
The sour old sinner, he would just as soon
Have tied a Papist up as tied his shoon ;
The vile plebeian name, John Knox, indeed,
His name and nature much too well agreed;
And the grim Puritans, with many a sect
Of blockheads, christened by themselves th' elect,
Who'd sing a psalm, and cut their neighbour's throat,
In the same whining sanctimonious note,
Saying the sword of God and Gideon 'twas that smote.


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WAR IN PEACE.
VI.
Th' infernal "Test Act," which that truth withstood,
That bread and wine turn into flesh and blood,
And that the wafer, blest by priestly word,
Becomes the heaven and earth's incarnate Lord,
Transferr'd supremacy in Church affairs
To those who never were ordained her heirs.
Must laymen dictate what the priest shall preach?
Meekly to learn is theirs, 'tis his to teach:
The Holiest of Holies is beyond their reach.
VII.
Oh! Titus Oates, leader of a foul crew
Of perjured hypocrites, who never knew
Remorse or shame, how can we e'er forget
Thee and thy cruel persecuting sect?
And yet these English talk of liberty!
Good-make their Irish brethren then free,
Oblige them not to pray for that they hate-
'Tis right they should support the Queen and State,
But not a Church which they like hell abominate!


WAR IN PEACE.
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VIII.
The youthful traveller could not help confessing
The sins of Englishmen-but, by God's blessing,
Hop'd they would mend the errors of their way,
And towards the altar turn them when they pray.
'Twas his opinion that the prayers should be
Intoned, they sounded thus more heavenly;
That babies' souls the act of sprinkling cleans,
Not step by step as gentle mother weans,
But as by miracle the Saviour intervenes.
IX.
Christ's supper was to him his sacrifice,
No place of worship ever could suffice,
Unless erected looking east and west:
That was to him the trusty card'nal test ;
The altar, too, should be with flowers deck'd
And lighted candles heighten the effect;
These were the customs when our Church began.
He only wished the flick'ring flame to fan,
That so a stronger light may guide benighted man.


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WAR IN PEACE.
X.
Each pilgrim now, except the stout grey head,
Had told his story, and his say had said;
Thus he commences-" Friends, I wonder much
That the report of England should be such
As you deliver. I am native there,
And vouch my fellows in their dealings fair:
If aught they've erred, their leniency I blame-
Thus has the tiny spark produced a flame,
And thus a Pope has dared to laugh us all to shame.
XI.
"Give him an inch he'll take himself the ell;
You grumble, 'Send the heretic to hell.'
I think, myself, religion should be free
In mind, and thought, and TRUE morality.
But is not that too free where man is fain
To save his soul by mere corporeal pain-
Where subtle priests man's death-bed fears may wake,
And through those fears a cheaper market make,
To barter for the heritage his kin should take?


WAR IN PEACE.
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XII.
"Is that religion which denounces all
Who on their God without a proxy call,
Who seek His mercy, and to Him confess
Their secret sins and inward wickedness?
How can a mutual confidence arise.
Where wife and husband are domestic spies,
Where timid wives to grave confessors kneel,
And all their conjugal affairs reveal,
Bursting through ties most sacred in mistaken zeal?
XIII.
"What pure religion says that orphans ought
To be immured in nunneries, for nought
Except that priests may, by mock legal stealth,
Obtain th' inheritance of all their wealth?
Do they e'er strive to make a pauper nun?
Or after little pauper sisters run?
But if a girl inherit land or gold,
They'll take her young, and gradually mould
Her bias, or her fears, nor ever loose their hold,—


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WAR IN PEACE.
XIV.
"Seclude her in a convent, feed her low,
If her young blood with genial warmth do flow;
Bid her renounce all carnal appetites,
And live alone for heaven and its delights.
Worn out at length, her o'erwrought powers fail,
Reason, alas! gives way-she takes the veil.
Ah, me, that veil it hides a tearful eye,
Beneath its folds is stifled many a sigh,
Born, like the youthful nun who breathes it, soon to die.
XV.
"With Roman Catholics the chiefest aim
Has ever been t' enslave, and not to tame.
Hoodwink the mind, the body must obey;
Confess that day is night, if so you say.
With faith you need not fear the devil's grip,
Well oil'd ere death, you'll through his fingers slip-
Do evil that therefrom good may accrue,
Sin, but do penance, pay the priest his due,
And then you're book'd for heaven-prepaid is stamp'd on you.


WAR IN PEACE.
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XVI.
"Talk of our persecuting! All know well
Queen Mary's reign, a diff'rent tale can tell
Of massacres! There's St. Bartholomew,
With scores of others, horrible as true;
But as we all at issue seem to be,
What say you, breth'ren, to a referee?
An old recluse should hereabouts reside,
Fam'd for good deeds and precepts far and wide,
To him let us repair, and our dissents confide."
XVII.
The frank suggestion pleased his rivals two,
He leads, they follow-a dissolving view
Suddenly sets my dream-fraught brain before
The hermit's rustic, unassuming door.
On a low bench his aged limbs he rests,
But, rising, welcomes his approaching guests.
The spokesman brief prefers their common suit
At large, and sev'rally the three dispute,
He listening courteously 'till every tongue was mute.


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WAR IN PEACE.
XVIII.
Smiling around with calm majestic mien,
Lifting a brow though wrinkled, yet serene;
His soft blue eye the gentle spirit showed,
Which doubly bless'd the gift his hand bestowed.
Then firmly thus :-" Since you have chosen me
With one consent, my friends, your referee,
I will with faithful speech unfold my mind,
Not by God's help to any part inclin❜d,
But as the merits weigh in strictest scale assign'd.
""
XIX.
First, my grey-headed friend, to you I speak :
You've been in faith too lax, in works too weak,
Too well contented with the layman's gold;
Your charitable actions are but cold.
Why in old England doth Dissent abound,
Distributing so many schisms around?
Because Dissenters go amongst the poor;
They do not scorn t' unlatch the lowly door,
Console the sick man's griefs, and eke his slender store.


WAR IN PEACE.
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XX.
""Tis not this college with its formulists,
Nor that with all its learned dogmatists,
Empowers the heavenly message to declare
Which named man's slave th' Almighty father's heir.
Your clergy are too highly taught to teach;
Ye can't descend, the poor can't mount to reach.
St. Peter's chair for ev'ry grade provides
Of penitents, enow of suited guides;
Through ear to heart the doctrine aptly worded slides.
XXI.
"You, my good youthful disputant, who see
In making broad your own phylactery
Fair proof of grace—who zealous pains bestow,
On genuflexions and on outward show-
You've seized a shadow, but the substance lost,
The gain how worthless! and how dear the cost!
Will He whom not th' unbounded heavens contain,
To measure altitudes by inches deign?
Or hear because you chaunt the supplicative strain?


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WAR IN PEACE.
XXII.
"To sing withal supposes ear and voice,
He blest with neither has an awkward choice;
The English lack what's called the gift of song,
To them doth skill in music scarce belong.
Then every parish church cannot afford
A well train'd choir, to sing prayers to the Lord;
What if it could? whilst pious throats are bare
Of music;-is the congregation there
To hear them sing, and not assist in fervent prayer?
XXIII.
"Nor you, my tonsured visitor, deceive
Yourself to dream, these English will believe
Rome for her call, or dread her lightning's flash ;
Whip little boys, but spare adults the lash.
The steady English, whilst they love to trust
A worthy Churchman, view with strong disgust
Ambition in the bosom dedicate
To heaven's work; they'll kick at any rate
Against intruded rule of alien potentate.


WAR IN PEACE.
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XXIV.
"They would not that their orphan'd maids should be
Lured at their deaths into a nunnery.
For mark the process :—whilst they swim in tears,
The Lady Abbess soothingly appears;
Points up to heaven, bids them look for ease
To her who can and will their grief appease.
The blessed Virgin, queen of heaven, whose love
A treasure is, earth's idle joys above;
Apt is the hour the softened soul to mould and move.
XXV.
"In the wide world behold them sad, forlorn,
Poor little orphans, both their parents gone,
Whilst yet their tender hearts are fit to break,
The priest approaches e'en for pity's sake.
He tells them to be good and dry their eyes,
To seek religious solace for their sighs;
That if they're docile and his words obey,
They'll meet their parents at an early day.
He can by prayers abridge their purgatorial stay.


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WAR IN PEACE.
XXVI.
"Now, as the streams of youthful passions grow,
The priest directs them whither they shall flow;
He speaks of Christ and holy ardour shows,
As He expounds His sorrows and his woes;
Directs their thoughts to fervent contemplation
Of heaven, or-if they wont obey-damnation !
Thus is the mind by small gradations led,
Thus filled with fancy, thus on errors fed,
And or the spirit's broke, or reason she has fled.
XXVII.
"They're taught with holy transport to desire
The blessed warmth of Christ's eternal fire,
That so their hearts, with angel feelings bless'd,
Worked up to ecstasy, may mount in quest
Of that celestial never ending bliss,
Known but to those who taste the Saviour's kiss;
Striving to roam in empyrean space,
Their minds unguided meet no resting place,
And, giddy grown, forget the backward way to trace.


WAR IN PEACE.
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XXVIII.
"Is that religion which enlists the fears,
And melts the maiden's gentle heart to tears,
Bids her fall prostrate wooden saints before,
And not their God, but imaged men, adore—
Which on the fancy plays its magic spell,
Debasing heaven, etherializing hell?
Oh! fathers, mothers, ponder ere ye place
Those whom ye love beyond all earthly trace:
Convents and monasteries are the state's disgrace.
XXIX.
"Does God delight to see his gifts refused,
Not only set at nought, but e'en abused?
Does he desire that we should mortify
Our puny bodies which so soon must die?
Can that give pleasure to the God of grace
Which doth the body and the mind debase?
Or is that Christ who died our souls to save
Well pleased to see us groan into the grave,
Shipwreck'd and swallowed up 'neath superstition's wave?


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WAR IN PEACE.
XXX.
"No, the great Deity who gave us life,
Can surely not be pleased with mortal strife?
The Author of all good, He loves to see
Go hand in hand Faith, Hope, and Charity.
The first exalts the mind, and gives full scope,
So that we ample room may find for Hope,
Who bids us smile and look for better days,
Whilst Charity her little store displays,
And with 'good works' our sad and doleful fears allays.
XXXI.
"God made the green grass soothing to the eye,
He gave us spring when birds sing merrily;
The glorious summer and its glowing sun,
With genial warmth to shine on ev'ry one;
The autumn too, so that no sudden change
Of temp'rature our bodies disarrange,
When winter comes with frosty air to brace
Man's limbs, and paint with ruddy glow his face.
God gave us these things, good each in its proper place.


WAR IN PEACE.
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XXXII.
"He gave us also senses that we might
Enjoy these things in using them aright;
Then should not this beneficence divine
Deserve our praise, not lead us to repine,
Teach us to use those talents we possess,
Not thwart His views, and show our thanklessness?
Nature commands 'increase and multiply,'
Not 'shut yourself up in a nunnery ;'
And, having spent a useless life, lie down and die.
XXXIII.
"Your Romish dogmas are a stumbling block,
Invented at man's better sense to mock.
Christ, ere he suffered, met a chosen few,
Who lov'd him, and he bade them then adieu.
He brake the bread, and poured out the wine,
And said himself that fruit was of the vine.
How then could they both eat and drink their Lord,
Whilst He himself presided at the board,
Blessing the simple food His words themselves record?


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WAR IN PEACE.
-
XXXIV.
"If He redeemed us at so great a price,
That one atonement surely will suffice;
Whereas the Papists make of none effect
His death, they all His agonies reject;
And every time they take their Eucharist,
Recrucify indeed the very Christ.
'Tis a remembrance of His sojourn here,
A token that the Comforter is near,
And ever ready to dry up the sinner's tear.
XXXV. .
"Why should the Virgin Mary worshipped be?
'Woman,' Christ answered, 'what art thou to me?'
And was her first-born Mary's only child?
Or always she a virgin undefil'd?
One might as well say at the marriage feast
The water-pots were turn'd to gold at least,
And that the spear which pierced our Saviour's side
By contact with His blood was sanctified.
Through Him alone we're saved, else are his words belied.


WAR IN PEACE.
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XXXVI.
"That precept teaches sheer idolatry
Which inculcates that Christ's divinity
Remain'd behind wrapped up in worn-out clothes,
Or that there's virtue in a dead saint's toes;
And what's confession? But the jugglery
Of priests to build on man's credulity.
"Tis thus they learn his most besetting sin,
And so instructed safely may begin
To angle for him with a bait he glories in.
XXXVII.
"Let us believe that God created all
For some good purpose, be they great or small.
Whate'er the creed in conscience we profess,
Or right or wrong, we need not hope the less.
If He see proper, we should understand
Who dwell in what is called a Christian land.
Let us endeavour, with true Christian art,
By precept and example to impart
The balm of comfort to, not strive to break, the heart.


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WAR IN PEACE.
XXXVIII.
"Alas, my friends! you Christians persecute
Each other, and your precepts thus refute.
Combine together, join ye hand in hand,
Make of yourselves indeed a Christian band;
Let useless forms to common sense give place,
"
Do ye good works,' and trust to God for grace.
In His good time, and as to Him seem right,
He'll shed on every soul His heav'nly light,
And all your truly Christian deeds God will requite.
XXXIX.
"Now fare ye well, think over what I've said,
Give ear to conscience, be by reason led,
Depart in peace, and whilst there yet is day,
Go each contentedly his chosen way;
For night approaches, see the sun declines,
E'en now it scarce the horizon's verge defines.
If aught my strictures rankle in the breast
Of any one, I solemnly protest
'Twas ye yourselves who sought-I spake at your request.”


WAR IN PEACE.
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XL.
Methought they bade the good old man adieu,
And in the distance soon were lost to view.
They took three diff'rent roads, but I could see
That one the young man took most probably
From its direction very soon would end
In bringing him to join his tonsured friend.
I saw no more-yet, as the vision fled,
A voice I heard, which echoes still-it said,
"There must be Pope or Queen-the Church must have a head."
THE END.


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