By a feat of compromise.
Small the Church was; logic thence
Palter'd to the inference:
Twice the size—that cannot fail;
Fivefold,—that must needs prevail!
O, I saw not that the call
Was for <g>Nothing</g> or else <g>All</g>.
Down that easy way I reel'd,
But to-day the Lord has spoken,
In this very hour has peal'd
Overhead the awful blast
Of His Judgment-trump at last,—
And I listen'd, in the wind
Of my anguish, baffled, broken,—
Even as David, having sinn'd—;
Now all hesitation dies.
Men! The Devil is <g>compromise</g>!
The Multitude.
[With growing excitement.]
Down with them that quench'd our light
Sapp'd the marrow of our might!
Brand.
In your souls the demon dwells
That has bound you with his spells.
You have put your powers at mart,
You have cleft yourselves in twain;
Discord therefore numbs your brain,
Petrifies your hollow heart.
To the Church to-day what drew you?
But the show, the show—nought else!—
Roll of organ, clash of bells,—
And to feel the tingle through you
Of a speaking-furnace dart,
