Classic Poem

A YE , “close the doors, and nail them fast,”
“Shut out the faithful few”
Who nailed their banners to the mast,
To Christ and conscience true;
Their motto, “What the Scripture saith,”
With souls serene and brave,
And held unshrinkingly the faith
The Word and Spirit gave.

Aye, “Nail the doors,”—bleak winds of March
Roared round the little flock;
But, peaceful as the heaven's blue arch,
Their zeal defied the shock;
Not theirs, made weak by coward fear.
The truth they loved, to yield;
Not theirs, compelled by scoff and jeer
To hasten from the field.

One Sabbath, scattered through the town,
Barred from their house of prayer,
Crushed by the ruler's scorn and frown,
The people's taunt and stare;
The next, to God and duty true,
Met in their lowly shed,
They worshipped Him in tears, who knew
Not where to lay His head.

Aye, “Nail the doors,”—the rulers deemed
Their act had power to bind
The sacred rights of men redeemed,
To crush the freeborn mind;
But who shall bind the beams of light
The sun at midday flings?
Or check the eagle's heavenward flight
By cobwebs on his wings?

Prisons and fines, and pain and death,
In vain assert control
O'er that free thing, the Almighty breath,
God's image in the soul;
Tyrants of earth, with mace and crown,
May make an empire cower;
The soul—an empire of its own—
Defies their utmost power.

Can man o'er noontide's glory bring
A pall of blackest night?
Or grains of dust upon his wing
Impede the seraph's flight?
God's thought, unchecked by human rule,
Shall hold its mighty sway;
God's law shall found its lofty school,
And love make all obey.

Aye, “Nail the doors,”—the mighty wrong
The erring hammer wrought,—
A seed, that day,—harvests, ere long,—
With wondrous fruits was fraught;
As ships, in ballast, oft depart,
Yet, when they homeward sail,
Bring wealth uncounted to the mart,
Nor heed the stormy gale.

Aye, “Nail the doors,”—yet God's true light
From God's blest Word will shine;
Conscience and truth will have their right,—
“'T is human,” 't is divine;
Hold in your leash the billowy sea,
Fetter the waves of sound,
Man's soul,—God's truth,—divinely free,
By man cannot be bound.