With crosses, relics, crucifixes,
Beads, pictures, rosaries, and pixes;
The tools of working out salvation
By mere mechanic operation.
_Hudibras, Pt. III. Canto I_. S. BUTLER.
Till Peter's keys some christened Jove adorn,
And Pan to Moses lends his pagan horn.
_The Dunciad, Bk. III_. A. POPE.
Christians have burnt each other, quite persuaded
That all the Apostles would have done as they did.
_Don Juan, Canto I_. LORD BYRON.
To rest, the cushion and soft dean invite,
Who never mentions hell to ears polite.
_Moral Essays, Epistle IV_. A. POPE.
Perverts the Prophets and purloins the Psalms.
_English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_. LORD BYRON.
So shall they build me altars in their zeal,
Where knaves shall minister, and fools shall kneel:
Where faith may mutter o'er her mystic spell,
Written in blood--and Bigotry may swell
The sail he spreads for Heaven with blast from hell!
_Lalla Rookh: The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan_. T. MOORE.
In hope to merit heaven by making earth a hell.
_Childe Harold, Canto I_. LORD BYRON.
When pious frauds and holy shifts
Are dispensations and gifts.
_Hudibras, Pt. I. Canto III_. S. BUTLER.
Yes,--rather plunge me back in pagan night,
And take my chance with Socrates for bliss,
Than be the Christian of a faith like this,
Which builds on heavenly cant its earthly sway,
And in a convert mourns to lose a prey.
_Intolerance_. T. MOORE.
And after hearing what our Church can say,
If still our reason runs another way,
That private reason 'tis more just to curb,
Than by disputes the public peace disturb;
For points obscure are of small use to learn,
But common quiet is mankind's concern.
_Religio Laici_. J. DRYDEN.