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God never had a church but there, men say,
The devil a chapel hath raised by some wiles,
read more
God never had a church but there, men say,
The devil a chapel hath raised by some wiles,
I doubted of this saw, till on a day
I westward spied great Edinburgh's Saint Giles.
An instinctive taste teaches men to build their churches in flat
countries with spire steeples, which, as they cannot read more
An instinctive taste teaches men to build their churches in flat
countries with spire steeples, which, as they cannot be referred
to any other object, point as with silent finger to the sky and
stars.
No silver saints, by dying misers giv'n,
Here brib'd the rage of ill-requited heav'n;
But such plain read more
No silver saints, by dying misers giv'n,
Here brib'd the rage of ill-requited heav'n;
But such plain roofs as Piety could raise,
And only vocal with the Maker's praise.
It is not about the pasture of the sheep, but about their wool.
[Lat., Non est de pastu ovium read more
It is not about the pasture of the sheep, but about their wool.
[Lat., Non est de pastu ovium quaestio, sed de lana.]
The church alone beyond all question
Has for ill-gotten goods the right digestion.
[Ger., Die Kirch' allein, read more
The church alone beyond all question
Has for ill-gotten goods the right digestion.
[Ger., Die Kirch' allein, meine lieben Frauen,
Kann ungerechtes Gut verdauen.]
Oh! St. Patrick was a gentleman,
Who came of decent people;
He built a church in Dublin read more
Oh! St. Patrick was a gentleman,
Who came of decent people;
He built a church in Dublin town,
And on it put a steeple.
Who builds a church to God, and not to Fame,
Will never mark the marble with his Name.
Who builds a church to God, and not to Fame,
Will never mark the marble with his Name.
Where Christ erecteth his church, the divell in the same
church-yarde will have his chappell.
Where Christ erecteth his church, the divell in the same
church-yarde will have his chappell.
A beggarly people,
A church and no steeple.
A beggarly people,
A church and no steeple.