Whenever God erects a house of prayer
The devil always builds a chapel there;
And 'twill be read more

Whenever God erects a house of prayer
The devil always builds a chapel there;
And 'twill be found, upon examination,
The latter has the largest congregation.

A beggarly people,
A church and no steeple.

A beggarly people,
A church and no steeple.

When once thy foot enters the church, be bare.
God is more there than thou: for thou art there
read more

When once thy foot enters the church, be bare.
God is more there than thou: for thou art there
Only by his permission. Then beware,
That leads from earth to heaven.

No sooner is a Temple built to God but the Devill builds a
Chappell hard by.
[No sooner read more

No sooner is a Temple built to God but the Devill builds a
Chappell hard by.
[No sooner is a Temple built to God but the Devil builds a chapel
hard by.]

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.

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.

Well has the name of Pontifex been given
Unto the Church's head, as the chief builder
And read more

Well has the name of Pontifex been given
Unto the Church's head, as the chief builder
And architect of the invisible bridge
That leads from earth to heaven.

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.

The nearer the church, the further from God.

The nearer the church, the further from God.