All worship is an inconsistent sham-- An echo from the thrones of earthly kings, Who have the power to either bless or damn Their subjects of this world in worldly things; It will be fostered in the church, which brings A living fat for wily ministers, As long as folks will wear their leading-strings; But when the blood of independence stirs Men's hearts, they'll cease to bow as idol-worshipers. So long as thoughtless men deceive their souls With vague conjectures that a wordy prayer Their destiny beyond the graveyard moulds, When breathed aloud into the empty air, To some unknown mysterious being there, Their conduct will be inconsistent, mad; Reason and common sense will have no share In guiding them to action, and the sad Results will only to the world's confusion add. How very low and groveling is this, And reeking with the very fumes of hell! As if mankind could win immortal bliss By idle words and forms, in which can dwell No kind of virtue, no exalting spell! Let men but reason and they must behold That righteous living here alone can tell In raising human destiny. The bold In thought and action the most rapidly unfold. But some day men will learn that law supreme, Unchanging and unerring, rules us all; That there is neither low nor high extreme Where special favors unto men may fall, Or privilege be granted at the call Of homage-giving beings who desire To gain advantage, be it great or small; That selfishness can never raise men higher. And only deeds of good can aid those who aspire. Throw creeds and books and churches to the winds, Save as they furnish food for human thought; Shun every subtle manacle that binds The human reason--'tis with evil fraught; Bow not to books, nor saviors, nor aught But Truth and Justice and the love of Good; With these alone can be salvation bought; It was for these the Nazarene once stood-- In these must every soul find its redemption food. Let men have faith in principle, and strive To live in strict accord with equity; When at the door of truth they always knock, And deal no more in foolish mystery, But trim the lamp of reason so they see The right from wrong, and act the nobler part. Then will the human race be truly free; Then the millennium will surely start With the millennial conditions in the heart.