Christ taught no worship and believed in none; His teaching was of equal Brotherhood; But, if there must be worship, it was meet That he who claimed it should bow at the feet Of him of whom 'twas claimed; the evil one So claiming should bow down before the good. Christ did not ask for worship, nor it seek; This he abhorred in every form and phase; He was resolved to ever upright stand; 'Twas to rebuke he gave that stern command; And he who claims the homage of the weak His low condition to the wise betrays. Satan still tempts all greedy human kind With his rewards of selfishness and lust; He would their minds in superstition steep, And mercilessly every soul would keep Forever to the lower realms confined, Where all is turned to ashes and to dust. Oh! what a world of malice Christ awoke In Satan when he bade him "get behind!" Then all the fury of the fiends of hell Around his earthly way exhaled their spell; Beset by every snare hell could evoke, He suffered hellish tortures of the mind. He lived alone; he was not understood By those with whom he most communed and taught; His sole support was love and faith in truth And principles he'd pondered from his youth; He saw right living and the doing good Must bring a future life with gladness fraught. But hell would not consent to tolerate The presence here on earth of one who chose To be so independent of its sway; It would not do to longer let him stay, And so the vicious tools of hell and hate Were set to work his teachings here to close. He long had seen or guessed how it would end; But faith in principle in him was strong, And he would not consent to change his course Nor to retract, nor turn to such resource As would the purpose of his foes unbend, And thus his labors on the earth prolong. But he resolved to carry on the fight Beyond the grave, and to contend for power And freedom to reject the homage base Which Satan claimed, and meet him face to face In his own realms of cruelty and night, And try his title there to freedom's dower. It was a faith sublime that thus could nerve The Nazarene to face the death they chose; But patiently he met his fate alone, Without complaint, and scarcely gave a groan, So sure was he that Freedom he could serve And in the end could conquer all his foes.