The Franciscan monk commences, Bursting into furious passion, And his voice, now harsh, now growling, Blusters in a curious fashion. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit In one sentence he comprises, And the seed accurst of Jacob In the Rabbi exorcises. For in suchlike controversies Little devils oft are hidden In the Jews, and give them sharpness, Wit, and arguments when bidden. Having thus expell’d the devil By his mighty exorcism, Comes the monk, dogmatically, Quoting from the catechism. He recounts how in the Godhead Persons three are comprehended, Who, whenever they so will it, Into one are straightway blended. ’Tis a mystery unfolded But to those who, in due season, Have escaped from out the prison And the chains of human reason. He recounts how God was born at Bethlehem, of a tenderhearted Virgin, whose divine unsullied Innocency ne’er departed. How they laid the Lord Almighty In a lowly stable manger, Where the calf and heifer meekly Stood around the newborn stranger. He recounts, too, how the Lord From King Herod’s minions flying, Went to Egypt, how still later Death’s sharp pangs he suffer’d, dying. In the time of Pontius Pilate, Who subscribed his condemnation, Urged on by the Jews and cruel Pharisees’ confederation. He recounts, too, how the Lord, Bursting from the tomb’s dark prison On the third day, into heaven Had in glorious triumph risen; How, when ’tis the proper time, he Would return to earth in splendour, At Jehoshaphat, to judge there Every quick and dead offender. “Tremble, Jews!” exclaim’d the friar, “At the God whom ye tormented “Cruelly with thorns and scourges, “To whose death ye all consented. “Jews, ye were his murderers! nation “Of vindictive fierce behaviour! “Him who comes to free you, still ye “Slay,--ye murder him, the Saviour. “Jews, the carrion where the demons “Coming from the lower regions “Dwell, your bodies are the barracks “Of the devil’s wicked legions. “Thomas of Aquinas says so, “He is famed in Christian story, “Call’d the mighty ox of learning, “Orthodoxy’s light and glory. “Villain race of Jews! you’re nought but “Wolves, hyenas, jackals hateful, “Church-yard prowlers, who deem only “Flesh of corpses to be grateful. “Jews, O Jews! you’re hogs and monkeys, “Monsters cruel and perfidious, “Whom they call rhinoceroses, “Crocodiles and vampires hideous. “Ye are ravens, owls, and screechowls, “Rats and miserable lapwings, “Gallows’-birds and cockatrices, “Very scum of all that flap wings!