Religious Legislation by Fred Pardee Hanchett

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jul 1, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 27.

Religious Legislation.

By Fred Pardee Hanchett

Now are the days of Roman hate returning, When Christians unto beasts were thrown to die. Now are the hearts of men and women yearning For human law to aid (?) the law most high.

Why stand ye, thoughtless citizens, debating A question you should never yield to men? Ah, history is even now relating The evils that thru you have come again.

Free-born am I, and equal with my neighbor; No set of men—"reformers"—in their dreams Can fix my day of rest, nor limit labor, Nor legislate for me on holy themes.

No priestly despot can define nor alter The tenets of my fealty to God; Nor all his maledictions cause to falter My footstep, while I dwell upon the sod.

To work, to rest, to worship at my pleasure, Is e'en a choice bequest from One on high; Then will I to the last defend the treasure, Nor render it to men, tho I should die.

Nor will I bow, nor bend in weak submission To man, nor woo the right to buy and sell— In neither hand nor forehead bear permission— The beastly mark of bondage unto hell;

But will, as I have strength, essay to render To God His own; and unto Cæsar, too, The whole of Cæsar's—service, legal-tender; And unto others as I'd have them do.

But vicious laws are filed—our rights denying— By evil forces join'd in church and state, Which, in the name of Heaven—God defying— Maintain injustice, and engender hate. FRED PARDEE HANCHETT.