MY friends, beware of Popery, with her alluring ways;
Stand forth as faithful witnesses these dark and threat’ning days.
When the evil floods of Popery are rising o’er our land
‘Tis time we were uniting in a staunch, resisting band.
Re-echo wide the warning, that this Pope is just as bold
And as merciless as others; when their Church once got a hold
The smiling face was thrown aside, the iron hand was bared
To torture and e’en murder men because, thro’ faith, they dared
To raise aloud their voices in a warning note to all,
Of the evil ways of Popery, under which they soon would fall.
Many, many faithful lives have perished by that hand,
Because in opposition they, for truth, did gladly stand.
Rome for a while made giant strides those dark and dreary years;
The fearful wastes she left behind were drenched in blood and tears.
She trampled God’s Law under foot, with banners wide unfurled.
“Who can prevail against me?” was her boast to all the world.
God, in His sovereign mercy, took compassion on the land,
As witnesses for truth were raised by His almighty hand;
They cast aside the fetters under which they had been bound,
While the joyful Gospel tidings through all Europe did resound.
The mist of superstition, then, was rudely swept away,
And knowledge pierced the darkness where error long had sway.
Rome, the watch-tower of Satan, once more is on the move.
Protestants, again arise, and to the Papists prove
Their Eucharistic gatherings of Cardinal and Priest
Won’t convince us one iota that they’ve altered in the least.
Let the Bible be your armour, as preparing for the fray.
What Rome has done in days gone by, Rome still would do to-day.
For soon, perhaps, we’ll have to fight to defend our hearth and home
From the merciless marauders of the bloody Church of Rome.
J. B.