Faith of the Olden Time

Today in Masonic History we present Faith of the Olden Time by Rob Morris.

Give me the Faith my fathers had,
When home-worn ties they cast,
In stern contempt forever back,
Like chaff' upon the blast.
These prayers, lip-measured, leave me chill,
As icy fount sends icy rill;
No passion bidding nature start,
No fire struck out to warm the heart;
There's nothing here to make me glad
Give me the FAITH my fathers had.

A patriot now is bought and sold
For price-but render me
The hope that braced the hearts of old,
My fathers' Liberty.
What's fine-drawn speech and wordy war
A candle-ray to freedom's star!
The hand to hilt, the sword abroad,
The ftag to heaven, the heart to God,
Those are the tokens I would see
Give me my fathers' LIBERTY.

Give me my fathers' walk below:
No artful mind was theirs,
To compass kindred hearts about
With treachery and snares;
No nets of artifice they spread
To lure tho innocent to tread;
Life's blessings how they freely shared.
Life's fear they boldly met and dared;
A blameless life, a death sublime,
These were the things of Olden Time.

Give me the friendships that entwined
The upright trunks of yore;
The tendrils that so sweetly vined
A beauty and a power.
My heart is sad to think this earth,
With all its Joy, with all its mirth,
Has lost the chain our fathers wove,
The chain of holy, holy love,
Has lost the path our fathers trod,
The path that led them up to God.

Oh, then bring back the palmy days
Of innocence and truth,
When honesty was in its prime,
And selfishness in youth.
When man allowed to man his place,
When probity unbared its face,
When justice poised an equal scale,
And faith sang through the dying wall;
Away, an age of care and crime,
Give me the days of Olden Time!