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A PLAIN ACCOUNT OF THE NATURE AND DESIGN OF TRUE RELIGION, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: What is religion? Why it is a cure
Last Line: And what religion is they only know.
Subject(s): Religion; Religious Education; Theology; Sunday Schools; Yeshivas; Parochial Schools


WHAT is Religion?—Why it is a cure,
Giv'n in the Gospel, gratis, to the poor,
By Jesus Christ, the healer of the soul;
Which all, who take, are sure to be made whole;
And they who will not, all the art of man
May strive to cure them, but it never can.

Cure for what malady?—For that of sin,
From whence all other maladies begin;
It had its rise in Adam, first of all;
And all his Sons, partaking of his fall
Want a new Adam to beget them free
From sin and death; and Jesus Christ is He.

How is it giv'n?—By raising a new birth
Of heav'nly life, surviving that of earth;
Which may, at any time, at some it must
Return its mortal body to the dust;
And then the born of God in Christ again
Will rise immortal, true angelic men.

Why in the Gospel?—Gospel is, indeed,
In its true living sense, the holy seed,
By God's great mercy, first, in Adam sown,
And first, in Christ, to full perfection grown:
Fulness, from which all holy souls derive,
And bodies too, the pow'r to be alive.

Why GRATIS giv'n?—Because the love-desire
Of God, in Christ, can never work for hire:
Its nature is to love for loving's sake,
To give itself to ev'ry will to take;
To them it brings, amidst the darkest night,
Its life and immortality to light.

Why to the poor?—Because they feel their want,
Which trust in riches, is so loth to grant:
The rich have something which they call their own;
The poor have nothing, but to Christ alone
They owe themselves, and pay him what they owe,
And what religion is they only know.





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