Now yearn the Faithful for thy rule. Oh see,
Whilst heathen darkness lingered, light would be
Flickered with clouds, and ancient customs be
Transferred from heathen worship unto thee,
As to some later found divinity.
Devotion uninstructed needs must be
Tinctured with sensitive idolatry.
The Peoples had their queen of heaven, and she
Was honoured with a sacrifice- to be,
O Virgin Queen, in error paid to thee.
'Twas but an instant in that history
Of early times: nor might such ever be
A moment tolerated. Not to thee,
Dear Queen of Heaven, may sacrifices be
Offered in token of our fealty.
To God alone One Sacrifice may be
Offered by holy hands, incessantly -
Since Sacrifice is Sign of Deity.
No Goddess thou, O Mary, though thou be
Allied so closely to Divinity.
The ban, thyself art thou of heresy:
And from the earliest ages wouldst thou be
Its deadliest foe. How small soe'er 'twould be
That bordered only on idolatry,
Such nascent error would be crushed by thee.
Arabian, Thracian women offered thee
A little sacrifice of cakes: and see,
At once the Collyridian heresy
By Bishop's hand uprooted - and to be
The first and last of such idolatry.
Honour and worship which thy majesty,
O Heavenly Queen, demands, be paid to thee,
The greatest in creation's dynasty.
But God is God alone; and Deity
Alone by sacrifice adored may be.
- text taken from Mary: The Perfect Woman, by Emily Mary Shapcote