On the Secularists' Notion of Making Our Churches into Museums and Exhibitions

What noble work our seculars can do!
Behold their church museum; come and see
The mighty change, the change from false to true,
To sense and fact from idle mystery!
Apes, mummies, minerals are scatter'd o'er
The nave; new wines and patents meet our eyes;
Young prigs and gnostic maidens pace the floor;
The altar's self is mask'd with butterflies.
Ah! guileless symbols of ungodly scorn!
If your bright wings were still alive and free,
How would ye float and tremble silently
About the holy place, this blessed morn;
Alas! our science is but shame and loss,
When pack'd and pinn'd to overlay the cross!