| William Blake (1757–1827). The Poetical Works. 1908. | | | | Poems from the Rossetti MS.: Later Poems | | If it is true what the Prophets write |
| | | IF 1 it is true, what the Prophets write, | |
| That the heathen gods are all stocks and stones, | |
| Shall we, for the sake of being polite, | |
| Feed them with the juice of our marrow-bones? | |
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| And if Bezaleel and Aholiab drew | 5 |
| What the finger of God pointed to their view, | |
| Shall we suffer the Roman and Grecian rods | |
| To compel us to worship them as gods? | |
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| They stole them from the temple of the Lord | |
| And worshipp’d them that they might make inspirèd art abhorr’d; | 10 |
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| The wood and stone were call’d the holy things, | |
| And their sublime intent given to their kings. | |
| All the atonements of Jehovah spurn’d, | |
| And criminals to sacrifices turn’d. | |
| | | Note 1. If it is true, &c.] 10 And worshipp’d them to make, &c., MS. 1st rdg. del. [back] | | |
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