The Time Hath Been
October 9, 2019
Hampstead Heath with Bathers, John Constable
FROM Mementoes of the English martyrs and Confessors for Every Day in the Year, by Henry Sebastian Bowden (1836-1919):
PAST AND PRESENT
—- William Blundell, 1600
THE time hath been we had one faith,
And strode aright one ancient path;
The time is now that each man may
See new Religions coin’d each day.
Sweet Jesu, with thy mother mild.
Sweet Virgin mother, with thy child,
Angels and Saints of each degree,
Redress our country’s misery.
The time hath been priests did accord
In exposition of God’s word;
The time is now, like shipman’s hose,
It’s turn’d by each fond preacher’s glose.
The time hath been that sheep obeyed
Their pastors, doing as they said;
The time is now that sheep will preach,
And th’ ancient pastors seem to teach.
The time hath been the prelate’s door
Was seldom shut against the poor;
The time is now, so wives go fine,
They take not thought the beggar kine.
The time hath been men did believe
God’s sacraments his grace did give;
The time is now men say they are
Uncertain signs and tokens bare.
