Laudator Temporis Acti

James Hurnard (1808-1881), The Setting Sun, 3rd ed. (London: Saml. Harris & Co., 1878), pp. 152-153:

I have no unity with gifted men,
However learned or however clever,
Who set aside the truths of revelation
As often as they clash with their opinions,
Bringing the doctrines of the Holy Bible
Unto the fallible bar of their vain minds,
And setting up a standard of the truth
That even Lucifer himself must laugh at.
As blowflies busily hum about a carcase,
Seeking for crevices to lay their eggs in,
So do these learned transcendental sceptics—
Biblical blowflies—with persistent zeal,
Not to discover truth, but seeming error,
Believing naught save their own unbelief,
Buzz round the Bible to find out its faults,
And so insinuate into every part,
Their little, loathsome, mischievous, infidel eggs,
Which, when they hatch, become devouring maggots.
These daring sceptics kick away our stools,
And give us nothing else to stand upon;
They rob us of our faith, our hope, our comfort,
And offer us dry husks that swine should eat.
Pu£fed up with notions and with spiritual pride,
They vainly think that they are rich and full
Increased with goods—yea, and have need of nothing,
And know not all the time that they are wretched
And miserable and poor and blind and naked,
Having no hope, and without God in the world.