Part 2 — THE PAPACY.
Reading edition
That such a power should live and breathe, doth seem A thought from which men fain would be relieved, A grandeur not to be endured, a dream Darkening the soul, though it be unbelieved. August conception! far above king, law, Or popular right; how calmly dost thou draw Under thine awful shadow mortal pain, And joy not mortal! Witness of a need Deep laid in man, and therefore pierced in vain, As though thou wert no form that thou shouldst bleed! While such a power there lives in old man’s shape, Such and so dread, should not his mighty will And supernatural presence, Godlike, fill The air we breathe, and leave us no escape? —Faber