We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Pray for the Emperor

from Perpetual Felicity by Heliocentric

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

lyrics

Behold the agitators
The restless insurrectionists [1]
Convict them for the title
The only name you find so egregious [2]

Justice is blind by nature
But hatred is only merited with open eyes [3]

What is the cause of your animosity?

What
Crime
Did we commit?

The wicked hide their shame
While these men make guilt their banner [4]

I wish that you would mimic
The souls you put to flight

What other crime is punished so incongruently?
Sentence us for our confession
While denial is cursed with acquittal [5]
Arrest for an accusation
On the grounds of words heard through the vine [6]
Pry perjury from men
Your idle sandals show are innocent [7]

Murder calls for the gallows
Martyrs will wear their honor on their necks

You show your own impotence
You know that we’re innocent

Investigate
The mother of villainy
But she’s not the harlot that you perceive
Her detractors
Quickly become her children [8]
Those who hate her soon find themselves
Lying at her breast [9]

We won't be crippled by bitterness
Our weapon drawn is forgiveness

We know well the scent of the dead and dying corpse [10]
But we’re redolent of true life and it’s source [11]
We may be captives in a cell
But captivated by the Author of freedom [12]
Though confined in solitude
We rest in infinite embrace [13]

I wish that you would mimic
The souls you put to flight
I wish you could have their freedom
Barring their chains [14]

Our
Crime
Was
Being named

[1] John Peter Lange, A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Matthew, note on Mat 27:22
[2] Tertullian, The Apology, ch. 1
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Justin Martyr, The First Apology, ch. 4
[6] Pliny the Younger, Letter to Emperor Trajan
[7] Emperor Trajan, Letter to Pliny the Younger
[8] Tertullian, The Apology, ch. 1
[9] Cyprian, Epistle IX, ch. 4
[10] Tertullian, To the Martyrs, ch. 2
[11] 2 Corinthians 2:15
[12] Tertullian, To the Martyrs, ch. 2
[13] Perpetua, The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas, ch. 1
[14] Acts 26:29

credits

from Perpetual Felicity, released November 15, 2019

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Heliocentric image

Heliocentric Raleigh, North Carolina

My name is Jared Smith. I'm a one-man band called Heliocentric.

contact / help

Contact Heliocentric

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Heliocentric, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Seafood Sam joins the show to discuss his newest album, " Standing On Giant Shoulders".
listen now