That heart of unextinguishable ire?
Who bears the dungeon-keys; and bonds, and fire?
Along his dark and withering path he came--
Death in his looks, and terror in his name,
Tempting the might of heaven’s Eternal Sire.
Lo, the Light shone! the sun’s veiled beams expire--
A Saviour’s self a Saviour’s lips proclaim!
Whose is yon form stretched on the earth’s cold bed,
With smitten soul, and tears of agony,
Mourning the past? Bowed is the lofty head--
Rayless the orbs that flushed with victory.
Over the raging waves of human will
The Saviour’s spirit walked--and all was still!
_Roscoe._
’Tis pitiful
To court a grin when you should woo a soul;
To break a jest, when pity would inspire
Pathetic exhortation; and to address
The skittish fancy with facetious tales,
When sent with God’s commission to the heart!
So did not _Paul_. Direct me to a quip
Or merry turn in all he ever wrote,
And I consent you take it for your text,
Your only one, till sides and benches fail.
No, he was serious in a serious cause,
And understood too well the mighty terms
That he had taken in charge. He would not stoop
To conquer those by jocular exploits,
Whom truth and soberness assailed in vain.
_Cowper._
I think that look of Christ might seem to say;--
‘Thou _Peter_, art thou then a common stone,
Which I at last must break my head upon,
For all God’s charge to His high angels, may
Guard my foot better? Did I yesterday
Wash thy feet, my beloved, that they should run
Quick to deny me ’neath the morning sun,--
And do thy kisses, like the rest, betray?’
The cock crows coldly.--‘Go, and manifest
A late contrition, but no bootless fear!
For when the deathly need is bitterest,
Thou shalt not be denied, as I am here--
My voice, to God and angels, shall attest,--
Because I knew this man, let him be clear.’
_Miss Barrett._
With sudden burst,
A rushing noise, through all the sacred band
Silence profound, and fixed attention claimed.
A chilling terror crept through every heart,
Mute was each tongue, and pale was every face.
The rough roar ceased; when, borne on fiery wings,
The dazzling emanation from above
In brightest vision round each sacred head
Diffused its vivid beams: mysterious light!
That rushed impetuous through th’ awaking mind,
Whilst new ideas filled th’ impassive soul,
Fast crowding in, with sweetest violence.
’Twas then amazed, they caught the glorious flame;
Spontaneous flowed their all-persuasive words,
Warm from the heart, and to the heart addressed.
_Charles Jenner._
A Cæsar’s title less my envy moves,
Than to be styled the man whom Jesus loves;
What charms, what beauties in his face did shine,
Reflected ever from the face divine!
_Wesley._
Ye hallowed martyrs, who with fervent zeal,
And more than mortal courage, greatly dared
To preach the name of Jesus; ye, who stood
The undaunted champions of eternal truth,
Though maddened priests conspired, though princes frowned,
And persecution, with ingenious rage,
Prepared ten thousand torments.
_William Bolland._
These, O Lord,
Were all Thy scanty followers; by Thee
First called, first rescued from a world of woe,
To spread salvation into distant climes!
And tell the meanest habitant of earth
“Glad tidings of great joy.”
_Madan._
ASCENSION.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting
doors, and the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory? The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of
glory.--Psalm xxiv. 9, 10.
Thou hast _ascended_ on high, thou hast led captivity captive; thou
hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the
Lord God might dwell among them.--Psalm lxviii. 18.
While they beheld, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of
their sight.
And while they looked steadfastly toward Heaven, as He went up, behold
two men stood by them in white apparel;
Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into Heaven?
This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come
in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven.--Acts, i. 9, 10, 11.
Now that he _ascended_, what is it but that he also descended first
into the lower parts of the earth?
He that descended is the same also that _ascended_ up far above all
heavens, that he might fill all things.--Ephesians, iv. 9, 10.
Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates,
And give the King of glory to come in;
Who is the King of glory? He who left
His throne of glory for the pang of death;
Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates,
And give the King of glory to come in;
Who is the King of glory? He who slew
The ravenous foe that gorged all human race!
The King of glory, He whose glory filled
Heaven with amazement at His love to man,
And with divine complacency beheld
Powers most illumined wildered in the theme.
_Young._
Lift up your heads, ye gates, and O prepare,
Ye living orbs, your everlasting doors,
The King of glory comes!
What King of glory? He, whose puissant might
Subdued Abaddon, and the infernal powers
Of darkness bound in adamantine chains:
Who, wrapt in glory, with the Father reigns,
Omnipotent, immortal, infinite!
_James Scott._
Majestical He rose
Upborne, and steered a flight of gentlest wing
His native Heaven to gain; whilst from their eye,
That to its centre fixed, in mute survey
Pursued the _ascending_ glory, a bright cloud,
Of bidden access, his latest presence caught:
By angel forms supported, who in song,
Not unperceived, and choral symphony,
Through Heaven’s wide empyrean loud rejoiced.
_Thomas Hughes._
Now, O my soul,
On the blest summit light a holy flame!
From the last foot-print of the Prince of Peace,
The conqueror of death, let incense rise,
And enter Heaven with thine _ascending_ Lord!
Shake off the chains, and all the dust of earth!
Go up and breathe in the sweet atmosphere
His presence purified, as He arose!
_Hannah F. Gould._
Oh! what a night was that which wrapt
The heathen world in gloom:
Oh! what a sun that broke this day
Triumphant from the tomb!
Jesus, the friend of human kind,
With strong compassion moved,
Descended, like a pitying God,
To save the souls He loved.
The powers of darkness leagued in vain
To bind His soul in death;
He shook their kingdom, when He fell,
With His expiring breath.
And now His conquering chariot wheels
_Ascend_ the lofty skies;
While broke beneath His powerful cross,
Death’s iron sceptre lies.
_Mrs. Barbauld._
ATHEISM.
The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after
God: God is not in all his thoughts.--Psalm x. 4.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.--Psalm xiv. 1.
And they say, How doth God know; and is there knowledge in the Most
High?--Psalm lxxiii. 11.
Is not God in the height of Heaven? and behold the height of the stars,
how high they are!
And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark
cloud?--Job, xxii. 12, 13.
For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the
heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water, and in
the water.--II. Peter, iii. 5.
Having no hope, and without God in the world.--Ephesians, ii. 12.
“There is no God,” the fool in secret said:
“There is no God that rules or earth or sky.”
Tear off the band that binds the wretch’s head,
That God may burst upon his faithless eye!
Is there no God?--The stars in myriads spread,
If he look up, the blasphemy deny;
While his own features, in the mirror read,
Reflect the image of Divinity.
Is there no God?--The stream that silver flows,
The air he breathes, the ground he treads, the trees,
The flowers, the grass, the sands, each wind that blows,
All speak of God; throughout, one voice agrees,
And, eloquent, His dread existence shows:
Blind to thyself, ah, see him, fool, in these!
_Giovanni Cotta._
Hardening by degrees, till double steel’d,
Take leave of Nature’s God, and God reveal’d--
Then laugh at all you trembled at before;
And joining the freethinker’s brutal war.
Swallow the two grand nostrums they dispense--
That Scripture lies, and blasphemy is sense;
If clemency, revolted by abuse
Be damnable, then damn’d without excuse.
_Cowper._
These are they
That strove to pull Jehovah from His throne,
And in the place of Heaven’s Eternal King,
Set up the phantom Chance.
_Glynn._
The owlet _Atheism_,
Sailing on obscene wings across the noon,
Drops his blue-fringed lids, and shuts them close,
And, hooting at the glorious sun in Heaven,
Cries out, “Where is it?”
_Coleridge._
They eat
Their daily bread, and draw the breath of Heaven
Without or thought or thanks; Heaven’s roof, to them,
Is but a painted ceiling hung with lamps,
No more, that lights them to their purposes.
They wander loose about; they nothing see,
Themselves except, and creatures like themselves,
Short-lived, short-sighted, impotent to save.
So on their dissolute spirits, soon or late,
Destruction cometh, like an armed man,
Or like a dream of murder in the night,
Withering their mortal faculties, and breaking
The bones of all their pride.
_Charles Lamb._
No God! Who warms the heart to heave
With thousand feelings, soft and sweet,
And prompts the aspiring soul to leave
The earth we tread beneath our feet,
And soar away on pinions fleet,
Beyond the scene of mortal strife,
With fair ethereal forms to meet,
That tell us of an after life?
_William Knox._
“There is no God,” the foolish saith--
But none, “there is no sorrow:”
And Nature oft the cry of Faith
In bitter need will borrow.
Eyes which the preacher could not school,
By way-side graves are raised;
And lips say “God be pitiful,”
That ne’er said, “God be praised.”
_Miss Barrett._
An _Atheist’s_ laugh’s a poor exchange,
For Deity offended.
_Burns._
ATONEMENT.
As he hath done this day, so the Lord hath commanded to do, to make an
_atonement_ for you.--Leviticus, viii. 34.
Wherewith shall I make the _atonement_, that ye may bless the
inheritance of the Lord?--II. Samuel, xxi. 3.
We also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now
received the _atonement_.--Romans, v. 11.
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his
blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past.--Romans, iii. 25.
He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but for the
sins of the whole world.--I. John, ii. 2.
Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we
being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye
were healed.--I. Peter, ii. 24.
So Man, as is most just,
Shall satisfy for man, be judged and die,
And dying, rise, and rising, with Him raise
His brethren, ransomed with His own dear life.
* * * * *
Nor can this be,
But by fulfilling that which Thou didst want,
Obedience to the law of God, imposed
On penalty of death, and suffering death,
The penalty to Thy transgression due:
So only can high justice rest appaid.
_Milton._
’Tis nothing thou hast given; then add thy tears
For a long race of unrepenting years;
’Tis nothing yet, yet all thou hast to give;
Then add those may-be years thou hast to live;
Yet nothing still; then poor and naked come;
Thy Father will receive his unthrift home,
And thy blest Saviour’s blood discharge the mighty sum.
_Dryden._
Look humbly upward, see His will disclose
The forfeit first, and then the fine impose;
A mulct thy poverty could never pay,
Had not eternal wisdom found the way,
And with celestial wealth supplied thy store;
His justice makes the fine, His mercy quits the score.
See God descending in the human frame;
The offended suffering in the offender’s name:
All thy misdeeds to Him imputed see,
And all his righteousness devolved on thee.
_Dryden._
Thou, rather than thy justice should be stained,
Did stain the cross.
* * * * *
O, what a groan was there! a groan not His.
He seized our dreadful right; the load sustained,
And heaved the mountain from a guilty world.
_Young._
What needs my blood, since thine will do,
To pay the debt to justice due?
O, tender mercy’s art divine!
Thy sorrow proves the cure of mine!
Thy dropping wounds, thy woeful smart,
Allay the bleedings of my heart:
Thy death, in death’s extreme of pain,
Restores my soul to life again!
_Parnell._
The Son of God
Only begotten, and well-beloved, between
Men and His Father’s justice interposed;
Put human nature on, His wrath sustained,
And in their name suffered, obeyed, and died;
Making His soul an offering for sin,
Just for unjust, and innocence for guilt.
* * * * *
Thus Truth with Mercy met, and Righteousness,
Stooping from highest heaven, embraced fair Peace,
That walked the earth in fellowship and love.
_Pollok._
God’s own son, unblemished victim, gave
Himself a sacrifice, and by His blood,
Upon the cross poured forth, washed out the stain
Of primal sin.
_Samuel Hayes._
And shall the sinful heart, alone,
Behold, unmoved, the _atoning_ hour,
When Nature trembles on her throne,
And death resigns his iron power?
O, shall the heart,--whose sinfulness
Gave keenness to His sore distress,
And added to His tears of blood--
Refuse its trembling gratitude?
_Whittier._
Jesus, thy name beyond all nature loud,
Peals like the trumpet of eternity,
Through all the chambers of responsive faith,
Making them echo with the name of Christ!
Nature was forfeit when the first man fell
To sin, and whatsoe’er in nature lives,
In reason, morals, or in mind enacts
Dominion, from His vast _atonement_ flows.
_R. Montgomery._
Advance, O hopeless mortal, steeled in guilt,
Behold, and if thou canst, forbear to melt!
Shall Jesus die, thy freedom to regain,
And wilt thou drag the voluntary chain?
Wilt thou refuse thy kind assent to give,
When, dying, He looks down to bid thee live?
Perverse, wilt thou reject the proffered good,
Bought with His life, and streaming in His blood?
Whose virtue can thy deepest crimes efface,
Re-heal thy nature, and confirm thy peace!
Can all the errors of thy life _atone_,
And raise thee from a rebel to a son.
_Boyse._
Lamb of God! Our Priest and Pastor,
Who canst bid all evil cease,
Ever dear and holy Master,
Make our feeble love increase!
So that when we seek Thee, owning
That Thy wrath is our deserts,
Thou, blest Lord, at whose _atonement_
All iniquity departs,
Mayest speak forth from Thine enthronement,
To our rent and wearied hearts,
“Sinner, go in peace!”
_C. D. Mc’ Leod._
Tune your harps anew, ye seraphs,
Join to sing the pleasing theme;
All on earth and all in heaven
Join to praise Immanuel’s name!
Hallelujah!
Glory to the bleeding Lamb!
_J. Evans._
AVARICE.
Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed
thereof.
They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for
a pledge.
They turn the needy out of the way; the poor of the earth hide
themselves together.--Job, xxiv. 2, 3, 4.
Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till
there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the
earth!--Isaiah, v. 8.
Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a
witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have
heaped treasure together for the last days.
Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields,
which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which
have reaped, are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.--James,
v. 3, 4.
For of his wicked pelf his god he made,
And unto hell himself for money sold:
Accursed usury was all his trade,
And right and wrong alike in equal balance weighed.
_Spenser._
If thou art rich, thou art poor;
For, like an ass, whose back with ingots bows,
Thou bearest thy heavy riches but a journey,
And death unloads thee.
_Shakspere._
Woe to the worldly man, whose covetous
Ambition labours to join house to house;
Lay field to field, till the enclosures edge
The plain, girdling a country with one hedge:
They leave no place unbought; no piece of earth
Which they will not engross; making a dearth
Of all inhabitants; until they stand
Unneighboured as unblest within the land.
_Bishop King._
Gold glitters most where virtue shines no more,
As stars from absent suns, have leave to shine.
_Young._
O cursed lust of gold! when for thy sake
The fool throws up his interest in both worlds;
First starved in this, then damned in that to come.
_Blair._
Starve beside the chests, whose every corn
At the last day, shall in the court of Heaven
Witness against thee.
_Sir E. B. Lytton._
_Avarice_ o’ershoots
Its destined mark; and with abundance cursed,
In wealth, the ills of poverty endures.
_George Bally._
The thirst for gold
Hath made men demons, till the heart that feels
The impulse of impartial love, nor kneels
In worship foul to Mammon, is contemned.
_W. H. Burleigh._
But should my destiny be quest of wealth,
Kind Heaven, oh! keep my tempted soul in health!
And should’st thou bless my toil with ample store,
Keep back the madness that would seek for more!
_Thomas Ward._
Oh! life misspent--Oh! foulest waste of time!
No time has he his grovelling mind to store
With history’s truths, or philosophic lore.
No charms for him has God’s all-blooming earth--
His only question this--“What are they worth?”
Art, nature, wisdom, are no match for gain;
And even religion bids him pause in vain.
_Thomas Ward._
The miser comes, his heart to mammon sold--
His life, his hope, his god, his all is gold.
“To-morrow, and to-morrow,” he will say,
“Soul, take thine ease, for thou hast many a day
Whose smiling dawns will make thee to rejoice.”
Hush! Hark the echoes of that awful voice!
“Thou fool! This night yield up thy earthly trust!”
Gaze once again, his treasures are but dust.
_B. D. Winslow._
Gold! gold! in all ages the curse of mankind,
Thy fetters are forged for the soul and the mind:
The limbs may be free as the wings of a bird,
And the mind be the slave of a look or a word.
To gain thee, men barter eternity’s crown,
Yield honour, affection, and lasting renown.
_Park Benjamin._
AWAKE--ARISE.
_Awake up_, my glory; _awake_ psaltery and harp; I myself will _awake_
early.--Psalm lvii. 8.
_Arise_, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is
_risen_ upon thee.
And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness
of thy _rising_.--Isaiah, lx. 1, 3.
_Arise_ ye, and depart, for this is not your rest; because it is
polluted.--Micah, ii. 10.
_Awake_, my soul, and with the sun,
Thy daily stage of duty run;
Shake off dull sloth, and early _rise_,
To pay thy morning sacrifice.
_Wake_, and lift up thyself, my heart,
And with the angels bear a part,
Who all night long unwearied sing
High praises to the eternal King.
Glory to God, who safe hath kept,
And hath refreshed me while I slept,
Grant Lord, when I from death shall _wake_,
I may of endless life partake.
_Kenn._
_Awake_ our souls, and bless his name,
Whose mercies never fail;
Who opens wide a door of hope,
In Achor’s gloomy vale.
Behold the portal wide displayed,
The buildings strong and fair;
Within are pastures fresh and green,
And living streams are there.
Enter my soul with cheerful haste,
For Jesus is the door;
Nor fear the serpent’s wily arts,
Nor fear the lion’s roar.
O may thy grace the nations lead,
And Jews and Gentiles come,
All travelling in one narrow path,
To one eternal home.
_Doddridge._
_Arise_, thou bright and morning star,
And send thy silvery beams afar;
Dispel the shades of dreary night,
And let me hail the dawning light.
Blinded by sin I went astray,
And, wand’ring, left the heavenly way;
Dart forth thy soul-reviving rays,
And guide me all my future days.
With growing strength may I pursue
The course which heavenly wisdom drew,
Till I shall reach the blissful shore,
Where pilgrims rest, and stray no more.
_Beddome._
Deathless principle _arise_!
Soar thou native of the skies!
Pearl of price by Jesus bought,
To his glorious likeness wrought;
Go, to shine before his throne,
Deck his mediatorial crown,
Go, his triumphs to adorn,
Made for God, to God return.
See the haven full in view,
Love divine shall bear thee through;
Trust to that propitious gale,
Weigh thy anchor, spread the sail,
Saints in glory perfect made,
Wait thy passage through the shade,
Ardent for thy coming o’er,
See they throng the distant shore!
Mount, their transports to improve,
Join the longing choirs above,
Swiftly to their wish be given,
Kindle higher joys in heaven!
--Such the prospects that _arise_
To the dying christian’s eyes!
Such the glorious vista, faith
Opens through the shades of death.
_Toplady._
AWE.
Stand in _awe_ and sin not; commune with your own heart upon your bed,
and be still.--Psalm iv. 4.
Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in
_awe_ of thy word.--Psalm cxix. 161.
’T is dreadful!
How reverend is the place of this tall pile,
Whose ancient pillars rear their marble heads,
To bear aloft the arched and pond’rous roof,
By its own weight made steadfast and immoveable!
Looking tranquillity; it strikes an _awe_
And terror to my aching sight. The tombs
And monumental caves of death look cold,
And shoot a chillness to my trembling heart.
_Congreve._
So in the faces of all these there grew,
As by one impulse, a dark, freezing _awe_,
Which, with a fearful fascination, drew
All eyes towards the altar; damp and raw
The air grew suddenly, and no man knew
Whether perchance his silent neighbour saw
The dreadful thing, which all were sure would rise
To scare the strained lids wider from their eyes.
The incense trembled as it upward sent
Its slow, uncertain thread of wandering blue,
As ’twere the only living element
In all the church, so deeply the stillness grew;
It seemed one might have heard it, as it went,
Give out an audible rustle, curling through
The midnight silence of the _awe_-struck air,
More hushed than death, though no such life was there.
_Jas. R. Lowell._
When on Sinai’s top I see
God descend in majesty,
To proclaim His holy law,
All my spirit sinks with _awe_.
_J. Montgomery._
With sacred _awe_ pronounce His name,
Whom words nor thoughts can reach.
_Needham._
BAPTISM.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, _baptizing_ them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.--Matthew, xxviii. 19.
One Lord, one Faith, one _Baptism_.--Ephesians, iv. 5.
Buried with Him in _Baptism_, wherein also ye are risen with Him
through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the
dead.--Colossians, ii. 12.
The like figure whereunto, even _Baptism_ doth also now save us, not
the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good
conscience toward God.--I. Peter, iii. 21.
Then who shall believe
_Baptizing_ in the profluent stream, the sign
Of washing them from guilt of sin, to life
Pure, and in mind prepared, if so befal,
For death like that which the Redeemer died.
_Milton._
Since Lord to Thee
A narrow way and little gate
Is all the passage; on my infancy
Thou didst lay hold, and antedate
My faith in me.
O let me still
Write Thee, great God, and me, a child:
Let me be soft and supple to Thy will,
Small to myself, to others mild,
Be-hither ill.
_George Herbert._
_Baptized_ as for the dead, He rose
With prayer from Jordan’s hallowed flood:
Ere long by persecuting foes,
To be _baptized_ in His own blood:
The Father’s voice proclaimed the Son,
The Spirit witnessed;--these are one.
_James Montgomery._
Thus, made partakers of Thy love,
The _Baptism_ of the Spirit ours,
Our grateful hearts shall rise above,
Renewed in purposes and powers;
And songs of joy again shall ring
Triumphant through the arch of heaven;--
The glorious song which angels sing,
Exulting over souls forgiven!
_W. H. Burleigh._
The heir of Heaven, henceforth I dread not Death!
In Christ I live, in Christ I draw the breath
Of the true life. Let Sea, and Earth, and Sky,
Wage war against me: on my front I show
The mighty Master’s seal! In vain they try
To end my life, who can but end its woe.
_Coleridge._
Ere Christ ascended to his throne,
He issued forth his great command--
Go preach the gospel to the world,
And spread my name to every land.
To men declare their sinful state,
The methods of my grace explain;
He that believes, and is _baptized_,
Shall everlasting life obtain.
Dear Saviour, we thy will obey,
Not of constraint, but with delight;
Hither thy servants come to-day,
To honour thine appointed rite.
Descend again, celestial Dove,
On these dear followers of the Lord;
Exalted head of all the Church,
Thy promised aid to them afford.
Let faith, assisted now by signs,
The mysteries of thy love explore;
And washed, in thy redeeming blood,
Let them depart, and sin no more.
_Beddome._