Headlong to acts immoral, nor allow
Time for slow Reason to deduce a rule
To curb their mad career, _Conscience_ kind heaven
Appointed her assistant; _Conscience_ quick
To heed the call of duty, to discern
’Twixt right and wrong, and bias to the best.
_William Gibson._
Oh, that folk would well consider
What it is to lose a name,
What this world is altogether,
If bereft of honest fame.
Poverty ne’er brings dishonour,
Hardship ne’er breeds sorrow’s smart,
If bright _conscience_ takes upon her
To shed sunshine round the heart.
_Hector Mc’ Neill._
CONSOLATION.
Are the _consolations_ of God small with thee?--Job, xv. 11.
Woe unto you that are rich; for you have received your
_consolation_.--Luke, vi. 24.
Barnabas, which is, being interpreted, the son of _consolation_.--Acts,
iv. 36.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our _consolation_ also
aboundeth by Christ.--II. Corinthians, i. 5.
Many are the sayings of the wise,
In ancient and in modern books enroll’d,
Extolling patience as the truest fortitude;
And to the bearing well of all calamities,
All chances incident to man’s frail life
_Consolatories_ writ
With studied argument, and much persuasion sought
Lenient of grief and anxious thought;
But with the afflicted, in his pangs their sound
Little prevails, or rather seems a time
Harsh, and of dissonant mood from his complaint;
Unless he feels within
Some source of _consolation_ from above,
Secret refreshings, that repair his strength,
And fainting spirits uphold.
_Milton._
A faded flower, a bud of beauty blasted,
A broken lute, a precious diamond shattered,
A stream of purest water, early wasted,
A priceless essence on the desert scattered,
Like these thou hast perished, in thy beauty mild.
To which shall we compare thee, lovely child?
If to the faded flower, we know its fruit
Is garner’d up midst Heaven’s holy treasures;
If to the lovely-toned, but broken lute,
Its echo mingleth now, in heavenly measures;
The diamond is not lost; its fragments gather
Into a star before the Eternal Father.
The stream beside the stream of life is flowing,
And ever fed from their celestial springs;
The essence round the Throne eternal, going
Embodied on a Seraph’s radiant wings;
Oh, lost one!--let us call thee what we will,
The very name hath _consolation_ still.
_Anon._
CONTENT.
But godliness, with _contentment_, is great gain.
For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry
nothing out.
And having food and raiment, let us be therewith _content_.--I.
Timothy, vi. 6, 7, 8.
I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be
_content_.--Philippians, iv. 11.
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be _content_ with
such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee.--Hebrews, xiii. 5.
Poor and _content_ is rich and rich enough.
_Shakspere._
My conscience is my crown,
_Contented_ thoughts my rest;
My heart is happy in itself,
My bliss is in my breast.
Enough I reckon wealth,
A mean the surest lot;
That lies too high for base contempt,
Too low for envy’s shot.
_Robert Southwell._
Though still thou get’st, yet is thy want not spent,
But, as thy wealth, so grows thy wealthy itch;
But with my little I have much _content_--
_Content_ hath all; and who hath all, is rich:
Then this in reason thou must needs confess--
If I have little, yet that thou hast less.
Whatever man possesses, God hath lent,
And to his audit liable is, ever,
To reckon how, and when, and where he spent;
Then this thou bragg’st--thou art a great receiver:
Little my debt, when little is my store--
The more thou hast, the debt still grows the more.
_Phineas Fletcher._
I grieve, and dare not show my dis_content_;
I love, and yet am forced to seem to hate;
I do, yet dare not say I ever meant,
I seem stark mute, but inwardly do prate:
I am, and not, I freeze, and yet am burn’d,
Since from myself my other self I turn’d.
My care is like my shadow in the sun--
Follows me flying, flies when I pursue it;
Stands and lies by me, does what I have done,
This too-familiar care does make me rue it.
No means I find to rid him from my breast,
Till by the end of things it is suppress’d.
Some gentler passions slide into my mind,
For I am soft, and made of melting snow;
Or be more cruel, love, and so be kind,
Let me or float or sink, be high or low,
Or let me live with some more sweet _content_,
Or die, and so forget what love e’er meant.
_Queen Elizabeth._
Welcome pure thoughts, welcome ye silent groves,
These guests, these courts, my soul most dearly loves:
Now the wing’d people of the sky shall sing
My cheerful anthems to the gladsome spring:
A prayer book now shall be my looking-glass,
In which I will adore sweet virtue’s face.
Here dwell no hateful looks, no palace-cares,
No broken vows dwell here, no pale-faced fears:
Then here I’ll sit, and sigh my hot love’s folly,
And learn ’t affect an holy melancholy;
And if _Contentment_ be a stranger then,
I’ll ne’er look for it but in Heaven again.
_Sir Henry Wotton._
There’s _discontent_ from sceptre to the swain,
And from the peasant to the king again.
Then whatsoever in thy will afflict thee,
Or in thy pleasure seem to contradict thee,
Give it a welcome as a wholesome friend,
That would instruct thee to a better end.
Since no condition from defect is free,
Think not to find what here can never be.
_Alexander Nicholas._
Unfit for greatness, I her snares defy,
And look on riches with untainted eye.
To others let the glittering baubles fall,
_Content_ shall place us far above them all.
_Churchill._
O may I with myself agree,
And never covet what I see!
_Content_ me with an humble shade;
My passions tamed, my wishes laid;
For while our wishes idly roll,
We banish quiet from the soul;
’Tis then we busy beat the air,
And misers gather wealth and care.
_Dyer._
Happy is he, who, though the cup of bliss
Has ever shunn’d him when he thought to kiss,
Who still in abject poverty or pain,
Can count with pleasure what small joys remain;
Though, were his sight convey’d from zone to zone,
He would not find one spot of ground his own;
Yet as he looks around, he cries with glee,
These bounding prospects all are made for me:
For me yon waving fields their burden bear,
For me yon labourer guides the shining share;
While happy I, in idle ease recline,
And mark the glorious visions as they shine.
This is the charm, by sages often told,
Converting all it touches into gold.
_Content_ can soothe, where’er by fortune placed,
Can rear a garden in the desert waste.
_H. K. White._
O Thou, who kindly dost provide
For every creature’s want!
We bless Thee, God of Nature wide,
For all thy goodness lent;
And if it please Thee, Heavenly Guide,
May never worse be sent;
But whether granted, or denied,
Lord! bless us with _content_!
_Burns._
There is a jewel which no Indian mine can buy,
No chemic art can counterfeit;
It makes men rich in greatest poverty,
Makes water wine, turns wooden cups to gold,
The homely whistle to sweet music’s strain;
Seldom it comes, to few from heaven sent,
That much in little--all in nought--_content_.
_Anon._
Ye venerable groves! whose open glades
Invite the musing wanderer to your shades,
Ye birds! whose honied notes enthral the ear,
Wake the bright morn, the darksome evening cheer,
Ye fountains! murmuring music as ye flow,
Ye flowers! that on their purple margins glow,
Ye winds! that o’er those flowers soft breathing play,
Calm the hot sky, and mitigate the day;--
Take me, O take me to your loved retreats;
All, all conspire to bless me with your sweets.
Here in your soft enclosure let me prove
The shade and silence of the life I love!
Not idle here;--for, as I rove along,
I form the verse, and meditate the song;
Or mend my mind by what the wise have taught,
Studious to be the very thing I ought
Here will I taste the blessings of _content_,
No hope shall flatter, and no fear torment:
Unlike the sea, the sport of every wind,
And rich with wrecks, the ruin of mankind,
My life an honest, humble praise shall claim,
As the small stream, scarce honoured with a name,
Whose gladdening waters through my garden play,
Give a few flowers to smile, then glide away.
_Bishop Hurd._
The wisest, happiest, of our kind are they
That ever walk _content_ with Nature’s way,
God’s goodness measuring bounty as it may;
For whom the gravest thought of what they miss,
Chastening the fulness of a present bliss,
Is with that wholesome office satisfied;
While unrepining sadness is allied
In thankful bosoms to a modest pride.
_Wordsworth._
Grant, gracious Lord, as through this troubled scene
I walk unsafely, stumbling as I go,
Glimpses of hope, the murky clouds between,
May break at times, and light the way below;
But if I may not such sweet solace find,
Give me a prayerful and _contented_ mind.
_Egone._
CONTRITION.
The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such
as be of a _contrite_ spirit.--Psalm xxxiv. 18.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a _contrite_
heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.--Psalm li. 17.
Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name
is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a
_contrite_ and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and
to revive the heart of the _contrite_ ones.--Isaiah, lvii. 15.
To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a _contrite_
spirit, and trembleth at my word.--Isaiah, lxvi. 2.
Fruits of more pleasing savour from thy seed
Sown with _contrition_ in his heart, than those
Which, his own hand manuring, all the trees
Of Paradise could have produced.
_Milton._
I, who have gone so far and long astray,
Adding to primal guilt the mountains high
Of trespass day by day, as if to try
Thy long forbearance, still for mercy pray;
For mercy even yet. Look ere thou slay,
Great God! upon my tears; look where I lie
Repentant; give, O give, before I die,
Thy grace, and guide my feet into thy way.
Reveal thy sufferings, thy blood and sweat:
Short is my time; reveal thy bitter cross
To my dark eyes, all used to other sight.
Quench, O my God! all that unhallowed heat
Of former life, which now I count but loss:
Lord, thou hast ne’er despised a heart _contrite_.
_From the Italian of Gabriel Fiamma._
Where sad _contrition_ harbours, there the heart
Is truly acquainted with the secret smart
Of past offences, hates the bosom sin
The most, which most the soul took pleasure in;
No crime unsifted, no sin unpresented
Can lurk unseen, and seen, none unlamented;
The troubled soul’s amazed with dire aspects
Of lesser sins committed, and detects
The wounded conscience; it cries amain
For mercy--mercy; cries, and cries again.
It sadly grieves, and soberly laments,
It yearns for grace, reforms, returns, repents.
Aye, this is incense whose accepted savour
Mounts up the heavenly throne, and findeth favour:
Aye, this it is whose valour never fails--
With God it stoutly wrestles and prevails:
Aye, this it is that pierces heaven above,
Never returning home, (like Noah’s dove,)
But brings an olive leaf, or some increase,
That works salvation and eternal peace.
_Quarles._
All powerful is the penitential sigh
Of true _contrition_; like the placid wreaths
Of incense, wafted from the righteous shrine
Where Abel ministered, to the blest seat
Of Mercy, an accepted sacrifice,
Humiliation’s conscious plaint ascends.
_Samuel Hayes._
Lord! who art merciful as well as just,
Incline thine ear to me, a child of dust!
Not what I would, O Lord! I offer thee,
Alas! but what I can.
Father Almighty, who hast made me man,
And bade me look to heaven, for thou art there,
Accept my sacrifice and humble prayer.
Four things which are not in my treasury,
I lay before thee, Lord, with this petition:--
My nothingness, my wants,
My sins, and my _contrition_.
_Southey, imitated from the Persian._
O, my soul! thy lost condition
Brought the gentle Saviour low!
Hast thou felt one hour’s _contrition_
For those sins that pierced him so?
Dost thou bear the love thou owest
For such proof of grace divine?
Can’st thou answer,--Lord thou knowest
That this heart is wholly Thine?
_C. Bowles._
COURAGE.
Wait on the Lord: be of good _courage_.--Psalm xxvii. 14.
Be of good _courage_, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that
hope in the Lord.--Psalm xxxi. 24.
And he that is _courageous_ among the mighty shall flee away naked in
that day, saith the Lord.--Amos, ii. 16.
When the brethren heard of us they came to meet us: whom when Paul saw,
he thanked God, and took _courage_.--Acts, xxviii. 15.
That _courage_ which the vain for valour take,
Who proudly danger seek for glory’s sake,
Is impudence; and what they rashly do,
Has no excuse, but that ’tis madness too.
_Sir William Davenant._
Stand but your ground, your ghostly foes will fly--
Hell trembles at a heaven-directed eye;
Choose rather to defend than to assail--
Self-confidence will in the conflict fail:
When you are challenged, you may dangers meet--
True _courage_ is a fixed, not sudden heat;
Is always humble, lives in self-distrust,
And will itself into no danger thrust.
Devote yourself to God, and you will find
God fights the battles of a will resigned.
Love Jesus! Love will no base fear endure--
Love Jesus! And of conquest rest secure.
_Bishop Ken._
True _courage_ is not moved by breath of words;
While the rash bravery of boiling blood,
Impetuous, knows no settled principle.
A feverish tide, it has its ebbs and flows,
As spirits rise or fall, as wine inflames,
Or circumstances change: but inborn _courage_,
The generous child of fortitude and faith,
Holds its firm empire in the constant soul;
And like the steadfast pole-star, never once
From the same fixed and faithful point declines.
_Hannah More._
COURT.
Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and causest to approach unto
Thee, that he may dwell in Thy _courts_.--Psalm lxv. 4.
Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the
_courts_ of our God.--Psalm xcii. 13.
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His _courts_ with
praise.--Psalm c. 1, 4.
It shall be an habitation of dragons, and a _court_ for owls.--Isaiah,
xxxiv. 13.
Gaze but upon the house where man doth live,
With flowers and verdure to adorn his way;
Where all the creatures due obedience give;
The winds to sweep his chambers every day;
The clouds to wash his rooms, the ceiling gay
With glittering stars, that night’s dark empire brave;
If such an house God to another gave,
How shine those splendid _courts_ He for Himself will have?
And if a heavy cloud, opaque at night,
In which the sun may seem embodied,
Deprived of all its dregs we see so white,
Burning in liquid gold its watery head,
Or round with ivory edges silvered;
What lustre supereminent will HE
Lighten on those who shall his sunshine see
In that all-glorious _court_, in which all glories be.
_Giles Fletcher._
Quivering fears, heart-tearing cares,
Anxious sighs, untimely tears.
Fly, fly to _courts_;
Fly to fond worldlings’ sports,
Where strain’d sardonic smiles are glossing still,
And grief is forced to laugh against her will;
Where mirth’s but mummery;
And sorrows only real be!
_Sir Walter Raleigh._
COVENANT--RAINBOW.
And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me.
But with thee will I establish my _covenant_.--Genesis, vi. 13, 18.
And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that
the bow shall be seen in the cloud.
And I will remember my _covenant_, which is between me and you, and
every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become
a flood to destroy all flesh.--Genesis, ix. 14, 15.
Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God,
which keepeth _covenant_ and mercy with them that love Him and keep His
commandments to a thousand generations.--Deuteronomy, vii. 9.
For if that first _covenant_ had been faultless, then should no place
have been sought for the second.--Hebrews, viii. 7.
Still young and fine, but what is still in view,
We slight as old and soil’d, though fresh and new;
How bright wert thou when Shem’s admiring eye
Thy burnished flaming arch did first descry;
When Zarah, Nahor, Haran, Abram, Lot,
The youthful world’s grey fathers, in one knot,
Did, with intentive looks, watch every hour
For thy new light, and trembled at each shower!
When thou dost shine, darkness looks white and fair;
Forms turn to music, clouds to smiles and air;
Rain gently spreads his honey-drops, and pours
Balm on the cleft earth, milk on grass and flowers.
Bright pledge of peace and sunshine, the sure tye
Of the Lord’s hand, the object of his eye;
When I behold thee, though my light be dim,
Distant, and low, I can in thine see Him
Who looks upon thee from His glorious throne,
And minds the _covenant_ betwixt all and One.
_Henry Vaughan._
The _rainbow_ bending in the sky,
Bedecked with sundry hues,
Is like the seat of God on high,
And seems to tell these news:--
That as, thereby, He promised
To drown the world no more,
So, by the blood which Christ has shed,
He will our souls restore.
_George Gascoigne._
When Science from Creation’s face
Enchantment’s veil withdraws,
What lovely visions yield their place,
To cold material laws!
And yet, fair _bow_, no fabling beams,
But words of the Most High,
Have told why first thy robe of beams
Was woven in the sky.
When o’er the green undeluged earth,
Heaven’s _covenant_ thou didst shine,
How came the world’s grey fathers forth,
To watch thy sacred sign!
And when the yellow lustre smiled
O’er mountains yet untrod,
Each mother held aloft her child,
To bless the _bow_ of God.
Methinks, thy jubilee to keep,
The first-made anthem rang
On earth delivered from the deep,
And the first poet sang.
Nor ever shall the Muse’s eye,
Unraptured greet thy beam:
Theme of primeval prophecy,
Be still the poet’s theme!
_Campbell._
_Bow_ in the cloud, what token dost thou bear?
--That justice still cries “strike,” and mercy “spare.”
_J. Montgomery._
Such thou hast shone, bright _rainbow_! when the sky
Has clothed in clouds its blue serenity;
And such shall shine, while, grateful for the vow.
All nations of the earth to heaven shall bow.
Curbing the tempest on its thunder path,
Chaining the boisterous billows in their wrath;
Majestic symbol of their Maker’s might!
Girdle of beauty! coronal of light!
God’s own blest handmark, mystic, sure, sublime,
Graven in glory to the end of time!
_Anon._
CREATION.
In the beginning, God _created_ the heavens and the earth.--Genesis, i.
1.
Let them praise the name of the Lord: for He commanded, and they were
_created_.--Psalm cxlviii. 5.
Remember now thy _Creator_ in the days of thy youth.--Ecclesiastes,
xii. 1.
Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath _created_ these things.
Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the
Lord, the _Creator_ of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is
weary?--Isaiah, xl. 26, 28.
Have we not all one father? hath not one God _created_ us?--Malachi,
ii. 10.
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for
Thou hast _created_ all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were
_created_.--Revelation, iv. 11.
Here finished he, and all that he had made
Viewed, and behold all is entirely good;
So even and morn accomplished the sixth day;
Yet not till the _Creator_ from his work
Desisting, though unwearied, up returned,
Up to the heaven of heavens his high abode,
Thence to behold his new _created_ world,
Th’ addition of his empire, how it showed
In prospect from his throne, how good, how fair,
Answering his great idea. Up he rode,
Followed by acclamation, and the sound
Symphonious of ten thousand harps, that tuned
Angelic harmonies; the earth, the air,
Resounded,
The heavens and all the constellations rang,
The planets in their stations listening stood,
While the bright pomp ascended jubilant:--
Open, ye everlasting gates, they sang,
Open, ye heavens, your everlasting doors; let in
The great _Creator_ from his work returned
Magnificent, his six days’ work--a world.
_Milton._
My heart is awed within me, when I think
Of the great miracle that still goes on,
In silence, round me--the perpetual work
Of thy _creation_, finished, yet renewed
For ever.
_W. C. Bryant._
From the throne of the Highest the mandate came forth,
From the word of Omnipotent God;
And the elements fashioned his footstool the earth,
And the Heavens his holy abode:
And his Spirit moved over the fathomless flood
Of waters that fretted in darkness around,
Until at his bidding, their turbulent mood
Was hushed to a calm, and obedient they stood
Where he fixed their perpetual bound.
From the work of _creation_, which rose by his word,
When finished the heavens and the earth;
On the seventh day rested th’ Omnipotent Lord,
As he looked on each beautiful birth:--
On the firmament, stretched from the east to the west,
On the far flowing sea, and the fast teeming land,
And he saw they were good, and the Sabbath was blest,
The Sabbath! the sanctified season of rest
To the _creatures_ that came from his hand.
_Knox._
Mysterious power! which guides by night
Through darkest wood the illumined sight;
Which prompts them, by the unerring smell,
The appointed prey’s abode to tell;
Bore with long bill the investing mould,
And feel, and from the secret hold
Dislodge the reptile spoil! But who
Can look _Creation’s_ volume through,
And not fresh proofs, at every turn,
Of the _Creator’s_ mind discern:
The end to which his actions tend,
The means adapted to the end,
The reasoning thought, the effective skill,
And, ruling all, the Almighty will.
_Bishop Mant._
In the Beginning primal darkness flung
Her veil o’er chaos, void and formless all;
The brooding Spirit o’er the waters hung;
The father’s fiat moved the empty pall:
“Let there be Light!” Forthwith _Creation_ sprung
Glad into being. Thy _Creating_ Love,
Lord, I believe! Mine unbelief remove.
_H. H. Weld._
CROWN.
In that day shall the Lord of Hosts be for a _crown_ of glory, and for
a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people.--Isaiah, xxviii. 5.
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth
the prize?
Now they do it to obtain a corruptible _crown_; but we an
incorruptible.--I. Corinthians, ix. 24, 25.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the
faith:
Henceforth there is laid up for me a _crown_ of righteousness.--II.
Timothy, iv. 7, 8.
They who die in Christ are bless’d--
Ours be, then, no thought of grieving!
Sweetly with their God they rest,
All their toils and troubles leaving:
So be ours the faith that saveth,
Hope that every trial braveth,
Love that to the end endureth,
And, through Christ, the _crown_ secureth!
_Bishop Doane._
The way to bliss lies not on bed of down,
And he that had no cross deserves no _crown_.
_Quarles._
How much do they mistake, how little know
Of kings, and kingdoms, and the pains which flow
From royalty, who fancy that a _crown_,
Because it glistens, must be lin’d with down.
With outside show, and vain appearance caught,
They look no further, and by folly taught,
Prize high the toys of thrones, but never find
One of the many cares which lurk behind.
The gem they worship, which a _crown_ adorns,
Nor once suspects that _crown_ is lin’d with thorns.
O might reflection folly’s place supply,
Would we one moment use her piercing eye,
Then should we know what woe from grandeur springs,
And learn to pity, not to envy kings.
_Churchill._
CROSS--CRUCIFIXION.
And he that taketh not his _cross_, and followeth after me, is not
worthy of me.--Matthew, x. 38.
Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called
Christ? They all say unto him, Let Him be _crucified_.
And the governor said, Why, what evil hath He done? But they cried out
the more, saying, Let Him be _crucified_.--Matthew, xxxvii. 22, 23.
For the preaching of the _cross_, is to them that perish, foolishness;
but unto us, which are saved, it is the power of God.--I. Corinthians,
i. 18.
But we preach Christ _crucified_, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and
unto the Greeks foolishness;
But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power
of God, and the wisdom of God.--I. Corinthians, i. 23, 24.
I am _crucified_ with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me.--Galatians, ii. 20.