iniquity, to practise _hypocrisy_, and to utter error against the
Lord.--Isaiah, xxxii. 6.
When thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee as the
_hypocrites_ do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may
have glory of men.
When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the _hypocrites_ are; for they
love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the
streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have
their reward.--Matthew, vi. 2, 5.
So smooth he daubed his life with show of virtue,
He lived from all attainder of suspect.
_Shakspere._
_Hypocrisy_, detest her as we may,
(And no man’s hatred ever wronged her yet)
May claim this merit still, that she admits
The worth of what she mimics with such care,
And thus gives virtue indirect applause.
_Cowper._
Great day of revelation! in the grave
The _hypocrite_ had left his mask, and stood
In naked ugliness. He was a man
Who stole the livery of the court of heaven
To serve the devil in; in virtue’s guise,
Devoured the widow’s house and orphan’s bread;
In holy phrase, transacted villanies
That common sinners durst not meddle with;
At sacred feast, he sat among the saints,
And with his guilty hands touched holiest things;
And none of sin lamented more, or sighed
More deeply, or with graver countenance,
Or longer prayer, wept o’er the dying man
Whose infant children, at the moment, he
Planned how to rob.
Seest thou the man,
A serpent with an angel’s voice! a grave
With flowers bestrewed!
_Pollok._
I do the wrong, and first begin to brawl,
The secret mischiefs that I set abroach,
I lay unto the grievous charge of others.
But then I sigh, and with a piece of scripture
Tell them--that God bids us do good for evil.
And thus I clothe my naked villany,
With old, odd ends, stol’n forth of Holy Writ.
_Shakspere._
Wo to ye _Hypocrites_! ye insincere,
Who shut the gates of heaven against mankind,
And yet yourselves will never enter there--
Wo to ye _Hypocrites_! your hearts are blind;
The houses of the widow ye devour,
And make long prayers, devotion ill-designed.
The matters of the Law of gravest power--
Omit ye;--Judgment--Mercy--Faith! and dole
The petty tithe of your external dower:
Not those omit,--nor these; but pay the whole!
As righteous men ye do without appear,
Within iniquity usurps the soul:
Ye are e’en like a whited Sepulchre,
Beautiful outward, hiding dead men’s bones;
Uncleanness and corruption, everywhere.
_J. A. Heraud._
Like the detested tribe
Of ancient Pharisees, beneath the mask
Of clamorous piety, what numbers veil
Contaminated, vicious hearts! How many
In the devoted temple of their God,
With _hypocritic_ eye, from which the tear
Of penitential anguish seems to flow,
Pour forth their vows, and by affected zeal
Pre-eminent devotion boast; while vice
Within the guilty breast, rankles unseen.
_Samuel Hayes._
These are they
That prey upon the widow, and devour
The orphan’s portion, mocking Heaven with prayers
Ceaseless, and fasts, which will but more incense
His anger, and bring down worse chastisement.
_Charles Peers._
IDOLATRY.
Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity
and _idolatry_.--I. Samuel, xv. 23.
What agreement hath the temple of God with _idols_?--II. Corinthians,
vi. 16.
Covetousness, which is _idolatry_.--Colossians, iii. 5.
The sparkling flames, that burn in beaten gold,
And, like the stars of heav’n in midst of night,
Black Egypt, as her mirrors doth behold;
Are but the dens where _idol_ snakes delight
Again to cover Satan from their sight:
Yet these are all their gods; with whom they vie,
The crocodile, the cock, the rat, the fly:
Fit gods indeed, for such men to be served by.
_Giles Fletcher._
Hear, Father! hear and aid!
If I have loved too well, if I have shed,
In my vain fondness, o’er a mortal head
Gifts, on Thy shrine, my God, more fitly laid;
If I have sought to live
But in one light, and made a mortal eye
The lonely star of my _idolatry_,
Thou that art Love, oh! pity and forgive!
_Mrs. Hemans._
City of _idol_-temples, and of shrines
Where folly kneels to falsehood--how the pride
Of our humanity is here rebuked!
Man, that aspires to rule the very wind,
And make the sea confess his majesty;
Whose intellect can fill a little scroll
With words that are immortal: who can build
Cities, the mighty and the beautiful:
Yet man,--this glorious creature,--can debase
His spirit down, to worship wood and stone,
And hold the very beasts which bear his yoke,
And tremble at his eye, for sacred things.
With what unutterable humility
We should bow down, thou blessed Cross, to thee,
Seeing our vanity and foolishness,
When, to our own devices left, we frame
A shameful creed of craft and cruelty.
_L. E. L._
If, when the Lord of Glory was in sight,
Thou turn thy back upon that fountain clear,
To bow before the “little drop of light”
Which dim-eyed men call praise and glory here:
What dost thou, but adore the sun, and scorn
Him at whose only word both sun and stars were born?
If while around the gales from Eden breathe,
Thou hide thine eyes, to make thy peevish moan
Over some broken reed of earth beneath,
Some darling of blind fancy, dead and gone,
As wisely might’st thou in Jehovah’s fane
Offer thy love and tears to Thammuz slain.
Turn thee from these, or dare not to inquire
Of Him whose name is Jealous, lest in wrath,
He hear and answer thine unblest desire:
Far better we should cross His lightning’s path,
Than be according to our _idols_ heard,
And God should take us at our vain word.
_Keble._
Before the _idol_-monster was the blood
Of man poured out by man. No mother there
Blessed the fair skies which smiled upon her babe,
But hastened rather, with unnatural hand,
To crush the unfolding life, and turn aside
The dark inheritance of woe and pain,
Ere yet the unconscious victim owned its doom.
_A. Alexander._
And still from Him we turn away,
And fill our hearts with worthless things;
The fires of avarice melt the clay,
And forth the _idol_ springs!
Ambition’s flame, and passion’s heat,
By wondrous alchemy transmute
Earth’s dross, to raise some gilded brute
To fill Jehovah’s seat.
_J. H. Clinch._
_Idol_-worshippers are we,
Bowing evermore heart and knee
Unto stone and unto stock;
Thus the living God we mock.
Who shall say his heart is free
From this foul _idolatry_?
_Egone._
IMAGE.
So God created man in his own _image_, in the _image_ of God created he
him; male and female created he them.--Genesis, i. 27.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven _image_, or any likeness of
anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or
that is in the water under the earth:
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord
thy God am a jealous God.--Exodus, xx. 4, 5.
As we have borne the _image_ of the earthy, we shall also bear the
_image_ of the heavenly.--I. Corinthians, xv. 49.
For what had all this all, which man in one,
Did not unite; the earth, air, water, fire,
Life, sense, and spirit; nay, the pow’rful throne
Of the Divinest Essence did retire;
And his own _Image_ into clay inspire;
So that this creature well might called be,
Of the great world the small epitome;
Of the dead world, the life, and small anatome.
_Giles Fletcher._
Thou man Thy _image_ mad’st, in dignity,
In knowledge and in beauty like to Thee;
Placed in a heaven on earth; without his toil,
The ever flourishing and fruitful soil
Unpurchased food produced; all creatures were
His subjects, serving more for love than fear.
_Sandys._
He made us to His _image_ all agree;
That _image_ is the soul, and that must be,
Or not the Maker’s _image_, or be free.
_Dryden._
Outcasts of mortal race! can we conceive
_Image_ of aught delightful, soft, or great.
_Prior._
Poor man! How happy once in thy first state!
When yet but warm from thy great Maker’s hand,
He stamped thee with His _image_, and well pleased,
Smiled on his last fair work!
_Blair._
God spake: He look’d on earth and heaven
With mild and generous eye;
In his own _image_ man he made,
And gave him dignity.
_Krummacher._
IMMORTALITY.
To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and
honour and _immortality_, eternal life.--Romans, ii. 7.
This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
_immortality_.--I. Corinthians, xv. 53.
Our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought
life and _immortality_ to light through the gospel.--II. Timothy, i. 10.
_Immortal_ honour, endless fame
Attend the Almighty Father’s name.
_Dryden._
Thy nature, _immortality_! who knows?
And yet who knows it not? It is but life
In stronger thread of brighter colour spun,
And spun for ever, dipt by cruel fate
In Stygian die, how black, how brittle here!
How short our correspondence with the sun!
And while it lasts, Inglorious! Our best deeds,
How wanting in their weight! our highest joys,
Small cordials to support us in our pain,
And give us strength to suffer. But how great
To mingle interests, converse, amities,
With all the sons of reason, scatter’d wide
Through habitable space, wherever born,
Howe’er endowed! To live free citizens
Of universal nature! To lay hold
By more than feeble faith on the Supreme!
To call heaven’s rich unfathomable mines
(Mines, which support archangels in their state,)
Our own! To rise in science as in bliss,
Initiate in the secrets of the skies!
To read creation; read its mighty plan
In the bare bosom of the Deity!
The plan, and execution, to collate!
To see, before each glance of piercing thought,
All cloud, all shadow blown remote; and leave
No mystery--but that of love divine,
Which lifts us on the Seraph’s flaming wing,
From earth’s aceldama, this field of blood,
Of inward anguish, and of outward ill,
From darkness, and from dust, to such a scene!
Love’s element! True joy’s illustrious house!
From earth’s sad contrast (now deplor’d) more fair!
What exquisite vicissitude of fate!
Blest absolution of our blackest hour!
_Young._
Man’s soul _immortal_ is; whilst here they live,
The purest minds for perfect knowledge strive;
Which is the knowledge of that glorious God,
From whom all life proceeds: in this abode
Of flesh, the soul can never reach so high,
So reason tells us. If the soul then die,
When from the body’s bonds she takes her flight,
Her unfulfilled desire is frustrate quite,
And so bestowed in vain! It follows then,
The best desires, unto the best of men,
The Great Creator did in vain dispense,
Or else the soul must live when gone from hence,
And if it live after the body fall,
What reason proves that it must die at all?
_Thomas May._
Strong as the death it masters, is the hope
That onward looks to _immortality_:
Let the frame perish, so the soul survive,
Pure, spiritual, and loving. I believe
The grave exalts, not separates, the ties
That hold us in affection to our kind.
I will look down from yonder pitying sky,
Watching and waiting those I loved on earth;
Anxious in heaven, until they, too, are there.
I will attend your guardian angel’s side
And weep away your faults with holy tears:
Your midnight shall be filled with solemn thought;
And when, at length, death brings you to my love,
Mine the first welcome heard in Paradise.
_Anon._
The sun is but a spark of fire,--
A transient meteor in the sky:
The soul, _immortal_ as its Sire,
Shall never die!
_J. Montgomery._
Prisoners of hope! heirs of eternity!
Waiting for the consummate day, when time
Shall be no more--Why on the past dwell ye?
Prisoners of hope! look to the goal sublime
Of the expanded future, and behold
The flesh redeemed to its _immortal_ prime.
_J. A. Heraud._
Yet know, vain sceptics, know the Almighty mind,
Who breathed on man a portion of His fire,
Bade his free soul, by earth nor time confined,
To Heaven, to _immortality_ aspire.
Nor shall the pile of hope His mercy reared,
By vain philosophy be e’er destroyed:
Eternity, by all or wished or feared,
Shall be, by all, or suffered, or enjoyed.
_William Mason._
Whoe’er thou art, this truth take home,--and think
Two spirits only for thy soul contend,--
The good and bad; but now alone is grace
Imparted; soon thy final sands will fall,
And thou in moral nakedness shalt be
To Devil or to Deity assign’d
Through endless ages!--Oh, that truth immense,
This mortal, _immortality_ shall wear!
The pulse of mind can never cease to play;
By God awaken’d, it for ever throbs,
Eternal as His own eternity!
Above the angels, or below the fiends:
To mount in glory, or in shame descend--
Mankind are destined by resistless doom.
_R. Montgomery._
Beyond the purple verge of infinite space,
The _immortal_ soul of man shall live again;
Live where its glories never more may wane,
And where its nobler memories will efface
All thoughts which rend the solemn’ pall away
That shrouds the meanness of its primal clay.
_H. B. Hirst._
INSPIRATION.
There is a spirit in man: and the _inspiration_ of the Almighty giveth
them understanding.--Job, xxxii. 8.
All scripture is given by _inspiration_ of God.--II. Timothy, iii. 16.
O Thou bless’d Spirit: whether the Supreme
Great ante-mundane Father; in whose breast
Embryo creation, unborn being, dwelt,
And all its various revolutions rolled,
Present though future; prior to themselves
Whose breath can blow it into naught again,
Or from His throne some delegated power,
Who studious of our peace, dost turn the thought
From vain and vile to solid and sublime!
Unseen Thou lead’st me to delicious draughts
Of _Inspiration_, from a purer stream,
And fuller of the God, than that which burst
From famed Castalia.
_Young._
We to his high _inspiration_ owe
That what was done before the flood we know.
_Denham._
How precious is the book divine
By _inspiration_ given!
Bright as a lamp its doctrines shine
To guide our souls to heaven.
It sweetly cheers our drooping hearts
In this dark vale of tears;
Life, light, and joy it still imparts,
And quells our rising fears.
This lamp through all the tedious night
Of life shall guide our way,
Till we behold the clearer light
Of an eternal day.
_Fawcett._
On the page of _inspiration_
Lo! the promise of salvation;
May I earnestly inquire,
May the Lord my soul _inspire_
With the love of truth divine,
So to make that promise mine.
_Egone._
INSTRUCTION.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise
wisdom and _instruction_.
My son, hear the _instruction_ of thy father.--Proverbs, i. 7, 8.
Hear _instruction_, and be wise, and refuse it not.--Proverbs, viii. 33.
He that refuseth _instruction_ despiseth his own soul.--Proverbs, xv.
32.
And chiefly Thou, O Spirit that dost prefer
Before all temples, the upright heart and pure,
_Instruct_ me, for Thou knowest: Thou from the first
Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread
Dove-like sat’st brooding on the vast abyss,
And mad’st it pregnant. What in me is dark,
Illumine; what is low, raise and support;
That to the height of this great argument
I may assert eternal Providence,
And justify the ways of God to men.
_Milton._
From heaven descend the drops of dew,
From heaven the gracious showers,
Earth’s winter aspect to renew,
And clothe the spring with flowers;
From heaven the beams of morning flow,
That melt the gloom of night,
From heaven the evening breezes blow
Health, fragrance, and delight.
Like genial dew, like fertile showers,
The words of wisdom fall,
Awaken man’s unconscious powers,
Strength out of weakness call;
Like morning beams they strike the mind,
In loveliness reveal;
And softer than the evening wind,
The wounded spirit heal.
As dew and rain, as light and air,
From heaven _Instruction_ came,
The waste of nature to repair,
And kindle sacred flame,
A flame to purify the earth,
Exalt her sons on high,
And train them for their second birth--
Their birth beyond the sky.
_J. Montgomery._
INTERCESSION.
He bare the sin of many, and made _intercession_ for the
transgressors.--Isaiah, liii. 12.
It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at
the right hand of God, who also maketh _intercession_ for us.--Romans,
viii. 34.
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make _intercession_ for
them.--Hebrews, vii. 25.
Why gaze the clustered stars on Hermon’s height?
Immensity around--why gaze they there?
On its high top, as farthest up from earth,
Enshrined in darkness and alone, there kneels
The world’s great _Intercessor_. Evening came,
And found Him kneeling there: the rising morn
Lingered awhile upon His upturned brow;
And night passed over Him, and still he kneels;
Till all the air is incense and a prayer,
As He would save the world by prayer alone,
Close clasping the eternal throne,--His voice,
Unheard below, was heard in heaven intent.
_Anon._
With blood--but not his own--the Jew drew near
The mercy-seat, and heaven received his prayer.
Yet still his hope was dimmed by doubt and fear:
“If Thou should’st mark transgression, who might dare
To stand before Thee?” Mercy loves to spare
And pardon, but stern Justice has a voice,
And cries--Our God is holy, nor can bear
Uncleanness in the people of His choice.
But now One Offering, ne’er to be renewed,
Hath made our peace for ever. This now gives
Free access to the Throne of Heavenly Grace,
No more base fear and dark disquietude,
He who was slain--the Accepted Victim!--lives,
And _intercedes_ before the Father’s face.
_Conder._
Lord! there is a throne of grace;
There we now would seek Thy face;
Thou wilt bear the humblest prayer
Of the soul that seeks Thee there.
Saviour, for us _intercede_,
While the promises we plead!
_Cobbin._
ISRAEL.
And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but _Israel_:
for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast
prevailed.--Genesis, xxxii. 27, 28.
Truly God is good to _Israel_.--Psalm lxxiii. 1.
He that keepeth _Israel_ shall neither slumber nor sleep.--Psalm cxxi.
4.
For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose _Israel_,
and set them in their own land.--Isaiah, xiv. 1.
Whilst Pharoah’s pride withstood,
His pools turned poison, and his Nile ran blood,
From whose corrupting channel, moist and warm,
Leaped forth the frogs, a foul, offensive swarm;
No place was sheltered from their loathsome tread,
The festive banquet, nor the bridal bed.
Anon, destructive sweeps the burning hail,
His trees stand branchless, and his furrows fail;
Whilst from the East, devouring locusts rise,
To spoil the pittance spared him by the skies.
But why on each particular token dwell
Of God’s deep wrath, or all His judgments tell?
Enough to add, that _Israel’s_ thraldom ceased,
From Pharaoh’s stubborn hand, by him released.
_William Gibson._
Backsliding _Israel_, hear the voice
Of thy forgiving God;
Nor force such goodness to exert
The terrors of the rod.
Thus saith the Lord--“My mercy flows,
An unexhausted stream;
And after all its millions saved,
Its sway is still supreme.”
Own but the follies thou hast done,
And mourn thy sins in dust,
And soon thy trembling heart shall learn
To hope, and love, and trust.
_Doddridge._
The day of Freedom dawns; rise, _Israel_, from thy tomb.
_Croly._
JEHOVAH.
And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord:
And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of
God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I known to them.--Exodus, vi.
2, 3.
That men may know that thou, whose name is JEHOVAH, art the
most high over all the earth.--Psalm lxxxiii. 18.
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the
Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my
salvation.--Isaiah, xii. 2.
Tell mankind _Jehovah_ reigns;
He shall bind the world in chains,
So as it shall never slide,
And with sacred justice guide.
Let the smiling heavens rejoice,
Joyful earth exalt her voice:
Let the dancing billows roar,
Echoes answer from the shore,
Fields their flowery mantles shake,
All shall in their joy partake;
While the wood-musicians sing
To the ever-youthful spring,
Fill His courts with sacred mirth.
He, He comes to judge the earth.
Justly He the world shall sway,
And His truth to men display.
_Dr. Henry More._
Before _Jehovah’s_ awful throne,
Ye nations bow with sacred joy;
Know that the Lord is God alone,
He can create, and He destroy.
His sovereign power, without our aid,
Made us of clay, and formed us men;
And when like wand’ring sheep we stray’d,
He brought us to His fold again.
We’ll crowd His gates with thankful songs,
High as the heavens our voices raise,
And earth, with her ten thousand tongues,
Shall find thy courts with sounding praise.
_Watts._
Ascribe, ye mighty, to _Jehovah_ might
And glory, victor o’er his enemies--
Give to _Jehovah_ glory in the height,
The glory due unto His name! Adore
Him in the beauty of Holiness aright!
Thy voice, _Jehovah!_ on the waters hoar
Careers; the God of glory thundereth;
_Jehovah_ speaks where many waters roar--
Thy voice, _Jehovah!_ is more strong than death--
Thy powerful voice is full of majesty;
Thy voice o’erthrows the cedar with its breath.
And Lebanon and Sirion before Thee
Skip like a calf, and like a unicorn,
In youth transcilient, and by nature free,--
Thy voice _Jehovah!_ shakes the desert lorn;
_Jehovah_ shakes the wilderness; His voice
Maketh the hinds to calve, the forest-born.
Within His temple shall His sons rejoice,
And all declare His glory. On the sea
He sitteth--hushed is its tempestuous noise--
Behold _Jehovah_ sitteth royally
Upon the calmed flood, eternal Lord:
And strength unto His people giveth He,
And them with peace and blessing hath restored.
_J. A. Heraud._
The name of _Jehovah_ defend thee!
For He from His dwelling above,
Shall hear thee in trouble, and send thee
The might of His covenant love.
His rod of dread powers
Shall bind with sweet flowers,
In the ark of His covenant love.
Then kneel; for the prayer of the lowly
As incense, all odour shall be,
In the cloud of the holocaust holy,
That pleads in His presence for thee.
His word, like strong mountains,
Still shed forth the fountains
Of strength from His presence for thee.
_Waring._
JERUSALEM.
_Jerusalem_ is builded as a city that is compact together.--Psalm
cxxii. 3.
O _Jerusalem, Jerusalem_, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest
them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy
children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings, and ye would not!
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.--Matthew, xxiii. 37, 38.
_Jerusalem_ shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the time of
the Gentiles be fulfilled.--Luke, xxi. 24.
But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living
God, the heavenly _Jerusalem_, and to an innumerable company of
angels.--Hebrews, xii. 22.
_Jerusalem_, that place divine,
The vision of sweet peace is named,
In heaven her glorious turrets shine,
Her walls of living stones are framed;
While angels guard her on each side,
Fit company for such a bride.
She, decked in new attire, from heaven,
Her wedding-chamber, now descends,
Prepared in marriage to be given
To Christ, on whom her joy depends.
Her walls wherewith she is enclosed,
And streets are of pure gold composed.
The gates adorn’d with pearls most bright,
The way to hidden glory show,
And thither by the blessed might
Of faith in Jesus’ merits go
All those who are on earth distress’d,
Because they have Christ’s name profess’d.
These stones the workmen dress and beat,
Before they throughly polish’d are,
Then each in his own proper seat,
Established by the builder’s care,
In this fair frame to stand for ever,
So join’d, that them no power can sever.
_Drummond._