That high day-_light_ wherein the heavens do live:
The life that loves but to behold that eye
Which doth the glory of all brightness give,
And from the enlightened doth all darkness drive:
Where saints do see, and angels know to see
A brighter _light_ than saints or angels see.
In this _light’s_ love, O, let me ever live!
And let my soul have never other love
But all the pleasures of this world to give,
The smallest spark of such a joy to prove,
And ever pray unto my God above,
To grant my humble soul good Simeon’s grace,
In love to see my Saviour in the face.
_Nicholas Breton._
Hail, holy _Light_, offspring of heav’n first born,
Or of th’ Eternal coeternal beam,
May I express thee unblam’d? Since God is _Light_,
And never but in unapproached _light_
Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee,
Bright effluence of bright essence increate.
Or hear’st thou rather pure ethereal stream,
Whose fountain who shall tell? Before the sun,
Before the heav’ns thou wert, and at the voice
Of God, as with a mantle, did’st invest
The rising world of waters dark and deep,
Won from the void and formless infinite!
_Milton._
He that hath _light_ within his own clear breast,
May sit in the centre, and enjoy bright day;
But he that hides a dark soul, and foul thoughts,
Benighted walks under the mid-day sun:
Himself is his own dungeon.
_Milton._
Prime cheerer, _Light_!
Of all material beings, first and best!
Efflux divine! Nature’s resplendent robe!
Without whose vesting beauty, all were wrapt
In unessential gloom! and thou, O Sun!
Soul of surrounding worlds, in whom, best seen,
Shines out thy Maker!
_Thomson._
See, the time for sleep has run,
Rise before, or with the sun:
Lift thy hands, and humbly pray
The fountain of eternal day.
That, as the _light_, serenely fair,
Illustrates all the tracts of air;
The Sacred Spirit so may rest,
With quickening beams, upon thy breast.
_Parnell._
When Israel of the Lord beloved,
Out from the land of bondage came,
Her father’s God before her moved,
An awful guide in smoke and flame,
By day along the astonish’d lands
The cloudy pillar glided slow;
By night Arabia’s crimson’d sands
Return’d the fiery column’s glow.
And present still, though now unseen!
When brightly shines the prosperous day.
Be thoughts of Thee a cloudy screen,
To temper the deceitful ray;
And oh, when stoops in Judah’s path,
In shade and storm, the frequent night,
Be Thou long-suffering, slow to wrath,
A burning and a shining _light_.
_Sir Walter Scott._
O _light_, thy subtle essence who may know?
--Ask not, for all things but myself I show.
_J. Montgomery._
Almighty Framer of the skies!
O let our pure devotion rise
Like incense in thy sight!
Wrapt in impenetrable shade,
The texture of our souls was made,
Till thy command gave _light_.
_Chatterton._
Awake, arise, thy _light_ is come;
The nations that before outshone thee,
Now at thy feet lie dark and dumb,
The glory of the Lord is on thee!
Arise--the Gentiles to thy ray,
From ev’ry nook of earth shall cluster;
And kings and princes haste to pay
Their homage to thy rising lustre.
_Moore._
Walk in the _light_! so shalt thou know
That fellowship of love
His Spirit only can bestow,
Who reigns in _light_ above.
Walk in the _light_! and sin, abhorred,
Shall ne’er defile again;
The blood of Jesus Christ the Lord
Shall cleanse from every stain.
Walk in the _light_! and thou shalt find,
Thy heart made truly His,
Who dwells in cloudless _light_ enshrined,
In whom no darkness is.
Walk in the _light_! and thou shalt own
Thy darkness passed away,
Because that _light_ hath on thee shone,
In which is perfect day.
Walk in the _light_! and e’en the tomb
No fearful shade shall wear;
Glory shall chase away its gloom,
For Christ hath conquered there.
Walk in the _light_! and thou shalt be
A path, though thorny, bright;
For God, by grace, shall dwell in thee,
And God Himself is _light_!
_Barton._
“Let there be _light_!” The Eternal spoke,
And from the abyss where darkness rode
The earliest dawn of nature broke,
And _light_ around creation flowed:
The glad earth smiled to see the day,
The first-born day come blushing in;
The young day smiled to shed its ray
Upon a world untouched by sin.
“Let there be _light_!” O’er heaven and earth,
The God who first the day-beam poured,
Uttered again His fiat forth,
And shed the gospel’s _light_ abroad;
And, like the dawn, its cheering rays
On rich and poor were meant to fall,
Inspiring their Redeemer’s praise,
In lowly cot, and lordly hall.
Then come, when in the orient first
Flushes the signal-_light_ for prayer;
Come with the earliest beams that burst
From God’s bright throne of glory there;
Come, kneel to Him who through the night
Hath watched above thy sleeping soul;
To Him whose mercies, like His _light_,
Are shed abroad from pole to pole.
_Charles F. Hoffman._
Then moved upon the waveless deep
The quickening Spirit of the Lord;
And broken was its pulseless sleep
Before the Everlasting Word!
“Let there be _Light_!” and listening earth,
With tree, and plant, and flowery sod,
“In the beginning” sprang to birth,
Obedient to the voice of God.
_W. H Burleigh._
Heard as each morn relumes the eastern cloud,
Thy voice of holiest comfort cries aloud,
Bidding us rise, the night-like past above,
And soar on morning’s wing to thoughts of _light_ and love!
_Anon._
LORD.
The _Lord_ shall reign for ever and ever.--Exodus, xv. 18.
Hear, O _Lord_, and have mercy upon me: _Lord_, be thou my
helper.--Psalm xxx. 10.
By the word of the _Lord_ were the heavens made; and all the host of
them by the breath of His mouth.--Psalm xxxiii. 6.
Exalt the _Lord_ our God, and worship at his holy hill, for the _Lord_
our God is holy.--Psalm xcix. 9.
And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice
of many waters, and as the voice of many thunderings, saying. Alleluia:
for the _Lord_ God omnipotent reigneth.--Revelation, xix. 6.
Thou art of all created things
O _Lord_, the essence and the cause,
The source and centre of all bliss;
What are those veils of woven light,
Where sun and moon and stars unite,
The purple morn, the sprangled night,
But curtains which Thy mercy draws
Between the heavenly world and this?
The terrors of the sea and land,
When all the elements conspire,
The earth and water, storm and fire,
Are but the shadows of Thy hand;
The lightning’s flash, the howling storm,
The dread volcano’s awful blaze,
Proclaim Thy glory and Thy praise!
Beneath the sunny summer showers
Thy love assumes a milder form
And writes its angel name in flowers;
The wind that flies with winged feet
Around the grassy gladdened earth,
Seems but commissioned to repeat
In echo’s accents--silvery sweet--
That Thou, O _Lord_, didst give it birth.
There is a tongue in every flame,
There is a tongue in every wave,
To these the bounteous Godhead gave
These organs but to praise His name!
O mighty _Lord_ of boundless space
Here canst Thou be both sought and found.
For here in everything around
Thy presence and Thy power I trace;
With faith my guide and my defence,
I burn to serve in love and fear;
If as a slave, oh! leave me here,
If not, O _Lord_, remove me hence!
_M’ Carthy, from the Spanish of Calderon._
The _Lord_ of all, Himself through all diffused,
Sustains, and is the life of all that lives.
Nature is but a name for an effect,
Whose cause is God. He feeds the secret fire
By which the mighty process is maintained;
Who sleeps not, is not weary; in whose sight
Slow circling ages are as transient days;
Whose work is without labour; whose designs
No flaw deforms, no difficulty thwarts;
And whose beneficence no charge exhausts.
Him blind antiquity profaned, not served,
With self-taught rites, and under various names,
Female and Male Pomona, Pales, Pan,
And Flora, and Vertumnus; peopling earth
With tutelary goddesses and gods
That were not; and commending as they would
To each some province, garden, field, or grove.
But all are under one. One Spirit, His
Who wore the platted thorns with bleeding brows,
Rules universal nature. Not a flower
But shows some touch in freckle, streak, or stain,
Of His unrivalled pencil. He inspires
Their balmy odours, and imparts their hues,
And bathes their eyes with nectar, and includes,
In grains as countless as the sea-side sands,
The forms with which He sprinkles all the earth.
_Cowper._
The _Lord_ will come! the earth shall quake,
The hills their fixed seat forsake;
And, with’ring, from the vault of night
The stars withdraw their feeble light.
The _Lord_ will come! but not the same
As once in lowly form He came,
A silent Lamb to slaughter led,
The bruis’d, the suff’ring, and the dead.
The _Lord_ will come! a dreadful form,
With wreath of flame, and robe of storm,
On cherub wings, and wings of wind,
Anointed Judge of human-kind!
Go, tyrants! to the rocks complain!
Go, seek the mountain’s cleft in vain!
But faith, victorious o’er the tomb,
Shall sing for joy, the _Lord_ is come!
_Heber._
Great Former of this various frame,
Our souls adore thine awful name;
And bow and tremble while they praise
The Ancient of eternal days.
Thou _Lord_, with unsurprised survey,
Saw’st nature rising yesterday;
And, as to-morrow, shall thine eye,
See earth and stars in ruin lie.
_Doddridge._
In the dark winter of affliction’s hour,
When summer friends and pleasures haste away,
And the wrecked heart perceives how frail each power
It made a refuge, and believed a stay;
When man, all wild and weak is seen to be--
There’s none like Thee, O _Lord_! there’s none like Thee!
Thou in adversity canst be a sun;
Thou hast a healing balm, a sheltering tower,
The peace, the truth, the life, the love of One,
Nor wound, nor grief, nor storm can overpower
Gifts of a King; gifts, frequent and yet free,--
There’s none like Thee, O _Lord_! none, none like Thee!
_Miss Jewsbury._
Attired with majesty, the _Lord_ doth reign,
And girt with strength. The world immovably
Is stablished, and His throne shall aye remain!
Thou art for ever! The floods have lifted high,
O _Lord_! the floods have lifted high their voice,
The floods lift up their billows mightily--
The _Lord_ on high is mightier than the noise
Of many waters, stronger than the seas--
Thy word is sure--Let all the earth rejoice!
_J. A. Heraud._
LOVE.
The Lord preserveth all them that _love_ Him.--Psalm xciv. 20.
_Love_ your enemies, bless them that curse you.--Matthew, v. 44.
This is my commandment, that ye _love_ one another, as I have _loved_
you.
Greater _love_ hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for
his friends.
Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.--John, xv. 12, 14.
God commendeth his _love_ toward us, in that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.--Romans, v. 8.
Behold, what manner of _love_ the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God.--I. John, iii. 1.
Beloved, let us _love_ one another: for _love_ is of God; and every one
that _loveth_ is born of God, and knoweth God.--I. John, iv. 7.
Weak though we are, to _love_ is no hard task,
And _love_ for _love_ is all that Heaven does ask.
* * * * *
’Tis with our minds as with a fertile ground;
Wanting this _love_, they must with weeds abound;
Unruly passions, whose effects are worse
Than thorns and briars, springing from the curse.
_Waller._
Legions of angels, which He might have used,
For us resolved to perish, He refused;
While they stood ready to prevent His loss,
_Love_ took Him up, and nailed Him to the cross.
Immortal _love_! which in His bowels reigned,
That we might be by such high _love_ constrained
To make return of _love_; upon this pole
Our duty does, and our religion roll.
To _love_ is to believe, to hope, to know;
’Tis an essay, a taste of Heaven below.
He to proud potentates would not be known;
Of those who _loved_ Him, He was hid from none.
_Waller._
Humble _love_,
And not proud science, keeps the door of Heaven;
_Love_ finds admission where proud science fails.
_Young._
_Love_ celestial! wondrous heat!
O, beyond expression great!
What resistless charms were thine,
In thy good, thy best design!
When God was hated, sin obeyed,
And man undone, without thy aid,
From the seats of endless peace
They brought the Son, the Lord of Grace;
They taught Him to receive a birth,
To clothe in flesh, to live on earth,
And after, lifted Him on high,
And taught Him on the cross to die.
_Parnell._
He prayeth best, who _loveth_ best
All things, both great and small;
For the dear God who _loveth_ us,
He made and _loveth_ all.
_Coleridge._
They sin who tell us _love_ can die!
With life all other passions fly,
All others are but vanity;
In heaven ambition cannot dwell,
Nor avarice in the vaults of hell;
Earthly these passions of the earth,
They perish where they have their birth.
But _love_ is indestructible,
Its holy flame for ever burneth,
From heaven it came, to heaven returneth:
For oft on earth a troubled guest,
At times deceived, at times oppress’d;
It here is tried and purified,
Then hath in heaven its perfect rest:
It sowest here with toil and care,
But the harvest-time of _love_ is there.
_Southey._
I must _love_ on, O God!
This bosom must _love_ on! but let thy breath
Touch and make pure the flame that knows not death
Bearing it up to Heaven, _Love’s_ own abode.
_Mrs. Hemans._
No mortal object did these eyes behold
When first they met the placid light of thine,
And my soul felt her destiny divine;
And hope of endless peace in me grew bold:
Heaven-born, the soul a heavenward course must hold;
Beyond the visible world she soars to seek
(For what delights the sense is false and weak)
Ideal form, the universal mould.
The wise man, I affirm, can find no rest
In that which perishes: nor will he lend
His heart to ought which doth on time depend.
’Tis sense, unbridled will, and not true _love_,
Which kills the soul: _love_ betters what is best
Even here below, but more in heaven above.
_Wordsworth, from Michael Angelo._
O _Love_! thy essence is thy purity!
Breathe one unhallowed breath upon thy flame,
And it is gone for ever, and but leaves
A sullied vase--its pure light lost in shame.
_Miss Landon._
_Love_ Thee! Oh, clad in human lowliness,--
In whom each heart its mortal kindred knows,--
Our flesh, our forms, our tears, our pains, our woes;
A fellow-wanderer o’er earth’s wilderness!
_Love_ Thee!--whose very word but breathes to bless!
Through Thee, from long-seal’d lips, glad language flows;
The blind their eyes, that laugh with light, unclose;
And babes, unchid, Thy garment’s hem caress.
I see thee--doomed by bitterest pangs to die,
Up the sad hill, with willing footsteps move,
With scorge, and taunt, and wanton agony;
While the cross nods, in hideous gloom, above,
Though all--even there--be radiant Deity!
Speechless I gaze, and my whole soul is _Love_.
_Milman._
They err, who deem _love’s_ brightest hour in blooming youth
is flown:
Its purest, tenderest, holiest power in after life is known,
When passions chastened and subdued, to riper years are given,
And earth, and earthly things, are viewed in light that breaks from
Heaven.
_Bernard Barton._
Music of the bough that waves,
As the wind plays lightly o’er;
Music of the stream that laves
Pebbly marge or rocky shore;
Sweet your melody to me,
Singing to the soul--the tone
Exceeds by far the minstrelsy
Of halls wherein bright harpers shone;
For ye attune His praise who made
The wondrous perfect frame we view,
Each hill, and plain, and leafy shade,
And yon fair canopy of blue:
Ye seem to sing,--“How great the arm
Of that high God who reigns above;
Him worship! but without alarm;
His dearest, best known name is _Love_.”
_James Edmeston._
All things that are on earth shall wholly pass away,
Except the _Love_ of God, which shall live and last for aye.
* * * * *
Anon the great globe itself (so the holy writings tell,)
With the rolling firmament, where the starry armies dwell,
Shall melt with fervent heat--they all shall pass away,
Except the _Love_ of God, which shall live and last for aye.
_W. C. Bryant._
God is _Love_, saith the Evangel;
And our world of woe and sin
Is made light and happy only,
When a _love_ is shining in.
_J. G. Whittier._
Oh, _loving_ and forgiving--
Ye angel words of earth
Years were not worth the living
If ye too had not birth!
Oh, _loving_ and forbearing--
How sweet your mission here;
The grief that ye are sharing
Hath blessings in its tear.
Oh, stern and unforgiving--
Ye evil words of life,
That mock the means of living
With never-ending strife.
Oh, harsh and unrepenting
How would ye meet the grave,
If Heaven, as unrelenting,
Forbore not, nor forgave?
Oh, _loving_ and forgiving--
Sweet sisters of the soul,
In whose celestial living
The passions find control!
Still breathe your influence o’er us
Whene’er by passion crost,
And, angel-like, restore us
The paradise we lost.
_Charles Swain._
’Tis the angel _Love_,
He, who for ever strives with Death, and yet
Doth live! I see a form erect and motionless,
Veiled with a cloud of darkness, that no eye
Can pierce; that spectre form is Death, and there
I see _Love_ crushed and bleeding ’neath his feet:
But still undying--still a conqueror--still
A thing that Death may wound but cannot quell.
In his warm blood a spirit still survives;
In his bright eye a soul is living yet;
In his undying heart, eternal life
Throbs fixedly. Oh strife most beautiful!
Thou crowned martyr! thou enduring _Love_!
How beautiful thou art!
_Constantia L. Riddell._
Why should I a stranger be
In my Father’s dwelling,
While hill and river, rock and tree,
Of his _love_ are telling?
Always heard their simple voice,
Bidding child-like hearts rejoice,
Whispers us this _love_ is near;
What we seek in yonder sphere,
_Love_ can find it now--and here.
_Joseph Gostick._
Hail, holy _love_! ethereal essence, hail!
Heaven’s earliest offspring, earliest visitant
From thence to earth, here latest found to soothe
Man’s burdened heart, with pains and griefs oppressed,
(Sad fruit of disobedience,) thou, ere time
His race had yet begun, the glorious plan
Of mercy didst devise, the day of grace,
That with mild lustre dawned in Eden’s shades,
What time primeval sinners strove to hide
(Vain subterfuge!) from God’s all-piercing eye
Their guilt and shame; and thousand promises
With kindling radiance on the raptured mind
Of patriarchs, and kings, and prophets rose,
And saints expectant.
_S. Stennet._
_Love_ never fails: though knowledge cease,
Though Prophecies decay,
_Love_, Christian _love_, shall still increase,
Shall still extend her sway.
Here dimly, through life’s shadowy glass,
We strain our infant eyes;
Soon shall the earth-born vapours pass,
And light, unclouded, rise;
Then Hope shall sink in changeless doom,
Then Faith’s bright race be o’er,
But Thou, Eternal _Love_, shalt bloom
More glorious than before.
_W. Peter._
Before the sparkling lamps on high
Were kindled up, and hung around the sky:
Before the sun led on the circling hours,
Or vital seeds produced their active powers;
Before the first intelligences strung
Their golden harps and soft preludiums sung
To _Love_, the mighty cause whence their existence sprung,
Th’ ineffable Divinity
His own resemblance meets in thee.
By this thy glorious lineage thou dost prove
Thy high descent--for God Himself is _Love_.
_Mrs. Rowe._
LOWLINESS.
Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the _lowly_: but the
proud He knoweth afar off.--Psalm cxxxviii. 6.
When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the _lowly_ is
wisdom.--Proverbs, xi. 2.
Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory; but in _lowliness_ of
mind let each esteem other better than themselves.--Philippians, ii. 3.
The man whose eye
Is ever on himself, doth look on one
The least of nature’s works, one who might move
The wise man to that scorn which wisdom holds
Unlawful ever. O be wiser, Thou!
Instructed that true knowledge leads to love;
True dignity abides with him alone,
Who in the silent hour of inward thought,
Can still suspect, and still revere himself
In _lowliness_ of heart.
_Wordsworth._
There are briars besetting every path,
That call for patient care;
There is a cross in every lot,
And an earnest need for prayer;
But a _lowly_ heart that leans on Thee
Is happy anywhere.
_Ann L. Waring._
The blessing of a _lowly_ mind
Lord, unto me be given,
Joy in the meanest spot to find,
To see in all of human kind,
But fellow-travellers, designed
To rest at last in heaven.
The pleasures of a _lowly_ state
Oh, let me ne’er despise;
And should I sit among the great,
Ne’er be my heart with pride elate,
But meekly let me watch and wait
In _lowliness_ of guise.
_Egone._
MAN.
In the day that God created _man_, in the likeness of God made he him.
Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their
name Adam, in the day when they were created.--Genesis, v. 1, 2.
Behold, even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not
pure in his sight.
How much less _man_, that is a worm? and the son of _man_, which is a
worm?--Job, xxv. 5, 6.
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the
stars, which thou hast ordained.
What is _man_ that thou art mindful of him, and the son of _man_ that
thou visitest him.
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned
him with glory and honour.--Psalm viii. 3, 4, 5.
_Man’s_ goings are of the Lord; how can a _man_, then, understand his
own way?--Proverbs, xx. 24.
_Man_ shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God.--Matthew, iv. 4.
O, what is _man_, great Maker of _mankind_!
That Thou to him so great respect dost bear;
That Thou adornest him with so bright a mind,
Mak’st him a king, and even an angel’s peer?
O, what a lively life, what heavenly power,
What spreading virtue, what a sparkling fire,
How great, how plentiful, how rich a dower
Dost Thou within the dying flesh inspire!
Thou leav’st Thy print in other works of Thine,
But Thy whole image Thou in _man_ hast writ;
There cannot be a creature more divine,
Except, like Thee, it should be infinite.
But it exceeds _man’s_ thoughts, to think how high
God hath raised _man_, since God a _man_ became;
The angels do admire this mystery,
And are astonished when they view the same:
Nor hath He given these blessings for a day,
Nor made them on the body’s life depend;
The soul, though made in time, survives for aye;
And though it hath beginning, sees no end.
_Sir John Davies._
So fair is _man_, that death (a parting blast,)
Blasts his fair flower, and makes him earth at last;
So strong is _man_, that with a gasping breath
He totters, and bequeaths his strength to death;
So wise is _man_, that if with death he strive,
His wisdom cannot teach him how to live;
So rich is _man_, that (all his debts being paid,)
His wealth’s the winding-sheet wherein he’s laid;
So young is _man_, that (broke with care and sorrow,)
He’s old enough to-day to die to-morrow.
_Francis Quarles._
_Man’s_ not a lawful steersman of his days,
His bootless wish nor hastens, nor delays;
We are God’s hired workmen, He discharges
Some late at night, and (when He list) enlarges
Others at noon, and in the morning some:
None may relieve himself, till He bid, Come.
_Francis Quarles._
Let us make _man_ in our own image, _man_
In our similitudes, and let them rule
Over the fish and fowl of both sea and air,
Beast of the field, and over all the earth,
And every creeping thing that creeps the ground.
This said, He formed thee Adam, thee, O _man_!
Dust of the ground; and in thy nostrils breathed
The breath of life: in His own image, He
Created thee--in the image of God
Express.
_Milton._
When by His Word God had accomplished all,
_Man_ to create He did a council call:
Employed His hand to give the dust He took
A graceful figure and majestic look;
With His own breath conveyed into his breast
Life and a soul fit to command the rest.
_Waller._
Alas! that _man_
Must prove the direst enemy of _man_--
His boasted reason wielded to contrive
Dark systems of despair--his vaunted skill,
To forge the fetters which enthral the soul.
_A. Alexander._