So abject, mean, and vile,
Who begs a brother of the earth
To give him leave to toil;
And see his lordly fellow-worm
The poor petition spurn,
Unmindful tho’ a weeping wife
And helpless offspring _mourn_.
Yet let not this too much, my son,
Disturb thy youthful breast;
This partial view of human kind
Is surely not the best!
The poor, oppressed, honest man,
Had never, sure, been born,
Had there not been some recompense
To comfort those that _mourn_.
_Burns._
God of my life, to thee I call,
Afflicted at Thy feet I fall;
When the great waterfloods prevail,
Leave not my trembling heart to fail!
Did ever _mourner_ plead with Thee,
And Thou refuse that _mourner’s_ plea?
Does not Thy word still fix’d remain,
That none shall seek Thy face in vain?
_Cowper._
We _mourn_ for those who toil,
The slave who ploughs the main,
Or him who hopeless tills the soil
Beneath the stripe and chain;
For those who in the world’s hard race,
O’erwearied and unblest,
A host of restless phantoms chase,--
Why _mourn_ for those who rest?
We _mourn_ for those who sin,
Bound in the tempter’s snare,
Whom syren pleasure beckons in
To prisons of despair,
Whose hearts, by whirlwind passions torn,
Are wrecked on folly’s shore,--
But why in sorrow should we _mourn_
For those who sin no more?
We _mourn_ for those who weep,
Whom stern afflictions bend
With anguish o’er the lowly sleep
Of lover or of friend;--
But they to whom the sway
Of pain and grief is o’er,
Whose tears our God hath wiped away
Oh! _mourn_ for them no more!
_Mrs. Sigourney._
When _mourning_ o’er some stone I bend,
Which covers all that was a friend;
And from his voice, his hand, his smile,
Divides me for a little while;
Thou, Saviour, mark’st the tears I shed,
For Thou didst weep o’er Lazarus dead.
_R. Grant._
MURDER.
Jesus said, Thou shalt do no _murder_.--Matthew, xix. 18.
Whosoever hateth his brother, is a _murderer_; and ye know that no
_murderer_ hath eternal life abiding in him.--I. John, iii. 15.
The great King of kings
Hath in the table of His law commanded
That thou shalt do no _murder_; wilt thou then
Spurn at His edict, and fulfil a man’s?
_Shakspere._
Other sins only speak; _murder_ shrieks out.
The element of water moistens the earth,
But blood mounts upwards.
_John Webster._
Silently, swift as the lightning’s blast,
A hand of fire across his temples passed;
He ran, as in the terror of a dream,
To quench his burning anguish in the stream;
But, bending o’er the brink, the swelling wave
Back to his eye the branded visage gave;
As soon on _murdered_ Abel durst he look:
Yet power to fly his palsied limbs forsook;
There turned to stone, for his presumptuous crime,
A monument of wrath to latest time,
Might Cain have stood; but mercy raised his head
In prayer for help,--his strength returned, he fled.
_James Montgomery._
The _murderer_ has no past
But one eternal present.
_T. N. Talfourd._
He told how _murderers_ walked the earth
Beneath the curse of Cain;
With crimson clouds before their eyes,
And flames about their brain:
For blood has left upon their souls
Its everlasting stain!
_Thomas Hood._
Lo, on the everlasting stone engraved,
“No _murder_ shalt thou do.” From God to man
The solemn law came down: by specious gloss
Of subtle learning, seek not to evade
The great command.
_Samuel Hayes._
MUSIC.
Sing unto Him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.--Psalm
xxxiii. 3.
Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet: praise Him with the psaltery
and harp.--Psalm cl. 3.
Cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of
_music_.--Daniel, iii. 5.
That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves
instruments of _music_ like David.--Amos, vi. 5.
How sour sweet _music_ is
When time is broke, and no proportion kept!
So is it in the _music_ of men’s lives.
_Shakspere._
There let the pealing organ blow,
To the full-voiced choir below,
In service high, and anthems clear,
As may with sweetness through mine ear
Dissolve me into ecstacies,
And bring all Heaven before mine eyes.
_Milton._
The church triumphant, and the church below,
In songs of praise their present union show;
Their joys are full; our expectation long,
In life we differ, but we join the song.
Angels and we, assisted by this art,
May sing together, though we dwell apart.
_Waller._
Hark! the organs blow
Their swelling notes ’round the cathedral’s dome,
And grace the harmonious choir, celestial feast
To pious ears, and med’cine of the mind!
The thrilling trebles, and the manly base,
Join in accordance meet, and with one voice
All to the sacred subject suit their song;
While in each breast sweet melancholy reigns,
Angelically pensive, till the joy
Improves and purifies.
_Smart._
Born on the swelling notes, our soul aspire,
While solemn airs improve the sacred fire,
And angels lean from Heaven to hear.
_Pope._
Should the well-meant songs I leave behind,
With Jesus’ lovers an acceptance find,
’Twill heighten even the joys of Heaven, to know
That in my verse the saints hymn God below.
_Bishop Ken._
The song of Zion is a tasteless thing,
Unless when rising on a joyful wing,
The soul can mix with the celestial bands,
And give the strain the compass it demands.
_Cowper._
How shall the harp of poesy regain
That old victorious tone of prophet-years--
A spell divine o’er guilt’s perturbing fears,
And all the hovering shadows of the brain?
Dark, evil wings took flight before the strain,
And showers of holy quiet, with its fall,
Sank on the soul:--O, who may now recall
The mighty _music’s_ consecrated reign?--
Spirit of God! whose glory once o’erhung
A throne, the Ark’s dread cherubim between,
So let Thy presence brood, though now unseen,
O’er those two powers by whom the harp is strung--
Feeling and thought!--till the rekindled chords
Give the long-buried tone back to immortal words.
_Mrs. Hemans._
O, surely melody from Heaven was sent
To cheer the soul, when tired with human strife,
To soothe the wayward heart by sorrow rent,
And soften down the rugged road of life.
_Kirke White._
O, what a gentle ministrant is _music_
To piety--to mild, to penitent piety!
O, it gives plumage to the tardy prayer
That lingers in our lazy, earthly air,
And melts with it to Heaven.
_H. H. Milman._
_Music_, the tender child of rudest times,
The gentle native of all lands and climes;
Who hymns alike man’s cradle and his grave,
Lulls the low cot, or peals along the nave.
_Mrs. Norton._
’Tis He that taught the lark, from earth upspringing,
To warble forth his matin strain;
And the pure stream, in liquid gushes singing,
Gladly to bless the thirsty plain;
And from the laden bee, when homeward winging
Its tuneful flight doth not disdain,
To hear the song of praise.
There’s not a voice in Nature, but is telling
(If we will hear that voice aright,)
How much, when human hearts with love are swelling,
His blessed bosom hath delight
In our rejoicing lays.
His love, that never slumbers,
Taught thee those tuneful numbers.
_Bethune._
But O, her richest, dearest notes to man,
In strains aerial over Bethlehem poured,
When He, whose brightness is the light of Heaven,
To earth descending, for a mortal’s form,
Laid by His glory, save one radiant mark,
That moved through space, and o’er the infant hung,
He summoned _Music_ to attend Him here,
Announcing peace below!
He called her, too,
To sweeten that sad Supper, and to twine
Her mantles round Him and His few grieved friends,
To join their mournful spirits with the hymn,
Ere to the Mount of Olives He went out
So sorrowful.
And now, His blessed word,
A sacred pledge, is left to dying man,
That at His second coming, in His power,
_Music_ shall still be with Him, and her voice
Sound through the tombs, and wake the dead to life.
_Hannah F. Gould._
The solemn hymn to ancient _music_ set
In many a heart response of memory met.
To me, it seemed departed Sabbaths hung
Upon those notes, which gave the past a tongue
To speak again in voices from the dead,
And wake an echo from their silent bed.
_Elizabeth Bogart._
MYSTERY.
Behold I shew you a _mystery_; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all
be changed.
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.--I.
Corinthians, xv. 51, 52.
The _mystery_ which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but
now is made manifest to his saints.--Colossians, i. 26.
Praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance,
to speak the _mystery_ of Christ.--Colossians, iv. 3.
With outstretched arms,
Stern justice and soft-smiling love embrace,
Supporting, in full majesty, thy throne,
When seemed its majesty to need support,
Or that, or man, inevitably lost:
What, but the fathomless of love divine
Could labour such expedient from despair,
And rescue both? Both rescue? Both exalt!
O, how are both exalted by the deed!
The wondrous deed! or shall I call it more?
A wonder in Omnipotence itself!
A _mystery_ no less to gods than men.
_Young._
Hail, Sovereign Lord! by all Thy works confess’d!
By angels worship’d, and by saints address’d!
Hail, Sovereign Lord! _mysterious_ Wisdom! hail;
In whom the Father and His fulness dwell.
In whom the Godhead and the man unite,
Stamp of His form, and glory of His light!
In whom complete, in Thee completed shine,
The God incarnate, and the man divine.
_Mysterious_ truth! withheld from reason’s eye;
Outcast on earth! but loftiest on high!
Hail, wondrous cross!--yet how more wondrous He
That cross who bore!--Thyself its _mystery_!--
And borne for man!--a greater _mystery_ still;
So great Thy love, and love’s _mysterious_ will!
_Peronnet._
That things to mortals are _mysterious_,
Is not because the things themselves are dark,
But the perceptions through which they are viewed.
_David Bates._
NAME.
Thou shalt not take the _name_ of the Lord thy God in vain.--Exodus,
xx. 7.
Blessed be the _name_ of the Lord from this time forth and for
evermore.--Psalm cxiii. 2.
A good _name_ is rather to be chosen than great riches.--Proverbs,
xxii. 1.
God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above
every _name_.
That at the _name_ of Jesus every knee should bow.--Philippians, ii. 9,
10.
We wish our _names_ eternally to live.
Wild dream! which ne’er had haunted human thought,
Had not our natures been eternal too.
Instinct points out an interest in hereafter,
But our blind reason sees not where it lies;
Or seeing, gives the substance for the shade.
_Young._
In the fair book of life and grace,
O may I find my _name_
Recorded in some humble place,
Beneath my Lord the Lamb.
_Watts._
I read His awful _name_ emblazoned high,
With golden letters, on the illumined sky;
Nor less the mystic characters I see
Wrought in each flower, inscribed on every tree:
In every leaf that trembles to the breeze,
I hear the voice of God among the trees.
_Mrs. Barbauld._
Wide he extends
His royalties, and still the throne adorns
With piety and mercy. Loved and feared.
Twice twenty years, with equitable hand,
He sways the sceptre; then in peace repose
His ashes, but his _name_ lives evermore.
_Charles Hoyle._
O blessed Father, righteous Lord!
Within Thy book of life record
My undeserving _name_;
Teach me to know and do Thy will;
My heart with holy longings fill,
And heavenly love inflame.
_Bayly._
Alone I walk’d the ocean strand,
A pearly shell was in my hand;
I stoop’d and wrote upon the sand
My _name_, the year, the day.
As onward from the spot I pass’d,
One lingering look I fondly cast;
A wave came rolling high and fast,
And wash’d my lines away.
And so, methought, ’twill shortly be
With every mark on earth from me;
A wave of dark oblivion’s sea
Will sweep across the place
Where I have trod the sandy shore
Of time, and been to be no more;
Of me--my day--the _name_ I bore,
To leave no track nor trace.
And yet with Him, who counts the sands,
And holds the waters in His hands,
I know a lasting record stands
Inscribed against my _name_,
Of all this mortal part has wrought--
Of all this thinking soul has thought,
And from these fleeting moments caught
For glory or for shame.
_Miss Gould._
The card-built house amused our infant age;
The child was pleased; but is the man more sage?
A breath could level childhood’s tottering toy:
See manhood--effort, art, and time employ,
To build that brittle _name_ a whisper can destroy!
There is a Book where nought our _name_ can spot,
If we ourselves refuse to fix the blot;
’Tis kept by One that sets alike at nought
The tale with malice or with flatt’ry fraught,--
He reads the heart, and sees the whisper in the thought.
_C. C. Colton._
Jesus, the spring of joys divine,
Whence all our hopes and comforts flow:
Jesus, no other _name_ but Thine
Can save us from eternal woe.
_Steele._
NATURE.
O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto Thee?
Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, Thou
stillest them.
The heavens are Thine, the earth also is Thine: as for the world and
the fulness thereof, Thou hast founded them.--Psalm lxxxix. 8, 9, 11.
The Lord is a great God, and a Great King above all Gods.
In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the strength of the hills
is His also.
The sea is His, and he made it; and His hands formed the dry
land.--Psalm xcv. 3, 4, 5.
Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right
hand hath spanned the heavens; when I call unto them they stand up
together.--Isaiah, xlviii. 13.
From dearth to plenty, and from death to life,
Is _Nature’s_ progress, when she lectures man
In heavenly truth; evincing as she makes
The grand transition, that there lives and works
A soul in all things, and that soul is God.
_Cowper._
_Nature_, employed in her allotted place,
Is hand-maid to the purposes of Grace;
By good vouchsafed, makes known superior good,
And bliss not seen, by blessings understood.
_Cowper._
He looks abroad into the varied field
Of _Nature_; and though poor, perhaps, compared
With those whose mansions glitter in his sight,
Calls the delightful scenery all his own.
His are the mountains, and the valleys his,
And the resplendent rivers; his to enjoy
With a propriety that none can feel,
But who, with filial confidence inspired,
Can lift to Heaven an unpresumptuous eye,
And smiling say, “My Father made them all!”
_Cowper._
By swift degrees the love of _Nature_ works,
And warms the bosom; till, at last sublimed
To rapture and enthusiastic heat,
We feel the present Deity, and taste
The joy of God to see a happy world.
_Thomson._
From _Nature’s_ constant or eccentric laws,
The thoughtful soil this general inference draws--
That an effect must pre-suppose a cause.
_Prior._
All _Nature_ is but art, unknown to thee;
All chance, direction which thou canst not see;
All discord, harmony not understood;
All partial evil, universal good.
_Pope._
Read _Nature_; _Nature_ is a friend to truth:
_Nature_ is Christian; preaches to mankind;
And bids dead matter aid us in our creed.
_Young._
How faint is language when we strive to sing
The beauties of the Almighty hand!
Each year upon our outward sense they win,
With all increasing and still varying force;
The seasons, days, months, years, incessant bring
Contrasting changes! First seeds, leaves, expand
As the young years with tender warmth begin,
Then bloom and fruit, and life bursts from its source,
In animated _Nature_, then decays,
And with revolving time is still renew’d.
Thus hope’s bright beam the distant scene displays
Where no repelling shadow’s may intrude;
So life may joyous be, and genius dwells
In new awaked fires, and fresh enchantment spells.
_Sir E. Brydges._
Almighty Father! such the lesson is
That in these cool and venerable woods,
I con to-day; and firmer in my breast,
By every syllable, these truths are fixed
That Thou art the Beginning and the End
Of all this glorious work, and that Thy love
Pervades the universe; and that Thy smile
Seeketh all hearts, to sun them; and that Thou,
In every glorious thing we here behold,
Declarest and reveal’st Thyself to be
The Majesty Supreme--Eternal God.
_W. D. Gallagher._
_Nature’s_ self, which is the breath of God,
Or His pure Word by miracle revealed.
_Wordsworth._
_Nature_, when sprung thy glorious frame?
--My Maker called me, and I came.
_J. Montgomery._
Live thou with God in _Nature_: never falter
In thy communings with Him. Be
Like those blest birds we read of in the Psalter,
Who found a borne from peril free
In God’s own house, and nestled near His altar,
Making it ring with melody.
That temple stands no more,
But _Nature_ standeth still; God’s holy presence
Abideth with us, and the offering
Of thankful joy to Him whose perfect essence
Is perfect love, our glowing lips may bring,
Till this brief life is o’er;
And in a brighter, better,
Our spirits know no fetter.
_Bethune._
Never have the works of _Nature_
Yet to mortal man revealed,
How his much offended Maker
May to him be reconciled.
Flower, nor tree, nor rock, nor mountain,
Ever yet have showed the way,
Ever told him of a Fountain
That could wash his guilt away.
Man could never yet discover,
From the sky, the earth, the sea,
When his days on earth are over,
Where or what his state should be.
But the page of inspiration
Casts a light upon the whole,
Bringing peace and consolation
To the never-dying soul.
_Alexander Letham._
NIGHT.
Day unto day uttereth speech, and _night_ unto _night_ showeth
knowledge.--Psalm xix. 2.
Thou makest darkness, and it is _night_.--Psalm civ. 20.
If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the _night_ shall be
light about me.
Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee; but the _night_ shineth as the
day: the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee.--Psalm cxxxix.
11, 12.
One sun by day, by _night_ ten thousand shine,
And light us deep into the Deity;
How boundless in magnificence is _night_!
O what a confluence of ethereal fires,
From urns unnumber’d, down the steep of heaven,
Streams to a point, and centres in my sight!
Nor tarries there, I feel it at my heart.
My heart, at once, it humbles, and exalts;
Lays it in dust, and calls it to the skies.
Who sees it unexalted? or unaw’d?
Who sees it, and can stop at what is seen?
Material offspring of Omnipotence!
Inanimate, all animating birth!
Work worthy Him who made it! worthy praise!
All praise! praise more than human! nor denied
Thy praise divine!--But tho’ man, drown’d in sleep,
Withholds his homage, not alone I wake;
Bright legions swarm unseen, and sing, unheard
By mortal ear, the glorious Architect,
In this his universal temple hung
With lustres, with innumerable lights,
That shed religion on the soul; at once
The temple and the preacher! O how loved
It calls devotion! genuine growth of _night_!
_Young._
The glorious sun is gone,
And the gathering darkness of _night_ comes on.
Like a curtain from God’s kind hand it flows,
To shade the couch where His children repose.
Then kneel, while the watching stars are bright,
And give your last thoughts to the Guardian of _night_.
_Henry Ware, Jun._
And still as day concludes in _night_
To break again with new-born light,
God’s wondrous bounty let me find,
With still a more enlightened mind;
When Grace and Love in one agree,
Grace from God and Love from me;
Grace that will from Heaven inspire,
Love that seals it in desire.
_Parnell._
Now, with religious awe, the farewell light
Blends with the solemn colouring of the _night_.
_Wordsworth._
Ye quenchless stars! so eloquently bright;
Untroubled sentries of the shadowy _night_,
While half the world is lapp’d in blissful dreams,
And round the lattice creep your fairy beams,
How sweet to gaze upon those placid eyes,
In lambent beauty looking from the skies!
And when, oblivious of the world, we stray
At dead of _night_ along some noiseless way,
How the heart mingles with a moon-lit hour,
And feels from heaven a sympathetic power!
See! not a cloud careers yon pathless deep
Of molten azure,--mute as lovely sleep;
Full in her pallid light the moon presides,
Shrined in a halo, mellowing as she rides;
And far around, the forest and the stream
Wear the rich garment of her woven beam.
The lull’d winds, too, are sleeping in her caves,
No stormy prelude rolls upon the waves;
Nature is hush’d, as if her works ador’d,
Still’d into homage of her living Lord!
_R. Montgomery._
O, blessed _Night_! that comes to rich and poor
Alike; bringing us dreams that lure
Our hearts to One above!
_Henry B. Hirst._
Clouds and thick darkness are thy throne,
Thy wonderful pavilion;
O, dart from thence a shining ray,
And then my _midnight_ shall be day!
_Thomas Flatman._
OBEDIENCE--DISOBEDIENCE.
For as by one man’s _disobedience_ many were made sinners, so by the
_obedience_ of one shall many be made righteous.--Romans, v. 19.
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to _obey_, his
servants ye are to whom ye _obey_; whether of sin unto death, or of
_obedience_ unto righteousness?--Romans, vi. 16.
Though He were a Son, yet learned He _obedience_ by the things which He
suffered.--Hebrews, v. 8.
The will of heav’n
Be done in this and all things! I _obey_.
_Shakspere._
Of man’s first _disobedience_, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,
Sing Heavenly Muse, that, on the secret top
Of Oreb or of Sinai, didst inspire
That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed
In the beginning, how the heavens and earth
Rose out of Chaos. Or if Sion hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa’s brook that flow’d
Fast by the oracle of God; I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above th’ Aonian mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet, in prose or rhyme.
And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all temples, th’ upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for Thou know’st: 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.
Say first, for Heaven hides nothing from Thy view,
Nor the deep tract of hell; say first what cause
Moved our grand parents, in that happy state
Favoured of Heaven so highly, to fall off
From their Creator, and transgress His will.
For one restraint, lords of the world besides?
Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?
Th’ infernal serpent: he it was whose guile,
Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived
The mother of mankind, what time his pride
Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host
Of rebel angels; by whose aid, aspiring
To set himself in glory ’bove his peers,
He trusted to have equalled the Most High,
If He opposed; and, with ambition’s aim
Against the throne and monarchy of God,
Raised impious war in Heaven, and battle proud
With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power
Hurled headlong flaming from th’ ethereal sky,
With hideous ruin and combustion, down
To bottomless perdition; there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire,
Who durst defy th’ Omnipotent to arms.
_Milton._
Nor can this be
But by fulfilling that which thou didst want--
_Obedience_ to the law of God, imposed
On penalty of death.
_Milton._
Flatter not folly with an idle faith,
Nor let earth stand upon her own desert;
But show what wisdom in the Scripture saith
The fruitful hand doth shew the fruitful heart;
Believe the word, and thereto bend thy will,
And teach _obedience_ for a blessed skill.
_Nicholas Breton._
Other bond have I
None with the Father, but _obedience_ whole.
The Son returns through all eternity
Entire _obedience_ to the Father’s will
Inscrutable, devout and finally--
Relying on his love, that shall fulfil
All gracious purposes--and so became
The Mediator to all creatures, till
God shall be all in all.
_J. A. Heraud._
OFFERING.
And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit
of the ground an _offering_ unto the Lord.
And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the
fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his _offering_.
But unto Cain and to his _offering_ He had not respect.--Genesis, iv.
3, 4, 5.
So Christ was once _offered_ to bear the sins of many; and unto them
that look for Him shall He appear the second time, without sin unto
salvation.--Hebrews, ix. 8.