Strong as a god, mature as soon as born
To scotch the serpent’s coil. Oh, happy lands,
Where hope ne’er hopes in vain, and love is ne’er lovelorn!
And lo, Isaiah now amidst them stands,
Majestically eminent o’er all,
And blesses them with his thanksgiving hands.
Though they so great, he towers heroical,
Though humblest of that holiest company,
Sweet as sublime. So once looked royal Saul;
So looked, but was not what he seemed to be,
Amidst the children of his father’s land,
The goodliest, loftier then the rest was he.
But fairer Jesse’s son whom Samuel’s hand
King ’midst his brethren hallowed and proclaimed.
So Samuel stood above the _prophet_ band,
When the insane tyrant at the youth’s life aimed,
But, smit at Naioth by the Spirit there,
Quelled at his feet lay naked and ashamed.
Now, as a pupil in his own school here,
Vaileth his reverential forehead low
Unto the _prophet_, the time-hallowed Seer--
A larger college is endowed now;
A true _prophetic_ university;
The jewels are made up, or nearly so;
One only they await, to whose broad eye
Shall be disclosed the vision, that will fill
The casket up, and seal it sacredly.
* * * * *
So Jeremiah on a sea of grief
Floated his ark of pensive melody.
With bolder mien, and shown in strong relief,
Ezekiel, with a brother’s strict embrace,
Greeted the grasp of that returned chief;
Yet sighed bitterly before his face,
Because the furbished sword contemned the rod,
And, for a trial, glowed with its disgrace,
Sanguine with slaughter. Let it rage! For God
Will smite his hands together, and refrain
From fury--but the vintage must be trod.
To men on earth his was a lovely strain,
Of one who sweetly sang, and deftly played,
But in a foreign land discoursed in vain.
Oh, Daniel well beloved! who plainly said
In no strange tongue the things that were to be,
Simple of manners, and of mind unswayed.
Dear is the welcome of simplicity!
How dear is thine, to whom for this was given
The Hope of Nations over all to see!
Come forth, ye sacred band, inspired of Heaven,
Surround the _Prophet_ silently controlled,
And hear how well his embassy has thriven--
Hosea, the zealous; Amos, herdsman bold;
Jonas, type of our theme, and Obadiah,
And Nahum, who of Nineveh foretold--
Micah and Habakkuk, and Zephaniah,
Joel, Haggai, and Malachi who saves
But with a curse, and lofty Zechariah--
Noble your duty--noble he who braves
The stormy world, and guides the ark of God
In safety o’er the inimical waves!
_J. A. Heraud._
PROSPERITY.
For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the _prosperity_ of the
wicked.
Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
Surely Thou didst set them in slippery places: Thou castedst them down
into destruction.--Psalm lxxiii. 3, 17, 18.
O Lord, I beseech thee, send now _prosperity_.--Psalm cxviii. 25.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall _prosper_ that love thee.
Peace be within thy walls, and _prosperity_ within thy palaces.--Psalm
cxxii. 6, 7.
Daily and hourly proof
Tells us _prosperity_’s at the highest degree
The fount and handle of calamity.
_Chapman._
O, how portentous is _prosperity_!
How, comet-like, it threatens while it shines!
Few years but yield us proof of Death’s ambition
To cull his victims from the fairest fold,
And sheathe his shafts in all the pride of life.
When flooded with abundance, purpled o’er
With recent honour, bloomed with every bliss,
Set up in ostentation, made the gaze,
The gaudy centre of the public eye;
When fortune thus has tossed her child in air,
Snatched from the covert of an humble state,
How often have I seen him dropt at once,
Our morning’s envy, and our evening’s sigh!
As if her bounties were the signal given,
The flowery wreath to mark the sacrifice,
And call Death’s arrows on the destined prey.
_Young._
The man, perhaps,
Thou pitiest, draws his comfort from distress.
That mind so poised, and centred in the good
Supreme, so kindle with devotion’s flame,
Might, with _prosperity’s_ enchanting cup
Inebriate, have forgot the All-giving hand;
Might on earth’s vain and transitory joys
Have built its sole felicity, nor e’er
Winged a desire beyond.
_George Bally._
PSALM.
Take a _psalm_, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with
the psaltery.--Psalm lxxxi. 2.
Speaking to yourselves in _psalms_ and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.--Ephesians, v. 19.
Is any merry? let him sing _psalms_.--James, v. 13.
When Israel’s king first woke his strains sublime,
And offered praises unto Thee, O Lord!
With heart contrite for expiated crime,
And soul that yearned Thy mercy-seat toward;
He knew Thy power, he felt Thy saving grace,
On earth with joy Thy wondrous works surveyed,
Then turned to Heaven, his final resting-place,
And thence drew inspiration as he prayed.
With shawms and psalt’rys as in days of yore,
And dulcimers and harps we greet Thee not,
But richer, sweeter strains around us pour,
And fill with melody this sacred spot;
To Thee, to Thee, great God of Hosts! this day
An instrument of praise we consecrate:
May we, like David, own Thy sovereign sway,
And unto Thee our service dedicate.
As through Thy temple now the deep strains peal
And choral minstrelsy is heard to swell,
Devotion wakes within us, and we feel
All that the _psalmist_ hath expressed so well;
Be it no transient feeling that within
The bosom stirs, and turns the soul to Thee;
Guard us, and save us from besetting sin;
Make us Thine own to all eternity!
_Egone._
Nor think the muse, whose sober voice ye hear,
Contracts, with bigot frown, her sullen brow;
Casts round Religion’s orb the mists of fear,
Or shades with horrors what with smiles should glow.
No; she would warm you with seraphic fire,
Heirs as ye are, of Heaven’s eternal day;
Would bid you boldly to that Heaven aspire,
Nor sink and slumber in your cells of clay.
_William Mason._
PUNISHMENT.
Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the _punishment_ of his
sins?
Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the
Lord.--Lamentations, iii. 39, 40.
Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye
cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.
And these shall go away into everlasting _punishment_: but the
righteous into life eternal.--Matthew, xxv. 41, 46.
Governors are sent by him for the _punishment_ of evil doers, and for
the praise of them that do well.--I. Peter, ii. 14.
The house of endless pain is built thereby,
In which ten thousand sorts of _punishment_
The cursed creatures do eternally torment.
_Spenser._
If you confess humanity, believe
There is a God, to _punish_ or reward
Our doings here.
_Thomas Southern._
Ye princes all, and rulers every one,
In _punishment_ beware of hatred’s ire.
Before you scourge, take heed; look well thereon:
In wrath’s ill will, if malice kindle fire,
Your hearts will burn in such a hot desire,
That, in those flames, the smoke shall dim your sight,
Ye shall forget to join your justice right.
You should not judge till things be well discerned;
Your charge is still to maintain upright laws:
In conscience’ rules ye should be thoroughly learned--
Where clemency bids wrath and rashness pause;
And further saith, strike not without a cause:
And when ye smite, do it for justice’ sake;
Then in good part each man your scourge will take.
_Thomas Churchyard._
Had I a hundred mouths, a hundred tongues,
I could not half those horrid crimes repeat,
Nor half the _punishment_ those crimes have met.
_Dryden._
A greater power
Now ruled him, _punished_ in the shape he sinned.
_Milton._
PURITY.
Blessed are the _pure_ in heart; for they shall see God.--Matthew, v. 8.
For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer
sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the _purifying_ of the flesh:
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God.--Hebrews, ix. 13, 14.
Henceforth in my name
Take courage, O thou woman,--man take hope,
Your graves shall be as smooth as Eden’s sward,
Beneath the steps of your prospective thoughts;
And, one step past them, a new Eden gate
Shall open on a hinge of harmony,
And let you through to mercy. Ye shall fall
No more within that Eden, nor pass out
Any more from it. In which hope, move on
First sinners and first mourners. Live and love,
Doing both nobly because lowlily,
Love and work strongly,--because patiently!
And for the deed of death, trust it to God,
That it be well done, unrepented of,
And not to loss. And thence with constant prayers
Fasten your souls on high, that constantly
The smile of your heroic cheer may float
Above all floods of earthly agonies,
_Purification_ being the joy of pain.
_E. B. Browning._
Blest are the _pure_, whose hearts are clean
From the defiling power of sin,
With endless pleasure they shall see
A God of spotless _purity_.
_Watts._
Me through the blood of sprinkling make
_Pure_ from defilement white as snow,
Heal me for my Redeemer’s sake,
Then joy and gladness I shall know.
_J. Montgomery._
Thou holy God! preserve our souls
From all pollution free;
The _pure_ in heart are thy delight,
And they thy face shall see.
_Needham._
QUIET.
When he giveth _quietness_, who can then make trouble?--Job, xxxiv. 29.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be _quiet_
from fear of evil.--Proverbs, i. 33.
For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and
rest shall ye be saved; in _quietness_ and in confidence shall be your
strength: and ye would not.--Isaiah, xxx. 15.
Quiet, Lord, my froward heart,
Make me teachable and mild,
Upright, simple, free from art,
Make me as a weaned child,
From distrust and envy free,
Pleased with all that pleases Thee.
_Newton._
If there be a heaven so fair
O’er us ever shining,
We shall never enter there
By looking up and pining.
In one holy, _quiet_ thought,
Heaven to us is nearer brought,
Than in all the radiance bright,
Of a thousand worlds of light.
_J. Gostick._
Come to thy lonely bower, thou who dost love
The hour of musing. Come, before the brow
Of twilight darkens, or the solemn stars
Look from their casement, ’mid that hush of soul,
Music from viewless harps shall visit thee,
Such as thou never heard’st amid the din
Of earth’s coarse enginery, by toil and care
Urged on without reprieve: Ah! kneel and catch
That tuneful cadence.
How closely wrapt
In _quiet_ slumber are all things around,
The vine-leaf and the willow-fringe stir not,
Nor doth the chirping of the feeblest bird,
Nor even the cold glance of the vestal moon,
Disturb thy reverie.
_Mrs. Sigourney._
RANSOM.
They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude
of their riches;
None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a
_ransom_ for him.--Psalm xlix. 6, 7.
And the _ransomed_ of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with
songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and
gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.--Isaiah, xxxv. 10.
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus;
Who gave himself a _ransom_ for all, to be testified in due time.--I.
Timothy, ii. 5, 6.
Ere the third dawning light
Return, the stars of morn shall see Him rise,
The _ransom_ paid which man from death redeems
His death for man.
_Milton._
Lord of every land and nation,
Ancient of eternal days,
Sounded through the wide creation
Be Thy just and lawful praise.
Brightness of Thy Father’s glory,
Shall Thy praise unuttered be?
Fly my tongue, such guilty silence,
Sing the Lord who came to die!
From the highest throne of glory,
To the cross of deepest woe;
All to _ransom_ guilty sinners:
Flow, thy praise, for ever, flow!
_Robinson._
The _ransomed_ shout to their glorious King,
Where no sorrow shades the soul as they sing;
But a sinless and joyless song they raise,
And their voice of prayer is eternal praise.
_Henry Ware, Jr._
Blessed are the sons of God;
They are bought with Jesu’s blood,
They are _ransom’d_ from the grave,
Life eternal they shall have:
With them number’d may we be,
Now and through eternity!
_Humphreys._
REASON--REASONS.
Come now, and let us _reason_ together, saith the Lord: though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red
like crimson, they shall be as wool.--Isaiah, i. 18.
Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong _reasons_
saith the King of Jacob.--Isaiah, xli. 21.
And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto
heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most
High;
At the same time my _reason_ returned.--Daniel, iv. 34, 36.
Dim as the borrowed beams of moon and stars
To lonely, weary, wandering travellers,
Is _Reason_ to the soul; and as on high
Those rolling fires discover but the sky,
Not light us here; so _Reason’s_ glimmering ray
Was lent, not to assure our doubtful way,
But guide us upward to a better day.
And as those nightly tapers disappear,
When day’s bright lord ascends our hemisphere;
So pale grows _Reason_, at Religion’s sight;
So dies, and so dissolves, in supernatural light.
_Dryden._
Yet, since the effects of Providence, we find,
Are variously dispensed to human kind;
That Vice triumphs and Virtue suffers here,
A brand that sovereign justice cannot bear;
Our _reason_ prompts us to a future state,
The last appeal from fortune and from fate:
Where God’s all-righteous ways will be declared;
The bad meet punishment, the good reward.
_Dryden._
Though _Reason_ cannot through Faith’s mysteries see,
It sees that there, and such they be;
Though it, like Moses, by a sad command
Must not come into th’ Holy Land,
Yet thither it infallibly does guide,
And from afar ’tis all descried.
_Cowley._
Through _Reason’s_ wounds alone, thy faith can die.
_Young._
_Reason_ the root; fair faith is but the flower;
The fading flower shall die, but _reason_ lives
Immortal, as her Father in the skies.
_Young._
’Tis _Reason_ our great Master holds so dear;
’Tis _Reason’s_ injured rights His wrath resents;
’Tis _Reason’s_ voice obeyed, His glories crown;
To give lost _Reason_ life, He poured His own.
_Young._
With scanty line shall _Reason_ dare to mete
Th’ immeasurable depths of Providence?
On the swol’n bladders of opinion borne,
She floats awhile, then, floundering, sinks absorbed
Within that boundless sea she strove to grasp.
Shall man, here stationed to revere that God
Who called him into being from the dust,
His moral scheme implead, and, impious, cite
Th’ Almighty Legislator to the bar
Of erring intellect?
_George Bally._
Far other flame the vain enthusiast feels
When, _reason_ by delusive fancy led
In sad captivity, the thoughts confused
Rush on his mind in dark and doubtful sense,
His mind a chaos of blind zeal, that spurns
Th’ unerring clue which mild discretion lends.
Perchance the clashing images strike out
Some ray of casual light; how soon
The weak and momentary glance is lost
Beneath a load of wild obscurity!
Much does he labour with some weighty thought
Of faith, of grace, of Heaven, perchance of hell,
But all in vain be draws the thread confused
To tedious length; the end eludes his search,
And leaves him wrapt in wild perplexity,
Recoiling still on the same beaten track.
_Charles Jenner._
The godhead which is ours
Can never utterly be charmed or stilled;
That nothing hath a natural right to last
But equity and _reason_.
_Wordsworth._
REDEEMER.
I know that my _Redeemer_ liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter
day upon the earth.--Job, xix. 25.
Thy _Redeemer_ the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall
He be called.--Isaiah, liv. 5.
The _Redeemer_ shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from
transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord.--Isaiah, lix. 20.
O, blest _Redeemer_, from Thy sacred throne,
Where saints and angels sing Thy triumphs won,
From that exalted height of bliss supreme
Look down on those who bear Thy Sacred Name;
Restore their ways, inspire them by Thy grace,
Thy laws to follow, and Thy steps to trace;
Thy bright example to Thy doctrine join,
And by their morals prove their faith divine!
_Boyse._
Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates,
The King of Glory comes! He comes to clothe
This mortal in the unperishable garb
Of immortality! Hear it, ye dead,
Hear the glad tidings! and with trembling hope
Expect that day, when at th’ Archangel’s trump,
From the long sleep of many thousand years
Ye shall awake--awake to sleep no more:
Hear it, O living man, ere greedy Death
Consigns thee to the prison of the tomb;
Hear and be wise, seek thy _Redeemer’s_ throne;
On bending knees implore His healing grace,
Chaunt forth His praise and venerate His name.
_William Bolland._
Then shall the day-spring rise, before whose beams
The darkness of the world is past: for hark!
Seraphs and angel-choirs with symphonies
Acclaiming of ten thousand golden harps,
Amid the bursting clouds of heaven reveal’d.
At once in glory jubilant,--they sing:
“God the _Redeemer_ liveth! He who took
Man’s nature on Him, and in human shroud
Veil’d His immortal glory! He is risen--
God the Redeemer liveth! and behold
The gates of life and immortality
Opened to all that breathe.”
_Bowles._
Out of my penitence there has grown hope;
I trust and raise my suppliant eyes to Heaven,
And when my soul desponds, I meekly say,
“I know that my _Redeemer_ liveth.”
_Miss Landon._
He dies; in whose high victory,
The slayer, death himself, shall die,
He dies; by whose all-conquering tread
Shall yet be crushed the serpent’s head;
From his proud throne to darkness hurled,
The god and tempter of this world.
He dies; creation’s awful Lord,
Jehovah, Christ, Eternal Word!
To come in thunder from the skies;
To bid the buried world arise;
The earth His footstool, heaven His throne;--
_Redeemer!_ may Thy will be done!
_Croly._
My blest _Redeemer_ lives.--In that last day
When, like the baseless fabric of a dream,
Earth’s unsubstantial glories pass away,
He then shall stand, acknowledged Lord supreme.
My blest _Redeemer_ lives.--Though death the head
Consign, a victim to the silent tomb;
Though worms around my lifeless body spread,
Though noisome worms these mouldering limbs consume,
Triumphant still o’er Satan’s power I rise,
My God, my God appears, and wakes these languid eyes.
_Samuel Hayes._
Rejected, scorned,
Despised, a man of sorrow and distress,
To all the ills which poverty’s chill cold,
Or power of tyrant malice could inflict,
Exposed a victim, through life’s wretched vale
Our blest _Redeemer_ passed.
_Samuel Hayes._
From all that dwell below the skies
Let the Creator’s praise arise;
Let the _Redeemer’s_ name be sung
Through every land by every tongue.
_Watts._
REDEMPTION.
With the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous
_redemption_.--Psalm cxxx. 7.
But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who, of God, is made unto us
wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and _redemption_.--I.
Corinthians, i. 30.
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood,
He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
_redemption_ for us.--Hebrews, ix. 12.
_Redemption!_ ’twas creation more sublime;
_Redemption!_ ’twas the labour of the skies;
Far more than labour, it was death in Heaven:
A truth so strange! ’twere bold to think it true,
If not far bolder still, to disbelieve.
_Young._
Harp! lift thy voice on high! shout, angels, shout!
And loudest ye _redeemed_! Glory to God,
And to the Lamb, who bought us with His blood,
From every kindred, nation, people, tongue;
And washed, and sanctified, and saved our souls;
And gave us robes of linen pure, and crowns
Of life, and made us kings and priests to God!
Shout back to ancient time! sing loud, and wave
Your palms of triumph! sing, where is thy sting,
O death? where is thy victory, O grave?
Thanks be to God, eternal thanks, who gave
Us victory through Jesus Christ, our Lord!
Harp! lift thy voice on high! shout, angels, shout!
And loudest ye _redeemed_! Glory to God,
And to the Lamb, all glory and all praise!
All glory and all praise, at morn and even,
That come and go eternally, and find
Us happy still, and Thee for ever blest!
Glory to God and to the Lamb! Amen.
For ever and for evermore! Amen.
_Robert Pollok._
_Redemption_ was no after-thought, by Sin
Awakened from thy depths, celestial Love!
When first Humanity the fiend obeyed,
For in the councils of Almighty Grace
Thy priesthood, Oh Incarnate! was designed
Before Creation out of nothing sprang.
But when at length the hour predestined came,
Eternity a form of Time assum’d;
Then from His throne of perfect glory stoop’d
The second in the Godhead, and Himself
In mortal limbs and lineaments array’d;
Then did Emmanuel on this blighted earth
Of sin and suffering, body forth such grace
As made our orb a miracle of worlds,
By there achieving what the God Triune
Determined when their master-work was plann’d,
The vast atonement blood divine unveils.
_R. Montgomery._
Nor hymn, nor harp, nor song divine,
Nor myriad orbs created Thine,
Thy measureless display of love
To earth below, and heaven above,
By their unmingled power could tell,--
That ends the curse, and conquers hell!
Lo! the manger where He lies,
A world-_redeeming_ sacrifice:
“Peace on earth! to man good-will!”
Let the skies our anthem fill!
_R. Montgomery._
Hark! ’tis the prophet of the skies
Proclaims _redemption_ near;
The night of death and bondage flies,
The dawning tints appear.
Zion, from deepest shades of gloom,
Awakes to glorious day;
Her desert wastes with verdure bloom,
Her shadows flee away.
To heal her wounds, her night dispel,
The heralds cross the main;
On calvary’s awful brow they tell,
That Jesus lives again.
From Salem’s towers, the Islam sign,
With holy zeal is hurled:
’Tis there Immanuel’s symbols shine,
His banner is unfurled.
The gladdening news, conveyed afar,
Remotest nations hear;
To welcome Judah’s rising star,
The ransomed tribes appear.
Again in Bethlehem swells the song,
The choral breaks again;
While Jordan’s shores the strains prolong,
“Good-will and peace to men!”
_W. P. Tappan._
_Redemption!_ O, thou beauteous mystic plan!
Thou salutary source of light to man!
What tongue can speak thy comprehensive grace?
What thought thy depths unfathomable trace?
When lost in sin our ruined nature lay,
When awful justice claimed her righteous pay,
See the mild Saviour bend His pitying eye,
And stop the lightning just prepared to fly!
_Boyse._
Be every knee
To Christ in homage bent! Be every heart
In adoration, and in fervent prayer,
To Him poured forth! From His all-gracious birth,
The day-spring from on high descends: grim death,
Stripped of his boasted empire, prostrate falls:
The cerements of the dank, victorious grave
Are burst asunder: th’ adamantine gates
Of Paradise unbarred: man’s forfeit race
From the deep gulf of Erebus _redeemed_,
To life, to immortality arise.
_Samuel Hayes._
The grand _Redemption_ of degenerate man
Is not a single, independent act,
But one great system; that, perchance, involved
In the one only greater, God’s high law
Pervading and supporting every part
Of the stupendous universe: to thee,
Dark are the system’s limits; nay, the whole
To thee unknown, save some minuter spots,
Displayed to show the parts thou hast to act
In the alarming scene.
_John Hey._
REFUGE.
The eternal God is thy _refuge_.--Deuteronomy, xxxiii. 27.
The Lord also will be a _refuge_ for the oppressed, a _refuge_ in times
of trouble.--Psalm ix. 9.
I will say of the Lord, He is my _refuge_ and my fortress.--Psalm xci.
2.
At length life’s stormy voyage well nigh done,
These waves shall toss my fragile bark no more,
But ah! there waits the judge, the unerring one,
Who shall each word, and work, and thought explore.
And is it so? the fantasy is o’er
That made enshrined art my idol still;
And many a flying shade I chased before,
As my chief good was but a specious ill!
What, if when death has wrack’d his power to kill,
The living death beyond the grave be mine.
The pencil and the chisel have no skill
To chain such thoughts to rest. O Love Divine
Who didst spread wide thy arms on Calvary,
Be thou my _refuge_, Lord! for I have none save thine!
_Michael Angelo._
When rising winds and rain descending,
A near approaching storm declare;
With trembling speed their wings extending,
The birds to sheltering trees repair.
So I, by faith, with sin oppressed,
Would _refuge_ taste, O Christ, in thee;
Thou art my hiding-place and rest,
From every evil shelter me.
_From the German._