Faith is the subtle chain
Which binds us to the infinite; the voice
Of a deep life within, that will remain
Until we crowd it thence.
_Sonnet: Faith_. E.O. SMITH.
Nor less I deem that there are Powers
Which of themselves our minds impress;
That we can feed this mind of ours
In a wise passiveness.
_Expostulation and Reply_. W. WORDSWORTH.
One in whom persuasion and belief
Had ripened into faith, and faith become
A passionate intuition.
_The Excursion, B. VII_. W. WORDSWORTH.
Faith builds a bridge across the gulf of Death,
To break the shock blind nature cannot shun,
And lands Thought smoothly on the further shore.
_Night Thoughts, Night IV_. DR. E. YOUNG.
A bending staff I would not break,
A feeble faith I would not shake,
Nor even rashly pluck away
The error which some truth may stay,
Whose loss might leave the soul without
A shield against the shafts of doubt.
_Questions of Life_. J.G. WHITTIER.
I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope,
And gather dust and chaff, and call
To what I feel is Lord of all,
And faintly trust the larger hope.
_In Memoriam, LIV_. A. TENNYSON.
The Power that led his chosen, by pillared cloud and flame,
Through parted sea and desert waste, that Power is still the Same;
He fails not--He--the loyal hearts that firm on Him rely;
So put your trust in God, my boys, and keep your powder dry.[A]
_Oliver's Advice_. COLONEL W. BLACKER.
[Footnote A: Cromwell, once when his troops were about crossing a
river to attack the enemy, concluded an address with these words: "Put
your trust in God; but mind to keep your powder dry."]
If faith produce no works, I see
That faith is not a living tree.
Thus faith and works together grow;
No separate life they e'er can know:
They're soul and body, hand and heart:
What God hath joined, let no man part.
_Dan and Jane_. H. MORE.
Whose faith has centre everywhere,
Nor cares to fix itself to form.
_In Memoriam, XXXIII_. A. TENNYSON.
But who with filial confidence inspired,
Can lift to Heaven an unpresumptuous eye,
And smiling say, My Father made them all.
_The Task, Bk. V. Winter Morning Walk_. W. COWPER.