1^4' I; .r:<^y..<:-y r $ii.i::.-..f.- I n"" i jft ** ":. T8^i!i^^M.S NMMM A. / 9-J^O^ /^/^A/ PR4129.B5L4187r"'"-"'"'^ Songs of religion and iife. 3 1924 013 435 585 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013435585 a- a. 9^. ^. /ss^^ SONGS OF RELIGION AND LIFE. In Him we live and move and have our being. ST. PAUL. The Kingdom of Heaven ' is within you. I. H. s. In Christ Jesus there is neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. ST. PAUL. SONGS RELIGION AND LIFE BY JOHN STUART BLACKIE PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH EDINBURGH EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS 1876. Edinburgh: Printed by Thomas and Archibald Constable FOR EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS. LONDON . . . HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. CAMBRIDGE . . MACMILI.AN AND CO. GLASGOW . . , , . JAMES MACLEHOSE. PREFACE. The Poems in this volume may be re- garded as a Second Edition of the second part of my ' Lays and Legends of Ancient Greece/ which has long been out of print, along with other Poems not hitherto pub- lished, and a few from a volume of ' Lyrical Poems' previously published, all having a common object, viz., the cultivation of reh- gious reverence without sectarian dogmatism, and of poetical sentiment tending not so much -to amuse the imagination or to tickle the fancy as to purify the passions and to regulate the conduct of life. That the com- position of these Poems, as occasion offered, vi PREFACE. has been a source of intellectual enlargement « and of moral eleva,tion to myself I am well convinced; and I am not without hope that they may act as a salutary stimulus to others, who know that there is one thing needful, viz., the formation of a noble character, and that everything else is vanity. As for the philosophy that lies at the bottom of these Poems — and all true poetry is a concrete philosophy, — it is only a nlodern expression of the Nineteenth Psalm, recognising, as that noble composition does, the essential unity and divine significance alike of the physical world without and the moral world within, as a glorious biform manifestation of the great uncaused Cause of the Universe, — an altogether different wisdom — at once more pro- found and more complete — from that meagre dissection and tabulation of the soulless out- PREFACE. vii side of things which, with a forward display of knife and microscope, has in these latter days been palmed off upon us for a philosophy. But it is too late in the day to set up Epicurus on the throne of Plato, however the advocates of our monkey-brotherhood may delight themselves, and amuse a few gaping people, by turning things outside in and upside down for a season. JOHN S. BLACKIE. Edinburgh, December 1875. CONTENTS. §att80 of ^tltQion. ADVENT-HYMN, i JOHN THE BAPTIST, ... 7 HYMN TO THE TRINITY, . 14 TO THE DIVINE SPIRIT, . . 19 TO THE SAVIOUR, ... 24 ODE TO CHRISTIAN LOVE, . 28 NIGHT, ... .... . 31 A SABBATH MEDITATION, . . . .34 THE SEA, .... . . .44 Z//T UP YOUR HYMNS, ALL MEN, . 48 THE SCHOOL OF JESUS, . . 54 RRA YER FOR DIRECTION, . . 57 THE GOD OF GLEE, . . . 60 LAWS OF NATURE, . . . 66 WHAT IS NATURE, , . ... 69 ALL THINGS ARE FULL OF GOD, . 73 PRAYER, . 77 SABBATH HYMN ON THE MOUNTAINS, 79 TRIMURTI, . 83 SANCTE SOCRA TES, OR A pRO NOBIS, . 96 THE HOPE OF THE HETERODOX, . 102 O HEAR MY PRAYER, .... 106 THE SABBATH DAY, .... 109 X CONTENTS. HEROES OF FA ITH .— PA™ RULLIOIt GREEN, "3 LINES WRITTEN AT MAGUS MUIR, ... 120 MARTIN LUTHER, . . . "3 PATRICK HAMILTON, 13= WALTER MYLN', 136 THE GENEROUS EVANGELIST, . . 150 BENEDICITE . 156 (Songs of %'\iz. THE RIVER: AN ALLEGORY OF LIFE, . . 161 BEAUTIFUL WORLD, ... 16s MOMENTS, . . . . 169 SOW NOT IN SORROW, .... .... 173 THE MUSICAL FROGS, . . . 179 THE YOUNG MAN'S PRAYER, 183 A SONG OF THREE WORDS : ORARE, LABORARE, CANTARE, 186 GA UDEAMUS IGITUR 189 A SONG OF ST. SOCRATES, .... 192 A SONG OF SUMMER, ... 196 FAREWELL TO SUMMER 199 A SONG OF THE COUNTRY, 204 A SONG OF FATHERLAND BY A TRAVELLER, . 207 A SONG OF FREEMASONRY, 210 A REVOLUTIONARY ODE .216 A DIRGE, 222 ADVICE TO A FAVOURITE STUDENT ON LEAVING COLLEGE, 224 THE GARDEN: TO A YOUNG LADY ON HER BIRTH- DAY, 331 THE WISDOM OF LIFE . . 236 ^ong0 of aseligion. T O, He comes ! — Messiah neareth, Jesus comes ; Not with pomp the God appeareth, Meek He comes. Pride displays no blazoned banners, Vanity no false, fair manners. Where He comes. Not with Conqueror's ring and rattle. Wild war's glee, Ushered by a bloody battle, Cometh He. As the West wind's gentle blowing Wakes life's mystic power of growing, Thus doth He. ^bbcttt-Ssmtt. T O, He comes ! — Messiah neareth, Jesus comes ; Not with pomp the God appeareth, Meek He comes. Pride displays no blazoned banners, Vanity no false, fair manners, Where He comes. Not with Conqueror's ring and rattle, Wild war's glee. Ushered by a bloody battle, Cometh He. As the West wind's gentle blowing Wakes life's mystic power of growing, Thus doth He. CONTENTS. §ionQ3 ot ^fligitftt. ADVENT-HYMN, . . i JOHN THE BAPTIST, . . . . 7 HYMN TO THE TRINITY, ... 14 TO THE DIVINE SPIRIT, 19 TO THE SAVIOUR, . 24 ODE TO CHRISTIAN LOVE, . . . 28 NIGHT, 31 A SABBATH MEDITATION, . . 34 THE SEA, ..... 44 LIFT UP YOUR HYMNS, ALL MEN, . 48 THE SCHOOL OF yESUS, ... 54 PR A YER FOR DIRECTION, ..... 57 THE GOD OF GLEE, . ... 60 LA WS OF NA TURE, .... 66 WHAT IS NATURE, . . . 69 ALL THINGS ARE FULL OF GOD, . 73 PRAYER, . . 77 SABBATH HYMN ON THE MOUNTAINS, . 79 TRIMURTI, 83 SANCTE SOCRA TES, OR A PRO NOBIS, . . 96 THE HOPE OF THE HETERODOX, ... J02 O HEAR MY PR A YER, ... . 106 THE SABBATH DAY, .... . 109 X CONTENTS. HEROES OF FAITH :— page 113 X20 J32 . 136 R ULLIOlf GREEN, LINES WRITTEN AT MAGUS MUIR, . MARTIN LUTHER, . PATRICK HAMILTON, . WALTER MYLN', THE GENEROUS EVANGELIST, . . .150 BENEDICITE, 136 §xrtt00 ai "^xit. FAREWELL TO SUMMER, THE RIVER : AN ALLEGORY OF LIFE, . . 161 BEAUTIFUL WORLD, .... .165 MOMENTS, . 169 SOW NOT IN SORROW, .... .-173 THE MUSICAL FROGS, -179 THE YOUNG MAN'S PRAYER 183 A SONG OF THREE WORDS : ORARE, LABORARE, CANTARE, . . . ... 186 GA UDEAMUS IGITUR, . . ... 189 A SONG OF ST. SOCRATES, ... 192 A SONG OF SUMMER, ... . . . 196 199 A SONG OF THE COUNTRY, .204 A SONG OF FATHERLAND BY A TRAVELLER, . . 207 A SONG OF FREEMASONRY, .... .210 A REVOLUTIONARY ODE, 216 A DIRGE, ... 232 ADVICE TO A FAVOURITE STUDENT ON LEAVING COLLEGE, .... 22^ THE GARDEN: TO A YOUNG LADY ON HER BIRTH- DAY, ,3, THE WISDOM OF LIFE 236 ^ong0 of meligion. T O, He comes ! — Messiah neareth, Jesus comes ; Not with pomp the God appeareth, Meek He comes. Pride displays no blazoned banners, Vanity no false, fair manners. Where He comes. Not with Conqueror's ring and rattle. Wild war's glee. Ushered by a bloody battle, Cometh He. As the West wind's gentle blowing Wakes life's mystic power of growing, Thus doth He. A AD VENT-HYMN. Caesar, 'mid thy legions' thunder, Dost thou hear ? Hark ! from Heaven a hymn of wonder Full and clear : — ' Open wide the blissful portals, Peace on Earth, goodwill to Mortals !' Charms the ear ! Rome, beneath thy glittering armour. Grimly gored, Iron Mother, bloody charmer, Sheathe the sword ! Shall thy natal wolf still claim thee ? Lo ! I send a power to tame thee, Saith the Lord. Forms of vain will-worship mumbling. Priests, have done ! Creeds with creeds incongruous jumbling, Know the one ! ADVENT-HYMN. See the end of all confusion, Common truth of all delusion, In the Son 1 Vainly sundering walls thou raisest, Pharisee ! Orthodox in vain thou praisest Bound to thee ! Nought is isolated, single, All in brothered rays do mingle Under Me. Subtle Doctors sagely fooling Humankind, With crude dogmas harshly schooling Infant mind. Kick the solemn architecture ! Vainly shall a blind director Lead the blind. AD VENT-HYMN. Wise men, some^ing still conceiving Like the true, , Busy brains still idly weaving Something new. Like a star in strength upshooting, I the end of all disputing Show to you ! Gape not ! gaze not 1 I display not Dazzling shows ; With loud logic I gainsay not Wrangling foes. Noiseless victories ye shall win you ! Seed Heaven-planted — look within you, There it grows ! Little seed ! thy hidden virtue Stirs Time's womb ; The bright promise thou art heir to Lights the tomb : AD VENT-HYMN. Now the unvalued dust thee covers, Soon, the sought of many lovers. Thou shalt bloom. Simple Truth ! while brilliant blunders Fools achieve, Thou thy quiet chain of wonders Wisely weave : Where strong hate to love surrenders, From the strife that pride engenders, Work reprieve. From the hard rock let the fountain Blithely dart ! Cleave the foul mist, move the mountain, Faithful heart ! Let the stony frozen regions Blush with life by high religion's Magic art ! AD VENT-HYMN. Kings shall own thee ; knaves shall use thee ; Fools despise ; Babbling Doctors shall confuse thee, Witless wise : Rival sages shall, in duty, On thy common web of beauty, Stamp their dyes. Go ! and, though my hope deceive me, In thy plan I will hope ; I will believe thee While I can. Go and conquer ! — If thou win not, • Earth may crack, and God will sin not Cursing Man. ■\^ rHO is he in hairy raiment Clad, i' the wilderness Preaching freely without payment Truth and righteousness 1 Whoso hears and not despises, Him with water he baptises. In the contrite hour ; Whoso hears with haughty scorning, Him he smites with holy warning, And with prophet's power. Swarms the city from its comers. Motley bad and good ; Thoughtless hearts and heavy mourners Haste to Jordan's flood ; JOHN THE BAPTIST. Some for sin their souls abasing ; Some to feed their eye with gazing ; Some to search and try With captious craft the shaggy preacher, And themselves to teach the teacher ; Some they know not why. Comes the Rabbi, with a stately, Measured gravity ; With a solemn air, sedately Comes the Pharisee ; Wide his robe, and on the border Sacred texts, in well-marched order Show his purpose plain. With a nice and fenced existence. Far to keep, at holy distance. Every touch profane. Comes fat priest, and pontiff portly, With a bloated face ; JOHN THE BAPTIST. Came Herodian, smooth and courtly, With a gay grimace. Came- the Essehe from his station Of secluded contemplation With mild gravity ; With an eye of twinkling keenness, And a smile of cold sereneness. Came the Sadducee. Comes the soldier firm and steady, Gallant, light, and gay, With his quick hand ever ready For the rising fray. Comes the usurer, dry and meagre, Comes the publican, sharp and eager For great Caesar's penny. With a train of silken pages Comes the rich man ; with scant wages Come the burdened many. JOHN THE BAPTIST. What saith he, the wayside preacher, To this motley crew % Doth he come a cunning teacher Of lore strange and new % Hath he drawn without omission, Point for point, a long confession, To inform the brain ? Piled a proud word-architecture, Fenced it round with fine conjecture. And distinctions vain % Hath he wove a girth to measure God, a chain to bind The Infinite, and mapped at leisure The omniscient Mind ? Hath he trimmed an old theogony, Cumbrous reared a new cosmogony. To employ the schools % Not with speculation vainest Preacheth he ; — ^with wisdom plainest. And with simplest rules. JOHN THE BAPTIST. Thus he speaks — ' Repent ! Repentance Smooths Messiah's way ; 'Tis an old and weighty sentence, Weigh it well to-day. Hast thou nursed a sin 1 — confess it ; Hast thou done a wrong ? — redress it : And, with just desire, Ask no more than what is due thee : Be content, when offered to thee. With thy lawful hire. ' Say not, with vain pride elated, " God's own people we, Tracing high a hoary-dated Patriarch pedigree." Peopled earth is thickly studded With the children common-blooded. Of the great I AM j From the hard flint, at his pleasure, God can raise up without measure Sons to Abraham. JOHN THE BAPTIST. ' Hear, whose barren trunk hath cumbered Now too long the ground, Saith the Lord, your days are numbered ; Hark ! with crashing sound, Falls the axe that fells the fruitless ! Toils he not with labour bootless Who now smites the tree. He his winnowed wheat shall garner, But like empty chaff the scorner Bum with fire shall he.' Thus he preached to great and small men, Of the human right ; Like the blessed sun, on all men Shedding simple light. O ! wise are they who hear such preaching. Not too high for common teaching In life's common ways ; Not with proud pretence ballooning. Not with gay parade festooning, To catch the vulgar gaze. JOHN THE BAPTIST. 13 Flap who will the air-borne pinion, Sweeping far and free ; Solid earth be my dominion, Baptist John, with thee ! In the plainest path of duty, Stamping daily things with beauty, I with thee will tread ; Where thy warning finger pointed I would follow, where the anointed Saviour lowly led ! ^SWtt tff the '3CrimtB. TJ*IRST of all things primeval, hoar Was Thought, self-throned in glory, Brooding with shaping might before Each new Creation's story : An unvoiced strength, a quiet power Still pondering, still conceiving, Unfathomed depth from hour to hour With deathless virtue heaving ; Exhaustless, infinite to produce, That in its gentle going Weldeth the limbless and the loose To reasoned beauty growing. Hail, glorious Thought, silent, sublime, From thy divinest nature. HYMN rO THE TRINITY. 15 Sprang worlds on worlds from dateless time First Father, First Creator, Voice forth the hymn, loud pseans roll, Ye thinking souls from pole to pole, And round your centre gather ! Far peal his praise from jubilant throat, Soul of all soul, thought of all thought. The hidden God, the Father. II. Second of things the Word forth-voiced From the o'er-laden bosom Of Thought, that with itself rejoiced And shook redundant blossom ; Swift-winged it flew, and journeying far Like wave on wave it bounded. And filled all space with vocal war Of joy with joy confounded. Prophetic Word what wealth shall be Of star-eyed expectation. i6 HYMN TO THE TRINITY. While Hope and Faith attend on thee, Thou first bright incarnation Of primal Thought divine ! thou seed With eager promise swelling, And with strong pulse and measured speed More stable growth compelling ! Voice ye the hymn, with pseans brim, Your praise full-throated pour to him From whom all Voices run ! Ye swelling hearts with high hopes stirred, Hymruye the prime prophetic Word, The published God, the Son. III. Third of all things forth marched at length The Deed : soft breezy blowing At first ; anon to stout-limbed strength Of compact body growing. Informing Spirit ! whence came the birth Of fluent air and river HYMN TO THE TRINITY. 17 And fire with heaving heart, and Earth That standeth stable ever. The spangled web of vital strife Thou weavest ; Time thy story ; The world thy temple ; human life Thy battle-field of glory. Soft shod, or with dread thunder pace Thy sleepless march thou goest, The thing that was stamped with thy trace, The thing to be, thou knowest. Forth voice the hymn ! from pole to pole Him praise who breathed into your soul The strength which ye inherit ! Each faithful heart that nobly strives, Him praise, the life of all that lives The all-working God, the. Spirit. First Thought, first Word, first Deed, these three, Intelligential Trinity, That was, and is, and is to be B i8 HYMN TO THE TRINITY. One mystical Divinity ! Give ear, O Earth, and know the name. The heart's deep awe commanding ! Fall on thy knees, O man, and blame Thy brutish understanding ! Praise Him, the great, the Triune God, Ye stable-rooted mountains ! Ye forests old, that darkly nod ! Ye full-mouthed gushing fountains ! Titanic tempests organ-roar. Peal thou the strong Divinity ; Unsleeping wave that licks the shore Sound thou the sleepless Trinity ! All million-throated things that be. Voices of life's exuberant sea With mingled. hymns adore ! The earthly and the heavenly host To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost " Sing glory evermore ! 'Ea tht gibinj spirit. O PIRIT that shaped the formless chaos, Breath that stirred the sluggish deep, When the primal crude creation Started from its dateless sleep ; Spirit that heaved the granite mountains From the central fiery wells. Breath that drew the rolling rivers From the welkin's dewy cells, Spirit of motion, Earth and ocean Moulding into various life, Within, without us, And round about us Weaving all in friendly strife : TO THE DIVINE SPIRIT. Come, O come, thou heavenly guest. Shape a new world within my breast ! Spirit that taught the holy fathers Wandering through the desert drear, To know and feel, through myriad marchings, One eternal presence near. Breath that touched the Hebrew prophets' Lips with words of wingM fire, Through the dubious gloom of ages, Kindling hope and high desire : Spirit revealing To pure feeling. In the inward parts of man. Fitful-shining Dim-divining Vast foreshadowings of Thy plan ; Come, O come, thou prophet guest. Watch and wait within my breast ! TO THE DIVINE SPIRIT. Spirit, that o'er Thine own Messiah Hovered like a brooding dove, When Earth's haughty lords He conquered, By the peaceful march of love. Breath that hushed loud-vaunting Csesars, And in triumph yoked to Thee Iron Rome, and savage Scythia, Bonded brethren and the free. Spirit of union, And communion Of devoted heart with heart, Pure and holy Sure and slowly Working out thy boastless part : Come, thou calmly-conquering guest, Rule and reign within my breast ! Spirit that, when free-thoughted Europe With the triple-crowned despot strove, TO THE DIVINE SPIRIT. In the gusty Saxon's spirit Thy soul-stirring music wove ; Then when pride's piled architecture At a poor monk's truthful word Crashing fell, and thrones were shaken At the whisper of the Lord. Spirit deep-lurking, Secret-working Weaver of strange circumstance. All whose doing Is rise or ruin Named by shallow mortals chance ; Come, let fruitful deeds attest Thy plastic virtue, in ray breast ! Spirit, that sway'st the will of mortals. Every wish, and every hope, Shaping to Thy forethought purpose All their striving, all their scope. TO THE DIVINE SPIRIT. 23 Central tide that heavest onward Wave and wavelet, surge and spray, Making wrath of man to praise Thee, And his pride to pave Thy way : Spirit that workest, Where Thou lurkest, Death from life, and day from night, Peace from warring, And from jarring. Songs of triumph and delight ; Come, O come, Thou heavenly guest. Work all Thy will within my breast ! '^o the §abiottr. /^ THOU, by men the Saviour vaunted, Beyond all mighty names that were, Invoked and chanted ! Supreme above all strifes that stir This troublous zone, as high in Heaven, Vaulting the dark clouds thunder-riven, Hangs poised the dome of lucid day Serenely stable ; If thou, as when our fleshly frame To thy pure spirit gave place and name, To save art able. Me, thy poor brother — for I may call Thee with what name thou gav'st to all — TO THE SA VIOUR. 25 From lawless thoughts, and heartless deeds, And from the strife of harnessed creeds Save — O my Saviour ! Proud temples to the mighty Saviour The boastful sons of men have raised With fair behaviour, With laboured litanies have praised A Saviour's name. Even so of old, Who tricked the prophets' tombs with gold Thy living prophet's person nailed With crucifixion ; And we with worship of thy name Do cheat ourselves of Thee, nor blame The shallow fiction. Where love is cold, and loose lust reigns, And pride ramps insolent in the veins, Where earthy souls heap earthy dross, And deedless fear shrinks back from loss, Art thou the Saviour ? 26 TO THE SA VIOUR. By the green waves of ancient Constance, Convened in Christ the Saviour's name, With pomp and instance, The scarlet-hatted churchmen came. And kings and kaisers with the cowl Were leagued that day, by fair or foul To smite a just man's truthful front With sore infliction. Erect up stood that pale-faced man, And mildly met the purple ban With contradiction. Hate, Pride, and Fear, with axe and rod. And pious phrase, assumed the god ; A solemn sentence then did frame, And burnt the just man in the name Of Christ the Saviour. Even so ; and this was then religion ! But look within, false heart, and read In that home region TO THE SA VIOUR. 27 What germs of strange delusion breed ; What snake, there lurking 'neath the flower, Waits but the tempter's suasive hour. When he in some new guise shall show The dear temptation : O ! then, whom men the Saviour call, From stumbling save and sudden fall, And sheer prostration ! From loveless will and untamed thought. From vain desire and fancies naught. From the deaf ear that hears no call, From pride that pioneers a fall, Be thou my Saviour ! "D ARDS sing of love, and songsters of the wood Thrill with strong love the leafy solitude, When Spring walks forth in power ; Harsh natures melt ; the cold and flinty glow ; And close-locked hearts expand in flowery show, When passion's fervid hour Usurps them. But not passion's subtlest flame, That' stirs the gentle bard's nice-tempered frame, Nor mated warbler's lay. That rolls in luscious streams through leafy wood. Nor that soft thrill which melts each harshest mood. Can match thy queenly sway, ODE TO CHRISTIAN LOVE. 29 Strong Christian love ! Thou with no partial fire Dost stir the breast ; no fitfijl wild desire Tosses the soul serene, Where thy calm ardour glows ; but, like the ray Of tliat great Light, which rules the constant day, With life-diffusing sheen, So thou, bright-seated on the central throne Of holy hearts dost shine. Thus thou wert known To faithful men of yore ; Thee Moses knew, when, through the desert track. He led the unstable stiff-necked army back From Egypt's servile shore. To their ancestral hills. The preacher Paul Owned thy intensest sway, when to the call Of God he oped his ear. And strong by thee, like feeble withes, he snapt The bonds of custom, and, in transport irapt, Saw heavenly visions clear. Then o'er the Earth with wingfed tread he flew, And East and West his burning message knew ; The dull barbarian's home 30 ODE TO CHRISTIAN LOVE. With rapture hailed his heart-reviving note ; His word with quick regeneration smote The tainted heart of Rome, And subtle Greece with her light-vagrant eye Screens from reproof her fair idolatry, Unweeded fancy's flower Vainly. No more glib Athens may dispute, And Corinth's tinkling harlotry is rnute, When Paul, with earnest power. Proclaims the cross. — O Thou inspiring God, Whose shaping virtue doth inform the clod, With warm life teeming ever ; With some pure spark of thine all-conquering love Touch Thou my heart, that all my ways may prove Thy strength, which faileth never ! 'lepi, Ni)f. — Homer. "LJ OLY Night ! in silence From thy starry throne Swaying, thee I worship, Silent and alone. Holy Night ! how calmly Sails the mellow moon Through the deep blue welkin, Fairer than the noon. Mellow Moon ! how gently Through the voiceless night, O'er the sleeping waters, Streams thy silver light. 32 NIGHT. Holy Night ! how lovely Shoot, with sudden birth, Hosts of shimmering arrows From the lambent north. Holy Night ! thou reignest Solemn, still, serene ; Hushed the tribes of mortals Bow before their queen. Now the battling voices Of the babbling throng Cease ; and thou may'st listen, As it treads along, To the steps of Godhead Beating march of Time, Slowly, surely, wisely, Beautiful, sublime ; NIGHT. 33 Beating thought and feeling, Beating vital power In renewed creation's Pulse, from hour to hour. Holy Night ! devoutly While I worship thee. Babbling Folly's echo Dies away from me. ^ gahbath Jtteiitatioit. 'IPHE Sabbath bells are travelling, o'er the hill ; The gentle breeze across the fresh-reaped fields Blows fitful ; scarcely, on the broad smooth bay, With full white-gleaming sail, the slow ship moves ; Thin float the clouds ; serene the mountain stands ; And all the plain in hallowed beauty lies. God of the Sabbath, on thy holy day 'Tis meet to praise Thee ! In the high-domed fane, Glorious with all the legendary pomp Of pictured saints, where skilful singers swell The curious chant, or on the lonely hill. Where, on grey cliff and purple heather, shines The shadowless sun at noon. Thou hear'st alike. Vainly the narrow wit of narrow men A SABBATH MEDITATION, 35 Within the walls which priestly lips have blest, In the fixed phrases of a formal creed, Would crib thy presence ; Thou art more than all The shrines that hold Thee ; and our wisest creeds Are but the lispings of a prattling child. To spell the Infinite. Kings have drawn the sword, Lawyers have wrangled, to declare thy being ; And convocations of high-mitred men The foaming vials of sacerdotal wrath Outpoured, and, with tempestuous proud conceit, Shook the vast world about a phrase to name Thee, In vain. Thou, like the thin impassive air, Dost cheat the grasp of subtlest-thoughted sage ; And half our high theology is but The shadow, which man's poor and clouded ken Hath cast across thy brightness. I would sing Thy praise with humble heart, and, like the lyre Wind-swept, the comings of thy breath would wait. To wake my rapture. Lift up your heads, ye hills. And nod His praise, ye sharp far-stretching lines 36 A SABBATH MEDITATION. , Of crags storm-shattered, and ye jagged peaks Sky-cleaving ! you His mighty power upshot From the red ocean of His nethermost fire, In primal ages : there inform ye lay. In seething lakes, your molten masses huge, In turbid waves, with inorganic roll. Far-heaving through the dark abysmal space Chaotic ; thence His word creative hove Your marshalled ridges ; rank on rank ye rose. Granite and gneiss, and every ordered kind That careful science counts ; the giant frame Of this fair world, of peace-enfolden vales Storm-fronting fence, and bulwark ever sure. Ye mountain torrents, with far-sweeping foam, Ye leaping cataracts, and deep-swirling pools, Ye streams with the full-gathered grandeur rolling Of countless rills, from huge far-sundered Alps, Ye waters, with your thousand voices, praise The mighty Lord ! He of your sleepless floods Is the unsleeping soul. All motion comes A SABBATH MEDITATION. 37 From Him. Thou Ocean, with thy living belt Girdling the Earth, whether serene, as now. Thou liest, licking with an innocent ripple The feet o' the green-throned isles, or, like a spurred And furious charger, wild from coast to coast Drivest far-sounding — thou, in all thy changes, Art full of God ; yea, all thy works, O Lord, Are full of Thee ! and who is dull to these Shall from the teaching of the schools come back With beggarly blindness. He shall mount in vain His telescope, to spy Thee in the clouds. Who in green herb and starry flower, beneath His vagrant foot, hath failed to see and love Thy manifest beauty. O make clear my sense. Thou great Revealer, to the grand array Of open mysteries that encompass round Our daily walk with Godhead, that no vain And' wordy fool may cheat my facile ear With echoed voUies of man's crude conceit. Misnamed God's thunder ! From Thyself direct 38 A SABBATH MEDITATION. Thy secret comes to all, whom Thou shalt deem Worthy to find it. Councils, doctors, priests, Are but the signs that point us to the spring Whence flow thy living waters ;, and, alas ! Too oft with wavering, or with cowardly hand Back-turned, they point. Teach Thou my stablished soul To seek Thy teaching. Lord, and trust in Thee. The generations of uncounted men Have hymned Thy praises, Lord. Their stammering tongues With strange crude doctrine magnify the power Of Him, whose vastness they were fain to grasp, But could not. Even the folly of the fool Shall praise Thee, Lord. Thou hast a place for all. The wicked and the weak are but the steps. Whereon the wise shall mount, to see Thy face ; And mighty churches, and high-vaunted faiths, A SABBATH MEDITATION. 39 Are but the schools, wherein thy centuries train The infant peoples to the manly reach Of pure devotion ; and most wise are they, Who hear one hymn of varied truth through all The harmonious discord of strange witnesses, Prophets and martyrs, priests, and meek-eyed saints, And rapt diviners, with imperfect tongue. Babbling thy praises. Egypt's brutish gods. Dog-faced, hawk-headed; crocodile, and cat, Snake-eating ibis, and the spotted bull, Not without apt significance did type Thy severed functions to a sense-bound race. In sea and sky, green tree, and flowing stream, In flying bird, and creeping beast, they found Pictorial speech, and speaking signs of what They crudely guessed of Thee. To clearer Greeks Stout Briareus, celestial Titans strong. And supreme Jove, with weight of thunderous locks. Throned like a king, and sceptre in his hand, And ministrant eagle, spake thy mighty power 40 A SABBA TH MEDITA TJON. With awful grace. Each seized a part of Thee, And, with a fond assurance, deemed to hold Thy whole Infinity in earthly bonds For human needs. Nor less the Christian priest Portentous erred, when with rash hand he clutched The awful Triune symbol, and defined The immeasurable Majesty Supreme With curious phrase and scientific rule. And with the thorns of wiry logic fenced Thy bristling name, from touch of thought profane ; Then, from a throne high-seated, and girt round With triple-tiered presumption, grasped thy bolt. Sported thy thunder, and with thy best friends Filled a far-dreaded Hell, that he might seem A god on Earth, whom awe-struck, grovelling men Might see, and feel, and handle. The pale monk, Wasting his flesh within a cold damp cell, And straining his dull vision, till he saw God's features, in the dim putrescent light Of his own sick imaginings — this man caught A SABBATH MEDITATION. 41 A glimpse of Thee, and, with such fiery haste Did hold Thee, and with prostrate worship hug, That nevermore his head he dared to lift Erect, and with proud-sweeping glance survey The riches of thy wide luxuriant world, Man's privilege. — On so nice a pivot turns True wisdom; here an inch, or there, we swerve From the just balance ; by too much we sin. And half our errors are but truths unpruned. The errors of Thy creatures praise Thee, Lord. Not they who err are damned ; but who, being wrong, In obdurate persistency to err Refuse all bettering. Hope for such is none. Hope lives for all, who flounder boldly on Through quaggy bogs, till firmer footing fourid Gives glorious prospect. One Deceiver haunts The hearts of faithless men ; his name is Fear. O Thou, who ridest glorious through the skies. 42 A SABBATH MEDITATION. In thunder or in sunshine strong the .same, The Almighty builder of this fair machine, Whose beauty blinds star-eyed philosophy, ^Vhose vastness makes our staggered thinking pant For utterance vainly — Father of all Power, Eternal Fount of liberty and life, Free, measureless, unspent — if e'er my voice Rose to thy throne, in reverent truthful prayer, Slay me this demon, yellow Fear, that maims The arm of enterprise, nips the bud of hope, And freezes the great ocean of our life, That should run riot in the praise of Thee, With wave on wave of proud high-venturing deeds. O may this Sabbath, with its gentle dews Shed by thy Spirit on my chastened soul, Restore my blighted bud of thought, and lift This low-crushed life into a mighty tree. Branchy, and blooming with fair summer fruits Exuberant-clustered ! — May all Sabbaths be A ripe and mellow season to my heart, A SABBATir MEDITATION. 43 Lovely as golden autumn's purple eve, Genial as sleep, whence the tired limb refreshed Leaps to new action, and appointed toil, With steady hope, sure faith, and sober joy. ■\ ^ /"HAT dost thou say, Thou old grey sea, Thou broad briny water Tonre? With thy ripple and thy plash, And thy waves as they lash The old grey rocks on the shore ? With thy tempests as they roar, And thy crested billows hoar. And thy tide evermore. Fresh and free ; With thy floods as they come. And thy voice never dumb, What thought art thou speaking to me ? THE SEA. 45 What thing should I say On this bright summer day, Thou strange human dreamer, to thee ? One wonder the same All things do proclaim In the sky, and the land, and the sea ; 'Tis the unsleeping force Of a God in his course, Whose life is the law of the whole. As he breathes out his power In the pulse of the hour. And the march of the years as they roll ; You may measure his ways In the weeks and the days. And the stars as they wheel round the pole. But no finger is thine To touch the divine All-plastic, all-permeant soul. As it shapes and it moulds, And its virtue unfolds. 46 THE SEA. In the garden of things as they grow, And flings forth the tide Of its strength far and wide, In wonders above and below. Thou huge-heaving sea That art speaking to me Of the power and the pride of a God, I would travel like thee With force fresh and free Through the breadth of my human abode, Never languid and low, But with bountiful flow, Of thoughts that are kindred to God ; Ever surging and streaming, Ever beaming and gleaming. Like the lights as they shift on thy glass, Ever swelling and heaving. And largely receiving The beauty of things as they pass. THE SEA. 47 Thou broad-billowed sea Never sundered from thee May I wander the welkin below ; May the plash and the roar Of thy waves on the shore Beat the march to my feet as they go ; Ever strong, ever free, When the breath of the sea Like the fan of an angel I know ; Ever rising with power. To the call of the hour, Like the swell of thy tides as they flow. fift ttp 80«r ^amna, all Jtt^tt. A SONG OF PRAISE FOR BRITISH WORKMEN. (Tune— Oldi 148th Psalm.) T IFT up your hymns, all men Who scan with lordly eye, And mete with kingly ken The starry-peopled sky ; Praise ye the God Who bade ye tread, With lofty head, Earth's lowly sod ! Time was when ye were not ; Through lightless depths forlorn The Eternal Father shot His ray, and ye were born. LIFT UP YOUR HYMNS, ALL MEN. 49 Even Him praise ye, Whose quickening light Redeems from night All things that be. How wondrous each fair form Of life that swarms on earth, Light fowl and ringed worm, And stout four-footed birth ! But, lord of all. High-fronted man To crown His plan God's voice did call. Look forth, O man, and know Thy glorious mission given To rule the earth below With wisdom lent from heaven. To His command Obedience bring 50 LIFT UP YOUR HYMNS, ALL MEN. Who made thee king Of sea and land ! From ice-bound pole to pole, From sunny zone to zone, March forth with venturous soul And claim the world thine own ; And praise Him ever Who bade thy hand Rule sea and land With proud endeavour ! The granite boulders vast Split with thy mastering wedge, The gusty-driving blast Rein on the billow's edge ; And understand By what high claim Thy wit doth tame Both sea and land. LIFT UP YOUR HYMNS, ALL MEN. 51 With cylinder and beam And fine-conducting skill, Torture the straitened steam To work thy reasoned will ; And understand How Godlike Mind The power doth bind Of sea and land ! With bolt and bar and clamp And strong-subduing fire, And chymick virtue stamp All things to thy desire ; For God in heaven Such shaping skill To man's wise will Hath surely given. Pile high th' embattled tower, And where the huge seas roll 52 LIFT UP YOUR HYMJfS, ALL MEN. With arras of Titan power Fling forth the mighty mole, Whose strength doth save Brave hearts from scaith Of yawning Death And yeasty grave ! Stretch forth the pendant bridge, 'Cross the broad-breasted tide. And round the steep-faced ridge 0n smoking chariot ride, Even as a bird Well-used to soar His plumy oar Hath lightly stirred. And let thy lordly hest. And thy heart's hot desire Be sped to East and West Swift through the thrilling wire, LIFT UP YOUR HYMNS, ALL MEN. 53 O'er earth and sea, Which God the Lord Did well accord A stage for thee ! Lift up thy head, O man. And walk rejoicing forth. To sway with sweatful plan The stubborn-breasted earth. Thus shalt thou be Liegeman of God, Treading earth's sod Erect and free ! /"^OME unto me, who live in cumbrous splendour, 'Neath Fashion's despot rule, And to meek Wisdom's kindly sway surrender Your hearts in Jesus' school. No pomp is here of gold and purple flaunting, No banners proudly spread, No trumpet's blare, no victor's cruel vaunting. No field bestrewn with dead. No high-set throne with glittering throngs attendant. No loud far-sounded name, Sceptre or sword, or robe with gems resplendent. To blaze His peaceful fame. THE SCHOOL OF JESUS. 55 But contemplation chaste serenely brooding With clear unclouded face, High thought that scorns all baser cares intruding Into God's holy place. And mighty love embracing all things human In one all-fathering name, Stamping God's seal on trivial things and common, With consecrated aim. The godlike front, the mouth of bold confession, The conquering glance of truth, The hand that works with the sure slow progression Of unrecorded growth. The breath that blows with quickening vans victorious O'er realms of thought sublime, Making our life a golden harvest glorious, Reaped from the fields of time. 56 THE SCHOOL OF JESUS. In vain, in vain, to rouse your languid leisure, Ye waste ancestral stores, Starring with gold your wide-domed halls of pleasure. And treading pictured floors. In vain from show to show ye drive unsated. And sights of gay surprise ; The soul's high hunger rests all unabated From gaze of wondering eyes. Stir the deep wells of life that flow within you, Touched by God's genial hand. And let the chastened sure ambition win you To serve His high command, And cast aside the costly cumbrous splendour Of Fashion's despot rule. And to meek Wisdom's kindly sway surrender Your hearts in Jesus' school. Jj^v&TS.ix ixsv 9iudxon. T ORD of might, and Lord of glory, On my knees I bow before Thee, With my whole heart I adore Thee, Great Lord ! Listen to my cry, O Lord ! Passions proud and fierce have ruled me, Fancies light and vain have fooled me, But Th/ training stem hath schooled me j Now, Lord, Take me for Thy child, O Lord ! S8 PRA YER FOR DIRECTION. Groping dim, and bending lowly, Mortal vision catcheth slowly Glimpses of the pure and holy ; Now, Lord, Open Thou mine eyes, O Lord ! Not with lofty thoughts far-reaching. Not with blasts of mightful preaching, But with heart that waits Thy teaching, Good Lord, Let me learn from Thee, O Lord ! Not where dazzling glories win us. Not where sounding plaudits din us. But Thy kingdom is within us. There, Lord, Let Thy truth teach me, O Lord ! PRA YER FOR DIRECTION. 59 ' In the deed that no man knoweth, Where no praiseful trumpet bloweth, Where he may not reap who soweth, There, Lord, Let my heart serve Thee, O Lord ! In the work that no gold payeth, Where he speedeth best who prayeth, Doeth most who little sayeth, There, Lord, Let me work Thy will, O Lord ! In His name who, meek and lowly, Died to make poor sinners holy, Stumbling oft, and creeping slowly, Great Lord, Guide me by Thy truth, O Lord ! %hg. (§oh at %he. Aher die Cotter lieben der Menschen Weitverbreitete gute Geschlechter. Goethe. T F a mortal man might sing Theme above all mortal wing ; If the creatures of the clay With the name of God might play ; If the moulded breath might tell All that stirs the soul's deep well, I would sing a song of glee, Father of all songs, to Thee ! Thou art not the awful thing, Iron ruler, despot king. Harsh, revengeful, stern, severe. Child of terror, birth of fear : THE GOD OF GLEE. 6i Thou art nothing like to Him, Ghost of sickly dreamer's whim ; If I sing a song to Thee, It shall be a song of glee. Fools may rant, and fools may rave, Loudly damn, and loudly save, With a solemn sounding swell, Sweeping honest souls to hell, With church-blasts of mimic thunder Turning every over under ; Thou from wrath of man art free, God of gladness, God of glee ! What Thou art no tongue may say ; I remember I am clay ; Scarcely knowing brother man,. Shall I venture God to scan ? 62 THE GOD OF GLEE. From within and from without Full of dream, and full of doubt, Feeling only lent from Thee, This glad Being, God of glee ! Shall I set Thee on a throne Ruling solemnly alone ? Shall I dress Thee in strange glory % Grandly chant Thy epic story ? Shall I lodge Thee in the tomb, There to lighten up my gloom J Shalt Thou sleep in death with me, God of gladness, God of glee % Shall my wit be Thine inspector ? Shall my knife be Thy dissector ? Shall I perch Thee on a steeple. To feed the gaze of gaping people % THE GOD OF GLEE. 63 Shall I show Thee round and round, Here explain, and there expound ? In a cold creed prison Thee, God of gladness, God of glee ? Shalt Thou be my sworn director, Patroniser, and protector % Shall I stamp with Thy great seal All I think, and all I feel ? Shalt Thou be a horse to ride For the pranks of human pride ? And shall strife be born of Thee, God of gladness, God of glee ? Shalt Thou hug me in Thy breast. Fledgling of no human nest ? Shall I be the one pet-lamb Of the terrible I am ? 64 'rHE GOD OF GLEE. I the called and the elect, Thou Jehovah of a sect ? Bastards all, save only me, Thou, my Father, God of glee ? O ! it is a hard assay For the reach of human clay, And yet every fool will mount Thee to number. Thee to count, With a plummet and a square Meting out the pathless air ; Teach me how to think of Thee, God of gladness, God of glee ! If nay tongue must lisp its lay, I will speak what best I may : I will say. Thou art a Soul, Weaving wisely through the whole ; THE GOD OF GLEE. 65 I will say Thou art a Power Working good from hour to hour, I will say Thou art to me Light and Life, and Love and Glee. Thou art each, and Thou art all In Creation's living Hall, Every breathing shape of beauty, Every solemn voice of duty ! Every high and holy mood, All that 's great, and all that 's good, All is Echo sent from Thee, God of gladness, God of glee ! 'T'HE fool hath in his heart declared, — by laws Since time began, Blind and without intelligential cause, Or reasoned plan, All things are ruled. I from this lore dissent, With sorrowful shame That reasoning men such witless wit should vent In reason's name. O Thou that o'er this lovely world hast spread Thy jocund light, Weaving with flowers beneath, and stars o'erhead This tissue bright Of living powers, clear Thou my sense, that I May ever find LA WS OF NA TURE. 67 In all the marshalled pomp of earth and sky The marshalling mind ! Laws are not powers ; nor can the well-timed courses Of earths and moons Ring to the stroke of blind unthinking forces Their jarless tunes. Wiser were they who in the flaming vault The circling sun Beheld, and in his ray, with splendid fault, Worshipped the one Eye of the universe that seeth all, And shapeth sight In man and moth through curious visual ball With fine delight. O blessed beam, on whose refreshful might Profusely shed Six times ten years, with ever young delight, Mine eye hath fed. Still let me love thee, and with wonder new, By flood and field, 68 LAfVS OFNATURE. Worship the fair; and consecrate the true By thee revealed ! And loving thee, beyond thee love that first Father of Lights From whom the ray vivific marvellous burst, Might of all mights, Whose thought is order, and whose will is law. That man is wise Who worships God wide-eyed, with cheerful awe And chaste surprise. SEhat 10 Jlatar*. "\^HAT thing is Nature ? Well, I don't Assume to make a clatter, Like Hegel, Hamilton, and Comte, Concerning mind and matter. Yet I have had my thoughts at times ; And, since you ask the question, I '11 tell you what I think in rhymes That won't hurt your digestion. Nature is growth, a coming forth Into new fashion ever, Of that whose substance knows no birth. Whose virtue dieth never. 70 WHA T IS NA TURE ? What Substance ?— that which to define My gasping* reason smothers ; But what is best I call divine, And worship God with others. You 're a materialist ? Not at all ; If I should seek to find The best name for what Best I call, I 'd rather call it Mind. And Mind is one; and what we call The Many is but one. As million rays shoot from the ball Of th' light- evolving Sun. But not to dogmas I incline, And think me not unwise Who fear and love, but not define, The Power that shapes the skies. WHA T IS NA TURE ? 71 And you, Sir Doctor, are a fool, With logical appliance, That would take God into your school, And teach Him terms of science ; And talk of Nature, God, and Man With technic demonstration. As if yourself had sketched the plan Of the boundless, vast Creation ; And dress mean thoughts in phrases grand, And prove, with solemn clatter, That you have got, in your clumsy hand. Two things called Mind and Matter. Go to ! You know nor this, nor that ; Man has no measuring rod For Nature, Force, and Law, and what The wisest men call God. 72 WffA T IS NA TURE ? For law, and life, and all the course Of lovely-shifting Nature, Are but the play of one wise Force, Which Moses called Creator. Think on your knees : 'tis better so Than without wings to soar ; What blinking Reason strains to know We find when we adore. ^U tkinge ar« Ml of ®0li. '0 OaMis Tbv k6