Faith waxes fainter on the earth, Come, for the truth is weak, And error pours abroad Come, for love waxes cold, Its steps are faint and slow; Earth's tombs no more can hold, And groans the heaving mould. Put in thy sickle now, Reap the great harvest of the earth- Come, in thy glorious might, Come, spoil the strong man's house, Come, and make all things new, Build up this ruined earth, Come, and begin thy reign Of everlasting peace, Come, take the kingdom to thyself, Great King of Righteousness. 42. ADVENT, Preparation for the. Lord, come away, Thy road is ready: and thy paths, made straight, With longing expectation, wait • The consecration of thy beauteous feet. Ride on triumphantly; behold we lay Our lusts and proud wills in the way. Hosanna! welcome to our hearts, Lord, here Thou hast a temple too, and full as dear As that of Zion; and as full of sin. [in. Nothing but thieves and robbers dwell thereEnter, and chase them forth, and cleanse the floor. Crucify them, that they may nevermore Profane that holy place, Where Thou hast chose to set thy face. And then if our stiff tongues shall be Mute in the praises of thy Deity, The stones out of the temple wall Shall cry aloud, and call Hosanna! and thy glorious footsteps greet. Jeremy Taylor. 43. ADVERSITY, A Brother in. When every scene, this side the grave, Seems dark and cheerless to the eye, How sweet at such an hour to have When father, mother, all are gone, When burst affection's closest tie,How sweet to claim, as still their own, A brother in adversity! When frowns an angry world unkind, And who is this whom still we find, When father, mother, husband die, Still faithful, tender, loving, kind? A brother in adversity! Jesus! my Lord! ah, who can trace Thy love unchanging, full, and free; Or tell the riches of thy grace, Thou Brother in adversity! Ye travellers in this wilderness, This Brother in adversity! 44. ADVERSITY, Application of. I ask What He would have this evil do for me? 45. ADVERSITY, Benefit of. Yet scarcely thank the One who sends. But let affliction pour its smart, How soon we quail beneath the rod! With shattered pride, and prostrate heart, We seek the long-forgotten God. 46. ADVERSITY, Comfort in. Eliza Cook. The man, perhaps, Thou pitiest, draws his comfort from distress. That mind so poised, and centred in the good Supreme, so kindled 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. 47. ADVERSITY, Correction of. When urged by strong temptation to the brink Of guilt and ruin, stands the virtuous mind, With scarce a step between; all-pitying Heaven, Severe in mercy, chastening in its love, Ofttimes in dark and awful visitation, 48. ADVERSITY, Cup of. My God once mixed a harsh cup, for me to And it was full of acrid bitterness intensest; 49. ADVERSITY, Gain of, No spicy fragrance while they grow; 51. ADVERSITY, Hymn to Thou tamer of the human breast, When first thy sire to send on earth Virtue, his darling child, designed, To thee he gave the heavenly birth, And bade to form her infant mind. Stern, rugged nurse! thy rigid lore With patience many a year she bore; What sorrow was thou bad'st her know, Light they dispense, and with them go To her they vow their truth, and are again Immers'd in rapt'rous thought profound, With leaden eye that loves the ground, Not circled with the vengeful band Thy form benign, oh goddess, wear, Thy philosophic train be there To soften, not to wound my heart. Exact my own defects to scan, 52. ADVERSITY, Reviewing. When we are young, this year we call the worst That we can know; this bitter day is cursed, 53. AFFECTATION, Ministerial. And from her own she learn'd to melt at Therefore avaunt all attitude, and stare, others' woe. Scar'd at thy frowns, terrific fly Self-pleasing Folly's idle brood, And start theatric, practised at the glass! By curious eyes and judgments ill-informed, To me is odious as the nasal twang 54. AFFECTION, Elevating. O! there is one affection which no stain Is but with hands entwined to lift our being higher. James Gates Percival. Full swells the deep pure fountain of young life, Where on the heart and from the heart we took nook She sees her little bud put forth its leavesWhat may the fruit be yet? I know not Cain was Eve's. 56. AFFECTION, Inspiring. I think of thee! my thoughts do twine and 57. AFFECTION, Instinctive. stream My sweet wee nursling! thou art sweet to me warm, A primrose cluster, or a fairy charm? Yes! thou'rt a charm! spell! Birds, bees, and flowers, can just as ably tell Why sunshine, scent, and streams their pleasures be, As thy young mother why she dotes on thee I cannot look on thee, but springing thought With such unmeasured, fond intensity! Perfumes the air with blossoms fancy fraught! I cannot think on thee, but life seems bright With gushing sunbeams, ever new delight!— Thou darling simpleton! thy vacant eye ex-As yet to my long gaze makes no reply; But here youth offers to old age the food, While in those warm and lovely veins the fire Than Egypt's river;-from that gentle side Drink, drink and live, old man! Heaven's realm holds no such tide. The starry fable of the milky-way No drop of that clear stream its way shall miss verse. George Gordon Byron. Breathing and crying are thy only speech- Like the sweet babblings of a hidden rill; 58. AFFECTION, Maternal. When first thou camest, gentle, shy, and fond, [treasure, My eldest born, first hope, and dearest My heart received thee with a joy beyond All that it yet had felt of earthly pleasure! Nor thought that any love again might be So deep and strong as that I felt for thee. Then thou, my merry love, bold in thy glee, Under the bough, or by the firelight danc ing, With thy sweet temper, and thy spirit free,Didst come, as restless as a bird's wing glancing, Full of a wild and irrepressible mirth, Like a young sunbeam to the gladdened earth! At length THOU camest,—thou, the last and Mingling with every playful infant wile Different from both! yet each succeeding claim I, that all other love had been forswearing, 59. AFFECTION, Paternal. I hear in the chamber above me The patter of little feet, The sound of a door that is opened, From my study I see in the lamplight, A whisper and then a silence; They are plotting and planning together A sudden rush from the stairway, A sudden raid from the hall, By three doors left unguarded, They climb up into my turret, O'er the arms and back of my chair; wine I marvelled, my Belovéd, when I read Thy thought so in the letter. I am thineBut... 80 much to thee? Can I pour thy [instead While my hands tremble? Then my soul, Of dreams of death, resumes life's lower range. [on me! Then, love me, Love! look on me. . . breathe As brighter ladies do not count it strange, For love, to give up acres and degree, I yield the grave for thy sake, and exchange My near, sweet view of Heaven, for earth with thee! Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 61. AFFECTION, Sudden. The first time that the sun rose on thine oath To love me, I looked forward to the moon To slacken all those bonds which seemed too soon And quickly tied to make a lasting troth. Quick-loving hearts, I thought, may quickly loathe; And looking on myself, I seemed not one For such man's love!-more like an out of tune Worn viol, a good singer would be wroth in haste, Is laid down at the first ill-sounding note. I did not wrong myself so, but I placed A wrong on thee. For perfect strains may float [faced,'Neath master-hands, from instruments deAnd great souls, at one stroke, may do and doat. Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 62. AFFECTION, Superior. He who once wept with Mary-angels keeping Their unthank'd watch-are a foreshadowing Of what love is in heaven. We may believe That we shall know each other's forms here after, And, in the bright fields of the better land, one Lit while your pulses by one heart kept time, And fed with faithful fondness to your grave, 63. AFFECTION, Tenacious. In my boy's loud laughter ringing, Of my baby-girl that nestles up into this mortal breast, And every voice most dear Comes a whisper-" Rest not here." And the rest Thou art preparing, is it best, Lord, is it best? "Lord, a little, little longer!" Sobs the earth-love, growing stronger: He will miss me, and go mourning through his solitary days. And heaven were scarcely heaven Lord, it is not fear of dying, Of Thy will, which forevermore on earth, in heaven, be done : But the love that desperate clings In the beauty of the daylight, and the glory of the sun. Ah, Thou still art calling, calling, And it vibrates in far circles through the everlasting years; When Thou knockest, even so! D. M. Muloch Craik. 64. AFFLICTION, Comfort in. "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall find [blood rebel Comfort and joy!" Though flesh and 'Gainst heavenward thoughts, and the vexed spirit swell With anxious tossings, still, the veil behind Of earth-born mists, the faith-directed mind Sees throned in cloudless light the Invisible, At whose right hand delights in fulness dwell, And bliss for ever lasting. Be resigned, Thou child of sorrow, to His sovereign will; Drink, as He bids, the bitter cup, and bear Thy cross in patience! From the holy hill A gleam shall cheer thee, till, safe-harbored there, Thou feel how faintly earth's severest ill 65. AFFLICTION, Compensation for. The light of smiles shall fill again The lids that overflow with tears, And weary hours of woe and pain Are promises of happier years. Oh, there are days of sunny rest For every dark and troubled night, And thou, who, o'er thy friend's low bier, Nor let the good man's trust depart, Though life its common gifts deny; Though with a pierced and bleeding heart, And spurned of men, he goes to die. For God hath marked each sorrowing day, 66. AFFLICTION, Enduring. And trembles at the fiery glow; He comes and lays my heart, all heated, With his great hammer, blow on blow; He takes my softened heart and beats it- And lets it cool, and makes it glow; Why should I murmur? for the sorrow Thus only longer-lived would be ; When God has done his work in me; Affliction's glowing, fiery brand; |