That congregation worshipped. Silence lay
Like a strange presence on the very heart,
Which, gathering nothing from the outward world,
Of sight, or sound, or anything which makes
Man's sacrifice a mockery, had turned
Deeply upon itself. The human heart
Hath a most complex fashioning. The ties
Which bind it to the circumstance of earth,
And its strange yearnings for a happiness,
Drawn from material mockeries, are strong
As the soul's master-passion. It would gain
Its elements of happiness and love
From natural creations, and contrive
To blend the heartless vanities of man
With the pure fountain of religious truth.
And vanity are things to be cast off
As an unseemly garment, from the heart
That boweth unto God, and giveth up
Its stubborn will and earthward tendencies,
For the mild teachings and deep solaces
Of the all-quickening Spirit: and the light
Which cometh unto all-a living beam-
An emanation from the Eternal Mind,
Hath a more blessed influence on the heart
That turneth from the world, and gathers in
Its wandering affections, and subdues
Its vehemence of passion, and in meek
And chastened reverence, awaits the time
Of Him, who bids the worshipper be still,
And know that He is God."
Be thou like the first apostles
Be thou like heroic Paul:
If a true thought seek expression,
Speak it boldly! speak it all!
AUGUSTUS SNODGRASS.
Two mighty principles, dividing ever,
Combating fiercely, yet destroying never
From First till Now,-from Now to last Forever.
In the invisible Kingdoms of the sky,
In the great movement of Humanity,
In each free mind two Principles rage high:
One is the holy Love for all great Good
That raiseth us unto that gentle mood
With which the holy Angels are imbued.
T'he other is the hate of all great Good,
That sinketh us into that fearful mood
With which the lower Demons are imbued.
It is the attractive and repulsive force
That guides the whirling planets in their course,
Or sends them shivering through the Universe.
One unto pure deeds guides the Nations far,
The other, shouting in his rampant car,
Hurls fierce the fiery thunderbolts of War.
Like the invisible warriors fierce and bold,
That fought for Soverignty of Heaven of old,
These through the Universe their flags unfold.
Success in mortal eyes oft gilds the Wrong,
And fiends triumphant win the shout and song
That to the Holy Ones should e'er belong.
O it is fearful without Purpose high,
To stand between these Warriors of the sky; 'T is fearful thus to stand, to yield or fly.
If firm in one great purpose to the end,
Thou shalt not lose, though all else tamely bend;
Thy path thou canst triumphantly defend.
LOVE MIGHTIEST WITH THE MIGHTIEST.
Love is the weapon which Omnipotence
Reserved to conquer man when others fail.
Reason he parries, fear he fronts with blows;
All future joys he meets with present pleasures;
But Love, that sun beneath whose melting beams
Fierce winter smiles transformed and yields his reign;
That soft subduing slumber which hath power
To wrestle down the giant; there is not
One creature in a million, there are not
A thousand men in all earth's huge quintillion,
Whose cold clay heart 's heardened against Love.
In this conflicting world the human soul
Must look to Love as to its highest goal.
Could Love prevail, would evil passions reign?
Would anger stamp anew the mark of Cain ?
Would the lone widow mourn her traitor friend,
Or the wrong'd orphan's curse to heaven ascend?
Would half mankind in wealth and splendor reign,
And all the rest know deprivation's pain?
Would one proud woman flaunt in wealth's array,
And others toil for half a dime a day ?
Would men endowed with no peculiar worth,
Hold thousand acres of this barren earth,
Where thousand souls abundance might produce,
Yet live and die deprived its rightful use?
Would one proud prelate in his splendid den
Hive wealth enough to bless a thousand men,
While priests and people of our common Lord
Repine and suffer for the useless hoard?
Would costly steeples mock the holy sky,
And souls within their shadows starving lie?
Did men in rules of love and order stand,
Would court-houses and jails deface our land?
Would men with locks and safes conceal their store,
And dread to sleep without a bolted door?
Were love supreme, would jarring nations call
The iron tube, the pyramid of ball ?
Would wasted fields be fertilized with gore
To make a hero of some wretch once more?
Would people vainly boast of being free,
Yet rob a million souls of liberty?
No-let mankind out once their rights assert,
-And Love's strong power these evils may avert.
The vengeful blade has long been tried in vain,
In vain its use may be assumed again,
The evil politic is still the same,
The ill remains with only change of name;
One party sinks, another takes its place,
And change eternal crowns the civic race.
Love only can to man his rights restore,
His joys insure and bid him grieve no more.
But it must not be that mistaken love,
Which daringly usurps the rights above;
Which boldly claims to use Heaven's chastening rod,
And hangs and kills, and all for love of God,
In times like ours, 'twere wise if people would
Well scrutinize their zeal for doing good.
A few plain questions might suffice, to prove
What flows from party-what from Christian love.
Our prayers are heard-some Musselman, at last,
Forsakes his prophet-some Hindoo his caste :
Accepts a Savior, and avows the choice ;-
How glad we are, how much our hearts rejoice!
The news is told and echoed, till the tale
Howe'er reviving, almost waxes stale.
-A second convert Gospel grace allures→
O, but this time he was not ours but yours;
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