FAITH. XXIV. ABRAHAM. THE better portion didst thou choose, Great Heart, Thy God's first choice, and pledge of Gentilegrace ! Faith's truest type, he with unruffled face Bore the world's smile, and bade her slaves depart; Whether, a trader, with no trader's heart, He buys in Canaan his first resting-place, Or freely yields rich Siddim's ample space, Or braves the rescue and the battle's smart, O happy in their soul's high solitude, Who commune thus with GOD and not with earth! Amid the scoffings of the wealth-enslaved, A ready prey, as though in absent mood They calmly move, nor hear the unmannered mirth. d. XXV. Unto the godly there ariseth up light in the darkness. LEAD, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, The night is dark, and I am far from home- Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou I loved to choose and see my path; but now, I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till And with the morn those Angel faces smile Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile. XXVI. d. "It is I be not afraid."* WHEN I sink down in gloom or fear, Hope blighted or delayed, Thy whisper, Lord, my heart shall cheer, Or, startled at some sudden blow, "Fear not, it is but I!" shall flow, As balm my wound to heal. * Vid. Bishop Wilson's Sacra Privata for Friday. The above lines were written before the appearance of Mr. Lyte's elegant Poem on the same text. Nor will I quit Thy way, though foes Some onward pass defend; From each rough voice the watchword goes "Be not afraid! ... a friend!" And O! when judgment's trumpet clear Awakes me from the grave, Still in its echo may I hear, "'Tis Christ! He comes to save." XXVII. The Lord stood with me and strengthened me. O SAY not thou art left of God, Because His tokens in the sky Thou canst not read; this earth He trod He sees, beneath the fig-tree green, Shouldst thou the closet seek, unseen He enters through the unopened door. δ. And, when thou liest, by slumber bound, He stands above thee through the night. When friends to Emmaus bend their course, Or, on a voyage, when calms prevail, He walks the wave, He wings the sail, XXVIII. JAMES AND JOHN. Two brothers freely cast their lot, The cost of conquest counting not They deem the battle won, d. |