Tears are the blessings of the heart,
When nature oft would fain rebel,
Yet bends beneath the rending dart,
And tears her deepest anguish tell.
Tears are the heir-loom of our race,
From sire to son profusely given;
Bright dew-drops on the mourner's face,-
Bright only in the light of Heaven.
In that pure light the mother sees
Through her fast tears the cloud grow bright;
Hope gilded with sweet promises,
Smiling upon the brow of night.
Faith draws the distant vision nigh,
Where basks her child in thornless bowers; While cherub hands suppress each sigh,
And wreath her heart with fadeless flowers.
In that bright world no tears are seen,
For God hath wiped all tears away;
Earth's last deep groan of anguish keen
Ne'er mingles with Redemption's lay.
Washed in the Saviour's cleansing blood,
The white-robed saints in glory stand,
Hailing Earth's lingerers o'er the flood
To the full bliss of Canaan's land.
Oh, blest re-union! No more tears
Shall dim the sun-blaze of the soul,
But smiles shall be the chroniclers
Of joys that own not death's control.
W. J. Brock.
The sage's and the poet's theme,
In every clime, in every age;
Thou charm'st in Fancy's idle dream,
In Reason's philosophic page.
That very law which moulds a tear,
And bids it trickle from its source;
That law preserves the earth a sphere,
And guides the planets in their course.
EVERY man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. --I. Corinthians, ix. 25.
Should, in a pet of Temperance, feed on pulse,
Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but frieze,
Th' All-Giver would be unthank'd, would be unprais'd,
Not half His riches known, and yet despis'd;"
And we should serve Him as a grudging master,
And a penurious niggard of His wealth.
Nature, good cateress,
Means her provision only to the good,
That live according to her sober laws,
And holy dictates of spare Temperance.
Rarely shall that path be trod,
Which without horror leads to death's abode.
Some few, by temperance taught, approaching slow,
To distant fate by easy journeys go;
Gently they lay them down, as evening sheep
On their own woolly fleeces softly sleep.
Grateful and salutary spring the plants
Which crown our numerous gardens, and
Invite to health and temperance, in the simple meal
Unpoisoned with rich sauces, to provoke
Th' unwilling appetite to gluttony.
For this the bulbous esculents their roots
With sweetness fill; for this with cooling juice
The green herb spreads its leaves; and opening buds,
And flowers, and seeds, with various flavours.
Dodsley.
He who can guard 'gainst the low baits of sense,
Will find Temptation's arrows hurtless strike
Against the brazen shield of Temperance.
For 'tis the inferior appetites enthral
The man, and quench the immortal light within him; The senses take the soul an easy prey,
And sink the imprison'd spirit into brute.
THE Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven.Psalm xi. 4.
One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple.-Psalm
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven.
And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.-Revelation, xxi. 2, 22.
RISE, crowned with light, imperial Salem, rise!
Exalt thy towering head, and lift thine eyes!
See a long race thy spacious courts adorn;
See future sons, and daughters yet unborn,
In crowding ranks, on every side arise,
Discarding life, impatient for the skies!
See barbarous nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend.
The Almighty chose among the sons of men,
To dedicate a temple to His name,
Where He, whose awful presence fills the vast
Immensity of space, who makes the clouds
His chariot, rides sublime the whirlwind's wing,
And guides the raging storm, would deign to dwell,
And make His presence known. The exalted task
Thy wisdom worthily performed. William Hodson.
The groves were God's first temples. Ere man learned
To hew the shaft, and lay the architrave,
And spread the root above them,-ere he framed
The lofty vault, to gather and roll back
The sound of anthems; in the darkling wood,
Amidst the cool and silence, he knelt down,
And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks
And supplication.
O Thou, to whom, in ancient time,
The lyre of Hebrew bards was strung,
Whom kings adored in songs sublime,
And prophets praised with glowing tongue.
Not now, on Zion's height alone,
The favoured worshipper may dwell,
Nor where, at sultry noon Thy Son
Sat, weary, by the Patriarch's well.
From every place below the skies,
The grateful song, the fervent prayer-
The increase of the heart-may rise
To heaven, and find acceptance there.
In this Thy house, whose doors we now
For social worship first unfold,
To Thee the suppliant throng shall bow,
While circling years on years are roll'd.
To Thee shall age, with snowy hair,
And strength and beauty, bend the knee,
And childhood lisp, with reverend air,
Its praises and its prayers to Thee.
O Thou, to whom in ancient time,
The lyre of prophet bards was strung,
To Thee, at last, in every clime,
Shall temples rise, and praise be sung.
And now the assembled Hosts advance, and glow
Into a hymn as they ascend the hill,
In numbers without number, singing so.
"Glad was I when they said to me, we will
Go up into the Temple of the Lord;
Lo, we shall dwell in Salem."
They reached the sacred gates, did they record
Their raptures in no mortal verse; their strain
Of higher mood they raised and bolder word.
J. A. Heraud.
In a temple fair to see,
Gracious Lord, we worship Thee:
Meet it is that we should come
Duly to the hallowed dome;
Kneel, and pray, our sins confessing,
Asking-hoping for Thy blessing.
THEN was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.--Matthew, iv. 1.
Lead us not into temptation.--Matthew, vi. 13.
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.--Matthew, xxvi. 41.
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.--I. Corinthians, x. 13.
NOT thou mistrust, but tender love enjoins,
That I should mind thee oft, and mind thou me
Firm we subsist yet possibly to swerve,
Since reason not impossibly may meet
Some specious object by the foe suborned,
And fall into deception unaware,
Not keeping strictest watch as she was warned.
Seek not temptation then; which to avoid
Were better! * * * trial will come unsought.
Wouldst thou approve thy constancy, approve
First thy obedience; th' other who can know,
Not seeing thee attempted, who attest?
But if thou think, trial unsought may find
Us both securer than thus warned thou seem'st,
Go, for thy stay not free absents thee more,
Go, in thy native innocence, rely
On what thou hast of virtue, summon all,
For God towards thee hath done his part; do thine.
When gath'ring clouds around I view,
And days are dark, and friends are few,
On Him I lean, who not in vain,
Experienced every human pain,
He sees my wants, allays my fears,
And counts and treasures up my tears.
If aught should tempt my soul to stray
From heavenly wisdom's narrow way,
To flee the good I would pursue,
Or do the sin I would not do,
Still He, who felt temptation's power
Shall guard me in that dangerous hour.
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