Bend thou to his good-will, and subserve his holy purposes, Till in thee, and those around thee, grow a little heaven upon earth: Humbly, as a grateful almsman, beg thy bread of God, — Bread for thy triple estate, for thou hast a trinity of nature: Thou canst not from thy fellows withhold thy less forgiveness. Therefore ask him, in all trust, to lead thee from the dangers of temptation; While the last petition of the soul that breatheth on the confines of prayer, Is deliverance from sin and the evil one, the miseries of earth and hell. And wherefore, child of hope, should the rock of thy confidence be sure? Thou knowest that God heareth, and promiseth an answer of peace; For the never-ending term of thy saved and bright existence. OF DISCRETION. FOR what, then, was I born?-to fill the circling year To be one in a full procession? -to dig my kindred clay ?- to clear a few acres of forest? For more than these, my soul, thy God hath lent thee life. To reap, in the furrows of my brain, good harvest of right reasons? For more than these, my soul, thy God hath lent thee life. Is it to grow stronger in self-government, to check the chafing will, Happiness is a roadside flower, growing on the highways of Use fulness; Plucked, it shall wither in thy hand; passed by, it is fragrance to thy spirit; Love not thine own soul, regard not thine own weal, Trample the thyme beneath thy feet; be useful, and be happy THUS unto fair conclusions argueth generous youth, And quickly he starteth on his course, knight-errant to do good. The quiet whisper of Discretion, — Thy time is not yet come. He is glad to give and to distribute; and clamorous pauperism feasteth, While honest labor, pining, hideth his sharp ribs : He challengeth to a fair field that subtle giant Infidelity, And worsted in the unequal fight, strengtheneth the hands of error; He hasteth to teach and preach, as the war-horse rusheth to the battle, And, to pave a way for truth, would break up the Apennines of prejudice: He wearieth by stale proofs, where none looked for a reason, So hath it often been, that, judging by results, The hottest friends of Truth have done her deadliest wrong. Alas! for there are enemies without, glad enough to parley with a traitor, And a zealot will let down the drawbridge, to prove his own prowess: Yea, from within will he break away a breach in the citadel of truth, That he may fill the gap for fame, with his own weak body. ZEAL without judgment is an evil, though it be zeal unto good: Touch not the ark with unclean hand, yea, though it seem to totter. There are evil who work good, and there are good who work evil, And foolish backers of Wisdom have brought on her many re proaches. Truth hath more than enough to combat in the minds of all men, his finger; And winnow chaff into the eyes, before he hath wheat to show: And with a room in flames, will cast the casement open; By a shoulder to the wheel downhill harasseth the laboring beast, And where obstruction were needed, will harm by an ill-judged thrusting-on. A VESSEL foundereth at sea, if a storm have unshipped the rudder; And a mind with much sail shall require heavy ballast. Take a lever by the middle, thou shalt seem to prove it powerless; Argue for truth indiscreetly, thou shalt toil for falsehood. There is plenty of room for a peaceable man in the most thronged assembly: But a quarrelsome spirit is straitened in the open field: Many a teacher, lacking judgment, hindereth his own lessons; The garment woven of a piece is rashly torn by schism, Because its unwise claimants will not cast lots for its possession. DISCRETION guide thee on thy way, nobly-minded youth, To take small count of forms, to bear with prejudice and fancy; Whisper thee, thou art Weakness, though thy cause be strength, And tell thee, the keystone of an arch can be loosened with least labor from within. The snows of Hecla lie around its troubled, smoking Geysers; OF TRIFLES. YET once more, saith the fool, yet once, and is it not a little one? Spare me this folly yet an hour, for what is one among so many? And he blindeth his conscience with lies, and stupefieth his heart with doubts;— Whom shall I harm in this matter? and a little ill breedeth much good; My thoughts, are they not mine own? and they leave no mark behind them; And if God so pardoneth crime, how should these petty sins affect him? So he transgresseth yet again, and falleth by little and little, Till the ground crumble beneath him, and he sinketh in the gulf despairing. For there is nothing in the earth so small that it may not produce great things, And no swerving from a right line, that may not lead eternally astray. A landmark tree was once a seed; and the dust in the balance maketh a difference; And the cairn is heaped high by each one flinging a pebble: The dangerous bar in the harbor's mouth is only grains of sand; And the shoal that hath wrecked a navy is the work of a colony of worms: Yea, and a despicable gnat may madden the mighty elephant; For atoms must crowd upon atoms, ere crime groweth to be a giant. cent; But, if thou nourish in thy heart the reveries of injury or passion, And then conceive it possible, and then reflect on it as done, Not long will Crime be absent from the voice that doth invoke him to thy heart, And bitterly wilt thou grieve, that the buds have ripened into poison. A SPARK is a molecule of matter, yet may it kindle the world; Commit thy trifles unto God, for to him is nothing trivial; And it is but the littleness of man that seeth no greatness in a trifle. All things are infinite in parts, and the moral is as the material, Thou art wise, and shalt find comfort, if thou study thy pleasure in trifles, For slender joys, often repeated, fall as sunshine on the heart: ing to fret thee; Thrust not thine hand among the thorns but with a leathern glove. Regard nothing lightly which the wisdom of Providence hath ordered; And therefore consider all things that happen unto thee or unto others. |