Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul. Various

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СКАЧАТЬ Herbert has said,

      "A verse may find him who a sermon flies,

      And turn delight into a sacrifice."

      He himself most excellently illustrated the sentiment by bequeathing to the world many beautiful verses that are sermons of the most picturesque sort.

      One definition of poetry is "a record of the best thoughts and best moments of the best and happiest minds." This in itself would almost be sufficient to establish the connection between poetry and religion. It is certain that the two have very close and vital relations. Dr. Washington Gladden has admirably remarked, "Poetry is indebted to religion for its largest and loftiest inspirations, and religion is indebted to poetry for its subtlest and most luminous interpretations." No doubt a man may be truly, deeply religious who has little or no development on the æsthetic side, to whom poetry makes no special appeal. But it is certain that he whose soul is deaf to the "concord of sweet sounds" misses a mighty aid in the spiritual life. For a hymn is a wing by which the spirit soars above earthly cares and trials into a purer air and a clearer sunshine. Nothing can better scatter the devils of melancholy and gloom or doubt and fear. When praise and prayer, trust and love, faith and hope, and similar sentiments, have passed into and through some poet's passionate soul, until he has become so charged with them that he has been able to fix them in a form of expression where beauty is united to strength, where concentration and ornamentation are alike secured, then the deepest needs of great numbers are fully met. What was vague and dim is brought into light. What was only half conceived, and so but half felt, is made to grip the soul with power. Poetry is of the very highest value for the inspiration and guidance of life, for calling out the emotions and opening up spiritual visions. It carries truths not only into the understanding, but into the heart, where they are likely to have the most direct effect on conduct.

      In the language of Robert Southey, I commit these pages to the Christian public, with a sincere belief that much benefit will result to all who shall read them:

      "Go forth, little book, from this my solitude;

      I cast thee on the waters—go thy ways;

      And if, as I believe, thy vein be good,

      The world will find thee after many days.

      Be it with thee according to thy worth;

      Go, little book! in faith I send thee forth."

      James Mudge.

      Malden, Mass.

HEROISM

       Table of Contents

CHIVALRY, NOBILITY, HONOR, TRUTH

       Table of Contents

      THE INEVITABLE

      I like the man who faces what he must,

      With step triumphant and a heart of cheer;

      Who fights the daily battle without fear;

      Sees his hopes fail, yet keeps unfaltering trust

      That God is God; that somehow, true and just,

      His plans work out for mortals; not a tear

      Is shed when fortune, which the world holds dear,

      Falls from his grasp: better, with love, a crust

      Than living in dishonor: envies not,

      Nor loses faith in man; but does his best,

      Nor ever murmurs at his humbler lot,

      But, with a smile and words of hope, gives zest

      To every toiler: he alone is great

      Who by a life heroic conquers fate.

      —Sarah Knowles Bolton.

      ———

      DEFEATED YET TRIUMPHANT

      They never fail who die

      In a great cause. The block may soak their gore;

      Their heads may sodden in the sun; their limbs

      Be strung to city gates and castle walls;

      But still their spirit walks abroad.

      Though years

      Elapse and others share as dark a doom,

      They but augment the deep and sweeping thoughts

      Which overpower all others and conduct

      The world, at last, to freedom.

      —George Gordon Byron.

      ———

      A HERO GONE

      He has done the work of a true man—

      Crown him, honor him, love him;

      Weep over him, tears of woman,

      Stoop, manliest brows, above him!

      For the warmest of hearts is frozen;

      The freest of hands is still;

      And the gap in our picked and chosen

      The long years may not fill.

      No duty could overtask him,

      No need his will outrun:

      Or ever our lips could ask him,

      His hands the work had done.

      He forgot his own life for others,

      Himself to his neighbor lending.

      Found the Lord in his suffering brothers,

      And not in the clouds descending.

      And he saw, ere his eye was darkened,

      The sheaves of the harvest-bringing;

      And knew, while his ear yet hearkened,

      The voice of the reapers singing.

      Never rode to the wrong's redressing

      A worthier paladin.

      He has heard СКАЧАТЬ