The Poetical Works of Robert Montgomery :: :: University of Virginia Library

The brightest feature of the Godhead drew
By deep impression on his soul,
And bade compassion most divinely true
Reign o'er his breast with unsubdued control.

Our mix'd emotions may be good, or vile,
They govern by ambiguous laws;
But mercy is of nobler cast and style,
And rooted in no selfish cause;—
How godlike, let Emmanuel's life declare!
Whose heart with such compassion beat,
That His pure soul to each sad tone and prayer
On earth became an echoing mercy-seat.

Let stoic Schools from other creeds erect
An iron system, cold and dead,
That would from God-created souls reject
Emotions out of pity bred;
Men are half-monsters, if no heart be left
To throb with pathos, and to feel
Like Jesus, when He saw a home bereft,
And down His cheek compassion's tear did steal.

Thus mercy forms the Saviour's darling grace,
And in Him took a shape divine;
In word and deed, behold its beaming trace
Throughout th' Incarnate Myst'ry shine!
His heart replied to each pale Woe that wept,
Or echo'd back man's deeper sigh;
And by the grave, no icy grandeur kept
The tear of Manhood from His sacred eye.

The haughty coldness of inhuman creeds
May scorn Compassion shedding tears,
And blandly pouring over Sorrow's needs
Those genial tones which soften fears;
And Science may to selfishness ascribe
What soft-eyed Pity for the wretched feels;
But, heaven-born Virtue bears the heathen gibe,
Nor checks the tear which from compassion steals.

Of Men the wisest, bravest, and the best,
The lofty-hearted, firm, and free,
On whose proud name an empire's glories rest,
Who guide the land and guard our sea,—
No leaden calm of unimpassion'd mind
Their boast has been, or proved them brave;
But all pure links, connecting kind with kind,
They deem'd them holy, as beyond the grave!

Men are not wise because they cannot weep,
Nor basely soft because they sigh;
For there are fountains in the heart that sleep
Which moisten oft the sternest eye;
The sainted heroes, canonised by time,
And martyr'd hosts, who burn'd or bled,—
The wide earth doth not deem them less sublime
Because they soothed the sad, or mourn'd the dead!

The perfect God, though passionless as pure,
Hath symbolised His awful Name
By deep emotions, which the heart allure,
And bend the will before His claim:
He speaks not only in the whirlwind's tone,
But with the calm of cooling eve:
And oft holds back the thunders of His Throne,
That dreadless Minds may love Him, and believe.

But Thou, blest Archetype of love divine!
In whom the Trinity express
Whate'er by union God and man combine
Of moral grace, and loveliness,
Thy Soul was tender as thy Flesh was true,
And throbb'd with thrills of deepest power;
Unmoved in Godhead, yet a living hue
Of warm emotion tinged Thy farewell-hour.

And art Thou now, embodied Lord of love!
In such deep calm of bliss enthroned
That to the Priesthood of Thy grace above,
Though deep the sigh by anguish groan'd,—
It cannot ripple into feeling there
Thy heart of tenderness, and truth?
Oh, is it echoless to high-breathed prayer,
Utter'd by sin and woe, from age, or youth?

That creed reject! 'tis infidel and wrong;
The Church adores a Priest in heaven
To Whom compassions most intense belong,
By which He feels for man forgiven;
And He is touch'd with sympathies that thrill
Through the rich glories round His Throne;
Since all those splendours leave Messiah still
The weeper's refuge, and the widow's own.

Fountain of mercy! whose melodious word
Peals in the soul like pity's voice,
Be each chaste heart by such compassion stirr'd
As makes Thy love its peerless choice;
For if with mercy for their fallen clay
Men are not melted, nor commoved,
How will they shrink from that awarding Day
When barren creeds by Christ are unapproved!

124

Souls cannot love, unless like Him they feel
For human sorrows, hopes, and fears;
And learn to soften with benignant zeal
The bitter gush of orphan tears:
For God is Love; compassions wreathe His name;
And children of pure Grace are we
When, like His echoes, we become the same,
And Love on earth reflects her Deity.