The Altar or, Meditations in Verse On The Great Christian Sacrifice By The Author of "The Cathedral," [i.e. Isaac Williams] |
 |
 | The Altar |  |
126
6.
“He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his
life for My sake shall find it.”
There is a tale in Eastern fable told
Of a magnetic isle in distant seas,
To which, as barks borne by the heavenly breeze
Approach, in manner strange and manifold,
The iron spars no longer keep their hold,
But part in sunder. Thus when ride at ease,
Knit by a thousand iron purposes,
The full-rigged schemes of worldlings proud and bold,
They loosely walk, as on a summer sea,
Upon their own unfathomed destiny;
But if by timely Providences driven
To Thee, the stable Truth and land of Heaven,
Then all their worldly homes are sunder riven,
And they who seize the Wood are borne to Thee.
“God has afforded the plank or wood by which we may reach the shore, and that wood is the Cross of Christ. One who has no eyes to see embraces this Cross; and while from afar he knows not whither he is to go, if he looses not his hold on this wood, it will bear him to it.” —S. Augustin, in Joan. Evan. ii.
| The Altar | |