The Altar or, Meditations in Verse On The Great Christian Sacrifice By The Author of "The Cathedral," [i.e. Isaac Williams] |
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 | The Altar |  |
1.
“When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.”
To love, be loved, and loved to love again,
This, this is human at man's best estate:
To love not loved, with good to antedate
All love; to pour forth good, and thence obtain
Neglect, unthankfulness, and proud disdain;
To yearn in tender love compassionate
O'er enemies that triumph in their hate;
To pray amid the agonies of pain
For stern tormentors: this—this is Divine;
This is the inextinguishable Flame
That from the Cross, as from a central shrine,
Doth quicken all Creation; this above
Writes up the incommunicable Name
In burning characters, That God is Love.
| The Altar | |