 | The Poetical Works of Robert Montgomery |  |
VICTORY OF FAITH.
Knowledge brings power; but Faith beyond it works,
And out of heaven that promised aid procures
Of mercy, whence alone true wisdom springs;
Till, through the heart's regenerated depths
The mind it reach, and make that holy, too.
To catalogue Creation's works; the tides
To balance; all the stars peruse; or scan
The secrecies unveiling Science loves,
This may enlarge, but not ennoble, Man,
If man be measured by his noblest scale,
By will, by conscience, and by perfect love,
Love that is heavenly and by God begun;—
For so philosophy divine asserts:
We find the lovely, and that thing we love;
But what God loves He thereby lovely makes.
And out of heaven that promised aid procures
Of mercy, whence alone true wisdom springs;
Till, through the heart's regenerated depths
The mind it reach, and make that holy, too.
To catalogue Creation's works; the tides
To balance; all the stars peruse; or scan
The secrecies unveiling Science loves,
This may enlarge, but not ennoble, Man,
If man be measured by his noblest scale,
By will, by conscience, and by perfect love,
Love that is heavenly and by God begun;—
For so philosophy divine asserts:
We find the lovely, and that thing we love;
But what God loves He thereby lovely makes.
In these alone pre-eminently live
Those elements which make our being great.
But Things to master, abstract names to know,
Their use, their natures, and their powers to wield,
May serve the Body, not the Soul refine
Or chasten. Thus, in vain would mental Power
Self-deified, the world's redemption try.
Those elements which make our being great.
But Things to master, abstract names to know,
Their use, their natures, and their powers to wield,
May serve the Body, not the Soul refine
Or chasten. Thus, in vain would mental Power
Self-deified, the world's redemption try.
And how can mind, at best, a bulwark frame
To fence corruption from the inner soul?
In central likeness all men meet, at last;
For there is conscience in the vilest left,
With immortality, in each presumed;
And this stern Guardian on his throne of truth
Wakens at times, to vindicate the Law,
And preaches on eternity and doom
Sermons, which sound like arguments from God,
Prophetic, deep, and terribly divine!
And then religion, forced, or felt, or feign'd,
The heart's convulsion and its craven guilt
Alike demand: and where can earth produce
A Creed so organised with subtle craft,
To soothe the guilty, but retain the guilt,
As the mock creed of pharisaic Rome?
And though at times, pure Reason may rebel,
Shock'd into anguish by imposture's lie,
Reason is bribed, and understanding bought
When Lust is flatter'd, or the conscience freed
From harrowing guilt, from darkness and despair.
To fence corruption from the inner soul?
In central likeness all men meet, at last;
For there is conscience in the vilest left,
With immortality, in each presumed;
And this stern Guardian on his throne of truth
Wakens at times, to vindicate the Law,
And preaches on eternity and doom
Sermons, which sound like arguments from God,
Prophetic, deep, and terribly divine!
And then religion, forced, or felt, or feign'd,
The heart's convulsion and its craven guilt
Alike demand: and where can earth produce
A Creed so organised with subtle craft,
To soothe the guilty, but retain the guilt,
As the mock creed of pharisaic Rome?
And though at times, pure Reason may rebel,
Shock'd into anguish by imposture's lie,
Reason is bribed, and understanding bought
When Lust is flatter'd, or the conscience freed
From harrowing guilt, from darkness and despair.
| The Poetical Works of Robert Montgomery | |