The Christian Scholar By the Author of "The Cathedral" [i.e. Isaac Williams] |
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| II. | II.
THE TRAGIC CHORUS AND THE MORAL LAW. |
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 | The Christian Scholar |  |
204
II. THE TRAGIC CHORUS AND THE MORAL LAW.
“May Providence with me concur
Sustaining reverend purity
Of words and actions all,
For which are stedfast Laws that walk the sky,
Laws born and rear'd in the ethereal heaven,
Of which Olympus is alone the sire;
To which no race of mortal man gave birth,
Nor ever shall oblivion lay asleep;
Mighty in these things is the God,
Nor ever groweth old.
Sustaining reverend purity
Of words and actions all,
For which are stedfast Laws that walk the sky,
Laws born and rear'd in the ethereal heaven,
Of which Olympus is alone the sire;
To which no race of mortal man gave birth,
Nor ever shall oblivion lay asleep;
Mighty in these things is the God,
Nor ever groweth old.
“Tis Pride gives birth to tyranny,
Pride puff'd and pamper'd with vain things,
Untimely and unmeet:
And bearing up to height precipitous,
Then hurls all headlong down into the strait
Where extricating foot can nought avail.
A noble struggle for the city's cause
I pray the God may never-more forego:
To God as my defender true
Ne'er will I cease to cling.
Pride puff'd and pamper'd with vain things,
Untimely and unmeet:
And bearing up to height precipitous,
Then hurls all headlong down into the strait
Where extricating foot can nought avail.
A noble struggle for the city's cause
I pray the God may never-more forego:
To God as my defender true
Ne'er will I cease to cling.
205
“If there be one in hand or word
Who goeth haughtily,
Not fearing Justice, nor
Revering seats divine,
May evil fate him seize
For the requital of his ill-starr'd pride;
If what he gains, he gain not righteously,
Nor holdeth back the sacrilegious hand
From things that are not meet for mortal touch.
What man in courses such as these
Shall ward the shafts of conscience from his soul?
If things like these are honour'd among men
What need for me the sacred choir to lead?
Who goeth haughtily,
Not fearing Justice, nor
Revering seats divine,
May evil fate him seize
For the requital of his ill-starr'd pride;
If what he gains, he gain not righteously,
Nor holdeth back the sacrilegious hand
From things that are not meet for mortal touch.
What man in courses such as these
Shall ward the shafts of conscience from his soul?
If things like these are honour'd among men
What need for me the sacred choir to lead?
| The Christian Scholar | |