Sacred Meditations and Moral Themes In Verse By the Rev. Robert Montgomery ... Third Edition--Revised and Enlarged |
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INVOCATION TO THE DIVINE SPIRIT. |
 | Sacred Meditations and Moral Themes In Verse |  |
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INVOCATION TO THE DIVINE SPIRIT.
Mysterious Spirit of the ceaseless mind;
Heart of the church, as Christ the only Head;
Soul of our souls, in supernat'ral light;
Unbounded, deathless and transforming Grace,
And Love, and Wisdom!—Thee I now invoke;
And to Thyself presume to consecrate
Pages, that whatsoe'er of hallowed power
They have, from Thee alone their truth receive
And virtue. Oh! thou Sempiternal Life,
Breathe o'er this effort, and with force array
Whate'er is feeble; and with heavenly touch
And tone their meaning so affect and fill,
That onward to the inner mind of man
Or central being, where high Conscience holds
Her seat august, and faith's dominion acts,—
What truths they carry may be safely borne
Beyond the heartless, and above the vain
To warp or weaken. Here beneath the arch
Of midnight, solemn, deep, intensely calm,
Thy Presence would I realize; and lift
Mine awe-struck nature to the heights unseen
Of Essence uncreate,—where Thou art third
In Godhead, where the Fountain-Sire is first,
Second, the Filial Word, and All supreme
In One co-equal, co-eternal Three
The God tripersonal and true, complete.
Heart of the church, as Christ the only Head;
Soul of our souls, in supernat'ral light;
Unbounded, deathless and transforming Grace,
And Love, and Wisdom!—Thee I now invoke;
And to Thyself presume to consecrate
Pages, that whatsoe'er of hallowed power
They have, from Thee alone their truth receive
And virtue. Oh! thou Sempiternal Life,
Breathe o'er this effort, and with force array
Whate'er is feeble; and with heavenly touch
And tone their meaning so affect and fill,
That onward to the inner mind of man
Or central being, where high Conscience holds
Her seat august, and faith's dominion acts,—
What truths they carry may be safely borne
Beyond the heartless, and above the vain
To warp or weaken. Here beneath the arch
Of midnight, solemn, deep, intensely calm,
Thy Presence would I realize; and lift
304
Of Essence uncreate,—where Thou art third
In Godhead, where the Fountain-Sire is first,
Second, the Filial Word, and All supreme
In One co-equal, co-eternal Three
The God tripersonal and true, complete.
Descend, pure Spirit! light and life and love
Without Thee, are not: Poetry is Thine,
Reason, and Science, and majestic Arts,
The heaven-born Virtues, intellectual Powers
With all pre-eminence of grace or gifts,—
Are but as glances from Thy glory cast,
And caught by Mind. But who Thy sway can tell?
For at the first, the heavens and all their host,
Moon, star, and planets,—from Thy hand derived
Their radiance, from Thy wisdomlearn'd their paths;
And Earth is thine: her elemental laws,
Her motions, harmonies and living hues
And beauty, are but emanated powers
From Thee, great Beauty's archetypal Seal!
While Man himself, (that miracle of forms)
Into his mould was copied from Thy cast
Ethereal; and the whole of truths inspired,
Prophetic utt'rance, or mirac'lous deed,
Which was, or is, or shall be,—are but rays
Sent from Thine Essence to created mind.
Without Thee, are not: Poetry is Thine,
Reason, and Science, and majestic Arts,
The heaven-born Virtues, intellectual Powers
With all pre-eminence of grace or gifts,—
Are but as glances from Thy glory cast,
And caught by Mind. But who Thy sway can tell?
For at the first, the heavens and all their host,
Moon, star, and planets,—from Thy hand derived
Their radiance, from Thy wisdomlearn'd their paths;
And Earth is thine: her elemental laws,
Her motions, harmonies and living hues
And beauty, are but emanated powers
From Thee, great Beauty's archetypal Seal!
While Man himself, (that miracle of forms)
Into his mould was copied from Thy cast
Ethereal; and the whole of truths inspired,
Prophetic utt'rance, or mirac'lous deed,
Which was, or is, or shall be,—are but rays
Sent from Thine Essence to created mind.
305
Without Thee, more than night Egyptian reigns;
Duty sublime would stern distraction be,
Commanding what our impotence alarms,—
To love that Holy which our hearts abhor
By nature!—But Thy promised aid attends,
Arches our being, like the roof of heaven,
Where'er we wander; and to Will perverse
Such power imparteth, that the precept takes
Thy presence with it in each task assigned.
Duty sublime would stern distraction be,
Commanding what our impotence alarms,—
To love that Holy which our hearts abhor
By nature!—But Thy promised aid attends,
Arches our being, like the roof of heaven,
Where'er we wander; and to Will perverse
Such power imparteth, that the precept takes
Thy presence with it in each task assigned.
Thou teachest God; and man himself abides
In fact unfathomed, till thy light reveal
The two eternities of coming truth
Within Him folded,—like a double germ
Soon to expand in heaven or hell complete.
And hence our Nature grows an awful thing;
We thrill eternity in touching Man!
For, from the eyeballs of his living head
Outlooks the Everlasting!—though eclipsed;
While every heart-pulse in the life of faith
Throbs with Thy Spirit, Inspiration's Lord.
In fact unfathomed, till thy light reveal
The two eternities of coming truth
Within Him folded,—like a double germ
Soon to expand in heaven or hell complete.
And hence our Nature grows an awful thing;
We thrill eternity in touching Man!
For, from the eyeballs of his living head
Outlooks the Everlasting!—though eclipsed;
While every heart-pulse in the life of faith
Throbs with Thy Spirit, Inspiration's Lord.
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