The Poetical Works of Robert Montgomery Collected and Revised by the Author |
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MAN'S HEART, DECEITFUL ABOVE
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 | The Poetical Works of Robert Montgomery |  |
MAN'S HEART, DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked: who can know it? I the Lord
search the heart.”—Jer. xvii. 9, 10.
As Christ was God in flesh array'd,
So God in language is that Word
Where man is inwardly portray'd,
As though his copied heart were heard.
So God in language is that Word
Where man is inwardly portray'd,
As though his copied heart were heard.
For not a single throb of thought
Vibrates within his viewless mind,
That is not to conviction brought
By heaven's dread Book, which reads mankind!
Vibrates within his viewless mind,
That is not to conviction brought
By heaven's dread Book, which reads mankind!
And is not this a crushing tone,
An avalanche of stern rebuke,
A thunder-peal from His high throne
Before whose glance Creation shook,—
An avalanche of stern rebuke,
A thunder-peal from His high throne
Before whose glance Creation shook,—
That Man becomes incarnate lie,
A living mass of low deceit,
Baffling the search of mortal eye
To scan the guiles which in him meet?
A living mass of low deceit,
Baffling the search of mortal eye
To scan the guiles which in him meet?
Beyond all creatures, and above
What sin and Satan can unfold,
The venom'd coil around him wove,—
The serpent-depths no tongue has told!
What sin and Satan can unfold,
The venom'd coil around him wove,—
The serpent-depths no tongue has told!
And desperate too, if finite cure
Be all our hopes pretend to find,
Those fell deceits which men allure
And leave the conscience dead and blind.
Be all our hopes pretend to find,
Those fell deceits which men allure
And leave the conscience dead and blind.
We grant there are distinctions true
Between degrees of social worth;
For, some are tender, warm, and true,
And others, iced as frozen earth:
Between degrees of social worth;
For, some are tender, warm, and true,
And others, iced as frozen earth:
And some we hail, whose hearts expand
Like bounding waves beneath the sun;
While these, with shut and selfish hand
A vile career of passion run.
Like bounding waves beneath the sun;
While these, with shut and selfish hand
A vile career of passion run.
73
Gradations thus 'tween man and man
When measured by our moral test,
Are undenied; and reason can
Perceive them in the human breast.
When measured by our moral test,
Are undenied; and reason can
Perceive them in the human breast.
But still, if heavenward we ascend,
And by the law of love divine
Discern how far our natures tend,
Apart from Thee, oh God! and Thine,
And by the law of love divine
Discern how far our natures tend,
Apart from Thee, oh God! and Thine,
Then, hear a thunder-peal like this
From out the clouds of Scripture roll,—
“Deceitful and most desperate is
The life of unconverted soul!”
From out the clouds of Scripture roll,—
“Deceitful and most desperate is
The life of unconverted soul!”
And can we dare this truth deny,
How nature marks her hate with smiles,
And loves the most enamell'd lie
Which polishes her venal wiles?
How nature marks her hate with smiles,
And loves the most enamell'd lie
Which polishes her venal wiles?
And if, alas! ourselves we scan,
Deceitful prove we, to the core!
The child doth prophesy the man,
The man repeats the child before:
Deceitful prove we, to the core!
The child doth prophesy the man,
The man repeats the child before:
All, all, in youth, and age alike,
Abroad, at home, for word or thought
The bosom may with anguish strike,
And be with full contrition fraught,
Abroad, at home, for word or thought
The bosom may with anguish strike,
And be with full contrition fraught,
If but an hour we search, and see
What broken vows condemn our ways,
How fairest resolutions flee,
And we are charm'd by cheating praise!
What broken vows condemn our ways,
How fairest resolutions flee,
And we are charm'd by cheating praise!
The very sins men weep at morn
And at the mercy-seat confess,
Again before the night, are born,
And stain them with new loathsomeness!
And at the mercy-seat confess,
Again before the night, are born,
And stain them with new loathsomeness!
Well may we hang the head, and mourn,
Nor doubt that piercing Word is true
Which saith, no Hearts to heaven return
Except by mercy, born anew.
Nor doubt that piercing Word is true
Which saith, no Hearts to heaven return
Except by mercy, born anew.
Faith heeds not how false worldlings smile;
God's truth can ne'er be sneer'd away;
The heart is one abyss of guile
Whose throbs, like Judas, Christ betray.
God's truth can ne'er be sneer'd away;
The heart is one abyss of guile
Whose throbs, like Judas, Christ betray.
And in us all by nature lurk
The germs of unimagined crime,
Which often dares the Demon's work
And crimsons o'er the cheek of Time.
The germs of unimagined crime,
Which often dares the Demon's work
And crimsons o'er the cheek of Time.
Yes, Adam, Cain, and Peter's lie,
Herod and David in their sin,—
Let candour search, and so descry
Their secret prototypes within.
Herod and David in their sin,—
Let candour search, and so descry
Their secret prototypes within.
Come, Holy Spirit! mystic Dove,
Thine innocence from heaven impart;
Our hate transform to heavenly love,
And build Thy temple in our heart.
Thine innocence from heaven impart;
Our hate transform to heavenly love,
And build Thy temple in our heart.
The purest soul pleased Earth admires,
Who to the centre scans it all?
The highest Angel back retires,
And prostrate worlds in silence fall.
Who to the centre scans it all?
The highest Angel back retires,
And prostrate worlds in silence fall.
Who knows it? Echo answers, “Who?”
Created minds are bow'd and dumb:—
“Jehovah, I can search it through,
And enter where no creatures come.”
Created minds are bow'd and dumb:—
“Jehovah, I can search it through,
And enter where no creatures come.”
Tremendous thought! that God and man
By contrast both should searchless be;
The last too vile for thought to scan,
The First, unfathom'd Deity!
By contrast both should searchless be;
The last too vile for thought to scan,
The First, unfathom'd Deity!
| The Poetical Works of Robert Montgomery | |