 | Miscellaneous poems (1861) |  |
56
ADDRESS SPOKEN AT A NEW RELIGIOUS AND LITERARY INSTITUTE, ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE.
There is no nobler labour for mankind
Than to instruct and elevate the mind,
To pour into the eager ears of youth
The words of unadulterated truth;
To teach the untutored of maturer age,
The glorious precepts of the Sacred Page;
To chase the clouds of prejudice away,
And show bright glimpses of a purer day;
To win the heart by charity and love,
And give the soul an impulse towards above;
To watch and strive, with strong yet patient zeal,
For all pertaining to the human weal;
To own the highest and the holiest laws,
Fight boldly for the one transcendant cause:
And for our comfort this great truth is given,—
That while we love our kind, we win the love of Heaven.
Than to instruct and elevate the mind,
To pour into the eager ears of youth
The words of unadulterated truth;
To teach the untutored of maturer age,
The glorious precepts of the Sacred Page;
To chase the clouds of prejudice away,
And show bright glimpses of a purer day;
To win the heart by charity and love,
And give the soul an impulse towards above;
To watch and strive, with strong yet patient zeal,
For all pertaining to the human weal;
To own the highest and the holiest laws,
Fight boldly for the one transcendant cause:
And for our comfort this great truth is given,—
That while we love our kind, we win the love of Heaven.
Such is our purpose, brother, sister, guest—
Such our pure purpose;—be our labours blest;
Be ours a strenuous and united band,
Heart knit with heart, and hand allied with hand,
In the good work, how hard so e'er it be,
Which brings us closer in humanity.
Let us assemble, whensoe'er we can,
To hold calm counsel, to serenely plan
Aught that God willeth we should strive to do,
Of brave, yet gentle, generous, and true.
Here let good books arouse the slumbering mind
To thoughts all holy, lofty, and refined;
Books written for twin truth and virtue's sake,
To keep man's spirit healthfully awake:
But chiefly let God's oracle be sought,
With all its grandeur of transcendant thought,
Its grace, its glory, its consoling power,
Its wisdom fitted to the varied hour,
Its earthly language unto Heaven allied,
The Christian's treasure-page, and comforter, and guide.
Such our pure purpose;—be our labours blest;
Be ours a strenuous and united band,
Heart knit with heart, and hand allied with hand,
In the good work, how hard so e'er it be,
Which brings us closer in humanity.
57
To hold calm counsel, to serenely plan
Aught that God willeth we should strive to do,
Of brave, yet gentle, generous, and true.
Here let good books arouse the slumbering mind
To thoughts all holy, lofty, and refined;
Books written for twin truth and virtue's sake,
To keep man's spirit healthfully awake:
But chiefly let God's oracle be sought,
With all its grandeur of transcendant thought,
Its grace, its glory, its consoling power,
Its wisdom fitted to the varied hour,
Its earthly language unto Heaven allied,
The Christian's treasure-page, and comforter, and guide.
Here let the voice of earnest men be heard,
Till the glad bosom is divinely stirred—
Stirred with the best emotions, half akin
To angel natures, free from grief and sin;
And may each word of truthfulness that flows
From gracious lips give gladness and repose,
Or so infuse the soul with holy fire,
That it shall glow with faith, and gloriously aspire.
Till the glad bosom is divinely stirred—
Stirred with the best emotions, half akin
To angel natures, free from grief and sin;
And may each word of truthfulness that flows
From gracious lips give gladness and repose,
Or so infuse the soul with holy fire,
That it shall glow with faith, and gloriously aspire.
Let us go forth, not arrogant and vain,
Nor with a thought of worldly praise or gain,
But, like the Apostles of the elder day,
To point the path, and lead ourselves the way;
Let us go forth with tolerance and good-will,
And strive our sacred duties to fulfil;—
Duties that urge us to the noble toil
Of breaking up a weed-encumbered soil,
Where tares of sinfulness too freely rise,
And choke the better stem that struggles towards the skies.
Nor with a thought of worldly praise or gain,
But, like the Apostles of the elder day,
To point the path, and lead ourselves the way;
Let us go forth with tolerance and good-will,
And strive our sacred duties to fulfil;—
Duties that urge us to the noble toil
Of breaking up a weed-encumbered soil,
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And choke the better stem that struggles towards the skies.
We have a church, and we, a faithful band,
With not a haughty and oppressive hand,
Dare to uphold it in this changeful hour,
And vindicate its purity of power;
Yet do we own that each may choose his way,
If it but leadeth into perfect day;
For with one common lot, one hope, one heaven,
Let every heart forgive, and be itself forgiven.
With not a haughty and oppressive hand,
Dare to uphold it in this changeful hour,
And vindicate its purity of power;
Yet do we own that each may choose his way,
If it but leadeth into perfect day;
For with one common lot, one hope, one heaven,
Let every heart forgive, and be itself forgiven.
Lord! in whose honour we thus humbly try.
To bring thy stray ones nearer to the sky,
Help us, inspire us, strengthen us to dare
All that is worthy in this world of care;
Oh! teach us how to teach, that we may sow
Thy truth, broadcast, o'er all the fields below.
Oh! make our land the noblest of the free,
An agent faithful to Thy Son and Thee;
So that she spread on each benighted shore,
Thy blessed Word, Thy everlasting lore,
Pregnant with promise to the human race,
If they but seek Thy clemency and grace
With contrite hearts, and ask with earnest prayer
A portion of Thy Heaven, to dwell for ever there!
To bring thy stray ones nearer to the sky,
Help us, inspire us, strengthen us to dare
All that is worthy in this world of care;
Oh! teach us how to teach, that we may sow
Thy truth, broadcast, o'er all the fields below.
Oh! make our land the noblest of the free,
An agent faithful to Thy Son and Thee;
So that she spread on each benighted shore,
Thy blessed Word, Thy everlasting lore,
Pregnant with promise to the human race,
If they but seek Thy clemency and grace
With contrite hearts, and ask with earnest prayer
A portion of Thy Heaven, to dwell for ever there!
| Miscellaneous poems (1861) | |