 | [Poems by Cary in] The poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary with introduction and notes |  |
STRENGTH OF SIN.
How lately and this beautiful earth
Was shut by darkness from my sight,
And all the mighty arch of blue
Was sparkling with its worlds of light.
Was shut by darkness from my sight,
And all the mighty arch of blue
Was sparkling with its worlds of light.
Waning and waning, one by one
They vanished as the day-star rose,
Till, lo! along the distant hills
The fire of sunrise burns and glows.
They vanished as the day-star rose,
Till, lo! along the distant hills
The fire of sunrise burns and glows.
And turning from the hosts of heaven
To the calm beauty of the earth,
I feel what goodness must be His
Who spoke its glories into birth.
To the calm beauty of the earth,
I feel what goodness must be His
Who spoke its glories into birth.
More than our hearts can comprehend,
Or our weak, blinded eyes can see,
The wisdom and the love of God,
How mighty and how vast they be.
Or our weak, blinded eyes can see,
The wisdom and the love of God,
How mighty and how vast they be.
Too fair for us to hate or leave
This world His hand has placed us in,
But for the presence and the power
Of that most fiery serpent, sin—
This world His hand has placed us in,
But for the presence and the power
Of that most fiery serpent, sin—
That first in Eden's peaceful shade
Uncoiled its bright and deadly folds,
And living still, and unsubdued,
Sends its dark poison through our souls.
Uncoiled its bright and deadly folds,
And living still, and unsubdued,
Sends its dark poison through our souls.
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But from his creatures, blind and lost,
God never wholly turned aside,
As power to save us from the curse
Was sent us when the Saviour died.
God never wholly turned aside,
As power to save us from the curse
Was sent us when the Saviour died.
All that is left us under heaven,
Hope of the lost and sin-enslaved,
The only Name on earth that 's given,
Whereby the souls of men are saved.
Hope of the lost and sin-enslaved,
The only Name on earth that 's given,
Whereby the souls of men are saved.
Thanks unto God, that He was sent
A sacred warfare to begin,
That in the end shall surely crush
And bind the infernal strength of sin!
A sacred warfare to begin,
That in the end shall surely crush
And bind the infernal strength of sin!
That by Him it shall be at last
Out from this fair creation hurled,
Who gave its death-blow when the cross
Was darkly planted in the world.
Out from this fair creation hurled,
Who gave its death-blow when the cross
Was darkly planted in the world.
And thanks to Him, that when the soul
In agony for mercy calls,
Right in the shadow of that cross
The sunlight of His pardon falls.
In agony for mercy calls,
Right in the shadow of that cross
The sunlight of His pardon falls.
| [Poems by Cary in] The poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary with introduction and notes | |