Devotional Verses Founded on and Illustrative of select Texts of Scripture [by Bernard Barton] |
 |
PHILIP'S QUERY TO THE EUNUCH. |
 | Devotional Verses |  |
197
PHILIP'S QUERY TO THE EUNUCH.
“Understandest thou what thou readest?”
—Acts, viii. 30.
How needful the inquiry still,
When we consult the sacred page,
Wherein God's high and holy will
Is yet reveal'd from age to age.
When we consult the sacred page,
Wherein God's high and holy will
Is yet reveal'd from age to age.
'Tis well of our own hearts to ask,
If what we read we comprehend?
Or worse than profitless a task,
Which may to condemnation tend.
If what we read we comprehend?
Or worse than profitless a task,
Which may to condemnation tend.
We must not by our powers as men
Expect those oracles to know;
Or fathom, by our reason's ken,
The mighty depths conceal'd below.
Expect those oracles to know;
Or fathom, by our reason's ken,
The mighty depths conceal'd below.
198
Nor should we, with inactive mind,
Too much on others' aid rely,—
Trusting, like him of old, to find
Some Philip opportunely nigh.
Too much on others' aid rely,—
Trusting, like him of old, to find
Some Philip opportunely nigh.
In humble faith, with watchful prayer,
Dig for thyself within that mine;
God's holy grace must guide thee there,
And make its hidden treasures thine.
Dig for thyself within that mine;
God's holy grace must guide thee there,
And make its hidden treasures thine.
The Spirit, which gave Scripture birth,
Must yet interpret it to man,
Or much of its divinest worth
Dimly and darkly he must scan.
Must yet interpret it to man,
Or much of its divinest worth
Dimly and darkly he must scan.
But, open'd by that heavenly key,
Which turns at God's divine command,
The eye its mysteries can see,—
The heart its truths can understand.
Which turns at God's divine command,
The eye its mysteries can see,—
The heart its truths can understand.
| Devotional Verses | |