University of Virginia Library

Faith was the weapon! by it Luther fought,
Conquer'd himself, and then, the world subdued.
And what is That, but God by man applied
Above all reason, sense, and earth, and sin,
In things heroic, heavenly, or sublime?
From Abel's worship, e'en to Samuel's word
Faith was a magic which all wonders did;
Whether the pausing sun its cry obey'd
Or, the Moon hearken'd to its holy spell,
Or, Red Sea parted, by its kingly voice
Cloven, and balanced like a billowy wall
On either side, for heaven's anointed Host,
Scatheless the fire, or mute the lion's mouth
Became,—whatever in the kingdoms three
Of nature, providence, or grace, was done,
Faith was the doer, at whose potent cry
Empires and thrones, and alien armies fell,
Weakness grew strength, the mortal, half divine!

And what, without it, seems this fallen world
But Pandemonium, with a purer name?
Clothed in hell-fire, come any Shape of sin,
Take any form, satanic Guile! but this,
The Infidel!—the fellest blight which falls.
No foul elixir of a fiendish lie
So baneful as the cup, which Unbelief
Drains to the bottom with delirious joy.
Oh! 'tis a wasteful, with'ring, black disease
That to the vitals of all virtuous thought
And wisdom, sends a paralysing shock;
The very life-blood of all goodness dies
Before it; like a heart-fiend, lo! it rules;
All forms of excellence and feeling die,
The Beautiful departs, the Brave expires;
Hope hath no heaven, and fear no hell to face:
All high relations are at once relax'd
With God, and duty; self and passion rage
In the hot furnace of a seething heart
Resistless; men are now but fiends, with flesh
Apparell'd; lust becomes a brutal flame,
And all those moral harmonies, which make
Nature a noble, Man a godlike thing,
Have perish'd! Life is then a form of death;
The heart's insolvent; mind a bankrupt too;
Jehovah in eclipse Himself retires,
Till thus, all ghastliness the earth appears,
Orphan'd of God,—a suicidal world!

Here was thy rock, thy fortress, and thy rest,
A faith intense, beyond mutation firm,
Whose solid basis was th' eternal Heart
Open in scripture, by the Spirit read,
But in the life of Jesus heard to beat
With pulse almighty, in its love for man.
Here was thy spell, thy secret, and thy sway,
Thy lock of strength, unsever'd and unshorn.
Luther! in this thine earthly comment lies.
Here is the key, which all thy soul unlocks,
And lets mute Wonder, with exploring gaze
Each hidden region of thy spirit view.
Faith to thy being sun and shield supplied,
Summon'd the soul, and nerved the noble heart
With zeal untamed, to burn, or bleed, or die,
But tremble never!—Thine was spirit-life,
Whose solemn breathings were from scripture drawn,
And adoration; while, both heart and head
Motives and movements from the world to come
Divinely influenced with inspiring force,
Or sanction. Thus, thy mission was complete,
Thy virtue safe, and thy vocation seal'd.
Whether we mark thee, when that rugged face
Beam'd in bold triumph o'er the flaming Bull;
Or on thy forehead, where intrepid thought
Throned its high meaning in the hall of Worms,
Admiring Hist'ry fix her spell-bound gaze;
Or grateful Fancy, by the gospel led,
Bend o'er thy Bible, when some midnight-lamp
Lighted each feature, as the truths divine
Rose into life, by thy translating touch
Restored, or brighten'd,—still, in all we find
Faith was the secret power, whose shaping charm
Moulded the man, when most he grew sublime.

And, whatsoe'er our rank, degree, or lot,
Giant or dwarf in morals, or in mind,
'Tis faith alone true character can build.
Not as we learn, but as we live, we are;
And as we live, with things divinely pure,
These in their depths, we rightly understand.
Since faith is rooted in eternal life;
And all fair promise in the tree of man
Blossoms from thence, or dies a mocking show
Fruitless, and fragile. Give us faith, O God!
Faith in Thyself, and that will Thee impart;
Chaste will life be, and calm its closing hours,
To them who have Thee, all their hearts and souls
Possessing ever, and by them possess'd.
In Thee, and by Thee,—thus they live, and love,
They think, they suffer, what they act, achieve!
In all things, heaven and holiness abound;
Minutest objects Thine hand-writing prove,
And Life becomes one grateful hymn to Thee.
So, when that trump, whose archangelic peal
Shall sound the tocsin of creation's doom,
Thunders its challenge, Faith shall then arise
And, firm as Jesus on The Judgment throne,
Look on thy face, Eternity! and smile.