The Poetical Works of Robert Montgomery :: :: University of Virginia Library

Yet, not from nature, solitude, or night,
Nor wedded life, with all its household-sweets,
The sober quiet or the sterling joy,
His force to grapple with infernal Arms,
Wisdom to guard or prudence to restrain
The lawless plunges of impassion'd will,—
The brave Reformer drew: below the skies
No charm was found which could have moulded him:
From One high Source both cause, and courage sprang.
And that, divine!—from spirit-breathing prayer
Hour after hour communing with His God.

He loved the Bible; and he lived it, too;
Till each bright promise to experience turn'd
By faith transmuted, or by love enjoy'd.
The source of Luther was a strength of Prayer
Frequent, and full, and fervidly inspired,
As oft the castled gloom of Coburg heard.
Though loud the Reformation-battle grew
And empires as with moral earthquake heaved,
Throned was his spirit in Elysian calm!
But, where man wonders, faith can all explain.
'Twas God within, made Luther great without;
Whether, against that triple-crown'd Pretence,
The mitred Antichrist of Rome, he hurl'd
His thunders; or, on sacerdotal crimes

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Pour'd the just vengeance of his free-born words,
Prayer was his panoply; the shield and strength
That arm'd him for the fight, and kept him there.
With this, the World, the Arch-fiend and the Flesh
Combined, he nobly fought, and bravely fell'd.
And we inherit what his prayers procured:
For, light in conscience, liberty in creed,
And the pure freedom of our British faith,
How much to blessings drawn by Luther's voice
From the high sanctuary of heaven, they owe!
Yea, half the glory living Empires boast
Springs from that mercy which the monk procured,
When Godhead listen'd to a Luther's prayer!

And round a privilege august as this
Less than inspired no language can entwine
The wreath, how due! of evangelic praise.
Prayer from eternity true riches gains
To make the poverty of time less poor;
Heaven down to earth, and earth to heaven it brings,
While Love with Deity by faith confers:
And mark! through nature, providence, and grace
What miracles hath mighty prayer achieved!
The kingly Elements their thrones have left
To bow before it, and obey, though vast,
Its high dominion: Flood, and Sea, and Fire
Have soften'd their severity of force,
Suspended by it; Sun and Moon have paused
In wonder, on their cars of wheeling flame,
As if arrested by th' Almighty's touch;
And the wild brute, which not a world could bend,
Meek as a lamb, before a Saint has crouch'd
Harmless and mute, when it beheld him pray!
Heroes in heart, in principle, or power,
Hath prayer alone with high perfection crown'd:
While saints, and martyrs, and the men of old,
Giants in grace, who grappled with the Fiend
Or threw him bravely in the spirit's fight,
By valiant prayer their elevation reach'd:
And earth's Emmanuel, in His day of flesh
Outwatch'd the midnight with His mountain-prayer;
And from the deep abyss of Godhead drew
His faith intense, his fortitude divine:
And all, who love the cause eternal, must
Like their pure Master, fight the world with prayer,
And strike for God, by God himself inspired!