The passions of puny man; the majestic characters of God; The feverish shadows of time, and the mighty substance of eternity. Commend thy mind unto candour, and grudge not as though thou hadst ■ teacher, Nor scorn angelic Truth for the sake of her evil herald; Heed not him, but hear his words, and care not whence they come; 1 come a man of peace, to comfort, not to combat; With soft persuasive speech to charm thy patient ear, Giving the hand of fellowship, acknowledging the heart of sympathy: THE WORDS OF WISDOM. Few and precious are the words which the lips of Wisdom utter: No lovely thing on earth can picture all their beauty. They be chance pearls, flung among the rocks by the sullen waters of Oblivion. Which Diligence loveth to gather, and hang round the neck of Memory; They be white-winged seeds of happiness, wafted from the islands of the blessed, Which Thought carefully tendeth, in the kindly garden of the heart; They be sproutings of an harvest for eternity, bursting through the tilth of time, Green promise of the golden wheat, that yieldeth angels' food; They be drops of the crystal dew, which the wings of seraphs scatter, When on some brighter Sabbath, their plumes quiver most with delight; Such, and so precious, are the words which the lips of Wisdom utter. Yet more, for the half is not said, of their might, and dignity, and value, Yet once again, loving student, suffer the praises of thy teacher. And kindling the eye of youth with a fire not its own; And her words, whereunto canst thou liken them? for earth cannot show their peers: They be grains of the diamond sand, the radiant floor of heaven, Rising in sunny dust behind the chariot of God; They be flashes of the day-spring from on high, saed from the windows of the skies; They be streams of living waters, fresh from the fountain of Intelligence: Such and so precious, are the words which the lips of Wisdom utter. For these shall guide thee well, and guard thee on thy way; And wanting all beside, with these shalt thou be rich: Thy good shall grow into ripeness, thine evil wither and decay, And Wisdom's words shall sweetly charm thy doubtful into virtues: For thou hast a silken clue, to lead thee through the darkness: OF TRUTH IN THINGS FALSE RROR is a hardy plant; it flourisheth in every soil; n the heart of the wise and good, alike with the wicked and foolish; of wrong. And the prudent, perceiving an advantage, is content to overlook the harin On all things created remaineth the half-effaced signature of God, Some what of fair and good, though blotted by the finger of corruption. And those who thirst for independence, are suffered to drink of disappoint ment. Wherefore?—to prove and humble them; and to teach the idolaters o truth, That it is but the ladder unto Him, on whom only they should trust. There is truth in the wildest scheme that imaginative heat hath engen dered, And a man may gather somewhat from the crudest theories of fancy: For their whereabout lieth in a mystery—that vestibule leading to Eternity, Mind may act upon mind, though bodies be far divided; For the life is in the blood, but souls communicate unseen: And the heat of an excited intellect, radiating to its fellows, Doth kindle dry leaves afar off, while the green wood around it is unwarmed. The dog may have a spirit as well as his brutal master; A spirit to live in happiness; for why should he be robbed of his existence ! rue it. A frequent similar effect argueth a constant cause: Yet who hath counted the links that bind an oinen to its issue? ous, Blithely speeding on their course the children of good luck? Who hath companioned a vision from the horn or ivory gate, (*) ur met an other's mind in his, and explained its presence? 'There is a secret somewhat in antipathies; and love is more than fancy, That catch events in their approach with sure and apt presentiment, O man, little hast thou learnt of truth in things most true, How therefore shall thy blindness wot of truth in things most false? How then canst thou define the subtle sympathies of mind? For the spirit, sharpest and strongest when disease hath rent the body, Hath welcomed kindred spirits in nightly visitations, Or learnt from restless ghosts dark secrets of the living. And helped slow justice to her prey by the dreadful teaching of a dream. Verily, there is nothing so true, that the damps of error have not warp ed it; Verily, there is nothing so false, that a sparkle of truth is not in it. He destroyeth, but cannot build; for he is not antagonist deity: |