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SOLEMN praise

And prayers devoutly breathed, the tears, the sighs
Of penitential grief, the broken heart,
Now formed the Gentile's purer sacrifice
To the true God. The philosophic lore
Of learned Athens, sunk ere long, eclipsed
By truth's resistless blaze. The vain parade
Of empty jargon, and unmeaning forms,
No longer won the prostituted praise

Of wondering Greece. The Stoic's fond pretence
Was urged no more; the boasted apathist
Confessed the strength of nature, owned the power,

The use of passion, deigned to feel himself

And sympathize the miseries of man.

THE silver trumpet's heavenly call

JOHN LETTICE.

Sounds for the poor, but sounds alike for all;
Kings are invited, and, would kings obey,

No slaves on earth more welcome were than they;
But royalty, nobility, and state,

Are such a dead, preponderating weight,

That endless bliss, how strange soe'er it seem,
In counterpoise flies up, and kicks the beam.

(See also BIBLE, REVELATION.)

COWPER.

GRACE-MERCY-PARDON.

MERCY is seasonable in the time of affliction, as clouds of rain in the time of drought. ECCLESIASTICUS, XXXV, 20.

We have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ROMANS, v, 2.

My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. II. CORINTHIANS, xii, 9.

The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. TITUS, ii, 11. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth with such as keep His covenant and testimonies. PSALM XXV, 10.

The Lord is good to all; and His tender mercies are over all His works. PSALM cxlv, 9.

Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. LUKE, vi, 36.

MERCY, that wipes the penitential tear,
And dissipates the horrors of despair,

From righteous justice steals the 'vengeful hour,
Softens the dreadful attribute of power,

Disarms the wrath of an offended God,

And seals my pardon in a Saviour's blood!

MRS. CARTER.

THOUGH Nature her inverted course forego,
The day forget to rest, the time to flow,
Yet shall Jehovah's servants stand secure,
His Mercy, fixed, eternal shall endure;
On them her everlasting rays shall shine,

More mild and bright, and sure, O sun! than thine.
BP. LOWTH.

IN the course of justice, none of us

Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy,

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render

The deeds of mercy.

SHAKSPEARE.

MANKIND are all pilgrims on life's weary road,
And many would wander astray
In seeking Eternity's silent abode,
Did Mercy not point out the way!

G. P. MORRIS,

THE quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed;
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.
SHAKSPEARE.

Ir is an attribute of God himself,

And earthly power doth then show liker God's,
When mercy seasons justice.

SHAKSPEARE.

THE flesh being proud, Desire doth fight with Grace, And there it revels, and when that decays,

The guilty rebel for remission prays. SHAKSPEARE.

THAT word, Grace,

In an ungracious mouth, is but profane.

By all the tender mercy

SHAKSPEARE.

God hath shown to human grief,
When fate, or man's perverseness,
Denied and barr'd relief,-

By the helpless woe which taught me
To look to Him alone,

From the vain appeals for justice

And wild efforts of my own,—
By thy light-thou unseen future,
And thy tears-thou bitter past,

I will hope though all forsake me-
In His Mercy to the last!

MRS. NORTON.

WHEN winter fortunes cloud the brows

Of summer friends,-when eyes grow strange,— When plighted faith forgets its vows,

When earth and all things in it change,

O Lord, thy mercies fail me never-
Where once thou lovest, thou lovest for ever!

O GOD! how beautiful the thought,

How merciful the bless'd decree,

JOHN QUARLES

That Grace can e'er be found, when sought,
And naught shut out the soul from Thee.
The cell may cramp, the fetters gall,
The flame may scorch, the rack may tear;
But torture, stake, or prison-wall,

Can be endured with faith and prayer.

ELIZA COOK.

MERCY descends

From Heaven, and o'er the penitential heart,
Rent by the agonizing pangs of guilt,
Spreads the soft blessings of internal peace.

SAMUEL HAYES.

O, THOU bounteous Giver of all good,

Thou art of all Thy gifts, Thyself the crown;
Give what Thou canst, without Thee we are poor;
And with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away!

COWPER

IF Heaven

Did in the balance of strict justice weigh
The iniquity of men, who could abide
Its judgment? Did not Mercy temper wrath,
Eternal ruin would o'erwhelm mankind.

SAMUEL HAYES.

MERCY'S gentle attribute

Tempers the grief: He protects the poor
In needful hour of dearth, and from the dust
Raises the weeping penitent: His wrath
The blood of goats averts not, or the fat
Of costly hecatombs. Nor deigns He not
With pity's eye, the contrite heart to view
And troubled spirit: purest sacrifice
By Him accepted.

O, THOU, whose piercing thought
Doth note each secret path,
For mercy to Thy throne we fly,
From man's condemning wrath.

How fearless should our trust
In Thy compassion be,

When from our brother of the dust

THOMAS ZOUCH.

We dare appeal to Thee!

MRS. SIGOURNEY.

BUT grace, abused, brings forth the foulest deeds,
As richest soil, the most luxuriant weeds.

COWPER.

once

WHY, all the souls that were, were forfeit
And He that might the vantage best have took,
Found out the remedy. How would you be,
If He which is the top of judgment, should
But judge you, as you are? O, think on that!
And mercy then will breathe within your lips,
Like man new made.
SHAKSPEARE.

Ir, when you make your prayers,

God should be so obdurate as yourselves,
How would it fare with your departed souls?

SHAKSPEARE

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