28. ACTION. Life in 30. ACTION. Quality of Festus. The value of a thought cannot be told; REDEEM we time-its loss we dearly buy. But it is clearly worth a thousand lives, Like many men's. And yet men love to live, As if mere life were worth their living for. What but perdition will it be to most? No blank, no trifle, nature made or meant. Life's more than breath and the quick round of blood. This greatens, fills, immortalizes all; It is a great spirit and a busy heart. The coward and the small in soul scarce do live. One generous feeling-one great thought-one deed Of good, ere night, would make life longer seem Than if each year might number a thousand days— Spent as is this by nations of mankind. This, the bless'd art of turning all to gold; We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; Who does the best his circumstance allows In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives Who thinks most,-feels the noblest,-acts the best. 29. ACTION. Present Philip James Bailey. HEART gazing mournfully Back through past years— Bringing sad memories, Laden with tears Life's hours wasted, Talents abused, Bright opportunities Fraught with such pain; Return not again. Grasp thou the Present, Be earnest and boldFleeting its moments, More precious than gold. Watch and fight bravely Pray for the Spirit, The victory to win. Veiled and slow? Praise thou the Lord. Bow to His word. Does well, acts nobly; angels could no more. Young. 31. ACTION. Record of THOUGH history, on her faded scrolls, Fragments of facts and wrecks of names enrolls, Time's indefatigable finger writes Men's meanest actions on their souls, In lines which not himself can blot : In that concentred instant, trace, Upon the tablet of his mind, His whole existence in a thought combined, There's room here for the weakest man alive Their grave-cold flowers! through honour's best supplied, By bringing actions to prove theirs not vain. Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Good 34. ACTIONS. GOOD actions crown themselves with lasting bays, Who deserves well needs not another's praise. Heath. Balm wouldst thou gather for corroding grief? Breathes freely its perfumes throughout the ambient air. Wake, thou that sleepest in enchanted bowers, Some high or humble enterprise of good 41. ACTIVITY: how much it accomplishes. Seizes the prompt occasion, -makes the thought Make haste, O man, to do Up then with speed, and work; Up, watch, and work, and pray! The useful, not the great, The thing that never dies; The silent toil that is not lost,Set these before thine eyes. The seed, whose leaf and flower, Though poor in human sight, Brings forth at last the eternal fruit, Sow thou by day and night. Make haste, O man, to live, O sleep not, dream not, but arise, The Judge is at the door. Make haste, O man, to live! 43. ACTIVITY: its necessity. LET'S take the instant by the forward top; Take the instant way; 44 ACTIVITY. Mental THERE is a fire-fly in the southern clime Philip James Bailey. 45. ACTIVITY: must not be excessive. Two of far nobler shape, erect and tall, The loveliest pair That ever since in love's embraces met : Adam the goodliest man of men since born His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve. Milton. 49. ADAM AND EVE. Transgression of She pluck'd it bower'd in leaves, and took her way Eve with flush'd cheek and agitated mien His heart sank, and his lip quiver'd. And when Her answer, his reply, her touch, her taste, Fell human tears, presage of myriad showers. She pray'd him share with her the fruit she bore 'O Eve, my wife, Heaven's last, Heaven's dearest gift, what hast thou done? Me miserable! Thou hast undone thyself, Both cannot live, and therefore both must die.' Love's semblance, which belied its name, denying Edward Henry Bickersteth. 50. ADAPTATION. Utility of A SMITH at the loom and a weaver at the forge were but sorry craftsmen : And a ship that saileth on every wind never shall reach her port; Yet there be thousands among men who heed not the leaning of their talents, But, cutting against the grain, toil on to no good end; And the light of a thoughtful spirit is quenched beneath the bushel of commerce, While meaner plodding minds are driven up the mountain of philosophy; The cedar withereth on a wall, while the house-leek is fattening in a hotbed; And the dock, with its rank leaves, hideth the sun from violets. To everything a fitting place, a proper, honourable use; The humblest measure of mind is bright in its humbler sphere; The blind at an easel, the palsied with a graver, the halt making for the goal, The deaf ear tuning psaltery, the stammerer discoursing eloquence,— What wonder if all fail? the shaft flieth wide of its mark Alike if itself be crooked, or the bow be strung awry. Tupper. 51. ADIEU. Import of ADIEU! adieu! what means adieu! James Montgomery. 52. ADMIRATION: and Esteem. THEY say that esteem is a diamond so bright, It enkindles the eye that by sorrow is shaded; But glory to me is the sun's dazzling light, That illumines a world which in darkness had faded. Esteem is the dew-drop that freshens the flower; 53. ADVENT. Christ's first AWAY with sorrow's sigh, Our prayers are heard on high; And through heaven's crystal door, On this our earthly floor, Comes meek-eyed Peace to walk with poor mortality. In dead of night profound, Of never-ending morn; The Lord of glory born Within a holy grot on this our sullen ground. O sight of strange surprise That fills our gazing eyes! And swaddling-bands so rude, A leaning mother poor, and child that helpless lies. Art Thou, O wondrous sight, Of lights the very Light, Who holdest in Thy hand The sky and sea and land, 55. ADVENT, THE SECOND: importance of preparation for it. BEHOLD, the Bridegroom cometh in the middle of the night, And blest is he whose loins are girt, whose lamp is burning bright; But woe to that dull servant whom the Master shall surprise Who than the glorious heavens art more exceeding With lamp untrimm'd, unburning, and with slumber bright? 'Tis so: Faith darts before, And, through the cloud drawn o'er, Where angels prostrate fall, Adoring, tremble still, and trembling still adore. Within us, babe Divine, Be born, and make us Thine; Within our souls reveal Thy love and power to heal; in his eyes! Do thou, my soul, beware, beware, lest thou in sleep sink down, Lest thou be given o'er to death, and lose the golden crown; But see that thou be sober, with watchful eyes, and thus Cry 'Holy, holy, holy God, have mercy upon us!' That day, the day of fear, shall come: my soul, slack not thy toil, Be born, and make our hearts Thy cradle and Thy But light thy lamp, and feed it well, and make it shrine.-Isaac Williams. 54. ADVENT, THE SECOND: its approach. O'ER the distant mountains breaking On His bright returning way. When wilt Thou return to me? Far away from Thee I pine, When, O when, shall I the gladness Of Thy Spirit feel in mine? O my Saviour! When shall I be wholly Thine? Nearer is my soul's salvation, Spent the night, the day at hand; Keep me in my lowly station, Watching for Thee, till I stand, O my Saviour! In Thy bright and promised land. Come, my Saviour! bright with oil; Who knowest not how soon may sound the cry at eventide, 'Behold, the Bridegroom comes! Arise! Go forth to meet the Bride.' Beware, my soul; beware, beware, lest thou in slumber lie, And, like the five, remain without, and knock and vainly cry; But watch, and bear thy lamp undimm'd, and Christ shall gird thee on His own bright wedding-robe of light,-the glory of the Son.-Tr. from the Greek by G. Moultrie. 56. ADVENT, THE SECOND: its nearness. Thy spirit, through the lonely night, The Bridegroom of thy heart. But see! the night is waning fast, Thy drooping heart to cheer. He comes-for oh! His yearning heart To scenes of full, unmingled joy, To call His bride away. |