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Inspiration.
All who have toiled for Art, who've won or lost,Sat equal priests at her high Pentecost;Only the chrism and sacrament of flame,Anointing all, inspired not all the same.
Madison Julius Cawein
Insight
Power that by obedience grows,Knowledge which its source not knows,Wave which severs whom it bearsFrom the things which he compares,Adding wings through things to range,To his own blood harsh and strange.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Of The True Endeavour
Happy he in whom the honest love of fair endeavour lingers,Who has strength to do his labour, and has pride to do it well,Carve he gems of purest water with an artists cunning fingers,Hew the granite, forge the beam, or make a simple tale to tellHis to feel a glow ecstatic of the mighty exhultationThat arose when out of chaos all the wheeling planets stood.Since when God beheld the wonder, saw the stir of His creationIn the busy scheme of heaven, and He said that it was good,Never man has made with willing hands some thing of true intention,Cut in bone a strange, rude picture to inspire the naked hordes,Or contrived a subtle engine with laborious invention,But has entered straight and freely to the joy that was the LordsThose so blessed have with t...
Edward
Aspiration
I stand to-day on higher groundThan ever reached before,Yet from this summit I have found,Outlined full many more,Which seem to pierce the vaulted sky,And prove my effort vainBut God will set my feet on high,Thro' grace I shall attain.Yet higher still my ideal stands,Its peak but dimly seen,But hope impels, and love commands,And faith discerns its sheen;And when I reach its shining heightHeaven's gate will open wide;I'll see the beatific sight,And rest at Jesus' side.
Joseph Horatio Chant
Motive
Worthless, the man who works - he knows not why, Whom naught inspires to his puny plan, Who seeming plays his part instinctively: Soulless, and falsely designated "man." Wicked, who works from wish of worldly gain, - His soul surrendered to th'accursèd lust Of pleasure partial, briefly to remain, Of treasure liable to moth and rust. Foolish and vain is he whose motive - fame, Ruled by desire of honor and renown; And fondly courting Fortune's fickle Dame, - To-day she smiles, to-morrow she will frown. But virtuous, noble, prompted from above, Preluding now the perfect life again, Is he, whose only inspiration, love, Love to his God and to his fellow-men....
W. M. MacKeracher
Hope
Faith may break on reason,Faith may prove a treasonTo that highest giftThat is granted by Thy grace;But Hope! Ah, let us cherishSome spark that may not perish,Some tiny spark to cheer us,As we wander through the waste!A little lamp beside us,A little lamp to guide us,Where the path is rocky,Where the road is steep.That when the light falls dimmer,Still some God-sent glimmerMay hold us steadfast ever,To the track that we should keep.Hope for the trending of it,Hope for the ending of it,Hope for all around us,That it ripens in the sun.Hope for what is waning,Hope for what is gaining,Hope for what is waitingWhen the long day is done.Hope that He, the nameless,May still b...
Arthur Conan Doyle
Most Blest Is He
Most blest is he who in the morning timeSets forth upon his journey with no staffShaped by another for his use. Who seesThe imminent necessity for toil,And with each morning wakens to the thoughtOf tasks that wait his doing. Never yetHas unearned leisure and the gift of goldBestowed such benefits upon the youngAs need and loneliness; and when life addsThe burden of a duty, difficult,And hard to carry, then rejoice, O soul!And know thyself one chosen for high things.Behind thee walk the Helpers. Yet lead on!They only help the lifters, and they giveBut unto those who also freely give.Not till thy will, thy courage, and thy strengthHave done their utmost, and thy love has flowedIn pity and compassion, out to all(The worthless,...
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Charity : A Paraphrase On 1 Cor. Chap. 13
Did sweeter Sounds adorn my flowing Tongue,Than ever Man pronounc'd, or Angel sung:Had I all Knowledge, Human and Divine,That Thought can reach, or Science can define;And had I Pow'r to give that Knowledge Birth,In all the Speeches of the babbling Earth:DidShadrach's Zeal my glowing Breast inspire,To weary Tortures, and rejoice in Fire:Or had I Faith like That whichIsrael saw,WhenMoses gave them Miracles, and Law:Yet, graciousCharity, indulgent Guest,Were not Thy Pow'r exerted in my Breast;Those Speeches would send up unheeded Pray'r:That Scorn of Life would be but wild Despair:A Tymbal's Sound were better than my Voice:My Faith were Form: my Eloquence were Noise.Charity, decent, modest, easy, kind,Softens the high, and rears the ab...
Matthew Prior
The Three Guides. [First published in Fraser's Magazine.]
Spirit of Earth! thy hand is chill:I've felt its icy clasp;And, shuddering, I remember stillThat stony-hearted grasp.Thine eye bids love and joy depart:Oh, turn its gaze from me!It presses down my shrinking heart;I will not walk with thee!"Wisdom is mine," I've heard thee say:"Beneath my searching eyeAll mist and darkness melt away,Phantoms and fables fly.Before me truth can stand alone,The naked, solid truth;And man matured by worth will own,If I am shunned by youth."Firm is my tread, and sure though slow;My footsteps never slide;And he that follows me shall knowI am the surest guide."Thy boast is vain; but were it trueThat thou couldst safely steerLife's rough and devious pathway through,S...
Anne Bronte
God In Growth.
I said, I will arise and work some thing,Nor be content with growth, but cause to growA life around me, clear as yes from no,That to my restless hand some rest may bring,And give a vital power to Action's spring:Thus, I must cease to be! I cried; when, lo!An angel stood beside me on the snow,With folded wings that came of pondering."God's glory flashes on the silence hereBeneath the moon," he cried, and upward threwHis glorious eyes that swept the utmost blue,"Ere yet his bounding brooks run forth with cheerTo bear his message to the hidden yearWho cometh up in haste to make his glory new."
George MacDonald
Devotional Incitements
"Not to the earth confined,Ascend to heaven."Where will they stop, those breathing Powers,The Spirits of the new-born flowers?They wander with the breeze, they windWhere'er the streams a passage find;Up from their native ground they riseIn mute aerial harmonies;From humble violet, modest thyme,Exhaled, the essential odours climb,As if no space below the skyTheir subtle flight could satisfy:Heaven will not tax our thoughts with prideIf like ambition be 'their' guide.Roused by this kindliest of May-showers,The spirit-quickener of the flowers,That with moist virtue softly cleavesThe buds, and freshens the young leaves,The birds pour forth their souls in notesOf rapture from a thousand throatsHere checked b...
William Wordsworth
Gather The Wayside Flowers
'Tis well to have a goal in mind,A life-aim, high and true;Clear as the day, and well defined,And ever kept in view.But God has strewn along the wayBright flowers of every hue.Gather the brightest while you may,For they were meant for you.Heaven's joy transcends the joys of earth,But if earth's joys be pureThey must have had a heavenly birth,And bless while they endure;So pluck the flower before it fades--Drink from the purling stream;Nor look for sorrow's darkening shades,But for the morning gleam.Life's burdens lose full half their weightIf gay our spirits be;The rest beyond we antedate,And serve, though ever free.Our lamentations all will end,Exchanged for smile and song,And men will mark our u...
Hope evermore and believe!
Hope evermore and believe, O man, for een as thy thoughtSo are the things that thou seest; een as thy hope and belief.Cowardly art thou and timid? they rise to provoke thee against them,Hast thou courage? enough, see them exulting to yield.Yea, the rough rock, the dull earth, the wild seas furying waters(Violent sayst thou and hard, mighty thou thinkst to destroy),All with ineffable longing are waiting their Invader,All, with one varying voice, call to him, Come and subdue;Still for their Conqueror call, and, but for the joy of being conquered(Rapture they will not forego), dare to resist and rebel;Still, when resisting and raging, in soft undervoice say unto him,Fear not, retire not, O man; hope evermore and believe.Go from the east to the west, as the sun and ...
Arthur Hugh Clough
The Narrow Way
Believe not those who sayThe upward path is smooth,Lest thou shouldst stumble in the way,And faint before the truth.It is the only roadUnto the realms of joy;But he who seeks that blest abodeMust all his powers employ.Bright hopes and pure delightUpon his course may beam,And there, amid the sternest heights,The sweetest flowerets gleam.On all her breezes borne,Earth yields no scents like those;But he that dares not gasp the thornShould never crave the rose.Arm--arm thee for the fight!Cast useless loads away;Watch through the darkest hours of night;Toil through the hottest day.Crush pride into the dust,Or thou must needs be slack;And trample down rebellious lust,Or it will h...
Success.
Oft have I brooded on defeat and pain,The pathos of the stupid, stumbling throng.These I ignore to-day and only longTo pour my soul forth in one trumpet strain,One clear, grief-shattering, triumphant song,For all the victories of man's high endeavor,Palm-bearing, laureled deeds that live forever,The splendor clothing him whose will is strong.Hast thou beheld the deep, glad eyes of oneWho has persisted and achieved? Rejoice!On naught diviner shines the all-seeing sun.Salute him with free heart and choral voice,'Midst flippant, feeble crowds of spectres wan,The bold, significant, successful man.
Emma Lazarus
The Goal.
Each life converges to some centreExpressed or still;Exists in every human natureA goal,Admitted scarcely to itself, it may be,Too fairFor credibility's temerityTo dare.Adored with caution, as a brittle heaven,To reachWere hopeless as the rainbow's raimentTo touch,Yet persevered toward, surer for the distance;How highUnto the saints' slow diligenceThe sky!Ungained, it may be, by a life's low venture,But then,Eternity enables the endeavoringAgain.
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson
Hymn
There is in all the sons of menA love that in the spirit dwells,That panteth after things unseen,And tidings of the future tells.And God hath built his altar hereTo keep this fire of faith alive,And sent his priests in holy fearTo speak the truth--for truth to strive.And hither come the pensive trainOf rich and poor, of young and old,Of ardent youth untouched by pain,Of thoughtful maids and manhood bold.They seek a friend to speak the wordAlready trembling on their tongue,To touch with prophet's hand the chordWhich God in human hearts hath strung.To speak the plain reproof of sinThat sounded in the soul before,And bid you let the angels inThat knock at meek contrition's door.A friend to lift...
Faith
I.Doubt no longer that the Highest is the wisest and the best,Let not all that saddens Nature blight thy hope or break thy rest,Quail not at the fiery mountain, at the shipwreck, or the rollingThunder, or the rending earthquake, or the famine, or the pest!II.Neither mourn if human creeds be lower than the hearts desire!Thro the gates that bar the distance comes a gleam of what is higher.Wait till Death has flung them open, when the man will make the MakerDark no more with human hatreds in the glare of deathless fire!
Alfred Lord Tennyson