We have the promise of th' eternal truth, Their way to everlasting bliss; Through the vast round of beatific love, No, 't is in vain to seek for bliss, For bliss can ne'er be found 'Till we arrive where Jesus is, And tread on heav'nly ground. John Pomfret. When we have slept that dreamless sleep, O may we wake no more to weep, True bliss, the flower of Paradise, Beyond the ravages of time; True bliss, the flower of Paradise, Watts. John Linden. W. J. Brock. It groweth only 'neath those skies In heaven, an amaranthine flower, Egone. BLINDNESS. THE Lord openeth the eyes of the blind.--Psalm cxlvi. 8. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened.-Isaiah, xxxv. 5. He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind.-Luke, iv. 18. Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.-Ephesians, iv. 18. WHEN I consider how my light is spent Ere half my days in this dark world and wide, My true account, lest he returning chide; "Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?" I fondly ask: but patience, to prevent That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need Either man's works, or his own gifts; who best Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best: His state Is kingly, thousands at his bidding speed, And post o'er land and ocean without rest; They also serve, who only stand and wait." Milton. There is a poor Blind Man, who every day, Ask why, alone, in the same spot he kneels As dark to him; here, he no longer feels His sad bereavement-Faith and Hope uphold His heart-he feels not he is poor and blind, Amid the unpitying tumult of mankind: As thro' the aisles the choral anthems roll, His soul is in the choirs above the skies, And songs, far off, of angel companies. Oh! happy, if the Rich-the Vain-the Proud- Would learn one Lesson from a poor Blind Man. Lisle Bowles. I see, and yet I see not; outward things The fresh, cool verdure of succeeding springs; The forests rich with their autumnal gold; Before me, and I see them with delight: But in God's temple the great lamp is out, And he must worship glory in the dark! Till death, in midnight mystery, hath brought The veiled soul's re-illuminating sparkThe pillar of the cloud enfolds the Ark! And, like a man that prayeth underground In Bethlehem's rocky shrine, he can but mark The lingering hours by circumstance and sound, And break, with gentle hymns, the solemn silence round. Yet still life's better light shines out above! Who for Bethesda's waters vainly yearned: BLOOD. AND Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you.-Exodus, xxiv. 8. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.-Psalm li. 14. By the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit.-Zechariah, ix. 11. God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.--Acts, xvii. 26. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.-Hebrews, ix. 12. Almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.-Hebrews, ix. 22. The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin.-I. John, i. 7. STRANGE is it that our bloods, Of colour, weight, and heat, poured all together, Ye Sacred Writings! on whose antique leaves That, bloody man to save, man's Saviour shed his blood. Giles Fletcher. O, thou great Power! in whom we move, Was world's of seas to quench thine ire: And said by him, that said no more, Sir Henry Wotton. Stretched on the cross, the Saviour dies, There is a fountain filled with blood, The dying thief rejoiced to see O may I there, though vile as he, Dear dying Lamb! thy precious blood Till all the ransomed church of God Not all the blood of beasts Could give the guilty conscience peace, But Christ the heavenly Lamb, A sacrifice of nobler name, G Steele. Cowper. Watts. |