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A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations: Consisting of Choice Passages from the Sacred Poetry of All Ages and Countries, Classified and Arranged, for Facility of Reference, Under Subject Headings; Illustrated by Striking Passages from Scripture, and Forming Altogether a Complete Book of Devotional Poetry.

Religion

A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations: Consisting of Choice Passages from the Sacred Poetry of All Ages and Countries, Classified and Arranged, for Facility of Reference, Under Subject Headings; Illustrated by Striking Passages from Scripture, and Forming Altogether a Complete Book of Devotional Poetry.

Quotations; Religious poetry

_Happy_ is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not
be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.--Psalm
cxxvii. 4, 5.

Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways.

For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: _happy_ shalt thou be,
and it shall be well with thee.--Psalm cxxviii. 1, 2.

Behold we count them _happy_ which endure.--James, v. 11.


    How _happy_ is he born or taught,
      That serveth not another’s will;
    Whose armour is his honest thought,
      And simple truth his highest skill;

    Whose passions not his masters are;
      Whose soul is still prepared for death;
    Not ty’d unto the world with care
      Of princes’ ear, or vulgar breath;

    Who hath his life from rumours freed;
      Whose conscience is his strong retreat;
    Whose state can neither flatterers feed,
      Nor ruin make oppressors great;

    Who envies none whom chance doth raise,
      Or vice; who never understood
    How deepest wounds are giv’n with praise,
      Nor rules of state, but rules of good;

    Who God doth late and early pray
      More of his grace than gifts to lend;
    And entertains the harmless day
      With a chosen book, or friend.

    This man is free from servile bands
      Of hope to rise, or fear to fall;
    Lord of himself, though not of lands,
      And having nothing, yet hath all.
                           _Sir Henry Wotton._


    He is a _happy_ man whose life, e’en now,
    Shows somewhat of that _happier_ life to come;
    Who, doomed to an obscure, but tranquil state,
    Is pleased with it, and, were he free to choose,
    Would make his fate his choice; whom peace, the fruit
    Of virtue, and whom virtue, fruit of faith,
    Prepare for _happiness_; bespeak him one
    Content indeed to sojourn while he must
    Below the skies, but having there his home.
    The world o’erlooks him in her busy search
    Of objects more illustrious in her view;
    And, occupied as earnestly as she,
    Though more sublimely, he o’erlooks the world.
    She scorns his pleasures, for she knows them not;
    He seeks not hers, for he has proved them vain.
                                                 _Cowper._


    _Happiness_ depends, as Nature shows,
    Less on exterior things than most suppose.
    Vigilant over all that He has made,
    Kind Providence attends with gracious aid;
    Bids equity throughout His works prevail,
    And weighs the nations in an even scale.
                                      _Cowper._

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Religion

A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations: Consisting of Choice Passages from the Sacred Poetry of All Ages and Countries, Classified and Arranged, for Facility of Reference, Under Subject Headings; Illustrated by Striking Passages from Scripture, and Forming Altogether a Complete Book of Devotional Poetry.

Quotations; Religious poetry

_Happy_ is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not
be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.--Psalm
cxxvii. 4, 5.

Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways.

For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: _happy_ shalt thou be,
and it shall be well with thee.--Psalm cxxviii. 1, 2.

Behold we count them _happy_ which endure.--James, v. 11.


    How _happy_ is he born or taught,
      That serveth not another’s will;
    Whose armour is his honest thought,
      And simple truth his highest skill;

    Whose passions not his masters are;
      Whose soul is still prepared for death;
    Not ty’d unto the world with care
      Of princes’ ear, or vulgar breath;

    Who hath his life from rumours freed;
      Whose conscience is his strong retreat;
    Whose state can neither flatterers feed,
      Nor ruin make oppressors great;

    Who envies none whom chance doth raise,
      Or vice; who never understood
    How deepest wounds are giv’n with praise,
      Nor rules of state, but rules of good;

    Who God doth late and early pray
      More of his grace than gifts to lend;
    And entertains the harmless day
      With a chosen book, or friend.

    This man is free from servile bands
      Of hope to rise, or fear to fall;
    Lord of himself, though not of lands,
      And having nothing, yet hath all.
                           _Sir Henry Wotton._


    He is a _happy_ man whose life, e’en now,
    Shows somewhat of that _happier_ life to come;
    Who, doomed to an obscure, but tranquil state,
    Is pleased with it, and, were he free to choose,
    Would make his fate his choice; whom peace, the fruit
    Of virtue, and whom virtue, fruit of faith,
    Prepare for _happiness_; bespeak him one
    Content indeed to sojourn while he must
    Below the skies, but having there his home.
    The world o’erlooks him in her busy search
    Of objects more illustrious in her view;
    And, occupied as earnestly as she,
    Though more sublimely, he o’erlooks the world.
    She scorns his pleasures, for she knows them not;
    He seeks not hers, for he has proved them vain.
                                                 _Cowper._


    _Happiness_ depends, as Nature shows,
    Less on exterior things than most suppose.
    Vigilant over all that He has made,
    Kind Providence attends with gracious aid;
    Bids equity throughout His works prevail,
    And weighs the nations in an even scale.
                                      _Cowper._

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

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