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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

So fair is _man_, that death (a parting blast,)
    Blasts his fair flower, and makes him earth at last;
    So strong is _man_, that with a gasping breath
    He totters, and bequeaths his strength to death;
    So wise is _man_, that if with death he strive,
    His wisdom cannot teach him how to live;
    So rich is _man_, that (all his debts being paid,)
    His wealth’s the winding-sheet wherein he’s laid;
    So young is _man_, that (broke with care and sorrow,)
    He’s old enough to-day to die to-morrow.
                                        _Francis Quarles._


    _Man’s_ not a lawful steersman of his days,
    His bootless wish nor hastens, nor delays;
    We are God’s hired workmen, He discharges
    Some late at night, and (when He list) enlarges
    Others at noon, and in the morning some:
    None may relieve himself, till He bid, Come.
                                  _Francis Quarles._


    Let us make _man_ in our own image, _man_
    In our similitudes, and let them rule
    Over the fish and fowl of both sea and air,
    Beast of the field, and over all the earth,
    And every creeping thing that creeps the ground.
    This said, He formed thee Adam, thee, O _man_!
    Dust of the ground; and in thy nostrils breathed
    The breath of life: in His own image, He
    Created thee--in the image of God
    Express.
                                            _Milton._


    When by His Word God had accomplished all,
    _Man_ to create He did a council call:
    Employed His hand to give the dust He took
    A graceful figure and majestic look;
    With His own breath conveyed into his breast
    Life and a soul fit to command the rest.
                                        _Waller._


                Alas! that _man_
    Must prove the direst enemy of _man_--
    His boasted reason wielded to contrive
    Dark systems of despair--his vaunted skill,
    To forge the fetters which enthral the soul.
                                  _A. Alexander._


    A beam ethereal, sullied and absorpt!
    Though sullied and dishonoured, still divine;
    Dim miniature of greatness absolute!
    An heir of glory! a frail child of dust!
    Helpless immortal! insect infinite!
    A worm! a god! I tremble at myself,
    And in myself am lost. At home a stranger,
    Thought wanders up and down, surprised, aghast,
    And wondering at her own. How reason reels!
    Oh! what miracle to _man_ to _man_!
                                            _Young._

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

So fair is _man_, that death (a parting blast,)
    Blasts his fair flower, and makes him earth at last;
    So strong is _man_, that with a gasping breath
    He totters, and bequeaths his strength to death;
    So wise is _man_, that if with death he strive,
    His wisdom cannot teach him how to live;
    So rich is _man_, that (all his debts being paid,)
    His wealth’s the winding-sheet wherein he’s laid;
    So young is _man_, that (broke with care and sorrow,)
    He’s old enough to-day to die to-morrow.
                                        _Francis Quarles._


    _Man’s_ not a lawful steersman of his days,
    His bootless wish nor hastens, nor delays;
    We are God’s hired workmen, He discharges
    Some late at night, and (when He list) enlarges
    Others at noon, and in the morning some:
    None may relieve himself, till He bid, Come.
                                  _Francis Quarles._


    Let us make _man_ in our own image, _man_
    In our similitudes, and let them rule
    Over the fish and fowl of both sea and air,
    Beast of the field, and over all the earth,
    And every creeping thing that creeps the ground.
    This said, He formed thee Adam, thee, O _man_!
    Dust of the ground; and in thy nostrils breathed
    The breath of life: in His own image, He
    Created thee--in the image of God
    Express.
                                            _Milton._


    When by His Word God had accomplished all,
    _Man_ to create He did a council call:
    Employed His hand to give the dust He took
    A graceful figure and majestic look;
    With His own breath conveyed into his breast
    Life and a soul fit to command the rest.
                                        _Waller._


                Alas! that _man_
    Must prove the direst enemy of _man_--
    His boasted reason wielded to contrive
    Dark systems of despair--his vaunted skill,
    To forge the fetters which enthral the soul.
                                  _A. Alexander._


    A beam ethereal, sullied and absorpt!
    Though sullied and dishonoured, still divine;
    Dim miniature of greatness absolute!
    An heir of glory! a frail child of dust!
    Helpless immortal! insect infinite!
    A worm! a god! I tremble at myself,
    And in myself am lost. At home a stranger,
    Thought wanders up and down, surprised, aghast,
    And wondering at her own. How reason reels!
    Oh! what miracle to _man_ to _man_!
                                            _Young._

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

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