He that alone would wise and mighty be, Commands that others love, as well as He. Love as He loved! how can we soar so high? He can add wings when He commands to fly. Nor should we be with this command dismayed, He that examples gives, will give His aid; For He took flesh, that where His precepts fail, His practice as a pattern might prevail. _Waller._ In what torn ship soever I embark, That ship shall be an emblem of Thy ark; What sea soever swallow me, that flood Shall be to me an emblem of Thy blood: Though Thou with clouds of anger do disguise Thy face, yet through that mask I know those eyes, Which, though they turn away sometimes, They never will despise. I sacrifice this Island unto Thee, And all whom I loved there, and who loved me; When I have put our seas ’twixt them and me, Put Thou Thy seas betwixt my sins and Thee: As the tree’s sap doth seek the root below In winter, in my winter now I go Where none but Thee, th’ eternal root Of true love, I may know. _Dr. Donne._ Without _Christ_ all gain is loss, All hope despair, that stands not on his cross; Except the few his God may have impress’d, A tenfold phrenzy seizes all the rest. _Cowper._ Father! in _Christ_ we live, and _Christ_ in Thee! Eternal Thou, and everlasting we. The heir of heaven, henceforth I fear not death: In _Christ_ I live! in _Christ_ I draw the breath Of the true life! Let then earth, sea, and sky Make war against me! on my front I show Their mighty Master’s seal. In vain they try To end my life, that can but end its woe. Is that a death-bed where the _Christian_ lies? Yes! but not his--’tis death itself there dies. _S. T. Coleridge._ Heaven is within of magnitude immense; No human thought can its dimensions grasp; Yet heaven has but one door. _Christ_ is the way-- The only way--to God. Whoever seeks By other ways to enter, must, ashamed, Confused, and disappointed, see too late The gates of hell expanded to his view! No other name is published under heaven, Wherein salvation can be found, but His. _Anon._ Some say that ever ’gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long: And then they say no spirit walks abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike; No fairy tales; no witch has power to charm; So hallowed and so gracious is the time! _Shakspere._