ETERNITY.
For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place.—Isaiah, lvii. 15.
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.—II. Corinthians, v. 1.
Of that same time when no more change shall be,
But stedfastly rest all things, firmly stayed
Upon the pillars of eternity,
That is contraire to mutability;
For all that moveth doth in change delight;
But thenceforth all shall rest eternally,
With Him that is the God of Sabaoth hight.
Spenser.
Him, blessed Shepherd,
His flocks shall follow through the maze of life,
And shades that tend to day spring from on high;
And as the radiant roses, after fading,
In fuller foliage, and more fragrant breath,
Revive in smiling spring, so shall it be
With those that love Him: for sweet is their savour,
And all eternity shall be their spring.
Smart.
Man, (mortal creature,) fram’d to feel decays,
Thine unresisted power at pleasure sways,
Thou say’st return, and parting souls obey,
Thou say’st return, and bodies fall to-day.
For what’s a thousand fleeting years with Thee?
Or Time compared with long eternity?
Whose wings expanding infinitely vast,
O’erstretched its utmost ends of first and last.
Parnell.
We strive with earthly imagings,
To reach and understand
The wondrous and the fearful things
Of an eternal land.
But soon the doubt, the toil, the strife
Of earth shall all be done,
And knowledge of our endless life
Be in a moment won.
Otway Curry.
Why shrinks the soul
Back on herself, and startles at destruction?
’Tis the Divinity that stirs within us;
’Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man.
Addison.
The Eternal Life, beyond the sky,
Wealth cannot purchase, nor the high
And proud estate;
The soul in dalliance laid,—the spirit
Corrupt with sin,—shall not inherit
A joy so great.
Longfellow, from the Spanish.
Our better nature pineth—let it be!
Thou human soul—earth is no home for thee;
Thy starry rest is in eternity.
Miss Landon.
He of the lion-voice, the rainbow-crowned,
Shall stand upon the mountains and the sea,
And swear by earth, by Heaven’s throne, and Him
Who sitteth on the throne, there shall be Time
No more, no more! Then veiled Eternity
Shall straight unveil her awful countenance
Unto the reeling world, and take the place
Of seasons, years and ages. Aye and aye
Shall be the time of day!
Miss Barrett.
Time! whither dost thou flee?
—I travel to eternity,
Eternity! what art thou?—say!
—Time past—time present—time to come—to-day.
J. Montgomery.
See, how beneath the moonbeams’ smile
Yon little billow heaves its breast,
And foams and sparkles for awhile,
And murmuring then subsides to rest.
Thus man, the sport of bliss and care,
Rises on time’s eventful sea;
And having swelled a moment there,
Thus melts into eternity.
Moore.