GUILT.
The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.
Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.—Exodus, xxxiv. 6, 7.
The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.—Deuteronomy, v. 11.
Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness.—Psalm li. 14.
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.—James, ii. 10.
Amidst the royal race, see Nathan stand:
Fervent he seems to speak, and lifts his hand;
His looks the emotion of his soul disclose,
And eloquence from every gesture flows.
Such, and so stern he came, ordained to bring
The ungrateful mandate to the guilty king:
When, at his dreadful voice, a sudden smart
Shot through the trembling monarch’s conscious heart,
From his own lips condemned, severe decree,
Had his God proved as stern a Judge as he.
Bishop Lowth.
O, happy pair,
Lords of fair Eden’s blooming range, where earth,
Benignant parent, from her verdant lap
Spontaneous pour’d immortal sweets, and gave
Whate’er could minister delight! Too soon,
Alas, this scene was closed: behold them now,
So lately rich in happiness, and blessed
With converse of the Living God, o’erwhelmed
In misery, and tortured by the stings
Of conscious guilt.
Samuel Hayes.
Guilt is a timorous thing, ere perpetration:
Despair alone makes guilty men be bold.
Coleridge.
And oh, that pang, where more than madness lies!
The worm that will not sleep, and never dies;
Thought of the gloomy day, and ghastly night,
That dreads the darkness, and yet loathes the light:
That winds around, and tears the quivering heart,
Ah! wherefore not consume it and depart!
Byron.
Skeptic, whoe’er thou art, tell, if thou knowest,
Why every nation, every clime, though all
In laws, in rites, in manners disagree,
With one consent expect another world
Where wickedness shall weep? Why in each breast
Is placed a friendly monitor, that prompts,
Informs, directs, encourages, forbids?
Tell, why on unknown evil grief attends,
Or joy on secret good? Why Conscience acts
With tenfold force, when sickness, age, or pain
Stands tottering on the precipice of death?
Or why such horror gnaws the guilty soul
Of dying sinners, while the good man sleeps
Peaceful and calm, and with a smile expires?
Glynn.
Come and see a sad example!
Look on my unquiet shade;
Start not, sure ’tis nought uncommon,
When the bones in dust are laid,
That the lonely restless spirit,
Whom a sense of guilt doth fill,
Walks the earth with ceaseless labour,
Seeking to undo the ill.
I was fond of place and power,
Grasped the wealth that was not mine,
Seized the friendless stranger’s dwelling,
Left him in despair to pine.
Now, O where are all my riches!
Come, the sad reverse behold,
For this gain my soul is bartered;
Can a spirit’s loss be told?
Lopez de Mendoza (Spanish).
Oppress’d with guilt, a painful load,
O come, and spread your woes abroad!
Divine compassion, mighty love,
Will all the painful load remove.
Here mercy’s boundless ocean flows
To cleanse your guilt, and heal your woes;
Pardon, and life, and endless peace;
How rich the gift! how free the grace!
Steele.