PASSIONS.
We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from those vanities unto the living God.—Acts, xiv. 15.
What profits us, that we from heaven derive
A soul immortal, and with looks erect
Survey the stars, if, like the brutal kind
We follow where our passions lead the way?
Claudian.
While passions glow, the heart like heated steel
Takes each impression, and is worked at pleasure.
Young.
The gales
Of pleasure haply waft him, and he bounds
Exultingly upon the flattering main;
Nor heeds the inexperienced boy the hints
Of prudence, and the counsel of the wise;
He steers impetuously through dancing waves
And oceans of illusive bliss, till now,
Crashing upon the keel, his vessel lies
A total wreck upon th’ undreaded reef!
“Avoid the shoal!” the sacred preacher cries,
The volumes of the dead and living, ope
The monitory page, alas, in vain!
If passion hold the helm, and pleasure fill
The swelling sail, though reason, conscience, say
“Avoid the shoal!” the voyager is lost.
Carrington.
Thou must chain thy passions down;
Well to serve, but ill to sway,
Like the fire they must obey.
They are good, in subject state,
To strengthen, warm, and animate;
But if once we let them reign,
They sweep with desolating train,
’Till they but leave a hated name,
A ruined soul, and blackened fame.
Eliza Cook.
Passions, indulged beyond a certain bound,
Lead to a precipice, and plunge in woe
The heedless agent.
George Bally.