VALOUR.
Through God we shall do valiantly: for He it is that shall tread down our enemies.—Psalm cviii. 13.
I never saw an angry person valiant:
Virtue is never aided by a vice.
Ben Jonson.
In the good man’s breast,
Justice and piety, with valour reign:
He, though the fabric of the shaken world
Should burst in thundering ruin o’er his head,
Calm and unawed would view the crushing wreck,
Nor shudder at destruction; but to brave
The wrath of Heaven, or rashly to intrude,
Spotted with guilt, into his Maker’s sight;
Or lift for mercy a rebellious hand
Dyed with a brother’s gore, he justly fears;
Yet, in Himself collected, will defy
The taunt of malice, or that groundless right
The weakest, lightest of mankind assume
To brand with infamy his injured name,
And scorn the coward, daring to forgive.
C. P. Layard.
Who is valiant, tell me who?
Is it he who braves all danger,
Foremost ever in the field,
’Mid the clash of sword and shield,
Where there’s bloodiest work to do,
Unto fear a stranger?
Who is valiant, tell me who?
He, who where the tempest rages,
’Mid the elemental strife,
Boldly risking limb and life,
With a dauntless heart and true,
In the work engages?
These are valiant, but methinks
’Tis a higher, nobler valour,
In a cause that just and right,
Bearing scorn, neglect, and slight,
With a soul that never shrinks,
And a cheek that knows no pallor.
Egone.