FAITH.
Faith is the subtle chain
Which binds us to the infinite; the voice
Of a deep life within, that will remain
Until we crowd it thence.
Sonnet: Faith. E.O. SMITH.
Nor less I deem that there are Powers
Which of themselves our minds impress;
That we can feed this mind of ours
In a wise passiveness.
Expostulation and Reply. W. WORDSWORTH.
One in whom persuasion and belief
Had ripened into faith, and faith become
A passionate intuition.
The Excursion, B. VII. W. WORDSWORTH.
Faith builds a bridge across the gulf of Death,
To break the shock blind nature cannot shun,
And lands Thought smoothly on the further shore.
Night Thoughts, Night IV. DR. E. YOUNG.
A bending staff I would not break,
A feeble faith I would not shake,
Nor even rashly pluck away
The error which some truth may stay,
Whose loss might leave the soul without
A shield against the shafts of doubt.
Questions of Life. J.G. WHITTIER.
I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope,
And gather dust and chaff, and call
To what I feel is Lord of all,
And faintly trust the larger hope.
In Memoriam, LIV. A. TENNYSON.
The Power that led his chosen, by pillared cloud and flame,
Through parted sea and desert waste, that Power is still the Same;
He fails not—He—the loyal hearts that firm on Him rely;
So put your trust in God, my boys, and keep your powder dry.[A]
Oliver's Advice. COLONEL W. BLACKER.
[Footnote A: Cromwell, once when his troops were about crossing a river to attack the enemy, concluded an address with these words: "Put your trust in God; but mind to keep your powder dry.">[
If faith produce no works, I see
That faith is not a living tree.
Thus faith and works together grow;
No separate life they e'er can know:
They're soul and body, hand and heart:
What God hath joined, let no man part.
Dan and Jane. H. MORE.
Whose faith has centre everywhere,
Nor cares to fix itself to form.
In Memoriam, XXXIII. A. TENNYSON.
But who with filial confidence inspired,
Can lift to Heaven an unpresumptuous eye,
And smiling say, My Father made them all.
The Task, Bk. V. Winter Morning Walk. W. COWPER.