XI.
Priest of the gladsome tidings, old and new, To whom by nature fell, as the most fit, The saintly Channing’s mantle; brave and true, Thou heedst thy calling, and dost well acquit Thyself of the high mission. Thy sage wit (O brother in the Lord, and well approved To lead men heavenward to the Father’s throne, And Son’s that sits at His right hand beloved!) Hath ministered to every clime and zone Washed by Pacific or Atlantic sea, With chainless flow ’neath Heaven’s unbounded cope. Son of the Church, saint of thy century! Undoubting faith is thine, and fadeless hope, And ardent, all-embracing charity.
“Philosophy does not look into pedigrees. She did not receive Plato as noble, but she made him such. ”
XII.
Interpreter of the Pure Reason’s laws, And all the obligations Thought doth owe These high ambassadors of her great cause; Philosopher! whose rare discernments show Apt mastery of her surpassing skill, And why each thought and thing is inly so Conceived and fashioned in the plastic Will; Thou Reason’s canons dost so well maintain, With such adhesive and sincere regard, That every deviator seeks in vain To escape thy apprehension; evil-starred, With Dante’s sophisters they writhe in pain. Then from thy judgment-seat, dismissed with ruth, Thou lead’st the stumblers in the way of truth.
“Hast thou named all the birds without a gun? Loved the wild rose and left it on its stalk? At rich men’s tables eaten bread and pulse? Unarmed, faced danger with a heart of trust? And loved so well a high behavior, In man or maid, that thou from speech refrained, Nobility more nobly to repay? Oh, be my friend, and teach me to be thine!” Emerson.
XIII.
Who nearer Nature’s life would truly come Must nearest come to him of whom I speak; He all kinds knew,—the vocal and the dumb; Masterful in genius was he, and unique, Patient, sagacious, tender, frolicsome. This Concord Pan would oft his whistle take, And forth from wood and fen, field, hill, and lake, Trooping around him, in their several guise, The shy inhabitants their haunts forsake: Then he, like Esop, man would satirize, Hold up the image wild to clearest view Of undiscerning manhood’s puzzled eyes, And mocking say, “Lo! mirrors here for you: Be true as these, if ye would be more wise.”
“The happy man who lived content With his own town and continent, Whose chiding stream its banks did curb As ocean circumscribes its orb, Round which, when he his walks did take, Thought he performed far more than Drake: For other lands he took less thought, Than this his Muse and landscape brought.” Evelyn.