And pour abroad
His precious things
On the fair soul whom first He meets,
And light around him with His wings.”
When the Anglican wrote these words, such of them as express admiration of the Common Prayer would not command the sympathy of certain Puritans; other Puritans, however, with a measure of qualification, could share in that sympathy; and all, one would think, might enter cordially into such feelings, as are expressed, generally, by the largest portion of the Ode, in reference to the pleasures and duties of devotion.
Whatever there might be restrictive of sympathy under one form in the verses from which I have just made a selection, nothing of the kind, under any form, can be found to exist in Henry More’s Sonnet on Religion; for that exhibits the widest breadth of Christian fellowship, and embraces within the range of its regards the devout members of all communities. The Anglican and the Evangelical, the Broad Churchman and the Mystic, might consistently adopt the following sentiment:—
“The true religion sprung from God above,
Is like her fountain—full of charity;
Embracing all things with a tender love,
Full of good will, and meek expectancy;