“ In earth, yea in heaven, if thou seek it for itself, seeking thou shalt not find.
Happiness is a road-side flower, growing on the highway of Usefulness;
Plucked, it shall wither in thy hand; passed by, it is fragrance to thy spirit:
Love not thine own soul, regard not thine own weal,
Trample the thyme beneath thy feet; be useful, and be happy!
Thus unto fair conclusions argueth generous youth,
And quickly he starteth on his course, knight-errant to do good.
His sword is edged with arguments, his vizor terrible with censures;
He goeth full mailed in faith, and zeal is flaming at his heart. ”

“ The diadem of rank is on her brow, uncounted wealth is in her coffers:
She tricketh out her beauty like Jezebel, and is welcome in the courts of kings:
She is queen of the fools of fashion, and ruleth the revels of luxury:
And though she sitteth not as Tamar, nor standeth in the ways as Rahab,
Yet in the secret of her chamber, she shrinketh not from dalliance and guilt.
She careth not if there be a God, or a soul, or a time of retribution;
Pleasure is the idol of her heart: she thirsteth for no purer heaven.
And she laugheth with light good humour, and all men praise her gentleness ”

“ For human benevolence is large, though many matters dwarf it,
Prudence, ignorance, imposture, and the straitenings of circumstance and time.
And if to the body, so to the mind, the mass of men are generous;
Their estimate, who know us best, is seldom seen to err;
Be sure the fault is thine, as pride, or shallowness, or vanity,
If all around thee, good and bad, neglect thy seeming merit:
No man yet deserved, who found not some to love him;
And he, that never kept a friend, need only blame himself:
Many for unworthiness will droop and die, but all are not unworthy ”

“ True, there is no conscience in the brute, beyond some educated habit,
They lay them down without a fear, and wake without a hope:
Hunger and pain is of the animal: but when did they reckon or compare?
They live, idealess, in instinct; and while they breathe they gain:
The master is an idol to his dog, who cannot rise beyond him;
And void of capability for God, there would seem small cause for an infinity.
Therefore, caviller, my poor thoughts dare not grant they live:
But is it not a great thing to assume their annihilation—and thine own? ”

“ And faith not seen in work,—whereby can the doctrine be discovered?
Faith in religion is an instrument; a handle, and the hand to turn it:
Less a condition than a mean, and more an operation than a virtue.
A moral sickness, like to sin, must have a moral cure;
And faith alone can heal the mind, whose malady is sense.
Ye are told of God's deep love: they that believe will love Him:
They that love Him, will obey: and obedience hath its blessing.
Ye are taught of the soul's great price; they that believe will prize it,
And, prizing soul, will cherish well the hopes that make it happy. ”

“ Do homage to blaspheming unbelief as to bold and free philosophy,
And estimate the recklessness of license as the right attribute of liberty,—
But with the world, thou friend and scholar, stain not this pure name;
Nor suffer the majesty of Love to be likened to the meanness of desire:
For love is no more such, than seraphs' hymns are discord,
And such is no more Love, than Etna's breath is summer.
Love is a sweet idolatry enslaving all the soul,
A mighty spiritual force, warring with the dulness of matter,
An angel-mind breathed into a mortal, though fallen yet how beautiful! ”

“ Godhead paid the mighty price, the pledge hath been redeemed:
He from the waters of Oblivion raised the drowning race,
Lifting them even to Himself, the baseless Rock of Ages.
None can escape from Adam's guilt, or second Adam's guerdon:
Sin and death are thine; thine also is interminable being:
Let it be even as thou wilt, still are we ransomed from nonentity,
The worlds of bliss and woe are peopled with immortals:
And ruin is thy blame; for thou, the worst, art free
To take from Heaven the grace of love, as the gift of life:
Yet is not remedy thy praise ”

“ There, thou shalt hive thy lore, and eat the fruits of study,
For Solitude delighteth well to feed on many thoughts:
There, as thou sittest peaceful, communing with fancy,
The precious poetry of life shall gild its leaden cares:
There, as thou walkest by the sea, beneath the gentle stars,
Many kindling seeds of good will sprout within thy soul;
Thou shalt weep in Solitude,—thou shalt pray in Solitude,
Thou shalt sing for joy of heart, and praise the grace of Solitude.
Pass on, pass on!—for this is the path of wisdom:
God make thee prosper on the way; I leave thee well with Solitude. ”

“ For mind is not as merchandize, which decreaseth in the using,
But liker to the passions of man, which rejoice and expand in exertion:
Yet live not wholly on thine own ideas, lest they lead thee astray;
For in spirit, as in substance, thou art a social creature;
And if thou leanest on thyself, thou rejectest the guidance of thy betters,
Yea, thou contemnest all men,—Am I not wiser than they?—
Foolish vanity hath blinded thee, and warped thy weak judgment:
For, though new ideas flow from new springs, and enrich the treasury of knowledge,
Yet listen often, ere thou think much ”

“ The messengers of that dark despot will pander to thy licence and thy pride,
And draw thee from the crowd where thou art safe, to seize thee in the solitary desert.
Woe unto him whose heart the syren-song of Liberty hath charmed;
Woe unto him whose mind is bewitched by her treacherous beauty;
In mad zeal flingeth he away the fetters of duty and restraint,
And yieldeth up the holocaust of self to that fair Idol of the Damned.
No man hath freedom in aught, save in that from which the wicked would be hindered,
He is free toward God and good; but to all else a bondman. ”

“ Inasmuch as mysteries inscrutable are the clear prerogatives of godhead.
Reason hath nothing positive, faith hath nothing doubtful;
And the height of unbelieving wisdom is to question all things.
When there is marvel in a doctrine, faith is joyful and adoreth;
But when all is clear, what place is left for faith?
Tell me the sum of thy knowledge,—is it yet assured of anything?
Despise not what is wonderful, when all things are wonderful around thee.
From the multitude of like effects, thou sayest, Behold a law:
And the matter thou art baffled in unmaking, is to thy mind an element. ”

“ For none is altogether evil, and thou mayst catch him at his prayers:
There may be one small prize, though all beside be blanks;
A silver thread of goodness in the black serge-cloth of crime.
There is to whom all things are easy; his mind, as a master-key,
Can open, with intuitive address, the treasuries of art and science:
There is to whom all things are hard; but industry giveth him a crow-bar,
To force, with groaning labour, the stubborn lock of learning:
And often, when thou lookest on an eye, dim in native dulness,
Little shalt thou wot of the wealth diligence hath gathered to its gaze ”

“ I see thee checked and chilled, sorrowing for censure or forgetfulness:
Let coarse and common minds despise—that wounding of thy vanity,
Alas, I note a sorer cause, the blighting of thy love;
Let the callous sensual deride thee,—disappointed of thy praise,
Alas, thou hast a juster grief, defrauded of their kindness:
It is a theme for tears to feel the soft heart hardening,
The frozen breath of apathy sealing up the fountain of affection;
It is a pang, keen only to the best, to be injured well-deserving,
And slumbering Neglect is injury,—Could ye not watch one hour? ”

“ The spirit of a man goeth upward, reasonable, apprehending God;
The spirit of a beast goeth downward, sensual, doting on the creature:
Who told thee they die at dissolution?—boldly think it out,—
The multitude of flies, and the multitude of herbs, the world with all its beings:
Is Infinity too narrow, Omnipotence too weak, and Love so anxious to destroy,
Doth Wisdom change its plan, and a Maker cancel His created?
God's will may compass all things, to fashion and to nullify at pleasure:
Yet are there many thoughts of hope, that all which are shall live. ”

“ Therefore, thou child of folly, that scornest the record of His wisdom,
Learn from the consistencies of nature the needful miracle of Godhead:
Yea, let the heathen be thy teacher, who adoreth many gods,
For there is no wide-spread error that hath not truth for its beginning.
Be content; thine eye cannot see all the sides of a cube at one view,
Nor thy mind in the self-same moment follow two ideas:
There are now many marvels in thy creed, believing what thou seest,
Then let not the conceit of intellect hinder thee from worshipping mystery. ”

“ If thou see thy friend to be selfish, thou canst not be sure of his honesty;
And in seeking thine own weal, thou hast wronged the reliance of thy friend.
Flattery hideth her varnished face when Friendship sitteth at his board:
And the door is shut upon Suspicion, but Candour is bid glad welcome.
For Friendship abhorreth doubt, its life is in mutual trust,
And perisheth, when artful praise proveth it is sought for a purpose.
A man may be good to thee at times, and render thee mighty service,
Whom yet thy secret soul could not desire as a friend ”

“ Not thine, foul Corruption, what art thou but a fear?
For death is merely absent life, as darkness absent light;
Not even a suspension, for the life hath sailed away, steering gladly somewhere.
And corruption, closely noted, is but a dissolving of the parts,
The parts remain, and nothing lost, to build a better whole.
Moreover, mind is unity, however versatile and rapid;
Thou canst not entertain two coincident ideas, although they quickly follow:
And Unity hath no parts, so that there is nothing to dissolve:
An element is still unchanged in every searching solvent. ”

“ For soul and mind and body—godliness, esteem, and affection.
How beautiful is modesty! it winneth upon all beholders:
But a word or a glance may destroy the pure love that should have been for thee.
Affect not to despise beauty: no one is freed from its dominion;
But regard it not a pearl of price:—it is fleeting as the bow in the clouds.
If the character within be gentle, it often hath its index in the countenance:
The soft smile of a loving face is better than splendour that fadeth quickly. ”

“ Dogged obstinacy is oftentimes the buttress that proppeth an unstable spirit,
But a candid man blusheth not to own, he is wiser to-day than yesterday.
A man of a little wisdom is a sage among fools;
But himself is chief among the fools, if he look for admiration from them.
A heresy is an evil thing, for its shame is its pride:
Its necessary difference of error is the character it most esteemeth:
Give a man all things short of liberty, thou shalt have no thanks,
And little wilt thou speed with thine opponent, by proving points he will concede. ”