So may'st thou live, till, like ripe fruit, thou The soul's dark cottage, battered and decayed, drop Into thy mother's lap, or be with ease Gathered, not harshly plucked, for death mature. MILTON. As those we love decay, we die in part; String after string is severed from the heart; Till loosened life, at last, but breathing clay, Without one pang is glad to fall away. THOMSON. But age has felt those ties unbound WM. KNOX. On he moves to meet his latter end, Angels around befriending virtue's friend; Sinks to the grave with unperceived decay, While resignation gently slopes the way; And, all his prospects brightening to the last, His heaven commences ere the world be past. GOLDSMITH. Lets in new light through chinks that time has made. Stronger by weakness, wiser, men become The aged Christian stands upon the shore Why should old age escape unnoticed here, Life's busy day would want its tranquil even, And earth would lose her stepping-stone to heaven. CAROLINE GILMAN. ANCESTRY ANGELS. Woe to thee, wild ambition! I employ Despair's low notes thy dread effects to tell; Born in high heaven, her peace thou couldst destroy, And but for thee there had not been a hell. Through the celestial domes thy clarion pealed, Angels, entranced, beneath thy banners ranged, And straight were fiends; hurled from the shrinking field, They waked in agony to wail the change. Darting through all her veins the subtle fire, The world's fair mistress first inhaled thy breath; To lot of higher beings learned to aspire; Dared to attempt, and doomed the world to death. MARIA A. BROOKS. The sons of earth Who, vexed with vain disquietude, pursue Ambition's fatuous light through miry pools That yawn for their destruction, stray, foredoomed, Amid delusive shadows, to their end. HERBERT. Ambition, when the pinnacle is gained ANCESTRY-(See BIRTH.) LILLY. ANGELS. From heaven fair beings come at night It is to comfort those who weep. They lay their soft and snow-white hands! One smile! then, in a moment fled, They melt away to happier lands. JOHN WILSON. Who knows how near, each holy hour, JOHN KEBLE. From you the vail of midnight darkness rending, Came the rich mysteries to the sleeper's eye, That saw your hosts ascending and descending, On those bright steps between the earth and sky; Trembling he woke, and bowed o'er glory's trace, And worshiped, awe-struck, in that fearful place. And may ye not unseen around us hover, Are ye not near when faith and hope rise high, Thou angel spirit, who so oft didst sing "HEAVENLY RECOGNITION." Angels of life and death alike are his; Without his leave they pass no threshold o'er; Who, then, would wish or dare, believing this, Against his messengers to shut the door? LONGFELLOW. Thou! who alone thyself dost deem, A solitary in thy grief, List! soft as footfall of a dream, Comes one to bear thee sweet relief; And fled is all thy hoarded care, The passing Seraph's wing is there. WM. B. TAPPAN. 25 Sure, to the mansions of the blest Beyond where worlds material roll, Till some fair sister of the skies Receives the unpolluted soul. Hark! in such strains as saints employ, They whisper to thy bosom peace; Calm the perturbed heart to joy, And bid the streaming sorrow cease. Then dry, henceforth, the bitter tear; Their part and thine inverted see; Thou wert their guardian angel here, They, guardian angels now to thee. JOHN Q. ADAMS. They dwell with thee-the dead; Pavilioned in the auroral tents of light; Their spheres of heavenly influence round thee spread, They are God's minist'ring spirits, and are sent, BISHOP MANT. Holy angels in their flight So parted they; the angel up to heaven, Elysian race! while o'er their slumbering flocks Their pure transparence vailing them from The Galilean shepherds watched, ye came sight. Angelic ministers of love and peace, And is there care in heaven? And is there love case Of men than beasts; but O! the exceeding Of highest God, that loves his creatures so, And all for love and nothing for reward; Times of joy and times of woe, SPENSER. MRS. E. OAKES SMITH. To sing hosannas to the heaven-born Babe, ROBERT MONTGOMERY. Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth Beautiful thing! thou art come in peace, Till, risen with Christ, we come to be, When by a good man's grave I muse alone, And with a voice inspiring joy, not fear, SAMUEL ROGERS. 'Tis your office, spirits bright, Camp around us, and avert When we drift toward sheer despair, And the wearied heart grows strong, ·APOSTASY- APOSTLES. No cloud was visible, but radiant wings In this dim world of clouding cares We rarely know, till 'wildered eyes See white wings lessening up the skies, The angels with us unawares. 27 Full many mischiefs follow cruel wrath, Of all bad things by which mankind are cursed, Their own bad tempers surely are the worst. CUMBERLAND. Anger is no attribute of justice. HENRY KILLEGREW. Senseless and deformed, Convulsive anger storms at large; or, pale And silent, settles into full revenge. THOMSON. 'Tis all in vain, this rage that tears thy bosom; Like a poor bird that flutters in its cage, Thou beat'st thyself to death. ROWE. And to be wroth with one we love See also THE PASSIONS. APOSTASY-(See TREACHERY.) GERALD MASSEY. ANGER. The ocean lashed to fury loud, Its high waves mingling with the cloud, To anger's dark and troubled sea. J. W. EASTBURNE. Madness and anger differ but in this: APOSTLES. Where is the fire which once descended In them the Father shone; |