Verses on Various Occasions Author:John Henry Newman Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: III. PARAPHRASE OF ISAIAH, CHAP. LXIV. O THAT Thou wouldest rend the breadth of sky, That veils Thy presence from the sons of men ! O that, as erst Tho... more »u carnest from on high Sudden in strength,Thou so would'st come again! Track'd out by judgments was Thy fiery path, Ocean and mountain withering in Thy wrath ! Then would Thy name—the Just, the Merciful— Strange dubious attributes to human mind, Appal Thy foes ; and, kings, who spurn Thy rule, Then, then would quake to hopeless doom consign'd. See, the stout bows, and totters the secure, While pleasure's bondsman hides his head impure ! Come down! for then shall from its seven bright springs To him who thirsts the draught of life be given ; Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard the things Which He hathpurposed for the heirs of heaven,— A God of love, guiding with gracious ray Each meek rejoicing pilgrim on his way. Yea, though we err, and Thine averted face Rebukes the folly in Thine Israel done, Will not that hour of chastisement give place To beams, the pledge of an eternal sun? Yes ! for His counsels to the end endure; We shall be saved, our rest abideth sure. Lord, Lord ! our sins ... our sins .. . unclean are we, Gross and corrupt; our seeming-virtuous deeds Are but abominate ; all, dead to Thee, Shrivel, like leaves when summer's green recedes ; While, like the autumn blast, our lusts arise, And sweep their prey where the fell serpent lies. None, there is none to plead with God in prayer, Bracing his laggart spirit to the work Of intercession ; conscience-sprung despair, Sin-loving still, doth in each bosom lurk. Guilt calls Thee to avenge ;—Thy risen ire Sears like a brand, we gaze and we expire. But now, O Lord, our Father I we are Thine, Design ...« less