Part 16 (2/2)
Rocks, mountains, worlds, like bubbles pa.s.s: G.o.d is; the things not G.o.d but seem.
{104}
_Foederis Arca._
XVII.
From end to end, O G.o.d, Thy Will With swift yet ordered might doth reach: Thy purposes their scope fulfil In sequence, resting each on each.
In Thee is nothing sudden; nought From harmony and law that swerves: The orbits of Thine act and thought In soft succession wind their curves.
O then with what a gradual care Must thou have shaped that sacred shrine, That Ark of grace, ordained to bear The burthen of the Babe divine!
How many a gift within her breast Lay stored, for Him a couch to strew!
How many a virtue lined His nest!
How many a grace beside Him grew!
Of love on love what sweet excess!
How deep a faith! a hope how high!-- Mary! on earth of thee we guess; But we shall see thee when we die!
{105}
_Domus Aurea._
XVIII.
She mused upon the Saints of old; Their toils, their pains, she longed to share Of Him she mused, the Child foretold; To Him her hands she stretched in prayer.
No moment pa.s.sed without its crown; And each new grace was used so well It drew some tenfold talent down, Some miracle on miracle.
O golden House! O boundless store Of wealth by heavenly commerce won!
When G.o.d Himself could give no more, He gave thee all; He gave His Son!
Blessed the Mother of her Lord!
And yet for this more blessed still, Because she heard and kept His Word-- High servant of His sovereign Will!
{106}
_Respexit Humilitatem._
XIX
Not all thy purity, although The whitest moon that ever lit The peaks of Lebanonian snow Shone dusk and dim compared with it;--
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