Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul

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Publié le	08 décembre 2010
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The Project Gutenberg eBook, Poems
with Power to Strengthen the Soul, by
Various, Edited by James Mudge
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul
Author: Various
Editor: James Mudge
Release Date: April 22, 2009 [eBook #28591]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POEMS WITH
POWER TO STRENGTHEN THE SOUL***

E-text prepared by
Suzanne Lybarger, Brian Janes, Pilar Somoza Fernandez,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
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Transcriber's note:
Spelling mistakes have been left in the text to match the
original, except for obvious typographical errors, marked like
this.

POEMS WITH POWER
TOSTRENGTHEN THE SOUL
COMPILED AND EDITED BY
JAMES MUDGE
REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION
THE ABINGDON PRESS
NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO
Copyright, 1907, 1909, by
EATON & MAINS
Printed in the United States of America
First Edition Printed November, 1907
Second Printing, March, 1909
Third Printing, October, 1911
Fourth Printing, July, 1915
Fifth Printing, May, 1919
Sixth Printing, January, 1922
Seventh Printing, April, 1925
Eighth Printing, March, 1928Ninth Printing, October, 1930
Tenth Printing, September, 1934
TO ALL
WHO ARE AT THE SAME TIME
LOVERS OF GOOD POETRY AND LOVERS OF GOOD CHARACTER,
DEVOTED TO GOD AND THEIR FELLOW-MEN, AS WELL AS TO
LITERATURE, THE COMPILER, WHO CLAIMS A LITTLE
PLACE IN THIS LARGE COMPANY,
DEDICATES THE RESULT OF HIS PLEASANT LABORS
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE vii
SUBJECTS:
HEROISM—CHIVALRY, NOBILITY, HONOR, TRUTH 1
COURAGE—CONSTANCY, CONFIDENCE, STRENGTH, VALOR 14
INDEPENDENCE—MANHOOD, FIRMNESS, EARNESTNESS, RESOLUTION 22
GREATNESS—FAME, SUCCESS, PROGRESS, VICTORY 28
DUTY—LOYALTY, FAITHFULNESS, CONSCIENCE, ZEAL 41
SERVICE—USEFULNESS, BENEVOLENCE, LABOR 50
BROTHERHOOD—CHARITY, SYMPATHY, EXAMPLE, INFLUENCE 66
CONSECRATION—SUBMISSION, DEVOTION, PURITY 79
PEACE—REST, CALM, STILLNESS 88
HUMILITY—MEEKNESS, WEAKNESS, SELFLESSNESS 95
CONTENTMENT—RESIGNATION, PATIENCE, COMPENSATION 103
ASPIRATION—DESIRE, SUPPLICATION, GROWTH 115
PRAYER—WORSHIP, COMMUNION, DEVOTION 123
JOY—PRAISE, CHEERFULNESS, HAPPINESS 138
AFFLICTION—CONSOLATION, TRIAL, ENDURANCE 149
LOVE—DIVINE GOODNESS, UNSELFISHNESS 163
HOPE—PROGRESS, OPTIMISM, ENTHUSIASM 170
FAITH—ASSURANCE, DOUBT, UNBELIEF 177
TRUST—GUIDANCE, SAFETY, GLADNESS 187
GOD'S CARE—PROVIDENCE, GOD'S KNOWLEDGE AND BENEFICENCE 199
GOD'S WILL—OBEDIENCE, DIVINE UNION 209
GOD'S PRESENCE—POSSESSION, SATISFACTION, REFLECTION 221JESUS—HIS PRECIOUSNESS, AND BEAUTY, AND LOVE 233
LIFE—TIME, OPPORTUNITY, EXPERIENCE, CHARACTER 250
AGE AND DEATH—MATURITY, VICTORY, HEAVEN 267
APPENDIX—MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS 278
INDEX TO AUTHORS 288
INDEX TO TITLES 292
INDEX TO FIRST LINES 298
{vii}
PREFACE
This is not like other collections of religious verse; still less is it a hymnal.
The present volume is directed to a very specific and wholly practical end, the
production of high personal character; and only those poems which have an
immediate bearing in this direction have been admitted. We know of no other
book published which has followed this special line. There are fine hymnals,
deservedly dear to the Church, but they are necessarily devoted in large
measure to institutional and theological subjects, are adapted to the wants of
the general congregation and to purposes of song; while many poetical
productions that touch the heart the closest are for that very reason unsuited to
the hymnal. There are many anthologies and plentiful volumes of religious
poetry, but not one coming within our ken has been made up as this has been.
We have sought far and wide, through many libraries, carefully conning
hundreds of books and glancing through hundreds more, to find just those lines
which would have the most tonic and stimulating effect in the direction of holier,
nobler living. We have coveted verses whose influence would be directly on
daily life and would help to form the very best habits of thought and conduct,
which would have intrinsic spiritual value and elevating power; those whose
immediate tendency would be to make people better, toughening their moral
fibre and helping them heavenward; those which they could hardly read
attentively without feeling an impulse toward the things which are pure and true
and honorable and lovely and of good report, things virtuous and praiseworthy.
It is surprising to one who has not made the search how very many poets
there are whose voluminous and popular works yield nothing, or scarcely
anything, of this sort. We have looked carefully through many scores of
volumes of poetry without finding a line that could be of the slightest use in this
collection. They were taken up altogether with other topics. They contained
many pretty conceits, pleasant descriptions, lovely or lively narrations—these in
abundance, but words that would send the spirit heavenward, or even
earthward with any added love for humanity, not one. On the other hand, in
papers and periodicals, even in books, are great multitudes of verses,
unexceptionable in sentiment and helpful in influence, which bear so little of the
true poetic afflatus, are so careless in construction or so faulty in diction, so
imperfect in rhyme or rhythm, so much mingled with colloquialisms or so
hopelessly commonplace in thought, as to be unworthy of a permanent place in
a book like this. They would not bear reading many times. They would offend a
properly educated taste. They would not so capture the ear as to linger on thememory with compelling persistence, nor strike the intellect as an exceptional
presentation of important truth. The combination of fine form and deep or
inspiring thought is by no means common, but, when found, very precious. We
will not claim that this has been secured in all the poems here presented. Not
{viii}all will approve our choice in all respects. There is nothing in which tastes more
differ than in matters of this kind. And we will admit that in some cases we have
let in—because of the important truth which they so well voiced—stanzas not
fully up to the mark in point of poetic merit. Where it has not been possible to
get the two desirable things together, as it has not always, we have been more
solicitous for the sentiment that would benefit than for mere prettiness or
perfection of form. Helpfulness has been the test oftener than a high literary
standard. The labored workmanship of the vessel has not weighed so much
with us as its perfect fitness to convey the water of life wherewith the thirsty soul
of man has been or may be refreshed. If poets are properly judged, as has been
alleged, by the frame of mind they induce, then some who have not gained
great literary fame may still hold up their heads and claim a worthy crown.
Some poems fully within the scope of the book—like Longfellow's "Psalm of
Life"—have been omitted because of their exceeding commonness and their
accessibility. Many hymns of very high value—like "Jesus, Lover of my soul,"
"My faith looks up to thee," "Nearer, my God, to thee," "When all thy mercies, O
my God," "How firm a foundation"—have also been omitted because they are
found in all the hymnals, and to include them would unduly swell the size of the
book. A few others, although similarly familiar, like "Jesus, I my cross have
taken," and "God moves in a mysterious way," have been inserted from a
feeling that even yet their depth and richness are not properly appreciated and
that they can never be sufficiently pondered. A few poems we have been
unable to procure permission to use; but in nearly all cases we have met with
most generous treatment from both authors and publishers owning copyrights,
and we take this occasion to express our hearty thanks for the kindness
afforded in the following instances:
Houghton, Mifflin & Company, for the use of the poems and stanzas here
found from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, John
Greenleaf Whittier, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes,
Edward Rowland Sill, Celia Thaxter, Caroline Atherton Mason, Edna
Dean Proctor, Edmund Clarence Stedman, John Burroughs, John Hay,
William Dean Howells, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Lucy Larcom, Margaret
E. Sangster, Francis Bret Harte, James Freeman Clarke, Samuel
Longfellow, Samuel Johnson, Christopher Pearse Cranch, Thomas
Wentworth Higginson, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and John Vance
Cheney.
Little, Brown & Company, for poems by Helen Hunt Jackson, Louise
Chandler Moulton, William Rounseville Alger, "Susan Coolidge"
[Sarah Chauncey Woolsey], and John White Chadwick.
Lothrop, Lee & Shepa