03UndatedError is a hardy plant; it flourisheth in every soil; In the heart of the wise and good, alike with the wicked and foolish: For there is no error so crooked, but it hath in it some lines of truth: Nor is any poison so deadly, that it serveth not some wholesome use: And the just man, enamoured of the right, is blinded by the speciousness of wrong, And the prudent, perceiving an advantage, is content to overlook the harm. On all things created remaineth the half-effaced signature of God, Somewhat of fair and good, though blotted by the finger of corruption: And if error cometh in like a flood, it mixeth with the streams of truth; And the adversary loveth to have it so, for thereby many are decoyed.Martin F. Tupper / quote ↗
04UndatedBlunted unto goodness is the heart which anger never stirreth, But that which hatred swelleth, is keen to carve out evil. Anger is a noble infirmity, the generous failing of the just, The one degree that riseth above zeal, asserting the prerogatives of virtue; But hatred is a slow continuing crime, a fire in the bad man’s breast, A dull and hungry flame, for ever craving insatiate. Hatred would harm another; anger would indulge itself; Hatred is a simmering poison; anger, the opening of the valve; Hatred destroyeth as the upas-tree; anger smiteth as a staff; Hatred is the atmosphere of hell, but anger is known in heaven.Martin F. Tupper / quote ↗
05UndatedLaw hath dominion over all things, over universal mind and matter; For there are reciprocities of right which no creature can gainsay. Unto each was there added by its Maker, in the perfect chain of being, Dependencies and sustentations, accidents, and qualities, and powers: And each must fly forward in the curve, unto which it was forced from the beginning; Each must attract and repel, or the monarchy of order is no more. Laws are essential emanations from the self-poised character of God, And they radiate from that sun to the circling edges of creation. Verily the mighty Lawgiver hath subjected himself unto laws, And God is the primal grand example of free unrestrained obedience;Martin F. Tupper / quote ↗
06UndatedPrayer is a creature’s strength, his very breath and being; Prayer is the golden key that can open the wicket of mercy; Prayer is the magic sound that saith to fate, so be it; Prayer is the slender nerve that moveth the muscles of Omnipotence. Wherefore, pray, O creature, for many and great are thy wants; Thy mind, thy conscience, and thy being, thy rights commend thee unto prayer, The cure of all cares, the grand panacea for all pains, Doubt’s destroyer, ruin’s remedy, the antidote to all anxieties.Martin F. Tupper / quote ↗
07UndatedSeek a good wife of thy God, for she is the best gift of His Providence; Yet ask not in bold confidence that which He hath not promised: Thou knowest not His good will:—be thy prayer then submissive thereunto. And leave thy petition to His mercy, assured that He will deal well with thee. If thou art to have a wife of thy youth, she is now living on the earth, Therefore think of her, and pray for her weal; yea, though thou hast not seen her. They that love early become like-minded, and the tempter toucheth them not: They grow up leaning on each other, as the olive and the vine.Martin F. Tupper / quote ↗
08UndatedFew and precious are the words which the lips of wisdom utter; To what shall their rarity be likened? what price shall count their worth? Perfect and much to be desired, and giving joy with riches, No lovely thing on earth can picture all their beauty. They be chance pearls, flung among the rocks by the sullen waters of oblivion, Which diligence loveth to gather, and hang round the neck of memory; They be white-winged seeds of happiness, wafted from the islands of the blessed, Which thought carefully tendeth, in the kindly garden of the heart; They be sproutings of an harvest for eternity, bursting through the tilth of time, Green promise of the golden wheat, that yieldeth angel’s food; They be drops of the crystal dew, which the wings of seraphs scatter, When on some brighter sabbath, their plumes quiver most with delight: Such, and so precious, are the words which the lips of wisdom utter.Martin F. Tupper / quote ↗