Wisdom’s Multitudinous Abyss

BIG LIFE Cliff McR

He sang of God—the mighty source
Of all things—the stupendous force
On which all strength depends;
From Whose right arm, beneath Whose eyes,
All period, power, and enterprise
Commences, reigns, and ends.

Angels—their ministry and meed,
Which to and fro with blessings speed,
Or with their citterns wait;
Where Michael, with his millions, bows,
Where dwells the seraph and his spouse,
The cherub and her mate.

Of man—the semblance and effect
Of God and love—the saint elect
For infinite applause—
To rule the land, and briny broad,
To be laborious in his laud,
And heroes in his cause.

The world—the clustering spheres He made,
The glorious light, the soothing shade,
Dale, champaign, grove, and hill;
The multitudinous abyss,
Where Secrecy remains in bliss,
And Wisdom hides her skill.

(extract: A Song To David)

IMAGE: “Life” from the La Jolla Pentych by Cliff McReynolds

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by Christopher Smart (c. 1760)

David vs. Powers of Sempiternal Night

Mar7

PardLeo

Strong—in the Lord, who could defy
Satan, and all his powers that lie
In sempiternal night;
And hell, and horror, and despair
Were as the lion and the bear
To his undaunted might.

Constant—in love to God, the Truth,
Age, manhood, infancy, and youth:
To Jonathan his friend
Constant, beyond the verge of death;
And Ziba, and Mephibosheth,
His endless fame attend.

Pleasant—and various as the year;
Man, soul, and angel without peer,
Priest, champion, sage, and boy;
In armour or in ephod clad,
His pomp, his piety was glad;
Majestic was his joy.

Wise—in recovery from his fall,
Whence rose his eminence o’er all,
Of all the most reviled;
The light of Israel in his ways,
Wise are his precepts, prayer, and praise,
And counsel to his child.

His muse, bright angel of his verse,
Gives balm for all the thorns that pierce,
For all the pangs that rage;
Blest light, still gaining on the gloom,
The more than Michal of his bloom,
The Abishag of his age.

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by Christopher Smart (c. 1760)

David: Jehudah’s Genuine Vein

Mar5

Great—from the lustre of his crown,
From Samuel’s horn, and God’s renown,
Which is the people’s voice;
For all the host, from rear to van,
Applauded and embraced the man—
The man of God’s own choice.

Valiant—the word, and up he rose;
The fight—he triumphed o’er the foes
Whom God’s just laws abhor;
And, armed in gallant faith, he took
Against the boaster, from the brook,
The weapons of the war.

Pious—magnificent and grand,
’Twas he the famous temple plann’d,
(The seraph in his soul:)
Foremost to give the Lord his dues,
Foremost to bless the welcome news,
And foremost to condole.

Good—from Jehudah’s genuine vein,
From God’s best nature, good in grain,
His aspect and his heart:
To pity, to forgive, to save,
Witness En-gedi’s conscious cave,
And Shimei’s blunted dart.

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by Christopher Smart (c. 1760)

A Song to David

Mar4

O THOU, that sitt’st upon a throne,
With harp of high, majestic tone,
To praise the King of kings:
And voice of heaven, ascending, swell
Which, while its deeper notes excel,
Clear as a clarion rings:

To bless each valley, grove, and cost,
And charm the cherubs to the post
Of gratitude in throngs;
To keep the days on Zion’s Mount,
And send the year to his account,
With dances and with songs:

O servant of God’s holiest charge,
The minister of praise at large,
Which thou mayst now receive;
From thy blest mansion hail and hear,
From topmost eminence appear
To this the wreath I weave.

Great, valiant, pious, good, and clean,
Sublime, contemplative, serene,
Strong, constant, pleasant, wise!
Bright effluence of exceeding grace;
Best man! the swiftness and the race,
The peril and the prize!