SOUL***


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Transcriber's note:

   Spelling mistakes have been left in the text to match the original,
   except for obvious typographical errors, which have been corrected.





POEMS WITH POWER TO STRENGTHEN 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, 1928
Ninth 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                 221

JESUS--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




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 the memory with compelling persistence, nor strike the intellect as
an exceptional presentation