CHARITY
.
A
PARAPHRASE
On
the
Thirteenth
Chapter
of
the
First
Epistle
TO
THE
CORINTHIANS
.
Did
sweeter
Sounds
adorn
my
flowing
Tongue
,
Than
ever
Man
pronounc'd
,
or
Angel
sung
:
Had
I
all
Knowledge
,
Human
and
Divine
,
That
Thought
can
reach
,
or
Science
can
define
;
And
had
I
Pow'r
to
give
that
Knowledge
Birth
,
In
all
the
Speeches
of
the
babling
Earth
:
Did
Shadrach's
Zeal
my
glowing
Breast
inspire
,
To
weary
Tortures
,
and
rejoice
in
Fire
:
Or
had
I
Faith
like
That
which
Israel
saw
,
When
Moses
gave
them
Miracles
,
and
Law
:
Yet
,
gracious
Charity
,
indulgent
Guest
,
Were
not
Thy
Pow'r
exerted
in
my
Breast
;
Those
Speeches
would
send
up
unheeded
Pray'r
:
That
Scorn
of
Life
would
be
but
wild
Despair
:
A
Tymbal's
Sound
were
better
than
my
Voice
:
My
Faith
were
Form
:
my
Eloquence
were
Noise
.
Charity
,
decent
,
modest
,
easy
,
kind
,
Softens
the
high
,
and
rears
the
abject
Mind
;
Knows
with
just
Reins
,
and
gentle
Hand
to
guide
,
Betwixt
vile
Shame
,
and
arbitrary
Pride
.
Not
soon
provok'd
,
She
easily
forgives
;
And
much
She
suffers
,
as
She
much
believes
.
Soft
Peace
She
brings
where-ever
She
arrives
:
She
builds
our
Quiet
,
as
She
forms
our
Lives
;
Lays
the
rough
Paths
of
peevish
Nature
ev'n
;
And
opens
in
each
Heart
a
little
Heav'n
.
Each
other
Gift
,
which
GOD
on
Man
bestows
,
It's
proper
Bounds
,
and
due
Restriction
knows
;
To
one
fixt
Purpose
dedicates
it's
Pow'r
;
And
finishing
it's
Act
,
exists
no
more
.
Thus
,
in
Obedience
to
what
Heav'n
decrees
,
Knowledge
shall
fail
,
and
Prophecy
shall
cease
:
But
lasting
Charity's
more
ample
Sway
,
Nor
bound
by
Time
,
nor
subject
to
Decay
,
In
happy
Triumph
shall
for
ever
live
,
And
endless
Good
diffuse
,
and
endless
Praise
receive
.
As
thro'
the
Artist's
intervening
Glass
,
Our
Eye
observes
the
distant
Planets
pass
;
A
little
we
discover
;
but
allow
,
That
more
remains
unseen
,
than
Art
can
show
:
So
whilst
our
Mind
it's
Knowledge
wou'd
improve
;
(
It's
feeble
Eye
intent
on
Things
above
)
High
as
We
may
,
We
lift
our
Reason
up
,
By
Faith
directed
,
and
confirm'd
by
Hope
:
Yet
are
We
able
only
to
survey
Dawnings
of
Beams
,
and
Promises
of
Day
.
Heav'n's
fuller
Effluence
mocks
our
dazl'd
Sight
;
Too
great
it's
Swiftness
,
and
too
strong
it's
Light
.
But
soon
the
mediate
Clouds
shall
be
dispell'd
;
The
Sun
shall
soon
be
Face
to
Face
beheld
,
In
all
His
Robes
,
with
all
His
Glory
on
,
Seated
sublime
on
His
Meridian
Throne
.
Then
constant
Faith
,
and
holy
Hope
shall
dye
,
One
lost
in
Certainty
,
and
One
in
Joy
:
Whilst
Thou
,
more
happy
Pow'r
,
fair
Charity
,
Triumphant
Sister
,
greatest
of
the
Three
,
Thy
Office
,
and
Thy
Nature
still
the
same
,
Lasting
thy
Lamp
,
and
unconsum'd
thy
Flame
,
Shalt
still
survive
—
Shalt
stand
before
the
Host
of
Heav'n
confest
,
For
ever
blessing
,
and
for
ever
blest
.