A poem on the day of "Peace to all humankind"

wilber · Banned Joined: 20 Dec 2007 Posts: 581

A Word to The 'Elect'
You may rejoice to think yourselves secure;
You may be grateful for the gift divine -
That grace unsought, which made your black hearts pure,
And fits your earth-born souls in Heaven to shine.

But, is it sweet to look around, and view
Thousands excluded from that happiness
Which they deserved, at least, as much as you, -
Their faults not greater, nor their virtues less?

And, wherefore should you love your God the more,
Because to you alone his smiles are given;
Because he chose to pass the many o'er,
And only bring the favoured few to Heaven?

And, wherefore should your hearts more grateful prove,
Because for ALL the Saviour did not die?
Is yours the God of justice and of love?
And are your bosoms warm with charity?

Say, does your heart expand to all mankind?
And, would you ever to your neighbour do -
The weak, the strong, the enlightened, and the blind -
As you would have your neighbour do to you?

And, when you, looking on your fellow-men,
Behold them doomed to endless misery,
How can you talk of joy and rapture then? -
May God withhold such cruel joy from me!

That none deserve eternal bliss I know;
Unmerited the grace in mercy given:
But, none shall sink to everlasting woe,
That have not well deserved the wrath of Heaven.

And, oh! there lives within my heart
A hope, long nursed by me;
(And, should its cheering ray depart,
How dark my soul would be!)

That as in Adam all have died,
In Christ shall all men live;
And ever round his throne abide,
Eternal praise to give.

That even the wicked shall at last
Be fitted for the skies;
And, when their dreadful doom is past,
To life and light arise.

I ask not, how remote the day,
Nor what the sinners' woe,
Before their dross is purged away;
Enough for me, to know

That when the cup of wrath is drained,
The metal purified,
They'll cling to what they once disdained,
And live by Him that died.

--Anne Bronte (1843)

Diane · Cobra Joined: 17 Sep 2004 Posts: 470

Yes! Yes! Yes! That's the poem!!!

Every knee shall bow......

Loveya Wilber!

Di

God bless us......everyone. \o/
_________________
God is love and love never fails.

The Beautiful Heresy – If believing that God is loving enough, powerful enough, and wise enough to save all of His creation makes me a heretic, sign me up.

atoz · Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 3:05 pm Post subject:

Awesone poem, Wilber!

Thanx!

With Love,
Atoz

theseldomscene · Banned Joined: 17 Mar 2005 Posts: 7817

good poem...too bad there is NO scripture to support it..

just vain imagination...all who reject HIm...reject life...and fry and die...amen!!...

Jamtomorrow · Banned Joined: 15 Jan 2008 Posts: 22

I like the poem and its sentiments. I wouldn't say that scripture is unambiguously of the "die and fry" camp. That sounds to me like the work of a fundamentalist Colonel Sanders (or is that Saunders? I know not).
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I am proud to hold the wolf's pelt...

Yehushuan · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 12:18 pm Post subject:

Welcome back Jamtomorrow, I was beginning to wonder where you had been.

(Oh, almost forgot: "Remembered as the most pious of the three Brontë sisters, Anne was a Christian universalist, believing that all people will eventually be saved." - Link To Wikipedia Article.)

Yehu
_________________
There must be a God; Natural Selection would have gotten rid of you a long time ago.

atoz · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 12:57 pm Post subject:

Diane · Cobra Joined: 17 Sep 2004 Posts: 470

I found this today. I thought it might fit in this thread. It is the antithesis of Anne's poem, imo.

Arminian "grace!" How strange the sound,
Salvation hinged on me.
I once was lost then turned around,
Was blind then chose to see.

What "grace" is it that calls for choice,
Made from some good within:
That part that wills to heed God's voice,
Proved stronger than my sin.

Thru many ardent gospel pleas,
I sat with heart of stone.
But then some hidden good in me,
Propelled me toward my home.

When we've been there ten thousand years,
Because of what we've done,
We've no less days to sing our praise,
Then when we first begun.
_________________
God is love and love never fails.

The Beautiful Heresy – If believing that God is loving enough, powerful enough, and wise enough to save all of His creation makes me a heretic, sign me up.

atoz · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 4:38 am Post subject:

Plotinus · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 5:46 am Post subject:

Plotinus · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 5:48 am Post subject:

Here is one of my favourites: link.
Nothing directly to do with universalism, but it speaks to a universal harmony that is the core of universalist sentiment.
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One would never discover the limits of soul, should one traverse every road -- so deep a measure does it possess.

Heraclitus, fragment 45, quoted in Diogenes Laertius 9.7.

Plotinus · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 5:52 am Post subject:

Atoz, your experimentation with avatars is working. I like this one with the two people the best. Keep up the good work.
_________________
One would never discover the limits of soul, should one traverse every road -- so deep a measure does it possess.

Heraclitus, fragment 45, quoted in Diogenes Laertius 9.7.

atoz · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 6:14 am Post subject: