Morning Thoughts (For Every Day Of Life)
by J R Miller
May 1
He that believeth on Me shall never thirst. - John 6:35
Christ can satisfy all our hungers and thirsts. He does not crush them.
Some people imagine that the cravings of their heart are sinful and must be destroyed. But that is not what Christ
proposes to do. He says our thirsts shall be satisfied. These yearnings and desires are really the marks of the
divine likeness in us.
They are our capacities for lofty attainments and achievements. They are like the buds of the trees in the early
spring days: they were made to burst out into full bloom and to come to glorious fruitage.
In earth's short summer, even at the best, only a few of these capacities find time to grow into beauty; but in
the other life there will be abundance of time for every yearning and longing, every taste and desire, every aspiration
and hope, to reach full and perfect growth.
"I came to Jesus, and I drank
Of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
And now I live in Him."
May 2
Where I am, ye cannot come. - John 7:34
He was going to a place into which only His friends could come, only the good, those who belonged by renewed life
to His kingdom.
Jesus says this same word to all who reject Him now as Saviour and Friend.
Heaven is represented as a city with walls. Walls mean exclusion. There are some who will be shut out of that holy
place. But there are twelve gates by which to enter the heavenly city. These gates into the holy place where Christ
is are always open, not shut by day or by night.
Christ does not want men to be kept away from Him; He wants them to come to Him. Every voice of the gospel bids
them come. But there is no way of getting to Christ where He is but by being like Him.
The unholy cannot find their way to Him until their hearts have been changed. The only way to make sure of being
with Christ in blessedness is to accept His grace and love in the "little while" that He stands before
our doors. Then we shall be forever with Him, and nothing shall ever separate us from Him.
May 3
Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the Lord; peradventure
I shall make an atonement for your sin. - Exodus 32:30
It was a terrible sin. The people had broken their covenant with God. There was only one hope: Moses would intercede
for them. When we break our covenants with God we have the same way - and it is the only way - to get back into
God's favor.
It is pleasant to have friends who will go up into the mount of prayer and plead with God for forgiveness when
we have sinned. We never can know what blessings come to us, and what sufferings are averted, through the intersection
of our friends. Job offered sacrifices unto God for his children, lest they in their carelessness might have incurred
the divine displeasure.
But, precious and valuable to us as are our human mediators, there is something better yet: Jesus Christ ever lives
to make intercession for us. When we have sinned, if we turn to Him, He will plead for us and obtain mercy and
forgiveness.
May 4
This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me. - Leviticus
10:3
The priests who refused to honor the Lord by doing what He had commanded, fell at the tabernacle door, struck down
by their own sin.
The law of God has always a double aspect. From one side it appears bright and full of promise and blessing; from
the other side it is dark and full of terrors. It is like the pillar of cloud, which led the people as they left
Egypt. It was light on the side toward the Israelites, and dark towards the Egyptians.
Law obeyed gives shelter, blessing, and peace. Law disobeyed brings terror, suffering, and death. The same is true
even of the gospel of Christ. To those who accept the gospel it gives everlasting life; to those who reject it,
it becomes a curse, because the offering of it adds to their guilt when they have rejected it.
Every blessing that comes to use presents to us this double aspect - it will leave us either with more of God's
light shining upon us, or with deeper darkness resting over us.
May 5
They… cut down … a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff.
- Numbers 13:23
God has sent over into our earthly wilderness-life many samples of the good things of the heavenly life - foretastes
of the full glories there awaiting us.
The joy, peace, love, and grace we get here are very sweet, but they are just little specimens of fruits that grow
everywhere in the Better-Land. The old rabbis say that when the famine began in Egypt and the storehouses were
opened, Joseph threw the chaff of the grain upon the Nile, that it might float down on the river and show those
who lived below that there was abundance of provision laid up for them farther up the river.
So the blessings of divine grace, which we enjoy in this world, are little more than the husks of the heavenly
good things, sent down on the river of divine grace as foretastes or intimations of what is in store for us in
heaven. The joy the Christian has here is deep and rich, but heaven's joy is infinitely deeper and richer.
May 6
These words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart. - Deuteronomy 6:6
There is a story in one of the sacred books of the Hindus of a devotee who had served a certain goddess with such
faithfulness that she offered to give him whatever he might ask.
She offered him lands and wealth beyond price, but the man said, "alas! I have no need of such things. I already
have great estates, abundance of silver and gold, and all the good things of this life. But I am a miser. I cannot
enjoy the things I possess. I die of famine, with plenty all around me, and I know nothing of the pleasures that
that are common to generous minds. Give me, then, a new heart."
The goddess looked at him in amazement, and said, "Thou hast asked a thing too difficult," and she vanished.
But this is the very thing God does for those who ask it. He is able to change the miser's heart, so that he may
find pleasure in blessing others with his gifts. He does this by putting His words into the heart. Then the heart
is changed, and the life that was all wrong is made all right.
May 7
When thou shalt have eaten and be full; then beware lest thou forget the Lord. - Deuteronomy 6:11-12
The people were going to a country which had long been possessed by a nation who had build cities, filled fine
houses with good things, and planted vineyards. All these things the Lord would give to them. They would not have
to erect houses nor plant orchards of their own.
But the danger was that when they had received all these things they would forget that they were gifts from God
and would turn away into sin. We are not to forget the Giver as we enjoy the gifts.
Children that receive from their parents many good things are ofttimes ungrateful, forgetting through what toil
and sacrifice these blessings have been prepared for them.
It is better for us to work ourselves for the things we get, and then we shall know their value and ever be grateful
to God for them. It is always a perilous thing to forget God. To forget any friend who has been good to us is a
base sin. But to forget God, to whom we owe every blessing, is the worst of all.
May 8
Sanctify yourselves; for to-morrow the Lord will do wonders among you. - Joshua 3:5
To sanctify means to cleanse, to make holy. God will not send His gifts to others in unclean vessels.
Every morning, as we set out, we have promises for help, but these promises are dependent upon ourselves. We must
be in a proper frame of heart and mind to receive them. God will not put His holy gifts into our hands if they
are defiled with sin.
The lesson is for all of us, as we go to God in prayer, or as we ask for blessing. If, while we pray, our hearts
are cherishing sins un-confessed and un-repented of, we cannot hope that God will grant our requests. Our Lord
said Himself that if we bring our gifts to the altar and there remember that our brother has aught against us,
we must leave our gift un-offered before the altar, and go and be reconciled with our brother, and then come and
offer our gift.
An old psalm says that if we regard iniquity in our heart the Lord will not hear us. The secret of many unanswered
prayers may be found in cherished sins.
May 9
They took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people. - Joshua 3:6
The ark was the symbol of God's own presence. God is always ready to lead us. To go without Him into life's experiences,
is to fail.
A little way back, when instructions were given for this crossing, Joshua said to the people, "You have not
passed this way heretofore, and therefore you must keep in sight of the ark which will go before you."
The same may be said of every day's experiences. We have not passed this way heretofore. Although we have lived
thousands of other days, each new day presents an unknown pathway to us, a way we have never gone over before.
The only safe thing to do is always to keep the ark in sight, and to follow it.
One of the marks of the true Christian is that he follows Christ. Christ's sheep know His voice and follow Him,
and He goeth before them. Children should learn in their earlier years that Christ is their Leader, and that every
morning they can put their hand in His for guidance for the day.
May 10
When Joab saw that the front of the battle was against him before and behind, he chose of all
the choice men. - 2 Samuel 10:9
This is a picture of our condition in this world. Whichever way we move we find enemies facing us. Joab teaches
us a lesson in the art of war. He prepared to assault both the foes in the front and those in the rear. He turned
no back to any enemy.
This would seem to teach that the Christian should never expose his back to the foe, but should always keep his
face toward him.
Another good lesson from Joab's movements is, his picking out his best men to fight the hardest battle, to meet
the most dangerous foes. Our great Captain gives His best soldiers His hardest fighting to do. If any of us think
we have sorer temptations than others have, that the enemies who come against us are harder to overcome than those
our neighbors have to meet, let us remember that Christ picks His soldiers, putting the best and bravest where
the battle will be hardest.
May 11
Oh that I were made judge,… that every man …might come unto me, and I would do him justice! -
2 Samuel 15:4
It is very easy to criticize others and imagine how much better we would do if we were in their place.
First Absalom poisoned the people's mind toward David by making the impression that the king was neglectful, and
that the people were suffering wrong through his neglect; next he suggested how different matters would be if he
were judge in his father's place. The treachery of such words we can see. He cared nothing for the people's real
or imaginary wrongs. He thought only of destroying their confidence in David and winning them to himself.
There always are people who think of no way of getting up but by pulling others down. It is very easy for any of
us, by careless words, and even unintentionally, to disparage others and indirectly suggest how much better we
would perform their duties if they were ours.
It requires a noble heart and most watchful care to be always loyal to our friends.
May 12
Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord. - 2 Samuel 22:50
The keynote of David's hymn is praise. He saw God's hand in all the events of his life. God had girded him with
strength; God had made his enemies turn their backs; God had delivered him from the strivings of the people.
Great military men sometimes write autobiographies glorifying themselves, explaining how this and that battle was
won, showing how their valor or their strategy was the secret of the success on this or that field, thus weaving
for themselves a crown of honor. David's autobiography is altogether different. He hides himself away and honors
God.
It is only when we are willing to be nothing that God may be all in all, that we become really great spiritually.
We are but the earthen vessels that God fills with blessing. No matter how much good we may do in this world, it
is not we that really do it, but God through us and in us.
Just so far, then, as we recognize this truth do we reach the highest possible spirit in Christian life.
May 13
Even as I sware unto thee,… even so will I certainly do this day. - 1 Kings 1:30
David had sworn to Bathsheba that her son Solomon should reign as king. He now declares to her that his oath will
be sacredly kept. One of the marks of the man who shall abide in God's presence, is, "He sweareth to his own
hurt, and changeth not."
Too many persons find it very easy to "forget" to do what they have solemnly said they would do. Pledges
sit very lightly upon them. Vows are thoughtlessly made, and just as thoughtlessly broken.
There should be no need for an oath - one's simple word should be held irrevocably binding - just as binding as
one's most solemn oath. Forgetfulness is no excuse for failing to keep promises. If our memory is defective, we
should put down our promises in writing, and keep them so before our minds that it will be impossible for us to
forget them.
One who can be implicitly relied upon, who never fails any one who trusts in him, is like a fragment of the Rock
of Ages.
May 14
Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. - 1 Kings 1:39
Oil was the symbol of the Holy Spirit. The meaning of the ceremony was that as men anointed the young king with
divine grace, setting him part as king, gifting him for service.
God anoints every one of us, as we wait at His feet in consecration, giving us His Holy Spirit to fit us for His
work.
It is related of a Russian prince that he was in Paris, having for his companions certain rich young men who passed
their time in revelling. One night they were feasting, and in the midst of their revels a sealed message was handed
to the Russian prince. He opened it and read it, and then rising, he said to his companions, "I am emperor
now." He then turned away and left them, separating himself forever from his past unworthy life.
When we are called to any duty we should break with whatever in our past has been unworthy. The call to holy service
should be a call to noble living.
May 15
God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart. - 1 Kings 4:29
We must notice here first it was God who gave Solomon these gifts which meant so much to him in his career as king.
His wisdom and understanding were not simply the results of his own study, thought, and experience.
Of course, men get wisdom through experience. Study and reading give men knowledge of books and develop their mental
power. But we must remember that whatever gifts of mind or heart we possess have been bestowed upon us by God Himself.
We should always think of Him as the owner of our life, with all its powers and possibilities. This should inspire
in us gratitude to God. Then it should lead us to use all our faculties and powers in the service of God.
So long as Solomon did this he was blessed. It was through the influence of luxury that his heart was drawn away
from God and he began to fall. No sin can be more terrible than the perversion of great gifts from right to wrong
uses.
May 16
The Lord my God hath given me rest on every side. - 1 Kings 5:4
This was part of the preparation for the building of the temple. Times of quiet in one's life should not be idle
times. There is other work to do then. These are days for temple-building.
True living is not all activity - struggle, conflict, gathering money, toiling with one's hands.
Building of character is the great work of life. This goes on best in the quiet. We ought not to wait for idleness
to compel us to be still; we should get the quiet into our life even in our busiest times. We must have a restful
spirit if we would build up the inner temple. There should be "silent times" in every day's life.
The secret of Daniel's noble character, while carrying a great part of the burden of the kingdom of Babylon was
that he never forsook the place of prayer. Not even fear of the lion's den could make him neglect devotion.
There is no other secret of a true and noble life amid the world's strifes and trials. We must keep quiet within,
that we may build up in our hearts the temple of God.
May 17
Turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord. - 1 Kings
11:4
The trouble was all in Solomon's heart. It is the heart that needs watching and keeping with all diligence. A "perfect"
heart does not mean a sinless heart, but a heart wholly devoted in its aim and motive to God and His service.
Solomon had a corner in his heart for the Lord, and then other corners for the gods of all the other nations. The
Saviour's words are: "Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
We need to be on our guard against Solomonian religion. There is plenty of it. It abhors the preaching of the stern
truths of god's word about sin and penalty, and about holiness. It sends well-nigh everybody to heaven, and regards
hell as a mere fable. It calls strict Christians "puritanic" or "strait-laced." It calls great
sins "escapades," and finds no use for such psalms as the fifty-first.
It is not hard to see in this verse, however, which of the two kinds of religion pleases God best, and which leads
to the best end.
May 18
The Lord… which had appeared unto him twice. - 1 Kings 11:9
Old Mathew Henry says: "God keeps account of the gracious visits He makes us, whether we do or no; knows how
often He has appeared to us and for us, and will remember it against us, if we turn from Him."
The more we know of God, and the greater the favor He shows us, the sorer is our sin if we forsake Him and go back
to sin.
When Solomon had seen the Lord in vision, not once only, but twice, he should have been forever a man consecrated
to God. The eyes that had looked upon the Lord should never have lusted after earth's pleasures. The hands that
had fashioned a glorious temple for God never should have built altars for heathen deities. Solomon's sins were
far greater because of the favors God had granted him.
Have we seen Christ? Has He appeared to us in prayer, or at the holy table? Let us not forget that having seen
Christ should set us apart forever for His service and for holy living.
May 19
Thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee. - 1 Kings 17:4
God is never at a loss to find a way of providing for His children.
All things are His servants. The brooks of water, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, the wings of ravens,
the waves of the sea - all creatures, all things animate and inanimate - belong to Him and are ready to serve Him
at His call.
Some people are troubled about miracles, asking how God can interrupt the regular order of nature to do any special
favor for a child of His. If we understand how completely all things are under God's hands, it will not be hard
for us to believe that miracles are possible.
Perhaps none of us ever were fed by ravens as Elijah was, but in other ways, not less marvellous, God brings to
us our daily bread. Railroad trains carry it across continents, or ships bear it around the globe to bring it to
our doors. We are too wise in these days - too wise on scientific subjects - to get the most perfect peace from
the promises of God.
May 20
He requested for himself that he might die. - 1 Kings 19:4
Elijah was in a state of despondency when he uttered this unworthy prayer. It was not fright that produced this
condition of mind - it was discouragement. It seemed to him that all the struggle on Carmel had amounted to nothing.
It is a sad picture - this great prophet lying there under a little bush in the wilderness, begging that he might
die. This is one of the unanswered prayers of the Bible, and it is well for Elijah it was not answered. If he had
died then, what an inglorious ending would it have been to his life! As it was, however, he lived to do further
glorious work, and instead of dying in the wilderness, he missed death altogether.
It is never right to wish ourselves dead. Life is God's gift to us, a sacred trust for which we shall have to give
account. As long as God keeps us living He has something for us to do. Our prayers should be for grace to bear
our burden and do our duty bravely unto the end.
May 21
The man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place. -
2 Kings 6:9
Nothing is hidden from God. We are told that the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation. Here we
have an illustration of this. The Lord knew the plans of the king of Syria to entrap the king of Israel. He made
known these plans to Elisha, and he in turn told the king of Israel of the ambush, that he might save himself from
the peril.
The Bible gives us many such warnings. In such and such paths, it tells us, it is not safe for us to go, for Satan
walks there.
There is a fable of a wonderful ring which a prince wore, that clasped his finger softly while he went in right
ways, but stung him sharply whenever he was in danger of going in some wrong path.
That is what conscious does. If only we heeded the warnings of our conscious we should never get into places of
danger, save when duty called us there, and then we should have protection, for when God sends us He will take
care of us.
May 22
Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. - 2 Kings 13:14
It is interesting, while we stand beside this old man's deathbed, to think of the blessing he was to the country
in which he lived.
He first appears as a young farmer ploughing, when suddenly behind him comes the prophet Elisha and throws over
his shoulders a sheepskin cloak. This cloak was the emblem of the prophetic office, and the young farmer was called
to the ministry. From that time his life was given up to God's service, first as the attendant of Elijah, and then
as the prophet of Israel. He was a man of gentle mood and kindly spirit. But a few incidents are recorded of him,
but these show us the spirit of the man. The friend of the poor and the oppressed, he was also the counsellor and
helper of kings.
There is no time when a man's life and work can be seen quite so truly as from amid the shadows of his death hour.
We should live so that when the end of our life comes the world may speak approvingly of us.
May 23
When the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived. - 2 Kings 13:21
Of course this was a miracle. The incident illustrates the truth that a good man's influence lives after him.
There is a story of an old monk who was shipwrecked and cast upon a desert island. He had with him a package of
seeds which he scattered upon the bare island. Soon afterward he died there, but twenty years later, some persons
coming to the island found it covered from side to side with waving harvests and luxuriant fruit-trees, the result
of the scattering of the seeds from the monk's hand twenty years ago.
So it is with those who live well: wherever they go, they drop seeds which spring up into beauty.
There is a legend which says that when the Empress Helena was searching for the true cross, three crosses were
found. They brought a dead body and laid it in turn upon the crosses. When it rested upon the true cross, it became
alive. This is only a legend, but it illustrates the truth that the power of Christ always gives life and healing.
May 24
It was in my mind to build an house: … but the word of the Lord came to me, saying… Thou shalt
not build. - 1 Chronicles 22:7-8
There are many people who do preparatory work. A man goes to the West and clears off a piece of ground, building
a rude log hut. His son succeeds him, and in the midst of broad, rich acres erects a palatial home. The father's
work was just as necessary and important, in its place, as the son's.
One set of men make the excavation for a great building, and put in the foundations. For weeks they toil away under
ground, and then another set of men come, and the walls rise up and a magnificent building is erected. The foundation
work is buried, but who will say it is less important than the splendid house built above?
It is the same in all Christian work. One prepares the way, another follows and speaks the word which saves. To
each one God allots a part, and if we do our own work, God asks nothing more. He accepts our purposes and blesses
us for good intentions, though others carry them out.
May 25
Commanded Judah to seek the Lord… and to do the law and the commandment. - 2 Chronicles 14:4
Repentance is not complete unless we get back to God and renew our allegiance to Him.
One of our Lord's parables tells of the casting out of an evil spirit, the man's heart then being left empty. By
and by the demon, returning after many wanderings, found his old house swept and garnished, but still empty; and,
gathering up a number of other demons worse than himself, he returned into his old place. That is always the story
when evil is cast out and the life is not filled with God.
There is a verse in one of Paul's epistles in which the apostle calls upon Christians to present their bodies as
living sacrifices to Him. He wants our body that He may purify it and give it back to us cleansed.
We must not think that it is merely for the help that we can give to God that He so earnestly desires the consecration
of ourselves to Him; it is that He may take us, with all our sinfulness, and make us holy and beautiful, like Christ.
May 26
His heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord. - 2 Chronicles 17:6
There is a bad lifting up and a good lifting up. Some people are made vain by prosperity. The temptation for us
when first called to do any work, if we accomplish it with some measure of success, is to become proud.
It ought to make us humble to learn that God is using us, is entrusting us with something of His to minister to
others, and is blessing the work which we are doing for Him. Every favor we receive should make us more earnest
in doing the will of God.
Too often, as money comes in, and prosperity increases, people get so absorbed in these new gifts of God that the
Giver Himself fades out of their vision.
We should never forget that every new kindness which comes to us is a new evidence of God's thought for us, and
that because of it we should love Him the more and devote ourselves the more earnestly to His work.
If only we thus see the hand of God in every new mercy and goodness that comes to us, our hearts will be lifted
up in the ways of the Lord.
May 27
The Lord your god is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return
unto Him. - 2 Chronicles 30:9
God loves to forgive. The only time in the Bible God is represented as running is in the parable of the Prodigal
Son, when the father ran to meet his penitent boy.
The Koran says that every man has two angels, who walk by his side all the day. One is the angel of good deeds,
who records every good thing the man does, and outs it down ten times lest something may be omitted. The other
is the angel of evil deeds, who keeps a record of every wrong thing the man does. At nightfall both these angels
fly home to God and make their report.
The angel of good deeds tells of all that has been beautiful in the man's conduct during the day, and the angel
of evil deeds reports all the wrong. Then the angel of good deeds begs that the record of sins shall not be put
down for seven hours. Perhaps the man will repent, confess, and be forgiven. This Mohammedan legend represents
the truth about God, who is slow to anger and quick to show mercy.
May 28
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. - Psalm 32:1
This beatitude does not say, "blessed is the sinless man," but, "Blessed is the sinner forgiven."
Unforgiven sin lies as a dead weight upon a life. But with forgiveness comes all the blessedness of life and glory.
When we are forgiven we become at once God's children, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ to the inheritance
of eternal life.
God covers our sins, and they are put out of sight forever - out of our sight, out of the world's sight, out of
God's sight. God says He will remember our sins against us no more. So the covering is complete and final. The
reason is, that the sins are covered by an atonement made by another.
My forgetting that I owe a debt does not pay the debt. But when some other one pays it for me, the debt is covered
and the charge blotted out. "All we like sheep have gone astray… and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity
of us all." If our sins were laid on Jesus, surely they are covered forever and will never rise up against
us!
May 29
The proverbs of Solomon. - Proverbs 1:1
Solomon learned a great deal by experience. He put all the resources of this world to the test to see just what
they would do for man. His proverbs are not, therefore, mere bits of theory, like many wise words we see; they
were all wrought out in the crucible of actual experience.
Some of his words mark dangers: "Don't turn this way!" Some of them point to the safe path: "This
is the way!" Whatever he found in life he set down here for the benefit of those who would come after.
It is wonderful, too, at how many points these proverbs touch life, and how intensely practical they are. To ponder
them and to follow their instruction is to live well and grandly.
It is wonderful also that while Solomon himself wandered so far from God, there is not in all his writings a single
word that excuses his sins. Everywhere he points away from the wrong path and to the right.
May 30
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning. - Proverbs 1:5
The wise man never ceases to be a learner. He never gets to a point where he feels satisfied with his attainments.
Many a man, who starts out with great promise in early life, by and by loses his energy and fails of his early
hope, because in the elation of his first successes he stopped learning, and then growth was at an end, and when
growth stops decay begins.
An old artist had for his motto: "Nulla dies sine linea" (No day without a line). Every day he would
add one line, at least, to his knowledge and attainment.
There could be no better motto for any life, young or old. Every day we should learn something we did not know
before, add some new fact to our store of knowledge. Every day we should get some new lesson into our life, learn
at some point to live better.
This applies to secular life - there should be daily progress in the business or profession we pursue. It also
needs to apply to spiritual life - no day should be without its added line of likeness to Christ.
May 31
There was a darkness over all the earth. - Luke 23:44
He died in darkness, that when we walk in the valley of the shadow of death, the light of glory may shine about
us. Death for the Christian has no bitterness, because Jesus drained the curse from it.
Mrs. Browning has pictured, with rare beauty, the effect of Christ's death upon two seraphim who lingered a little
behind the hosts of heaven that had gathered about the cross. One of them is troubled by the thought that men will
now have more reason to love God than even the angels have.
"Oh! Not with this blood on us - and this face,
Still, haply, pale with sorrow that it bore
In our behalf, and tender evermore
With nature all our own, upon us gazing -
Nor yet with these forgiving hands upraising
Their un-reproachful wounds, alone to bless!
Alas, Creator! shall we love Thee less
Than mortals shall?"