Religion and poetry; being selections spiritual and moral, from the poetical works of the Rev. R. Montgomery ...

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Preface

The influence of Poetry in general, and its importance as a moral agent for intellectual culture, can scarcely be over estimated. A great Contemporary Poet has beautifully remarked that, " Poetry is the breath and spirit of all Knowledge ; the impassioned expression which appears on the countenance of all Science." By those whose hearts respond to this sentiment, it will be admitted that the Poet is fulfilling his mission only in proportion as he devotes his genius and his talents to the service of Christianity, and to the illustration of whatever is most elevating and beautiful in the moral and natural world.

In Montgomery's own language, the function of the Poet, when his heart beats with spiritual loyalty to the Cross, is so to invest all nature with an ideal

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radiance, that every religious eye may be capacitated to read and admire

" That Mighty Poem which the Heavens and Earth Exhibit, written by Eternal Hands."

" THE MESSIAH."

It is true that Poetry has been but too often made the instrument for degrading, rather than elevating Man's spiritual nature ; but beyond a doubt, its legitimate aim and highest effort ought to be directed to the awaking, refining, and exalting our Consciousness, and carrying it beyond and above the beaten track of ordinary life, into the pure and lofty regions of Christianity.

It is in this point of view that the Poet ought to excite our gratitude as well as our admiration, when we see him dedicate his powers to such hallowed purposes. Perhaps no English Poet has more thoroughly rendered Poetry subservient to this sublime object than Robert Montgomery. Spirituality is not the mere accidence, but the essence of his Poetry ; and we cannot read a page without observing how intensely he strives to realize Divinity, as the secret life and law which actuate and mould the universe of Matter and Mind; and in an age of sensual tendencies and frivolous excitement, it is no slight merit thus to

PREFACE.

magnify the Eternal, and celebrate the Unseen. His first poem has now been before the public for nearly a quarter of a century ; and the interest with which each succeeding work continues to be regarded, bespeaks a healthy tone of moral feeling in a very large, and we trust, an increasing body, of intellectual Christians. His mental sway is daily becoming more felt ; while, like Wordsworth and Coleridge, he steadily advances into the higher regions of hallowed sentiment and thoughtful taste, boldly contending against those rationalizing and sensualizing principles so prevalent in our current literature. The spirit of Robert Montgomery's Christian Philosophy fully harmonizes with a profound truth so beautifully expressed by Ullman in his "Worship of Genius." — "However sublime may be the idea which the word Genius awakens in our mind, something infinitely greater arises before us at the short and simple word — God ! Though centuries have mused over the idea signified by those few letters, we cannot believe that it is yet exhausted, or that it has lost its power over the mind ; we cannot believe that such Idea must abdicate its supremacy, and have another for its substitute, in order that the human mind should ascend to its loftiest and truest object of reverence.

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The word "God" still is, and ever will be, the highest problem for the thinker, the watch-word of hope for the pious, the thunder-bolt for the sinner, and thus wield an influence which the name of Genius will never attain."

Believing as we do, that almost a complete body of Christian truth might be collected from Montgomery's works, it occurred to the Editor that an interesting and valuable selection might be made on a plan differing from mere extracts from the writings of any other Poet in the language ; and that by arranging under distinct theological and miscellaneous heads the scattered thoughts and original conceptions which characterize this Author, — a valuable volume, unique in its kind, might be composed. Such a publication is now offered to the reader ; and it is hoped it will be acceptable to all who reverence the moral development of our nature ; who can be touched with what is pure in motive and lofty in feeling ; or who can appreciate that tenderness, and those images of innocence and happiness, with which our Poet delights to illustrate the diversified scenery of human experience.

Having obtained the Rev. Robert Montgomery's kind permission to make such a selection from his

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poetical works, on the plan proposed, the Editor has gone through his various poems with that view; and though he has far from exhausted the subject, it will be found that, as far as this volume extends, the most interesting passages of the Author's Poems, have been arranged under distinct heads : and, as there is scarcely a great Gospel truth or Moral sentiment, which Robert Montgomery has not clothed in the graces of poetical language, — the title of the work has been chosen as indicative of what appears ever to be his leading aim, namely, the alliance of Poetry with Religion. The reader will here find nothing but what tends to lift our redeemed humanity into holy communion with its reconciled God; while at the same time the Author's genius shines in every page pre-eminent for whatever is beautiful in sentiment, noble in aspiration, or catholic in sympathy. Ever may the spiritual loftiness of the following passage from his "Universal, Prayer," receive a responsive echo in the souls of all who believe that the Gospel is the sublimest Philosophy of Man,

" And oh ! may those, the gifted few,

Archangels of the Earth, before whose thrones

Mortality doth bend, and half adore,

Forget not what they owe to Thee, and Man !

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May Genius never stoop to pander vice,

But fix her eye on Heaven, and Walk the Earth

A Spirit conscious of her native Sphere."

The depth of religious earnestness in Montgomery's Writings will not render this volume the less acceptable to those who are engaged in the arduous and responsible duties of training the youthful mind ; while his sound views of the Reformation make his writings peculiarly valuable at the present juncture in the Anglican Church. Nor ought the opinion of the most eminent men of foreign countries be overlooked : the judgment of Tholuck, one of the most eloquent of living German Divines, is peculiarly valuable, as confirmatory of the Editor's estimate of Montgomery's services : thus then, has that illustrious theologian spoken of our poet's highest work — "Luther" — " I should think it," he says, " an injury done to us Germans, not to make known to them, your Poem, on that giant of Theology, Martin Luther."

In conclusion, the Editor must now remark, that it was not deemed necessary to name the separate Works from whence the extracts are taken ; but only to indicate by spaces, that they have been selected from the Author's different poems, and classified under their appropriate heads.

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It only remains then for the Editor to thank the accomplished author of " Charles the First," for the fine specimen of effective criticism which forms an Introduction to this volume.

S. J, IL