John Byrom Quotes

As clear as a whistle.

Take time enough: all other graces Will soon fill up their proper places.

No rest is to be found But in Thy blessèd love; O let my wish be crowned And send it from above.

The Church is indeed, in its real Intent, An Assembly where Nothing but Friendship is meant; And the utter Extinction of Foeship and Wrath By the Working of Love in the Strength of its Faith. This gives it its holy and catholic Name, And truly confirms its apostolic Claim; Showing what the One Saviour's One Mission had been: "Go and teach all the World," — ev'ry Creature therein. <p> In the Praise ever due to the Gospel of Grace Its Universality holds the first Place. When an Angel proclaim'd Its glad Tidings the Morn That the Son of the Virgin, the Saviour, was born, "Which shall be to all People," was said to complete The angelical Message, so good and so great, Full of " Glory to God," in the Regions Above, And of "Goodness to Men," is so Boundless a Love.

Here, all ye learned, full of all Dispute, Of true and false Religion lies the Root. The Mind of Christ, when He became a Man, With all Its Tempers, forms its real Plan, The Sheep from Goats distinguishing full well; — His Love is Heav'n, and Want of It is Hell.

Thus adorned, the two heroes, 'twixt shoulder and elbow, Shook hands and went to 't; and the word it was bilbow.

Were I a king (God bless me) I should hate My chaplains meddling with affairs of state; Nor would my subjects, I should think, be fond, Whenever theirs the Bible went beyond.

Bone and Skin, two millers thin, Would starve us all, or near it; But be it known to Skin and Bone That Flesh and Blood can't bear it.

Endless Perfections after all conspire, And to adore excite and to admire; But to plain Minds the Plainest Pow'r Above Is Native Goodness to attract our Love; Centre of all Its various Pow'r and Skill Is One Divine, Immutable Good Will.

Religion's Meaning when I would recall, Love is to me the plainest Word of all. Plainest, — because that what I love, or hate, Shews me directly my internal State; By its own Consciousness is best defin'd Which way the Heart within me stands inclin'd. <p> On what it lets its Inclination rest, To that its real Worship is address'd; Whatever Forms or Ceremonies spring From Custom's Force, there lies the real Thing; Jew, Turk or Christian be the Lover's Name, If same the Love, Religion is the same.

This short Supplication, or Litany, read When the longer with us is not wont to be said, Tho' brief in Expression, as fully imports The Will to all Blessings, for "Men of all Sorts," — Same brotherly Love, by which Christians are taught To "pray without ceasing," or limiting Thought; That Religion may flourish upon its true Plan Of Glory to God and Salvation to Man.

The One Unbounded, Undivided Good, By all His Creatures partly understood. If therefore Sense of its apparent Parts Raise not His Love or Worship in our Hearts, Our selfish Wills or Notions we may feast, And have no more Religion than a Beast.

Some say, that Signor Bononcini, Compared to Handel's a mere ninny; Others aver, to him, that Handel Is scarcely fit to hold a candle. Strange! that such high dispute should be 'Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

Religion, then, is Love's Celestial Force That penetrates thro' all to Its True Source; Loves all along, but with proportion'd Bent, As Creatures further the Divine Ascent, Not to the Skies or Stars, but to the part That will be always uppermost, — the Heart, <p> There is the Seat, as Holy Writings tell, Where the Most High Himself delights to dwell; Whither attracting the desirous Will To its true Rest, He saves it from all Ill, Gives it to find in His Abyssal Love An Heav'n within, — in other Words, Above.

In reading authors, when you find
Bright passages that strike your mind,
And which perhaps you may have reason
To think on at another season,
Be not contented with the sight,
But take them down in black and white;
Such a respect is wisely shown
That makes another's sense one's own.