We owe God a death
“We cannot live long in this world.
We owe God a death.
We owe nature a death.
The sentence of death is passed upon us.
We cannot enjoy the comfort of this world long.
And for favour and applause of the world,
we must leave it,
and it will leave us,
we know not how soon.
And this meditation should enforce us to be willing,
however it go with us,
for anything here, for life, or goods, or friends,
or credit and reputation, or whatsoever,
to be willing to seal the cause of Christ
with that which is dearest to us.”
(Works of Richard Sibbes, volume 3, pp. 84-85)
(via together for the Gospel)
Birds of Paradise
Golden-winged, silver-winged
Winged with flashing flame,
Such a flight of birds I saw,
Birds without a name:
Singing songs in their own tongue—
Song of songs—they came.
One to another calling,
Each answering each,
One to another calling
In their proper speech:
High above my head they wheeled,
Far out of reach.
On wings of flame they went and came
With a cadenced clang:
Their silver wings tinkled,
Their golden wings rang;
The wind it whistled through their wings
Where in heaven they sang.
They flashed and they darted
Awhile before mine eyes,
Mounting, mounting, mounting still,
In haste to scale the skies,
Birds without a nest on earth,
Birds of Paradise.
Where the moon riseth not
Nor sun seeks the west,
There to sing their glory
Which they sing at rest,
There to sing their love-song
When they sing their best:—
Not in any garden
That mortal foot hath trod,
Not in any flowering tree
That springs from earthly sod,
But in the garden where they dwell,
The Paradise of God.
Christina Georgina Rossetti
14 November 1864.
(via Biblicalia)