John Bowring

1792-1872 / England

The Tide Of Tendency

'Tis the same great all-influencing Cause,
The source of those inexorable laws
Which gives its motion to the mountain rill,
And by the self-same impulse guided ever,
Leads on the widening, deepening, gathering river,
The ocean's vast receptacle to fill.
And every wandering bee the flower that sips,
And every bending cowslip-leaf that dips
Into the flowing rivulet-is held
And in resistless vassalage compelled
Onward, by that strong tide whose course sublime
Sinks into vast eternity from time.
'Tis the same Power which from the womb of night
Calls up the dawn, and with his presence bright
Bids the sun waken into glorious birth,
And pour his spreading splendours o'er the earth
With ever-glowing, ever-growing strength,
Till reaching his meridian height at length:
It is the same mysterious, mighty Power
That helps the cause of progress every hour,
And-part of Heaven's benign transcendent plan-
Develops all that's great and good in man,
And makes him worthier in this world to be
The heir of Heaven,-the son of Deity.
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