REDEMPTION
In cruce salus.
Salvation by the cross.
Say, heavenly pow'rs, where shall we find such love?
Which of ye will be mortal to redeem
Man's mortal crime, and just th' unjust to save.
And now without redemption all mankind
Must have been lost, adjudged to death and hell
By doom severe.
Why, all the souls that are were forfeit once;
And He that might the vantage best have took
Found out the remedy.
Condemned into everlasting redemption for this.
REED
Phragmites
Those tall flowering-reeds which stand,
In Arno like a sheaf of sceptres, left
By some remote dynasty of dead gods.
REFLECTION
The next time you go out to a smoking party, young feller, fill your pipe with that 'ere reflection.
The solitary side of our nature demands leisure for reflection upon subjects on which the dash and whirl of daily business, so long as its clouds rise thick about us, forbid the intellect to fasten itself.
Froude—Short Studies on Great Subjects. Sea Studies.
The learn'd reflect on what before they knew.
Let the Tribune put all this in its pipe and smoke it.
For take thy ballaunce if thou be so wise,
And weigh the winde that under heaven doth blow;
Or weigh the light that in the east doth rise;
Or weigh the thought that from man's mind doth flow.
Spenser—Faerie Queene. Bk. V. Canto II. St. 43.
A soul without reflection, like a pile
Without inhabitant, to ruin runs.
Young—Night Thoughts. Night V. L. 596.
REFORM; REFORMATION
Grant that the old Adam in these persons may be so buried, that the new man may be raised up in them.
The oyster-women lock'd their fish up,
And trudged away to cry, No Bishop.
All zeal for a reform, that gives offence
To peace and charity, is mere pretence.
But 'tis the talent of our English nation,
Still to be plotting some new reformation.
Dryden—Prologue to Sophonisba. L. 9.
He bought a Bible of the new translation,
And in his life he show'd great reformation;
He walked mannerly and talked meekly;
He heard three lectures and two sermons weekly;
He vow'd to shun all companions unruly,
And in his speech he used no oath but "truly;"
And zealously to keep the Sabbath's rest.
Sir John Harrington—Of a Precise Tailor.
The Bolshevists would blow up the fabric with high explosive, with horror. Others would pull down with the crowbars and with cranks—especially with cranks. . . . Sweating, slums, the sense of semi-slavery in labour, must go. We must cultivate a sense of manhood by treating men as men.
My desolation does begin to make
A better life.
Antony and Cleopatra. Act V. Sc. 2. L. 1.
And like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o'er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more ejes
Than that which hath no foil to set it off.
Henry IV. Pt. I. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 236.
Never came reformation in a flood.
I do not mean to be disrespectful, but the attempt of the Lords to stop the progress of reform, reminds me very forcibly of the great storm of Sidmouth, and of the conduct of the excellent Mrs. Partington on that occasion. In the winter of 1824, there set in a great flood upon that town—the tide rose to an incredible height: the waves rushed in upon the houses, and everything was threatened with destruction. In the midst of this sublime and terrible storm, Dame Partington, who lived upon the beach, was seen at the door of her house with mop and pattens, trundling her mop, squeezing out the sea water, and vigorously pushing away the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic was roused. Mrs. Partington's spirit was up; but I need not tell you that the contest was unequal. The Atlantic Ocean beat Mrs. Partington. She was excellent at a slop or a puddle, but she should not have meddled with a tempest.