POEMS OF THE INNER LIFE. SELECTED CHIEFLY FROM MODERN AUTHORS. NEW EDITION REVISED AND ENLARGED London: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, LOW, & SEARLE, 1872. 280. n 484. PREFACE. A GLANCE at the Contents of this volume, and at the list of Authors from whose works the poems which it contains have been selected, will, perhaps, sufficiently show its general character and purpose. It is a collection, not of sacred poetry, in the usual, technical sense of the term, but of poems which, without being ecclesiastical or theological, may be called religious, in so far as they have power to strengthen religious faith or to deepen religious impressions, and to express or suggest the spiritual significance of Nature and of Human Life. They have been selected according to a sense of what most nearly touches the heart and mind in our best and most earnest hours; and they reflect many moods of the soul, from that of questioning, and longing, and vague pathetic sadness, to the clear assurance of faith, and the peace and joy of communion with God. |