This is he, who,
felled by foes,
Sprung harmless up,
refreshed by blows:
He to captivity was sold,
But him no prison-bars would hold:
Though they sealed him in a rock,
Mountain chains he can unlock:
Thrown to lions for their meat,
The crouching lion kissed his feet:
Bound to the stake,
no flames appalled,
But arched o'er him an honoring vault.
This is he men miscall Fate,
Threading dark ways,
arriving late,
But ever coming in time to crown The truth,
and hurl wrongdoers down.
He is the oldest,
and best known,
More near than aught thou call'st thy own,
Yet, greeted in another's eyes,
Disconcerts with glad surprise.
This is Jove, who, deaf to prayers,
Floods with blessings unawares.
Draw, if thou canst, the mystic line,
Severing rightly his from thine,
Which is human, which divine.
The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson - Volume VI - Conduct of Life (1860)
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They Did Not Realize
Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. ~John 21:4
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