For contemplation he and valour formed; / For softness she and sweet attractive grace, / He for God only, she for God in him: / His fair large front and eye sublime declared / Absolute rule.

In discourse more sweet, (For Eloquence the Sound, Song charmes the sense,) Others apart sat on a hill retir'd, In thoughts more elevate, and reasoned high Of Providence, Foreknowledge, Will and Fate, Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute; And found no end, in wand'ring mazes lost.

But first and chiefest, with thee bring Him that yon soars on golden wing, Guiding the fiery-wheeled throne, The Cherub Contemplation.

And grace that won who saw to wish her stay.

We do not build the kingdom of God on earth by our own efforts (however assisted by grace); the most we can do through genuine prayer, is to make as much room as possible, in ourselves and in the world, for the kingdom of God, so that its energies can go to work. All that we can show our contemporaries of the reality of God springs from contemplation: Jesus Christ, the Church, our own selves.

Grace was in all her steps, Heav'n in her Eye, In every gesture dignity and love