Felicia Hemans in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine Volume 35 1834/Places of Worship
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 35, Page 634
VII.
PLACES OF WORSHIP.
"God is a spirit."
Spirit! whose life-sustaining Presence fills
Air, Ocean, central depths, by man untried;
Thou for thy worshippers hast sanctified
All place, all time;—the silence of the hills
Breathes veneration. Founts and choral rills
Of thee are murmuring—to its inmost glade
The living forest with thy presence thrills,
And there is holiness on every shade!
—Yet must the thoughtful soul of man invest
With dearer consecration those pure fanes,
Which, sever'd from all sounds of earth's unrest,
Hear nought but suppliant or adoring strains
Rise heavenward;—ne'er may cliff or cave possess
Their claim on human hearts for solemn tenderness.