2.
“Look how wide also the east is from the west, so far hath
He set our sins from us.”
From sentence pass'd on Adam's sinful brood,
To that last Judgment whither all things tend,—
Midway between man's origin and end,
This condemnation of our God hath stood;
Nay, rather doth, in mourning attitude,
From end to end its outstretch'd shade extend.
And whosoe'er would rightly comprehend
This mortal being, capable of good,
In that dear shadow sees mankind, and 'neath
The coming on of what is after death,—
Those vast realities of which to hear,
Man's soul unto its centre shakes with fear,—
Thus daily shall himself regard, and prove
The depth of that great truth—that God is Love.
