6.
“He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his
life for My sake shall find it.”
There is a tale in Eastern fable told
Of a magnetic isle in distant seas,
To which, as barks borne by the heavenly breeze
Approach, in manner strange and manifold,
The iron spars no longer keep their hold,
But part in sunder. Thus when ride at ease,
Knit by a thousand iron purposes,
The full-rigged schemes of worldlings proud and bold,
They loosely walk, as on a summer sea,
Upon their own unfathomed destiny;
But if by timely Providences driven
To Thee, the stable Truth and land of Heaven,
Then all their worldly homes are sunder riven,
And they who seize the Wood
are borne to Thee.