Poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

Two Tables graven with unbending laws,—
Unveilings of the glorious things to be,—
Deep searchings into the primæval Cause,—
A faultless scheme of pure morality;—

Is this, O man, the pearl of costless price?
For this hath God sent down the Eternal Son?
What meaneth then this awful Sacrifice?
What victory is this that God hath won?

Nay, it is He Himself, nought else but He,—
God infinite made one with finite Man,—
No creed, no system, no philosophy,—
That fills my needs in this life's straitened span:—

One of all joy and peace the unfailing spring,
My hidden treasure and my pearl unpriced,
A Heart where trembling love can hide and cling,
The warm and living touch—the touch of Christ!

173

II.—Faith.

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Text: 2 Cor. iv. 18.

Oh, tear in twain the gaudy painted veil
This puny world still hangs before our eyes!
Why scarce discerned, in vision dim and pale,
The greater world that round about us lies?

We want to see: but lo! our eyes are blind
With gazing on this lurid earthly glare;
When we would lift the veil and peer behind,
We cannot trace the eternal glories there.

Lord, open Thou our eyes that we may see;
Make real to us, as our way we tread,
The presence that shall ever with us be,
The glory that is burning overhead.

What though the cloud be hanging thick and low,
And glimpses of the light be scant and brief,
Oh, shine Thou for us with Thine inner glow,—
Lord, we believe; help thou our unbelief!

174

III.—Hope.

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Text: Rom. viii. 24.

I cannot labour if I may not hope:
But what the hope that shall my work inspire,
And give to all my life its nobler scope,
And light in this cold heart the heavenly fire?

Is it such vision of far glorious things
As I have pictured when the dreaming eye
Sees golden cloudlets ranged like Angel wings
O'er the deep spaces of the sunset sky?

Nay, I will hope a better hope than this;—
In Christlike love and wisdom still to grow,
Some fault to mend that hath been sore amiss,
Some lacking grace to win, before I go.

I hope on earth some saddened heart to cheer,
On some chill life a ray of peace to pour,—
Then learn things greater than are whispered here,
And see the face of God for evermore.

175

IV.—Love.

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Text: St. John xxi. 15.

And dare I then discourse of heavenly Love,
And bid men love the Lord with all their heart,—
I, whose faint soul scarce lifts its gaze above,
Whose chill desires scarce seek the better part?

As on a dim horizon we may deem,
Yet scarcely deem, we saw a flash of light,
So, as we look within, our love will seem
Now but a transient gleam, now quenched in night.

Ah, loveless hearts! Yet God Himself is Love;
And that Love burns not low when ours is dim;
Our scanty measures mete not things above;
He loves us even though we love not Him.

And Love hath been unveiled to human view,
Shrined in the Face of the Incarnate Word:—
O God, forgive me if it be not true,
And yet ‘Thou knowest that I love Thee,’ Lord.

176

V.—Confession and Absolution.

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Text: Ps. xxxii. 5.

As the poor child that has its father grieved
Comes weeping back to own its little wrong,
Nor, till the waiting pardon is received,
Dares join the gladness of the merry throng:

So we, with humble voice and low-bent knee,
Would seek our Father in Confession meet,
Still sorrowing till in deep humility
We lay our sins down at His awful feet;

Then listening for the assuring word of peace,
The pledge of mercy, and the stay of faith,—
Ah! blessed Gospel message of release,
Full of deep solemn joy!—‘He pardoneth.’

Teach us, O God, as unto Thee we turn,
To set ourselves in Thy all-searching light,
That by Thy mercy we our sin may learn,
And by our sin may know Thy mercy's might!

177

VI.—The Two Natures.

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Text: 2 Cor. xii. 2.

I knew a man—it was long years ago—
With glorious visions blest and saintly dreams,
Lit with a pure ambition's tremulous glow,
Thrilled with high musings on all heavenly themes.

I knew a man—strange darkness reigned within;
All Love seemed frozen in him, all Faith dead;
Down-dragged as by a curse, haunted by sin,
By fierce Satanic envoys buffeted.

For this one all my soul is filled with shame;
Of that one I will glory, glad of heart;
For, into my despairings, lo! there came
A God-sent hope to win the better part.

And, in this double self, my will I set
To scorn the ill, to choose the good and true.
Ah, Lord, Thy servant strengthen even yet
To rise out of the old into the new!

178

VII.—The Two Visions.

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Text: Isa. vi. 5.

Two visions passed before me as I prayed:
I saw the King the Lord of hosts unveiled,
In robes of awful purity arrayed;
And in the blinding light my spirit quailed.

And then mine eyes fell downward; and within,
Lit with the searching fires that pierced me through,
I saw a soul all stained with hateful sin;
And bowed in shame I shrank back from the view.

Then, as once more I sought with trembling awe
To scan the glories of the heavenly height,
A Face of tenderest love methought I saw
Shape itself out from that deep home of light.

And then I knew this double look could win
The twofold grace that lifts the soul above;
For penitence beholds the guilt within,
While Faith looks out upon a Saviour's love.

179

VIII.—The Two Worlds.

[_]

Text: Rom. i. 20.

‘Ah, why the trammels of this graceless flesh,
Cramping the spirit in her heavenly flight,
Caging her freedom in the tangled mesh
Of hollow form and soul-encumbering rite?’

Nay, peace, poor soul! Nor cherish idle dreams:
Shared not the Son of God a human birth,
Crowning this dim life with His heavenly beams,
And hallowing all the common things of earth?

And lo! Eternal Wisdom, Love profound,
Dowering with choicest boons the ransomed race,
In sacramental blessedness hath bound
Together outward sign and inward grace.

For in vast counterpart God only-wise
Outer and inner things alike hath planned,
That Man, through earthly type, with undazed eyes
The deeper things of God might understand.

180

IX.—The Knowledge of God.

[_]

Text: St. John xvii. 3.

To know God: this is life! And dare I stand
Blinding these dim eyes with the awful light,
And in the hollow of this pigmy hand
Thinking to grasp and hold the Infinite?

‘We cannot know,’ men cry, ‘we cannot know:
How should this crass and carnal nature find,
In its poor restless searchings here below,
The mystic essence of the Eternal Mind?’

Yet we, who know not all, may know in part:
And, as we stand upon the narrow shore,
Yearning to pierce great Ocean's hidden heart,
May gather many a gem to enhance our store.

And Thou, O Father, hast Thyself made known
In Him who once for us was sacrificed:
O God, we praise Thee, who in love hast shown
Thy glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

181

X.—Our Life for Others.

[_]

Text: 2 Cor. i. 6.

And hath God sent thee sorrow's aching blank,
Or keener stab of bitter human wrong?
Deem not the pang from which thy spirit shrank
Held but one grace—to ‘suffer and be strong.’

In trust for others was thy sorrow lent,
That in thy heart a gentler love might glow,
And day by day thy willing steps be bent
To carry peace to shrouded homes of woe.

Each gift of God is but a gracious loan;
And, be it smile-enwreathed or sorrow-crowned,
Oh, send it (for it is not all thine own)
Some boon to carry to the world around.

One strength thou hast the Master might not wield;
Thyself a sinner thou canst pity sin:
Ah! let the love which hath thy pardon sealed
Some brother-sinner to his Saviour win!

182

XI.—The Kingdom of Heaven.

[_]

Text: St. Matt. iv. 23.

The Gospel of the Kingdom! Aye, good news!
No selfish creed for separate soul's content;
No distant dream on which the heart may muse;
No home beyond, when life's swift sands are spent.

For lo! the Kingdom of our God is here,
A gracious bond of common strength and love,
Filling with heavenly light this lower sphere,
And dowered with holy graces from above.

Glad tidings! For behold a kingdom crowned
With righteousness and peace and joy divine!
For thee this kingdom Christ came down to found;
Rise, claim thine heritage, for it is thine!

Ah, blessèd they whose purgèd eyes discern
Of holy fellowship the gladdening spring,
To brother men with love all Christlike burn,
And in the kingdom ever find the King!

183

XII.—Man's Littleness and Greatness.

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Text: Ps. viii. 4.

Among the myriad stars one faintest fleck
Scarcely with straining sight could I descry:—
I moved the mighty glass; and lo! the speck
Became a sun-bespangled galaxy!

And is it given with awe-struck eye to trace
Fresh universes, star-groups, dim and vast,
Beyond the staggering depths of trackless space?
And is this still the farthest and the last?

Perchance these myriad orbs that throng the sky,
Flashing their fires from awful heights afar,
Are but a little dust that whirleth by,
Beside the vastness of the things that are.

Lord, what is Man that from Thy heavenly throne
Thou condescendedst to his mean estate,
Blending his very nature with Thine own?
O Man, how little art thou! And how great!

(1884-5.)