University of Virginia Library

Their words seemed strong. We knew not what to say;
And some of us were weak, by subtle spell
Bewitched and overcome; and some held back,
Stedfast, though trembling, to the truth they loved,—
These, frowned upon, shut out, as self-condemned;
Those, courted, favoured, honoured, led about
As proselytes indeed. I took my place
With those who followed Paul. With heavy heart
And thought half-doubting, still I kept my ground.
I saw no fruit that answered to their boasts,
No spirit-stirring power, or peace, or love;
But envy, strife, debate, the gathering clouds,
Forerunners of a storm: in every home
Three against two divided, and the Church
Crumbled and broken by the war of sects.
They could not read our hearts: no searching words
Of insight or of pity won their way
To stubborn souls. They told not of the Cross,
With all its power to bless; but still they spake
Of Moses, and the Sabbath, and the rules
And customs of the elders, joying most
When greetings loud of “Rabbi” met their ears,
And plenteous offerings filled their spacious bags,
And men bowed down in homage as they passed.

And now there comes this letter. Bold and strong
Are those clear notes of warning. “Not from man,
Or man's consent, have I this Gospel preached,
And man shall not control me.” Half in love,
And half in pity, pours the tide of thought,
Its currents strangely mingled. Much mounts up
To heights I cannot reach. Its subtle art
In part bewilders;—how the Law, of old,
Was given by angels, 'stablished in the hand
Of one who stood half-way 'twixt men and God,
The mediator, Moses, and in this
Must yield the palm to that diviner word
Which God himself in all his oneness spake
To Abraham and his seed, that seed being Christ,
(No Mediator there), and we in Him,
Sharing his Sonship, recognised as heirs:
How Hagar, wandering in the desert wild,
The bond-slave with her son, had shadowed forth
The rocks of Sinai terrible and dread,
The bondage of Jerusalem that is;
While Sara, princess-mother of the free,
Claims as her children all the chosen seed,
Heirs of the heavenly city: once again,
How that the Law was as the slave who leads
The wayward boy to school, and keeps in bounds,
Chastising, warning, checking, till at last
The one true Teacher comes, and, heir of all,
The boy starts up to manhood, and is free.
All this I wondered at, as dazed and stunned
By thoughts so strangely new; but much is plain
That he may run who reads. He will not yield
One jot to those his foes, and scorn for scorn
With usury repays. In tenderest words,
Reminding us of all our former love,
He chides us for our folly, bids us know
That they who seek to glory in our flesh,
In cutting that do cut us off from Christ;
That not through zeal for God, but fear of man,
They build again the poor, weak thoughts of old,
And prove themselves transgressors. Yea, at last
In bolder speech, with touch of sarcasm rough,
He tells those preachers of a fleshly rite
That he, for his part, wishes they would make
Their work more thorough, holding rank with those
Who serve the Goddess-mother at her shrines;
Fit end for those who linger in the past,
The dead, decaying past, and look not on
To all the freedom of the age to come.

I too will claim that freedom. Every pulse
Of old affection kindles into life;
The mists of doubt are scattered; and the Truth
Shines clearer than before, and every name
Of our old worship, or of Hebrew law,
Yields to the one great Name, no longer strange,
Of Christ the Lord, the Brother of mankind,
Their Saviour and their King. Lord, hear our prayer:
If ever we have bowed before Thy Cross,
If ever we have looked upon Thy wounds,
When Paul's full speech made present once again
What passed on Golgotha, Oh! grant us, Lord,
With Paul, to claim thy Spirit, yea, to feel
The travail-pangs, till in our soul be formed
The new, diviner man; and all our life
Pass on, unwavering, to the Eternal Home.