;;mns 
 PS I for the i-feurs. 
 
 5513 
 
 fertte 
 
 \896 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 ~F EB] ; 
 
 Chap. Copyright No. 
 
 Wi 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
1b 2 m n 5 
 
 1b o \x x s. 
 
I love Thee, Father, not because 
 This is Thy sovereign will, 
 
 Because Thy hand created me 
 With true and loving skill. 
 
 I love Thee, not because with Thee 
 Abideth strength and health, 
 
 Because Thy favour makes men great 
 And blesses them with wealth. 
 
 I love Thee for Thy purity, 
 
 Thy purity of fire, 
 Whose flames ascend for evermore 
 
 In infinite desire. 
 
 I love Thee for Thy face serene, 
 Whose beauty glows with light, 
 
 Reflecting all the fragrant prayers 
 That rise from out our night. 
 
 I love Thee, Father, for Thy love, 
 
 I know not how nor why; 
 I only know I yield to Thee 
 
 A love that cannot die. 
 
^ymns for tt)c fyo\xx& 
 
 OF DAY AND NIGHT. 
 
 A SEQUENCE OF 
 DEVOTIONAL SONNETS. 
 
 KENNETH SYLVAN GUTHRIE, Ph. D. 
 
 " 
 
 
 Philadelphia : 
 GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO. « 
 
 103 South Fifteenth Street. ft ^ 
 
 c 
 
 • 
 
I** 
 
 Copyright, 1896, 
 
 by 
 
 Kenneth S. Guthrik. 
 
Contents. 
 
 Forenoon 7 
 
 Afternoon 21 
 
 Evening 35 
 
 Morning 49 
 
COMING. 
 
 The fairest harmonies are those that come 
 Unsought, descending gently from on high 
 Like cooling dew, to still the fragrant cry 
 Of saints by adoration overcome. 
 
 The noblest songs of man are not his own : 
 They burst through lips that have been 
 
 cleansed by fire, 
 From glories traveling to heights still higher, 
 Never to rest until before the throne. 
 
 No human singer ever did create 
 A veritable song. It is the song 
 From all eternity unsung that seeks 
 
 Sufficient purity to incarnate. 
 
 Hence, if a man would sing, let him but 
 
 long 
 For God ; and it is God, not he, that speaks. 
 
HYMNS FOR THE 
 FORENOON. 
 
FIRST WATCH OF DAY. 
 
 THE AIM OF LIFE. 
 
 First Half-Hour .... 
 
 . . . 6.00 A.M 
 
 Second Half-Hour . . . 
 
 . 63O 
 
 Third Half- Hour ... 
 
 . . . 7.OO 
 
 Fourth Half-Hour . . . . 
 
 . . . 7.3O 
 
 Fifth Half-Hour 
 
 . . . 8.00 
 
 Sixth Half-Hour 
 
 . . . 8.30 
 
 SECOND WATCH OF DAY. 
 
 THE INSUFFICIENCY OF THIS LIFE. 
 
 First Half-Hour 9.00 a.m. 
 
 Second Half- Hour 9.30 
 
 Third Half- Hour 10.00 
 
 Fourth Half Hour 10.30 
 
 Fifth Half-Hour 11.00 
 
 Sixth Half- Hour 1 1. 30 
 
FIRST IV A TCH OF DA V. 
 
 FIRST HALF-HOUR. 
 
 We know not who we are, we struggling 
 
 souls, 
 Who live this earthly life of smiles and tears, 
 Of sleep and labour, sorrow, joys and fears, 
 Now strong voting gods, now swine whom 
 
 lust controls. 
 
 At times, when we recall the words of youth 
 We see in them strange glories, now re- 
 vealed, 
 But then declared in ignorance, and sealed 
 Unto the hearts that spoke them forth as 
 truth. 
 
 We know not who we are, nor who we were, 
 Nor who, in consummation, we shall be : 
 Vestiges faint of glories not of earth 
 
 Are faith's sharp spurs to souls who feel the 
 
 stir 
 Within their womb, of spirits strong and 
 
 free, 
 Learning to claim the visions due their birth. 
 
HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 SECOND HALF-HOUR. 
 
 The heart of man will not believe the whole- 
 Creation groans and travails in its pain 
 Together until now, to bear, in vain, 
 A still-born hope to manifest a soul. 
 
 The sonl of man will not believe that all 
 Her year-long sorrows were but deadening 
 
 dreams 
 Of horror, driven through her life by streams 
 Of eddying chance ; herself, a rolling ball. 
 
 The mind of man will not believe the life 
 Of all humanity has not some end 
 Transfiguring each life with purpose, till 
 
 Eternity should hold each soul's small strife,. 
 And every single soul should learn to blend 
 Into the complex whole of God's great WilL 
 
FIRST WA TCH OF DA V. 
 
 THIRD HALF-HOUR. 
 
 If such an end exist, what can it be ? 
 
 Not strength, not wealth, for none must be 
 
 debarred, 
 And man}- are the weak, and poor, and 
 
 marred ; 
 Not mastery, for many are not free. 
 
 Not male or female occupations, since 
 
 Both man and woman must attain the same 
 
 Divinity, and both must claim 
 
 The right an equal courage to evince. 
 
 What then is common to the human race? 
 Duty, and selflessness, and lustless love, 
 Such as the angels bear to babes that die 
 
 Ere Heaven's brightness fade from off their 
 
 face ; 
 This is the common end of man, to look, 
 
 above 
 Man's own fair stars, to God's eternal sky. 
 
HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 FOURTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 The end of man is God. The destiny 
 Of every human soul is to be made 
 Like Him in living glory, when the shade 
 Of earth shall have been lost in brighter day. 
 
 And as the love of God is so intense 
 That God Himself were not complete without 
 Some human want to fill, some human doubt 
 To crown with certitude through chastened 
 sense, 
 
 Just so the human soul were not complete 
 Without some reaching out in vague unrest 
 Into that realm where human will is grace 
 
 Divine ; where sundered souls may meet, 
 Where real manhood is the Vision blest, 
 Now dim and vague, then clear, then face to 
 face. 
 
FIRST IV A TCH OF DA V 
 
 13 
 
 FIFTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 Forgetful of the kingdom that awaits 
 Our conquering love, we grovel in the dust, 
 We play with toys, we dally with our lust, 
 And trick ourselves contentedly with baits. 
 
 And then, like waifs forsaken at the gates 
 Of some ancestral, long-abandoned hall, 
 When pain is on us, bitterly we call 
 Into the silence, till our life abates. 
 
 Shall no great hope transfigure all our life 
 With glories, and with might, and majesty? 
 Shall no high destiny bid terrors cease 
 
 Amidst the agonies of earthly strife? 
 Shall we fore'er forget our home on high 
 In light, in love, in everlasting Peace? 
 
j 4 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 SIXTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 The real life of man is lived alone 
 Amidst the flaming hosts of kindred souls 
 That surge in cosmic tides, and drift in shoals 
 Of stranded life, in seas to sight unknown. 
 
 At times, the nearest souls with prayer and 
 
 tears 
 Would fain live down the distance ; but 
 
 though hands 
 Clasp hands, an ocean sunders their two 
 
 strands, 
 And an eternity their inner spheres. 
 
 For every spirit has his destiny 
 
 That calls him out into the fuller light 
 
 Of still a lonelier presence, till the sight 
 
 Of God Himself, and His eternity, 
 Until man's sight itself begin to cease, 
 And naught remain but Love, and Light, 
 and Peace. 
 
 Here beginneth the Second Watch. 
 
SECOND IV A TCH OF DA Y. I5 
 
 FIRST HALF-HOUR. 
 
 We live our real lives alone, between 
 
 The howling beast whose dwelling place we 
 
 are, 
 And the unborn Divinity, so far 
 Beyond us, though so near, because unseen. 
 
 From out this bitter loneliness we see 
 That all that we accomplished was God's 
 
 Will, 
 Discerning by the Spirit's loving skill, 
 Through dead events, God's voice of liberty. 
 
 Such are the truths discerning hearts can 
 
 find 
 For consolation through the darksome night, 
 Although to grosser eyes mere foolishness. 
 
 Yet, if we taste of peace within God's mind, 
 We pray to be deceived by error's might 
 If such a darkness bear such perfectuess. 
 
i6 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 SECOND HALF-HOUR. 
 
 Who shall report what lies beyond the veil 
 Of flesh? At times, man hears the mystic 
 
 moan 
 Of spirit-oceans round him, feels unknown 
 Floods of intelligible fire. Then, pale 
 
 And trembling, he believes that there must be 
 Somewhat beyond his reach, somewhat be- 
 low 
 The depths of his desire. If this be so, 
 Man's love must be a shadow to that sea 
 
 Of light, whose smallest spark he deems 
 
 Glorious enough to be the very end 
 
 Of all. And if that be, beyond the grave, 
 
 What waits for him, if he can breast its 
 
 streams, 
 Shall he not fiercely with himself contend, 
 And gladly die his real self to save? 
 
SECOND WATCH OF DAY. ij 
 
 THIRD HALF-HOUR. 
 
 Were it quite just that every human soul 
 Should have but oue existence on this earth, 
 When want, and ignorance, and sinful birth 
 Have barred so many out from self-control? 
 
 The same perfecting peace must be the whole 
 Creation's end : but patent is the dearth 
 Of passing souls of a sufficient worth 
 To see, at once, God's face : — the final goal. 
 
 Sown in corruption in an earthly grave, 
 The body may perhaps for ever die ; 
 Raised in the tears and vows of wasted lives 
 
 Each soul that has not won must once more 
 brave 
 
 These cosmic storms that sweep through 
 laud and sky 
 
 Where God shall make her strive till she re- 
 vive. 
 
X 8 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 FOURTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 The pangs of death just stilled, the naked 
 
 soul 
 Helplessly hung amidst eternal night 
 Shivering at void immensity. The whole 
 Heavenly host had fled before death's might. 
 
 With all her unrepented sins, her fears, 
 The guilty soul stood powerless face to face; 
 Now demons grown, they mocked her bitter 
 
 tears, 
 Her unmeant prayers, her hates, and her 
 
 disgrace. 
 
 44 Grant death, O God ! My sins have lit the 
 
 morn 
 Of Hell ! " The demons mocked, "There 
 
 is no death ! " 
 The soul was thrust to earth and once more 
 
 born. 
 
 God is the end of all that draweth breath : 
 If one life bear not love, then God makes 
 
 more, 
 Till souls shall find His presence, and adore. 
 
SECOND IV A TCH OF DA Y. I9 
 
 FIFTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 * ' Give us the watch- word ! ' ' Guarding angels 
 
 cry 
 As upward flies a soul, but late sense-freed, 
 Unto the fiery gates of stars, to plead 
 For entrance to the mansions of the sky. 
 
 " If thou have not lived into thine own eye 
 By tears, by supplications, and by need 
 The Light from which up here all things 
 
 proceed, 
 J3ven in Heaven thou could'st not God de- 
 scry." 
 
 The fearless soul recited then, in vain. 
 
 The Creed her childhood's lip had learnt. 
 
 She pled 
 In vain all she had ever hoped to find above. 
 
 Slowly the gates of fire began to wane, 
 Weeping the angels passed away — One said 
 ""Go back to earth once more . . . and 
 learn to love." 
 
HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 SIXTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 Not every soul that left the primal breast 
 Of God, to actualize His love on earth, 
 What time the morning stars sang out its 
 
 birth, 
 Shall certainly again attain His rest. 
 
 The road is long, not measured out by days,. 
 But centuries and yearnings and defeats ; 
 The spirit-guidance, late vouchsafed to'heats- 
 Of spirit-anguish, fails at every maze 
 
 Of thoughtlessness and passion. Finally, 
 The mere belief that there exists some rest 
 Beyond these travails, leaves the soul in 
 night 
 
 Of purposeless despair at every cry. 
 Not every soul that left the primal breast 
 Of God, shall once more stand within His 
 sight. 
 
HYMNS FOR THE 
 AFTERNOON. 
 
THIRD WATCH OF DAY. 
 PRAYER. 
 
 First Half-Hour 12.00 m. 
 
 Second Half-Hour 12.30 p.m.. 
 
 Third Half- Hour 1.00 
 
 Fourth Half-Hour 1.30 
 
 Fifth Half-Hour 2.00 
 
 Sixth Half-Hour 2.30* 
 
 FOURTH WATCH OF DAY. 
 
 DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 First Half-Hour 3.00 p. M. 
 
 Second Half-Hour 3.30 
 
 Third Half-Hour 4.00 
 
 Fourth Half- Hour 4.30 
 
 Fifth Half-Hour 5.00 
 
 Sixth Half-Hour 5.30 
 
THIRD IV A TCH OF DA Y. 23 
 
 FIRST HALF-HOUR. 
 
 How sad the messengers of God must be 
 To find some human soul they came to lead 
 Into a higher presence through her need, 
 Self-satisfied, oblivious of the plea 
 
 Herself had raised with passionate design 
 To God ; and thus unable to receive 
 Or even recognize the new reprieve 
 Which her own prayers had wrung from 
 Love divine. 
 
 The misery of man's forgetting prayer 
 Is nameless. Would to God we heard 
 Forever threats of vengeance for the ill 
 
 We have committed : but, that were too fair 
 A road to Heaven ; we must guess God's 
 
 word, 
 And then remember Him, then do His Will. 
 
24 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 SECOND HALF-HOUR. 
 
 I know not if there be a sadder sight 
 
 For purer eyes than ours, than souls whose 
 
 prayers 
 By tears were winged up Jacob's angel stairs 
 And answered with intelligible light, 
 
 Who use the Spirit's gifts to humiliate 
 Themselves more deeply before flesh and 
 
 blood, 
 To worship death more thoroughly, till the 
 
 flood 
 Of bitter after-lust o'erwhelm with hate. 
 
 How sad to clear the vision, but to see 
 More of the evil camped around the soul ; 
 How sad to cleanse the heart from earthly 
 love 
 
 To have more power to hate and disagree ; 
 And this to chance by lack of self-control — 
 By mere forgetting of the Home above ! 
 
THIRD WATCH OF DAY. 25 
 
 THIRD HALF-HOUR. 
 
 We never cease from prayer. Sooner, the fire 
 Shall downward sweep its sparks, and thus 
 
 transgress 
 Its laws divine ; sooner the seas shall press 
 Skywards, and quench the light the stars 
 
 inspire. 
 
 Desire is life, and life is but desire 
 Interpreted by human consciousness : 
 And so desire of some kind must possess 
 The love-lit soul till she expire. 
 
 The doubt is not whether or not we pray, 
 But what the object of our prayer shall be ; 
 Whether the object bring us peace at last, 
 
 Or lead us further flesh-ward from the day, 
 Nearer unconsciousness, — less free, — 
 Less strong, less pure, — more bound unto 
 the past. 
 
26 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 FOURTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 The Lord of Heaven at times must grow 
 
 full sad 
 (If sorrow may afflict a heart divine), 
 To see His earthly children only glad 
 When finding in their growth some hopeful 
 
 sign. 
 
 His mighty father-heart must yearn to beat 
 Tremor to tremor with some instant prayer 
 Raised by a needy heart, for comfort sweet 
 To some less needy heart whose wounds 
 gape bare. 
 
 Those are the prayers which make God'& 
 
 eyes more bright, 
 God's Hand more powerful ; that make Him 
 
 feel 
 Himself more fully God within the sight 
 
 Of angels grown more spiritual, who kneel 
 In holier rapture of a holier love, 
 And higher seek a higher height above. 
 
THIRD IV A TCH OF DA V. 2 J 
 
 FIFTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 It is not heaven that is closed or dead ; 
 
 Our eyes are blind unto the hallowed host of 
 
 light 
 That camps around our dwelling day and 
 
 night, 
 To keep the demons from our heart and head. 
 
 In every noble action we are led 
 
 By guides who love us with God's heavenly 
 
 might, 
 Seeing in us alone the good and right 
 Their purer eyes alone have ever read. 
 
 With ceaseless supplications, cries, and 
 
 tears — 
 Stronger than ours, — they wait the destined 
 
 day 
 When w r e shall see God's beauty face to face — 
 
 When we shall know what now our hopes 
 
 and fears 
 Prove and disprove ; when we shall feel the 
 
 ray 
 Of light intelligible crown His grace. 
 
2 8 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 SIXTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 Kneeling at mothers' knees with piety 
 
 We heard of God, and Heaven, and Love, 
 
 and Peace, 
 And all those sweet strange words that never 
 
 cease 
 Like angels's words, to kindle purity. 
 
 Nor do they fail in life's long misery ; 
 They comfort still, from passion still release ; 
 Still haunt the souls that strive not to de- 
 crease 
 In might of faith, of hope, of charity. 
 
 No great foundation of the inner life 
 Is learnt as new in age ; in early years 
 The child absorbs, but cannot realize 
 
 The final revelations which, in the strife 
 Of selfishness subdued by pain and tears, 
 Must crown the soul, and leave it pure and 
 wise. 
 
 Here beginneth the Fourth Watch. 
 
FOURTH WATCH CF DAY. 2 Q. 
 
 FIRST HALF-HOUR. 
 
 Forever breaking 011 her rock-girt shore 
 There is no respite for the bitter sea 
 Whose thousand voices rise incessantly 
 Unto the sky above in thund'rous roar. 
 
 Unless he be deaf-born, none can ignore 
 Their sound ; except he turn and flee 
 Until upon the mountain-summits, free, 
 His voice alone resound, — the sea's no more.. 
 
 So, when a man has striven year by year 
 'Midst all the voices but to hear his own, 
 It is no sign that God's has passed away 
 
 From souls who live with Him, and hold 
 
 Him dear. 
 It is not God Whose light has dimmer grown. 
 But man, who journeys self-ward from the 
 
 day. 
 
HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 SECOND HALF-HOUR. 
 
 The miracles of God are still to-day 
 
 As close man's heart as when the earth was 
 
 young, 
 Although th' apparent glories that then clung 
 To altar and to cross have died away. 
 
 The path from earthly night to heavenly day 
 Can never change until an angel's tongue 
 Proclaim a new divinity among 
 New needs new human beings would display. 
 
 And so, when man has failed in any task 
 The Spirit had imposed upon his will, 
 And easier tasks replace what seemed too 
 hard, 
 
 These are no shorter roads ; they merely ask 
 For longer time to make man's passions still, 
 Since victories hasten, and since falls retard. 
 
FOURTH WATCH OF DAW ^ 
 
 THIRD HALF-HOUR. 
 
 Sad is the da)' on which an aging soul 
 First wakens to some cosmic harmony 
 Which wooes no answering ecstasy 
 Within herself. Vainly she feels its roll, 
 
 Mastered again by all her still-born dreams, 
 Trembling again with passionate desires 
 To vibrate passively unto the fires 
 Of elemental being's restless streams. 
 
 She would not grieve, if she but knew the 
 
 day 
 Was fast approaching, when on joyful wing 
 She should ascend from outlier youth's poor 
 
 choice : 
 
 No more a universal symphony, 
 Lost in the song the morning stars still sing ; 
 Now one clear, single tone, of God's own 
 Voice. 
 
32 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 FOURTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 There is no sadder sight than men of age 
 Who, looking for the glories of their life, 
 Are forced to turn once more unto the strife 
 Divine, which in their youth they dared to- 
 wage, 
 
 But which, as years wore on, they were afraid 
 
 To carry to successful issue, lest 
 
 They should thereby lose power, wealth or 
 rest ; 
 
 Or which they just forgot through prosper- 
 ous trade. 
 
 If man would but not waste his precious. 
 
 might, 
 The highest God Himself would incarnate 
 Within the heart-strings of His creature's. 
 
 prayer, 
 
 Would crown the forehead with the halo's 
 
 light, 
 Would cleanse the eyes until they saw the 
 
 great 
 And glorious majesty man too should share.. 
 
FOURTH WATCH OF DA Y. 33 
 
 FIFTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 In silent majesty the dying sun 
 On frozen darkness breathes his living light, 
 Throbbing with all his destiny's delight 
 To give out life before his course be run. 
 
 No world is barred the joy that he has won, 
 If it will but abandon distant night, 
 To come and breathe within his sea of might, 
 And spread God's light as he before had 
 
 God is so good, no prayer could make Him 
 
 change 
 For better gifts the joys He has bestowed : 
 But man can change himself; may draw full 
 
 near, 
 
 To God's transfiguring love, or may estrange 
 God's messengers, and feel the brutish load 
 Of Vengeance weigh him down from hope 
 to fear. 
 
34 if Y MAS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 SIXTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 Because the sky in blue magnificence 
 Glows through the ages 'round God's starry 
 
 frame, 
 Men deem it calm, ignoring the acclaim 
 Of cosmic storms, and their fierce vehemence. 
 
 Because man's body, like the world of sense 
 Remains from day to day almost the same, 
 He deems his mental states likewise may 
 
 claim 
 A dead inertia, endless, restless, tense. 
 
 Deep in the depths the tides of life both flow 
 And ebb unceasingly. Their sough foretells 
 In harmonies prophetic, weird and low, 
 
 The mysteries of God, Whose love impels 
 In waves still partial, human joy and woe, 
 To woo the soul wherein His imasfe dwells. 
 
HYMNS FOR THE 
 EVENING. 
 
FIRST WATCH OF NIGHT. 
 
 THE LANDS BEYOND. 
 
 First Half-Hour . 
 Second Half-Hour 
 Third Half-Hour . 
 Fourth Half-Hour 
 Fifth Half-Hour . 
 Sixth Half-Hour . 
 
 6.00 P.M. 
 
 6.30 
 
 7.00 
 
 7.30 
 
 8.00 
 
 8.30 
 
 SECOND WATCH OF NIGHT. 
 
 DEATH. 
 
 First Half-Hour 9.00 p. M. 
 
 Second Half-Hour 9.30 
 
 Third Half-Hour 10.00 
 
 Fourth Half- Hour 10.30 
 
 Fifth Half-Hour 11.00 
 
 Sixth Half-Hour 1130 
 
FIRST WATCH OF NIGHT 37 
 
 FIRST HALF-HOUR. 
 
 In what glad ages wert thou born, O Soul, 
 That thou art dreaming still on earth of 
 
 peace, 
 When thou art caught in wheels that cannot 
 
 cease, 
 The cosmic surge of suns, the planets' roll? 
 
 To what glad ages art thou destined, Soul, 
 That thou art hoping still on earth for light, 
 When brave men faint amidst the gathering 
 
 night, 
 And strong men fail of even self-control? 
 
 From what glad ages hast thou come to me 
 Into the realms of weariness and lust ? 
 To what glad ages art thou destined still, 
 
 Forsaking stream, and laud, and sky, and 
 
 sea? 
 Thy puritv could not be born of dust, 
 It could not end in aught but God's great 
 
 Will. 
 
38 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 SECOND HALF-HOUR. 
 
 On many planes souls mingle. At times 
 
 they meet 
 As flesh to flesh, when either startled soul 
 In humiliation flees the flesh's control : 
 Degrading victory, or base defeat. 
 
 As mind to mind some souls each other greet, 
 With earnest questionings, which, not the 
 
 whole 
 Of due communion, still approach the goal 
 Of bodies meeting as the spirit's seat. 
 
 But when the eyes instinct with love divine 
 Seek kindred spirits, and in love contend 
 To purify week souls that still have need, 
 
 Then man at length finds his own self divine, 
 Then God will crown men's foreheads as 
 
 they bend 
 To His great Will of love in thought and 
 
 deed. 
 
FIRST WATCH OF NIGHT. -q 
 
 THIRD HALF-HOUR. 
 
 Th' external world is neither good nor bad. 
 The ocean cannot love, nor can it trust ; 
 No moral qualities attach to dust, 
 To air, to rain, to mountains verdure-clad. 
 
 Unto the weary soul all things are sad, 
 Unto the pure all things are pure and just ; 
 All things are base unto the eye of lust, 
 All things bring blessings to the true and 
 glad. 
 
 And so, if man finds evil on this earth, 
 It is within himself that it exists 
 As he misused his opportunities ; 
 
 The saint sees God in everything of worth, 
 A dazzling beaut}' which no soul resists, 
 A satisfying maze of harmonies. 
 
40 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 FOURTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 Heaven and Hell ! Weird facts in well-worn 
 
 name ! 
 Unseen, unheard, still known and hoped and 
 
 feared ; 
 Changing with every age, and yet the same, 
 As close to-day as when man first appeared. 
 
 Men see in others what themselves they are. 
 The sun were gloom, were not the eye first 
 
 light : 
 The lustling deems men brutes from beasts 
 
 not far, 
 The saint sees God's own image through all 
 
 blight. 
 
 Hell is perhaps the curse forevermore, 
 Helpless to interfere, to watch this life 
 And only see what we once felt before — 
 
 Blindness and failure, pain, and hate, and 
 strife. 
 
 Heaven, to see young souls each day new- 
 born, 
 
 Iyoving and calm, awaiting faith's great 
 morn. 
 
FIRST WA TCH OF NIGHT. 4I 
 
 FIFTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 Heaven is not a place beyond the glare 
 Of deepest star, to which with magic flight 
 The sense-freed soul is wafted through the 
 
 night 
 Of death by some kind angel's watchful care . 
 
 No ! heaven is the present memory 
 
 Of all the loving acts our wavering soul 
 
 May have conceived and purposed with the 
 
 whole 
 Of her intensest love-capacity. 
 
 Which soul, when off her earthly husks shall 
 
 fall, 
 Will stand in all her native dignity 
 Before the highest presence that her love 
 
 On earth have made her able to recall, 
 Singing the holiest chant her purity 
 Awakens at the sight of God above. 
 
42 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 SIXTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 Eternity ! which one of us shall ever know 
 How long, how near, how spiritual thou art r 
 How bestially we live frorn thee apart, 
 How wilfully we languish, dying slow ! 
 
 For we believe that thou art peace, although 
 We cannot yet conceive thy counterpart ; 
 Mere harps and palms can never crown a 
 
 heart, 
 External glories are but passing show. 
 
 Perhaps the angels' crown shall be the cares 
 Of souls that have not yet passed on from 
 
 earth 
 Made holier by a willingness to die ; 
 
 Perhaps the angels' palm shall be the prayers 
 Offered through saints still struggling for 
 
 new birth, 
 Presented by themselves once more on high. 
 
 Here beginneth the Second Watch. 
 
SECOND WA TCH OF NIGHT. 43 
 
 FIRST HALF-HOUR. 
 
 Somewhere beyond the stars must be a land 
 Shrouded in sombre calmness, where the 
 
 light 
 Of suns cannot bring gladness nor at night 
 The pallid moon refresh the weary strand. 
 
 In leaguered hosts still spirits [round it stand, 
 While tearful sobs and prayers, and cries unite 
 In one tumultuous passion-hymn their 
 
 might — 
 Wild sounds that God alone can understand. 
 
 It is the land in which our still-born prayers,. 
 Forgotten aspirations, loves, and pains, 
 Await the consummation of all things. 
 
 Who knows but at the last the God of cares 
 Will crown, for every soul when she attains 
 With her forgotten life the love she brings? 
 
4^ HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 SECOND HALF-HOUR. 
 
 What time the sinking sun has filled the sky 
 With pulsing glories, ere he pass away, 
 While star wakes star with trembling silver 
 
 ray 
 Prophetic of the midnight galaxy, 
 
 The weary shepherd glances far on high, 
 Wondering o'er what lands beyond the sun 
 Shines in his fulness, — now that the day is 
 
 done, 
 Now that the light grows mute, and calm the 
 
 eye. 
 
 Look at the hills of death, weak flesh and 
 
 blood, 
 Draw from them strength in trial and in ease, 
 Remember the beyond unknown in all 
 
 But that each sin shall meet us by the flood 
 Of gloom with fiery hand outstretched to seize 
 Us by our hopes for self, to make us fall. 
 
SECOND HATCH OF NIGHT. 45 
 
 THIRD HALF-HOUR. 
 
 By plague, by flood, by hunger, blood, and 
 
 fear, 
 The Lord shall plead with every soul of man, 
 Till He whom none can see and live, appear, 
 According to His own appointed plan. 
 
 Then shall His own new-born at last behold 
 The King in all His beauty and delight, 
 Midst seas of seraphim of living gold, 
 Loving his love, and lightening his light. 
 
 Cast forth into eternal solitude, 
 
 Dark, silent, chill, forgetful and forgot, 
 
 Dead in an everlasting bestial mood, — 
 
 Shall souls who sinned fore'er despairing rot? 
 God knows. Ah, let us love, be true, be 
 
 pure, 
 While we may change ourselves, while hopes 
 
 endure, 
 
46 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 FOURTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 There is no death. What seems to die away 
 But changes unessential form and place, 
 And so-called ownership ; for God can trace 
 Each love-born atom back into His day. 
 
 For, after all, there is no good desire 
 
 Or quality in man, that be not light 
 
 Of God refracted through the creature's night, 
 
 Since human life is love, and love is fire. 
 
 No true prophetic song has ever died ; 
 
 But journeyed on from heart to heart, from 
 
 tear 
 To tear, athwart the generations, still 
 
 Gathering the prayers of saints from far and 
 
 wide, 
 In one great hymn that those alone can hear 
 Whose only joy it is to do His Will. 
 
SECOND IV A TCI/ OF NIGHT. 47 
 
 FIFTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 No human soul can utterly belie 
 Her destiny unceasingly to grow 
 Around somewhat outside herself, and so 
 To live in others, and for them to die. 
 
 Some souls have therefore given up their will 
 Unto the feverish flesh and all its lust, 
 Blinding themselves to God with earthly dust, 
 Till evil was their good, and good their ill. 
 
 Some souls live in their fellow-souls 
 Who live in them ; while others still endure 
 The curse to see their blessings prove a 
 blight. 
 
 These are the loved of God whom He con- 
 trols, 
 
 Jealous lest they should rest in aught less 
 pure, 
 
 Than in the very fulness of His li^ht. 
 
48 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 SIXTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 Who has not heard the voices of the night 
 
 Dying away into the midnight calm, 
 
 When wandering winds grow weary in their 
 
 flight, 
 And sleep has silenced sorrow, strife, and 
 
 psalm ? 
 
 Who has not felt the hush of loneliuess 
 Calming each stifling sense's feverish lust, 
 Quenching each want and every bitterness 
 With hope of coming rest amidst the dust ? 
 
 That is the hour of hours, the spirit's morn, 
 When man may stand erect and claim man's 
 
 right 
 To worship and adore ; when cries, upborne 
 
 On wings of prayer may reach the throne of 
 
 light : 
 When angels hover near, nor ever cease 
 To sing, to those who list, of God's great 
 
 Peace. 
 
HYMNS FOR THE 
 MORNING. 
 
THIRD WATCH OF NIGHT. 
 
 REPENTANCE. 
 
 First Half-Hour 12.00 m. 
 
 Second Half-Hour 12.30 a. M'_ 
 
 Third Half-Hour 1.00 
 
 Fourth Half-Hour 1.30 
 
 Fifth Half-Hour 2.00 
 
 Sixth Half-Hour 2.30 
 
 FOURTH WATCH OF NIGHT. 
 
 OPPORTUNITIES. 
 
 First Half-Hour . . . . 
 
 .... 3.OO A.M 
 
 Second Half-Hour . . 
 
 .... 3.3O 
 
 Third Half-Hour . . . 
 
 .... 4.OO 
 
 Fourth Half- Hour . . 
 
 .... 4.3O 
 
 Fifth Half-Hour . . . 
 
 .... 5.OO 
 
 Sixth Half-Hour . . . 
 
 .... 5.3O 
 
FIRST HALF-HOUR. 
 
 The ancient forest larch, whose roots strike 
 
 deep 
 Into the earth, whose crown springs star ward 
 
 high, 
 In silence waits the midnight wind to sweep 
 From out its boughs dim mists of melody. 
 
 What joy must thrill its swaying boughs to 
 
 hear 
 Waked from their dead inertia, harmonies 
 They knew not they could yield, so sad and 
 
 clear 
 That die in silent, quivering ecstasies ! 
 
 Not less does man, with feet on lifeless earth, 
 With kingly heart, whose love can conquer 
 
 pains, 
 Stand mute, until, each sense at rest, 
 
 The spirit-waves close round him, and give 
 
 birth 
 In the passive soul to long-forgotten strains 
 She once had sung when on the Father's 
 
 breast. 
 
5 2 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 SECOND HALF-HOUR. 
 
 These is no use, when fallen, to repent, 
 If that repentance be but grief or shame, 
 Without new works accomplished to pro- 
 claim 
 The past has been belied with full intent. 
 
 Our many failings never to lament, 
 And not to ask forgiveness for the same, 
 But straightway every weakness to disclaim 
 Would be the manliest course we could in- 
 vent 
 
 We weep at first because we try to raise 
 New motives to break loose from destiny — 
 We weep at last because we did succumb 
 
 And naught but Heaven can our cause 
 
 espouse : 
 But prayer to God for help is blasphemy 
 Unless determined fully to o'ercome. 
 
THIRD 11' A TCH OF NIGHT. 53 
 
 THIRD HALF-HOUR. 
 
 There is a fairness in the gloaming's flight 
 No other hour of the day e'er knows : 
 Although when in his noon the sun's deep 
 
 glows 
 Be more intense and yield more true delight. 
 
 There is a sadness in the dying light 
 
 A calm despair of desolate repose 
 
 That stirs the breast much more than deeper 
 
 throes 
 Of pulsing gloom at middle of the night. 
 
 Youth has weird glories in its weariness, 
 Its bitter, living, self-controlled despair 
 Which certainty shows forth as fraught with 
 ill; 
 
 There is a magic sadness in the press 
 Of doubts that stifle with their lurid glare, 
 Which the might of spirit-faith must scorn 
 and kill. 
 
54 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 FOURTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 It was a legend of the Church of old 
 That her dear Master, at the time He died 
 Was past man's middle age, and thus had 
 
 tried 
 Bach fear, and proved each hope that man 
 
 can hold. 
 
 And thus the early fathers gladly told 
 
 How Christ, a child, stood by the children's 
 
 side ; 
 To youths, a manly youth devoid of pride, 
 To men, a man, as any free and bold. 
 
 It is but right that each and every age 
 Should perfect be, and feel the Master near ; 
 Not ever reckoning some other time 
 
 In past or future the completed stage, 
 While present duty scorned, must disappear, 
 And dim God's glories in their dawning 
 prime. 
 
THIRD IV A TCH OF NIGHT. 
 
 FIFTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 55 
 
 "What hast thou done, soul, with all thy 
 
 dreams, 
 Thy hopes, thy aspirations, and thy prayers ? 
 Hast thou dismissed them whilst oppressed 
 
 with cares, 
 As hollow sea-foam, bright with vivid 
 
 gleams ? 
 
 They were thy precious primal heritage, 
 The warrant of thine own divinity ; 
 The guides that should have found thy des- 
 tiny, 
 The staff and pillow of thy pilgrimage. 
 
 "What hast thou done with all thy dreams, 
 
 O soul, 
 Thy hopes, thy aspirations, and thy prayers ? 
 Until thou find them, all the world despairs, 
 
 And thou canst never hope to reach thy goal. 
 "Wake them again ! call back their glorious 
 
 light ! 
 They are thy heaven, thy sword, thy shield, 
 
 thy might. 
 
56 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 SIXTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 For human souls each hour of conscious- 
 life 
 Is but an opportunity to rise 
 Or fall, to learn to worship, or despise, 
 To love or mock, to win or lose the strife. 
 
 Each act is fatal, since each upward leap 
 Emboldens and empowers the soul to dare 
 To seek horizons wider and more fair, 
 Along an easier path, although more steep.. 
 
 Each act is fatal, since each downward fall 
 Implies a long and dull forgetfulness 
 Of every former certainty and might; 
 
 Implies an utter disbelief in all 
 
 The aims of life, in love, in tenderness, 
 
 Resigns the soul to lust, to fear, and night- 
 
 Here beginneth the Fourth Watch. 
 
FOURTH WATCH OF NIGHT. 57 
 
 FIRST HALF-HOUR. 
 
 The iron rock, whose crown defies the might 
 Of cycled seasons through unfolding years, 
 Will break to dust before a change appears 
 To dwarf or magnify its glorious height. 
 
 The sleepless ocean suffers, day and night 
 From stream to cloud a round fore'er com- 
 plete, 
 And thus can fall and rise, and then retreat 
 Ever the same, eternal, infinite. 
 
 No fate, no astral curse, no sin-got fears 
 Can predetermine that a soul should range 
 The wilds of her hereditary ills : 
 
 Begotten of herself in cycling years 
 
 At any hour she may begin to change 
 
 Her flesh, her mind, her spirit, as she wills. 
 
5 8 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 SECOND HALF-HOUR. 
 
 Without the darkness, there would be no 
 light, 
 
 Nor waking state, without a previous sleep ; 
 
 Without the evil, none the good could reap, 
 
 Without the sorrow, none could know de- 
 light. 
 
 Without a hell, with which to learn to fight, 
 No man could conquer Heaven's rugged 
 
 steep : 
 And were not hell so infinitely deep, 
 None e'er could measure Heaven's endless 
 
 height. 
 
 The origin of evil is as clear 
 
 As that of good — neither exists alone ; 
 
 If man has no free choice, he has no worth; 
 
 And if no moral worth, he cannot fear, 
 
 He has no hope, no palm, no crown, no 
 
 throne : 
 He has no spirit, and is merely earth. 
 
FOURTH WATCH OF NIGHT. 59 
 
 THIRD HALF-HOUR. 
 
 Although man's life maybe accounted long, 
 Since oft he wearies of it ere it end, 
 It is but short, for it can comprehend 
 But just so many deeds, — some right, some 
 wrong. 
 
 No youth returns, no deep desire for prayer 
 Unsatisfied, can wake again the sonl ; 
 Each later one is sadder, and the whole 
 Of life's great hope less true — more vague 
 and bare. 
 
 Wandering dreams and senselesssleep debar 
 The soul from reaching out to meet 
 The messengers of comfort from above : 
 
 Which soul, when she shall pass beyond, 
 
 one star 
 The less will light, one angel less will greet, 
 One smile the less of God shall calm with 
 
 love. 
 
60 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 FOURTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 Men rarely pray but when some pressing- 
 need 
 
 Has stricken down their lusting souls with 
 shame 
 
 Or sorrow. Then, awaked, at last they claim; 
 
 Escape from justice, and for mercy plead. 
 
 And when their guardian angels intercede 
 For them with God, for the glory of His 
 
 name, 
 They yield again to lusts they overcame, 
 And drift along the tides when these recede. 
 
 That will be heaven, when man has learnt 
 
 to pray, 
 In joy, success, delight, and happiness, 
 As fervently as when in bitterest pain : 
 
 When man has learnt to praise and to obey 
 
 In fear, in sorrow, or in weariness, 
 
 With love as deep as when his love was gain. 
 
FO i R TH 11 'A TCH OF NIGH T. 6 1 
 
 FIFTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 In olden times, whene'er a man was born 
 Into the world from out his mother's womb, 
 The wise men stood around all wrapped in 
 
 gloom, 
 Weeping with anguish on his life's first 
 
 morn. 
 
 Did they not know one spirit more was torn 
 From out the Father's breast to meet his 
 
 doom, 
 To make a destiny, or fill a tomb, 
 •Of all his pristine beaut}' shorn ? 
 
 Earnest and sad should be a day of birth, 
 When to this crowded solitude's despair 
 Infant, one more predestined god appears, 
 
 And stakes upon his hopes his hard-earned 
 
 worth. 
 Silence ! Let prayer speed upward, future 
 
 prayer ! 
 He is arrayed in all his mother's tears. 
 
62 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 
 
 SIXTH HALF-HOUR. 
 
 " Rejoice," wise men of olden times did say, 
 " Rejoice, ye mourners, crowding round this 
 
 bier! " 
 Death prophesies the triumph-day is near ! 
 Rejoice that one more soul has passed away? 
 
 Not that the sun shines not with golden ray 
 Through azure depths in which is hid each 
 
 sphere 
 Whose lights amidst his universe appear 
 When night has calmed the dream of dying 
 
 day. 
 
 Rejoice that one more soul has crossed the 
 
 shore 
 Into the silent land of peace, where bide 
 Worn souls, until their time be all fulfilled,. 
 
 That they may purify themselves still more !' 
 But now, rejoice ! She rests, that here was. 
 
 tried, 
 Her pains have left her, and her cries are 
 
 stilled !" 
 
GOING. 
 
 At break of day we often disbelieve 
 The truths we held at middle of the night : 
 At noon, with passion, dare invoke a fight 
 Forgot and stilled ere darkness crowns the 
 eve. 
 
 The youth will languish for the things that 
 
 grieve 
 The many tottering years of failing sight ; 
 In health he labours for some wild delight 
 Which sickness questions, lest its sweets 
 
 deceive. 
 
 Amidst these eddies of eternity, 
 
 We strive to stand unmoved, though they 
 
 impress 
 Wrinkles of age upon our wear}' soul, 
 
 Whose solitude becomes her destiny 
 Unless she learn that all these pains express 
 God's Will to those who make His love their 
 goal. 
 
So still, in Ihy dear Hand, I lie — 
 Thine own forever ; God of light; 
 
 Li utter service to Thy Will 
 By voice of day, by star of night. 
 
 Nearer to Thee, my Destiny, 
 
 My foy, my Crown, my Strength, my Rest; 
 Drazv me to Thee that I may sleep 
 
 Forevermore upon Thy Breast. 
 
UL 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 015 898 459 3