.• -.1 ^ 
 
 
 V ci-^°<- -: 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
DUXBURY BEACH 
 
 AND 
 
 OTHER POEMS, 
 
 BY 
 
 E. J. V. HUIGINN. 
 
 BOSTON. 
 D A M R E L L & U P H A M, 
 
 The Old Corner Bookstore, 
 
 283 Washington Street. 
 
 1894. 
 
 
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 COPYRIGHTED, 1894, 
 
 BY E. J. V. HUIGINN. 
 
 ALL HIQHTS RESERVED. 
 
 PRESS OF CHAS. W. EDDY, 
 WARE, MASS. 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 Pleased with myselt? Why, no — I'm restless and 
 feverish still. 
 Longing to write a line that will live when Fm 
 away, 
 A line that will help even one — a\e the least — to 
 know God's will 
 And his deathless love and his Father's heart and 
 his gentle sway. 
 No. I have no conceit that the lines which now I 
 bring 
 Are worthy to live, or worih\- of him — just a drop 
 in an endless sea — 
 But a triend or two will be pleased, how badlv soe'er 
 I sing, 
 And to them I bring my song and they'll listen tor 
 love of me. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Duxburv Beach, ....•• ^ 
 
 Reveries, . . • • - • • • ^3 
 
 Credo 37 
 
 To Martha 39 
 
 Christ's Answer, ...••• 4^ 
 
 To Vernette 4^ 
 
 My Creed 42 
 
 The Wandering Jew 4^ 
 
 Love in Sorrow. .••••• 49 
 
 Birth-Day Thoughts 5 2 
 
 Sorrow and Faith. . • • • -55 
 
 A Message from the Sea, . . • ' • • 5^ 
 
 Christmas Greetings. ..... oi 
 
 The Pilgrims 62 
 
 Pulpit Rock 63 
 
 The Puritans. 1 64 
 
 The Puritans. II 65 
 
 Bishop Phillips Brooks, I, 66 
 
 BishopPhillipsBrooks.il 67 
 
 Fate 68 
 
 Truth 70 
 
 God's Book 7' 
 
DUXBURY BEACH. 
 
 On that long beach that vvoos the Pilgrim sea 
 And guards the Pilgrim land from northern gales 
 We wandered at our will one Summer day. 
 And talked of earth and sea and heaven and Gt)d, 
 And read deep lessons into ever^-thing, 
 The grain of sand tiiat lav upon the beach. 
 The pebble which had grown to larger life. 
 The shinglv beach built up of drops of sand 
 That held the drop-made sea in its embrace 
 And murmured softlv as in words of love. 
 While sea and sand each other chased in glee 
 All up and down the edges of the world. 
 And as a weed was tossed upon the shore, 
 Or singing shell was carried to our feet, 
 A silent jo}' through all our beings ran 
 To witness God's new wonders from the deep. 
 The sun and wind played gladh" with the waves 
 And romped o'er hill and dale with bounding step.^ 
 That laughed with music in the ears of heaven. 
 We wondered at it all, the happy sea, 
 
DUXBURY BEACH. 
 
 Tliat imaged in its depths the bright blue sky, 
 The merry sand that sported with the waves, 
 The dancing breeze that rippled in its play 
 The smiling deep, the glorious sun that ruled 
 O'er all in majesty and love. Our souls 
 Reached forth and speeding far and wide beheld 
 The beauty of the home of God. 
 
 Spell-bound 
 We sat in silence in the shade of what 
 Was once a schooner though a ruin now : 
 It lay upon the ocean's verge a battered wreck. 
 All-blackened with the fire that wrought its doom. 
 With twisted bolts and sea-washed oaken pegs 
 Protruding from its every joint. The spray 
 Of fifty years had fallen on the keel 
 Which looked to heaven. Its history was unknown, 
 T was found one morning on the wave-swept shore. 
 Dismantled, broken, ruined by the storm 
 Which lashed the wild Atlantic from the east 
 The previous night. What kindly hearts were lost 
 No one could tell. In some far-distant home 
 A mother, sister, wife, or sweetheart, wept 
 Its absence, longing with dull hopeless hope 
 For news of its return. Alas its fate 
 Was never heard ! The orphaned baby lived 
 And grew a man of whitened locks, but still 
 
DUXBUKY BEACH. 3 
 
 No tidings heard he of his father's ship. 
 And now it lay upon the long white beach 
 Exposed to sun and storm, and tVom the storm 
 And sun affording shelter to the few 
 Who sought protection in its shade as there 
 It lay fast-anchored in a sea of sand. 
 
 We telt the pathos of its life and spoke 
 Of human life, an echo of its own, 
 Its ups and downs, its joys and woes, and all 
 The mystery of being. It had its days 
 Of gladness as it sailed before the breeze 
 Upborne by the mighty sea, and, dipping. 
 Plunged on its way and bounded through the foam. 
 Which, dashing brightly, cheered the skipper's heart. 
 Who whistled as he hurried through the deep. 
 Or shouted forth a song as on he fled. 
 Again with shortened sail it bravely fought 
 The tempest in its fury as it swept 
 And howled with rage about die httle bark 
 With creak and groan and straining of the mast. 
 For life it fought and won.-May God be praised \ 
 
 Such was its lite. To-day lashed by the sea 
 Which yawns beneath its trembling keel 
 
 and longs 
 To draw it to its death while wind and wave 
 Sing loud their boisterous song. To-morrow all 
 
DUXBURY BEACH. 
 
 Is changed again, and no earth's mother's arms 
 
 Could twine about her child with truer love 
 
 Than the great deep's about the little crat't. 
 
 But though we all escape trom divers toes. 
 
 At last each thing of size and shape must die. 
 
 For so 'tis written in eternal law. 
 
 An end there is appointed unto each, 
 
 And little recks it when, or where, or how, 
 
 So we be ready for the newer life. 
 
 A fatal tire more dreadful than the sea 
 
 Attacked the schooner and with rushing dame 
 
 Destro3ed its life. Ah, God I the sea is Thine, 
 
 And in that hour of terror on the deep 
 
 Thou cared'st for Thine own while from their hearts 
 
 Poured forth the tide of love and trust in Thee 
 
 In the old hymn by sainted Wesley sung. 
 
 For in the dark a wandering vessel heard 
 
 The sound of voices rising on the wind. 
 
 While in the distance lay a smouldering tire 
 
 Upon the heaving bosom of the sea. 
 
 Which now began to answer to the storm 
 
 That shrieking through the sails called loud trom 
 
 heaven. 
 The sweetest, saddest of all earthly songs 
 Was that last song of sailors as they felt 
 Their time had come to put into the port 
 
DUXBURY BEACH. 
 
 Where Jesus takes the weary to his breast : — 
 
 '•Jesus, Lover of my soul, 
 
 Let me to Thy bosom fly, 
 While the nearer waters roll, 
 
 While the tempest still is high : 
 Hide me, O my Saviour, hide. 
 
 Till the storm of life is past ; 
 Safe into the haven guide ; 
 
 O receive my soul at last." — 
 
 It rose, and fell, and died upon the air, 
 
 Nor anv song by earthly voices sung 
 
 More sweetlv, sadly sounded in the world. 
 
 Next dav the wreck was found upon the coast 
 
 Where we that morning sat beneath its shade 
 
 And drew life's lesson from its silent speech. 
 
 'T was thus we spoke of life : our earnest thoughts 
 
 At times subdued us as our glistening eyes 
 
 Sought sand and sea and sky and looked away. 
 
 Nor dared to look in one another's face. 
 
 Ah who can tell the great unspoken thoughts 
 
 That then possess the trembling soul of man 
 
 When sacred stillness reigns with feeling deep 
 
 And God alone and Nature hear him speak ! 
 
 At length the wisest of us all began, 
 
 A man grown gray with wisdom's painful lore 
 
 Through sad experience gained in many lands :— 
 
DUXBURY BEACH. 
 
 'Tills blackened wreck has taught us well to-day ; 
 God's messenger it is and bravely speaks 
 Its message to us all. In joy and woe 
 Man's life is lived ; he too is but a ship 
 Tliat carries in its hold the things of God 
 And meets with buftets sailing for the port. 
 All things we see are preachers unto him 
 Who wisely holds that Love has shaped the world. 
 And Love at length its purpose must fulfil. 
 I have been tossed, as was this ship, on seas 
 That stunned my soul and drove me up a wreck 
 Upon the wastes that border earth and hell. 
 False friends and sin and sorrow, at their will. 
 In turv rushed upon me and in glee 
 Made wreckage of mv faith and love for God : 
 This earth was hell, and life a curse : I cried 
 Aloud — There is no God, not one, no. no : 
 Not one who cares for us who call to him 
 As Father Everlasting. Boundless Love ; 
 No God, but demons who contrive to bring- 
 Swift desolation to the sons of men, 
 And loudlv scream ha, ha. in mocking tones ! 
 Their shouts of triumph maddened all m\' being 
 And rising in the face of God I veiled 
 Defiance to his throne, and fainting fell 
 Abandoned, ruined, on the heedless earth. 
 
DUXBURY BEACH. 7 
 
 Men talk ot torments from the hand of God, 
 Or trom those spirits fell which they create, 
 God\s vengeful lictors of unwept-tor sins— 
 But man is man's worst demon, and the worst 
 Of all man's conscience to himself. I speak 
 From life's great lesson unto me. In hate 
 I crushed out God, but sin could bring no rest 
 To my o'ertortured soul. 
 
 "Twas then that one — 
 
 Who thinks forever in her inmost life 
 
 Of one she lost, a mother's grandest hope, 
 
 Long vears before when falling from a height 
 
 His noble life from earth passed up to God, 
 
 Since when she lives with God and him in heaven- 
 
 O'erheard my cry of anger and of pain. 
 
 And feeling for my wretched, godless state 
 
 Spoke words of comfort and of peace to me 
 
 While pitying tears rolled from her gentle eyes. 
 
 O blame me not that I had cast aside 
 All faith in God and man ! My life was led 
 In wicked wavs from youth. No mother's love 
 Had sent great prayers to God for her dear child- 
 Pevhaps she prayed in that God's greater world. 
 But I no prayer from spirits blest could hear. 
 No father's care had guided me to right. 
 And taught me that in virtue 1 must seek 
 
DUXBURY BEACH. 
 
 Lite's purpose, as all life from virtue springs. 
 
 I was the dupe and plaything of the world : 
 A grasping cousin seized the good estate, 
 Which he, as guardian, from my father held, 
 And cast me out upon the city's life. 
 While he, false traitor to a dead man's faith, 
 And falser to a dead man's helpless child. 
 Drank deeper draughts to drown his sickening guilt. 
 Despising all and hating all I met 
 My soul still clamored for its truer life. 
 For sin can never from the soul efface 
 All memor}' of its birth trom Life all-pure. 
 But all things reeked of blasphemy and sin : 
 The priest who swung his censer in the church. 
 And scented the foul air to please high heaven 
 And hold his little swav o'er savage minds — 
 Who bartered for a price the blood of Gcd — 
 From out the brass, or gold, or silver, sent 
 A clouding fume for his own stenchful lusts. 
 The men who posed for statecraft in the world. 
 The proud-faced dames who trampled on the poor. 
 The cheat and swindler in the city's marts. 
 The scandal-mongers of the daily press, 
 The rogues who swaggered in the city's streets — 
 Pretended guardians of the rights ot men, 
 The judges who protected justice well 
 
DUXBURY BEACH. 
 
 By keeping her enveiled from human sight, 
 
 The very children at their mothers" bi'easts ! — 
 
 All, all, were laughing at the face ot' Christ. 
 
 To me there was no goodness in the world : 
 
 The gilded dens of inlamv and vice. 
 
 Where Lust sits crowned and Wantonness adores. 
 
 Shamed homes where so-called honest maidens rushed 
 
 To lecherous arms in mockery of love 
 
 And sacred purity of marriage bliss : 
 
 The one received her price a slave to none, 
 
 The other for her price a slave became. 
 
 There was no God : no God to me, no Christ. 
 
 To wicked men all goodness is a lie. 
 And I had grown to hate the thought of good 
 Which nowhere could I tind. 
 'Tvvas then that she. 
 The holy mother of a godlike boy, 
 Witii tears and prayers became a Christ to me, 
 A very Jesus to a sinful man. 
 And led me back to God from whom I came. 
 And show^ed me all the beauty of the world. 
 And taught me all the graciousness of truth. 
 In her I found my God. and when I stand 
 All-purified from sin before his face 
 I'll take her hand and lead her to the throne. 
 And tell mv Father of her love to me, 
 
TO DUXBUKV BEACH. 
 
 And ask him to outpour his bounding life 
 In countless blessings on her holy head. 
 
 Since then Fve walked upon the blessed earth 
 And found the mystery of joy and woe 
 In man's submission to the highest will. 
 In patience and in peace I wait for him 
 To tell me more w^hen he shall call me home. 
 Earth, sea, and skv. proclaim the law of life. 
 Which teaches us through all there is no death. 
 From this poor wreck we wisdom learn 
 
 while here 
 We sit beneath its shade. That sea too tells 
 Its message to us all. Upon its breast 
 It bears the commerce of the world from land 
 To land ; it gives its treasures to support 
 Man's life and beautity his home and him : 
 Its cooling pity tames the fierce hot sun, 
 x\nd in ten thousand ways it blesses life. 
 Again, in anger it upshrieks to heaven 
 And catching in its grasp the mightv ship 
 With dire destruction dashes on the shore 
 And fringes all the earth with death and foam. 
 While rending cries from stricken hearts uprise. 
 Such is its endless life, a friend, a foe ; 
 In peace, in wrath, — like men in grace and sin — 
 Though men are subject unto grace alone, 
 
DUXBURY BEACH. II 
 
 But freely of themselves submit to sin." 
 A gentle sadness swept us while he spoke. 
 And gratitude to God possessed our hearts 
 That Virtue vet can master in the world. 
 The scorners still will scorn what men call truth. 
 And mock at goodness as a thing of choice, 
 A name to please the fancy of the weak, 
 To cozen souls and cheat them out ot peace, 
 Bv cunning men suggested in the past. 
 But w^e who heard the lapping of the sea 
 On that long beach and listened to the voice 
 Of him who spoke and told us of his life 
 Of sin and wrong and ruinous despair. 
 And of God's goodness wrestling with it all. 
 Felt as if God were speaking from the deeps 
 The onlv real in this changing world. 
 
 The youngest of us all in years a child. 
 But sweetened with the wisdom childhood brings 
 From out its native home, God's deepest love, 
 Then drew a circle in the soft white sand. 
 And said, '"So is God's love as is God's life, 
 Without beginning as without an end, 
 Encircling all and waiting in the calm 
 Of his great being for the purposed will, 
 When virtue onlv shall survive iu all, 
 And all the memory of sin be gone : 
 
12 DUXBURY BEACH. 
 
 Our God will wait, in patience still will wait. 
 His love is deathless as his endless life.'' 
 
 I ot'ten wander on that Pilgrim strand. 
 And watch the silent ebbing of the sea, 
 And see the MayHower sweeping into port. 
 And hear the Pilgrims sing their hymns ot praise, 
 Bnt oftener still I linger by that wreck. 
 And hear our voices as we spoke that dav, 
 And his, the strong man's, telling of his life, 
 And hers, the maiden's, telling;' us of God, 
 And God's in all, and always I exclaim. 
 "His love is deathless as his endless life." 
 
REVERIES. 
 
 Brave Saviour of the human race, 
 Lo, we — who were not there to see 
 Still Hermon's wondrous mvstery, 
 
 Thv glowang and transformed face : 
 
 Nor saw the Prophets at Thy side. 
 
 Nor heard the voice from out the cloud. 
 "This is mv son, hear him," — nor bowed 
 
 Our faces low our fears to hide — 
 
 Come, Christ, to Thee, Thou Light Divine, 
 Thou knowest all we are to be, 
 Mere nothingness bereft of Thee, 
 
 We come to Thee for we are Thine. 
 
 Thou knewest us before our birth. 
 To Thee the darkness is as light. 
 All things are open to thy sight. 
 
 Who madest all the heavens and earth. 
 
 That settest all the bounds of time, 
 And things that were not mad'st to be 
 Reflections of Thy majesty 
 
 And destined vmlo ends sublime. 
 
H 
 
 REVERIES. 
 
 Th^• wisdom and Th}' wondrous power 
 Are seen in all around, above, 
 Thv watchful care, Thy deathless love. 
 
 Sustaining all from hour to hour : 
 
 From hour to hour, and here and there, 
 Thv presence is in all revealed. 
 For all things with Thv seal are sealed 
 
 And own Thy lordship everywhere. 
 
 Lo, we, Thv creatures, come to Thee, 
 For Thou our wearv earth hast trod. 
 And interlinked our souls with God, 
 
 And shown us what we are to be. 
 
 And how the battle must be fought. 
 And helpest in the deadly strife. 
 For Thou art still the Bread of Life 
 
 That givest strength to souls Thou'st bought. 
 
 We know in whom we have believed, 
 Howe'er the sceptic scoft' and sneer. 
 Despite the unbeliever's jeer. 
 
 Who trusts in Thee is not deceived. 
 
 Thou art the Saviour of our faith. 
 And at Thv name all nations bow, 
 xAnd cr}^ for help as we do now, 
 
 O lift us from the sfates of death ! 
 
REVERIES. 15 
 
 We fail before our work is done, 
 We faint and falter da}' by day, 
 Our souls are weak and oft we say, 
 
 ••I am but one ! I am but one I" 
 
 But one and frail, nor can I know 
 The things ordained of Thee to be 
 In time, nor in eternity, 
 
 Nor into what myself may grow. 
 
 In life, in death, in woe, in weal, 
 O who can tell Thy deep design. 
 Or why the suns so brightly shine, 
 
 (3r if things inorganic feel ? 
 
 We can but know if Thou wilt tell. 
 For Thou alone hast come from God, 
 And in the tiesh the earth hast trod, 
 
 And taught us how in faith to dwell : 
 
 In t'aith like her who kissed Thy feet, 
 And wiped them with her dowing hair. 
 And prayed to Thee in her despair. 
 
 And grew in grace and love complete. 
 
 Like her, I come to thee to-night. 
 For all mv soul is steeped in pain, 
 O let my cr}' be not in vain. 
 
 Lord, save me by Thv gracious might ! 
 
l6 REVERIES. 
 
 Alone with none but God to hear. 
 
 In deep dark stillness all alone, 
 
 I weep for that departed one, 
 Who died with the expiring year. 
 
 IVI}' soul in anguish lives again 
 
 Beside that dying one who vowed. 
 
 Though wrapped up in his grave}' ard shroud, 
 
 To guide me through the wiles of men. 
 
 He comes to me as once before. 
 He stantls beside me in the room. 
 And thick and dark though be the gloom, 
 I know'tis he that comes once more. 
 
 He grasps my hand wath loving grasp. 
 
 He kisses me upon the tace, 
 
 He holds me in a close embrace. 
 As oft he did in loving clasp. 
 
 He speaks as spirits only speak. 
 He calls to mind my 3'outh again, 
 1 sob in anguish wild, and then 
 
 His lips he presses on my cheek. 
 
 He brings a message o'er the sea. 
 
 His voice with deepest anguish thrills. 
 And darkest grief my bosom fills, 
 
 Mv heart is rent with misery. 
 
REVERIES. 
 
 The vears are slowly speeding on 
 Since he was laid within the tomb, 
 jM\' life is all enwrapped in gloom. 
 
 And death comes claiming one by one. 
 
 Mv lips drew in his latest breath, 
 I heard the latest gurgling roll, 
 I prayed with all m\' strength of soul. 
 
 And held him as he slept in death. 
 
 The room was filled with sobbing prayers, 
 
 1 wept upon his pallid face. 
 
 And clasped him in a, close embrace, — 
 Death came for him so unawares ! 
 
 The loving, tender voice was still. 
 The lover, husband, father, gone, 
 His soul was at the Judge's throne. 
 
 His body limp in death and chill. 
 
 Beside his whitening corpse I stood, 
 Mv father's corpse — I stood aghast ! 
 The King had claimed his own at last. 
 
 The noblest of our race and blood. 
 
 l\[y eves were fixed upon his tace. 
 
 I wondered where his life had fled. 
 
 I thought on all the good priest said 
 Of other worlds and Jesus' grace. 
 
REVERIES. 
 
 A silence lay upon the hall, 
 
 A deep dark woe upon it hung, 
 A pall of grief was round it flung. 
 
 Death hrought an anguish to us all. 
 
 We tbllowed to the place of rest. 
 And laid him with the silent dead. 
 We prayed above his lowly bed. 
 
 And cast the clay upon his breast. 
 
 The priest in sobbing anguish sang : — 
 •'O God, Thy grieving ones sustain I 
 Who c(^mes to Thee shall live again."- 
 
 And all the air with sorrow rang, — 
 
 ••Who comes to Thee, Eternal Son, 
 In faith, though dead, shall never die, 
 O hear our broken-hearted cry ! 
 
 Th}^ will be done I Thv will be done !" 
 
 Beside the church we laid him low. 
 The cross we tixed upon his grave. 
 The emblem that alone can save. 
 
 And God enveloped all in snow. 
 
 O buried deep in churchyard mould ! 
 O Father, can you hear my pain r 
 Come to me, clasp me once again. 
 
 Your heart though dead cannot be cold ! 
 
REVERIES. 
 
 19 
 
 How silent is the stillness round I 
 
 Who gave me breath no more will hear 
 My life is now so sad and drear. 
 
 I long to hear the Trumpet's sound. 
 
 To-night it all comes back to me, 
 
 For I have heard one from the tomb. 
 He stood beside me in the gloom. 
 
 And I am filled with agony. 
 
 He came before when mother died. 
 
 He staved with me through all the time 
 Until the death-watch tolled the chime. 
 
 And then departed tVom my side. 
 
 Not twice the earth did gird the sun 
 From father's death till in the night 
 That father's spirit wan and white 
 
 Told me mv mother's race was run. 
 
 She blessed me in her latest breath. 
 Her dying eves were lit with love. 
 She smiled as if at God above. 
 
 And calmly yielded her to death. 
 
20 KKVEKIES. 
 
 In shrouds she lay upon the bed. 
 They wept for me her onl\' cliild, 
 Her tace in death upon me smiled. 
 
 She seemed to think and feel thou^ii dead. 
 
 Again the hearse with nodding plumes 
 We followed to the graveyard old. 
 Again we cast the churchyard mould 
 
 Upon the coffin mid the tombs. 
 
 Her kind old pastor took his place. 
 And cast the cla}' that should be cast. 
 And gave the blessing at the last. 
 
 And wept above her buried face. 
 
 Mv soul has sorrowed from that hour, 
 I've prayed — oh I was it wrong to pray r 
 That I might mingle with her clav. 
 
 And grow into the selt'-same flower. 
 
 The hopes of all m}^ youth have tied. 
 lliey've vanished from me one bv one. 
 The last, the best, has failed and gone. 
 
 I'd teel content if with the dead. 
 
REVERIES. 21 
 
 O Mother fairest of our race, 
 
 The sweetest flower on all our tree. 
 How can I now apart from thee 
 
 Live in this lonely, loveless place? 
 
 Awa}' across the foamy sea 
 
 Thou sleep'st beneath the churchyard sod. 
 
 Thy face upturned in death to God, 
 And I no more can gaze on thee I 
 
 Can gaze on thee and tell the pain, 
 The wearv pain of all the vears, — 
 And mingle with my tale the tears 
 
 That start and flow repressed in vain, — 
 
 The deathl}' pain of human life. 
 
 Where men contend for private gain, 
 Where hatred, lust, and murder reign. 
 
 And all is brutal, savage strife : 
 
 Where brutish beasts are juster far 
 And kinder to their helpless young, 
 That from their wombs and loins are sprung, 
 
 Although they preach no Avatar, 
 
 Than he who lords it o'er the earth. 
 And calls himself creation's Kingf, 
 Whose praises all the poets sing. 
 
 With all his boasted second birth. 
 
re\'krih:s. 
 
 Is to his brother fellow-man 
 
 With memory and will and mind, 
 God's counterpart, by him designed 
 
 Like God in his eternal plan, — 
 
 And vet this weary earth was trod 
 
 Bv him who taught that men were one, 
 Co-members in the mystic Son, 
 
 Co-heirs with Christ, the Son of God I 
 
 Last night I sat in weary pain, 
 
 Mv thoughts went wand'ring through the years. 
 
 iMv eyes were wet with starting tears 
 For all the wilful ways of men. 
 
 And while I pondered in the gloom : — 
 •'Will man torever miss his end, 
 And be himself his own worst friend. 
 
 Nor learn a lesson from the tomb, 
 
 •'Nor catch the meaning of his life?"" — 
 1 heard the tramp of crowding feet, 
 And angrv voices in the street, 
 
 And thronging men as if in strife. 
 
REVERIES. 
 
 And clang of sword, and trumpet sound. 
 And ringing horse-hoot's passing bv. 
 And deadly hatred's fiercest cry. 
 
 And blasphemies the place confound. 
 
 And man in frenzy shriek to man 
 
 In hatred's fiercest tones of hell. 
 
 "If he be King of Israel, 
 Let him come down now."' — So it ran. 
 
 And so it runs through all the time 
 The unbelief of human minds. 
 Who. tossed about by all the winds 
 
 Of doubt, become the dupes of crime. 
 
 And. rushing from the t'eet of God, 
 Suspend him on the cross alone. 
 And sin and passion high enthrone, 
 
 And deify the earthy clod. 
 
 And deeper grew m\- w^oe within. 
 And louder CQ[me the human cry, 
 •'Away with him, the Christ must die I" 
 
 () keep me from a world of sin ! 
 
 O hide me. Saviour of the race. 
 
 From thoughts, that surge like thronging host.- 
 And haunt my mind like wand'ring ghosts. 
 
 Of Thv beloved and bleeding- face ! 
 
24 REVERIES. 
 
 O save me, Christ, some little faith. 
 And bring me back, O Lord to Thee, 
 I cannot ree life's mystery. 
 
 Nor read the secrets known to death. 
 
 We cannot see, our eyes are dim, 
 Tlie things that God alone can see, 
 And yet in pride how often we 
 
 Reject the things we know of Him ! 
 
 He gives us gifts beyond our ken. 
 He prints his image on the clod. 
 And, oh I because we are not God, 
 
 We tiiink we're more or less than men I 
 
 And each to each a liar is. 
 
 And each his brother throttles down. 
 
 And robs him of his fair renown. 
 And gold that he had thought was his : 
 
 And laughs at God, and right, and wrong, 
 And scorns the altar, and the priest. 
 And makes with sin a jo^^ous feast, 
 
 And sings a loud triumphant song ; 
 
 And holds the harlot to his heart. 
 And presses kisses on her tace. 
 And scofts at sacrament and grace. 
 
 And worships science, love, and art : 
 
REVERIES. 25 
 
 And tills the brimminy; ijlass with wine. 
 And damns the God of all the creeds, 
 The God, who hate and discord breeds, 
 
 And drinks to heavenly' lust divine ; 
 
 And points the way for man to rise 
 From high to higher every ^ige. 
 Though bestial passions in him rage, 
 
 And claps his hands and "Forward !" cries. 
 
 Yes, forward I up the slopes of time. 
 Along the plains of sin and care. 
 And lusttul love and grim despair. 
 
 And quickly down the steeps of crime ! 
 
 Forijotten be the home, the vvite. 
 The babe upon the mother's knee. 
 No claims of duty now can be. 
 
 He lives within the higher life. 
 
 The higher life I and he can tell. 
 How he has cast the Christ aside, 
 And all the ravings of his pride, 
 
 Contusions all of heaven and hell. 
 
 And Reason's flag he has unfurled. 
 And shattered all the world of awe. 
 And he has freed himself from \a.\\. 
 
 While placing law on all the world. 
 
26 REVEKIKS. 
 
 And he has burst the bonds ot'sin. 
 
 His passions being his only lord. 
 
 lie has no fear, seeks no reward. 
 For he is close to God akin : 
 
 A\e. he is God I he claims. — and he 
 On other godheads wages war^ 
 For either things eternal are. 
 
 Or soon in nothingness shall be. 
 
 He cannot think when time began. 
 
 Nor when "twill end. nor space contine. 
 And thus he argues line bv line. 
 
 Eternal too must be the man ; 
 
 xAnd. reaching through eternal \'ears. 
 Dethrones the God who rules tiie world. 
 And on his banner high unfurled 
 
 Inscribes. "There is no God." and cheers. 
 
 And so he drains the foaming bowl 
 Of poisoned passion, pride, and lust. 
 For "Earth to earth, and dust to dust," 
 
 Bring no refining to his soul : 
 
 And laughs at all the tools of fear. 
 And trains his child in unbelief". 
 And seeks in every change relief. 
 
 And fights with God from year to year :. 
 
REVERIES. 
 
 And. beaten, tiiuls hi.s infant .son 
 Has tound a God within his breast, 
 And weeping sore is deep distressed 
 
 Because'his lather is alone. 
 
 Mis child who, childlike, sadly weeps. 
 And pravs in secret while he kneels 
 To him who trutli to all reveals. 
 
 And calls to him tVom out the deeps: — 
 
 *-0 hear mv cr\-, most Blessed Lord, 
 And bless my father with Th\- light, 
 And guide his steps to Thee aright. 
 
 And teach him ho\N' to know Thv word : 
 
 •'To know Thy word and live with Thee 
 Conjoined in love with all his kind. 
 And take the doubts trom out his mind. 
 
 And Tnake him with Tin- treedom tree ; 
 
 *'x\nd bring him to the teet ot Christ 
 In hope, as Tliou alone dost know. 
 And make him with Th\- taitli to glow. 
 
 And with Thy love eternalized. 
 
 ••To Thee, O God I I pour m\- prayer, 
 
 And crave through Christ that Thou wilt save 
 My father from the deepening grave 
 
 Of unbelief and dark despair.'' 
 
REVERIES. 
 
 So prays he with his face in tears. 
 And all iiis soul in strivino- pain — 
 Who says such pravers are said in vain? 
 
 God is not swaved hv higots sneers. 
 
 And when the shepherd's hell shall sound 
 x\nd all the sheep of (jod are told. 
 Among the safe within the fold 
 
 That child and father will be found. 
 
 The snow la\- deep upon the hills. 
 
 The woodsmen plied their busy teams. 
 And put the lumber in the streams. 
 
 Preparing tor the shrieking mills. 
 
 I knelt wnthin the lorest church. 
 
 "T w^as on the day the Savioiu" died. 
 The churchyard trees in sorrow sighed. 
 
 The snow lay drifted at the porch : 
 
 The yillagers in silence knelt. 
 
 And joined in earnest, fervent prayer. 
 A sadness deepened on the air. 
 
 And all a subtle presence t'elt. 
 
REVERIES. 29 
 
 I read the Gospel from Saint John, 
 And told them of the thorn}' crown. 
 And of the cross that crushed him down. 
 
 The broken-hearted friendless One. 
 
 1 told them of the ruthless rood 
 
 On which he died disdained, disgraced. 
 The stamp of God in him defaced, 
 
 His face and form besmeared with blood . 
 
 And how he bowed in deep despair, 
 And raised the agonizing cry, 
 "My God ! oh ! why forsake me? why?" 
 
 And called to mind his dying prayer. 
 
 And, oh ! the weight of human woe 
 That pressed them as I tried to speak 
 Forced tears to flow down every cheek 
 
 That spite of all would spring and flow : 
 
 Would spring and flow — 1 ceased to preach, 
 A drear}' sorrow swept my soul, 
 A sorrow I could not control. 
 
 And thought refused to come in speech. 
 
 I knelt, and wept, and tried to pray. 
 And then we sang the touching hymn, 
 •• "Tis flnished" — and with eyes still dim 
 
 I blessed them ere they went away. 
 
KE\ ERIES. 
 
 O ve who laugh at simple faith 
 
 And Christ, who died to make men good, 
 Who \et proclaim mans hrotherhood, 
 
 \Vh\- hunt again the Christ to death? 
 
 O tell me what tiie Saviour's crime: 
 He conquered all the powers of hell. 
 And taught all men in love to dwell. 
 
 God's children all in ever\- clime : 
 
 He preached tbrbearance to the race : — 
 "Forgive and ve shall be torgiven. 
 And live in blessedness in heaven 
 
 With God forever face to tace. " 
 
 And prayed in tenderness and ruth : — 
 "O hll them with Thv love divine. 
 For mine are Thine, and Thine are mine 
 
 And sanctif\' them with Thv truth I 
 
 •"My Father I now the hour is come. 
 Unite them all in love to Thee, 
 As I in Thee and Thou in me. 
 
 And guide them to lliv heavenl\- home I" 
 
 O ve who scorn the Son of Man. 
 Consumed in self-conceit and pride. 
 Who curse the lowly Crucitied. 
 
 xAnd laugh at all Redemption's plan, 
 
KEVEKIES. 31 
 
 Wherein lias Christ mankind oppressed? 
 
 Or scorned the lowly or the poor? 
 
 Or sent the beggar from his door 
 With empt> hand or aching breast? 
 
 He died to make the nations tree. 
 He stretches out a loving hand. 
 He pours his grace on every land 
 
 From shore to shore, from sea to sea. 
 
 From sea to sea and everywhere. 
 And not a life can live or die, 
 And not a soul in anguish cry, 
 
 But he, the Saviour-Christ, is there. 
 
 I teel iiim in my inmost heart. 
 As sitting in the silent room 
 I watch the men repair the boom 
 
 Which swollen floods have sprung apart. 
 
 1 felt him through the lonely night, 
 As praying by death's lowly bed 
 I saw a radiance overspread 
 
 The dying face, a mystic light — 
 
 A hol\- light that seemed to shine 
 
 Round him who from a deep sea-grave 
 His life had risked a life to save 
 
 And emulated love divine. 
 
j^ 
 
 REVERIES. 
 
 I knew he had no fear of loss, 
 I saw him weep the other day 
 As in the church he knelt to pra\' 
 
 And heard the stor}' of the Cross. 
 
 And Christ was with him, tor he spoke 
 As talking" to a present triend. 
 And smilingly he met the end 
 
 x\nd passed away as morning broke. 
 
 O ve of unbelieving minds 
 
 Who war with all the jangling creeds. 
 Who live in doubt and not in deeds, 
 
 Wherein has Christ oppressed mankind? 
 
 Sum up the guilt of all the vears — 
 The crimes of frenzied christian rage, 
 The bloodshed, lust of every age. 
 
 And all the seas of scalding tears ; 
 
 The priesthood of eternal hate. 
 Who lighted up the seething tires. 
 And cast the saints upon the pvres. 
 
 And damned them all as reprobate. 
 
REVERIES. 33 
 
 x\nd preached a creed all blood-enstained, 
 And made ot earth a raging hell. 
 And swung the censer, rang the bell. 
 
 And lived in riot unrestrained. 
 
 And ground the human race to dust, 
 And hampered all the powers of mind. 
 And tried to keep the nations blind. 
 
 And battened on the spoils of lust. 
 
 And grasping hard the flaming rod 
 Of fury robbed the sons of men, 
 And robed themselves in vestments then 
 
 To pacify an angry God ! 
 
 And crushed to earth the starving poor. 
 And trampled on the orphan's right, 
 And stole the weeping widovs'"s mite : — 
 
 Does Christ such crimes as these endure? 
 
 I cannot calm my rising grief, 
 
 Nor chase the tilm that veils my eyes. 
 Nor can I solve the doubts that rise. 
 
 Despite my strong and firm belief. 
 
34 REVERIES. 
 
 I wish t() roam through endless space. 
 And look upon the face of God, 
 And ask him how the human clod 
 
 Is worth redemption, love, and grace: 
 
 And il the dead in deathless strife 
 Contend with agonizing care. 
 And want and woe and grim despair. 
 
 And weary of eternal life ; 
 
 Or, freed from trammelings of" dust, 
 Crowd fiercely to the marts of crime. 
 And worship sin with faith sublime, 
 
 Entangled in the toils of lust ; 
 
 And if they're ranked in class and class, 
 And buy the highest ranks with gold. 
 And trace their kinship as of old. 
 
 And call the poor "the vulgar mass." 
 
 Uo nations spill each other's blood. 
 And race wage deadly war on race, 
 Contending for the foremost place. 
 
 All-heedless of the \oice of God? 
 
 Oh ! if they live in such excess. 
 If Christ has died without avail — 
 My God I then let m^• being fail 
 
 And fall back into nothingness ! 
 
LONGINGS. 
 
 I wish that God would pve me power to speak 
 The thoughts that come and go of human life- 
 
 That life I feel in me, but words are weak 
 And helpless to explain the deathless strife. 
 
 And how God's life immortal throbs in me 
 
 And folds me in its awful mystery. 
 
 "T is onlv God of his own life can tell. 
 
 And his infinitude of holiness. 
 Of his eternal love which can compel 
 
 Our saddened hearts, uplifting in distress, 
 And making us the children of his love 
 More like himself his boundless care to prove. 
 
 We often yield before the tempter's smile, 
 And please ourselves declaring our release 
 
 From law of God or soul, and for a while 
 In our own ways we revel, but the peace 
 
 That crowns a life self-centred in its own 
 
 Is not the peace of man, God's gitted son. 
 
LONGINGS. 
 
 O brothers, come, ascend the lofty height 
 Where God. our Father, dwells in majesty. 
 
 Look deep into tiiose eves of lovx, the bright. 
 Warm glance of infinite atiection see, 
 
 And read the glorious meaning of their look ! 
 
 God's eves, — to us God's holy, open book ! 
 
 O great pathetic wondrous eyes of God ! 
 
 In you I see all weakness overcome. 
 In vou the calvaries that men have trod , 
 
 Transformed with all the bounding jov of home. 
 In you I see all sorrows at an end. 
 Eves of mv God, mv Father, and mv Friend I 
 
CREDO. 
 
 Yes, 1 am pleased with the world, though not quite in 
 
 love with its sins ; 
 Its lust and its rapine are stains, but these were not 
 
 fashioned in heaven. 
 'T is easier tar to be bad than be good, for nature is 
 
 bad 
 And man has corrupted himself and an heir of cor- 
 ruption is born — 
 The ages in prayer and in chant, and in creed and in 
 
 sermon have held. 
 That man is in natural sin, God-ordered at war with 
 
 his God, 
 x\nd loving the bad from his birth, a creature of 
 
 whimsical wrath, 
 Bought out by a murderous deed from the wrath of a 
 
 love without bounds — 
 No, no ; such a creed is all false and vmjust to the 
 
 Giver of life ! 
 
38 CREDO. 
 
 The war is in man with himself as he fashions through 
 
 instincts of riglit 
 His soul like his God. and stiunbles and falls bv the 
 
 way, 
 For the task is immense and Godlike, and frail is the 
 
 nature that strives. 
 My creed then is simple and strong, that God is the 
 
 Ruler of all. 
 And never has cursed even one. not the sinfuUest ever 
 
 that lived. 
 But knows in his patience and might that love is the 
 
 fountain of life. 
 And lite must go back to its source because infinite 
 
 love must prevail. 
 And God is the essence of love, and at last must be 
 
 Lord over all. 
 
TO MARTHA. 
 
 May gladness fill thy little heart. 
 And crown thy life in every part I 
 And wheresoe'er, dear child, thou art. 
 God bless thee, little girl ! 
 
 Be God-like as thou art to-day, 
 In truth, in holiness, alway ; 
 And while I live for thee I'll prav — 
 God bless thee, little girl I 
 
 If sorrow come thy joy to sting, 
 God's great warm love around thee cling ! 
 God's holy spirits ever sing — 
 God bless thee, little girl ! 
 
 Mav life for thee be always sweet 
 As breath of God ; thy loving feet 
 In his own paths ; his smile e'er greet 
 And bless thee, little girl ! 
 
CHRIST'S ANSWER. 
 
 Down-sloped the sun and wandered to the west 
 
 The afternoon of one bright summer day, 
 
 VVithin the church I watched his beams at plav 
 
 Round Christ's crown-gloried head; my soul , o'erpressed 
 
 By the deep mystery ot sin's dark blot, 
 
 Prayed the dear Saviour in the wandow-pane 
 
 That he to me the meaning would explain 
 
 Of life and sin and man's predestined lot. 
 
 The parted lips of Jesus softlv spoke, 
 
 "God gives man power to prove his love for God 
 
 In woe and weakness as in strength : 
 
 I trod 
 The wine-press all alone, and, dving, broke 
 Temptation's might and sorrow's. Ye must pray 
 And wait God's will in his revealing day-"' 
 
TO VERNETTE. 
 
 Little sweet-heart of the Christ, 
 
 Baby dearest all unpriced, 
 God again renews in thee 
 All this wondrous world tor me, 
 
 Sanctitying our sad earth 
 
 With the mystery of thy birth 
 And with thy angelic face 
 Brightening every darkened place. 
 
 Bab\- dearest, God's own bloom. 
 
 Thou dost drive away all gloom, 
 Laughing, smiling, all day long 
 Cooing God's undying song. 
 
 Flower of the eternal love. 
 
 Thou his deathless care dost prove 
 P'rom his own all-holy lite 
 Blessing all our earthlv strife. 
 
 •'Little Christ." whose tiny voice 
 Echoes Gods while we rejoice. 
 
 Beam of God, whose warming rays 
 Fill our hearts with joyous praise, 
 Preach to us our Father's will 
 Conqu'ring e^'ery shape ot ill. 
 Make us all but him forget. 
 Breath and bloom of God, Vernette I 
 
MY CREED. 
 
 It was a happy day : the little birds 
 
 Did sweetly tune their carols on the breeze. 
 
 And till the throbbing air with richest songs 
 
 In language taught them of their Father, God, 
 
 And in the music of their songs vou lelt 
 
 They sent their souls' deep adoration back 
 
 To the great fountain ol' their joyous being. 
 
 Who understood their every note of joy. 
 
 The mountain stream dashed merrily along 
 
 And rovstered round the rocks with sportive love 
 
 And sprightly step and merry laughing iace 
 
 That glowed with sunshine in the eyes of heaven 
 
 As on it bounded to the waiting sea. 
 
 The w^oods stood still in silence as in thought 
 
 Great souls in contemplation of their God. 
 
 All things suggested holiness and life. 
 
 And peace unbroken and unmeasured joy. 
 
 A fitting home for God and noble souls. 
 
 Where they might mingle in eternal love. 
 
 And each wMth each hold rapturous converse deep 
 
 In the mvsteriousness of solitude. 
 
Mv ckp:ed. 43 
 
 With him alone I wandered through the woods 
 And opened all the longings of mv heart 
 To him ; he saw me as 1 am, and he 
 Alone of all the world can understand 
 The weakness and the strength of mv voung life, 
 The desolation of mv soul as sin 
 Triumphant carries me away from him. 
 The peace that waits tor me on mv return, 
 The aspirations that with heavenward flight 
 Tend always to their home ; the loves, the joys. 
 The sorrows, that control mv dailv being. 
 From him I hid no thought that ever marred 
 The holiness of his great gifts to me. 
 I told him how I loved his life in all 
 The world and hoped 'gainst hope that sanctity 
 And peace would reign supreme at length ; 
 
 that sin 
 And sorrow never could dethrone my faith 
 In the all-loving father of the world. 
 He spoke no word of stern rebuke to me 
 Although I dared to tell him on that day 
 That evil must be vanquished in the end 
 Despite what priest or preacher might declare, 
 Because his good would conquer through his love. 
 This faith he gave me in the glorious Christ. 
 And year b}- year as I approach to him 
 
44 MY CREED. 
 
 And &\ to read the secrets of the world 
 And all the height and depth of human life 
 Mv faith grows deeper, greater in that Christ. 
 God's Son, Revealer of the Father's will. 
 
 Oh, why will men usurp the place ot God 
 And pass their judgments on their Father's sons ! 
 Has life been vain? How often in the past 
 The priest has offered up the God-man's blood 
 Of blessing and a loud Te Deum sung 
 In gratitude to God tor murderous deeds 
 Of men on men, God's children on themselves. 
 And turn bv turn as human craft might win. 
 Or savage force o'er savage force prevail. 
 Made God and Jesus partners in their crimes. 
 And sprinkled God's own altars with the blood 
 Of Jesus, Son of Man and son of God ! 
 
 How often has the preacher standing there 
 In broidered robe to lend him false repute 
 Before God's own poor weak and sinful men. 
 Consigned with awful imprecations souls 
 To torments endless and eternal hate. 
 As if he spoke for him the Prince of Peace. 
 The very angel of undying love ! 
 
 In the deep solitude with God I thought 
 Of all the past, and daringly I told 
 Mv love and faith and hope, and he was pleased 
 
MY CREED. 45 
 
 For from the woods the song-birds gathered round 
 And sanij;" iheir creed of peace and trust and joy ; 
 The river murmured with a gladder strain. 
 While through the trees the whisp'ring breezes passed 
 And on the branches played their sweetest songs. 
 And everv day since then I walked with God 
 I feel m}- faith forever burst its bounds 
 And bring me more and more into that life, 
 Mv God's, for which his love created me. 
 
THE WANDERING JEW. 
 
 An old man sat on the mountain peak 
 
 And he tjazed on the earth below. 
 And he shook his head with a gloomy shake. 
 With its hair as white as the bright snow-flake, 
 
 Whilst his hands beat to and fro, 
 And the winds seemed hushed as he slowly spake, 
 
 x\nd told his tale of woe. 
 
 "My hair, O my son ! is silver white. 
 And my brow is ploughed with seams, 
 
 For sorrow and care have been my lot 
 
 Since ^-ears ago I was on this spot 
 
 And thought of m}- boyhood's dreams, 
 
 Boy's dreams that vanished from out my sight 
 As a mist in the dav-god's beams. 
 
 'T had dreamt of a home where no care could be. 
 Where joy and content should reign. 
 
 Where the peace of God should hold the place. 
 
 And all by his grace wear a happy face. 
 Where none should e'er complain ; 
 
 And, dreaming, such was the home I did see. 
 But my dreaminof all was vain. 
 
THE WANDERING JEW. Ay 
 
 "And to find such a place I left my home 
 
 Full of hope in my 3'outhful breast. 
 But a mocking voice followed on from behind. 
 And a mocking laugh followed on on the wind. 
 
 And my heart was with grief oppressed. 
 And now by decree I am forced to roam 
 
 Till the world shall come to rest." 
 
 And the old man stopped in his tale and sighed 
 
 As he gazed on the earth and sky. 
 And the tears down his cheeks ran quick and fast, 
 And he seemed to be wrap'd in thoughts of the past. 
 
 Then he spoke with a weary sigh : — 
 "'Twas the day that Jesus was crucified. 
 
 And when on his way to die ; 
 
 ''I stood in the door as he staggered on. 
 
 And I joyed in the bloody deed, 
 And he wished to rest, for the weight of the cross 
 And the scourge and the crown had caused such a loss 
 
 Of his strength he for rest did plead, 
 But I pushed him away, the Eternal son I- 
 
 x^nd scoffed at him in his need. 
 
 "And Jesus beneath the cross still bowed, 
 
 As he paused on his weary way, 
 Condemned me to wander awav from home 
 
48 THE WANDERING JEW. 
 
 And restless and friendless ever to roam. 
 
 Nor rest till ihe judgment day : 
 And still I can iiear the jeering crowd, 
 
 Aiul our Saviour mv sentence say. 
 
 "And I've \vearil\- roamed since that dreadtiil time 
 And Tm whitened with age and care 
 
 But wherever 1 go 1 can see the Tree, 
 
 And Jesus nailed to it and dying tor me. 
 And I try to hunt despair. 
 
 For die memor\- of my terrible crime 
 Is with me everywhere. 
 
 ■'And 1 prav that the judgment soon may come. 
 
 And I long for the Trumpet's blast, 
 Till then I must wander the world alone. 
 And prav the Redeemer who died to atone 
 
 To pardon my sin at last ; 
 And 1 liope witli my Jesus to lind a home 
 
 When m\ wearisome life is past." 
 
 He spoke, and he lett the mountain peak 
 
 With fears and griefs oppressed, 
 And I thought I could hear a voice beliind. 
 A voice that followed him on the wind. 
 
 And bade the wanderer rest. 
 And I thought I could hear the Saviour speak 
 
 And welcome him to his breast. 
 
LOVE IN SORROW. 
 
 Man cannot understand himselt", and in 
 
 The anguish of his heart he turns to Thee, 
 
 His God. and claims Thee for his own. The pain 
 
 Of lite is seamed upon his face in lines 
 
 Of agony and grief and care which come 
 
 To all. At night he dreams of love and joy. 
 
 And earliest dawn his happiness destro\-s ; 
 
 He watches Death with secret silent step. 
 
 Or swift, or slow, come taking one by one 
 
 From out the circle of his love, and woe 
 
 In sombre darkness sits upon his soul. 
 
 And mourning in close-rttting robes ot black 
 
 Stalks gloomih- along and meets him face 
 
 To face. At every turn his path is close 
 
 Beset with gloom and melancholy till 
 
 He t'eels the half-conclusion which he dare 
 
 Not speak, that all is pageantr\' that seems. 
 
 That underneath the surfaces of things 
 
 No God of mercy and of love can be 
 
 Who cares for aught, save self, and fashions man 
 
LOVE IN SORROW. 
 
 The plavihing of a day to please his whim. 
 
 And then destroys the phantoms of his will. 
 
 And like a child at play re-makes the same — 
 
 Makes and unmakes nor cares for human pain ; — 
 
 The mighty heavens in their (uiward sweep 
 
 The chance productions of a tyrant might 
 
 Which recks not what they be : the sun may shine. 
 
 But he who rules its shining heeds it not : 
 
 The stars may twinkle in the depths of night. 
 
 But what their purpose is no man can tell : 
 
 n'he earth grows hot and cold, it rains and shines. 
 
 And all things grow and wither and decay 
 
 And back to dulness creep through Death's wide gate. 
 
 Through which the worlds all pass, but no one pang 
 
 Of care or sorrow sits upon the brow 
 
 Of him who guides the making of the worlds. 
 
 Crash rolls on crash and all at last is done. 
 
 The end of all at hand, and primal dust 
 
 Alone remains with him — a God alone 
 
 With ghastly ruins of the lifeless world I 
 
 What wonder that the soul of him who kneels. 
 
 And seeks a hioher than himself in all 
 
 The beauty and the glory ot the world. 
 
 Who asks the meaning of his life, his love. 
 
 Who ponders on the mystery of truth. 
 
 The grandeur of the human souls he loves. 
 
LOVE IN SORROW. 5 I 
 
 The holiness of Ht'e in all, — should cling 
 
 With faith sublime to the great hope that gives 
 
 A unit}- and purpose to all life. 
 
 And speak his faith in trumpet tones to all 
 
 That Thou, our Father, God, art still in Heaven, 
 
 And lovest all Thy works with God-like love. 
 
 Eternal, boundless, as Th\ boundless life? 
 
BIRTH-DAY THOUGHTS. 
 
 God, life, the world, man — spirit, soul, and clay 
 
 O deep mysteriousness of things that change. 
 
 And things eternal, changeless, and sublime. 
 
 How can we grasp vou all and understand 
 
 In our short days the wonders that untold 
 
 From world to world through all infinitude ! 
 
 Have we partaken of the gifts of God, 
 
 His freedom, and of all his thirst for good. 
 
 And seen his glory and his bounding life. 
 
 And felt ourselves the objects of his love — 
 
 So deathless, endless, and supreme in all 
 
 From age to age and to the outmost bound 
 
 Of space and lite— that we should be cast down, 
 
 i\nd trodden under foot by dark despair. 
 
 And held in bondage as the slaves of wrong. 
 
 The worshipers of sin. the willing tools 
 
 Of evil and of lust, the last, the least. 
 
 The only God-forgotten in his world ! 
 
 Are we alone to think of him with fear, 
 
 And walk in trembling in his holy ways. 
 
 And if we stumble in the dark, or tall 
 
BIRTH-DAY THOUGHTS. 53 
 
 A prev to weakness, cast ourselves on earth 
 
 With agon}- of soul and deep-bowed face 
 
 And beg with broken hearts to be received 
 
 Once more into his love ! Ah, Father, God, 
 
 We do not understand ourselves, nor Thee, 
 
 Nor life, nor death, nor sin, nor sorrow's touch 
 
 On aching hearts, nor can we tathom aught 
 
 The least of all we meet and see, but, oh ! 
 
 We trust in Thee and walk in simple faith 
 
 That all will yet be well. From Thee we came, 
 
 And Thou dost know, and did'st foreknow, in all 
 
 Thy works their tendency, and what each one 
 
 Would do or leave undone in life's great tasks. 
 
 And vet of love created'st all to be. 
 
 And didst have faith in us that we stamped, God, 
 
 In Thine own likeness, loving truth and good. 
 
 At length with all Thy creatures wnmld fulfil 
 
 Thv will and struggle through the dark and sin 
 
 We find around into eternal peace. 
 
 Like summer's sun through mists and clouds to noon s 
 
 Bright splendor. Man ! ah man is Thine own child. 
 
 From Thine own life and freedom ushered in 
 
 Where he through freedom should his life endow 
 
 With graces noble, holy, and divine ; 
 
 The purest, sweetest, truest, most to be 
 
 Like Thee, and most partake of all Thy joys. 
 
54 
 
 BIRTII-DAV THOUGHTS. 
 
 And feel himself fast-folded to Thy breast. 
 
 Like little children must we all become 
 
 In purity, and trust, and truth, and love. — 
 
 So said the Christ, the One-Begotten Son. 
 
 Our loved, great-hearted Brother, who once spoke. 
 
 "O let the little children come to me, 
 
 For such are thev who enter into Heaven I"" 
 
 I know one such, to know her is to know 
 'I'hat God is ever-faithful to his word. 
 And blesses those with peace who do his will. 
 IMa}^ she still feel in every throb of life. 
 In every joy that comes, in all that meets 
 Her on her way to him, his great warm heart 
 With quenchless love aghnv encircling close 
 Her days I oh. ma\" she grow from more to more 
 In him. and more and more like him. her God. 
 With angel-songs deep-swelling in her soul. 
 And gladdening all for her, and making earth 
 Out-pour its benedictions and its praise 
 That she was born ! May each revolving year 
 Bestow its richest blessings upon her. 
 And guide her home, the fragrant "Flower ot God.' 
 While we with ever-thankful hearts confess 
 Our gratitude to him that he has given 
 Her lite to us to bless us on our wa^'s I 
 
SORROW AND FAITH. 
 
 Our human lite goes on so full of all 
 
 Its mystery and death : by day and night 
 
 Hearts fail and break beneath its load of care 
 
 xAnd sin and anguish crushing down to depths 
 
 Where spirits lie appalled by suffering, 
 
 And feel themselves alone, outcasts of God 
 
 And love, and trampled in the dust of death. 
 
 And reach in vain in darkness for the hand 
 
 Of him who promised evermore to be 
 
 The Father ot his own, and with them all 
 
 In every pulse of life, at every turn. 
 
 Upholding, cheering, blessing wnth his face. 
 
 And bv his presence sanctitying souls. 
 
 And healing hearts disconsolate and sad : 
 
 And as thev vainh' grope to feel the touch 
 
 Of that eternal hand laid on their own 
 
 Faint in their tribulation, and dismayed 
 
 Bow deeper down and ever low'er down 
 
 In pitiless despair and fearful gloom. 
 
 Ah, God ! and is the fault all Thine that we 
 
 Lose courage, strength, and faith, forgetting Thee. 
 
56 SORROW AND FAITH. 
 
 Whose life we breathe while thinking Thee afar. 
 
 Untouched b\' what we do or suffer here? 
 
 From Hps of man in evei'N' age the praN^er 
 
 Goes back to Thee for help and Hght and Hfe ; 
 
 Thou heardest their great cry, and sent to tliern 
 
 Thv Son who consecrated pain and in 
 
 His lonely agony all-wet with blood 
 
 And humbled to the earth showed us that we 
 
 Must still be brave and true and trust in Thee. 
 
 He cried for pitv that the cup might pass. 
 
 Three times he cried — and he was l^hine own son. 
 
 Spotless and pure, sublime in all his ways I — 
 
 But still it might not be, and yielding up 
 
 His life he prayed at length. ''Thy will be done I"" 
 
 And Ibund the ministering angels near. 
 
 He quaffed the chalice to its utmost dregs. 
 
 And to the hearts of unbelievers came 
 
 The deep deep faith, "This was the Son of God !' 
 
 Through victor\' over self and love for men. 
 
 And love for truth and Thee he overcame 
 
 The sorrows of the world. Like him must we 
 
 In all tind Thee who watchest over all, 
 
 For not a sparrow falls but Thou dost see. 
 
 And are not we the children of thy love? 
 
 Man still must trust, and he whose soul is wrung 
 
 With deepest s(,)rrows has the largest lite 
 
SORROW AND FAITH. 57 
 
 And most partakes of all that is divine. 
 
 So he be true. Send, send to me, m\' God, 
 
 Pain after pain, and sorrow, woe, and grief. 
 
 And all the darkness that can fall on life. 
 
 And desolation stern as hell can bring. 
 
 But keep me true to Thee ; and, oh ! dear God, 
 
 — Thon knowest all my hopes, and loves, and fears, — 
 
 If sorrows now o'erhang the ones I love. 
 
 And I can take and bear them at Thy hand. 
 
 Then let them fall on me, noi" spare to send. 
 
 So they be spared to feel Thee loving still. 
 
A MESSAGE FROM THE SEA. 
 
 All-soltly moaned the sea with phish on phish 
 
 On the long shore with melancholy sound 
 
 That spoke its heart-deep secrets to the soul 
 
 To hear its voice attuned : the sky was gra\- 
 
 As it with sorrow tinged, and not a leaf 
 
 V'ibrated to the air, and not a thing 
 
 Of life was visible to her who gazed 
 
 Wiih mind fast-tilled with crowding tho'ts of God 
 
 And lite and all the mvsterv of all 
 
 The past, the present, and the future dayfe, 
 
 Across where sea and sk\- commingled met 
 
 And faded each in each. She watched and watched 
 
 As if she waited for the sea to bring 
 
 A message from its God and hers to say 
 
 That he doth care for all. that not a wave 
 
 Can sob upon the shore but comes from him 
 
 And writes upon the sand its purest thought. 
 
 Its highest wish to live its life in him. 
 
 The best its nature can make known to men 
 
 Of all his love : tor he does guide the sea 
 
 In all its ways, and it in all its moods 
 
A MESSAGE FROM THE SEA. 50 
 
 Fours forth his praise. In solitude she stood 
 VViih longing in her eyes to hear that voice 
 Which only can console man's saddened hours 
 And bring him courage in the gloom that falls 
 Betimes on ever\' life. The waves crept in 
 And died about her feet, their task now done. 
 Her soul was crowded back upon its walls 
 And through its walls to him, the Infinite, 
 And, bursting ever more and more its bounds. 
 Sank back on God and falling on his breast 
 Gave all its life to him. as on the shore 
 The wave its life with gentlest love forsook 
 And slept in peace its mission at an end. 
 
 To wait and work until the end comes on. 
 To wait in patience and to work in faith, 
 In faith deep-rooted in the life of God 
 And all will yet be peace — So preached the sea. 
 As wave on wave looked up into her face 
 And spoke to her of God and fell asleep 
 Upon the great broad bosom of the world. 
 She thought of those she loved, for whose dear sake 
 Her life would gladly perish out of sight 
 And die to all the world, if so God willed, 
 That those she loved might ever feel him near 
 And live with jov in his eternal care. 
 For them and God her life she would up-yield. 
 
60 A MESSAGE FROM THE SEA. 
 
 . 1 
 
 And well God felt the longing of her soul. 
 
 And sent her word from every, little wave, 
 
 "M}' power still binds the universe in bonds, 
 
 And all my power is nothing but uiy love 
 
 Which speaks to thee from all things thou dost see : 
 
 fear me not but trust me all in all. 
 As I have faith in all that I have made. 
 
 Am not I — God — thy Father and thy Friend. 
 Whose love for thee once yielded up my son. 
 That thou migh'st know that thou, my child, art mine? 
 
 1 love thee well with all my heart's great love. 
 And all of thine are far more all of mine. 
 Then trust in me and I will bless thee still." 
 So spake God in the waves, and in the sea. 
 And in the sands that lay upon the shore. 
 And in the winds that blew across the world. 
 And in the heavens that canopied her life. 
 And she was glad. The presence of the Lord 
 Deep in her soul glowed outward in her face. 
 And there was peace and calmness on her brow. 
 And strength that comes from consciousness of power. 
 Of power to conquer all, to trust through all 
 
 Her after days the truth and love of God. 
 
 To bless him still and pray, "Thy will be done I" 
 
CHRISTMAS GREETINGS. 
 
 God's richest gifts be tliine this Chtistmas-tide : 
 
 His deep eternal love thy life enfold 
 
 And all beloved of thee I May he uphold 
 
 Th\- da^•y in stately trntli ; his care abide 
 
 Witii thee, uplifting still to grander height 
 
 Thy soul conformed to his, whose gracious birth 
 
 To-day anew proclaimed renews on earth 
 
 Peace and good-will this holy Christmas night ! 
 
 1 seem to hear the shepherds' wondering speech, 
 
 I watch the star that pointed wisdom's way, — 
 
 It shines above the child. — My God I pray 
 
 By that loved child, his Christ, bless thee and eacli 
 
 To thy heart dear. A mother's iieart must know 
 
 The mother-love of God in joy and woe. 
 
THE PILGRIMS. 
 
 The earth and all its fulness is from God ; 
 
 And we are God's, and none must come between 
 
 The Father and his child. The past has been 
 
 Too full ot woe ; too often man has trod 
 
 On God's own spirit full of liberty. 
 
 We must anew to all the world proclaim 
 
 The holiness of freedom in Christ's name. 
 
 And bring to birth a nation, holw tree. 
 
 The preachers of the Christ were sent to bless. 
 
 As Christ himself did bless, to lead to light 
 
 And life in God and not to death and night. 
 
 In our new land men freeh' may profess 
 
 Their taith in God, nor must the old-time priest 
 
 Destroy the tVeedom given to men b\- Christ. 
 
PULPIT ROCK. 
 
 (clark's island) 
 
 Within the shadow of the rock I stood 
 
 Where on the Sabbath day the Pilgrims prayed 
 
 Their hearts" deep prayers : O how the Fatherhood 
 
 Of God came to them then, as they obeyed 
 
 The distant voice, "'My Sabbath sanctify," 
 
 And bowed their heads and hearts and heard the word 
 
 They loved, and as the storm swept by 
 
 Sang J03^ful hymns of praise to God their Lord ! 
 
 And I did think upon those lonely men. 
 
 Their sorrows and their hopes, their trust in him. 
 
 The One, Eternal God : how even then 
 
 No dark despair their love for him could dim. 
 
 And as I heard the echo of their prayer, 
 
 L too, adored our lovin<»' Father there. 
 
THE PURITANS. 
 
 I 
 
 With oratetu] hearts we think of those brave men 
 
 Who loving still their land loved freedom best, 
 
 ifVnd, loving that, themselves accounted blest 
 
 In stress and toil God's freedom to maintain. 
 
 In scorn men called them Puritans ; the voice 
 
 Of God Supreme loud-thundered in their ears 
 
 And bade them freedom free, shake off their fears. 
 
 And even in tribulation to rejoice. 
 
 With giant strokes thev fought for liberty 
 
 And freed man's mind from man but kept the Book 
 
 Wherein God's voice they heard, and read the look 
 
 Of Love Eternal's love and the decree 
 
 That men are all the offsrping of that love 
 
 And subject but to him, their God above. 
 
THE PURITANS. 
 
 II 
 Led by this faith the\- vindicated God 
 In his sublimest work and tyrannN 
 Fell down to rise no more. New England tree 
 Would free the world. The old-time priestlv rod 
 Was shivered in the high-priest's hand ; the doom 
 Of priestly sway loud-sounded in the earth. 
 And man, again redeemed, proclaimed his birth 
 Into the life of God. To-day the bloom 
 Of that grand life o'er-arches all mankind 
 And brightens all the future with its glow : 
 God's life above is but God's life below — 
 So felt the Puritan — for God designed 
 All life and over all his life must reign, 
 So tyrants fall and freedom bursts her chain. 
 
BISHOP PHILLIPS BROOKS. 
 
 ''Father, Thv will, not mine I" It comes to-day 
 With saddening sense to all. tor he is gone. 
 The mighty-hearted lover of Thy Son, 
 
 Our "other Christ,'" who taught us how to pray. 
 
 The noble-hearted bishop is at rest : 
 
 At rest on earth, but still he lives in Thee, 
 His Father, Lover, Friend, while sadly we 
 
 In deepest pain confess. "Thy will is best !" 
 
 Man's noblest man in all this later age. 
 
 The preacher, prophet. Christ-man is gone home 
 Thv call he heard. "Afy vvell -beloved, come !" 
 
 In Thee he lives. Our grief we must assuage 
 And live like him for Thee till w-e shall meet 
 Our God-like bishop at the Master's teet. 
 
BISHOP PHILLIPS BROOKS 
 
 1 (jpened all the windows ot mv soul, 
 
 Flung wide its doors and let the light stream in 
 
 That came through him tVom God. In me no sin 
 
 Could then abide ; no waywardness control 
 
 M\ thoughts, or words, or deeds. God's Spirit moved 
 
 Most mightily my life through his great life — 
 
 Himself controlled by Christ, who mid the strife 
 
 And questionings prevailed, and dying proved 
 
 The mightiness of love . 
 
 A man indeed 
 Was he Christ- hearted in his wa^'s ! So true I 
 Forgetful of himself God's image grew 
 In him to richest bloom, llie Master's creed 
 In him triumphant lived, and still in death 
 He makes me throb with his undving faith. 
 
FATE. 
 
 The spirit is fled 
 
 That had quickened his body now lying there dead. 
 
 And the white weeping moon 
 
 From the high-vaulted skv 
 
 Looks down in her paleness as hurriedly by 
 
 She darts as tliough fearing a moment to sta\- 
 
 And longing to hasten the dawning of day 
 
 Tiiat now cannot come oversoon. 
 
 In the calm twilight. 
 
 Ere the earth went to rest or the stars to beam bright, 
 
 A youth trod all alone 
 
 Oyer loneliest ways 
 
 Witli a sad look of pain in his eyes' weary gaze. 
 
 And a face in its orhastliness loyely to see. 
 
 As though flying quick from the cruel decree 
 
 Of a Fate that pursued him unknown. 
 
 No kind one he met 
 
 With pitying word or with heartfelt regret 
 
 To lighten his pain. 
 
 But with eager wan face 
 
FATE. 69 
 
 He hurriedly sped as if seeking some place 
 Where peace might at last reach his overstrung soul. 
 Or Fate its evangel of pardon unrol 
 And a message of mercv might deign. 
 
 How vainly he tied ! 
 
 He's now lying dead in his blood all so red 
 
 And his pain all is gone : 
 
 There is no one to weep 
 
 O'er his- beautiful corpse as it lies there asleep 
 
 And frightens the moon who speeds on in her flight 
 
 To hide fast from her eyes that heart-killing sight 
 
 By hun■^•in^• onward the dawn. 
 
 / 
 
TRUTH. 
 
 I am no U'rant. I stand and watch 
 
 The. destinies of worlds and men. The tyrants 
 
 Fear me and try to kill ; or failing this. 
 
 To mask my face that men ma\" know me not : 
 
 And error tor a time with narrow minds preyails. 
 
 But God is Truth, and men are God's and mine. 
 
 And I at leno-th must win. so fear me not. 
 
GOD'S BOOK. 
 
 Holy is lite. Cjod's gracious gift to us 
 
 From his own lite sublime : no narrow wish 
 
 To live selt-centred rules the heart of God : 
 
 But he, out-pouring t'roin his love on men 
 
 Compels by love that they should love in turn. 
 
 From him came lite and love, and back to him 
 
 Our love and lite must go. He restless longs 
 
 For us ; our passing years are his alone ; 
 
 In them we write his wondrous history 
 
 Page alter page, a iar diviner work 
 
 Than that of prophet or evangelist. 
 
 Hieir pages die, but thine, God's child, will live 
 
 Immortal as thy God. Write, write thy best ! 
 
 The worlds will pass and tney are Nature's leaves 
 
 Writ by Omnipotence, but thou canst write 
 
 Upon the pure white leaves of thy young soul 
 
 A book of God-enduring peace and love 
 
 And stamped and sealed by the Eternal's hand. 
 
Jtl07 
 

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