Questions & Answers
Safe in the arms of knowledge, safe in the ark of God, Sheltered in Truth's own keeping from evil's awful flood,— Behind us the law and the prophets, before us the heaven to be, Forward! Christian and Scientist, over the last Red Sea! Mind is the force we tread on. Spirit the sword we wield, The Bible Word our cannon on earth's grim battle field; Wisdom and understanding our sentries by day and by night,— Onward! Christian and Scientist, for victory is with the right! We are nearing the doom of matter, we have passed to the latter years, We have seen the earthquake and famine; let us see where the Christ appears; He is healing the sick in the trenches, He is guiding the navies at sea, Principle and not person! Lo, the dead are risen in Thee! Thoughts of the Most High are gathering, the skies are filled with their host, Michael is leading his legions armed with the Holy Ghost; Oppression and violence shall vanish; by seven ways shall they flee! Answer, O man, to thy Maker! Stand forth—pure, upright, and free! Safe in the kingdom of heaven, safe in the city of Love, Father-Mother Almighty, beneath us, around us, above; Sin conquered for ever and ever, salvation forever outpoured,— Upward! Christian and Scientist, enter the joy of the Lord!
Blind led the blind, we slumbered unawares, And while men slept the enemy sowed tares. The old familiar guides we knew are gone, And broken are the reeds we leaned upon.
O Heavenly Father , let me know Myself, and see The faults and sins that separate My heart from Thee; And let me see above, beyond The mists so dense, My own real self, the blessed child Of Soul, not sense. And as this vision, calm and clear, Dawns on my sight.
Once more,—a victory for thee, Thou sweet constraining rod! I bow the head, and bend the knee, And yield me to the love of God. When Love hath conquered me, I lose, Yet am a victor too; I win what I myself would choose At first, had I the wit to do.
Beside the portal of the shadowy door She paused irresolute; she did not really know What lay beyond; but quiet seemed it there And warm, and promise of a shelter gave From bitter cold of winter's war-swept world, And surcease seemed to hold From strain of ceaseless struggle With false sense and sin. Then while she paused irresolute— For none need cross the threshold of the door Until they give their own consent— She felt a loving Presence drawing near, A tender healing touch upon her heart, And heard a gentle voice which said: "Stay, for the King hath need of thee," And knew she could not enter that dim door.
Within thy gates I daily walk, And up to heaven's blue I lift my gaze, while angels talk Of all that's pure and true. Of thy pure fount of flowing love I drink the healing streams, And find a peace far, far above The fondest earthly dreams.
I Do not ask to know Thy will. I know.
Into the garden's sun and scent I steal from a darkened room; I see a butterfly alight and sip From the cup of a rosy bloom. The beauty of its wings of white And markings of faintest gray, Brings to my burdened heart a sense Of beauty and harmony.
Until the day shall break in glorious splendor, Dispelling all the night's malignant glooms, Up from the mists which shroud the lower valleys, From rivers where the tempting lotus blooms, I will arise and seek the upward pathway, Ere yet the night winds stir, Up to the heights where thoughts are pure and holy, Upon the mount of myrrh. While all the shadows linger, dense, reluctant, In that long hour before the golden dawn, I would press on to reach still higher levels, Haunts of the graceful deer and gentle fawn.
WITH wondrous love she blazed the trail, alone, That all might help to build the King's highway— To level rugged hillsides, and to span Black-shadowed valleys with God's radiant day. Far onward sweeps the road in majesty; Secure, God's happy children journey there; For what can part them? Love alone is Life— And Life is God, and God is everywhere.