Questions & Answers
THE FIRST AND LAST Before the darkness and our pain, Before an agony had birth, Eternal Love was heaven and earth, Forever thus 'twill be again. FIRST DAY.
How beautiful upon The mountains are the feet Of them that tidings bring Of Love,—God's own heartbeat! Upon the mountain tops The soul steps from the sod Of earthly thoughts upon A nearer path to God; And finds His perfectness, As from each summit gained There stretch forth heights beyond,— Ideals to be attained. What though they be obscured By mists of earth's desire ! Above the clouds their peaks Eternally aspire.
O, who shall roll the stone away? This is the cry of anguished hearts, Whose hopes are buried in the clay, Whose human faith no light imparts. The olden cry—'tis ages long; We do not see, and seeing find; We question; doubt; hear not the song The angels sing for all mankind.
When above the mists we rise, And we meet Him, face to face, Then we all shall realize Heaven is not some far-off place. "We shall know each other better," We shall see all as they are; There will be no sin to fetter Us, nor pain, our bliss to mar.
O, the weary time of longing, When my heart with hopes all spent, Fought the storms so thickly thronging, Sought the isle of heart's content. Doubt, despair, and dread assailed it, And the storms were raging high; Not a beacon light of hope lit Up the grief cloud-burdened sky.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law, But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. —1 Corinthians, 15:55-57.
From the land of shadows and darkened dreams, Where all that real is, unreal seems; Where human strength but weakness proves; Where human love but little moves; Where selfish ends are ever sought, And mighty Truth appears as nought; A white star leadeth me, To that Haven where hath eternal lease Sweet Purity and gentle Peace; Where in God's might man finds his strength; Where in God's love man finds at length His rest, his peace, himself ensoul'd; His heart enriched by grace untold, A white star guideth me. W.
O restless spirit! wherefore strain Beyond thy sphere? Heaven and hell, with their joy and pain, Are now and here. Back to thyself is measured well All thou hast given; Thy neighbor's wrong is thy present hell, His bliss, thy heaven.
Pilgrim on earth give heed unto these words: "In strict obedience to th' Eternal Truth Man—in the image and the likeness made Of his Creator—doth within himself Reflect the attributes of God, and thus From sin and sickness claims immunity. Speed, Pilgrim, fearlessly along the path Of life, each seeming presence of a claim Of Evil spurn.
Beside Bethesda's quickening pool he lay, A wreck of sin, Not knowing how to demonstrate the way To enter in. "Wilt thou be whole?" said Christ unto him then.