Questions & Answers
Dig channels for the stream of love, Where they may broadly run; And love has overflowing streams To fill them every one. For we must share if we would keep That good thing from above; Ceasing to give we cease to have, Such is the law of love.
WHAT can I ask of Thee, O God, Who giveth all to me? Life, Truth, and Love, the only Good, Thy gift eternally! And can I ask for less than these, Or do I plead for more! Have I with outstretched arms received Of that abundant store? Or do I ask for life to fill My cup with pleasures vain,— A human sense of life that leaves The dregs of want and pain? O Life divine! thy joys supreme Are far removed from these, And endeth not in discord, For all thy ways are peace. And when I ask for Thee to lend Unto my darkened way, The light of thy dear Love and Life, I know not how to pray, For Love and Life omnipotent Are omnipresent, too; And a true prayer would be to know And prove this statement true.
Shepherd of tender youth Guiding in love and truth, Through devious ways: Christ our triumphant King, Join we thy name to sing, And our dear children bring, Shouting thy praise! Most high and holy Lord, Glorious, revealing Word, Healer of strife: Thou didst thyself abase, That from sin's deep disgrace Thou mightest save our race, Giving us life. Thou art our great High Priest; Thou hast prepared the feast Of holy love: In all our sin and pain None call on thee in vain Help thou didst not disdain, Help from above.
Heaven is not reached at a single bound, But we build the ladder by which we rise From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, And we mount to its summit, round by round. I count this thing to be grandly true: That a noble deed is a step toward God— Lifting the soul from the common clod To a purer air and a broader view.
O Son of man, what thoughts had'st thou, As near some solemn mountain brow, Out in the dreary wilderness, alone Thou did'st abide in prayer? But One There was with whom thou mightst commune. Did doubts or fears at times thy heart assail, To try thee; if like other mortals frail Thou could'st be tempted to give up the fight, And let the evil over-rule the right? Did there come nights when darkness would enshroud, When all around seemed naught but one dark cloud; When hope seemed blotted out, and when thy task Seemed but some great mistake, and thou would'st ask, " Why am I here? What good can I attain? Do not my efforts now seem all in vain? Why am I thus shut out from all my race? Must I not meet my fellows face to face If I would give them aid? How long doth seem this night, will morn ne'er rise And send some brighter gleam across the skies? Still would'st thou struggle on through night, through day, And as temptations 'rose, cast them away Behind thy back, and say, "Thus it is written.
We bend uncovered, as the dawn Rolls back the curtains of the night. The dark'ning shadows all are gone Mid morning's glow of golden light.
O Thou Supreme, Eternal Good! Thou art Life and Love, the Divine Infinitude. In Thee alone is All that truly is.
"And the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. "— John 10: 4.
I feel the heart-throbs of a Life Divine, Still sweeping on through Nature's corridors, And hear the gentle voice of Truth and Love Which wakes the earth to beauty, bloom and song. The fragrant winds, the glistening new-born leaves, The low of cattle on a thousand hills,— The whole earth redolent with joyous song From God's own feathered choir, which soars and sings Through cloudless skies, palpitant with a light Which bathes the world in gentleness and peace,— Sing to the waiting heart a song of rest, And Nature's Diapason grandly swells With God"s own jubilate,— "Good is my God; My God is Good; From "Pond and Purpose," by Rev.
Two little girls living in Kansas recently sent for use in the Bible in "Mother's Room," a tasteful book mark of white satin, about three inches wide by nine inches long, having printed thereon the following beautiful and appropriate poem of John G. Whittier's :— "And so, I find it well to come, For deeper rest, to this still room; For here the habit of the soul Feels less the outer world's control; The strength of mutual purpose pleads More earnestly our common needs; And from the silence multiplied By these still forms on every side, The world that time and sense has known Falls off and leaves us God alone.