Questions & Answers
Great are the symbols of being, but that which is symbolled is greater; Vast the create and beheld, but vaster the inward Creator; Back of the sound broods the silence, back of the gift stands the giving, Back of the hand that receives thrill the sensitive nerves of receiving. Space is as nothing to Spirit, the deed is outdone by the doing; Time is as nothing to Him, hatred is shadow of loving; And up from the pits where these shiver, and up from the heights where those shine, Twin voices and shadows swim starward, and the essence of life is divine.
"Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings:— Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul! As the swift seasons roll: Leave thy low-vaulted past; Let each new temple, nobler than the last, Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine out-grown shell by life's un resting sea. "— O.
"Heard are the voices, Heard are the sages, The worlds and the ages: Choose well, your choice is Brief and yet endless. Here eyes do regard you, In Eternity's stillness; Here is all fulness, Ye brave, to reward you; Work and despair not.
"Be perfect in spirit," said'st thou? Knowest thou all it implied, To drink of His cup to the dregs, In sorrow and tears purified? In Gethsemane's garden to walk, To surrender all earth's ties; Has thy soul caught the gleam of Eter nity's sun, That " Be perfect in spirit " implies? Oh! teach me, if so, that I, too, May stand on the heights all alone, Till the echo of words thou hast spoken, Fill my soul with their musical tone. Till my faltering steps are made strong, By the gleam thou hast caught of the sun, And more perfect each day I can say, "Thy will.
When cares fall on me like a pall, And boding fears and sorrows, all Infold me in their gloomy arms, Or fill me with their dread alarms, 'Tis then like healing unction shed As soothing balm, about my head, Or calming oil on tossing waves, Or incense on foul, dismal graves, Or salt thrown on a raging fire, 'Tis then that you have power to save, And teach reflection to a knave. When spirits fail and hearts grow sick, And gloom is gnawing to the quick, No glimmering of hope appears, And no kind friend or beacon cheers The soul, just sinking 'neath its load, Lost and beweary, on the road.
Immortal Love!— thou Christ that was, Thou Christ that is to be! Thou spirit shining down through time, From the shores of Galilee. We place our hearts on things of Earth.
Isle of beauty, thou art singing To my sense a sweet refrain; To my busy mem'ry bringing Forms that I would see again. Glows the charm of thy reflecting In the moral that it brings? Nature with the mind connecting, Gave the artist's fancy, wings.
"Allah! Allah!" cried the sick man, racked with pain the long night through, Till with prayer his heart grew tender, till his lips like honey grew! But with morning came the tempter, said, "Call louder, child of pain! See if Allah ever hears or answers, 'Here am I,' again. " Like a stab the cruel cavil through his brain and pulses went— To his heart an icy coldness, to his brain a darkness, sent.
'Tis borne on the zephyr at eventide's hour, And falls on the heart like the dew on the flower— An infinite essence from tropic to pole, The substance, the home and the heaven of Soul. Love reigns over all—at the altar or bower— It binds with sweet fetters in strange pride of power, And comes through our tears as the soft summer rain To beautify, bless and make happy again.
Tell me, ye winged winds, That round my pathway soar, Do ye not know some spot Where mortals weep no more? Some lone and pleasant dell, Some valley in the west, Where, free from toil and pain, The weary soul may rest? The loud wind dwindled to a whisper low, And sighed for pity, as it answered, "No. " Tell me, thou mighty deep, Whose billows round me play, Knowest thou some favored spot, Some island far away, Where weary man may find The bliss for which he sighs, Where sorrow never lives, And friendship never dies? The loud waves, rolling in perpetual flow, Stopped for awhile, and sighed, to answer, "No.