Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul. Various

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ the shade of his presence,

      The rest of his calm,

      The light of his countenance,

      Live out thy psalm:

      Strong in his faithfulness.

      Praise him and sing,

      Then as he beckons thee,

      "Doe the nexte thynge."

      ———

      ZEAL IN LABOR

      Go, labor on; spend and be spent,

      Thy joy to do the Father's will;

      It is the way the Master went;

      Should not the servant tread it still?

      Go, labor on; 'tis not for naught;

      Thine earthly loss is heavenly gain;

      Men heed thee, love thee, praise thee not;

      The Master praises—what are men?

      Go, labor on; your hands are weak;

      Your knees are faint, your soul cast down;

      Yet falter not; the prize you seek

      Is near—a kingdom and a crown!

      Toil on, faint not; keep watch, and pray!

      Be wise the erring soul to win;

      Go forth into the world's highway;

      Compel the wanderer to come in.

      Toil on, and in thy toil rejoice:

      For toil comes rest, for exile home;

      Soon shalt thou hear the Bridegroom's voice,

      The midnight peal, "Behold, I come!"

      —Horatius Bonar.

      ———

      THE EVANGELIST

      Walking with Peter, Christ his footsteps set

      On the lake shore, hard by Gennesaret,

      At the hour when noontide's burning rays down pour.

      When they beheld at a mean cabin's door,

      A fisher's widow in her mourning clad,

      Who, on the threshold seated, silent, sad,

      The tear that wet them kept her lids within,

      Her child to cradle and her flax to spin;

      Near by, behind the fig-trees' leafy screen,

      The Master and His friend could see, unseen.

      An old man ready for his earthly bed,

      A beggar with a jar upon his head,

      Came by, and to the mourning spinner there

      Said, "Woman, I this vase of milk should bear

      Unto a dweller in the hamlet near;

      But I am weak and bent with many a year;

      More than a thousand paces yet to go

      Remain, and, without help, I surely know

      I cannot end my task and earn its fee."

      The woman rose, and not a word said she,

      Without a pause her distaff laid aside,

      And left the cradle where the orphan cried,

      Took up the jar, and with the beggar went.

      "Master, 'tis well to be benevolent,"

      Said Peter, "but small sense that woman showed,

      In leaving thus her child and her abode

      For the chance-comer that first sought her out;

      The beggar some one would have found, no doubt,

      To ease him of his load upon the way."

      The Lord made answer unto Peter, "Nay,

      Thy Father, when the poor assists the poorer,

      Will keep her cot, and her reward assure her.

      She went at once, and wisely did in that."

      And Jesus, having finished speaking, sat

      Down on a bench was in the humble place,

      And with His blest hands for a moment's space,

      He touched the distaff, rocked the little one.

      Rose, signed to Peter, and they gat them gone.

      When she to whom the Lord had given this proof

      Of good-will came back to her humble roof,

      She found, nor knew what Friend the deed had done,

      The baby sleeping and the flax all spun!

      —Francois Coppee.

      

      ———

      THE BEST THAT I CAN

      "I cannot do much," said a little star,

      "To make the dark world bright;

      My silver beams cannot struggle far

      Through the folding gloom of night:

      But I am a part of God's great plan,

      And I'll cheerfully do the best that I can."

      "What is the use," said a fleecy cloud,

      "Of these dew-drops that I hold?

      They will hardly bend the lily proud,

      Though caught in her cup of gold;

      Yet I am a part of God's great plan,

СКАЧАТЬ