Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul Part 86

--Harriet McEwen Kimball.

True love shall trust, but selfish love must die, For trust is peace, and self is full of pain; Arise and heal thy brother's grief; his tears Shall wash thy love, and it will live again.

--John Boyle O'Reilly.

EXPECTING AND KNOWING

Faith, Hope and Love were questioned what they thought Of future glory which religion taught; Now Faith _believed_ it to be firmly true, And Hope _expected_ so to find it too; Love answered, smiling with unconscious glow, "Believe? expect? I _know_ it to be so."

--John Wesley.

THE LOVE OF G.o.d

Could we with ink the ocean fill, Were the whole world of parchment made, Were every single stick a quill, Were every man a scribe by trade; To write the love of G.o.d alone Would drain the ocean dry; Nor could the scroll contain the whole Though stretched from sky to sky.

THE KINGDOM OF G.o.d

I say to thee--do thou repeat To the first man thou mayest meet In lane, highway, or open street--

That he, and we, and all men move Under a canopy of love As broad as the blue sky above;

That doubt and trouble, fear and pain And anguish, all are shadows vain; That death itself shall not remain;

That weary deserts we may tread, A dreary labyrinth may thread, Through dark ways under ground be led,

Yet, if we will our Guide obey, The dreariest path, the darkest way, Shall issue out in heavenly day,

And we, on divers sh.o.r.es now cast, Shall meet, our perilous voyage past, All in our Father's house at last.

And, ere thou leave him, say thou this Yet one word more: They only miss The winning of that final bliss

Who will not count it true that love, Blessing, not cursing, rules above, And that in it we live and move.

And one thing further make him know: That to believe these things are so, This firm faith never to forego,

Despite of all that seems at strife With blessing, all with curses rife, That _this_ is blessing, _this_ is life.

--Richard Chenevix Trench.

G.o.d'S ALL-EMBRACING LOVE

Thou grace divine, encircling all, A soundless, sh.o.r.eless sea Wherein at last our souls shall fall; O love of G.o.d most free,

When over dizzy steeps we go One soft hand blinds our eyes, The other leads us, safe and slow, O love of G.o.d, most wise!

And though we turn us from thy face, And wander wide and long, Thou hold'st us still in thine embrace, O love of G.o.d most strong!

The saddened heart, the restless soul, The toil-worn frame and mind, Alike confess thy sweet control, O love of G.o.d most kind!

But not alone thy care we claim Our wayward steps to win; We know thee by a dearer name, O love of G.o.d, within!

And filled and quickened by thy breath Our souls are strong and free To rise o'er sin, and fear, and death, O love of G.o.d, to thee!

--Eliza Scudder.

Ah, how skillful grows the hand That obeyeth Love's command!

It is the heart, and not the brain, That to the highest doth attain, And he who followeth Love's behest Far excelleth all the rest.

--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

If I truly love the One All the loves are mine; Alien to my heart is none And life grows divine.

G.o.d'S MERCY

There's a wideness in G.o.d's mercy Like the wideness of the sea; There's a kindness in his justice Which is more than liberty.

There is welcome for the sinner, And more graces for the good; There is mercy with the Saviour; There is healing in his blood.

There is no place where earth's sorrows Are more felt than up in heaven; There is no place where earth's failings Have such kindly judgment given.

There is plentiful redemption In the blood that has been shed; There is joy for all the members In the sorrows of the Head.

For the love of G.o.d is broader Than the measure of man's mind, And the heart of the Eternal Is most wonderfully kind.

If our love were but more simple, We should take him at his word, And our lives would be all suns.h.i.+ne In the sweetness of our Lord.

--Frederick William Faber.

THE LOVE THAT Pa.s.sETH KNOWLEDGE

Not what I am, O Lord, but what thou art, That, that alone, can be my soul's true rest; Thy love, not mine, bids fear and doubt depart, And stills the tempest of my tossing breast.

It is thy perfect love that casts out fear; I know the voice that speaks the "It is I."

And in these well-known words of heavenly cheer I hear the joy that bids each sorrow fly.

Thy name is Love! I hear it from the Cross; Thy name is Love! I read it in yon tomb; All meaner love is perishable dross, But this shall light me through time's thickest gloom.

It blesses now, and shall forever bless; It saves me now, and shall forever save; It holds me up in days of helplessness, It bears me safely o'er each swelling wave.

Girt with the love of G.o.d on every side, Breathing that love as heaven's own healing air, I work or wait, still following my Guide, Braving each foe, escaping every snare.

'Tis what I know of thee my Lord and G.o.d, That fills my soul with peace, my lips with song; Thou art my health, my joy, my staff, my rod, Leaning on thee, in weakness I am strong.