Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul Part 104

"All things work good for him who trusteth G.o.d!"

Doth G.o.d not love us with a longing love To make us happy, and hath he not sight From end to end of our short earthly road?

This, Lord, I hold--aye, _know_ that thou wouldst move The world to lead one trusting soul aright.

--Edward Harding.

RELIGIOUS INFIDELS

How many chatterers of a creed Think doubt the gravest sin, Unmindful of her double birth-- For worry is her twin.

Ah! Christian atheism seems The most insulting kind, For, though the tongue says, G.o.d is love, The heart is deaf and blind.

How he who marks the sparrow's fall Must be aggrieved to see These loud lip-champions manifest Such infidelity!

Each fretful line upon their brow, Dug by the plow of care, Is treason to their pledge of faith And satire on their prayer.

O just to hold, without one fear, The strong, warm Hand above, With orthodoxy of the heart-- The childlike creed of love!

None such can be a heretic; Nay, only he forsooth Who lives the falsity of doubt, But prates the cant of truth.

--Frederic Lawrence Knowles.

Worry and Fret were two little men That knocked at my door again and again.

"O pray let us in, but to tarry a night, And we will be off with the dawning of light."

At last, moved to pity, I opened the door To shelter these travelers, hungry and poor; But when on the morrow I bade them "Adieu,"

They said, quite unmoved, "We'll tarry with you."

And, deaf to entreaty and callous to threat, These troublesome guests abide with me yet.

Yet, in the maddening maze of things, And tossed by storm and flood, To one fixed trust my spirit clings: I know that G.o.d is good!

--John Greenleaf Whittier.

MAKE THY WAY MINE

Father, hold thou my hand; The way is steep; I cannot see the path my feet must keep, I cannot tell, so dark the tangled way, Where next to step. O stay; Come close; take both my hands in thine; Make thy way mine!

Lead me. I may not stay; I must move on; but oh, the way!

I must be brave and go, Step forward in the dark, nor know If I shall reach the goal at all-- If I shall fall.

Take thou my hand.

Take it! Thou knowest best How I should go, and all the rest I cannot, cannot see: Lead me: I hold my hands to thee; I own no will but thine; Make thy way mine!

MY PSALM

All as G.o.d wills, who wisely heeds To give or to withhold; And knoweth more of all my needs Than all my prayers have told!

Enough that blessings undeserved Have marked my erring track; That wheresoe'er my feet have swerved His chastening turned me back;

That more and more a Providence Of love is understood, Making the springs of time and sense Sweet with eternal good;

That death seems but a covered way Which opens into light, Wherein no blinded child can stray Beyond the Father's sight.

--John Greenleaf Whittier.

What most you wish and long for Might only bring you pain; You cannot see the future, G.o.d's purpose to explain.

So trust, faint heart, thy Master!

He doeth all things well, He loveth more than heart can guess, And more than tongue can tell.

BETTER TRUST

Better trust all and be deceived, And weep that trust and that deceiving, Than doubt one heart that, if believed, Had blest one's life with true believing.

Oh, in this mocking world too fast The doubting fiend o'ertakes our youth; Better be cheated to the last Than lose the blessed hope of truth.

--Frances Anne Kemble.

Be patient; keep thy life-work Well in hand; Be trustful where thou canst not Understand; Thy lot, whate'er it be, is Wisely planned; Whate'er its mysteries, G.o.d holds the key; Thou well canst trust him, and bide patiently.

There is never a day so dreary But G.o.d can make it bright; And unto the soul that trusts him He giveth songs in the night.

There is never a path so hidden But G.o.d will show the way, If we seek the Spirit's guidance And patiently watch and pray.

Build a little fence of trust Around to-day; Fill the s.p.a.ce with loving deeds, And therein stay.

Look not through the sheltering bars Upon to-morrow; G.o.d will help thee bear what comes Of joy or sorrow.

--Mary Frances b.u.t.ts.

On G.o.d for all events depend; You cannot want when G.o.d's your friend.

Weigh well your part and do your best; Leave to your Maker all the rest.

--Cotton.

OUR STRONG STAY

Then, O my soul, be ne'er afraid; On him who thee and all things made With calm reliance rest; Whate'er may come, where'er we go, Our Father in the heavens must know In all things what is best.

--Paul Fleming.