SACRED SONGS - AND - NATURE PIECES By Dr. T. P. LUCAS, Vera Papaw Hospital, New Farm, Brisbane Member Royal College of Surgeons, England ; Licentiate of Medicine and Midwifery, Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh ; Licentiate Apothecaries Society, London ; Fellow Royal Society, Queensland ; Linnaean Society, New South Wales ; Entomological Society of London : Fellow by election of Royal Society Club, Literary and Scientific, London, &c , &c, PRICE - Ss. EDWARDS, DUNLOP & CO., BRISBANE and SYDNEY W. H. WENDT & CO.. Printers, Brubane - Wpi <^e^ ^ =-. .-. '.'*>' Si- PREFACE THE beauty of poetry consists in the life or soul of the piece. The life soul of music is the spiritual passion displayed. The suc- cess of the rehearsal depends upon the training and talents of the operator. It is the same with written poetry. The true life of the poem is the spiritual soul manifested. The success of the endeavour depends on the training and experience of the writer. I have made no attempt to rival the work of our highest talented word painters; but I have sought to give the Divine breathings of a living soul. THOMAS P. LUCfiS Vera Papaw Hospital Mew Farm Brisbane 2218149 A brief Personal Note from the Author to the Reader. Although born in Dunbar, in July., 1843, I can lay no claim to be a Scotchman. The records of heraldry trace back my ancestry to the cross-bearer who accompanied and ministered to William of Normanby in the Norman Conquest. My own impression is that our heredity comes down from Luke, the beloved physician, the "Lucas" whom the Apostle Paul saluted in one of his epistles. For generations, law, physic, and divinity, have claimed their sons and servant* in our family. On the other hand, through the gift of large estates which the Conqueror made to his chaplain, a proportion of the descendants worked as farmers or yoemen agriculturists. Again, inventive genius too often worked out inventions which benefltted others mare than the inventors themselves. Thus, I remember, one uncle invented great improvements in agricultural instruments, while a cousin was the first one to invent the bicycle. After honouring Dunbar with my presence and cries for five weeks, I was taken on board a vessel at Leith, and sailed for Lerwick, Shetland. In a year's time I bade farewell to Scotland. I then resided in different parts of England until I sailed as a ship's surgeon for Australia. I pride myself on having learned the classics and mathematics at three of the most notable and noted public schools in England first, at King Edward the Sixth or Shakespeare's Grammar School at Stratford-on-Avon; next, at New Kingswood School, Bath, which, I suppose, for its numbers, has lifted more boys from the ranks of the people to the foremosl places all over the world in all the professions and literary services; and, lastly, at the Helston Grammar School,. Cornwall so famous through the pupilship of Charles Kingsley. In such heredity, surroundings, and education, is it any wonder that I was taught to think, and studied how at all times to think. As my last head-master and friend, Dean Jessop, stated one day to my father, "It is not what the boy, learns, but it is the learning how to learn !" Unfortunately, to-day, the reverse is the fashion, and the foremost ideal seems to be "cram, cram, cram," and too often without first laying a foundation hence the present- day shortcomings and frequent failures in all the professions. From childhood I have been a close and loving student of Nature. But I was always laggard in making a stroke sometimes because of timidity, and sometimes for want of time and means. The same has happened with my. writing of vesrses. But better late than never. I have no ambition, only to help others, to help to bring Earth nearer Heaven, and Mankind nearer to God. T. P. LUCAS. V. IMDCX Page A Birthday Ode 160 A Bunch of Flowers 187 A Calm Sunset 164 A Child Picture 72 A Life Song 71 A Life Study 300 A Love Study . . 301 A Lovely Morning 130 A Nature Text 62 A Nature Working Economy 209 A Prayer 129 A Prayer of Intercession 97 A Ramble on the Cornish Coast 142 A Seashore Story 293 A Sky Phenomenon 8 A Sonnet . . . . 43 A Stanza 43 A Survey of Nature 217 A Trip Down the Brisbane River 199 A Wise Prayer 154 Activities of Love 133 After the Storm 59 All Things Created by the Son 204 Allendale 266 An Australian Morning 146 An Early Spring 216 An English Nature Song 136 An Item in the Resurrection 48 An Ode to the Earth 280 Australian Gambling 158 Australian National Song 161 Australian Patriotic Song 269 Australian Skies . . 169 At the Grave of Lazarus 190 Bay of Biscay 273 Beautiful Austral 34 Beauty Fadeth 283 Be Yourself 272 Believing Prayer 148 Birthday Song 230 Branches of the Human Tree 172 VI. Page Brisbane Exhibition Organ 30 Brisbane River 186 British Nation 211 Butterflies' Play 270 Cavalry 166 Can Man Find God? .. . < 224 Catching Butterflies 261 Centre to Circumference 42 Ceylon 167 Cheer for the Fainting Warrior 16E Christ, the Great High Priest . . Christian's Night Revelation . . Christian, stand stedfast! Christian Consecration 171 63 49 224 Christmas Day 183 Christmas Hymn 76 Closer to God 51 Comets, 101 Contemplation of the Ocean 209 Conversion 285 Courtship at Sea 17 Creation Hymn 154 Dead 1907 260 Death 136 Demoniac Socialism 98 Design of the Universe . . . . 215 Divine Government 91 Divine Immanence 144 Divine Light 217 Divine Omnipotence 138 Divinity of Christ 81 Dreamer's Dream 143 Dual Love Song 220 Dual Rainbow 12 Dunbar, Scotland 28 Earth's Most Wonderful Woman 255 Easter Hymn 10 Easter Sunday 213 Ecce Deus 136 Ecce Homo 113 Eclipse of the Moon . . . . 191 Egypt, the Bondage of Sin .. . ., .. .. 212 English Cornfield 198 English Fields in May 9 Eve of the Passover 77 Every Knee Shall Bow 47 Evensong 1 Eventide 219 Evil Within 86 Faith 163 Vll. Page Fight for the Right . . . . 274 Finding a New Butterfly 153 Flowers 218 Flower Song 215 Folkestone Interim 241 Footsteps of the Messiah i Forget-me-nots 12 From the Mortal to the Immortal 104 Future of the Wicked 200 Gethsemane 156 Giant Despair 189 Glory, Glory, Glory 7 God-Man 240 God's Message to Mankind 40 Ood Rules the Universe 201 Oolden Buttercups 35 Good Cheer 286 Good Fruit 205 Gospels of Nature and Christ 102 Halley's Comet 26 Hallelujah 26 Heart Consecration 44 Heaven's Galaxy 285 Higher Spiritual Universe 103 Highway of Holiness 103 How to Get Salvation 103 How to Think Human Brotherhood 88 Human Goodness 7 Human Life 73 Human Messiah 234. Human Priesthood . . 282 Human Race, Advance! 140 Human Soul 177 Hymn of Cheer 157 Hymn of Praise 261 I Want to be Thine 262 Immortality 123 Indian Ocean 264 Invitation to the Wedding Feast 193 Is the Human Divine? 198 Is the Human Immortal? 228 Jehovah's. Revelation 176 Jesus, God-Man 151 Jesus Knows 137 Jesus, Messiah King 259 Jesus Only 29 Judas, the Sacerdotalist 245 Justice and Love 222 Knowledge and Wisdom 277 VH1. Page "Landscape Scenery 299 Let There Be Light 61 Life's Ocean 296 Light 128 Light in the Darkness 113 Llanelly Dell 210 Lost and Found 53 Lostwithifil, Cornwall 251 Love 33 Love's Power 21 Loving the Children Man's Salvation 52 Material and Spiritual Energy .. ... 18 Material Universe . . . .^ '. 208 Matrimony, 25 May Mortals Sing? 227 Miracles 46 Mistletoe Symbol 155 Mon Italic 207 Mortality 43 Mount Wellington 57 My First Sporting Tour Mystery of Pain 31 Nature's Higher Domain 94 Nature's Garden 278 Nature's Loveliness 212 Nature Myths 250 Nature's Song of Happiness 269 Nature's Symbols 23* Nature's Voices Calling 132 Need for an Atonement 306 Night Time 235 No Rain 252 Noontide Calm 256 Omega Centauri Star 159 On a Motor Boat 180 Oneness of the Universe 65 Only. Thee 6 Opposite Corsica . . 165 Palm Sunday . . 37 Parody on Pope's Ode 64 Parting 34 Partial Eclipse of the Moon 33 Peace, Perfect Peace 214 Peace Proclaimed 39 Philosophy 62 Physical Dying 129 Physical Life and Death 17 Places in Heaven 23 Plan of Salvation 216 IX. Page Planet Venus 145 Praise and Supplication 19* Praise for the Redemption 112 Prayer to the Redeemer 147 Prayer for Wisdom 299 President McKinley.'s Burial 67 Pride 26 Poetry 243 Rainbow at Rocklea 15- Rainbow Round the Moon 257 Red Sea 228 Red Sea Sunset . . . . 131 Regeneration 42" Religion 305 Reply to Criticism on Lyric Verse 272 Restless Ocean 182 Resurrection of a Butterfly 35 Rewa River 45 Rock of Gibraltar 114 Ruins of Pompeii 13~ Sabbath Chimes 10 Sacrifice 80 Science Student 223 Search for God 80 Secret of Good Government 159 Secret of Married Happiness 268 Seeking to Know True Religion 195 Self Review 205 Shall We Know Each Other Yonder? 15fr Sin . . . . 82 Sky Scenes, Caboolture 225 Sqng Birds 194 Song of the Lark 231 Song of Joy 127 Sorrow for a Lost One 41 Soul Unction 153 Spiritual Emotions 149 Spiritual Harmonies 147 Spiritual Zephyrs 232 Spread the Light 151 Spring 267 Storm at Sea 152 1 Success 267 Sun-Star 236 Summons to Worship 280* Sun and Stars Declare 206 Sunset 18& Sunset 47 Sunset Thunderstorm 54 Sunset of Ceylon 1$ Page Sunset at May, Orchard 281 Sunrise Dispersing Clouds 254 Sunshine Colouration 143 Surgical Operations 19fc The Ants and the Butterfly 22fr The Australian Brook 74 The Australian Bush 69 The Australian Scrub 251* The Apostle Paul's Ode 79 The Averted Storm 8 The Battle of the Nile 164 The Beautiful 282 The Bible 87 The Brooklet 117 The Bubble on the River 1& The Budding Grapes 54 The Cavern Abyss 167 The Children's Hymn 138 The Christian Mariner's Song 184 The Christian Warrior's Song 271 The Christian's Prayer 96 The Cleansing Altar 99 The Divine Government 105 The Divine Mystery 284 The Divine Providences 131 The Dry Storm 192 The Earth's Mission 244 The Eclipse of the Sun 50 The Earth's Social and Moral Unrest 245 The Embodiment of Love 5 The Fashion of the Earth's Creation 29 The Feathered Kingdoms 123 The First Cause 255 The Fog-horn 22 The Grandchester Ranges 293 The Girl With Brains 134 The Great Altar 296 The Great Life Secret 290 The Heroes of the World 95 The Homeland Spring 275 The Horrors of War 277 The Human Embodiment 283 The Ice Storm 190 The Idols He Shall Utterly Abolish 295 The Key, of the Mystery 95 The Key-note of Triumph 68 The Kingdom of God 93 The Knowledge of Pardon 21 The Last Voyage 56 The Life-boat Rescue 118 XI. The Lost Laureate The Man Divine The Manifested Love The Meadow-lands The Moon's Total Eclipse 139 The Moonlight Night 289 The Mosquito Bite 113 The Moral Law 241 The 1908 Flood, Brisbane 297 The Ocean Mystery 52 The One True Church 66 The Opening Day 70 The Organ Song 224 The Pansy 100 The Mudlark 168 The Night Storm 38 The Restless Ocean 219 The Resurrection 22 The Rose 224 The Sabbath Bells 303 The San Francisco Earthquake 185 The Sayings of the Immanuel Jesus 64 The Shining Morn 268 The Snowdrops in the Snow 292 The Song of the Ocean 3 The Sleeper's Lullaby 289 The Spirit of Man 20 The Springtime of Youth 291 The Starlings 11 The Sun's Glory, 122 The Suez Canal 16 The Sunset 117 The Secret of Time 304 The Third Solar Atmosphere 60 The Third Solar Atmosphere on the Equator . . . . 126 The Tiropics 180 The Twenty-third Psalm 127 The Violets 27 The Volcano, Toowoomba 150 The Waters of Life 162 The Widow's Son 2 The Woods 265 The Young People's Plea 134 Temple of Womanhood 212 Thirsting for Life 36 Thou Shalt Call His Name Jesus 181 Thoughts 179 Tour to Loch Lomond 286 Thy Kingdom Come 24 Thy Will Be Done 302 Xll. Page Time is Fleeting 149 To Do the Right 279 Tricks of the Trade 155 Toowoomba Ranges 232 True Worship 141 Ullswater Lake 170 Waiting for the Morning 276 Wandering Jew 26$ Watch in the Ranges 235 Wattle 175 Wedding Bouquet 157 What Constitutes a Christian? 258 What is Creature Life? 271 What is Death? 204 What is Life? 189 What is Man? 294 What Think Ye of the Christ? 84 Wickedness Abounds 9 With All Thy Get tings, Get Wisdom 201 Woman 25- Woman's Evolution 91 FOOTSTEPS OF THE MESSIAH. When on earth Messiah walked, Diviner footsteps trod; As Man with men Christ lived and talked, He manifested God. A star of glory flashed the sight, A very heaven appeared; A radiancy of softest light, Wherever Jesus neared. EVENSONG. Hark, the trees are whispering, Softly wafts the quivering air, Sweetest notes the birdies sing, As they breathe their evening prayer. Nature evermore is glad, Drooping, tiring eyelids close, To the joyful and the sad, Uttering a kind repose. Woodbines and carnations meet, Harmonies divinely blest, And the floral perfumes sweet, Lullaby to peaceful rest. How the roses carry scent, And the modest violets creep Into happiest content, As they drop their heads to sleep. Suddenly the woods are still, To the golden sunset's charm, And the shadows falling, fill Eventide with holy calm. So the song of day and night Must in service ended cease When the dawn of golden light Wakens to eternal peace. THE WIDOW'S SON. He touched the bier, and the dead man lived In the energy Divine; For the resurrection from the dead, From the Living Sun did shine. The widow's son into life arose, As the Victor vanished all His foes. He touched the bier, and the Son of God, In His human temple willed, So His inspirations gave new life, And the dead awoke refilled. As God in man, the Human Brother, Gave her son to the widowed mother. He touches the bier, as the angels bear His saints in grace from earth away, And the hosts above in songs of love Announce the everlasting day. For mortals thus who so touch His breast Know immortality impressed. HOW TO THINK. Catch the lines of light, Crystallise the beams, Bid them in their flight Energise your themes. Get the sunshine glow Into every thought, Till the diamonds show Inspirations caught. These in truth adorn; All who seek may find, Higher glory born, Spirit, heart, and mind. THE SONG OF THE OCEAN. What are the songs of the ocean to me? What Uie emotions that swell from the sea? Sunshine or storm, everlastingly blessed, Mighty the pulses that tremor the breast, Lashing the billows and troughing the def j, Never a moment to slumber or sleep; Millions of creatures acknowledge Thy eare, Ozone the breezes abundantly share, Wondrous the caverns and gardens that be, Peaceful and still in thy custody free. LOVING THE CHILDREN. Jesus loves the little lambs, As He folds them to His breast; When they're tired, when they're weary, Gives them rest. Tenderly His message says, "Suffer them to come to Me"; And to-day He calls the children, His to be. Jesus never yet refused To receive a little child, For He loveth little children, Meek and mild. Do you feel your weight of sin? Little one, He died for you, And this moment waits to pardon Even you. You have only got to ask, Precious pardon to receive; As your faith upon Him resteth, Now believe. 4 MY FIRST SPORTING TOUR. The snow was on the ground a white, white world, King Frost had braced the air, his flag unfurled; The farmer pointed out a hedge thick set, Proposing that a hare might there be met; He handed me a double-barrel gun, And bade me bag the hare when it might run. I smiled, but viewed the matter as a joke, Essayed to follow out the course he spoke; A few feet on ahead, he beat the bush, When suddenly in front a hare made rush; My nerves unstrung, I never aimed, but fired, The hare the faster ran, through noise inspired; I felt I was a fool, so steadying the gun, I took my aim; and saw it faster run. The farmer scolded hard, to load again, We followed on the track as sporting men; My nerves I sought to calm; the timorous brave, My reputation gone, I wished to save. We traced the track the shot had marked a passage o'er, So hope arose more buoyant than before; Protesting wildly, I confessed my sin, But vowed the second shot was aimed to win. We hastened on, but quickened up to find The hare had dropped some dripping blood behind; Still further on, we noticed tufts of fur, Which made the circulating blood more quickly stir; Across two fields we choicely picked our way, And at the corner of the third the dead hare lay. 5 THE EMBODIMENT OF LOVE. The greatest unctions of the universe are life, and light, and love, The three in one are powers of one, the heavens and earth to move, The majesty and glory of the One Almighty Sovereign Lord, The revelation of the Son, the one begotten Son of God. Impelling throbs each moment thrill the each receiving human heart, The Great First Cause, the One Divine reveals, to compass every part; The Shining Sun, the Deity gives light waves which in mercy roll, The life creative energies, the love bond unctions of the soul. THE MAN DIVINE. Is Jesus Christ the Man Divine? None ever spake as He; His wisdom everywhere doth shine, A spotless purity. The Deity Himself reveals, As God in grace His mercy seals. The Manifested Christ declares The Sun of Righteousness, Beneficence of love He bears, A dying world to bless. Mortality He holds in strife, To gain for man eternal life. His kingdom ruleth over all, The world to Him must bow; Those who in grace before Him fall Receive His pardon now. His triumph all our thought transcends, His kingdom never, never ends. ONLY THEE. Saviour, Thou art all my hope, Sunshine of my rising morn, Full of sin, I cannot cope With the ills of nature born. Henceforth, all my song shall be, Only Thee, Lord, only Thee Only Thee. Thou, the Christ, the Sun Divine, Star and angel of the Lord, In Thy gracious mercy shine, All the glory of Thy Word. Manifest Thyself to me, Only Thee, Lord, only Thee Only Thee. Manifest, Thou Shining Sun, Light and life within my heart, Love, my heaven, has begun, Bid me know the better part. Grant me evermore to see, Only Thee, Lord, only Thee Only Thee. When sad trials round me play, Sorrows overwhelm my soul, Turn my darkness into day, As the clouds their thunders roll, Bid the wrath before Thee flee, Only Thee, Lord, only Thee Only Thee. When in struggles into life, Years oppress and eyes grow dim, As in frail and mortal strife I in death Thy praises hymn, Fill my soul's triumphant plea, Only Thee, Lord, only Thee. Only Thee. GLGRY, GLORY, GLORY. Glory, glory, glory, is the lawful right Of the One Eternal Father Infinite; Everlasting songs of glory angels raise, As the million million saints His goodness praise. Glory, glory, glory, Holy Trinity, Only One, but Ministries of service Three: Glorious works of Thine, Thy witnesses acclaim, Energies of glory laud Thy Holy Name. Glory, glory, glory, from the heavens above, Justice ministers infinitude of love; All Thy Sovereignty in everlasting lines, In a gorgeous universe of blessings shines. Glory, glory, glory, dying man redeemed, Manifests God's wondrous love in wisdom schemed; Sons of men in Christ the Lord His glories sing, As their choruses of praise the angels bring. Glory, glory, glory, how can creature tongues Lisp the inspirations from these mortal lungs? 'Tis the preparation day succeedeth night, When we'll learn to praise Him in immortal light. Glory, glory, glory, all the universe Shall in consummation all God's praise rehearse; Glory to the Paschal Lamb in mystery slain, Glory, glory, to our God who lives again. HUMAN GOODNESS. Our goodness is a mist That rises into cloud; For, struggle as we whist, Our glory is a shroud Until the Living Light Divine Its goodness on our darkness shine. A SKY PHENOMENON. Within the line of the setting sun, And looking towards the west, A strange apparition had begun, Into Nature's shadows pressed. The dark'ning clouds were gathering forms That always herald the angry storms. The clouds were banking yet more and more, In pressure to overlap, Fresh waves continually rolling o'er, But the sun had laid a trap. To concentrate in a brighter light, A dazzling space to illumine night. As a mass of silver well refined, Of heterogeneous shape, Unlike unto anything defined, A jewel, in folded crape. The light that was shining upon the screen, A glory reflected, bright, serene. But soon the sun his good-night had said, And the light had passed away, The clouds had gathered overhead, Over-eager for the fray. The thunder rolled to the lightning's flash, To a lurid glare, and one awful crash. The firmament for a moment seemed As a vengeance missile burst; Returning thoughts the memory gleamed, That the worst had come to worst. Till the showers of rain in copious pour, Transfused their strength into Nature's store. ENGLISH FIELDS IN MAY. field of vernal green, Where lambs their gambols play, ''or brighter rays have been Distilling sunshine May; English spring beguiles waking flower smiles. T\e hawthorne hedges are all-enchanting sight, Thk flowers in clusters star, \heir petals, snowy white; Sonetimes a pink assume, Blufties on the bloom. The Cowslips, golden, fair, Th\ir blood-red dots distil, To s*nt the vernal air, Earth's happiness to fill; Whilefiere and there appear The onhid blooms to cheer. The lak is soaring high, To ptar out all its song, The briii h cerulean sky Transers the notes along; As Natun's glories sing The beaqies of the Spring. WICKEDNESS ABOUNDS. Immoral chao&all around Among the son of men is found; But still the Mttity Power moves; The Holy Spirittwisdom proves. Corruption eatsW ill away, While all the po\4rs of goodness stay; The spirit feels ft e healing balm, And ''mid the storl there reigns the calm. 10 SABBATH BELLS. Hark, the Sabbath chimes are pealing Harmonies of peace and love, As the soul's enchanted feeling Breathes the breath of heaven above. Worship sweet the temple filleth, With the love of Christ for men, As His proclamation willeth, Happiness in God again. EASTER HYMN. Jesus is dying. He stoopeth to conquer. See how they slay their Monarch and ling. Mighty He standeth alone in the servio, Godhood and Manhood the world's pe.'ce to bring; See where they nail Him, the Victim aid Victor, Yet not a murmur escapeth His lips Shrouded in darkness before His aba>ement, Sol from the zenith in tragedy dip. Meekly He beareth the terrible burdei, Patiently drinks the last dregs of the cup; Poureth the life-blood and sweat fron His forehead, Perfect the sacrifice He offers IT. Angels are waiting to crown Him with glory, Hell in the struggle in fury assals, Trembles the earth as the mountans are shaken, Heralds the thunder the love wiich prevails. Boweth His head giving halo of /lessing, Earth in its madness has crowrcd Him with thorns; But as He opens the portals of Bdes, Grown of bright glory the Monarch adorns, The veil of the temple asundr is parted, Herein the Victor alost wfld reclaims, Broken the wall of dividing fiHJtion; A chorus of joy the trium>h proclaims. 11 '"Tis finished," He crieth, and gives up the ghost; The battle is fought, the victory won; Hell's hosts are defeated, and Satan is crushed, The world is redeemed by the death of the Son. The stone and the seal, the soldiers affrighted, The cross and the tomb behind Him He leaves, The Sun in Ascension the Conqueror riseth, A jewel for each lost found one receives. 'Tis mystery all, let the angels adore, Wondrous the love through this highway which streams, Deeper than Sheol and higher than Heaven, Flooding the world with its life-giving beams. Then let us adore Him, Holy Redeemer, Bow down and worship the Lord of the skies; Sacrifice, offer ourselves in thanksgiving, In His cross to die, in His life to rise. THE STARLING. (In 1908, and again in 1909, a colony of starlings took possession of a cluster of trees in the town of Redruth, Cornwall.) The starlings congregating in their colonies, Have roosted in an ancient arbory of trees, Unconscious of intrusion in the quiet town, And careless of the citizen's assent or frown; The birds are twittering to greet the waking dawn, A grand corroboree to herald early morn; They chatter loudly, welcoming the coming day, And drinking in the early sun's inspiring ray. They coyly trim their plumes before the trial flight. Reflecting to the sunbeam's soft prismatic light; Their sentinels arrange for every bird a place; Their spheres of duty are allotted with a grace; Distributing for breakfast, all the birds disperse, Each one its daily duties wisely to disburse, Without anxiety or care, but blithe and free, To taste the fuller joys of perfect liberty. 12 THE FORGET-ME-NOTS. Shy forget-me-nots are floating In the eddy of the stream; Pink and purple sunbeams doting, To the blue that lovers dream. Watch the pretty florets peeping, 'Mid their leaves of shining green, As the red buds wake from sleeping, Into colorations seen. How they tremble to the ripples, Which the eddy wavelets swell; In an atmosphere of sunbeams, Joy and happiness to tell. How the glistening waters sparkle, While the leaves are damped with spray, As the blooms to heaven smiling, Speak the honours of the day. Wedding guests in groups arriving, Play upon the meadow slope, Where the eddies of the river Guard the pretty nuptial hope. Bride and bridegroom gladly welcome Here the holy nuptial knot, Wreathing lives of happy sunshine With the blue forget-me-not. THE DUAL RAINBOW. A glorious rainbow arched the skies, A song of love in love's delight; As deepening shadows in surprise, Extolled the glories of the sight. Beholders gazed in raptures sweet, The picture faded from the view; Why should such rainbow mortals greet? Then bid the raptured world adieu. 13 THE RUINS OF POMPEII AND HERCULANEUNI. Pompeii, Herculaneum of old, How are the records of thy baseness told? As burning ashes suddenly descend, The evil of the city life to end, Or molten lavas flow in sheets of flame, To hide for centuries thy moral shame. Here antique sculpture's were a perfect art, The clay conceptions, gave the bronze their part; The hollow, empty core stamped the design, In touch so delicate, exceeding fine. But this artistic wisdom has forgot To bless the modern world, that knows it not. The fresco paintings on Pompeian walls Were rough and crude to coarseness that appals, Conception of perceptive but a strife, A loss of all the symmetries of life; The soul debased, no pleasing beauty seen, No fascinating art thrown on the screen. What marbles can with ancient art compare, The statues of the Greeks and Romans rare? Colossal pillars in Pompeii found, In mansions which in luxuries abound; The wealth displayed in patronising pride, As slaves in soul and body were belied. Vesuvius from her cauldrons far below Caused molten ash and lava streams to flow; The cities, with their glories all assumed, Were suddenly imprisoned and entombed; The cities doomed, each future age to tell, The dire corruption of demoniac hell. When statuary, in baseness of desire, Became the brutal lust to sacred lyre, A discord of the holy harmonies, A hurricane of boiling, raging seas; Tornadoes violent swept the human soul, As furnace fires, extinguishing the whole. . 14 O'erwhelmed in suddenly embedded tomb, In deeper sleep too deep to e'er resume When prison doors were opened, life had fled; The works of man remain, the workers dead. An awful silence creepeth on the air, For night has darkened cities once so fair. The bread in ovens baking felt the breath, And, as a cinder, dried in sudden death; The heated furnaces round wood-lit fires Destroyed the meats of flesh pots of desires; The tables, chairs, but empty and unused; The bedroom ware and kitchen ware but rused. The chariot wheels on streets their marks have left; The drinking fountains but of streams bereft; The oil jars in the shops of merchandise, Perfumes and ointments, vases and supplies; The altars of their many worshipped gods, Which could not save, became divining rods. The eggs preserved were only freshly laid; The lovely grapes in bunches were displayed; The wheat and flour for service of the cook; The walnuts and the almond nuts that look Inviting to the guests; the robes they wore, Condemned to be as dust for evermore. A dog upon its back, legs in the air, Describes the horror falling everywhere; The men are crouching to the fierce alarms. And women clasp each other in their arms. A moment's pang! the heaving mass is tossed, For centuries to human knowledge lost. Why, Italy, do still thy glories fade Amid the sunshine blue of heaven laid? Idolatries thy fairy country curse; A selfish priesthood human slaves disburse. God, grant fair land; in mercy grant to thee Religious freedom Christ's own liberty! 15 THE BUBBLE ON THE RIVER. Man is as a bubble on the river's brim, Dancing to the smiling sun and tide; But a sudden current overtaketh him, Scattering his glory far and wide. Lord of the creation, greatest trust of Earth, Reason holdeth him as God endowed; From evolving atoms coming into birth, To thy sovereignty the heavens bowed. Universe, assembled, rolls its mighty train, Gives its services unceasingly, Evermore evolving every loss and gain, Casting at thy feet the ministry. Man, although a bubble on the river's brim, Holds a priceless something seen afar; When the bubble bursts it is the soul of him, Living evermore the shining star. RAINBOW: ROCKLEA, APRIL 12, 1904. Beautiful bow-bespangled light, Arching the gloom of threatened night; Spanning horizon's bright blue sky, Over the cloudy belt on high. Glimmers of sunshine still appear, Spanning a mistful, blinding tear; Vapour mid the sunshine gleams Azure blue in whitened beams. Slowly the cloud films downward creep, Cover the rainbow as they sweep; Hiding the arch 'neath belts of grey Only the spans allowed to stay. Scattering force disperses strength, Thinning the cloud mass, till at length Strips of the blue and mist lines play, Lost at length in a showery day. 10 THE SUEZ CANAL. Great waterway of Suez, where had been A channel of the sea in ages past, The triumph of the human mind so vast, Was arm in ancient days of ocean seen. How were the countless trillion atoms loosed. The army hosts of molecules to be? The grains of sand to fill this ancient sea Through myriad years unto this end produced. How trembled forth the earth in ancient days, Its mighty spasms mountains to upheave; In other places caverns to receive The shifting debris which the earthquakes raise T The heated winds in warlike fury blew, While sand-storms darkened forth the desert air, As mighty whirlwinds circled everywhere, And desert mounds of ammunition grew. How came the basin of the ocean deep To tilt the mountain chains a fraction higher; In agonies of the internal fire, The waters of the sea to backward sweep? Whence came the cravings for the Bitter Lakes, Refreshing draughts to bid the desert fold, The life-sustaining waters in its barren hold, Outlying wells where branching palm tree quakes? As age to age roiled on, the wild winds blew, The sand dust, in depression, sought repose; The ocean bed into a desert rose, And continents and islands bade adieu. De Lesseps came, the sands to bear away, To bid the separated oceans meet. The conqueror the grateful nations greet: Our thanks acclaim the new wrought waterway. 17 PHYSICAL LIFE AND DEATH. Daily dying, we are living, As the causes in us strive, Death to life the pulses giving: So the soul is kept alive, Till, in flutter of decay, Body life dissolves away. So the spirit soul is dying; But the Christ new life supplies In the midst of all our sighing, Bidding the new man arise, Through the fellowship of love, To the fellowship above. Mystery above the dying Is the life that Jesus gives, New-born soul to man supplying That which through the ages lives In the plentitude of giving, To immortal fulness living. COURTSHIP AT SEA. The little man on business bent; The widow's ear to flattery lent: A funny sight it was to see These elders courting on the sea. Six monuments of youthful strength Ask for the father's thoughts at length; These pillars strong surround the dad, To wean him of this latest fad. The mountain tor stands out serene, And bids the widow be his queen. A WEDDING! Yes, neath fairer skies, Where vaunted courage takes the prize. 18 SUNSET: SOUTH CEYLON, MARCH 13, 1910. We watched the setting sun Flash silver river on the ocean breast Bespangled carmine and cerise While rays upon the smiling waters rest A cherry red of fascinating hue, As films of light the energies renew. The bridegroom sun descends To the horizon line, his bride to kiss; He floods with light the smiling sea, The lips contracting to increase the bliss. A silver river in its glory shone, As narrow stream with blushes lingering on. The plum-shade prisms dance In partnership with light to turquoise green; A cloud exceeding white doth shine, Caught up to flash the glory of the scene. The sunset dips a majesty of light, And, with the good-night kisses, drops the night. SPIRITUAL AND MATERIAL ENERGY. Substance is dense, or rarer energy endowed; Matter or spirit trilling to vibrations bowed. Each in its own specific order wrought; Each in its own allotted measure fraught; Each cosmos particle specific to declare, In law and order its entrusted place to share. The spirit substance is unseen to mortal eye, But spirit feels, and knows the tremors passing by, Matter to spirit is a lower shrine, In law of physics spirit to define; It is the cleansing stage dropped from the heavens above, To manifest to universe God's cleansing love. 19 We call the spirit energies by flesh unseen, The mystic which to ruder gaze hath hidden been, Too sacred for the low and vulgar stare, But meeting each in secret chamber, where The Lord Almighty setteth up His regal throne, And man communes with God, within himself alone. Atoms unnumbered all the naming heavens span, Interpreting the heart of God to sinful man. As these expressions on the altar fall, The mystic symbols to the human call. Man bends the knee to bow before his Father's throne; God meets the man and breathes again, the son, His own. PRAISE AND SUPPLICATION. Eternal God, we praise Thy Name, Thy majesty adore; As through our inmost soul Thy Flame Its inspirations pour. Permit us in the Crucified, Thy cleansing power to know; And bid the fountain stream abide Which washes white as snow. From grace to grace our souls refine And nevermore depart; But into each the light-beams shine, The purity of heart. The fulness of Thy dying love We ask to understand; The moral law of heaven above, Our being to command. The flowing life stream from the throne, In plenteous grace inspire; Until Thou claim us for Thine own, Our uttermost desire. 20 THE SPIRIT OF MAN. What is this the human spirit, present but not seen, Filling all the mundane body since it first hath been, Till the body breaks asunder in death's darkest night, And, released from carnal bondage, passes into flight, Man's own spirit passing onward to its own estate, Waiting for the consummation body to await. What is spirit, never fashioned out of matter bole,. But created by the Highest in His pattern role? Spirit substance, spirit essence, organised to be In the Deity existent, and eternally. Mark a moment; mark this jewel wondrously endowed With the life of God to fashion all the being bowed, With possession of a mind, and with a mind to think, Drawn to God in holiness, yet into nothing sink. Before the Gracious Majesty and Presence of the- throne, God, the One Eternal One, the Infinite alone, In the image and the likeness of the Deity, Spirit ego has been made eternally to be. Man has self o'er-ruling spirit, freedom, liberty, Fashioned as a free-will agent, fashioned royally. Shall he give to God the service, in Him rising higher? Or, descending into self, his selfishness aspire? As the man employs his talents faithful for his Lord,. God will to the faithful servant render his reward. In his righteous work he liveth, and shall ever live, For the life flow from the Fountain higher life must give. But the selfish, self-descending loses life supply, Arid the empty, worthless servant criminal shall die. 21 THE KNOWLEDGE OF PARDON. The glorious Oblation bleeding for me, In God's own appointments mercy I see. My sins, as an avalanche, now overwhelm, So, helpless, I trust my Lord with the helm. My soul, in despair, in its agony cries, And Jesus, my Savious, bids me arise. I feel the new life in quickening flow, And pardon and peace assuredly know. My sentence of death: "Thou surely shall die," Fulfilment of justice is borne out on high; Fulfilment of love divine the decree A sweet-smelling savour riseth for me. The broken law gives the record of peace, Till death in its own destruction decease. My God is fulfilling the life blood flow, And perfect atonement in Jesus I know. Dispensation of grace a new life begins, As God's Moral Law obedience wins. The joys of the morning ravish my soul, As sunbeams of happiness warble the whole. Rebellion ceases, the spirit aspires, As life everlasting kindles the fires; The streams of salvation in mercy that flow Till life eternal, immortal, we know. LOVE'S MOTOR POWER. Fruits of love by grace maturing, Help this helpless world along; For a cup of sparkling water Sparkles as a swelling song, When in Jesus' Name is given, Incense flame of rising love; Leaping into highest heaven Treasure in the home above. 22 THE FOG HORN: Mediterranean Sea, February 21, 1910. We leave the ancient Rock, Gibraltar, famed of old; The moon and stars are shining clear, the night is cold. But suddenly the Mediterranean bosom sighs: The sorrows of the past a time for grief, ye mourners rise. The wind becalms; a darkening mist cloud slowly spreads; An Eastern fog for weeping eyes in circuit treads. The engines lower down; the vessel slowly goes; Each minute for a sixth thereof the fog-horn blows. The dismal sound, the screeching wail of muffled drum, To passengers in anxious thought the word is mum. The engineers, to put to sleep and lullaby, The cradle rock, and seek to hush the tearsome cry. The ocean satisfied, appeased, the fogs disperse: A troubled hour, a loss of time, but nothing worse. THE RESURRECTION. The Sun is shining everywhere, Illumining the skies; His firmament's cerulean care Gives eyesight to our eyes. Rejoice, ye people of the earth, And bring your noblest praise To Him Who gave your spirit birth, Your hearts and voices raise. Triumphantly Christ rose again, First fruits of them that sleep; And now death's struggles all are vain, The weakest babe to keep. He rises, higher to ascend, The Conqueror Divine, Until His victories transcend The earth, a heaven to shine. 23 The grave was opened by His might, The stone was rolled away; The angels, heralding the light, Proclaimed the gospel day. The heathen guards were terrorised, And, helpless in their fear, Their vaunted courage paralysed, For death was very near. Our bonds of death are now as dust, Imprisoned in His tomb, To disappear in holy trust, With all their hopeless gloom. The resurrection from the dead Already has begun; The light of life is freely shed By the Immortal Sun. Life's currents are an ocean free; Come unto Him, and rise To blissful immortality, Eternal in the skies. Attune your being all, and sing, And ever praise and pray; Yourselves to God an offering bring On this glad Easter day. PLACES IN HEAVEN. Do you want a high position In the heaven of heavens above? You may surely now obtain it, By preponderance of love. Let your love from off the altar, In adoring worship rise, From the cross of Jesus only Offering the sacrifice. 24 THY KINGDOM COME. Thy kingdom come; Thy children sing As in Thy heaven, so on earth; The floods of holiness which bring The travail of eternal birth; The universe again to be Immortal, Holy One, in Thee! Thy kingdom come, all Nature cries, The cosmos groaneth in the strife; Thy praises, shall unceasing rise Till death is swallowed up of life; Eternally, my God, to be In oneness all in all in Thee. Thy kingdom come; the human race Is in the thickest of the fight; Redeemed by Thy almighty grace Each soul shines forth Thy given light; While millions to destruction move, Thy children all Thy goodness prove. Thy kingdom come; let everyone In faith obey the battle call, And putting heavenly armour on, In fighting rank obedient all; To lift the world to heaven above, By wonders of redeeming love. Thy kingdom come: all foes must fly, Thy enemies shall be destroyed; Apollyon's kingdom surely die, All evil rendered null and void; Almighty God, Thy reign shall be The glory of eternity. 25 WOMAN. She stands, in the van with her brother man, Her feet on the ladder of Time; Her thoughts all aglow with the rhythm, and flow, And the knowledge of things sublime. The courage to dare, and the strength to forbear Are hers a twofold grace; And e'en through her tears she will smile at the fears That threaten the Adam race. She has written her name on the turret of fame, Where it gleams like a star from above; And as mother and wife she has perilled her life To girdle the earth with her love. She tenderly bears, 'mid her toil and her cares, The hope of a nation's heart; And rears 'neath the dome of the temple called Home, A shrine from the world apart. Out of the past she has issued at last, Born of deep travail and pain; A help-meet for man (for she stands in the van), Her guerdon humanity's gain. MATRIMONY. Let the girl be good and clever, Then true love may love for ever; Let the maid be pretty, vain, Then the man but courts for gain, For when selfishness abounds, There corrupting death confounds; But let life be self-denying, Then the love will be undying. 26 HALLELUJAH! REJOICE! Hallelujah! rejoice! salvation is free, My death is atoned by Jesus for me; No more can I doubt it, the brief is prepared, My pardon and peace in Christ are declared; His Spirit is pleading my faith to believe, Entreating and urging me life to receive. Hallelujah! rejoice! life's fountain doth pour, I have to receive to add to my store; Then why should I linger, or carelessly sleep, My tattered old grave clothes foolishly keep? The conscience is speaking, and bids me awake, Forgetting my mourning, sin to forsake. Hallelujah! rejoice! provisions of grace, Sufficient suffice my pathway to trace; For Bethlehem's manger and Calvary's cross Are filling with life this emptying dross. I lay on the Altar my weakness and shame, For fullest salvation in Jesus' Nam*-.. Hallelujah! rejoice! He bids me to grow, A saint in His life till whiter than snow; In the Christ-given rays He bids me adorn, To shine upon earth, the heavenly morn. Rejoice! Hallelujah! accepting His grace, And shining His likeness, seeing His face. PRIDE. Thou pride, most ugly mons-ter, demonly conceived, Self-worship of the creature as eternal one; As uncreated being taking life from none, A vast infinitude of sapient strength believed. Thy prudish morals are put forth continuously, As evil demonstrations to the Moral Law; Thy wisdom is disease, thy foolishness to draw, The adulations of the crowd that worship tnee. 27 Thou art diseased; corruption lurketh in thy veins, Thy constitution breaketh in the dire decay, Disrupting all its atoms swift to pass away, But in disrupting manifesting evil stains. Pride is the fire of hell, refusing to be quenched, Dissolving energies to form the brimstone sea; The worm that dieth not till death no longer be; In judgment day the proud one in disruption wrenched. All pride must disappear, its vanity consumed, Its lies exposed, its emptiness is naked, bare; A cistern broken, ground to dust, and found no- where In hidden unknown grave its emptinesses doomed. Eternity, when meted Time shall cease to be, Duration purged from pride the universe shall fill, The present holiness of God, the universal will, Eternal Revelation of the Deity. THE VIOLETS. In the sward of the old hedge row, When the winter awakes from sleep, There the beautiful violets grow, And the rich coloured blossoms peep, To smile to the rising sun, A silence of love begun. With modesty wisely displayed, In shades violet, purple, and blue, With all their white sisters arrayed So prettily, lovely, and true; Through sunshine, or cloud, or rain, Their sweetness is not in vain. 28 Such a true and a faithful friend, Interesting, pleasant, and sweet, In our gardens as we attend, With a welcome daily to greet; To soothe our every care, With a fragrance everywhere. DUNBAR, 1910. (THOMAS P. LUCAS: Born at Dunbar, Scotland, July 29, 1843.) Dunbar, the trysting ground of battles very sore, Commingled blood, the English and the Scotchmen pour; A rushing torrent stream for cleansing human gore. What madness did inflame Each nation's rising name? Bloodthirsty fame. Dunbar the cleansing ground, Where battles waged around, One brotherhood to found. A village, in the trysting days of long ago, \Vith shallow bay in guardianship, and to bestow The rich supplies of fish which fishermen would know. Alas,, the trawlers came And swept away the same, A selfish game. A shore of rock-girt pools, With seaweeds for the schools, Where bounteous Nature rules. I visited the home, the house where I was born; Up ladder-way that led to room above forlorn, Which looked out on the bay, ere 'twas of gJory shorn. A post-card pictures it 29 The painter's choicest bit, Where business tourists flit. I studied Cromwell's views, The Wallace and the Bruce, The fury storms let loose. To-day, alas, alas, the village is a town, The rustic disappeared beneath the rich man's frown, With fashion rushing wild to fetch the golfers down! The Scotch they could not tame, Until the women came To run the game. To-day the Scotch have spread, The selfish clanship's dead, The world to bless and wed. JESUS ONLY. Jesus only, saints and angels all must disappear; Sinners need an only Saviour, guilt and death to clear; As the sighings. of confession and the scalding tear, Ask alone one Mediator, Jesus only near. Jesus only is the High Priest who can urge my plea, In His own atoning passion, love and sympathy, Offer up a full oblation, life's stream flowing free, All my righteousness, and truth; Jesus saveth me. Jesus only in His manhood gives each man a place, As the Holy Human Temple shines the Father's face; From this Fount a stream is flooding all the human race, Those who know Him, Jesus only, learn God's wondrous grace. 30 THE BRISBANE EXHIBITION ORGAN. 'Tis the volume of the air, Energised commotions rare; Grandest rhythms ever found In the harmonies of sound. How the movements subtly trill, As the wave vibrations fill Pipes and tubes, the large and small On the soul the accents fall. Bursts the thunder roar to roll, 'Bedient to the master's soul. Lis-ten to the far away, What the whispers faintly say; How the soft cadences flee In entrancing symphony, As the ether from above Breatheth climaxes of love. Hush! the organ seemeth still, Momentarily, to fill With an outburst of desire, Breaking forth impassioned fire. Soul with soul in song communes, And the universe attunes; As the worshipper ascends, God in music condescends. How doth man herein combine Both the human and divine Melodies of choicest strain, Harmonies with sweet refrain. 'Tis the syllabus of peace, Joys to evermore increase; Lifting men to heaven again, There immortally to reign. 31 THE MYSTERY OF PAIN. Humanity is asking thinkers to explain To all the world, the mystery of pain. Wherefore the agony of suffering and fears, In paroxysms wrought relieved by tears. What are the causes that beget our sobs and sighs, As physical and mental sufferings arise? Why must the wise ones weep? the good and noble grieve? The sweat drops pour to first conceive The labour gathered wealth we would accumulate, The riches and the burden of estate? Why play our joys, and sorrows, in continuous strife, This frail mortality our years of life; The glories of the men who to the front proceed, The sufferings their dying life-drops bleed. But what is pain? Each wave in universal swell That beats from God's own heart His love to tell; The pangs that tremble from the throne in Heaven above, Repeat the spasms of His wondrous love. The life stream flow in kindling passion to receive The death drops, their destruction to achieve. The universe to utmost bound the passion feels, And 'fore the Majesty all Nature kneels. The brute creations faint away, and droop, and die; And vegetation fades, without a sigh; The creatures suffer pain, but only in degree, As consciousness provides the remedy. Their pain a minimum is swamped by nervous fear, And life than loss of limbs is held more dear, All human pain to intellect appeals: And wisdom's knowledge gives, the balm that heai<3, The nerve sensations point to placement of disease; And thinking man from pain can give release. Whence cometh pain? Its beating puls-es all reply: Because the Moral Evil-doers had to die: 32 All moral ills dire darkness and disease create. The worm that dieth not: nor fires abate. All suffering and pain are but degrees of death, The shadows passing o'er the vital breath: The service is the cleansing of the universe, Which all degrees of travail thus rehearse, The blackness of corruption deepening within: The leprosy malaria of wilful sin. The moral violence cast its shadows to the throne, Beneath the darkness God remained alone. Objective suffering, the guilty creature dies: Subjective suffering is sacrifice. God suffers pain; the wondrous ocean of His love Is more immense than evil clouds that move. He gave His only Son, from earth's foundation slain: To cleanse the universe from death by pain. The Fountain of His love becomes the melting flame, And the oblation purges all the shame. The Sacrificial life consumes the dross away, And living Sunlight shines the perfect day. Upon the Burning Altar God's own offering pleads, And on His Father's heart His life-blood bleeds, And as the Sacrifice atones the storm-clouds rift, And from the universe all death must lift. But all He suffers finite mind can never tell: As ocean of His love, unsearchable. The Human Race, of spirit, mould, and lofty mind Perceives the nerve sensations, pain defined: As warnings speak to Reason's cult the healing skill, The means provided Nature's work fulfil. But greatest suffering obtains from deeper cause, Than twinge of pain set up in Nature's laws; Where moral conscience feels the guilty stain, The mind is wrapped in agonising pain. 'Tis then the still small voice proclaims salvation's scheme: The washing of the guilt in Calvary's stream, It takes away the pain, a certain remedy, And heals disease by moral purity. 33 LOVE. Love reveals God's unctions swelling, Waves that circle everywhere; All the revelations telling, Pulses of the Father's care. Each succeeding swelling wave Testifies God's power to save. Love exceeds the power of language, Words can never gauge the glow, Suns and oceans cannot compass All the joys of love that flow. Far beyond the bounds of speech, Utmost limits love can reach. Pity thrills the heart pulsations, Life alone engenders love; Inspirations fill the vessel, And the s.weet vibrations move. Dews the waiting soul beguile To receive the Father's smile. Love the spirit life stream pouring, Unctions every shining star; While the rising incense soaring, Trembles into heaven far. As the Spirit draweth nigher, Bursting into flames of fire. Love flames forth the Spirit ether, As, the rays their placements shine; Glory of the Living Breather, God's own pattern to define. Rainbow splendours to enhance, As the prism'd sunbeams dance. 34 THE PARTING. Hush, the parting of the ways, Sacred is the silent grief; But the plaintive, mournful lays, Uttering without relief! Do they herald broken heart? Friends beloved, aye, must part. One last parting comes to all, Spanning utmost space; Every creature, great and small, Parteth in this race. Shall your own re-meeting be Darkness or felicity? BEAUTIFUL AUSTRAL: THE ISLE OF THE SEA. Beautiful Austral, the Isle of the Sea, Nature profusely is smiling on thee; Riseth the sun in an ever-blue sky, Fairies rehearsing the sweet bye and bye. Listen! the angels are wafting their wings. As the creation the glory song sings; Wavelets of music the stanzas, repeat, Whisper the echoes, to joyously greet Beautiful Austral, the Isle of the Sea: Home of the free. Italy shineth Adonis, the blue, Austral, a brighter cerulean hue; Fresher and whiter the orange trees bloom, Fragrant the odour, more subtle perfume. Muses are chanting their melodies rare, Harmonies., happiness, filling the air; Richer the colours, and sweeter the flowers, Nearer to Eden, Australia's bowers; Beautiful Austral, the Isle of the Sea, Home of the free. 35 RESURRECTION OF A CATERPILLAR INTO A BUTTERFLY. The gorgeous butterfly, That rises from the tomb, Expands its wings in colours bright, To glance the sunbeam's prism'd light, The sun had touched the bloom. The Deity the Sun Declares the Christ Divine, Descends to fill us full of light, In oneness with the Infinite, Eternally to shine. Touched by the Christ, we rise, Our heritage to gain, In copious flow the life stream pours, And to the throne the spirit soars, Its mansion to obtain. THE GOLDEN BUTTERCUPS. The buttercups with golden glow Exhibited a floral show; With foliage of darkest green, As buttercups are always seen. The sunshine caught the petals bright, And kissed the trills of richer light, As burning brass the florets shone, Till sight was dazzled gazing on. The morning breathings scarcely seemed The lovely buttercups to fan; So peacefully the sun rays gleamed, As on and off the wavelets ran. The buttercups to beauty born, The woods and meadows both adorn; While children's laughter as they play, Reflects the glory of the day. 36 THIRSTING FOR LIFE. Give me life, in floods so boundless, For it is Thy grace to give; All my death in Christ consuming, For Thy praise alone to live. From Thyself the stream receiving, In a ceaseless overflow; All my moral being filling, More and more of God to know. Give me life, Thy child creating, In Thy likeness bid me shine; On the Altar always burning, From the dross the gold refine. As Thy love the life stream flameth, Light my star, Thou Sun of Light, Lot me understand Thy glory, In the mercy infinite. Give me life, alone the Giver, Infinite, abundant, free; Seven times in Jordan washing, Till I lose my leprosy. Holy, righteous, loving Jesus, Still for me Thy passion plead; Thou Who knoweth all my weakness. All my cause to intercede. Give me life, Thy gracious Presence, Holy Spirit, Comforter, Minister my soul's salvation, All my depths of being stir. All my cells the flow pulsating, Victor in the carnal strife; Every moment on me breathing. Bid me breathe the breath of life. 37 PALM SUNDAY. They gathered the branches of palm*, And carpeted the ground; Hosannahs, and sonnets, and psalms, In joyousness abound. They worship the King of Kings, For glory to earth He brings. They are praising the Paschal Lamb, The Blessed of the Lord; The Temple of the I Am, The Everlasting Word. So their hallelujahs rise, To cleave the opening skies. Jesus Christ is His glorious name, The woman's promised seed; Earth's millions to reclaim, And fill all human need. As from death He lives again, The Immanuel with men. As rising hosannahs and psalms, For evermore proclaim, We learn His wonderful charms, The sweetness of His Name. The song of the King of Kings, As heaven His, glory sings. To-day in Paradise above, Bright palms the ransomed bear; Their harpers acclaim His love, His glory everywhere. As they worship and adore, Love is unctioned evermore. 38 THE NIGHT STORM, January 13, 1914. The perspiration oozed, the air was hot arid dry ; It seemed as if to breathe was but to slowly die; The vegetation drooped, the flowers hung down thair heads, The heat and drought had bared the well-kept garden beds. When past the midnight hour a cannonade arose, A struggle in the firmament of friends and foes; The rain descended, fast propelled, diluvial sheets, As Nature's forces handled armies with her fleets, The terrors of the storm, the fury of the blast, The music of the drenching rains, as stanzas passed, The broadsides trembled, forward vivid lightning flames, Non-intermitting fires in pyrotechnic games. Artillery gave louder peals, as if to cease no more, Explosive imminence attending thunder roar. United winds and waters in conjunction sighed, As deluge hurled, against authority defied. A hurricane of power, with tornado gush, As energies of Nature loosened onward rush; Uprising every moment in intensity, As the mighty ocean waves play on an angered sea, To throw the thunderbolts of Nature on the earth, Where fire and water missiles prove their driving worth. The storm eased off; to distant parts the warring forces hied; An under-current air arose, a cold refreshing tide; The storm in forty minutes all had passed away, As giant monster when it finishes a play; Panting, groaning, sighing, and to regain its breath, Forgetful of its mission, struggling life and death; The lightnings stopped, the thunders stay, the call- ings cease, The atmosphere again is, calmed to perfect peace. 30 PEACE PROCLAIMED. Pretoria, 31st May, 1902. Peace, gentle peace, Thine inspirations from the heavens ring, And armies feel the touch of angel's wing, To stay the slaughter, and to cease the strife, The shedding human blood and human life, Oh, bid us give Thee thanks, Thou Prince of Peace. Peace, glorious peace, That ins.pirates humanity along, As Boers and British join their hands in song; The British colonies beyond the sea, Fair England's daughters, gladly welcome thee; Abide to liberty, benignant peace. Peace, sovereign peace, The bond that rnaketh wars and carnage cease; Its fulnesses with blessings to increase; Its wisdom nurtures knowledge into birth, The wondrous balm that heavenises earth; We give thee greetings, sweet celestial peace. Peace, restful peace, Thy vernal zephyrs, as they softly blow, To mercy's whispers, add their gentle glow, A wealth of kindnesses to evidence, An Empire kingdom's true beneficence. Oh, welcome, doubly welcome, blessed peace. Peace, holy peace, When 'neath thy canopy the nations dwell, The peoples feel and know the magic spell; Commerce and art in widening channels flow, And science must increasing knowledge show; We hail prosperity, the breath of peace. Peace, golden peace, O'er Bethlehem's plains the angels, sang, And round the earth the chorus echoes rang, Peace and goodwill immortalled into birth, To all the sons of men upon the earth; Oh, Saviour, Prince of Peace, grant us Thy peace. 40 GOD'S MESSAGE TO MANKIND. Softest music etealeth over, Through the silence of the spheres; Love-strains, voicing in the stillness, All the eloquence of tears. 'Tis God's armies surely calling, God's own message o'er us falling. Sleeper, listen, as He calleth, Notes of music, holy, true; Million, million voices singing, Speaks the universe to you. Holy, holy, holy voices, Universe in God rejoices. Waken, listen to the summons, As the stars His message bear; And the nebula surrounding, Words of tendernesses share. Breath of love in whispers stealing, Bringing manhood's deeper feeling. Over earth the sweet songs linger, Gladdening the woodland vale, With a freshness from the mountains, For earth's kingdoms to inhale. Songs and melodies advancing, Beautiful and soul-entrancing. What are all these voices saying? Listen to their Maker's call; Men and women, we are praying, God is asking for you all. Whispering the old, old story, God requires you for His glory. 41 SORROW FOR A LOST ONE. Lost to home, and lost to lovers, Lost to purity of love; Gracious gifts of God rejecting, Wis,er than the One above. Obstinate in creed and pride, Setting God's true work aside. Taught to wrest the sacred Scriptures, As the fiends would have her do; Holy morals contradicting, Evil dogmas to pursue. Gifts and blessings of her birth, To be buried in the earth. Holy Spirit, guide our actions, To Thy will our hearts inspire; Learning daily by obedience, Flaming in the living fire. Blessings on the world to pour, In Thy mercies evermore. Jesus, Master, show Thy mercy, In Thy love we ask for all; Gracious Christ and Mediator, By Thy cross we lowly fall. Let our works for service be, Praising God in praising Thee. Holy Father, bid Thy children, Hasten forth Thy kingdom here; Till the fulness of Thy heaven, On the earth in floods appear. Time is passing, bid us work, Ne'er again to duties shirk. 42 FROM CENTRE TO CIRCUMFERENCE. From the great and mighty centre Of the universe, Beats the Father's heart pulsations, Bless-ings to rehearse. Glorious affinity, Mercy full and free. Holiness is all abounding, Holiness of heart; God's own life vibrations thrilling Into every part. God's own love commands the whole Of the living soul. Rise, my soul, the joys of living, Greater joys invite; Soar in faith obedient, resting In the Infinite. To the great commune above. Holiness of love. REGENERATION. In the strivings of contrition, As the anguished seeker vows, God the Spirit seals the pardon, While the pleading sufferer bows. Jesus, our High Priest above Whispers God's eternal love. Oh, the happiness incarnate, All the rhapsodies of bliss, When His x love in justice shineth, Peace and righteousness mus,t kiss. Jesus makes His mercy mine, Stamping with the seal divine. 43 MORTALITY. Every thing on earth I see, Witnesses mortality; All the burden of the strife Is the struggle death and life; Breathes the life, respiring breath, Drops corruption into death. Flowers blossom soon to fade, Sunshine lingers into shade; In the blue transparent skies Vapours into clouds arise. O'er the splendour of the light Creeps the blackness of the night. Every thing is mortal here, Death and life in bonds appear; But the life stream of God's grace, Broad, majestic, flows apace. Into ocean broad and deep, Records of the past to keep. Yes, there is within the man, Spirit life, a spark, a span; Soul of soul, the spirit's soul, Essence of man's very whole; Life in suicide may die, Or may live eternally. A STANZA. Thousand voices calling, As on earth you roam; Sweet sonatas, falling, Whisper yonder home: Spirit soul arise, Enter Paradise. 44 HEART CONSECRATION. Holy God, in mercy give me, To submit myself to Thee, In a holy consecration, Heart and mind and soul to be; All my being sanctified, With my Saviour crucified. Saviour, Jesus, bid Thy passion Through my rising soul stream pour; Till illumined by the unction, As I worship and adore, In the wonders of Thy grace, I behold Thy shining face. Bid my actions manifesting, All the fruits of grace reveal; And in service of fruition, Bear the witness of the seal. Works of sacrifice and love, Breathings from the throne above. Pardon me for all my errors, The misdoings of the past; Save my mind from all dictation, Clouds of evil overcast. I would ask unsullied light, Mid-day sun expelling night. My Creator, my Redeemer, To the Infinite I bow; As I worship to obedience, Fully search and save me now. All my being to refine, In the radiancy Divine. 45 THE REWA RIVER, FIJI. We sailed along the Rewa stream, A picnic merry three; The pictured fancy of a dream, A river broad and free; The crystal waters clear and cold, Which fairy banks enfold. Our boat was double in its span, A native grand canoe; Each oar was pulled by Fiji man, While I advised the crew; My gun lay on the gunwale raft, Of famed Fijian craft. We sailed upon the placid face, Or hugged the rustic banks; Admiring Nature's light of grace, With praise and heart-felt thanks; The beauties of the earth and skies, In raptures, of surprise. We feasted on our biscuit fare, Bananas, mellow, sweet; And drank in draughts of balmy air, The ozone force to greet; The river waters quenching thirst, As Adam drank at first. At noon each day the woods are still, The golden pigeons rest; The harmonies their censers fill, To hold their silent quest; The crotons and the lilies strive For life that makes alive. The moss and club-moss drape the lawns, Where curious insects meet; Where pleasure round the seeker fawns, As marvels, marvels greet; The living glories all arrayed, In majesty displayed. 46 We visited fair Eden groves Of graceful fern-wreathed bowers, Where beauty in a freedom roves, Amid the tresselled flowers; The scented blooms that graced the trees, Their perfumes fanned the breeze. From six to six the sun delights To measure off the day; The rain- fall in the darkest nights, The mists of freedom play; Life here proclaims a living song, But moves too swift along. Here Nature passes as a dream, An Eden on the earth; The only evils, it would seem, Are those of human birth; The breathings of ambrosial dew, The canopy of heaven's blue. The beauty of the Rewa shines, As smiles the sun her silver fact- : Each beam a brighter grace defines. The joys of truth and grace; We ask, oh Lord, that earth might be As Rewa's river sea. MIRACLES. Miracles are mightiest deeds nf Almighty power, Not the Nature evolutions of a passing hour. But a mighty reconstructive healing of disease, Resurrection unto life which spirit fulness sees. Jesus was the Man Divine, who alone had power to place, In a life divinely unctioned, all these wonderments of grace; If with Him this grace we hear. We like unctioned life must *h;>t". 47 EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW. To the Name above every name, The universe shall bow; The heavens be a shining flame, A crown upon His brow. A glorious majesty of light, Eternal, infinite. As on the brilliant glassy sea, The saved creations gaze, Eternally the Lamb shall be The chorus of their praise; The triumph of the Deity, The Holy Trinity. To every human infant born Christ gives a living soul, The key to Resurrection's dawn, The charm to Heaven's goal. But who can name the priceless cost When human soul is lost! To the Name above every name The universe shall bow, And all rebellious ones in shame Their hopelessness shall vow. While millions of redeemed shall rise, His Kingdom in the skies. SUNSET, JULY 22, 1906. Vivid carmine, crimson red, Streaks of golden glory spread; Purple violet wavelets roll, Creeping o'er a shallow shoal, Till the yellow sands of gold Burn a flame of light untold, Rising into lurid fire, As the energies expire. 48 THE LOST LAUREATE. When from Laurentian fire-girt throes, The poet Archie Meston rose, To sing the lays of Waterloo, Or love songs to a sweet Lulu, Poetic lightnings seemed to flame Around the rising poet's fame. Amid the tors of Bellender, Where gaudy lyre birds seldom stir, Our king salutes his Queensland realm, If he could only take the helm, Australia would 'mid nations rise, To take the world's applaudit prize. Volcanic actions left behind, Their mighty tremors in his- mind, He breathes and unctioned rhythms shake, The tribal dignitaries quake; Why did he lose his first estate? He might have been our laureate. But list, he comes from heights afar, The sun descending, flames a star; As eagle from his- eyrie soars, And vision through abysses pours, So Meston after quiet sleep Again may fan the mighty deep. AN ITEM IN THE RESURRECTION, Can my body be immortal? Not until it be re-made; Death's corruption is the portal Hy the which the plague is stayed; Death through the Atonement carries Sin's atoning Sacrifice; For a time the eli-tansing tarries, Purging vanity and lies. 49 But and when the trumpet soundeth, All the dead the voice shall hear, As the Omnipresence boundeth, All the spirits shall appear; Those the Sun-star's light beams shining, Shall their bodies energise, Rising in God's own divining To their mansdons in the skies. Those who pass through hell corruptions. Totally corrupted fall, With the devil and his angels, In the fearful mystic thrall; Hark, their pleading intercessions, Rending, turn on them to mock, As they feel the wrath concussions, Death destroys by moral shock. CHRISTIANS, STAND STEDFAST. Bid all hindrances depart, Idols both of mind and heart, Let your manhood never pray To a clod of helpless clay; Never in priest's office dare, Other sinners' sins to share, Nor in ignorance unknown Worship either wood or stone. See your spirit life be filled, Light and love so freely willed, All your being to employ, To a certainty of joy; Upright both in heart and mind, All sufficient strength to find, Walking blameless with your Lord, To God's holiness restored. 50 THE ECLIPSE OF THE SUN. The moon, forsaken for the earth, Amid the solemn hush, Declared once more her royal birth: And, warming to his blush, Appealed a moment t<> the sun To give again the love once won. Her jealousy, so weird and cold, Asserted prior right, From earth's affections to withhold The sun's bewitching light. Once more she sought to make a scene, Forsaken love, the go-between. The earth, resenting the caprice, Had veiled her face with cloud; As if afraid Sol's love would cease When to the moon he bowed. Into his arms the lunule crept, But past her form his light beams swept. His smiles entranced the moon, and thei Transfused earth's mourning veil; Her misty tears, as diamonds, when Bright luminaries hail. Around earth's sadness glory sped, And 'mid her tears, coronas spread. The light beams, girdled round the moon, With prism'd splendour shone, Intensity, as sun at noon, Too bright to gaze upon; It scattered all earth's flowing tears, And bade defiance to her fears. A golden halo flamed around; And blushes stealing o'er, As messages the more profound, With light's increasing store. The lover's short estrangement past, Too weird and strange to last. 51 CLOSER TO GOD. Yet closer, Lord, to Thee, I hunger to be drawn, That I may every moment be Thine in the rising dawn. Arouse rny waking soul, Thy gracious light to shine; Increasingly to make me whole, As human and divine. The inspirations give, Thine image to impress, Until my happy soul shall live In perfect holiness. As morning glows to noon, The sun right overhead, My character in Chris.t attune, The light effulgence shed. That I may watch and pray, Inspire the Living Light, Rejoicing as advancing day Becomes exceeding bright. Without a cloud, reveal Thy manifesting grace, And bid Thy mercy seal The temple for Thy praise. And when at eventide The sun in crimson beams, The ripening fruit is tried, As opening heaven streams. My advent to the skies The promises proclaim; With Jesus I shall rise, The all-sufficient Name. 52 MAN'S SALVATION. Jesus, Thou alone the Way, Art the Truth and Life. Man Divine, to Thee we pray, Aid us in our strife: Bid Thy strength our compass be: One eternally with Thee. God beholding us,, we die: All in Adam lost: Christ, triumphant in the sky, Holds Himself our cost; Love and justice life to give, By His righteousness we live. Loosened from demoniac chains, Rescued from the deep: Life again an entrance gains, Waking us from sleep: Man's mortality appears, Life suffuseth death with tears. Fount of life, we ask of Thee Mercy's flowing grace: Till within the glassy sea We behold Thy face: God in Man 'he Man Divine, All the Deity to shine. THE OCEAN MYSTERY. Wonderful ocean, in tempest or calm: Mighty, majestic, thou ruler of earth, What is the secret that holdeth the charm? Who can rehearse us. the song of thy birth f Symbol of wisdom, unbounded, untold, Thraldom of nations ne'er compasseth thee. Marvels amazing thy volumes enfold Who can decipher the ways of the sea? 53 Restless each moment, the billows arise, Mountains of waters their energies, pour, Troughing the caverns, to leap to the skies. Thinning to waves, to salaam the shore. Hither ascending in circuits of foam, Washing thy bosom with white feathered spray, Thither so peacefully guarding the home, Courteously kissing the sunbeams that play. Speaking thy household that teemeth with life, Deeper descending, cold-blooded, to death; Mighty the struggle, and ceaseless the strife, Gunning devices distributing breath. Shell-fish that crawl, and the fishes that swim, Each one endowed for reception of light; Unthinkable things, in the caverns dim, Rainbows of colour, or crystals of white. Why the contention of water and air? Hurricane storms and the billows that roar? Striving their uttermost, fight free and fair, E.ach one receiving the other to store. Wonderful earth, that the ocean doth sweep, Greet thy Creator who fashioned and forms; Vast is the Wisdom that cradles the deep, That rules o'er the winds, and rides on the storms. LOST AND FOUND. I can't burst my chains asunder; Selfishness is cruel, strong, Sinking all my manhood under, Dragging all my life along; Evils my weak nature kiss, Dragging down to death's abyss. Jesus is the Resurrection, He inspires the saving life, To destroy disease infection, To becalm the raging strife; Bid your manhood laughter brave, Come out boldly; He will save. 54 THE BUDDING GRAPES. See the buds are swelling, Shades of green and red; Spring's command is. telling, Winter frosts have fled. Mark the life-blood flowing, See the young leaves growing. How the new cells glisten To the smiling sun, As their units listen, Waking has begun. How the nervules strengthen: How the vessels lengthen. Energies are rising, Hopes are chasing fears, Till the grapes apprising, Give the fruit that cheers. With the blushes blooming, Brighter tints assuming. SUNSET THUNDERSTORM. The glory of the western sky Was painted by the setting sun; The thunder-clouds were rolling by; An island continent was won. With pencilling of lurid light, The sunbeams transmutated night. The picture was a sheet of flame, Volcanoes belching pent-up fire; The clouds roi'ed on, and still there came The fervid blaze transmitted higher: A golden yellow, golden red, Amid the shifting storm-clouds shed. 55 A glamour filled the firmament, A blacker darkness overhead; The clouds in weirdsome fashion rent, As 'fore the tempest storm they fled. The lightnings heralded the fanes, And wrapped the sky in golden chains. The battle centred in the west As Sol his brightest light-beams, played; The alien hosts each other pressed, For mighty forces were arrayed; Each angry crowd was charged with light, Effulgent, beautiful, and bright. The blackest clouds were purple dyed, The lighftr mists were painted red; While violet tints in struggle vied The brightest beams of light to wed. As vapours darkened into shade, The deeper ruby crimson swayed. It was a wondrous changing scene: The golden glory held its own. Reverberating thunders e'en Proclaimed the line of battle strewn With forces marshalled for the fray, In roaring tempest's grandest play. By strategy the sun essayed To lead his forces from the field; His plight was but a ruse a raid The scattered alien hosts to wield. Electric currents keenly clashed, And lightning flames the heavens flashed. Explosions lighted up the skies, The thunders broke in deafening peals; And for the hungry, thirsty eyes The rain abundant blessing seals. The angered elements evolve, And all discordant jars dissolve. 56 THE LAST VOYAGE. Dropping the anchor at the port, Her manifest declared; Her sails are drawn, her ropes are coiled, To get the craft repaired. She saileth now to sail her last, A voyage to lands unknown; To register credentials, Authorities to own. She sailed on tour on life's rough way, Across a troubled sea; She did her work, and had her In human memory. She carried gold of vast estate, A wealth of priceless worth; But now lies overhauled to wait Her passage from this earth. The first lieutenant had been called To get his papers signed, While the Commander of the brig New rigged her to His mind. Behold her coming in at last: How gloriously she sails! The hosts of heaven heed her quest, And the Commander hails. Arrived at home, the portal won, Immortal in the skies; A miracle by Wisdom wrought, Another glorious prize. The mighty fleet is there surveyed, Each victor vessel crowned; The Lord of Hosts, Immanuel, Peals forth the joyful sound. 57 MOUNT WELLINGTON. Upon the mountain heights, the grey-clad mist clouds play, Until the sun ascends to draw the rifts away; He smiles benignantly to kiss the rising tears, To melt the icy chill, and soothe the brooding fears. .All Nature looketh on the hills around so calm, In mute expectancy to catch the healing balm; The hollows and the fern tree dells from slumber peep, And grassy mounds in morning mists awake from sleep; Receiving sweet benignity of silvered light, To bathe themselves and lay aside their robes of night. Epacridae, allied to Britain's heather bloom, Their white, and red, and pink, bewitchingly assume; While cranberries, on creeping vines, of youth remind, Of those we loved on Welsh and Scottish braes to find; The kindly Mount, with sympathies for those at home, Bids scented briar roses in wild freedom roam. Amid the rugged boulders scattered gracefully, The rounded weathered angles worn so cunningly; In nicks and crevices the ferns so vivid green, Adorn the lowly beauty of the mosses sheen; And lichens weirdly shapen, sombre, green, and grey, Protect the stoney beds they slowly eat away. The dew-drops crystallising in the sheltered glades, Are sparkling as their diamonds touch the lights, and shades; The bushes gracefully arrange their equipage, And monarchs of the forest in their hoary age, With the official shrubs arrayed in evergreen, Reveal the glories which the long ago have seen. 58 Mount Wellington, on hills below thy sentries stand. To introduce the visitors on either hand; While in the landscape scenes appear to view, Her stately courts and ancient halls to Nature true; Inhabited of yore in far off happy days, With Nature minstrels sounding all their choicest lays. Her palaces as, monuments of martial glory stay, Till all the kingdoms of the nations melt away; Their gardens laid with subtlety, the sweets embalm,. The records of the ages in enchanting charm; As trees and terraces above each other rise, To catch the softer breezes in their lullabies. The here and there was, left a sheltered glade plateau, Where fairies roamed to watch the crystalled fountains flow; Within their drawing rooms in blushes and romance, The kings of Nature called to chivalry and dance; Bewitching steps are passing by the rippling stream, Or in their bowers pose to some new passing dream. The kings of Nature, keen in counselled friendly chat, Were mindful of the sighs that on the breezes sat; And contemplating how to bid the bulwarks rise, Their citadels impregnable to weird surprise; The controversy waxed more warm in schemes designed To prove the greater wisdom of the greater mind. At length one ancient sage in majesty arose, To further counsel bring for vanquishing their foes. " 'Twere useless," so he said, "to raise against the light, A citadel, at least four thousand feet in height; It would at once destroy the mountain symmetry, And bid goodbye to all our glorious liberty." 59 The counsellors were mute, in general assent; Their undivided mind to further counsel lent; Attention, one and all, they gave the learned sage Who spoke in Nature's might of every bygone age. "Is this our day of strength against all future need? In Nature's ways, and means for battlement I plead." And thus it came about in ages long ago, With leverage of frost and crisping frozen snow, The rocks were cleaved apart in deepening crevasse, Where surface waters sought to bid the drainage pass. When suddenly, 'mid lightning flash and thunder roar, The trembling earthquakes rumbled more and more; The piles of solid rock asunder rent apart, The chest from bosom torn exposed the bleeding heart. The fragments scattered far and wide, in hurried leap Left mountain fastnesses, precipitous and steep. AFTER THE STORM. The storm has ceased: the songsters, sing Their choicest, sweetest lays; The sunshine glad rejoicings bring Of re-ascending praise. The whole creation looks so calm, The glory fans the leaves; For breath of heaven lends its balm And peace the earth receives. All Nature seems to hear the voice That whispers, "Peace, be still"; That bids the weeping world rejoice, God's mercy to fulfil. 60 THE THIRD SOLAR ATMOSPHERE. There rolled a heavy storm-cloud o'er, So hlack, voluminous, and dens.e, The lightnings flashing evermore, The thunders signalled to commence; The cloud obscured the solar disc, And dared the sunshine to efface; The vapours rising into mists, The sun's bright service to displace. The sun in martialled grandeur rose, And quite ignored the vapour guile; But spread his softest light beams forth, To flash his most benignant smile; Bestowed his softest mellowed rays, In vivid light zone calm and clear, And --.wattling all the tempest cloud, Gave the third solar atmosphere. The five star-rayed film arcs of light, Had spanned the circuit of the sky; The feather plumes as arching fans, The threaded sunbeams passing by; Vibrationed ladder steps they played, The glittering fairy rungs of light; And 'mid a silvered halo spread, A beaming grace exceeding bright. The plumelet clouds and feathered spray Deu'ared the charms by tints untold; While all the waves of darker cloud Were blazoned forth in spangled gold. The sun had triumphed in his might, As feet of angels seemed to play; Illumining the mystery Into the perfect sunshine day. 61 LET THERE BE LIGHT. When waves of sorrow swiftly roll, To overwhelm my sinking soul, And angrily the billows leap Across the bosom of the deep, And darkness turneth day to night, Let there be light. When storm-clauds fill the lowering sky, And winds, in tempest meanings sigh, As hurricanes sweep on in haste, To devastate and lay in waste My soul, before their crushing might, Let there be light. When sore temptation shocks assail, And all my strength and courage fail, As foes attacking everywhere, Assail my spirit to despair; Oh, give me grace to pray aright, Let there be light. When, 'mid prosperity and ease, The worldly joys and pleasures please, My spirit, as so oft of old, Forsakes its love and groweth cold; Indifference my soul must blight, Let there be light. When I succumb in Jordan's stream, And life suspends, as passing dream, As brain beclouded, gasping breath, Reveals, the ravages of death; Oh, Sun Divine! I ask the sight, Let there be light. 62 A NATURE TEXT. The cosmos is so beautiful, The universe so grand, And Nature in her loveliness Our plaudits, must command; Her life is so divinely fair: But death is there. We turn to Nature and we ask: The desolations, why? The glory of the universe, Was it but born to die? It is the life divinely fair, Yet death is there. All Nature shadows speak the truth, All foul corruption dies; The dust and ashes- are removed, Preparing Paradise; The life immortal is so fair: No death is there. PHILOSOPHY. Who say there is no heaven to the thinkers tell! The absence of a heaven opens up a hell; Who say there is no devil, must have failed to see That origin of evil outside of s-elf may be; Who all the spirit ego in themselves deny Should not in false pretences hope to live on high; Whose being is the atmospheric breath Can have no moral life to save from death. To nothing higher than the brutes the fools aspire, To eat and drink and loaf, and then expire. When prodigals deny their origin Divine, They are unfit to share the husks for swine. 63 CHRISTMAS NIGHT REVELATION. The angels are winging their rapid flight, The stars are beaming the shadows of night; The moon to the sun her rhapsody smiles, As the glory of light her being beguiles; The night is quiet, while the heavens tell, And the firmament feels the joyous, swell; For harmonies sweet are filling the air, The angels are singing God's message there. A brighter than all the stars of the sky, The Star of the East is shining on high; The Sun of the world, immortal, divine, In temple of manhood has come to shine; The human creation rises again, To goodwill and favour, peace unto men; Rejoice and be glad, ye nations rejoice, Thanksgiving and praises attune your voice. Sweet inspirations are gushing the soul, The life-stream is filling the human whole; For from the Altar of the Great White Throne The Fountain of Life is breathing His own; The tidal river from the ocean sea, In justice and grace: the life gift is free, The light of the Sun that streams from above, A three-rayed glory of life, light, and love. Rejoice and be glad, the Lamb that was slain, The Son of the Father cometh to reign; Descending, He takes the kingdom of death, in mercy inspires the life-giving breath. He bears to the death the sin of the world, Eis flag of salvation for man is unfurled; He came to be offered, as Wisdom schemed: God's, justice and love, and man is redeemed. 64 PARODY ON POPE'S ODE. Vital spark of heavenly flame, Gift of life, of spotless fame, Trembling, fainting, struggling, sighing, Oh, the mystery of dying. Miracle of second birth: Man's probation on the earth. Vital spark of heavenly flame, Breath of God, in Jesus' Name; The Omnipotent Immortal, Streameth from the shining portal; Fervid love, and light, and life, Seizing death in mortal strife. Vital spark of heavenly flame, Altar fire to cleanse the shame, All the living spirit filling, And the physical distilling; Cleansing human dust to rise To a mansion in the skies. Vital spark of heavenly flame, Compasseth this mortal frame; Upward to the heavens winging, Hosts of angel bearers, singing; Incorruptible, Divine: Immortality to shine. THE SAYINGS OF THE I M MANUEL. The dust of His sayings is gold, The gold that is priceless in worth; The measure hath never been told, All His goodness is filling the earth. An ocean of boundless abyss, That shineth a heaven of light; Eternal, unspeakable bliss, That tells of the One Infinite. 65 THE ONENESS OF THE UNIVERSE. There is one God for only one could alway be Eternal, holy, infinite the Deity. No contra dual governments could co-exist, Eternal and infinite factors to enlist; One code alone of righteous morals could obtain, The harmonies of free-will action to sustain. Creations must, in all their evidence, reveal The patent factors of the thoughts the methods seal. All structures demonstrate before the light of day r The volume of the wisdom their designs display; The creature is the work of the Creator's skill, The agency to manifest His mind and will; For, as a thought is but an effort of the mind, Incorporate embodiment the power defined, So every creature in its manifesting soul, Reveals its pattern, the conception of the whole. THE MANIFESTED LOVE. A great white throne, and He that sat thereon Was like unto the sun to look upon, His feet as shining brass, exceeding bright, A dazzling golden cloud of living light; His eyes flashed forth the vivid lightning flame, Which from love's furnace breathes Messiah's Name; His voice as many waters rolled its song To every nation, people, kindred, tongue. A mighty fulness of impassioned roar, In cascade vapours breathing evermore. His tongue, a flame and double-edged sword, Guarded the gates of Paradise restored. His countenance, benignity of grace, As ocean mirror, rhapsodied His face. His hair was whiter than the driven snow, 'Neath winter's mid-day sun's intenser glow. 66 A dazzling rainbow arched around His head, And gems of light in living settings shed. Upon His breast the High Priest's ephod placed, A golden girdle fastened round His waist. No need of sun, the Human Temple filled, God's glory shines, in dews of grace distilled; The life of God in our humanity, Flames round about the Christ a glassy sea: The Sun Divine the Temple blazed with light, And God in Man revealed the Infinite. The Trinity of Living Sun to shine, God's, greatest glory is the Man Divine. What was it could the Lord Almighty move To give Himself in sacrifice? 'Twas love: To raise our manhood God for mortals died, Infinite Source, Life's Fountain sanctified. Man's death atoned, God Almighty can forgive, As love and justice yearn mankind to live. Amazing love, that God should die for me; Unfathomed ocean of eternity: This energy of love the Christ appears, .And God His creatures in His Temple nears. The Temple is a very sun of light, a flame, And universe adores the Holy Name. GOD'S NEW BRIDE, THE ONE TRUE CHURCH. The living Church of living God In heaven above and earth abroad, Is one in her Redeeming Lord, Her garments purity and light, The Bride of Christ, in robes of white, Shines in the Sun, exceeding bright. Chorus. Am I a member of that throng, Which bears His mark, and knows His song? 67 Jerusalem, the city fair, Nought that defiles can enter there; The Bridegroom's love with bride to share, Sinners in mercy justified, Believers, holy, sanctified, Members, His Church, His one true bride. Apostles, in succession play A ministry of brightening day, Where new-born prophets teach and pray. No priestly orders hold a place: The brotherhood, who see His face, Are ministers in Christ's free grace. The Lord alone is the High Priest, He gives His guests a royal feast, Where those are first who were the least; Each one a priest brings hymnal lays, The all in sacrifice to raise In joyous Messianic praise. Am I a member of that throng, Which bears His mark and knows His song? M'KINLEY'S BURIAL. "loung girls spread flowers before the coffin of President M'Kinley." So touching and so sad, Appealing to the tenderest emotions, The nations sigh to see him die, For sympathy is ne'er hemmed in by oceans.; The people and the ruler's heart devotions Say, "Anarchy is mad." The human family Of ev'ry people, language, tribe, and nation, Is only one to follow on, Uprising to a higher consummation, Immortal life, in fulness of salvation, Expanding with eternity. 68 The maidens of the State, In queenly innocence of youth and beauty, Sweet love repeat as sorrows meet; And sympathy tracks out the path of duty, With tears and flowers,, the spirit's tribute booty, Where heaven and earth in mourning wait. 'Tis by the open grave, The human race as mourners lowly meeting, Heart telleth heart, 'tis noc to part, To watch the mortal folding bonds retreating, We catch our breath, in mortal tremors, fleeting, Disrobing death, the life to save. THE KEY-NOTE. Creation stills to silence, as her Sovereign Lord In mercy manifests the love of God; Or marks the awful wrath which binds hell's hosta in chains, As Christ Immanuel His, triumph gains. The weeping women, out of Galilee, are dumb, While rank and fashion still refuse to come To mourn, as Nature beats the muffled drum. The Saviour, King of Kings, the Lord Jehovah dies, And darkness hides the sun and veils the skies; The universe her own Creator's anguish feels, The trembling earth in shock of earthquake reels; The Temple's veil in trembling wave asunder rends, As speaks the Voice that finite thought transcends. " 'Tis finished," Moral Evil's kingdom ends. Oh, mystery profound, immense, unsearchable, That God in mortal tenement should dwell; The human sin in sinless sacrifice to bear, The human death with men in love to share. Condemned with them to die, the Sinless One alone To Justice yields her dues, her claims to own, And by His death doth human death atone. 69 The Living Fountain now reveals the Shining Sun, I'or life for all the dead His death hath won; Omnipotence eternal life to each would give, We simply have to come, and ask, and live; The gospel message bids us all the world invite, To scatter darkness in Messiah's light, And know in Him the Father Infinite. THE AUSTRALIAN BUSH. I love the wild Australian bush, Its trees are always green; And as the morning life thrills flush, How glorious is the scene. The dew drops give the opening flowers, Amid the mortal strife The sun-beamed energising powers Elaborating life. Chorus. Oh, give me the Australian bush, Expansive, open, free; In all the bloom of virgin blush, And sunshine liberty. I love to see the butterflies, Around the blossoms play, And fan their wings in sunny skies, To the approaching day. How full of soul the parrots seem, 'Mid eucalyptus blooms; In playful frolic as they scream., And trim their coloured plumes. Chorus 70 I love to roam among the trees, And study Nature's charms; And feel the passion of the breeze, That lulleth in its arms; To hear the birds in whispers call, Or thrill their louder notes, Vibrating love songs as they fall, From love inspiring throats- Chorus I love the wild Australian bush, Expansive, open, free; The evensong Cicadas hush, The joys of liberty. The deepening shadows as they paint, The sunset purple glow; The insect hum and rhythms quaint, In thankful overflow. Chorus. THE OPENING DAY, JUNE 4, 1900. Behold the bright cerulean blue, The soft white mists of daydawn dew; The silvered light, in flickered play, Vibrationed trills of softest ray; The fluttering foliage of the trees, In trembling whispers to the breeze; The crisp cool inspirating air, The animation everywhere; The virgin blush of opening flowers The dew drops smiling forth their powers; The matin joys, the love kiss brings, The rhapsody the songster sings; The whole creation greets the sun, And one more day is wooed and won. 71 A LIFE SONG. Oh, sing to me, ye angels; sing The song of everlasting life; The higher being of the man, The glory of the human span, That ceaseth strife. Oh, sing to me, ye shadows sing, The butterflies their colours won, From brightest beams of morning sun. Of noble deeds and duties done, Ye shadows, sing. Oh, sing to me, ye lovely flowers, That manifest a Father's care; In colours beautiful and fair, Your life streams blooming everywhere. Ye blossoms, sing. Oh, sing to me, ye heavens aflame, The glory of the suns and stars; The comets, meteoric cars, The harmony which never jars, Your glories sing. Oh, sing to me, Messiah King, Of holy life and light and love, The breathings filling Heaven above, Through every spirit soul to move, My Saviour, sing. My soul shall sing, my s.pirit soar, As praises to Thy Name arise, To meet my Jesus in the skies, Immortal life the victor's prize, My soul shall sing. 72 A CHILD PICTURE. Restless as a little child, Spirits gushing, full of fun, Full of life and freedom wild, For its journey just begun; As the mountain goat untamed, As the lamb for frolic famed. All its being planned to be, Uttermost expansive growth, In a full activity, Alien to crippling sloth; Mortal forces everywhere, Life and death are struggling there. All its trills in concert play, To sustain the living soul; Training forward, day by day, Every part to perfect whole, As the harmonies evolve, Human mysteries to solve. Jesus was a little child, By the Holy Spirit trained; Holy, blameless, unbeguiled, Love in Him supremely reigned. While he gained in human span. Love beloved by God and man. Parents, train each little child In exuberance, joyous, free; Humble, loving, meek and mild, Citizens of worth to be; In the Christ Child perfect soul, Unit of Infinite whole. 73 HUMAN LIFE. Passing away, as a tale that is told, Every moment fresh sorrows unfold. Where is the glory and honour of man, Just as a bubble, his life but a span? Ceaseless procession of struggle and strife, Living and dying, the death unto life. Vain is his glory that passeth away, Even the shadows grow dim in decay; Deep is the cistern that holdeth the well, Deeper its emptiness, darkness, and hell: Object of pity or object of scorn, What are the crowns which the monarchs adorn ? \ Labours the man in the sweat of his brow, Cursed is creation because of him now, Polity mortal, exceedingly strange, Matter is changing, and ever must change. Death ushers in the beginning of birth, Never to leave him till man leaveth earth. Vast as creation, and mighty its scope, Breezes are whispering infinite hope ; Under' the surface of sorrow and care, Filling the spiritual everywhere ; Burneth the breath of the heavenly fire, Shining the soul star, and higher and higher. Shineth the Sun from His. heaven above, Kindling the sunbeams of life, light, and love. Into the ocean of all human woe, God sends His sunbeams, His mercy to flow: Vaster than chaos, and vaster than night, Stars of the heaven bespangle, their light. 74 Just as the daylight dark matter refines, Crystal the sunbeams to permanent lines: Flashing the diamond and every gem; Glories to burnish the earth's diadem, Life is its setting, light crystals the soul, Rising, becoming immortally whole. THE AUSTRALIAN BROOK. In memory of and dedicated to Lord Tennyson. In mountain dell, 'twixt crag and fell, Where timid lyre-birds fearless play; A bubbling spring, a little thing, Arose to greet the smiling day; Where sun-dews weep, the waters creep, And trickle into tiny streams, And insect flight attracts the light, To fascinating silvered dreams; Around the flow small bushes grow, As sentinels to mark the place; For here was born in age forlorn, A stream to mighty river trace. The woodland rill, so peaceful still, Goes gliding onward, fresh and cold, In gurgling zones round moss-girt stones, And quartzose pebbles carrying gold; But while it sings, some sister springs Their choruses allied attune; As, crystalled bright, their waves unite, To catch the phases of the moon. In fairy quest the wavelets breast, To form the clear and limpid pool; While brighter spots, forget me nots, Are symbols of love's golden rule. The rills flow on, as, one by one, The res.tless waters rush or glide Round Saxifrage of golden age, Where gems of Nature humbly hide The water cress and lady's ,ress, With blossoms white and florets red, Round brooklime true, pink, purple, blue, 75 On which the lonely herons tread. The cotton phlos, and sphagnum moss, Amid the water violets grow, Where heedless tread on springey bed May bring unwary travellers low. Encircling rills the streamlet fills, Until it forms the mountain brook, To plunge, and creep, and foam, and leap Through rocky gorge or craggy nook. The English trout is rising out To seize some unsuspecting fly; While croaking frog in hollow log Salutes., the music rolling by. The rare cuckoos and cockatoos Rejoice in Nature wild and free, As shy bell-bird its note makes heard Against the coach-whip's minstrelsy. Past banks of green the brightest seen Where tree-ferns wave their graceful fronds; And arching vines each intertwines To shade the bower which responds. The growing stream, a rising theme, Is gaining volume every hour, To channel out, in winding route, A waterway of will and power; While sassafras, the sweetest, far, Of all the scented woodland trees, O'erhanging shades mid covert glades, For ever trembles to the breeze. The butterflies at dawn aris,e, To drink the nectar of the blooms; The sunbeams flash, the waters splash, And Earth her bridal dress assumes. The babbling brook, with placid look, Into a mighty river grows; In broadening swell, with men to dwell, And possibilities, disclose; Through verdant plains new strength it gains, To travel onward to the sea; While merchandise its bosom plies, Increasing to immensity. 76 CHRISTMAS HYMN. Wonderful, wonderful, earth is amazed, Jesus, the Counsellor, peace and good will, God for His goodness eternally praised, Goodness and mercy humanity fill. Human salvation in justice proclaimed, Death to atonement has gained the reprieve; Life as a furnace of energy flamed, Biddeth the world Christ's salvation receive Wonderful, wonderful, quicken each voice, Jes,us Immanuel triumphs for me. Hasten, ye nations, awake and rejoice, God in His graciousness maketh us free; Glory, already salvation is won, Love as an atmosphere circles the race, Every babe's resurrection begun, Plenteous redemption, amazing the grace. Wonderful, wonderful, let us arise Into new life, with the Saviour be born; Watch as the Sun is revealing the skies, Shining a light on the Christmas morn; Be of good cheer, and exult, and be glad, Come and partake of the heavenly feast. Claiming your pardon, no longer be sad, Life in abundance to service increased. Wonderful, wonderful, herald the call, Publish to all men the wonderful news: Mighty Salvation accomplished for all Life's resurrection let no one refuse. Moment by moment life giveth the breath, Little by little the sainthood to grow, Till by its fulness expelling the death, Infinite life immortality flow. 77 THE EVE OF THE PASSOVER. The eve of the Passover draweth nigh, When the Son of Man comes forth to die; When the Lamb of God, the Oblation slain, Was ordained the Man, to cleanse man's stain. The night was hurrying on apace, As the moon at full hid her blood-stained face, For the Sun was darkened in emotioned ire, In the rising wrath of smoke and fire. The Son of God, as God, His. Sun to flame; The Son of Man, to bear the Human shame; The Lamb of the triumph of Jesus' Name. Silent and saddened, the disciples steal; In chilling waves Human tremors to feel. The darkening hours of human shadows fall, Beginning or finish of human all. The twelve disciples summoned to prepare In haste the evening meal, for all to share. Alas! alas! the shadows drop around, For in that social group is traitor found. In consternation, treachery to meet, The Saviour wisely guards against defeat; Disrobing, washes His disciples' feet. The group are sorrowful and sore amazed, For treachery is cruel. Each is dazed. This first-born church the loving family Must they disband? or each suspected be? As Jesus dips a sop, to Judas gives, The man, appalled, his conscious guilt perceives. As traitor swiftly called to pass along, And not delay the struggle of the wrong, The man exposed before the Living Light Went forth, a snake in darkness of the night, Condemned by men and angels out of sight. 78 The traitor swiftly vanished, passed outside, And then the Son of Man was glorified. Jesus, in prayer, with God Himself communes, And God with Man the Sacrifice attunes. The God-Man thus was now at liberty To bid His friends God's human tenure see. "Love one another; love as God loves Me: Our union love shall holy oneness be." They sing a hymn,. and then the group essay, Accompanying Jesus on His way; Affrighted, follow, close, yet far away. Proceeding to the garden, lovely fair, Partaking of His life flow, His to share: "For never, till the Kingdom shall be Mine, Am I to drink with you blood of the vine." The human is saddened, too chilled to weep, So God in mercy permits them to sleep. Jesus retires to struggle all alone, To suffer and to die, the Human to atone. "If it is possible, Father, remove The anguish of shame in passion of love. How can I bear all the wrath from above?" In passion He loves, in agony prays, Overwhelming the burden, He struggles to raise; As blood from His body in sweat drops pours, The service of God He loves and adores; He wakes His diciples, alas to find, Overwhelmed and los.t in sorrow of mind; Oh, could you not watch for a single hour, Your sympathy planting courage and power; Retiring again, the triumph is won, "Not Mine, oh, Father, but Thy will be done, I am in Thy grace, Thy obedient Son." Again He returns and finds them asleep, But calls them to come fresh vigils to keep; Then Judas they meet, the knave with a crowd, The folly of man to Satan enshroud; He rushes to Jesus, and hails with a kin* 79 To drop with the demon to demon's abyss. Affrighted the bailiffs paralysed fall, Until He surrenders in Heaven's call; As warrior fighting, a time to dwell, In the hell of man, and the demons' hell, To rise as. victor, His triumph to tell. THE APOSTLE PAUL'S ODE. Oh death, where is thy sting? Corruption flees away; Its evil pinions wing To uttermost decay. Oh, grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; The Law defines the power of death, The Gross of Christ must win. To uttermost the Law The Gross of Christ fulfils; Atonement is complete, And God salvation wills. The verdict has been spoken, All evil shall be broken, That on this Altar falls; But into powdered dust, All rebels shall be crushed, As death by shock enthralls. By the conquest of the Gross, God's life shall energize; Until His kingdom rise, Eternal and immortal, To sweep within the portal, Through the opening skies, To Christ's own Paradise, Unceasing victories. 80 SEARCH FOR GOD. Bid us, oh, Father, search for Thee, Through the vast universe abroad; Sweeping past systems as we flee, Seeking God. Wonderful is the Love Divine, Every beautiful sun we see, Such a bountiful universe, All for me. SACRIFICE: A STUDY FOR EASTER. See the burning AHar flame, Covered with the human shame, Unctioned into brighter glow, As the deeper passions How. F-ising int > lurid fiiv In the soul depths of d^irv: .Bin/in'-' foith the Rising Sun, Sacrifice to triumph won. Wondrous love, the Morning Star Shineth brightly from afar, As the Temple of the Sun Speaks His work of wisdom done. Witness the Indwelling Word, Jesus, the Messiah Lord, Human Temple filled with light, Dwelling of the Infinite. See the Holy Altar built, Sacrificial life blood spilt, Paschal Lamb for justice slain, As He dies and lives again. Rises back to claim His own, Sevenfold crowned upon His throne: Deity in Human span. Son of God, and Son of Man. ' 81 THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST Was the passion of the Saviour to find glory on the earth? Did He ever for applause parade His Royal birth? Did He, in His wondrous power, ever seek His own?; Never! but beneath His sacrifice we hear His groan: "This, My burden, is for you; My agony and strife. Will you not come unto Me, and have eternal life? Did a candle e'er aspire to name its flickering light Living and Almighty Sun: eternal, infinite? Did a rushlight e'er profeas to vivify the dead? Such a fable surely would its maniac folly spread. But the Christ who fought in human robes, and conquest won, Manifests the power of God, the Resurrection's Sun. Did the tiny sparkling dewdrop ever claim to be Vaster than the flowing river and the mighty sea? Did the little trickling rill, that runs down mountain side E'er profes.s to be a fountain vast as oceantide? So the Jesus, if but man, but as man could live, Mortal and dependent creature, life could never give. Millions of human souls by the Prophet fed, Pharisees declared would starve. The living bread Must be spirit and immortal food to satisfy, Life incorruptible, eternal, to supply. Moral life inspires my soul; I, seeing, see my Lord, Dumb I cry: Thou art the Christ, Thou art the Son of God. 82 SIN. Thou sin, grim monster of demonaic shame: 1 blush to speak thy all-accursed name. Destructive poison to the human mind, The bottomless abyss shall fail to find The depths, sufficient deep to swallow thee, A spirit fire, a sulphur-hissing sea. THou sin, the cause of universal strife, The hell-born fiend that crushes human life: The dire corruption of the ages past: The filth and venom of the Hades cast: It seizes, hold of creature vital breath, And stabs the heart springs in expiring death. Tlfou sin, the cause of every human woe, How can the leprosy deliverance know? The heart pulsations from a filthy store, Corrupting poisons in the pressure pour: The creature struggles life-streams to devise, But sinks beneath the vanity and lies. Thou sin, the emptiness of creature pride, That seeks to turn God's moral law aside: That sought to seize the great eternal throne, And raise as gods the devil and his own: Through serpent subtlety to human birth: It captured all the nations of the Earth. Thou sin, the evil fountain of supply, The forces strong that make the creature die: Thy energies commingled as a stream, In dancing phrensies picture forth a dream: The fascinating myths a moment play, And compassing the creature spirit, slay. 83 Thou sin, the sufferings of Earth are thine, The poison acting on the breath divine: Blaspheming God, unrighteousness to man: Assassin dire, the suicide to span: All reasons' rights thy vile assertions mock, The universe is trembling in the shock. Thou sin, grim monster in thy fervid rush, Is there no power thy fiendish strength to crush t Immanuel Jesus, Angel of the Lord, Jehovah King and everlasting Word: Triumphant Sovereign reigns, the Sun to shine, The life immortal in the life Divine. Thou sin, the curse of every human heart, The Great Deliverer orders to depart: His life-drops wash away the darkest stain, And all who come eternal life may gain: Eternal life, the Saviour waits to give: Behold Him crucified, and look, and live. THE AVERTED STORM. 'The clouds arise, the clouds descend, As if to bursting overflow; Their mists the lower mists transcend, As storm winds rush them to and fro; The heavy laden atmospheres, Suffused by weight oppressive fall, The anguished air in groanings veers, As if in suffocating call; The thirsty lowlands plead for rain, But lightnings answer forest fires; The mountains agonised with pain, Reverberate the thunder ires; New winds- for mastery contend, As Nature asks a drink so small, In struggles fierce the rain clouds rend, Until they vanish one and all; 84 How strange the ways of Nature are, The lightning's flash, the thunder's roll, Electric currents near and far, Refuse to make the thirsiy whole, Refuse to satisfy the soul. EASTER THOUGHTS. WHAT THINK YE OF THE CHRIST? What think ye of the Christ: Whose Son is He? And what His mission to this vale of tears? Was e'er on earth so noble majesty, In advent heralded by honoured seers? His moral character resplendent, pure, As Sun of glory through creation shines; His wisdom always accurate and sure Reveals itself in deep engraven lines. He came to earth the Holy Lamb of God, The Human Temple of the Lord of hosts, To claim His own as Sovereign and Lord, To place His priests and Levites to their posts. He came as heaven's Holy Sacrifice, To take Earth's burden, death, and sin, and shame. The Great Immortal's mortal vestment dies Unblemished by the contact is His Name. Stupendous burden sinking Him to hell, But as a Conqueror to bind His foes; The Fount of life, the Incorruptible His life the Human stream of life arose. For forty days His Ministry appeared Illuminating Earth with moral light; And as His witnesses the mountain neared, A cloud of glory caught him from their sight. What think ye of the Christ: Whose Son is He? The woman's seed to bruise the serpent's head. All Adam's sin-evolved humanity, Would be in dying evolution dead. 85 'Ten millions of men in slaughter slain Could only give corruption unto death; The sacrifice be utterly in vain, Because devoid of vitalising breath. The sacrificial flow must ever flame; The Temple's glory be the Fount of life, To give the energy to blanch the shame And vanquish death in the immortal strife. And hence the Holy Germ by God inspired, The Son of Man within the Virgin's wornb, Divinity the Human unction fired, All moral death to utterly consume. ^Twas God's own Gift, the Adam from above, The Sun of light to flood our mortal clay; The Human Altar built in holy love, The Sacrifice to take all death away. The Great High Priest could thus the law fulfil; Since justice claimeth death for every sin; In righteousness obey His Father's will: His given life all death's expulsion win. What think ye of the Christ: Whose Son is He? The Very Son of God, the Son of Man. The Immortal wrapped in our mortality, The Infinite the universe to span. He giveth life to every infant born, His Moral Light the light of every eye; His Sun illumines every waking morn, And fills with blessings every evening sky; He sets His dial in the human breast, The moral conscience in each human mind; Each spirit heart with new pulsations blest, Eternal life within Himself to find. Into our death He breathes His living soul, And native selfishness dissolves in love: In floods of tenderness emotions roll, And sacrificial passion from above. The breath of Heaven fans our portion here, And deeds of kindness in our life streams play; The fruits of moral goodnesses appear Where Jesus in His power holds the sway, 86 But who can tell His miracles of grace; He makes the lame to walk, the blind to s--?" ; The pure in heart He calls to see His face. The meek and lowly ones His own to be What think ye of the Christ: Whose Son is *:? No evolution born of sinful man; No frail diseased, undone infirmity Of Sin conception caught in human span. The Christians' Christ is very God alone; Immanuel verifies His utmost claim; As the High Priest He only can atone While living unction speaks His saving Name. In its embodiment i,he Human Race Responsive lives in His economy; He sets aside our sins in saving grace, And speaks the pardon in His liberty. His One Atoning Altar ever burns; The High Priest e\er guards the sacred fir',; For Hod in holy loving passion yearns To draw the world in consolations higher. Christ is the Source of moral character, The Sun that gives the world its moral light; The Living Fount the Human Pool to stir, To resurrection to the Infinite. To-day with saints He peoples Paradise, A mighty multitude His love has won; His glassy sea triumphant in the skies, From every kindred, nation, people, tongue. EVIL WITHIN. The human hell commences upon Earth within ; Corruption and disease eat all the soul away. The spirit and the body suffering from sin L.iy dual manhood in the Hades of decay. On Earth the filth is all in Nature's law destroyed In moral shock the spirit droppeth null and void. 87 THE BIBLE. Gems of thought, in golden setting, Wisdom's wealth, adorn this mine; Crystals, living light rays starring Flash a brilliancy Divine; Inspirations herein breathing, Atmosphere the Earth abroad; And the Holy Bible Morals Manifest the Word of God. Gome, ye nations, search the Scriptures, Diamonds concentrating light ; Gems revealing raptured pleasures; Prism'd colours passing bright; Opals glisten dazzling glory, Sparkle as a flame of fire; Truths which tell the love of Jesus, Bring the saving Truth the nigher. Gold and silver, in abundance; Rest as pebbles on the shore; Fruits of wisdom, soul sustaining, Satisfying evermore. Churches and denominations Spirits cannot judge, nor see, Reason knows but one Sacerdos; God and Man, High Priest for me. Here the Sun His fulness shineth Through the mists which dim our eyes, And the rainbows, arching o'er us, Firmament the human skies. Jesus Christ the Sun of Glory, Lights the truth in all its lines. Saviour God, our hearts adore Thee In the Book, Thy glory shines. THE HUMAN BROTHERHOOD. One mighty brotherhood The people ought to be; The wealth of earth is surely ours, In all the force of human powers, To certain victory. Since union is strength Why should the people fight? Our homes are desolate and void When wealth is wantonly destroyed; Why don't men do the right? The sun and planets move In never-ceasing play, With fascinating smile and song, To bear the universe along, Creating night and day. Each central sun beyond, And every shining star, Declares its circuit of delight, Not wandering, but holy flight. In universe afar. Each stellar system traced To its remotest sphere; Each nebula of flashing flame In bond of service speaks the same, The heavens all appear. The vast material bounds, In everlasting sweep, Bring all their energies apace, One struggling consummating race, Affinities to keep. 89 In the affairs of men, The works of human kind Had better far to pull as one, Than everybody treading on The rest in selfish mind. One blood the nations are, The colour of the skin, Climatic power or regime tells The superficial pigment cells; Man's, spirit lives within. The strength that makes a man Descendeth from above, It harmonizes every soul, And shafts each purpose to its goal, The heaven of perfect love. Mankind can only be The noble, good, and true; When courage dares to do the right, 'Tis then our deeds will bear the light Of the celestial blue. That one is worse than knave Who would another wrong; To justice every wrong appeals, Iniquity the cosmos feels, To toll the death-knell gong. Each ill by mortals done Back on itself is thrown ; E'en though the vengeance be delayed, As value full for money paid, Stern justice must atone. Philosophy declares, Unalterable truth, That every measure that we mete Must to the brim itself repeat, As energy of youth. 90 And so our utmost lives Of good and evil done Are working out our destiny A heaven to be or not to be, A kingdom lost or won. For all the deeds we do, Around the rippling lake, Are the pebbles idly cast To rim in waves the boundless vast, A world to mar or make. 'Tis not for rich or poor, But every child of man, Development of Eden's lines, For whom the sun in glory shines, To fill the human span. The heaven or the hell, Which Time must overflow Into a day of living light, Or deepening chaos blackest night, Is being begun below. Our deeds of light and love Become a treasure store, A heaven rising into birth, A Paradise begun on earth, Abiding evermore. The Deity is One, God, in the Christ Divine, Descends to fill us full of light, In oneness with the Infinite, Eternally to shine. Then let us all agree To always do the right; Together let us pull as one, To bear the earth to heaven on, And make men's burdens light. 91 DIVINE GOVERNMENT. God makes His favours to descend Upon the wicked and the good; His, mercies all our thoughts transcend Overwhelming as a flood. His kindness never can be told, Creation manifold. The love of God to every man, Makes God in wondrous grace to be; The Deity in human span, A sacrifice for me ; To raise me from the death of sin, Eternal life to win. The holiness of love Divine, With all its boundless life and light, Is focusing on eacn to shine, A firmament so bright; An atmosphere of cloudless blue, Descending as the dew. I ask myself: Shall wondrous love As this be spurned away by me; Such condescension fail to move, My soul to psalmody; My heart is melting as I bow, In consecration now. WOMAN'S EVOLUTION. (In answer to Mrs. Foote's prize poem.) Can woman's heart to womanhood return? Or has she lost remembrance of the bourn? From whence she came? the Paradise of life, The royal consort, mother, queen, and wife. 92 Alas, to-day, the sapient women tell, Some ape of yore in magic brainy swell, Determined all her discontent to solve, And to a woman from an ape evolve It was an apish trick, the purpose crude, By brawny lions of the cave pursued; The pretty creature scared to sudden flight, Ran up a tree and vanished from their sight; Protection sought to grief bewail, Till prowling cat bit off her hanging tail. Clairvoyants paint their ancestress so fair; To ape the heron in its marshland tread, Unkempt, and shaking out her matted hair; On willow branches build her eyrie bed. To snatch wild carrots where they never grew, Or feast her appetite on berries blue; Into the swamp she sinks until a man The likeness of herself to rescue ran: With hairy mighty limbs, unwashed, uncouth, He settles down to eat her, but forsooth The Lord of Nature felt the maiden's grace, And as obedient wife she took her place. She used the thorns to sew; they pierced her hands In sympathy his vaster brain commands; And hence he garnered needles from the earth, To fashion fabrics wrought: to higher birth Each generation heralding to wit The raising up a modern woman not a skit. To-day the women, so the ladies say, Refuse to love, and honour, and obey; Because the women men's positions fill; As licensed surgeons "claim the right to kill," A host of Jills for slaughter pick and choose, Till Jack the Ripper trembles in his shoes. Degenerating race: your learned lore A deep abyss is deepening more and more: As women's millions to the depths descend The race to sooner finish; not to mend, As in the potency of drug and knife, Unnumbered millions flicker forth from life. Thank God there still remain some women true, Redeeming angels in this vault of blue, Not ape descendants of an ape-believe, But noble daughters of our mother Eve; A glorious woman, though the first to sin, Her daughters 1 firs.t redeeming love to win; These recognise their mother's moral fall; Who gave her husband fruit; he ate it all; And so in meekness, suffering, and grace, These seek in patient love to save the race, For though the woman in transgressing fell, True women still in greater loves excel. The gentler virtues of these fair ones play A moonlight brilliancy of bright array; Young men, there still remain such maidens fair, In holy love select your soul-love care, But of the apish women well, beware. THE KINGDOM OF GOD. The kingdom of God is a bond within, The spirit of man through the Christ to win: Its silent workings are both seen and heard, In the deeper nature of manhood stirred. No glossy veneer of an outward show, But the bloom of fruit in its ripening glow; No doggerel chaff of a weakened mind, But the golden grain that we love to find. The kingdom of God is a bond within, Which the God Man plants in each man to win: Its wonderful life is the light of men, And the universe sings the loud Amen. It binds the two natures of mortal man In the holy grip of Messiah's span: The tenure of life which the sleeper takes, Renewing the strength till the man awakes. 94 The kingdom of God is a bond within: The living atonement for mortal sin: The stream from the cross of Jesus which flows, The evil of sin to each to disclose. When man in his being opens the door, Streams of salvation unceasingly pour: While every moment stilleth the strife, As the firmament gives the breath of life. The kingdom of God is a bond within, Which can only be broken by one sin; The rejection of Christ in God's own light, The Witness Divine of the Infinite. , The folly of man Barabbas may choose, God's own Paschal Lamb insanely refuse: But he who refuseth the vital breath, As a suicide dies, in his own death. NATURE'S HIGHER DOMAIN. But when do they rest, the birds on the wing? And when do they sleep, the fish in the sea? When will the oceans, in play, cease to bring Currents of motion, perpetually? When are the breezes neglecting to blow? Can the wings of the wind ever be still? Can the rivers forget their waters to flow, Or the wavelets their work to fulfil? Is ever the sun too wearied to shine His fulness of power, in glories of light? Round the glad heart of creation to twine Trillings of strength, in a softness bright? The spirit may sleep, and the soul take its rest, But Nature is active 'mid the repose. Life's preparations for ever attest The service in man, which no man knows. 95 THE KEY OF THE MYSTERY. 'The greatest wonder of the cosmic universe Is mortal man: In Majesty of Deity God's ways rehearse The Human span. Jn rising glory of the Heavens and Earth, In ceaseless flow; A kingdom new from mortal to immortal birth Is made to grow. This kingdom is to supersede rebellious cost, By vaster gain; The angels who their first estate in folly lost, To death attain. The mystery of mysteries, this kingdom new In wisdom wrought; Incomprehensible, in love and justice true, Divinely taught; It needed Deity in fuller ministries Of life and death, In vaster power than creature sophistries, To breathe the breath. THE HEROES OF THE WORLD. The names illustrious of old, Which speak of actions great and bold; Whence was the fire that lit the glow? And made the light rays forward flow; What made each human star to shine? The human touched by the Divine. The glorious Sun that lights our race, With God's beneficence of grace; Was mortal Man, the Man Divine, Who rose immortally to shine, The Temple of the Deity, In holiness of purity. 96 He lighteth every infant born, With light rays of the Christmas moru; The living germs of life are shed, The spirit soul of man is fed On heavenly manna whence we learn, The holy fires the love flames burn. The light streams testify their source, The light beams evidence their course; The rays lit by the Sun Divine, Have greatest power on Earth to shine; The works of sacrificial love Are those which most the ages move. THE CHRISTIAN'S PRAYER. Gome Holy Spirit, Minister of peace, And fill us with a life and light Divine; Until the flame to melting love increase, And in our being all Christ's glory shine. For ever filling, bid the overflow, A living fountain through the desert pour; The fulness of the Saviour's wealth to know, The utmost riches of His boundless store. We ask the triumph of the Son of God, To still the surgings of our earthly strife; From the Atoning Altar of our Lord, Each moment breathe in us the breath of life.. We plead with Thee, Thou gracious Paraclete, The Holy Comforter in us to dwell; Thy sanctifying cleansing to complete, The boundless grace of God in us to tell. In God the Father's love we ask and pray, On God the Son our helplessness to place; His stream of life the stain to wash away, In righteousness of Sacrificial grace. Our condemnation by His death atoned, Our retribution on the Cross revealed; Our reinstatement by His justice owned, And by His love our utmost pardon sealed 97 We ask of Thee, blest Minister of peace, To fill our being full of the Divine; Our fruits of holiness to e'er increase, In overflowing grace the Christ to shine. Immortal Sun, the Triune One in Three, Three Revelations of the Infinite, For ever fill us, till received in Thee, We know Thy glory of immortal light. A PRAYER OF INTERCESSION. Trinity merciful, gracious, and kind, Ministries all to compass me; Cleanse me each moment till fully refined, Temple of love to worship* Thee. Strengthen my being fresh efforts to make, Every endeavour in Thy Name; All the insignia of office to take, All the training of Christ to claim. Make me a river life's current to flow, Cleanse me a star Thy light to shine; Hid me to daily Thy services show, Fashion me holy and divin^. Make me a dwelling for Jesus to dwell, Spirit of love more life impart; Fullest salvation of mortals to tell, Justice and love within my heart. Make me a jewel Thyself to declare, Focussing light in crystallised rays; Glory transcending Thine Image to bear, Uttermost song of perfect praise. Fill me each moment o'erflowingly full, Of the waters of life for me; Weaken death's holdings, until they are mill, And I am immortally free. 98 DEMONIAC SOCIALISM. A circle round a centre holds, Provided that its each degree, The centre point around it folds, The whole circumference to be A perfect, circle, perfect whole To impulse forth the ruling soul. Vibrations from the centre fill, Responses from the circuit sweep, The fulness of the sphere to thrill, With service true and ripe to reap; A sphere within the universe, Its wondrous message to rehearse. Some people think that there should be A Social circuit to vibrate; The all things common, rich and free, To sink or swim in such estate; A grand commune on Earth to raise. Example of unselfish ways. There is no mighty human mind, From centre all the sphere to fill; The selfish atoms when combined, The very life itself must kill; Man is a fallen piece at best, And Satan fixes all the rest. There is alone one grand Commune, In Heaven is its biding place; Vibrations tremble to attune, The circuit to the centre grace; The Lord Almighty, God alone, In justice rules and guards His own. Tin- tempter snake can ne'er approach, Christ wipes the tear from every eye; Hunger and thirst can ne'er encroach, He gives a fulness of supply; Immortal energies to bear, Eternal happiness 1< share. 99 THE CLEANSING ALTAR. To the Altar, to the Altar, Bring your incense, faith, and prayers. In His agony of passion, All your sin the Saviour bears; Into wrath of condemnation, Bring your death, and grief, and pain; As He offers His salvation, Life in death your cause will gain. To the Altar, to the Altar, Of the Bleeding Sacrifice, Bring your heart, and mind, and spirit, While the Paschal Adam dies. Love amazing, ocean boundless, Olorious fulness, rich and free, Life, the firmament of Heaven, In His mercy, saveth thee. To the Altar, to the Altar, Bring your incense, faith, and prayer: Every moment seeking cleansing, Fount of life for ever there; As His breath the volume giveth, To supply the living soul, In each child the spirit liveth, To create a perfect whole. To the Altar, to the Altar, fn the wonders of His grace; As the rising Sun ascendeth, These His own shall see His face. Million millions on that Altar, Are the offerings He gives; In triumphant resurrection, Each in Him immortal lives. 100 THE PANSY, OR HEARTS-EASE. Richest profusion of colour and play, Beauty of sunshine in gaudy display! Petals of velvet, costly and rare, Surely the heart need never despair; Lovers creating, Spirits awaiting. Signal a moment your hopes to the bloom, Look at its heart and scatter your gloom, Golden the setting, loyal and true, Golden its graces, and all for you; Raptured entwining, Never repining. Colours, suffusing the blossoms, beguile, Catching the sunbeams to strengthen the smile; Blue as the heaven's midsummer day, Touched with the whiteness of snow-white fray. Love is appealing, Sweetnesses stealing. Listen, an angel has spilt the maroon, Dropping the drops from the gold-spangled gpoon, Touching it purple over the blue, Indigo setting deeper anew, Visions so sweetly, Blending so neatly. Pansies are sisters, so gentle and meek, Wooing the sunlight, their beauties to speak; Each has a pattern and colours her own. Each in her glory standeth alone, Sympathies storing, Blessings outpouring. 101 COMETS. The comets are pathing the Heavens in beamings exceedingly bright, And tracing their passage of glory with shimmer- ing flashes of light ; From aeons to aeons they travel never time to tarry or stay; The leadings of duty they follow with never a moment's delay. Whence cometh the strength that they gather the ages durations to span, The wisdom for ever and ever that meteth the circuit of man; Enduring as waves of the ocean, and which to the ocean return; Evolving the forces that hold them, the spaces unknown to sojourn. Whence cometh each volume of glory, which knows neither sorrow nor rust? The marvel of marvels evolving is the wonderful comet dust; How subtle the high heated gases of the cunning electric flame; Convulsions of energies lisping Jehovah, their So- vereign's Name. Astronomers never can follow their courses to uttermost space; Human wisdom sleeps as a shadow in the presence such glories to trace; But oh, the brilliance of entry admission to Courts far away, In the distant palatial welcome as comets their glories display. Ambassadors swiftly they travel, their messages faithfully bear, With their trains or majesty sweeping, which mon- archs would welcome to share; 102 The nebulous masses they lighten as the Stellar glories embrace, As systems pass systems they brighten to utter- most splendours of grace. THE GOSPELS OF NATURE AND OF CHRIST. As the sun the Heaven shines, Flooding all the world with light; So the God-Man scheme designs, Oneness with the Infinite; From the darkness and the strife, Resurrection unto life. Christmas gives the moral lock, Easter finds the vital key; As profoundest problems flock, Depths of all philosophy; Difficulties great and small, This is what explains them all. Man is human and Divine, Living soul through body shed; As the metal in the mine, Through the bearing matrix spread; Dual being, dual soul, Wonderful, mysterious whole. As the sun his vigour gives, Living Nature to sustain; So man's higher being lives, As the life-streams entrance gain; Till where death no more can be, Life is immortality. Earth, rejoice, the Lord is King, Satan shall be overthrown; To destruction God will bring, Until evil is unknown; Universal Heaven to gain, God eternally shall reign. HOW TO GET SALVATION. You need to believe in Jesus, But believing is not all; You must place your all upon Him, And broken-hearted fall; To trust to His Oblation, Your uttermost salvation. You never could be righteous, By either power or will; The emptiness of shadows, Your soul could never fill; But trust in His Oblation, Your uttermost salvation. Christ gave Himself for sinners, He gave Himself for you; Oh, trust God's wondrous promise, Sufficient, priceless, true; The trust in His Oblation, Gives uttermost salvation. All those who work for Jesus, In God's own grace shall shine; The services united, Obedient and Divine; Your own in Christ's Oblation, Gives uttermost salvation. THE HIGHER OR SPIRITUAL UNIVERSE. There is a spirit universe, An atmosphere divine; Where God His love and light and life, Eternally must shine; The Sun gives forth His vital rays, Aud million millions live His praise. 104 The deeds of kindness, whence are they, The thoughts and words of love, Descending as the glorious dew, From God's Own Heaven above; To renovate the dying earth, While millions learn the second birth. Our deep emotions surely are, The sunlight in between, And in the visions of the soul, The spirit life is seen; A vast alTinity with God, In Jesus Christ our Sovereign Lord. We humbly bring our empty hands, And ask a copious share Of blessings graciously bestowed, And know He hears our prayer; The river flows the life stream in, And in our Saviour's strength we win. FROM THE MORTAL TO THE IMMORTAL. EASTER SUNDAY, 1903. Before the day, with opening dawn, the Lord arose To shine, the Sun of righeousness, His perfect day. The Heavens a firmament of azure blue disclose, As falls the softest light of every quickening ray, To trill a heaven of love into the Earth's dark skies; A fount of life, to recreate a Paradise. As darkest hour of night precedes the opening dawn, The watchers give up hope, in darkness of de- spair; The preparation to the Resurrection morn Seems long and sad; until horizon everywhere Receives the coming dayspring, scattering the gloom, As Jesus Christ, the Victor, rises from the tomb. 105 The stone is rolled away, for angel guards attend; The human weaklings helpless lie in abject fear; Celestial messengers into the grave descend; The grave clothes, and the napkin, folded UP, appear; The tomb, in order set, is filled with holy light; The daydawn has begun, the day without the night. Ye sons of men, arise and shine, Earth's night is o'er, A resurrection into life each mortal knows, Before your Saviour bow, and worship, and adore; Upon His Gross lay all your sins, and griefs, and woes, Until with Him you shine the Resurrection Sun. THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. There is alone one universal standard, One Moral Sovereign, one Eternal King; His government is righteously commanded, And all His children must obedience bring. God in Himself is Father of them all, In love and justice, both to great and small. Why, then, on Earth is universal striving? The heavens singing of a kingdom won, The hell of darkened misery conniving, A kingdom lost before the Morning Sun. Why in the realms above eternal light? Why in the realms below the blackest night? The Infinite Almighty and Eternal Created angels, first born sons of light; One-third rebelled rebellion most infernal And in the government of day enlisted nighi. In justice, God the great rebellion quelled; In Sacrificial love, the lost expelled. 106 The moral law with moral regulations, With God, the Founder, centred the Commune; Embodied were the highest spirit stations In God's own life and image to attune. lie gave them life and all their life supplies, The heaven of heavens as their object prize. Wherefore the sin, or object of ambition, Was only possible in trickery of lies No real object for insane sedition Their life, and strength, their being to capsize The first born sons of morning knew life's youth, Eternal Majesty, the righteousness and truth. The Sun, in wrath, was in the darkness clouded, As darkness circled round about His throne: The angel hosts in God's own mercy shrouded, That He might guard and save His sons, His own. In grief and anguish God remained alone, And violence of wrath was overthrown. A mystery beyond our contemplation, Justice and love pronounced the;r joint decree; The evil hosts adjudged to condemnation The righteous should be saved immortally. God gives Himself the kingdom to renew: Justice fulfilled, and love eternal, too. Sin could not be condoned. The evil, flying, Brought on the evil-doer's agonies of death (Expulsion of the life is moral dying; Cessation of the life-stream stays the breathfc*. Whatever touches death becomes unclean; Herein the holiness of God is surely seen. The life-stream cannot die, but the agony, When love hurls back upon the Father's heart The awful passion in intensity, As universe, compares against a part. No creature ever could the pathos tell The overwhelming flood of ocean swell. 107 The wrath of God was under justice rising, His Holiness in depths of love unknown, The broken-hearted tribulation prising, The depths of being felt by God alone The agony of justice-thwarted brief, The soul-absorbing agony of grief. The soul that sinneth legal proclamation To Moral Law declared that soul shall die; But creature death is not regeneration None but the Infinite can life supply. The creature sacrifice no more can live, For God alone eternal life can give. Sins' thought conceived, coeval rushed the dying; The sin exposed its loathing evil seen, Jt spread malaria, under law complying, Where'er it touched the universe unclean. No creature life could wash the stain away, Or shine again the life unclouded day. But oh! the mystery of love divining, The majesty of wisdom to declare; The Holy Trinity the work assigning, The offices of Ministry to share. Conception vast, the mystery Divine, That through the darkness God again would shine. God gave His Son the only one begotten In love and justice, full of grace and truth, The holy inspiration, not forgotten The mighty Worker of eternal truth. The Trinity came forth in sacrifice, As God the Son .upon the altar dies. God's only Son the wonderful oblation Gave forth Himself (for sins' rebellion slain), To give the universe a new salvation, In truth and mercy reconciled again. He gave His life-stream, every stain to cleanse; In death a fulness all, to make amends. 108 The Son of God, in agony atoning, Gave forth His life the death-bond to supply. The Holy Spirit, in the anguish groaning, Made intercession, mercy to apply. The Holy Father, in the Deity, Declared this life-stream should atonement be. That life-stream, all the sacred heaven flooding, Filled faithful angels as an ocean sea, Upon their virgin life its fulness budding, Arose at once to immortality. The life of God was nevermore to cease: Eternal kingdom of eternal peace. The angels rose in holy inspiration, Expelled the demons in their Father's will, Exalted in the greater exaltation, In holiness God's purpose to fulfil. Attendants on the Son's own work and care, A universe material to prepare. The evil spirits God in darkness chaining, Unto the judgment of the judgment day, Their own corruption through the aeons gaining, To suffer moral death in moral sway. As unclean factors Satan's rule to mock, To be themselves disrupted by death's shock. The energy defiled by deeds defiling, For cleansing, God the Son Almighty took; God's holiness the anguished wrath was piling, The King in majesty of burden shook. As burning ashes from the Altar sped, Material universe His service spread. PART 2. From age to age His purpose was progressing, A universe prepared for mortal man, The evidence truthfully confessing, To hold Earth's chosen sphere in martiailed spaa. The universe in everlasting trust, To robe the human spirit in its dust. 109 Amazing wonders of the ages passing, The handiwork and footprints of our God; His mighty plant in energies amassing, Preparing for the coming of Man's Lord. The Earth, the cradle of the Race, to be The kingdom of our God eternally. Material Earth in physical controllings Was fashioned to sustain the pilgrim man; The spirit's energies in reason's rollings Receive the physical vibrationed span. With wondrous knowledge, man to satisfy, His understanding, given from on high. Then why, we ask, upon the Earth this striving? Why were the nettle leaves prepared to sting? The evil present, with the good arriving 1 , The hurricanes the harmonies to fling? Why does the darkness chase the light that dawns? Why roses beautiful consigned to thorns? Why unclean beasts on other creatures feeding? Why do the wolves and jackals nightly prowl? Why vermin in the foul corruptions breeding? Why should hyenas with the wild dogs howl? In everything corruption circles death, Around unnmbered springs of vital breath. Why is the happiness of human singing So oftentimes a broken harmony? So oftentimes a double discord flinging, To turn the worship into blasphemy? The human ocean rumbles with unrest. Amid the calms that soothe the troubled breast. Behold the beauty