O happy are the souls that stay Deem not when on the heavens ye gaze, That we 'midst those bright strangers are Each soul, the living and the dead, The Christ of God, who dwells on high, Did take, O Earth, from dust of Thine, For this thou ever shalt remain The Temple, from whose quires shall ring T. WHYTEHEAD. FIFTH DAY OF CREATION. "And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly, the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth. O'ER the void and formless earth, In darkness lay the deep, And through the mighty waters' womb Yet no sign of change it gave, Till God the bidding spoke; Then straight within the heaving wave And ocean teemed with living things, That from the waters broke. From that mystic deep arisen, As rose from out their watery prison On this his rising-day prepare To meet thy Saviour in the air, He unto heaven is gone; And shouldst thou here below O child of an immortal birth, Thy better portion know. Here awhile contented be Like the mute creatures of the sea, On through the opposing tide : Move upward still, though dark and strong The torrent of their pride. Through the stream 'twixt earth and heaven Thy steady course be bent, While day by day shall strength be given To stem its swift descent: And think that still, with wings of love, The troublous element. T. WHYTEHEAD. SIXTH DAY OF CREATION. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." LAST of creation's days, Last of the day's of woe, Which He, to whom be endless praise, Endured for us below: |