THE ETERNAL GOODNESS. 189 O THE ETERNAL GOODNESS. FRIENDS! with whom my feet have trod Glad witness to your zeal for God I trace your lines of argument, But still my human hands are weak Who fathoms the Eternal Thought? 190 THE ETERNAL GOODNESS. I walk with bare, hushed feet the ground Ye tread with boldness shod: I dare not fix with mete and bound Ye praise his justice: even such Ye seek a king: I fain would touch Ye see the curse which over-broods More than your school-men teach, within Too dark ye cannot paint the sin, Too small the merit show. I bow my forehead to the dust, THE ETERNAL GOODNESS. I see the wrong that round me lies, I hear with groan and travail-cries Yet in the maddening maze of things, Not mine to look when cherubim The wrong that pains my soul below I know not of his hate; I know I dimly guess, from blessings known, And with the chastened Psalmist own His judgments, too, are right. 191 192 THE ETERNAL GOODNESS. I long for household voices gone ; I know not what the future hath And if my heart and flesh are weak The bruised reed he will not break, No offering of my own I have, And so beside the silent sea No harm from him can come to me THE OTHER WORLD. I know not where his islands lift O brothers! if my faith is vain, And thou, O Lord! by whom are seen Thy creatures as they be, Forgive me, if too close I lean My human heart on thee. 193 J. G. WHITTier. 13 THE OTHER WORLD. T lies around us like a cloud, IT The world we do not see Yet the sweet closing of an eye Its gentle breezes fan our cheek And mingle with our prayers. ་ན |