10 THE ETERNAL GOODNESS O 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? The 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 overbroods And prayer upon the cross. More than your schoolmen teach, within Too dark ye cannot paint the sin, I bow my forehead to the dust, 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 where cherubim 10 The wrong that pains my soul below I dare not throne above, I know not of His hate, I know His goodness and his love. I dimly guess from blessings known I long for household voices gone, I know not what the future hath Assured alone that life and death And if my heart and flesh are weak The bruised reed He will not break, No offering of my own I have, 5 10 15 And so beside the Silent Sea I wait the muffled oar; No harm from Him can come to me I know not where His islands lift I only know I cannot drift O brothers! if my faith is vain, Pray for me that my feet may gain And Thou, O Lord! by whom are seen Forgive me if too close I lean |