Part 59

* * * * *

Moses.

In Pharaoh's dazzling court No work did Moses find That could heroic life support And fill his heart and mind.

Beneath their grievous task Did not his kindred groan? And a great voice above him ask, "Dost thou thy brethren own?"

The work which Duty meant At length he found and did, And built a grander monument Than any pyramid.

Sometimes his eyes were dim, All signs he could not spell; Yet he endured as seeing Him Who is invisible.

* * * * *

Discoverers.

In search of greener shores The Northmen braved the seas And reached, those faith-illumined rowers, Our dear Hesperides.

And when Oblivion Swept all their work away, And left for faith to feed upon But shadows lean and gray,

Columbus dreamed the dream Which fired a southern clime And hailed a world--O toil supreme!-- As from the womb of Time.

God's dauntless witnesses For toil invincible, They gazed across uncharted seas On the invisible.

* * * * *

God's Order.

In gazing into heaven In idle ecstacy, What progress make ye to the haven Where ye at length would be?

In heaven-appointed work The sure ascension lies. O, never yet did drone or shirk Make headway to the skies.

Who in his heart rebels Has never ears to hear The morning and the evening bells On yonder shores so clear.

For work communion is With God's one order here, And all the secret melodies Which fill our lives with cheer.

* * * * *

David.

In action day by day King David's manhood grew, A character to live for aye, It was so strong and true.

Hordes of misrule became As stubble to the fire, Till songs of praise like leaping flame Burst from his sacred lyre.

He grappled with all rude And unpropitious things: A garden from the solitude Smiled to the King of kings.

And fiercer yet the strife With mighty foes within, Who stormed the fortress of his life And triumphed in his sin.

* * * * *

Good out of Evil.

True David halted not When sin had cast him down, Upon his royal life a blot, Death reaching for his crown.

His work was but half done; A man of action still, He struggled in the gloaming sun To do his Maker's will;