Step after step, feeling Thee close beside me,

Altho unseen,

Through thorns, through flowers, whether the tempest hides

thee,

Or heavens serene,

Assured Thy faithfulness can not betray,

Thy love decay.

I may not know, my God, no hand revealeth
Thy counsels wise;

Along the path a deepening shadow stealeth,
No voice replies

To all my questioning thought, the time to tell,
And it is well.

Let me keep on, abiding and unfearing
Thy will always,

Through a long century's ripening fruition,
Or a short day's;

Thou canst not come too soon; and I can wait,
If Thou come late.

THE HIGHER GOOD

BY THEODORE PARKER

Father, I will not ask for wealth or fame,

Tho once they would have joyed my carnal sense:

I shudder not to bear a hated name,

Wanting all wealth, myself my sole defense. But give me, Lord, eyes to behold the truth;

A seeing sense that knows the eternal right;

A heart with pity filled, and gentlest ruth;

A manly faith that makes all darkness light: Give me the power to labor for mankind;

Make me the mouth of such as can not speak; Eyes let me be to groping men, and blind;

A conscience to the base; and to the weak Let me be hands and feet; and to the foolish, mind; And lead still farther on such as Thy kingdom seek.

THE CREEDS OF THE BELLS

BY GEORGE W. BUNGAY

How sweet the chime of the Sabbath bells!

Each one its creed of music tells

In tones that float upon the air
As soft as song, as pure as prayer;
And I will put in simple rime
The language of the golden chime;
My happy heart with rapture swells
Responsive to the bells, sweet bells.

"Ye purifying waters, swell!"’
In mellow tones rang out a bell;
"Tho faith alone in Christ can save,
Man must be plunged beneath the wave,
To show the world unfaltering faith
In what the Sacred Scriptures saith;
O swell! ye rising waters, swell!"
Pealed out the clear-toned Baptist bell.

"Oh heed the ancient landmarks well!"
In solemn tones exclaimed a bell;
"No progress made by mortal man
Can change the just eternal plan;
With God there can be nothing new;
Ignore the false, embrace the true,
While all is well! is well! is well!"
Pealed out the good old Dutch church-bell.

"In deeds of love excel! excel!"

Chimed out from ivied towers a bell;
"This is the church not built on sands,
Emblem of one not built by hands;
Its forms and sacred rites revere,
Come worship here! come worship here!
In rituals and faith excel!"
Chimed out the Episcopalian bell.

"Not faith alone, but works as well,
Must test the soul!" said a soft bell!
"Come here and cast aside your load,
And work your way along the road,
With faith in God, and faith in man,
And hope in Christ, where hope began;
Do well! do well! do well! do well!"
Rang out the Unitarian bell.

"To all the truth we tell! we tell!"
Shouted in ecstasies a bell;
"Come all ye weary wanderers, see!
Our Lord has made salvation free!

Repent, believe, have faith, and then
Be saved, and praise the Lord, Amen!
Salvation's free, we tell! we tell!"
Shouted the Methodistic bell.

"Farewell! farewell! base world, farewell!"
In touching tones exclaimed a bell;
"Life is a boon, to mortals given,
To fit the soul for bliss in heaven;
Do not invoke the avenging rod,
Come here and learn the way to God;
Say to the world, farewell! farewell!"
Pealed forth the Presbyterian bell.

"In after life there is no hell!"
In raptures rang a cheerful bell;
"Look up to heaven this holy day,
Where angels wait to lead the way;
There are no fires, no fiends to blight
The future life; be just and right,
No hell! no hell! no hell! no hell!"
Rang out the Universalist bell.

"Ye workers who have toiled so well, To save the race!" said a sweet bell; "With pledge, and badge, and banner, come, Each brave heart beating like a drum; Be royal men of noble deeds,

For love is holier than creeds;

Drink from the well, the well, the well!"

In rapture rang the Temperance bell.

THE LEPER

BY NATHANIEL P. WILLIS

"Room for the leper!

Room!" and as he came

The cry passed on. "Room for the leper! Room!"
And aside they stood-

Matron, and child, and pitiless manhood-all
Who met him on the way-and let him pass.
And onward through the open gate he came,
A leper, with the ashes on his brow.
Sackcloth about his loins, and on his lip
A covering stepping painfully and slow,
And with difficult utterance, like one
Whose heart is with an iron nerve put down,
Crying, "Unclean! unclean!"

For Helon was a leper.

Day was breaking,

When at the altar of the temple stood

The holy priest of God. The incense lamp

Burned with a struggling light, and a low chant
Swelled through the hollow arches of the roof,
Like an articulate wail; and there, alone,
Wasted to ghastly thinness, Helon knelt.

The echoes of the melancholy strain

Died in the distant aisles, and he rose up,

Struggling with weakness; and bowed down his head

Unto the sprinkled ashes, and put off

His costly raiment for the leper's garb,

And with the sackcloth round him, and his lip

Hid in the loathsome covering, stood still,

Waiting to hear his doom: