The man taught enough by life's dream, of the rest to make sure;

By the pain-throb, triumphantly winning intensified bliss,

And the next world's reward and repose by the struggles in this.

XVII

"I believe it! 'Tis thou, God, that givest, tis I who receive;

In the first is the last, in thy will is my power to

believe.

All's one gift; thou canst grant it moreover, as prompt to my prayer

As I breathe out this breath, as I open these arms to the air.

From thy will stream the worlds, life and nature, thy dread Sabaoth;

I will? the mere atoms despise me! Why am I not loth

To look that, even that in the face, too? Why is it I dare

Think but lightly of such impuissance? What stops my despair?

This; 'tis not what man doth which exalts him, but what man would do!

See the King; I would help him but cannot, the wishes fall through.

Could I wrestle to raise him from sorrow, grow

poor to enrich,

To fill up his life, starve my own out, I wouldknowing which,

I know that my service is perfect. Oh, speak through me now

Would I suffer for him that I love? So wouldst thou-so wilt thou!

So shall crown thee the topmost, ineffablest, utter

most crown

And thy love fill infinitude wholly, nor leave up nor down

One spot for the creature to stand in! It is by no breath,

Turn of eye, wave of hand, that salvation joins issue with death!

As thy Love is discovered almighty, almighty be proved

Thy power, that exists with and for it, of being beloved.

He who did most, shall bear most; that strongest shall stand the most weak.

'Tis the weakness in strength, that I cry for! my flesh, that I seek

In the Godhead! I seek and I find it. O Saul, it shall be

A Face like my face that receives thee; a Man like

to me

Thou shalt love and be loved by, forever; a Hand like this hand

Shall throw open the gates of new life to thee! See the Christ stand!"

XVIII

I know not too well how I found my way home in the night.

There were witnesses, cohorts about me, to left and to right

Angels, powers, the unuttered, unseen, the alive, the aware;

I repressed, I got through them as hardly, as strugglingly there,

As a runner beset by the populace famished for

news

Life or death. The whole earth was awakened, hell

loosed with her crews;

And the stars of night beat with emotion, and tingled and shot

Out in fire the strong pain of pent knowledge; but I fainted not,

For the Hand still impelled me at once and supported, suppressed

All the tumult, and quenched it with quiet, and holy behest,

Till the rapture was sunk in itself, and the earth

sank to rest.

Anon at the dawn, all that trouble had withered from earth

Not so much, but I saw it die out in the day's tender birth

In the gathered intensity brought to the gray of the hills

In the shuddering forest's held breath; in the sudden wind-thrills;

In the startled wild beasts that bore off, each with eye sidling still

Though averted with wonder and dread; in the birds stiff and chill

That rose heavily, as I approached them, made stupid with awe;

E'en the serpent that slid away silent, he felt the new law.

The same stared in the white humid faces upturned by the flowers;

The same worked in the heart of the cedar and moved the vine-bowers;

And the little brooks witnessing murmured, persistent and low,

With their obstinate, all but hushed voices, "E'en

so, it is so!"

ROBERT BROWNING

IT

A LEGEND OF SERVICE

T pleased the Lord of Angels (praise His name) To hear, one day, report from those who came With pitying sorrow, or exultant joy,

To tell of earthly tasks in His employ;

For some were sorry when they saw how slow
The stream of heavenly love on earth must flow;
And some were glad because their eyes had seen,
Along its banks, fresh flowers and living green.
So, at a certain hour, before the throne,
The youngest angel, Asmiel, stood alone;
Nor glad, nor sad, but full of earnest thought,
And thus his tidings to the Master brought:
"Lord, in the city Lupon I have found
Three servants of thy holy name, renowned
Above their fellows. One is very wise,
With thoughts that ever range above the skies;
And one is gifted with the golden speech
That makes men glad to hear when he will teach;
And one, with no rare gift or grace endued,
Has won the people's love by doing good.
With three such saints Lupon is trebly blest;

But, Lord, I fain would know which loves Thee

best?"