The intensity of this conviction he utters in his “Tent on the Beach,” where he speaks of taking in the crowded sail and letting his conscience steer—the conscience, not of a bigot, but of a saint.
Poet, philanthropist, saint, as he was—and not scientist—no man comes closer to that supreme science which is perception of the highest truths. That the love of the Father is unalterable, and the free choice of man inalienable, brings to his mind all the possibilities of endless sinning and suffering, side by side with the mercy that endures forever. In its vivid portrayal of Divine love rejected, his poem, “The Answer,” is one of the most remarkable religious poems of the language. In it he sings:
“No force divine can love compel.
“No word of doom may shut thee out,
No wind of wrath may downward whirl,
No swords of fire keep watch about
The open gates of pearl;
“A tenderer light than moon or sun,
Than song of earth a sweeter hymn,