That night Van Elsen kissed the baby feet,
And kneeling by the narrow winding sheet,
Praised Him with fervent breath
Who conquered death.
IN MEMORIAM.
James William Williams, Lord Bishop of Quebec, Died April 20th, 1892, Aged 66 years.
To those found faithful, oft the call to rest
Comes in the glory of the later noon,
Ere evening falls and with declining day
The mind has darkened and work lost its zest.
So now, though first our sad hearts cried “Too soon,”
We see God’s angel did in heavenly way
His finished work and Master’s love attest.
And now he wins, withdrawn from human eye,
A good man’s two-fold immortality,
To live forever near the Master’s throne,
And here, in lives made better by his own.
THE EVERLASTING FATHER.
Thou whose face is as the lightning and whose chariot as the sun,
Unto whom a thousand ages in their passing are as one,
All our worlds and mighty systems are but tiny grains of sand,
Held above the gulfs of chaos in the hollow of Thy hand.
Yea, we see Thy power about us, and we feel its volumes roll
Through the torrent of our passions and the stillness of the soul,
Where its visions light the darkness till the dawn that is to be,
Like the long auroral splendours on a silent polar sea.
Then uplift us, great Creator, to communion with Thy will,
Crush our puny heart-rebellions, make our baser cravings still.
Thou whose fingers through the ages wrought with fire the soul of man,
Blend it more and more forever with the purpose of Thy plan.