THE FUTURE.
I know not what the future
May have in store for me,
I only know that God is God
And He may trusted be.
The past with all its pleasure
And all its sorrow too,
Has been but a probation
To prove me false or true.
If in my earthly mission
No progress has been made
Toward a higher spirit—
No growth of soul displayed—
Then dark, sad, and foreboding
The future must appear,
The soul must shrink in terror
When death's hour draweth near.
If in the past no brother
Has felt my outstretched hand,
To aid him on his pilgrimage
Toward a better land,
No word of mine brought solace
To a weary careworn soul;
No hand of mine has pointed
To the Christian's heavenly goal;
No thought, or word, or action
To lead to better life;
No balm to heal deep anguish;
No anodyne for strife;
Then shall I hear the sentence,
"You did it not to me,"
Come from the sacred Teacher
Who taught in Gallilee.