Port Elizabeth, December 11, 1878.
“SHOULD IT BE ACCORDING TO THY MIND.”
(Job xxxiv 33.)
Shall feeble, vain, presumptuous man
Whose loftiest vision’s but a span,
Impugn the vast mysterious plan
By boundless wisdom laid?
Shall His omnipotent behest,
That thunders o’er wild ocean’s breast,
Or lulls its surging waves to rest,
By puny worms be stayed?
Shall man, whose moments hurrying flee,
Like sparklets from a phosphor sea,
Prescribe to dread Eternity
The laws of His domain?
Shall He who scans each circling pole,
And points the course the planets roll,
Seek wisdom from the darkling mole
To guide the shining train?
Shall yon vast orb whose kindling ray
Pours forth the universal day
His glad, majestic progress stay,
Lest, haply, his bright beams
With light unwelcome should illume
The drowsy couch, and chide the gloom
Of some voluptuous sluggard’s room,
And chase his idle dreams?
Shall thirsty nature pant in vain
For showers of life-restoring rain;
Shall desolation sweep the plain
And beauty droop and die;
Lest one bright drop’s exultant spring
Should snap the spider’s airy string,
Or dim, perchance, the golden wing
Of some gay butterfly?
Shall yon glad stream, whose sparkling tide
Spreads verdant beauty far and wide,
O’erleap its banks and turn aside,
Or in the desert sink;
Lest, haply, fraught with summer showers,
Its waves should ripple o’er the flowers
By children planted ’mid the bowers
That tangle on its brink?
No! He, whose power with life endued
This glorious universe, pursued
In His design the highest good
And happiness of all;
And still, at His benign command,
Rich bounties gladden ev’ry land,
And still He guides, with all-wise hand
Each tenant of this ball.
O! then, low-bending in the dust,
Cling to His Love, with child-like trust,
Believing that Omniscience must
Know what for thee is best;
Let resignation soothe thy cares;
Let faith disperse thy gloomy fears;
And God Himself shall dry thy tears
In His eternal rest.