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ft iop sis and Its Author.
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Waft their sweet perfume, borne on Heavenly airs,
An incense offering to the throne of God.
He lives it best in God’s sight, who but lives,
To feel, to love, to wonder and adore.
Why fret the years away in vain attempt
To ravel out what seems to thy false sight
The tangled skeins of things, and set the world
To rights. As if the Lord of all the earth
Had need of help from our poor, puny hands
That do not but touch his noblest works to mar
them I
Vain glorious man! when wilt thou understand
And own thy nothingness 1 ? God rules; not thou!
Thine own poor self, thou canst not govern;
But must needs invoke the hourly help of Him
Whom thou wouldst teach to regulate the world.
Much that thou seest may to thee be wrong;
The times be out of joint, and all awry;
Evil triumphant over good, and vice
Lord over virtue; and all things, but . those
Thou guid’st to ruthless ruin, headlong rush.
So ’t seems to thee. God suffers it; be still!
Thou best canst regulate the world’s affairs
By minding thine own little part of it.
The sum of our self-culture marks upon
The dial plate of time the age’s progress.
Choose wisely then thy work, and let the end
Attained be worth any worthy of thy pains;
For whatever it may be to other men,
To thee ’t shall represent the price of life.
Does gold allure thee with its yellow glare?
Or broad fields tempt thee? or the pride of power?
Tn easy reach of all these baubles lie.
It only needs to dull the obedient ear
When widows mourn and orphans cry for bread;
To close the eyes to misery and distress;
To steal the heart to helpless age’s appeal;
To strangle conscience; then subscribe thyself,
Thus fitted for the devil’s work to him,
And he will give thee all thou canst desire,
Do dreams of fame thy restless heart engage?
With sword or pen thou canst inscribe thy name
Upon the brow of envious Time himself,
And bid defiance to his blighting breath.
But thou must first build round thy human heart
An adamantine wall, impregnable
Alike, to Love’s sweet smile or Pity’s tear;
.Must on the altar of thy purpose lay
Freedom and ease and rest and calm content,
The joys of home, hope, happiness and Heaven.
And when thou’st reached the lonely mountain top,
And stand at sunset by the glittering thing
For which thou’st left the peaceful vale below,
Thou’lt find the brightness that had lured thee on
Above the dear companionship of men,
Was but a mocking gleam of chilling light
Reflected from some bleak and icy cliff
That frowns above eternal fields of snow.
What is not humbly, is not rightly done;
And he who works for gold works not for God.
His servants ye must be for whom ye toil,
Nor from another look for recompense.
Serve ye the world and pride, and self and sin ?
Be sure they shall reward you for your work,
And render strict account for every hour,
E’en to the utmost farthing. Murmur not,
However, if they pay but in their coin,
And all too late you find when life is past,
The hard-earned wages of the devil’s work
Will not pass current at the gate of Heaven.
But if ’tis God ye serve (and he accepts
A ded of kindness to His lowliest done
As service tendered to Himself), fear not;
As punctual He as is the world, to pay —.
But not in its base currency. His work
Hath, too, its sacrifice; and who would be
Accounted greatest among those that rule
Must cast out ease, and selfishness, and pride,
Ambition’s vanities, and love of praise,
And serve the least in humbleness of heart.
Wouldst thou be leader of some -chosen host
Across the desert wildnerness of life,
And stand to them in God’s stead on the way;
The Golden Age for May 7, 1908.
Bid seas divide, and through the parted wave
Make a sure pathway for their trembling feet;
Strike from the flinty bosom of the rock
Pure, cooling wafer for their burning thirst;
Call manna down from fiery, brazen skies;
Stand in the dark on thundering Sinai’s fop,
And with Jehovah face to face converse?
Thou may’st. But be strong. It shall be thine,
In sight of the fair Canaan of thy hopes,
The goal of thy long weary pilgrimage,
Upon some lowly Nebo’s top to die,
Afar from kindly sympathy of men,
And another lead thy sorrowing people o’er.
But they shall walk in sweetest peace who tread
The lowly path of duty, plain and clear,
Content to do the work that nearest lies,
Not longing after burdens hard to bear,
But cheerful if God sends them. Thus to live
Is life’s supremest wisdom.
Look abroad!
The precious fields are unto harvest white,
And there is lack of reapers everywhere.
Thurst in thy sickle ere the noon be past,
Or if thou hast not strength nor skill to reap,
Then follow after gleaning; and perchance
When home thou comest, not with empty hands,
It may be thine like Moab Ruth to sit
At evening by the Masters feet and find
Sweet favor in his sight. Who dares to say
Who best fulfills his wish, or those that reap
Or those that only glean'
Work, watch and wait.
And trust his tender love what’er befall.
Thy pathway here may not always be smooth and
even.
And sorrow may sit and sup with thee
\\ hen thou hast bidden smiling joy alone.
The vines thou’st tended with fond fostering care,
May cast their fruit untimely to the ground.
Thou mayest toil with weary hand and brain,
Alone 'through all the fiery day of life,
And, looking back at evening on the fields,
See thistles growing where in tears thou sowd’st
The golden grain at morning, full of hope;
And cruel disappointment come at last '
To mock thy wasted years and helpless age.
Be not cast down ! The soul her starry crown
Wins not by what the feeble hands have done,
But what the heart has suffered. ’Tis God’s way
To perfect His beloved and prepare
The precious in his sight to dwell with Him.
The purest souls that ever blessed the earth
Have come forth from the hottest fires of pain.
The sweetest songs that ever thrilled the heart
Have by lips white with agony been sung.
Beyond some Jordan every Canaan lies.
Who will not in the wilderness abide
Athirst and hungered for his forty days
Shall ne’er along the palm-strewn highway ride
In triumph to be crowned a king of men.
But paths of peace the humble only find.
’Twas not o’er Shinar’s vain, ambitious host,
Exulting in the pride of human strength —
But unto Bethel’s wanderer, lone and sad,
Rock-pillowed in the desert, God drew back
The curtains of the skies, and showed revealed
The shining stairway swung ’twix earth and Heaven
Be not a dreamer—life is not for dreamers.
They live to sorrow who but live to self.
’Tis God’s unchanging plan and nature’s law
That they shall reap not who refuse to sow.
Give! and without measure shall it thee be given
Os joy and hope and happiness and love.
Give without stint, for though thy store be scant,
Thou hast within the lodging of thy heart
A greater .than Elijah; and fear not!
Thou canst not drain that cruse, however small,
Wherein God pours the never-failing streams
Os his rich blessing.
There is work for all.
God gems thy path with opportunities
Thick as the summer dewdrops on the grass,
Rich with His promises. But, manna-like,
They must be gathered ere-the sun be risen,
And used upon the instant, else they breed
Within the heart, a never dying brood of worms
Armed with stings of vain regret,
And to a loathsome hell of torment turn
The paradise of memory.
So, from seeds
Os good, neglect, direct evils spring;
And opportunities of yesterday
Borne upward, on whose wings we might have
soared
To heights immeasurable of bliss sublime,
Hang millstones ’round our necks today to drag
Our struggling souls benath the unpitying wave.
Seize, then, the winged moments as they pass,
And ere they speed to Heaven’s record up,
Stamp each with some good deed,
Some gentle word,
Some holy thought, some generous action done;
So shall thy treasures be laid up in Heaven;
And where thy treasures are, God says thy heart
Shall be. And where thy heart is, there thou art,
For heart is all. And Heaven thus be thine.
. * n
Missionary T)ay at ftessie Tift College.
According to. their custom the students of Bessie
Tift College observed Missionary Day on Thursday,
April 30. It is the custom of the institution to
set aside these days throughout the year on which
subjects pertaining to missions are discussed.
Rev. J. R. Jester, Ed. Secretary of the Board
of Georgia Baptist Convention, spoke to the stu
dents on the preceding Wednesday evening on the
subject, “Our Southland as a Mission Field.” He
said that the purest Anglo-Saxon blood in the world
is to be found in the South, and the Southland
people are more responsive to religious teaching than
any other people. There are many calls for the
gospel here at our doors. * The construction of the
Panama canal, the vast area of uncultivated lands,
the labor problem, will cause immigrants to come to
us. The lowest classes of people are coming, so we
must fortify ourselves against the Hood of anarchy
and unbelief that will be swept in with them. We
are interested in the heathen in their own homes.
Is the call less urgent when they come to our own
doors? We need more effective work in our cities.
In many instances the Catholics have outnumbered
us, and have even converted the Protestant churches
into their own places of worship.
Mr. Jester’s talk was very earnest and convinc
ing. He showed how each Christian is called upon
to give his life to the service of the Lord, either
in the foreign field or at home. If. we all cannot
go across the waters we need not despair. There is
a great work in our home land for every Christian.
The lesson was forcibly impressed upon every stu
dent that she may be a blessing to her home, her
community, her country.
On Thursday morning Mr. Jester again addressed
the students on the subject of Christian education.
On Thursday afternoon the Missionary Society
gave a program in the chapel, the subject being,
“The relation of the College students to Mis
sions.” The subject was very intelligently and
earnestly discussed by the girls.
The Missionary Society has been a, great power in
the students’ lives this year. Questions of vital
importance to the denomination, and to the Chris
tian world have been discussed, and large contri
butions have been made from time to time to va
rious causes.
The .students of Bessie Tift are to be congratu
lated upon the rare privilege of being in an institu
tion where a day is set apart for the study of mis
sions. If opportunity means “responsibility” their
responsibility will itideed be great along this line.
BESSIE NOLES.
Bessie Tift College, Forsyth, Ga.
*
At a dinner one day some men were discussing
the merits of different species of game. One pre
ferred canvasback duck, another woodcock, and still
another thought a quail the most delicious article
of food. The discussion and the dinner ended at
about the same time.
“Well, Frank,” said one of the men, turning to
the waiter at his elbow, who was as good a listener
as he was a waiter, “what kind of game do you
like best?”
“Well, massa, to tell you the trufe, almost any
kind of game’ll suit me, but what I like best is an
American eagle served on a silver dollar.”
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