To Humble Us   “For, on account of our pride, God appointed that tiny and contemptible creature [the gnat] to torment us; so that, since man has become proud and has boasted himself against God, and, though man, has not acknowledged his fellowman,—since he has lifted himself up, he may be brought low by gnats.  Why art thou inflated with human pride?  Someone has censured thee, and thou art swollen with rage.  Drive off the gnats, that thou mayest sleep:  understand who thou art.  For the taming of our pride these things were created to be troublesome to us. God could have humbled Pharaoh’s proud people by bears, by lions, by serpents; He sent flies and frogs upon them, that their pride might be subdued by the meanest creatures.”     -- Augustine (354-430) ---------------  God   There is an Eye that never sleeps Beneath the wing of night; There is an Ear that never shuts When sink the beams of light.   There is an Arm that never tires When human strength gives way; There is a Love that never fails When earthly loves decay.   That Eye unseen o’erwatcheth all; That Arm upholds the sky; That Ear doth hear the sparrows call; That Love is ever nigh.   -- James Cowden Wallace (1793-1841)    Faith What if I say— “The Bible is God’s Holy Word, Complete, inspired, without a flaw”— But let its pages stay Unread from day to day, And fail to learn therefrom God’s law; What if I go not there to seek The truth of which I glibly speak, For guidance on this earthly way,— Does it matter what I say?   What if I say That Jesus Christ is Lord divine; Yet fellow-pilgrims can behold Naught of the Master’s love in me, No grace of kindly sympathy? If I am of the Shepherd’s fold, Then shall I know the Shepherd’s voice And gladly make His way my choice. We are saved by faith, yet faith is one With life, like daylight and the sun. Unless they flower in our deeds, Dead, empty husks are all the creeds. To call Christ, Lord, but strive not to obey, Belies the homage that with words I pay. -- Maud Frazer Jackson (c. 1920)   Cleansing Fires   Let thy gold be cast in the furnace, Thy red gold, precious and bright; Do not fear the hungry fire, With its caverns of burning light; And thy gold shall return more precious, Free from every spot and stain; For gold must be tried by fire, As a heart must be tried by pain!   In the cruel fire of Sorrow Cast thy heart, do not faint or wail; Let thy hand be firm and steady Do not let thy spirit quail: But wait till the trial is over And take thy heart again; For as gold is tried by fire, So a heart must be tried by pain!   I shall know by the gleam and the glitter Of the golden chain you wear, By your heart’s calm strength in loving, Of the fire they have had to bear. Beat on, true heart, forever! Shine bright, strong golden chain! And bless the cleansing fire, And the furnace of living pain!   --Adelaide Anne Proctor (1825-1864) Knowledge Through Suffering   I knew Thee not, Thou wounded Son of God, Till I with Thee the path of suffering trod; Till in the valley, through the gloom of night, I walked with Thee, and turned to Thee for light.   I did not know the mystery of love, The love that doth the fruitless branch remove; The love that spares not e’en the fruitful tree, But prunes, that it may yet more fruitful be.   I did not know the meaning of the Cross: I counted it but bitterness and loss: Till in Thy gracious discipline of pain I found the loss I dreaded purest gain.   And shall I cry, e’en on the darkest day, “Lord of all mercy, take my cross away”? Nay, in the Cross I saw Thine open face, And found therein the fulness of Thy grace.     -- George Wallace Briggs (1875-1959)     Inner Light   Thus with the year Seasons return, but not to me returns Day or the sweet approach of even or morn, Or sight of vernal bloom or summer’s rose, Or flocks or herds, or human face divine; But cloud instead and ever during dark Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair Presented with a universal blank Of nature’s works, to me expunged and rased, And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out. So much the rather Thou, celestial light, Shine inward and the mind through all her powers Irradiate; there plant eyes, all must from thence Purge and dispense, that I may see and tell Of things invisible to mortal sight.     -- John Milton (1608-1674) (who lost his sight when he was but 44 years old,   before he wrote many of his greatest works).