Father Pollock And His Brother; chapter seven

O^Here are thoughts that inspire thought; they stir up the thoughtless, they beckon to greater heights those that climb the mount.OLNFATHER TOM in The Gospeller.

GOD teaches us that whatever will be hereafter may be here. GOD, Who has the past, present, and future all before Him, may set any one of the three before us, as He wills and when He wills. And there is no wonder in all this. The only wonder we know of is GOD. When we believe in GOD, all wonder ceases, and only begins again when wonders Cease.

This doctrine (of conscious life after death) does not exalt mind or matter, It simply glorifies GOD, Who made them both. It claims undying life for the spirits and bodies of the departed. It dries the tears from all eyes and both cheeks. It does not wipe one eye and leave the other to be consumed with grief. You mourn the spirit that is gone: it tells you that the spirit lives, and that it is not too far away to return. You mourn the body that you see no more: it tells you that the body anticipates its resurrection, and has lost none of that loveliness that made it dear. You wonder, O`Do they love us still?OL The answer is, O`Yes, but not as they once did.OL What was superficial and unmeaning is cast off with the burden of the flesh, and lives only in union with the inane verses that express your O`stony griefsOL and befit the O`Cemetery CompanyOsOL grave. But what was deep and true in that love burns deeper and more fond than ever. It is not a ring on the finger, but a warm gush from the heart. It is not distance that has made the heart grow fonder. But the pure see GOD; and the nearer the saint you love has approached that Presence, the more eager is the desire to communicate with you in love.

I.NM. A. R., 21 TNN Street, Birmingham, was dying of typhoid fever. One day, shortly before her departure, she seemed to be in a state of unconsciousness. She said, O`One-two-threeOL (a pause after each word), O`I baptize thee in the Name, &c.OL She repeated the whole form of Baptism, and the form of reception into the Church, as in the Book of Common Prayer. Her age was fourteen years; she was very often at church on Thursday evenings, when children were baptized at S. ANNOs Church.

II.NA clergyman went to the General Hospital at BNN to see Mr. DNN, who was dying of typhoid fever. Returning from the hospital, he met the sick manOs brother, and went back with him to the fever ward. Mr. DNN first talked a little to his brother, and then called for the clergyman, and said to him, O`I have seen a glorious sight! I was in a dark cave, and could see nothing, till at last I saw a very bright lightNthe TRINITY!OL These were almost, if not exactly, his words. As he spoke, he raised himself up in bed, and said the last words with great vehemence. He then sank back exhausted, and departed a few days after.

III.NMr. CNN, a farmer in the Isle of Man, departed in February 1872. S. LukeOs Church, where he is buried, is near his house, and is at the foot of Garrahan, a mountain near the central point of the island, a wild, remote district. Miss PNN who has a farm near Mr. CNNOs, one of her servants, Mrs. GNN, the wife of the farm steward, Mrs. CNN, and another neighbour, Mrs. KNN, attended the funeral; they all knew the departed well. The four women walked behind the rest as the procession moved through the fields to the church. The men in front sang hymns as they went. All the four women heard another choirO.

2. The second choir sang most sweetly, now softly, now loudly, with O`expressionOL such as they never heard before or since.

3. The sweet music went on, while the men in the procession made pauses in their singing.

4. The singers did not go on with the procession, but seemed to be on one side at a little distance, and the voices died away gradually as the funeral went on.

IV.NOne Sunday, in the autumn of 1873, a clergyman visited a destitute family resident in his district who were in great distress. Mr. ANN, a working man, told his story as follows. He lived in Upper KNN Street, Birmingham. He had three children, two of them boysNJohn, aged three years, and Charles, aged one year and six months. The elder was run over by a coal-cart near his fatherOs house, and was killed. From the time of his death the younger brother refused his food. As he walked along the road he called his lost brother. A great part of the day he sat on the stairs repeating his name. His parents, at last, after about a fortnight, took him to a doctor, who said he was pining from grief, could not be cured, and would very soon die. They laid him in his bed: still he kept calling to his brother, and speaking to him as if he was with him. His father was in the room with him when he departed. The child had been speaking to his brother as usual, when suddenly he seemed to make a great effort to raise himself up in the bed. While doing this he threw up his hands, and said with great eagerness, O`Stop! stop! stop! IOm a-coming!OL and departed. Mr. ANN told the story as a mystery which he could not understand. He dwelt on the apparent presence of the departed child with his little brother, and seemed to consider the last words as conclusive. Mr. ANN is an ignorant, idle, matter-of-fact working man. His third and only child has since died, and he has enlisted.

V.NNA working man, living at DNN Street, Birmingham, had a remarkable dream in April 1873. He thought he stood beside a coffin which was half in the ground and half out of it. Some persons seemed to be present, but he did not distinctly see them. Addressing them, he expressed his reluctance to be put into the coffin, Which he supposed had been put there for him. The reply was that half of him should go into it. The next day there came to him suddenly a corpse-like smell, that he always perceives shortly before the death of one of his relations. About a week after, his wife was attacked by smallpox, and died after two daysO illness, the disease assuming a specially malignant form. At the time of his dream all his family were in good health. The smallpox had not broken out in the neighbourhood, it was only in two or three houses.

VI.NMr. GNN was an assistant surgeon in the Navy. He was engaged to be married to a lady in Ireland, but the engagement was broken off. He was afterwards in his ship, sailing somewhere in the South Seas. As he leaned over the side of the vessel one still evening he saw what seemed to be a small white cloud coming towards him. As it drew nearer he saw it was a woman, and presently he distinguished the features of the lady to whom he had been engaged. She came quite near and looked at him, then she vanished. He took a note of the time, and, when he got home, learned that the lady had departed this life at the time she appeared to him.

VII.NA person well known to me told me that she was staying in the house of an aunt, with her two cousins. One of them one morning was low-spirited and moody. At last, going up to her aunt, she burst into tears, and saidN

O`Aunt, I was quite awake, and he came in at the window and stood at the foot of my bed; he looked just as he always looks, but I was frightened, and covered my head over with the blanket. When I looked up again he was still there, but the third time he was gone.

The grandfather died, as they heard afterwards, just at that very hour when she saw him. The poor girl fasted and wept the whole of that day.

VIII.NA working man had a vision one night. He saw his father and mother, who had died some years before. They stood before him; an Angel stood between them, and a serpent was near the AngelOs feet. He felt a sting in his breast; the serpent stung him, as he thought. The pain made him start up and leap out of bed. Presently he went into bed again; the pain had not yet left him. The figures then vanished away. His wife saw nothing. He was at the time a sober, industrious man. About a year after the vision he became a drunkard. He has kept his family in poverty and misery ever since. A clergyman visited him one Sunday afternoon in the spring of 1873. Talking of his sins, he told the story. He said he had often told it before, but none seemed able to explain it. Every one said O`ItOs a visionOL; and that was all they could say of it.

IX.NMrs. RNN, Highgate Street, Birmingham, was one night in great trouble on account of her husbandOs cruelty. Her husband was in the room, she felt very ill, and was sitting up in the bed. She saw her infant, that had died a few weeks before. She recognised his features and his dress, but noticed that his feet were bare, and that he had a crown upon his head. He was floating in the air, about midway between the floor and the ceiling. She saw him for a minute or more, and stretched out her hands to try to go to him. When she told this story to a priest, he asked her if she was not thinking of her child before she saw him. Her answer was, O`No, not a little bit.OL

X.NO`WNN died at 11P.M., 28th Nov. 186N.OL On the anniversary of his death, Miss NN, my brother, and I, agreed to keep it by the use of a short service of prayer at the hour of his decease, followed by an office for Spiritual Communion. Miss NN was at home, my brother in the north of Ireland, and I in my own room.

I said the first part of the service, and then rested until twelve on my bed, without undressing, and awoke thoroughly refreshed when the clock struck.

Although not yet Christened, I was intending to join the Church, and therefore ventured to use the second part of our service. I had been present about three times at Holy Communion in a small brick mission church. I had not proceeded far before I appeared to be in a large Gothic stone church, and was kneeling at the south end of a brazen communion rail. My brother was on my right, against the wall; on my left was WNN himself, transparent, but perfectly life-like; beside him Miss NN, darker, but no less plain; beyond her a lady whom I took for her mother, who had been dead ten years, and whom, although I had never seen, answered to all descriptions I have heard before or since; then an aunt of my own, lately dead; a brother of mine, who had been dead four years, and who was not a Churchman; behind him my grandparents, also not Church people, and others I had known. As I proceeded with my prayers, the vision grew more and more distinct. I ventured to glance round, and beheld lofty stone arches, and the whole of a vast church thick with kneeling worshippers. I noticed that Miss NN and my brother were the only persons still living, and that they were darker and more substantial in appearance. As I proceeded with the O`Act of Spiritual Communion,OL a figure, such as that of our SAVIOUR is usually represented, vested in Eucharistic robes, came slowly down inside the rail from the north side, staying at each kneeler, and whispering the words of administration to each. When He came to me there was a silence, not of reproof, but of solemnity. He vanished, after standing before my brother, and the vision gradually faded as I finished my prayers. I waited until it had nearly disappeared, and then, as the clock struck two, got into bed yet I had scarcely seen the last of it, when, having to be at the works early next morning, I put out my light and fell asleep. I am confident that I was perfectly wide awake during the whole time, and had no reason to doubt that I had been so next morning. Within the next day or two I described the vision to three of my friends.

Whence come wandering thoughts in prayer? From different sources. Not denying the spiritual influence, we must assert a natural cause. The fact is that peopleOs thoughts wander in prayer just as they wander at other times. They are rightly called O`distractions."

What man of active mind can endure to be tied down to one train of thought at a time? True, some things are so intensely interesting that they absorb all the mindOs conscious energies. The mind may be quietly pursuing its own secret operations without the OwnerOs knowledge, and the man, as far as he knows, is thinking only of one thing. Yet the fact that some trains of thought are so absorbing helps to prove my point, for other and lesser objects sometimes claim attention. They are little, comparatively speaking, and a superficial observation is enough for them; the mind can afford no more. All the time those little things float over the surface of the mind, a deep under-current is moving on apace, and the O`ground-swellOL agitates the surface of the deep; nay, it sometimes goes so far as to paralyse the faculties that are engaged in those superficial operations. There are various strata of thought growing to perfection in all active minds, and existing in greater or less variety in all minds.

One day last summer I stood on the deck of a steam-packet, and observed how the water of a Scotch island reflected the different parts of the landscape beyond it. Nearest the surface I noticed a house which was on the margin of the sea. Around it and below it I saw the trees and shrubs that were around it and above it. One layer of trees appeared below another. I observed that what was deep down in the water was high up on land.

Presently I saw in deep water a bright and beautiful layer of sunshine and verdure. Where did it come from? I saw it in the water as I saw the other things. But I had seen them on land; this I had not seen there. Why? I looked up and saw at once the explanation. I had not looked high enough before. Now I saw what I ought to have seen at first. For, high above, and far beyond the house and the trees, stood the distant hills, with the sunOs glory shining upon them.

O`O^Twas ever thus.OL The shallowest view of life in this lower world of ours sees houses and lands and riches; and it finds nothing further, nothing deeper to experience. More thoughtful people, and those who have had larger knowledge of this world, look deeper, and see the difficulties and trialsNmixed with what is more hopefulNand they wonder what will be the end of it all. Faith sees further: faith cries, O`Out of the depths.OL It is not that faith is despairing. Little faith may doubt. But great faith sees O`the end of the LORD.OL The cheer that lightens it comes O`from above.OL The distant hills, the strong mountains O`declare the glory of GOD,OL Who shines upon them.

Then O`out of the depthsOL need not mean out of misery and because of it. The ChristianOs cry out of the depths is O`Abba, FATHER,OL O`Our FATHER, which art in heaven.OL He endures O`as seeing Him Who is invisible.OL The invisible GOD makes His goodness to O`passOL by, as in the case of Moses. It passes as the sunOs light passes from one range of mountains to another. Itself O`without variableness,OL it creates all the varying lights and shades that illustrate its unchanging love.

Since that day in the summer of 1894 1 have cared less for these lines of a favourite hymnN

O`Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.OL

O`So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on
OOer moor and fen, oOer crag and torrent till
The night is gone.OL

The O`heavinessOL of night is followed by the O^joyOL of the morningNwhat Joel calls O`the morning spread upon the mountains.OL Only let us not complain if O`earth-born cloudsOL hide the glory of heaven.

The Eucharistic Presence does not depend on our faint efforts, though the joy of It is lost when we cease to strive. And though our blindness hide the light of GODOS countenance, let us know that O`GOD is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.OL O`The light of seven daysOL is reserved for all who love light rather than darkness now.

O`Out of the depthsOL means O`from the height above.OL HeavenOs glory is revealed in earthOs misery. The martyrOs crown has jewels of its own.

It is a great effort of faith to believe that GOD made all things, and that He takes special care of each person. Do you believe that the Almighty FATHER cares for you and takes care of you, that He plans your life and all its concerns? The LORD JESUS says He does, and so you must believe it without any doubt or demur.

GODOS care for all living creatures is set forth by the LORD JESUS in these words: O`Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your FATHEROL (S. Matt. x. 29). O`Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? and not one of them is forgotten before GODOL (S. Luke xii. 6). You know that GOD did arrange the circumstances of the deaths of innumerable beasts and fowls used in sacrifice by the Jews, directing what animals were to be used, their description and their age. Sparrows were not used in sacrifice, but GOD cared for them. Be they even the O`mint and anise and cummin,OL to which no special regard was paid in Jewish sacrifices; yet the care He bestows on them shows us that we are not to regard great things only, but to consider little faults and little duties too; for O`He that despiseth little things shall fall by little and little.OL And each sparrow, you observe, is taken care of. If two are sold for a farthing; and if, as the LORD says, a fifth is added when two farthingsO worth are purchased, even the odd one is known and its fate noted by the Heavenly FATHER, though men regard it not.

O`Doth GOD take care for oxen,OL and for sparrows? Yes, otherwise the argument of the LORD is unmeaning. But, if we believe this, we understand and take comfort from the text that tells us O`we are of more value than many sparrows.OL GODOS care of the lower proves His greater care for the higher. Strange that people should use an opposite argument when judging their brethren. A Christian man is careful of the small details of holy living and holy worship; forthwith his neighbours come to the conclusion that he neglects the weightier matters of the GospelNforgetting the precept of the LORD where He enjoins both: O`These things ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone."

Let us begin by noticing two passages that will help to make the doctrine easier by limiting its scope, and in a measure explaining it.

JESUS said, O`Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.OL And why? Here is the reason: O`That ye may be the children of your FATHER which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjustOL (S. Matt. v. 44, 45). Compare our LORDOS words respecting O`the Galil3/4ans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.OL JESUS said,OL Suppose ye that these Galil3/4ans were sinners above all the Galil3/4ans because they suffered such things?OL He gives another example: O`Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?OL He answers both questions Himself: O`I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perishOL (S. Luke xiii. 1-5).

These two passages illustrate the doctrine that GODOS O`tender mercies are over all His works.OL We must believe this. GOD made all things very good. GOD does not desert the work of His hands. Man in his sin and degradation is not forsaken by GOD or forgotten by Him. GOD lets His laws take effect for the preservation of the wicked who defy Him. And, on the other hand, He does not usually interfere with the course of Nature when those who are good act unwisely and sacrifice the life which He has given. He rules the world by the beneficent laws which He has established. But the fact that those laws are beneficent is not intended to encourage the wicked in his rebellion. And the fact that those laws sometimes bring trouble upon the good is not intended to dishearten them, as if GOD did not interfere on their behalf, or as if He did not really care for and desire to keep them safe.

Good books prove that there are good men and women to write them. Some of the writers do not enter upon their work with the highest motives, nor perform it in the best way. But their effort has something good in it, and we must not be so uncharitable as to call that good evil.

Some writers of religious books are plagiarists. But it may be that they copy because the matter they O`editOL is better than what they can produce. And if they infringe no right, and confess their obligations, who shall say that they are wrong?

Other writers are visionaries: they follow their own fancies, and do not keep the proportion of faith. But let us give them credit for what they see, and only be guarded against the errors that cloud their sight.

Many more are said to be hypocrites. Perhaps some of them are. But the accusation is not easily proved, and the labours of the unworthy have often edified men more righteous than they. There are, besides, many writers who speak beyond their experience. And why not? Do not preachers the same? May we not speak and write of things as they ought to be, that we may save our own souls and those that hear us?

One objection remains. There are many men who write books for mercenary ends. Of writing books there is no end, because of making money there is no end. Put the case fairly, and you will see that the O`authors who have ruined their booksellersOL are not so numerous as the authors who have impoverished themselves. And even if, in this respect, or in any others I have mentioned, the writers are faulty, let them at least have the credit of choosing a good subject in which they are interested. And another consideration must be added. How many men have been edified by their own works! Do not preachers speak to their own hearts, and O`take the alarm they giveOL? Surely it very often is the case that a sermon which seems to have no effect on the congregation speaks loudly to the heart of the preacher.

O`As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right side; and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.OLNEzekiel i. 10.

HAIL, very GOD, as Man our weakness sharing;
Yet awful in Thine all-prevailing might;
Hail Victim pure, the due of sinners bearing;
Hail, Truth Divine, the very Light of light.

We know that Thou art Man, we watch Thee sleeping
In manger laid, and wrapped in swaddling clothes;
We see Thee tears of human sorrow weeping
With friends who mourn, and over SionOs woes.

Of woman born, Thou art indeed our Brother,
In all things like Thy brethren save in sin;
Thou feelest all we feel, as can no other;
The glory Thou hast won we live to win.

We own the power of Thine example holy,
With bands of love it draws us after Thee;
We gladly hear a Master meek and lowly,
Who goes before us, saying O`follow Me.OL

We know Thee GOD, and in Thy gentle meekness
We see the strength of an Almighty will;
Resistless power is veiled in human weakness
The ends of love and wisdom to fulfil.

Thou art ManOs Champion; evil quails before Thee;
The winds and waves their MakerOs voice obey;
No fainting souls in vain for help implore Thee;
Disease and death and sin resign their prey.

We worship Thee, in utter shame most glorious,
Through darkness pressing surely towards the light,
Of death and hell the Conqueror victorious,
Proclaimed the SON of GOD, enthroned in might.

The types and shadows of the Law fulfilling,
Thy life on earth was lived, Thy death was died
Thine offering of Thyself, a Victim willing,
The one atoning Sacrifice supplied

No sin Thou knewest; yet for us, the sinning,
Thou was content our dying life to share
Obedient unto death, our pardon winning,
And opening Heaven to bring us with Thee there.

Our hope, O LORD, is in Thy Mediation,
For Thou art GOD, and Thou with man art one;
We plead Thy merits, that in our salvation
Thy FATHEROS loving will and Thine be done.

Incarnate Word of GOD, the Everliving,
Thy Presence still is hid by lowly sign.
Faith knows that Thou Thyself art with us, giving
The treasures of Thy truth and grace Divine.

Enthroned Thou art in glory, far above us,
Yet we can rise to Thee in thought and heart;
We know that Thou dost think of us, and love us,
And come to raise us up to where Thou art.

We know Thee true, and in Thy word confiding,
Obey Thy call and thankfully adore;
Thou dwellest in us; and in Thee abiding
Thy Life Divine is Ours for evermore.

INCARNATE GOD, the world, in darkness groping,
Through ages long desired to hail Thy light;
The nations strove, in want and weakness hoping,
Till GOD from Heaven should come in love and might.

Thy chosen race believed and loved the story
Of blessing promised to their sires of old;
They longed for Thee, their King, their LORD, their Glory,
Whom prophetsO word and holy rite foretold.

O Word made Flesh, in human nature dwelling,
We see GODOS glory, mirrored in Thy Face;
We hear Thy Voice, of love and mercy telling,
We come to learn Thy truth and win Thy grace.

We follow Thee, O Teacher meek and lowly,
Thy Life can make Our daily life Divine;
We trust Thee, slain, the Just for the unholy,
To bring us to our FATHER and to Thine.

SAVIOUR most loving, bending before Thee,
Sinful and mourning, Thy mercy we crave;
Leave us not hopeless, LORD, we implore Thee,
Thou hast redeemed us, O hear and save!

Fountain, where sinners find ever flowing
Streams that wash all their defilement away;
To those pure waters thankfully going,
We would for mercy and cleansing pray.

Gentle Physician, mortal ills healing,
Bending in love oOer each sin-stricken soul;
Come, all Thy care and goodness revealing,
Strengthen our weakness and make us whole.

Shepherd most careful, warn us when straying,
Guide us in paths where Thine own feet have trod,
Led by Thy call, Thy dear Voice obeying,
Bring us in peace to the fold of GOD.

Light where the path is shadowed and dreary,
Friend of the hearts that in loneliness pine;
Help of the poor, and Strength of the weary,
Where is the love that is like to Thine!

LORD, Thou dost love us, for Thy love sought us
When we were wandering in deserts alone;
LORD, Thou dost love us, for Thy Blood bought us,
And Thou wilt never forget Thine own.

LORD, we would trust Thee, doubting Thee never,
Help us in faith on Thy Word to recline:
LORD, we would love Thee, keep us for ever
Near to that tenderest Heart of Thine.

LORD, we would follow where Thou dost call us,
Patient in sorrow and valiant in fight;
May we be true, whatever befall us,
Journeying on to the Land of Light.

There, LORD, with gladness laying before Thee,
Each heavy cross we have carried so long,
Crowned with Thy blessing, we shall adore Thee,
Singing for ever the triumph song.

FAITHFUL Shepherd, feed me
In the pastures green,
Faithful Shepherd, lead me
Where Thy steps are seen.

Hold me fast, and guide me
In the narrow way,
So, with Thee beside me,
I shall never stray.

Daily bring me nearer
To the Heavenly Shore;
May Thy love grow dearer,
May I love Thee more.

Hallow every pleasure,
Sanctify my pain,
Be Thyself my Treasure,
Though none else I gain.

Give me joy or sadness;
This be all my care,
That eternal gladness
I with Thee may share.

Day by day prepare me
As Thou seest best,
Then let Angels bear me
To Thy promised Rest.

By Thy Cross and Dying,
Jesu, hear my prayer;
Daily grace supplying,
Bring me safely there.

JESU, with Thy Church abide,
Be her SAVIOUR, LORD, and Guide,
While on earth her faith is tried;

Arms of love around her throw,
Shield her safe from every foe,
Calm her in the time of woe;

Keep her life and doctrine pure,
Help her patient to endure
Trusting in Thy promise sure;

May her voice be ever clear,
Warning of a judgment near,
Telling of a SAVIOUR dear;

All her ruined works repair,
Build again Thy temple fair,
Manifest Thy presence there;

All her fettered powers release,
Bid our strife and envy cease,
Grant the Heavenly gift of peace;

May she one in doctrine be,
One in truth and charity,
Winning all to faith in Thee;

May she guide the poor and blind,
Seek the lost until she find,
And the broken-hearted bind;

Save her love from growing cold,
Make her watchmen strong and bold,
Fence her roundNThy peaceful fold;

May her Priests Thy people feed,
Shepherds of the flock indeed,
Ready, where they call, to lead;

May they live the truths they know,
And a holy pattern show,
As before Thy flock they go;

May the grace of Him Who died,
And the FATHEROS love abide,
And the SPIRIT ever guide;

All her evil purge away,
All her doubts and fears allay,
Hasten, LORD, her triumph day;

Help her in her time of fast
Till her toil and woe are past,
And the Bridegroom come at last;

May she then all glorious be,
Spotless and from wrinkle free,
Pure and bright and worthy Thee;

Fit her all Thy joy to share
In the Home Thou dost prepare,
And be ever bless?d there.

IN a world of sin and care,
Weary and oppressed,
Unto Thee I lift my prayer,
JESU! be my Rest.

Narrow is the way I go,
Oft I turn aside,
When I fail the path to know,
JESU! be my Guide.

Oft the shadows gather round
Hiding all things bright;
When no hope or cheer is found,
JESU! be my Light.

Oft the storms of trial lour
And my fears increase;
In each dread unquiet hour,
JESU! be my Peace.

Oft with SatanOs host I wage
An unequal fight;
When I meet their force and rage,
JESU! be my Might

Soon shall earthly toil be past,
Ended all my strife;
When in death I lie at last
JESU! be my Life.

While I live and when I die,
Ever hear my call;
Now and to Eternity,
JESU! be my All.

DANGERS threaten all around,
Foes gather nigh;
Sin and misery abound,N
GOD knoweth why.

Sad the grief, and pain, and scorn,
We suffer now;
But from evil good is born,N
GOD knoweth how.

Sin and woe shall pass away,
And we shall then
Hail the Everlasting Day,N
GOD knoweth when

In the Holy Land of Rest
Homes we may share
With the Angels and the Blest,N
GOD knoweth where.

We will faithfully endure
WhateOer befall,
This our strength that we are sureN
GOD knoweth all.

I GIVE to every man his right,
As in my Heavenly FATHEROS sight
With word and deed sincere:
As one who bears a Christian name,
I guard my honour free from blame,
I keep my conscience clear.

IV.NAbove manOs censure calmly rise;
Be true to GOD and right, unmoved by praise or blame.
So Heavenly peace thy steadfast soul shall know,
And see lifeOs tempests raging far below.

Oh, why should we revile our brotherOs creed,
Or brand his failings with a scornful name?
For, do not we more Heaven-taught wisdom need?
Are they weak sinners?.Nare not we the same?

We dare not spend our time in endless strife.
A work we have more bless?d, happier far;
And ours is but one frail uncertain life,
Whose moments all too short and fleeting are.

Around us WoeOs down-trodden victims lie;
Our help and sympathy with tears they claim;
And sinners, day by day, in darkness die,
Who scarce have heard the loving SAVIOUROS Name.

And we are called to cheer the fainting soul,
Each feeble lamb with careful hand to guide,
To point the sick to Him Whose Word makes whole,
To lead the penitent to JESUOS side.

Be ours to choose the path of lowly love
And patient work our meek Redeemer trod:
Are we provoked?Nit all is known above,
And we may bear what is endured by GOD.

LORD, speak the word, and bid our wrangling cease,
That we may give our days to work and prayer;
Oh grant from Heaven a dawning of that peace
Which they enjoy who love and serve Thee there!

[1] O`All the stories selected are,OL a note by Father Pollock states, O`derived from private sources.OL

[2] Across the MS. of these lines some one has written O`A good ideal of his own life.OL All who knew Father Tom will endorse this opinion.