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THE TREE of Faith its bare, dry boughs must shed

That nearer heaven the living ones may climb;

The false must fail, though from our shores of time

The old lament be heard, “Great Pan is dead!”

That wail is Error’s, from his high place hurled;

This sharp recoil is Evil undertrod;

Our time’s unrest, an angel sent of God

Troubling with life the waters of the world.

Even as they list the winds of the Spirit blow

To turn or break our century-rusted vanes;

Sands shift and waste; the rock alone remains

Where, led of Heaven, the strong tides come and go,

And storm-clouds, rent by thunderbolt and wind,

Leave, free of mist, the permanent stars behind.

Therefore I trust, although to outward sense

Both true and false seem shaken; I will hold

With newer light my reverence for the old,

And calmly wait the births of Providence.

No gain is lost; the clear-eyed saints look down

Untroubled on the wreck of schemes and creeds;

Love yet remains, its rosary of good deeds

Counting in task-field and o’erpeopled town;

Truth has charmed life; the Inward Word survives,

And, day by day, its revelation brings;

Faith, hope, and charity, whatsoever things

Which cannot be shaken, stand. Still holy lives

Reveal the Christ of whom the letter told,

And the new gospel verifies the old.

1885.