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Home  »  The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century  »  James Martineau (1805–1900)

Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

By II. The Inward Witness (“Where is your God?”) (1873)

James Martineau (1805–1900)

“WHERE is your God?” they say;—

Answer them, Lord most Holy!

Reveal Thy secret way

Of visiting the lowly:

Not wrapped in moving cloud,

Or nightly-resting fire;

But veiled within the shroud

Of silent high desire.

Come not in flashing storm,

Or bursting frown of thunder:

Come in the viewless form

Of wakening love and wonder;—

Of duty grown divine,

The restless spirit, still;

Of sorrows taught to shine

As shadows of Thy will.

O God! the pure alone,—

E’en in their deep confessing,—

Can see Thee as their own,

And find the perfect blessing:

Yet to each waiting soul

Speak in Thy still small voice,

Till broken love’s made whole,

And saddened hearts rejoice.