e crickets leaped to let us pass;
And God's sweet breath was on the grass.

We spelled the legends on the stones:
The graves were full of martyrs' bones,--

Of bodies which the rack once brake
In witness for the dear Lord's sake,--

Of ashes gathered from the pyres
Of saints whose souls fled up through fires.

I heard him murmur, as we passed,
"Thus won they all the crown at last;

"Which now men lose, through looking back
To find it at the stake and rack:

"The rack and stake have gathered grime:
God's touchstone is the passing time."

--Just then, amid some olive-sprays,
Two orioles perched, and piped their lays,

Until the gold beneath their throats
Shook molten in their mellow notes.

Then, pealing from the church, a psalm
Rolled forth upon the outer calm.

"Both choirs," said I, "are in accord;
For both give worship to the Lord."

Said he, "The tree-top song, I fear,
Fled first and straightest to God's ear.

"If men bind other men in chains,
Then chant, doth God accept the strains?

"Do loud-lipped hymns His ear allure?--
God hates the church that harms the poor!"

--Then rose a meeting-house in view,
Of bleached and weather-beaten hue,

Where, plain of garb and pure of heart,
Men kept the church and world apart,

And sat in waiting for the light
That dawns upon the inner sight;

Nor did they vex the silent air
With any sound of hymn or prayer;

But on their lips God's hand was pressed,
And each man kissed it and was blessed.

I asked, "Is this the true church, then?"
"Nay," answered he, "a sect of men:

"And sects that lock their doors in pride
Shut God and half His saints outside.

"The gates of heaven, the Scriptures say,
Stand open wide by night and day:

"Whoso shall enter hath no need
To walk by either church or creed:

"The false church leadeth men astray;
The true church showeth men the way."

--Whereat I still more eager grew
To shun the false and find the true;

And, naming all the creeds, I sought
What truth, or lie, or both, they taught:

Thus,--"Augustine--had _he_ a fault?"
My friend looked up to yon blue vault,

And cried, "Behold! can one man's eyes
Bound all the vision of the skies?"

I said, "The circle is too wide."
"God's truth is wider," he replied;

"And Augustine, on bended knee,
Saw just the little he could see;

"So Luth