Have faith in God!

Lean not on Egypt's reeds; slake not thy thirst
At earthly cisterns. Seek the kingdom first.
Though man and Satan fight thee with their worst,
Have faith in God!

Go tell him all! The sigh thy bosom heaves
Is heard in heaven. Strength and grace he gives
Who gave himself for thee. Our Jesus lives;
Have faith in God!

FAITH IN GOD

Though time may dig the grave of creeds,
And dogmas wither in the sod,
My soul will keep the thought it needs--
Its swerveless faith in God.

No matter how the world began,
Nor where the march of science goes,
My trust in something more than man
Shall help me bear life's woes.

Let progress take the props away,
And moldering superstitions fall;
Still God retains his regal sway--
The Maker of us all.

Why cavil over that or this?
One thought is vast enough for me--
The great Creator was, and is,
And evermore will be.

A STRONGER FAITH

Perplext in faith, but pure in deeds,
At last he beat his music out.
There lives more faith in honest doubt,
Believe me, than in half the creeds.

He fought his doubts and gathered strength,
He would not make his judgment blind,
He faced the specters of the mind
And laid them; thus he came at length

To find a stronger faith his own,
And Power was with him in the night,
Which makes the darkness and the light,
And dwells not in the light alone.

--Alfred Tennyson.

A PERFECT FAITH

O for a faith that will not shrink
Though pressed by every foe,
That will not tremble on the brink
Of any earthly woe!

That will not murmur nor complain
Beneath the chastening rod,
But in the hour of grief or pain
Will lean upon its God;

A faith that shines more bright and clear
When tempests rage without;
That when in danger knows no fear.
In darkness feels no doubt;

That bears, unmoved, the world's dread frown,
Nor heeds its scornful smile;
That seas of trouble cannot drown,
Nor Satan's arts beguile.

Lord, give us such a faith as this,
And then, whate'er may come,
We'll taste, e'en here, the hallowed bliss
Of an eternal home.

--William H. Bathurst.

Who liveth best? Not he whose sail,
Swept on b