“SHOULD IT BE ACCORDING TO THY MIND.” (Job xxxiv 33.)

Shall feeble, vain, presumptuous man Whose loftiest vision’s but a span, Impugn the vast mysterious plan By boundless wisdom laid? Shall His omnipotent behest, That thunders o’er wild ocean’s breast, Or lulls its surging waves to rest, By puny worms be stayed? Shall man, whose moments hurrying flee, Like sparklets from a phosphor sea, Prescribe to dread Eternity The laws of His domain? Shall He who scans each circling pole, And points the course the planets roll, Seek wisdom from the darkling mole To guide the shining train? Shall yon vast orb whose kindling ray Pours forth the universal day His glad, majestic progress stay, Lest, haply, his bright beams With light unwelcome should illume The drowsy couch, and chide the gloom Of some voluptuous sluggard’s room, And chase his idle dreams? Shall thirsty nature pant in vain For showers of life-restoring rain; Shall desolation sweep the plain And beauty droop and die; Lest one bright drop’s exultant spring Should snap the spider’s airy string, Or dim, perchance, the golden wing Of some gay butterfly? Shall yon glad stream, whose sparkling tide Spreads verdant beauty far and wide, O’erleap its banks and turn aside, Or in the desert sink; Lest, haply, fraught with summer showers, Its waves should ripple o’er the flowers By children planted ’mid the bowers That tangle on its brink? No! He, whose power with life endued This glorious universe, pursued In His design the highest good And happiness of all; And still, at His benign command, Rich bounties gladden ev’ry land, And still He guides, with all-wise hand Each tenant of this ball. O! then, low-bending in the dust, Cling to His Love, with child-like trust, Believing that Omniscience must Know what for thee is best; Let resignation soothe thy cares; Let faith disperse thy gloomy fears; And God Himself shall dry thy tears In His eternal rest. W. Selwyn. Port Elizabeth, January 21, 1879.