Select Poetry.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3957, 3 September 1881, Page 1

Select Poetry.

DEATH AND THE ATHEIBT. ' "What ii this God whom we wv taught to love And reverence fr< m childhood's ettrlient day, And yet to fear as long mm manhood lasts ?,, Good—yet permitting evil, though hie power Bo infinite, and able lo prevent All pain and Buffering, boi h in man and b> ute ; Prcßtient, and therefore knowing what must come— Innumerable sorrows, caret, and woes— To all his creatures at a future daj: Mere slaves of destiny and circumstance, Yet calling them free agents. Such • God Seems but a wild invention of the mindTo govern fools add .keep the world ia awe. First into doubt I drifted, till at length My doubts Boon ended all in unbelief, And every creed'to me became a myth. After this life, there comes eternal sleep—.;,,, When the unconscious brain is turned to dust. 1" 'Twas thus an Atheist eoliloquiicd ;,, T .■,-, But burdly had the words eßC«ped,his lips,' When on the threshold of tile Atheist's house There seemed to stand a strar ge and s'mdowj shape; '' ' "'■ "Avaunt! avaunt! Thou grim and ghastly thing! ' ' > - '• ' j-_ Horrib'e phantom, hence!" the Atheist cried. " What art thou ? Speak!"—"My .name' is Death. I come To teach thee what thy learning never taught. Before yon sun hath set, and black-brewed ' night In queenly state her starry mantle lAont, ■;,.', Thou must depart with me, and where I gi ! Thy doubts will vanish in the light of truth. I he»rd thee Bay that after death comes sleep— Eternal sleep—oblivion absolute. I tell thee that 'tis after this brief life/ So fleeting, yet so wasted and misused, • There comes a higher life, which mocks my power. • ' '" :•'■•'- '■' O'er that I've nd dominion.' When 1 strike Man is not really slain--he is'but changed,' Changed in a moment rail of him that claims Affinity with dust; to dust returns. ' ']''' Not so the soul—that spark of Heaven's 1 own i fire, ' , • '„•"'" Unquenchable, for ever lives and'barns I heard thee likewise say that God was born Of man's invention, then by making man Himself the «ole Creator, so that he " ■ Is of the universe the lord supreme. ' Dost thou believe thine eyes when they behold The stars in their great-glory ? Dost thou hear A voice within thee whispering thou art /rail, And blind, and ignorant, and' heed it not ? Hast thou felt pain, and sicknes^, and distress P Or ever borne the bitter loss ot frienas ? Or ever watched the incessant changes made by time? Or seen hope blighted, and ambition fall ?' '' Or bad men punished and their fortnnes wrecked ? • ' • Yet, having seen all this and more, ay more,' Acknowledged not the littleness of man; ;■' And his dependence on the living God. ' 1 Why dost, thou disbelieve? Because thy heart ■ ' > ( ,Is servant to the brain, and never feels The presence or the power of faith diviue. ' With me, all restless doubt, all mystery ends ; The one great problem it is ovine to solve.' - vMore~Bbalt thou truly know beyond the graye v Than all earth's sages' ever knew alive. ■ And thine shall be this knowledge. Come' 1 with me." < H. «T. DAWIBL ' —Weekly Mercury (Plymouth, Devon). ""'"