IN MEMORIAM. STRONG Son of God, immortal Love, Thine are these orbs of light and shade; Thou wilt not leave us in the dust: Thou madest man, he knows not why; He thinks he was not made to die; And thou hast made him: thou art just. Thou seemest human and divine, The highest, holiest manhood, thou: Our wills are ours, we know not how ; Our wills are ours, to make them thine. Our little systems have their day; They have their day and cease to be; They are but broken lights of thee, And thou, O Lord, art more than they. We have but faith: we cannot know; Let knowledge grow from more to more, But vaster. We are fools and slight; Forgive what seemed my sin in me; What seemed my worth since I began ; For merit lives from man to man, And not from man, O Lord, to thee. Forgive my grief for one removed, Thy creature, whom I found so fair. Forgive these wild and wandering cries, Forgive them where they fail in truth, And in thy wisdom make me wise. 1849. |