LXXX.

    To use thy time discreetly,
    To show forbearance sweetly,
    To do thy duty neatly,
    To trust in God completely,
    Is good advice to give,
    And best of all to live.

LXXXI.

    If words are light as cloud foam,
      So too is mountain air;
    If in the air is beauty,
      So too may words be fair. 
    If in the air contagion,
      Distemper words may bear. 
    Our words are real things,
      And full of good or ill;
    The tongue that heals or stings,
      So needs the Master’s will!

LXXXII.

    The world has many a fool,
    The schemer many a tool;
      A mirror shows them,
      The wise man knows them. 
      Ten thousand disguises,
      Ten thousand surprises. 
    In wisdom is detection,
    In righteousness protection.

LXXXIII.

    To do good to another
      Is thy self to well serve;
    And to succor thy brother
      For thyself is fresh nerve
    And new strength for the battle,
    In the dash and the rattle,
    When thy foes press thee hard,
    And thy all thou must guard.

LXXXIV.

    Canst show a finer touch,
      A grain of purer lore—­
    “I could not love thee, dear, so much,
      Loved I not honor more?”

LXXXV.

    Frittered away,
      Grace to begin
    Duty to-day—­
      Wages of sin! 
    Truth out of sight,
      Falsehood crept in,
    Wrong put for right—­
      Wages of sin. 
    Self become god,
      Eager to win
    All at its nod—­
      Wages of sin. 
    Scorn of the seer,
      Vanity’s grin,
    Darkness grown dear—­
      Wages of sin. 
    Trouble without,
      Canker within,
    Fear, hate, and doubt—­
      Wages of sin. 
    What is to be,
      All that has been,
    Shadows that flee—­
      Wages of sin. 
    Loss of the soul,
      Wrangle and din,
    Tragedy’s dole—­
      Wages of sin. 
    Warning enough! 
      (Mortals are kin)
    Ragged and rough
      Wages of sin!

LXXXVI.

    Words great to express Him,
      Revealer
      And Healer,
    By these ye confess Him. 
    Enough, this beginning? 
      Before ye
      The glory
    Known only in winning. 
    In deed-bearing Duty
      Behold Him,
      Enfold Him,
    The King in his Beauty;
    Until ye discover
      How meetly,
      How sweetly
    He rules as a Lover! 
    And then will confession,
      O new men,
      Now true men,
    Be one with possession.