ANSWERED

    Ye realms of beauty from afar,
    What speak ye to the saddened soul? 
    What is the message of each star
    As ever ceaselessly ye roll? 
    Thus do ye answer:  “We declare
    God’s glory; and to you ’tis given
    To cast on him your every care,
    For he hath wound the clock of heaven.”

    Ye hoary hills which have looked down
    On all the centuries of time,
    Have felt their touch without a frown,
    And with indifference sublime,
    What would ye speak, if understood,
    Of life with all its woes and ills? 
    ’Tis this:  to all they work for good
    Who love the maker of the hills.

ALONE

Genesis 28:10-22.

    The sun had set.  He was alone;
    Mid twilight shadows he would rest. 
    He laid his head upon a stone
    To woo sweet slumber for his guest.

    Perhaps within those midnight hours
    His rugged bed was cold and chill,
    But wrapped in Dreamland’s mystic powers,
    He knew no danger, felt no ill.

    A vision in his dreams appeared! 
    Angels were stepping to and fro
    Upon a ladder which, upreared,
    Aided their ministry below.

    And then God spake in words which said
    What future ages would unfold,
    The soil on which he made his bed
    Was his, by prophecy foretold.

    He further heard that holy voice
    Predict that through his tribe would be
    Blessings in which all should rejoice,
    Blessings which all the world should see.

    Through Jacob would the gift be given
    Of Jesus to this sinful earth;
    God signified within this vision
    Glad news of our Redeemer’s birth;

    The star of Bethlehem would shine,
    That star of joy and peace and love,
    Our bleeding sacrifice divine
    To cleanse our hearts, our guilt remove.

    If faith and praise in us abound
    Toward Israel’s God, angels are near;
    His word declares they camp around
    All those who look to him in fear.

    When Jacob woke, the ground he trod
    Seemed holy; and he named his stone
    “Bethel,” which means “the house of God.” 
    With heaven so near, was he alone?

NO OTHER

Neither is there salvation in any other:  for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.—­Acts 4:12.

    Swiftly we float upon time’s tide
    Adown the stream of years. 
    Sometimes past hills of joy we glide,
    Sometimes through vales of tears.

    Age follows youth, which, ere we know,
    Has vanished like a dream,
    And takes its glamour from the glow
    Of mem’ry’s silvery gleam.