THE GREATEST OF ALL IS CHARITY.

Clutha Leader, Volume V, Issue 237, 24 January 1879, Page 2

THE GREATEST OF ALL IS CHARITY.

[ByM. E. M., Warepa]. . O fine tongues ; 0 lithe tongues, sharp - pointed to kill, The tenderest heart ! ' 0 dark words, 0 low words, shot swiftly and still With delicate art. Whence come ye? Q woman., your guilty cheeks burn ; Against your own sister the weapons ye turn ; Go ye to the feet of the Master, and learn That the greatest of all is Charity. O warm faith, O firm faith, sublime, can'st them be, In woman made strong ! O blind eyes, O closed eyes, refusing to Bee A. lover go wrong. Believing the son, though he lies to your. face ; Believing the husband though darkest disgrace j Why can ye not rise to a still higher plac,e In the greatest of all, kind Charity. 0 star hope, 0 fair hope, how bright can'st thou glow In mother and wife ! 0 deaf ears, 0 closed ears, refusing to know The wreck of a life ! Ye cheer fallen man with the very last breath ; Ye hope against hope, to the gate-way of death ; Why can ye not list to the message that saith Lo, the greatest of all is Charity. Ye see not, ye dream i,ot, the torturing grief Of one at your side ; She suffers in silence, and finds no relief ', Her tear3 she must hide ! All wounded, all bleeding, the poor maiden heart ; Yet swift as an Indian's pitiless dart Your keen words are sent to the tenderesfc part, Though the greatest of all is Charity, Ye know not, unruffled, the battle of life, A sister must wage ; Ye know not, untempted, in what deadly strife, Her heart must engage. She reaches the brink, but the chasm appalls ; She clings with faith-clutch to the slippery walls, Bui down come your doubts like a blow, and she falls, Though the greatest of all iB Charity, Ye, heed not, proud heart, the * hopeless condition, Of one that is lost, It may be in waves of tears and contrition, Her poor soul is tossed. Your pitiless scorn keeps her back from your door j Your pitiless hand keeps her dorm evermore ; Though the Saviour himself said, " Go, sin • no more," For the greatest of all is Charity. 0 woman, O woman, the eartb/s sweetest flower, Creation's bright crown I How can ye, how can ye still cherish tie? power, ' i That holds your soul down 1 0 fairest, for whom all otir youthful hearts burn I 0 dearest, fot whoih all our aged eyefl yearn ; . 1 O ready for Paradise, could ye but leanij That the greatest of all is Charity, ..r