THE PAST AND THE PEESENT.

Southland Times, Issue 745, 4 November 1867, Page 3

THE PAST AND THE PEESENT.

In our childhood's reverent reading of the ancient Book of Books How we pictured Abram watching o'er his flocks by Syria's brooks, And our fancy fondly lingered in that past our soul reveres, When man's life was nursed by nature into patriarchal years : When the field, the forge, the etudjr, claimed no life-exhausting toil, _ And the eons of men lived simply — from the kindly-natured soil ; Growing here a grove of date palms, garnering there a little grain, Faring frugal, sleeping soundly, living lives that laughed at pain. Strong and active, ,tough and tireless, openhearted, kindly souled, Such as poets love tn ™~* •_-■ -- "'"' ' , i ii«u ' "me rainbow-pinioned seraphs found another heaven on earth, As they lived and loved enraptured with their brides of mortal birth. Lo ! with earliest dewy morning, see the shepherd king arise, Shaking slumber from his eyelids, gazing on the brightening skies ; Where the fading stars shine fainter, as the jewelled robe of night Q-lides from off creation's shoulders, blushing with the kiss of light. His, the glorious tabernacle, whence his prayers could freely rise — All the mountains for his altar ! — for his temple, all the s'iies ! Where the wandering winds of Heaven cadenced every song of praise, And with God's cathedral round him, all his week was sabbath days, Then the human heart was reverent ! for mankind believed its creeds : — Now, the ancient faiths wail feebly, leafc a younger one succeeds. But true faith can never alter — bom on high and teaching good — Which believes in G-od the Father, and Christ's human brotherhood. As the- clouds which darken Heaven burst in storms to clear its skies. So forms change, but Faith survives them — for Religion never dies ! Though the city's toil-worn worker, shut from Nature's healthier sod, Feels the squallid suffering round him almost shake his faith in God ! For his present seems so dreary, with its weary gas-lit toil. Whilst his soul and body sicken, shut from earth's free air and soil. Woe the hurry ! woe the worry ! woe the selfish, struggling strife ; Which this bastard civilisation forces on our daily life. Woe the long hard hours of labor, making c'en its thought abhorred. Where the master fears his servant, and the servant hates his lord. See the drunkard ! see the outcast ! see the pauper ! see the jail ! Hear the work-worn weakly inunner — does not civilisation fail ? No ! with earnest tongue, says Wisdom — even on earth God's justified — Were the world to grow no better, Christ has vainly lived and died ! Wiser sense shall mould man's labor to a hand* maid fair of health, — Loftier faith and tenderer conscience bid him from his hoarded wealth. Feed the school to starve the prison — raze the hoveL build the home, Lighten labour, lift the lowly, teach the fallen hope to come — Give to each his birthright knowledge — wisdom. follows, which shall teach Universal need of virtue, and the equal rights of each; Shewing all this truth — that trouble, pain and wrong, and pestilence, Spring alone from vice and folly — not from God's good providence ! 2J. A. Sydney, September, 18S7.