THE ELEMENTS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 191, 24 November 1876, Page 6

THE ELEMENTS.

A Tragic Ciiouus written at Sea—By the Very Rev. J. H. Newman, D.D. Man is permitted much To scan and learn In nature's frame j Till he well-nigh can tame Brute mischief, and can touch Invisible things, and turn All warring ills to purposes of good. Thus, as god below, He can control, And harmonise, what seems amiss to flow, As severed from the whole, And dimly understood. But o'er the elements One hand alone, One hand has sway. What influence day by day In straighter belt prevents The impious Ocean, thrown Alternate o'er the ever-sounding shove ? Or who has eyes to trace How the plague came ? Forerun the doublings of the Tempest's race ? Or the Air's weight and flame On a set scale explore ? Thus God has willed That man, when fully skilled, Still gropes in twilight dim ; Encompassed all his hours By fearfullest powers. Inflexible to him. That so he may discern His feebleness, And c'en for earth's successes To Him in wisdom turn. Who holds for us the key for either home, Earth and the world to come.