Sunday Corner.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIV, Issue 1, 30 April 1897, Page 16

Sunday Corner.

IN THE PROMISED LAND.

So we sailed and sailed over stormy seas, till we came to a pleasant land, Where forever were peace and happiness and plenty was on each hand ; And no man wronged his brother there, for no man counted it gain To live by the sweat of another's brow, or to joy at another's pain. And the strong man there was a kindly man, and aided the one who was weak, And for those who were simple and trusting men, their wiser brothers would speak ; And creed, or colour, or land, or birth, caused no man to hate another, For the same red blood filled each man's veins and every man was a brother. And toil in that land was a pleasant thing, for no man's toil was great, Since each one shared in the burden and lightened the burden's weight ; And the fruits of their toil wore plentiful and no man lacked a share, For the spoiler reaped not where the toiler had sowed, and the land was as free as air. And the old man there was a blessed man, for toilless he wanted nought, And vice and toil on the little ones, no longer their ruin wrought ; And the feeble in body and mind had there no longer a care for bread ; For out of the plenty that was for all, 'twas theirs the first to be fed. And oh I but that land was a happy land for those who were sisters of men, For them was no rude and unseemly toil, in field or in sweater's den; They pawned not body and soul for bread, for woman felt woman's shame, And dearer than life to the strong man was the good of his sister's name. And the fields were yellow with harvesting where every man might reap, And the fishful rivers went singing down through the land to the mighty deep, And the mountains were clothed with forests, and the orchards were ripe with fruit, And the breath of the kine like incense arose, in the meadows still green afoot. And winter, that tyrant of other lands, had here no terrors at all, For lacking nothing of food or fire, they laughed and they let him brawl ; And summer nor parched nor favoured them since little they toiled in the sun, For the soulless engine was now man's slave, and worked while he rested on. And peace was forever in that fair land, for no man envied his mate, And no man's treasures, where all were rich, woke his brother's sleeping hate, And the kingdom that Christ has promised, waß now for all men to Bee, And the name of that happy kingdom was, " The land of the soon to be." — From " In the Promised Land and Other Poems," by Michael Lynch. is making FIRST-CLASS TAILOR-MADE SUITS TO i—3B COLOMBO STREET (just over Railway Crossing) A Trial SoucitkdJ

The prayer, " Deliver us from evil," is idler than the breath which utters it, unless it means that we hate evil, that we will oppose it, and strive in every way in our power to expel it from the •world. It is mookery to pray "Deliver us from evil," and then go on deliberately in evil.

The lines of suffering on almost every human countenance have been deepened, if not traced there, by unfaithfulness to conscience, by departure from duty. T« do wrong is the surest way to bring suffering ; no wrong deed ever failed i,o bring it. Those sins which are followed by no palpable pain are yet terribly avenged, even in this life. They abridge our capacity of happiness, impair our relish for innocent pleasure and increase our sensibility to suffering. They spoil us of the armour of a pure conscience, and of trust in God, without which we are naked amid hosts of foes, and are vulnerable by all the changes of life. Thua, to do wrong is to inflict the surest injury on our own peace. No enemy can do us equal harm with what we do ourselves whenever and however we violate any moral or religious obligation. — Catholic Fireside. It is certain that if we love G-od a 9 we ought ; if we bear to our Divine Redeemer tender and grateful hearts ; if we realise the communion of saints, and the loving and living relations which bind them to us and us to them ; then it is certain that, next after Jesus Christ, our veneration and our love will be given to her whom He loves with all the filial reverence and all the tender love of His Sacred Heart. — Cakdinal Manning.