Page:Zinzendorff and Other Poems.pdf/131

As a foul gangrene, to the Healer turned,
Bathed, and were whole.
    So now with humble step
Their penal course they measure, giving still
The day to toil, and meeting every night,
In solitude, reflection's chastening glance,
Which wounds to purify. There, too, doth glide
Fair Charity, prompting to deeds divine
The unaccustomed pupil, while he cons,
'Mid the deep silence of a lonely bed,
His Bible lesson; seeks a deeper root
For Christian purpose, or anticipates
Glad Freedom's sacred gift.
                                            Ye whom our God
Hath held from deep transgression, be not proud;
Nor, in the heat of passion, haste to weigh
A brother's fault. The eternal Judge himself
(When by the sin of ingrate Adam moved)
Came not to Eden till the cool of day.
And since that hour, when first the vengeful sword
Wav'd o'er the forfeit gate of Paradise,
Man hath been wayward, weak, and prone to fall
Beneath temptation's wile, and so must be
Unto the dooms-day burning.
    Then let his bitterest discipline be mixed
In Mercy's cup, that so the prison cell
May work his soul's salvation; and the "law.
Like school-master" severe, the truant bring
To Christ, his advocate and righteousness.