Page:Poems of home and country (IA poemsofhomecount01smit).pdf/153

 But gold, nor art, nor costly show,

Nor birth, nor regal state,

Nor palace tall, nor acres wide.

Make him who holds them great;

But wisdom, grace, and knowledge broad,

A great and noble soul,

And God's blest image, God's high thought,

Stamped grandly on the whole.

Oh, winnow grains of truth and love

From this world's useless straw!

Who rules his life, he rules the end, -

'Tis Nature's changeless law.

Oh, blest the man, supremely blest,

Whose life sublimely flows,

And God's approving sentence sheds

A halo round its close!

O man, in God's own image formed,

Offspring of God's great thought;

O man, for lofty aims designed,

For noble purpose wrought,

Build not on Time's illusive sands

The pillar of thy fame,

But high, on monuments unseen,

Carve an immortal name.

What harvest fields of joy and hope

Whiten the world's broad face!

A sickle waits each willing hand,

Each heart God's helping grace;

No seed is lost, no precious grain

To earth can, useless, fall,

God guards the reapers and the seed;

His love shall garner all.