Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/216

190 But is that bounty absolute?—His gifts,

Are they not still, in some degree, rewards

For acts of service? Can his Love extend

To hearts that own not Him? Will showers of grace,

When in the sky no promise may be seen,

Fall to refresh a parched and withered land?

Or shall the groaning Spirit cast her load

At the Redeemer's feet?"

In rueful tone

With some impatience in his mien he spake;

And this reply was given.—

"As Men from Men

Do in the constitution of their Souls

Differ, by mystery not to be explained;

And as we fall by various ways, and sink

One deeper than another, self-condemned,

Through manifold degrees of guilt and shame,

So, manifold and various are the ways

Of restoration, fashioned to the steps

Of all infirmity, and tending all

To the same point,—attainable by all;

Peace in ourselves, and union with our God.

—For Him, to whom I speak, an easy road