The Liberator

POETRY.

For the Liberator.

THE MISSION
OF
CHRIST

'My Father worketh, and I work.'

And nobly did he toil, that workman brave,
And well perform the task he undertook:
Wresting their prey from sin, and from the grave,
As teach the records of that Holy Book.

Not as a king o'er subject realms to reign,
Not to nurse self in soft, luxurious ease,
Not to accept vain homage would he deign—
Nobler, more godlike, was his aim than these.

It was his Father's work Christ came to do,
It was his brother man Christ came to raise;
He came our better nature to renew,
To change the sinner's moan to hymns of praise

On with Christ's work, ye truly great and brave!
Ample the harvest, but the laborers few:
Oh, there are millions yet to seek, to save;
Much has been done, more yet remains to do.

Work is the worship of the working days,
Labor with head, or heart, or toiling hands:
Christ taught that not alone by Sabbath praise
Do we obey our Maker's high commands.

Yes, there is work for every active hand,
For each warm heart that pities sin and woe.
Ye rich, ye powerful, join the willing band;
Ye are God's stewards; be God's workmen too.

What if our life be spent in doing good,
Say, was it given to pamper self in bliss?
Love to the generous heart is daily food,
It lives alone in others' happiness.

To scatter plenty round a smiling land,
To read your history in a nation's eyes,
For this the call of luxury withstand ;
Ye truly great, be this the fame ye prize!

Do ye not smile in every smile ye cause ?
Do ye not live in every heart ye cheer,
Ye who bring back the wanderer to God's laws,
Who aid the orphan, dry the widow's tear ?

Rich are ye, generous Workers, in the love,
In the deep reverence of those ye save;
But, oh, how rich in treasures stored above—
Stored in God's treasury beyond the grave !

Tenterden, (Eng.)
JANE AS HBY.