justify our blunders
Or pass them lightly o'er,
Is the fatal way of inviting
A thousand errors more.

WHO SHALL JUDGE?

We know not all that we have done,
Nor may we ever know;
No field was ever lost or won,
Until the final blow
Has registered itself in Heaven,
And every impulse known,
That tells a reason why 'twas given,
To Him upon the Throne.

Then let us boast not of our deeds,
Nor let our true hearts fail,
Because we think some plan succeeds
While others ne'er prevail;
For he who works as best he can
With lofty, pure intent,
Will not be judged by puny man,
But God Omnipotent.

* * * * *

This earth is a place of probation,
A school wherein man may secure
A knowledge of his true relation,
To the noble, the true, and the pure.

THE FUTURE.

I know not what the future
May have in store for me,
I only know that God is God
And He may trusted be.

The past with all its pleasure
And all its sorrow too,
Has been but a probation
To prove me false or true.

If in my earthly mission
No progress has been made
Toward a higher spirit--
No growth of soul displayed--

Then dark, sad, and foreboding
The future must appear,
The soul must shrink in terror
When death's hour draweth near.

If in the past no brother
Has felt my outstretched hand,
To aid him on his pilgrimage
Toward a better land,

No word of mine brought solace
To a weary careworn soul;
No hand of mine has pointed
To the Christian's heavenly goal;

No thought, or word, or action
To lead to better life;
No balm to heal deep anguish;
No anodyne for strife;

Then shall I hear the sentence,
"You did it not to me,"
Come from the sacred Teacher
Who taught in Gallilee.

If I have wronged my brother,
In action or in thought;
Have forced him into sorrow,
Or counted him as naught,

Have borne false witness of him
Or robbed him of his peace;
Unjustly taken from him
Or hindered his increase,

The words of condemnation,
"You did it unto me,"
Will fill my soul with terror,
Distress, and misery.

My soul has wronged no being
Of just and honest par