ajar,
That I may 'join the everlasting song,'
And mingle ever with the ransomed throng."
Then lo! "a horror of great darkness" came
Upon him, as he heard a voice exclaim:
"Depart from me! you cannot enter here!
I never knew you, for indeed, howe'er
You may have wrought on earth, the sad, sad fact
Remains, that life's sublimest, worthiest act--"
The deacon woke to find it all a dream
Just as the minister announced his theme:
"My text," said he, "doth comfort only such
As practice charity; for 'inasmuch
As ye have done it to the least of these
My little ones' saith He who holds the keys
Of heaven, 'ye have done it unto me,'
And I will give you immortality."

Straightway the deacon left his cushioned pew,
And from the church in sudden haste withdrew,
And up the highway ran, on love's swift feet
To overtake the child of woe, and greet
Him as the worthy representative
Of Christ the Lord and to him freely give
All needful good, that thus he might atone
For the neglect which he before had shown.
Thus journeying, God directed all his way,
O'er hill and dale, to where the outcast lay
Beside the road bemoaning his sad fate.
And then the deacon said, "My child, 'tis late;
Make haste and journey with me to my home;
To guide you thither, I myself have come;
And you shall have the food you asked in vain,
For God himself hath made my duty plain;
If he demand it, all I have is thine;
Shrink not, but trust me; place thy hand in mine."
And as they journeyed toward the deacon's home,
The child related how he came to roam,
Until the listening deacon understood
The touching story of his orphanhood.
Then, finding in the little waif a gem
Worthy to deck the Saviour's diadem,
He drew him to his loving breast, and said,
"My child, you shall by me be clothed and fed;
Nor shall you go from hence again to roam
While God in love provides for us a home."
And as the weeks and months roll on apace,
The deacon held the lad in love's embrace;
And being childless did on him confer
The boon of sonship.

Thus the almoner
Of God's great bounty to the destitute
The deacon came to be; and as the fruit
Of having learned to keep the golden rule
His charity became all-bountiful;
And from thenceforth he lived to benefit
Mankind; and when in life's great book were writ
Their names who heeded charity's request,
Lo! Deacon Roland's "name led all the rest."

_S.V.R. Ford._

No Sects in Heaven

Talking of s