The Pearl | Page 7

or great,
Living in
prayer and holy fear,
Who did not forfeit at some date
The meed of
heaven to merit clear?
Nay much the rather, year by year,
All bend
from right and to evil bow;
Mercy and grace their way must steer,

For the grace of God is great enow."
"But enow of grace have the innocent
New-born, before the sacred
shrine,
They are sealed with water in sacrament,
And thus are
brought into the vine.
Anon the day with darkness blent,
Death by
its might makes to decline;
Who wrought no wrong ere hence they
went,
The gentle Lord receives, in fine;
They obeyed His will, they
bore His sign,
Why should He not their claim allow?
Yea, and
reward them, I opine,
For the grace of God is great enow."
"'T is known enow that all mankind
At first were formed for perfect
bliss;
Our forefather that boon resigned,
All for an apple's sake, I
wis;
We fell condemned, for folly blind,
To suffer sore in hell's
abyss;
But One a remedy did find
Lest we our hope of heaven
should miss.
He suffered on the cross for this,
Red blood ran from
His crownèd brow;
He saved us by that pain of His,
For the grace of
God is great enow."
"Enow there flowed from out that well,
Blood and water from His
broad wound:
The blood bought us from bale of hell,
And from
second death deliverance found.
The water is baptism, truth to tell,

That followed-the spear so sharply ground,
And washes away the
guilt most fell
Of those that Adam in death had drowned.
Now is
there nothing in earth's great round,
To bar from the bliss wherewith
God did endow
Mankind,--restored to us safe and sound,
For the
grace of God is great enow."
XII

"Grace enow a man may get
By penitence, though he sin again;
But
with long sorrow and regret,
He must bear punishment and pain;

But righteous reason will not let
The innocent be hurt in vain;
God
never gave His judgment yet,
That they should suffer who show no
stain.
The sinful soul of mercy fain
Finds pardon if he will repent,

But he who sinless doth remain
Is surely saved, being innocent."
"Two men are saved of God's good grace,
Who severally have done
His will:
The righteous man shall see His face,
The innocent dwells
with Him still.
In the Psalter thou may'st find a case:
'Lord, who
shall climb to Thy high hill,
Or rest within Thy Holy Place?'
The
psalmist doth the sense fulfill:
'Who with his hands did never ill,

His heart to evil never lent,
There to ascend he shall have skill;'
So
surely saved is the innocent."
"That the righteous is saved I hold certain;
Before God's palace he
shall stand
Who never took man's life in vain,
Who never to flatter
his fellow planned.
Of the righteous, the Wise Man writeth plain

How kindly our King doth him command;
In ways full strait he doth
restrain,
Yet shows him the kingdom great and grand,
As who saith:
'Behold! yon lovely land!
Thou may'st win it, if so thy will be bent.'

But with never peril on either hand,
Surely saved is the innocent."
"Of the righteous saved, hear one man say--
David, who in the Psalter
cried:
'O Lord, call never Thy servant to pay,
For no man living is
justified.'
So thou, if thou shalt come one day
To the court that each
cause must decide,
For mercy with justice thou may'st pray

Through this same text that I espied.
But may He on the bloody cross
that died,
His holy hands with hard nails rent,
Give thee to pass
when thou art tried,
Saved, not as righteous, but innocent."
"Of the sinless saved the tale is told,--
Read in the Book where it is
said:
When Jesus walked, among men of old,
The people a passage
to Him made;
Bringing their bairns for Him to hold,
For the

blessing of His hand they prayed.
The twelve reproved them:
'Overbold
To seek the Master;' and sternly stayed.
But Jesus said:
'Be ye not afraid;
Suffer the children, nor prevent;
God's kingdom is
for such arrayed.'
Surely saved are the innocent."
XIII
"Christ called to Him the innocents mild,
And said His kingdom no
man might win,
Unless he came thither as a child,--Not
otherwise
might he enter in,
Harmless, faithful, undefiled,
With never a spot
of soiling sin,--For
these whom the world has not beguiled
Gladly
shall one the gate unpin.
There shall that endless bliss begin,
The
merchant sought, and straight was led
To barter all stuffs men weave
and spin,
To buy him a pearl unblemished."
"'This pearl unblemished, bought so dear,
For which the merchant his
riches gave,
Is like the kingdom of heaven clear;'
So said the Father
of world and wave.
It is a flawless, perfect sphere,
Polished and
pure, and bright and brave;
As on my heart it doth appear,
It is
common to all who to virtue clave.
My Lord, the Lamb Who died to
save,
Here set it in token of His blood shed
For peace. Then let the
wild world rave,
But buy thee this pearl unblemishèd."
"O Pearl unblemished, in pure pearls dressed,
That beareth," said I,
"the pearl of price,
Who formed thy figure-and thy vest?
Truly he
wrought with cunning nice;
For thy beauty, above nature's best,

Passeth Pygmalion's artifice;
Nor Aristotle the lore possessed
To
depict in words so fair