BUILDING ON THE SAND by Mary Martin

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 10, 1881

BUILDING ON THE SAND.

By Mary Martin

BY MARY MARTIN.

'Twas the strangest sight—that earnest face, And weary form, with the eager hands, As he moved about from place to place, So busy, building upon the sands.

Many the mansions that he had reared, But he never ceased, by night or day, It was all the same, he built and planned For the future that before him lay.

He would say to travelers as they passed, These sands will go with the ebbing tide. But they said, "The man is surely crazed, Or he'd place his treasure the other side."

Not one could believe the words he spoke, And said, "If you think it really true, Why not go across and build on stone? You are only doing as others do."

Not a word he said by the silent stream, As he hid in the sand the shining ore, And scarcely looked for the light that gleamed Across the tide from the other shore.

Alas! alas! when the time shall come, That the rich and great in terror hide, And the hungry waves around us foam, We shall want our treasure the other side. But 'twill take some faith, and works, and prayer, As well as talking, to place it there.

GOD IS LOVE.

"When courting slumber The hours I number, And sad cares cumber My weary mind. This thought shall cheer me, That Thou art near me, Whose ear to hear me Is still inclined.

"My soul thou keepest Who never sleepest; Mid gloom the deepest There's light above. Thine eyes behold me, Thine arms enfold me, Thy word has told me That God is love."

—Sel.