p. 107 | A CHANGE by Whittier

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 5, 1877

A CHANGE.

By Whittier

Over the roofs of the pioneers Gathers the moss of a hundred years; On man and his works has passed the change Which needs must be in a century's range. The land lies open and warm in the sun, Anvils clamor and mill-wheels run— Flocks on the hillsides, herds on the plain, The wilderness gladdened with fruit and grain.

But the living faith of the settlers old A dead profession their children hold; To the lust of office and greed of trade A stepping-stone is the altar made.

The church, to place and power the door, Rebukes the sin of the world no more, Nor sees its Lord in the homeless poor. Everywhere is the grasping hand, And eager adding of land to land; And earth which seemed to the fathers meant But as a pilgrim's wayside tent— A nightly shelter to fold away When the Lord should call at the break of day— Solid and steadfast seems to be, And Time has forgotten Eternity.

—Whittier.