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WISDOM AND HUMILITY

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 25, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 4.

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WISDOM AND HUMILITY.

By Fred T. Elkin

MASTERFUL wisdom of our day, behold His star ascendant in the lightened East; Haste ye to worship, as the wise of old, The Saviour of the greatest and the least? Come ye according to the talents given To make accounting to the Son of heaven?
With souls aflame and void of all pretense Bear manger-ward the offerings designed— Long-suffering Mercy's myrrh and frankincense, Fragrant of loving service to thy kind; Yea, rob the thrice-fired gold from the heart's hoard To pay a tithe of tribute to the Lord.
From that rude manger emanates all light— The light that waketh Fear and Hope at heart, That spurreth Science to the bounds of night, That whispereth, "Perfection!" unto Art— Bright pentecostal cloven tongues of fire Responsive to the striving soul's desire.
We walk an Eden fruited and beflowered With all the thoughts the centuries have known, From genius of the quick and dead empowered To pluck, to taste, to use as tho our own. O, have a care! Pluck wisely, prayerfully. The angel with the flaming sword stands by.
Knowledge, thy free power mocketh kings' control; Time, taking toll of scepters, passeth thee; Crowned dust can kill but dust; ye mold the soul And make or mar it for eternity. Say, shall the glorious spark pent in our clay Be but a brilliant toy with which to play?
Say, O ye wise, shall barren faith suffice? Proclaim the Name that renders death supine; Bring countless nations to the sacrifice; Recharge earth's laboring lungs with breath divine.
Behold the millions mumbling to the throne, Unconscious of the Lamb who sits thereon.
Work while ye may, the hour is truly late; Our little lives towards the judgment move; The whitening fields the husbandmen await.
The Master comes in majesty of love— The Hand that hurled this whirling sphere in space Hath pressed the cross and bears the iron's trace.
Lord, heed our prayer, the prayer we learned of Thee, As voiced from cleanly lip and reverent heart,— "Lead not into temptation;" set us free From evil sloth; true wisdom, Lord, impart— Thou of the innermost, in love draw men To the humility of Bethlehem.
FRED T. ELKIN. Denver, Colo.