CHRISTIANITY AND SCIENCE.
By Ella Wheeler
O SCIENCE, reaching backward through the distance,
Most earnest child of God,
Exposing all the secrets of existence
With thy divining rod,
I bid thee speed up to the hights supernal,
Clear thinker, ne'er sufficed—
Go seek and find the laws and truths eternal,—
But leave me Christ. Upon the vanity of pious sages
Let in the light of day;
Break down the superstition of all ages—
Thrust bigotry away.
Stride on, and bid all stubborn foes defiance;
Let truth and reason reign;
But I beseech thee, O immortal Science!—
Let Christ remain. What can'st thou give to help me bear my crosses,
In place of him, my Lord?
What recompense for all my grievous losses,
And bring me sweet reward?
Thou could'st not with thy cold, clear eyes of reason—
Thou could'st not comfort me,
Like one who passed through the tear-blotted season,
In sad Gethsemane. Through all the weary, wearing hours of sorrow,
What word that thou hast said
Would make me strong to wait for some to-morrow,
When I should find my dead?
When I am weak, and desolate, and lonely,
And prone to follow wrong,
Not thou, O Science!—Christ, my Saviour only,
Can make me strong. Thou art so cold, so lofty and so distant,
Though great my need might be,
No prayer, however constant and persistent,
Could bring thee down to me.
Christ stands so near, to help me through each hour,
To guide me day by day;
O Science, sweeping all before thy power,—
Leave Christ, I pray.
—Ella Wheeler.