RICH AND POOR by Mrs. L. D. A. Stuttle

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Oct 2, 1879

RICH AND POOR.

By Mrs. L. D. A. Stuttle

O, thou whose heart once kind and warm. But now unfeeling, hard and cold,— Whose precious years have come and gone In selfish struggle after gold, Till every hour the heart hath grown More hard and cold like flinty stone,

Dost thou not fear lest he, whom thou Hast sore oppressed and humbled long; Whom thou hast grudged his scanty hire, And crushed with violence and wrong,— Lest he should lift his tearful eye, And to the God of vengeance cry?

For He, whose mighty hand directs The starry hosts that roll above— In kind compassion ever smiles Upon his poor with tenderest love. Shall man in God's own image made, Refuse his fellow creature aid?

In freely giving to the poor,— Thou lendest to the blessed Lord, And when the Master calls thee hence, Thou shalt receive a full reward. A crown of life shall then be given, To those who treasure gold in Heaven.

Hast thou no pity for the poor? Canst thou not feel thy brother's woe? Why steel thy spirit to his grief? Ah, foolish soul, dost thou not know That day is near, when gold will rust, And thy poor frame lie in the dust?

Hast thou not heard that signs foretell, A day of desolation nigh, When in thy glittering palace grand, The owl shall hoot, the satyr cry From mouldering piles where ivys cling, The bat shall flit with noiseless wing?

Through ages long, no human foot Shall pace thy halls with cheerful tread; No human voice an echo wake, Among these chambers of the dead! There shall the prowling monster hide, And venomed serpents noiseless glide.

Where then shall be thy treasures vast, Thy hoarded piles of shining gold? What shall avail these baubles gay, For which thy priceless soul was sold O! while there's time and mercy given, Lay treasures in the bank of Heaven.

MRS. L. D. A. STUTTLE.

Vernon, Mich., Aug. 23, 1879.