Prefatory Sonnet.
Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends ofthe world.
Rom.
x. 17, 18.
T
here
is a music flowing through the years
The mystic time, and times, and half time-
With cadence sweet and solemn, like a chime
Heard in a city's roar. To hearing ears
'Tis the authentic chanting of those spheres
That, round the single Day-star of the soul,
Through the set seasons in their courses roll,
With light and song for him who sees and hears.
Behold, these diverse Truths reflect One Lord:
And, like a bow of circling sound, they blend
In the full sweetness of their heptachord
All tones of the Beginning and the End.
I listen, Lord: O touch my lips with fire,
That singing in their tune I may not tire.