Life is real! life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
"Dust thou art, to dust returnest,"
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and time is fleeting,

And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle, ·
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, act in the living Present,
Heart within and God o'erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us;
We can make our lives sublime
And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time.

The proprietor of the South Wales Gazette maintains that the "Psalm of Life" is "singularly suitable for congregational singing, and has been helpful to many a soul assailed by the twin forces of pessimism and despair." Of this poem Sir Edwin Arnold says: "I have liked and lived by Longfellow's 'Psalm of Life.' Mr. Harry Furniss says that Longfellow's "Psalm of Life" is to him the best of hymns, and "I must acknowledge that I frequently repeated the stanza 'Let us, then, be

999

up and doing' in my early days." He adds: "I do not know whether this comes in the category of hymns, but if it does not, it ought to." The Rev. Samuel Longfellow, brother of Henry, wrote several hymns which the Rev. Minot J. Savage says the Unitarians in the United States find exceedingly helpful.

120-GOETHE'S "OHNE HAST UND OHNE RAST."

GOETHE'S hymn I have taken from "Hymns and Anthems" used at the South Place Chapel. I would have liked to include the verses which Mr. Morley said came nearer expressing his ultimate thought than anything else, but I could not drag them even into my very wide net. So I content myself with this.

W1Bind the motto to thy breast,

ITHOUT haste and without rest:

Bear it with thee as a spell;

Storm or sunshine, guard it well!

Heed not flowers that round thee bloom;
Bear it onward to the tomb!

Haste not let no thoughtless deed

Mar the spirit's steady speed;
Ponder well and know the right,
Onward then with all thy might;
Haste not years can ne'er atone
For one reckless action done!

Rest not-life is sweeping by,
Do and dare before you die;
Something worthy and sublime
Leave behind to conquer time:
Glorious 't is to live for aye,

When these forms have passed away.

Haste not

rest not, calm in strife

Meekly bear the storms of life ;
Duty be thy polar guide,

Do the right whate'er betide;

Haste not- -rest not-conflicts past,
God shall crown thy work at last!

121 — WORKMAN OF GOD, O LOSE NOT

THIS

HEART.

another contribution of Faber's to the hymnody of the Church Universal - is "As lofty as the love of God, and wide as are the wants of men."

WORK

WORKMAN of God, O lose not heart,
But learn what God is like;

And in the darkest battle-field
Thou shalt know where to strike.

Thrice blest is he to whom is given
The instinct that can tell

That God is on the field when He
Is most invisible.

Blest too is he who can divine
Where real right doth lie,

And dares to take the side that seems
Wrong to man's blindfold eye.

God's glory is a wondrous thing,
Most strange in all its ways;
And, of all things on earth, least like
What men agree to praise.

Muse on His justice, downcast soul,
Muse, and take better heart;

Back with thine angel to the field,

And bravely do thy part.

For right is right, since God is God;
And right the day must win;
To doubt would be disloyalty,
To falter would be sin.

122-WORK, FOR THE NIGHT IS COMING. YEARS ago, when the Darlington School Board was wrestling with the religious difficulties, a local disciple of Mr. Bradlaugh subjected Sankey's hymns to a critical examination, with the result that this hymn," Work, for the night is coming," was declared to be the only hymn in the book that could be used in the Board Schools without giving offence to the Secularist conscience.

WORK, for the night is coming!

Work through the morning hours;
Work while the dew is sparkling,
Work 'mid springing flowers:
Work when the day grows brighter,
Work in the glowing sun;
Work, for the night is coming,
When man's work is done.

Work, for the night is coming,
Work through the sunny noon:
Fill brightest hours with labour,
Rest comes sure and soon.
Give every flying minute

Something to keep in store:
Work, for the night is coming,

When man works no more.

Work, for the night is coming,
Under the sunset skies!

While their bright tints are glowing
Work, for daylight flies.

Work till the last beam fadeth,
Fadeth to shine no more :
Work while the night is dark'ning,
When man's work is o'er.

TUNE FROM "SONGS AND SOLOS."

123 — COURAGE, BROTHER! DO NOT

STUMBLE.

THIS cheery marching song by the late Dr. Norman Macleod has a lilt and a go in it which are quite sufficient to explain its popularity. It is also free from any objection as to sectarian bias.

Cou

OURAGE, brother! do not stumble,
Though thy path
be dark as night;

There's a star to guide the humble;
Trust in God, and do the right.
Let the road be rough and dreary,
And its end far out of sight,
Foot it bravely! strong or weary,
Trust in God, and do the right.

Perish policy and cunning,

Perish all that fears the light!
Whether losing, whether winning,
Trust in God, and do the right.

Trust no party, sect, or faction;
Trust no leaders in the fight;
But in every word and action

Trust in God, and do the right.

Trust no lovely forms of passion,
Fiends may look like angels bright;
Trust no custom, school, or fashion -
Trust in God, and do the right.