| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 759. Believe and Take Heart |
| | | By John Lancaster Spalding |
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| WHAT can console for a dead world? | |
| We tread on dust which once was life; | |
| To nothingness all things are hurled: | |
| What meaning in a hopeless strife? | |
| Time’s awful storm | 5 |
| Breaks but the form. | |
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| Whatever comes, whatever goes, | |
| Still throbs the heart whereby we live; | |
| The primal joys still lighten woes, | |
| And time which steals doth also give. | 10 |
| Fear not, be brave: | |
| God can thee save. | |
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| The essential truth of life remains, | |
| Its goodness and its beauty too, | |
| Pure love’s unutterable gains, | 15 |
| And hope which thrills us through and through: | |
| God has not fled, | |
| Souls are not dead. | |
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| Not in most ancient Palestine, | |
| Nor in the lightsome air of Greece, | 20 |
| Were human struggles more divine, | |
| More blessed with guerdon of increase: | |
| Take thou thy stand | |
| In the workers’ band. | |
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| Hast then no faith? Thine is the fault:— | 25 |
| What prophets, heroes, sages, saints, | |
| Have loved, on thee still makes assault, | |
| Thee with immortal things acquaints. | |
| On life then seize: | |
| Doubt is disease. | 30 |
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