-ii-

-Hebrews 11:35-38
... Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a Better Resurrection:
And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment:
They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted and tormented:

(OF WHOM THE WORLD WAS NOT WORTHY:) they wandered
in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
 

Once to every man and nation
Comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth with falsehood,
For the good or evil side;
Some great cause, some great decision
Offering each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever
'Twixt that darkness and that light.

Then to side with truth is noble,
When we share her wretched crust,
Ere her cause bring fame and profit,
And 'tis prosperous to be just;
Then it is the brave man chooses
While the coward stands aside,
Till the multitude make virtue
Of the Faith they had denied.


By the light of burning martyrs,
Christ, Thy bleeding feet we track,
Toiling up new Calvaries ever
With a cross that turns not back;
New occasions teach new duties,
Time makes ancient good uncouth;
They must upward still and onward,
Who would keep abreast of truth.

Though the cause of evil prosper,
Yet the truth alone is strong:
Though her portion be the scaffold,
And upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
And behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow,
Keeping watch above His own.

-James Russell Lowell
 

Preface