"The accuser of the brethren!"
How fitting is the name!
Since the creation of the world
His business is the same;
Bringing false accusations,
Sowing the seeds of strife,
Watching the halting of the saints,
And striking at the life.
If with the aspersed one he should fail,
The asperser's sure to fall;
For, losing Christian charity,
Have we not lost our all?
Ye know not, vain contenders,
What spirit ye are of;
Alas! ye are weak "defenders"
Of "the faith that works by love,"
Which purifies the feelings,
And makes all sweet within,
Tenders the heart before the Lord,
And keeps the spirit clean.
Go and adorn the doctrine
Ye are feigning to approve,
And seek for strength to follow Him
Whose first, best name is Love.
But cease from defamation;
The poet says 'tis worse
To steal his reputation
Than rob him of his purse.
Look home, look home, defamers,
There's business there for you;
Weed well your own deceitful hearts,
You'll find enough to do.
Perhaps that God, before whose glance
Each soul unveiled appears,
Sees that thy brother's work is done,
While thine is in arrears.
Then leave, ah! leave the little mote
Which thou, and thou alone,
Mark'st in his eye, and take away
The beam that blinds thine own.
Thou hast had much, yea much forgiven;
Then is it just and right,
From him, who is thy fellow worm,
To exact the utmost mite?
"Judge not," the blessed Jesus said,
"Judgment is mine alone;
He only who has never sinned
Should dare to cast a stone.
"But love thy neighbor as thyself,
His friend, his helper be,
And show that mercy unto him
Which God has shown to thee."