The Eternal Years[37]

By FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER, D.D.

1

How shalt thou bear the Cross that now So dread a weight appears? Keep quietly to God, and think Upon the Eternal Years.

2

Austerity is little help, Although it somewhat cheers; Thine oil of gladness is the thought Of the Eternal Years.

3

Set hours and written rule are good, Long prayer can lay our fears: But it is better calm for thee To count the Eternal Years.

4

Rites are as balm unto the eyes, God's word unto the ears: But He will have thee rather brood Upon the Eternal Years.

5

Full many things are good for souls In proper times and spheres; Thy present good is in the thought Of the Eternal Years.

6

Thy self-upbraiding is a snare, Though meekness it appears; More humbling is it far for thee To face the Eternal Years.

7

Brave quiet is the thing for thee, Chiding thy scrupulous fears; Learn to be real, from the thought Of the Eternal Years.

8

Bear gently, suffer like a child, Nor be ashamed of tears; Kiss the sweet Cross, and in thy heart Sing of the Eternal Years.

9

Thy Cross is quite enough for thee, Though little it appears; For there is hid in it the weight Of the Eternal Years.

10

And knowst thou not how bitterness An ailing spirit cheers? Thy medicine is the strengthening thought Of the Eternal Years.

11

One Cross can sanctify a soul; Late saints and ancient seers Were what they were, because they mused Upon the Eternal Years.

12

Pass not from flower to pretty flower; Time flies, and judgment nears; Go! make thy honey from the thought Of the Eternal Years.

13

Death will have rainbows round it, seen Through calm contrition's tears, If tranquil hope but trims her lamp At the Eternal Years.

14

Keep unconstrain'dly in this thought, Thy loves, hopes, smiles, and tears; Such prison-house thine heart will make Free of the Eternal Years.

15

A single practice long sustained A soul to God endears: This must be thine--to weigh the thought Of the Eternal Years.

16

He practises all virtue well, Who his own Cross reveres, And lives in the familiar thought Of the Eternal Years.

"It appears that Newman thinks so highly of that poem ["The Eternal Years"] that he asked to have it sung to him during his recent illness, and remarked: '"Lead, Kindly Light" are the words of one seeking the truth. "The Eternal Years" are those of one who has found it.'"--May, 1889, Grant Duff's Notes from a Diary.

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