Page:Over the river, and other poems.djvu/69

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JUDGE NOT.

"Judge not thy brother," Christ has said,
"Lest on thy own unworthy head
The wrath thou heap'st on him be shed."

But we forget the mandate stern ;
And, if his feet from duty turn,
We let our wrath against him burn.

And, spurning pity's gentle sway,
We haste to tear each screen away,
And drag his errors to the day.

Not so does God's sweet mercy flow ;
His vilest creatures here below

His pitying care and kindness know.

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