Faith Against Sight
The world has cycles in its course, when all
That once has been, is acted o’er again:-
Not by some fated law, which need appal
Our faith, or binds our deeds as with a chain;
But by men’s separate sins, which, blended still,
The same bad round fulfill.
Then fear ye not, though Gallio’s scorn you see,
And soft-clad nobles count you mad, true hearts!
These are the fig-tree’s signs; – rough deeds must be,
Trials and crimes; so learn ye well your parts.
Once more to plough the earth it is decreed,
And scatter wide the seed.
– John Henry Newman
Faith and Sight 