OR ever with the Lord!" Amen; so let it be ; Life from the dead is in that word, "Tis immortality. Here in the body pent, Absent from Him I roam, Yet nightly pitch my moving tent A day's march nearer home. My Father's house on high, Home of my soul, how near At times to faith's far seeing eye, Thy golden gates appear! Ah! then my spirit faints To reach the land I love, The bright inheritance of saints, Jerusalem above. Yet clouds will intervene, And all my prospect flies! Like Noah's dove, I flit between Rough seas and stormy skies. Expands the bow of peace. Beneath its glowing arch, Along the hallowed ground, I see cherubic armies march, A camp of fire around. I hear at morn and even, At noon and midnight hour, The choral harmonies of heaven Earth's Babel tongues o'erpower. Then, then I feel that He, (Remembered or forgot,) The Lord is never far from me, Though I perceive Him not. In darkness as in light, Hidden alike from view, I sleep, I wake, as in His sight From the dim hour of birth, Through every changing state Of mortal pilgrimage on earth, Till its appointed date. All that I am, have been, All that I yet may be, He sees at once, as He hath seen, And shall for ever see. How can I meet His eyes? Mine on the cross I cast, And own my life a Saviour's prize, Mercy from first to last. "For ever with the Lord!" Father, if 'tis Thy will, The promise of that faithful word, E'en here to me fulfil. Be thou at my right hand, Then can I never fail ; Uphold Thou me, and I shall stand; Fight, and I must prevail. So when my latest breath Shall rend the veil in twain, By death I shall escape from death, And life eternal gain. Knowing as I am known, Then, though the soul enjoy The trump of final doom Will speak the self-same word, And heaven's voice thunder through the tomb, "For ever with the Lord." The tomb shall echo deep That death-awakening sound; The saints shall hear it in their sleep, And answer from the ground. Then, upward as they fly, That resurrection-word Shall be their shout of victory, "For ever with the Lord." That resurrection-word, That shout of victory, Once more, "For ever with the Lord!" Amen, so let it be ! "She is not dead, but sleepeth." THE baby wept ; The mother took it from the nurse's arms, Again it weeps ; And God doth take it from the mother's arms, His Servants shall serve Him. E seek that land whose light e'en now, Though dim and far, is all our gladness, Whose hope, in storms, is God's own bow; Whose peace, the rest from care and woe: Whose love, our joy in sadness. There day and night Thy happy saints The service here we strive to pay By weakness marred, by darkness clouded; Strong in Thy strength, bright with Thy day, We there shall offer perfectly, In light and love unshrouded. Our hearts, whose love has taught them this, The songs, here drownèd in the moan. Of earth's unrest, which ceaseth never, And for our feet, to earth which cling, So let us strive, with earnest soul, Thy work to do, though small the measure, All tending to our highest goal, And they shall see His face. HAT must it be to dwell above, When sin no more obstructs our sight, Well, He has fixed the happy day |