Part 24 (1/2)

Be Faithful.

Tune--”Be Kind to the Loved Ones at Home.”

O brother, be faithful! soon Jesus will come, For whom we have waited so long; Oh! soon we shall enter our glorious home, And join in the conqueror's song.

O brother, be faithful! for why should we prove Unfaithful to him who has shown Such deep, such unbounded and infinite love-- Who died to redeem us his own.

O brother, be faithful! the city of gold, Prepared for the good and the blest, Is waiting its portals of pearl to unfold, And welcome thee into thy rest; Then brother, prove faithful! not long shall we stay, In weariness here and forlorn; Time's dark night of sorrow is wearing away, We haste to the glorious morn.

O brother, be faithful! He soon will descend, Creation's Omnipotent King, While legions of angels his chariot attend, And palm-wreaths of victory bring.

O brother, be faithful! and soon thou shalt hear Thy Saviour p.r.o.nounce the glad word, Well done, faithful servant, thy t.i.tle is clear To enter the joy of thy Lord.

O brother, be faithful! eternity's years Shall tell for thy faithfulness now, When bright smiles of gladness shall scatter thy tears, And a coronet gleam on thy brow.

O brother, be faithful! the promise is sure, That waits for the faithful and tried; To reign with the ransomed, immortal and pure, And ever with Jesus abide.

Lines

To J. T. and M. T. Lane, on the death of their little Child, Francis M. Lane, July 25, 1858.

Still reigns the tyrant Death in sable power; Sorrow and mourning wait at his command; For tender bud as well as blooming flower, Fades 'neath the touch of his relentless hand.

And hath his summons to your hearts been spoken?

Hath his dark shadow crossed your threshold o'er?

Hath he links of fond affection broken, And borne a loved one from this mortal sh.o.r.e?

So hath a floweret from your pathway faded; A bright star s.h.i.+ning o'er you set in gloom; Bright rays of hope are from your vision shaded By the dark curtain of the silent tomb.

'Tis well to weep: stay not the bitter tears If thus the burdened heart may find relief; For this dark earth hath been six thousand years A vale of woe, a charnel-house of grief.

Know then that here where dearest forms have perished, There's nothing true on which our love to shed; Not where death reigns can hopes of bliss be cherished, Which may not wither 'neath his icy tread.

But ah! there is land whose sh.o.r.es are nearing; The ills of earth its soil shall never bear; Of that bright world there stands this promise cheering: Death finds no entrance--pain no victims there.

To that fair land be now your footsteps tending; Fix heart and treasure on that blissful sh.o.r.e, Where friends shall re-unite in joy unending, Nor taste the pangs of separation more.

Pa.s.sed Away.

Pa.s.sed away from earth forever, Free from all its cares and fears, She again will join us never While we tread this vale of tears; For the turf is now her pillow, And she sleeps among the dead; While the cypress and the willow Wave above her lowly bed.

There she slumbers, calmly slumbers, With the silent, peaceful dead.

With what grief and anguish riven, Should we see the loved depart, If there were no promise given, Which could soothe the wounded heart!

If the chains with which death binds them, Ne'er again should broken be; And his prison which confines them, Ne'er be burst to set them free; If forever there to leave them, Were our hopeless destiny.

But a glorious day is nearing, Earth's long-wished-for jubilee; When creation's King appearing, Shall proclaim his people free; When upborne on Love's bright pinion, They shall shout from land and sea, Death! where is thy dark dominion!