2 Hand in hand with angels: some are out of sight,
Leading us, unknowing, into paths of light;
Some soft hands are covered from our mortal grasp,
Soul in soul to hold us with a firmer clasp.
3 Hand in hand with angels, walking every day,
How the chain may brighten, none of us can say ;
Yet it doubtless reaches from earth's lowest one
To the loftiest seraph, standing near the throne.
4 Hand in hand with angels, ever let us go;
Clinging to the strong ones, drawing up the slow;
One electric love-chord, thrilling all with fire,
Soar we through vast ages, higher, ever higher.
1 HARK! hark! from grove and fountain
Our joyful songs resound,
And every rock and mountain
Re-echoes them around.
The darkness, earth forsaking,
Before the day flies fast,
And man, redeemed, is breaking
From Error's chain at last.
2 The light from God above us
Is beaming in our eyes,
And angel-friends who love us
Are whispering from the skies;
They speak in accents tender,
And bid us weep no more;
For, clad in robes of splendour,
They tread the heavenly shore.
3 They tell us of the beauty
That shines in that bright sphere;
They teach us of our duty
To love each other here.
Oh, Father! guard and guide us;
When death shall close our eyes,
Thy angels standing near us,
Shall lead us to the skies.
WE WILL NOT FEAR THEE, DEATH.
10s.
1 WE will not fear the beauteous angel, Death,
Who waits us at the portals of the skies,
Ready to kiss away the struggling breath:
Ready with gentle hand to close our eyes.
2 How many a tranquil soul has passed away,
Fled gladly from fierce pain and pleasures dim,
To the eternal splendour of the day;
And many a troubled heart still calls for him.
3 Spirits too tender for the battle here
Have turned from life, its hopes, its fears, its charms;
And children from their young companions dear,
Have smiling passed away into his arms.
4 Death will give bac what neither time, nor might,
Nor earnest prayer, nor longing hope restore-
Dear as to long blind eyes received sight,-
He will give back those who have gone before.
5 Oh, what were life, if life were all? Thine eyes
Are blinded by their tears, or thou would'st see
Thy treasures wait thee in the far-off skies,
And Death, thy friend, will give them all to thee.
1 How cheering the thought, that the angels of God
Do bow their bright wings to the world they once trod;
Do leave the sweet joys of the mansions above,
To breathe o'er our bosoms some message of love.
2 They come; on the wings of the morning they come,
Impatient to guide some poor wanderer home;
Some brother to lead from a darkened abode,
And lay him to rest in the arms of his God.
3 They come when we wander, they come when we pray, In mercy to guard us wherever we stray;
A glorious cloud, their bright witness is given :
Encircling us here are these angels of heaven.
1 BE firm and be faithful; desert not the right;
The brave become bolder the darker the night!
Then up and be doing, though cowards may fail,
The duty pursuing, dare all, and prevail !
2 If scorn be thy portion, if hatred and loss,
If stripes or a prison, remember the cross!
God watches above thee, and he will requite:
Stand firm and be faithful, desert not the right!
1 Love never sleeps! the mother's eye
Bends o'er her dying infant's bed ;
And, as she marks the moment's fly,
While death creeps on with noiseless tread,
Faint and distressed, she sits and weeps,
With beating heart! Love never sleeps!
2 Around-above-the angel bands
Stoop o'er the careworn sons of men ;
With pitying eyes, and eager hands
They raise the soul to hope again;
Free as the air, their pity sweeps
The storm of time! Love never sleeps!
CONSOLATION OF ANGELS. T. L. HARRIS.
L.M.
1 WHEN Sorrow on the spirit feeds,
Like birds of night that seek their prey;
When, wrung by grief, the bosom bleeds
In cold misfortune's tearful day :
2 When sinks the soul, by care opprest;
And woes abound, and friends are few ;
And gladness, like a parting guest,
Reluctant says, "Adieu, adieu!"
3 'Tis sweet to hear an angel sing
In music to the listening ear,
Hope on, sad heart! eternal spring
Is almost here, is almost here."
4 Then angels burst the bars of doom;
Then vernal flowers adorn the waste;
Then sunshine gilds our mortal gloom,
And heavenly friends, with welcomes, haste.
1 AUTHOR of good, we rest on thee;
Thine ever-watchful eye
Alone our real wants can see,
Thy hand alone supply.
2 In thine all-gracious providence
Our cheerful hopes confide;
Thy power is ever our defence,
Thy love our footsteps' guide!
THE COMING OF ANGELS.
7s & 4s.
1 ANGELS bright are drawing near,
Laden with love;
List, you shall hear their voices here-
Voices above.
See! their forms you can behold
Floating apace;
Wait, they will us all enfold
In their embrace.
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