Pierce these mists that blind thee, Press to yonder prize, Break the bonds that bind thee, Rise, my soul, arise! These vanities how vain! Wander not again. DAWN. LIGHT of the better morning, Shine down on me! Sun of the brighter heaven, Bid darkness flee! Thy warmth impart By thy mild ray! Lord Jesus, come, Thou day-star, shine, Enlighten now This soul of mine! Streaks of the better dawning Break on my sight, Fringing with silver edges These clouds of night. Gems on morn's brow, Glow, brightly glow, The ascending noon, When He shall come To earth again, Who comes to judge, Who comes to reign. THE MORNING STAR. THERE is a morning Star, my soul, There is a morning Star; 'Twill soon be near and bright, tho' now It seems so dim and far. And when time's stars have come and gone, And every mist of earth has flown, That better star shall rise On this world's clouded skies, To shine for ever! The night is well nigh spent, my soul, And soon above our heads shall shine A sky all glad and pure and bright, Whose light no mists enshroud, Descending never. THINGS HOPED FOR. THESE are the crowns that we shall wear, When all thy saints are crown'd ; These are the palms that we shall bear On yonder holy ground. Far off as yet, reserved in heaven, Above that veiling sky, They sparkle, like the star of even, To hope's far-piercing eye. These are the robes, unsoil'd and white, Which then we shall put on, When, foremost 'mong the sons of light, We sit on yonder throne. That City with the jewell'd crest, Ten thousand orbs in one That is the city of the saints, Where we so soon shall stand, When we shall strike these desert-tents, And quit this desert-sand. These are the everlasting hills, With summits bathed in day; The slopes down which the living rills, Soft-lapsing, take their way. Fair vision! how thy distant gleam Far fairer than the fairest dream, Fair vision! how thou liftest up Thy light makes even the darkest page In memory's scroll grow fair; Blanching the lines which tears and Had only deepened there. age |