Classic Poem

OR AFFLICTIONS .

Unnumbered blessings, rich and free,
Have come to us, our God, from Thee.

Sweet tokens written with Thy name,
Bright angels from Thy face they came.

Some came with open faces bright,
Aglow with heaven's own living light;

And some were veiled, trod soft and slow,
And spoke in voices grave and low.

Veiled angels, pardon! if with fears
We met you first, and many tears.

We take you to our hearts no less;
We know ye come to teach and bless.

We know the love from which ye come;
We trace you to our Father's home.

We know how radiant and how kind
Your faces are, those veils behind.

We know those veils, one happy day,
In earth or heaven, shall drop away;

And we shall see you as ye are,
And learn why thus ye sped from far.

But what the joy that day shall be,
We know not yet; we wait to see.

For this, O angels, well we know,
The way ye came our souls shall go:

Up to the love from which ye come,
Back to our Father's blessed home.

And bright each face, unveiled, shall shine,
Lord, when the Veil is rent from Thine!