Classic Poem

PART I

" For 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 foreseeing 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.

Anon the clouds depart,
— The winds and waters cease;
While sweetly o'er my gladdened heart
— 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.

PART II

In darkness as in light,
— Hidden alike from view,
I sleep, I wake, as in His sight
— Who looks all nature through.

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 forever 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

" Forever with the Lord: "
— Father, if 'tis Thy will,
The promise of that faithful word
— Even here to me fulfil!

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
— How shall I love that word,
And oft repeat before the throne,
— " For ever with the Lord! "

Then though the soul enjoy
— Communion high and sweet,
While worms this body must destroy,
— Both shall in glory meet.

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.