1861.

Clouds and conflicts round us press:

Would we have one sorrow less?

All the sharpness of the cross,

All that tells the world is loss,

Death, and darkness, and the tomb,

Only whisper, "Till He come."

See, the feast of love is spread,

Drink the wine, and break the bread, –

XVII.

"HARPERS HARPING WITH THEIR HARPS."

REVELATION xiv. 2.

ON the hill of Zion standing,

Lo! the Lamb of God appears:

Scenes of glory far expanding,

Far above this vale of tears;

Songs of rapture, falling sweet on mortal ears.

Lo! He comes! with awful wonder:

Hark, those strains of joy untold;
Deepening on and on like thunder

Never learnt or sung of old:

Blissful harpers, harping on their harps of gold.

Lo! He comes! in heaven appearing,

Mark yon herald angel's flight,

Glad eternal tidings bearing

To the lands of heathen night.

O'er the nations breaks a flood of Gospel light.

1849.

Lo! He comes! the heavens unfold Him;

King of Kings, He comes to reign; Crown'd, enthroned, ye saints, behold Him, Once for you baptized in pain.

Come, Lord Jesus! Even so, Amen, Amen.

XVIII.

HE COMETH.

"Hallelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." REV. xix. 6.

HALLELUJAH! He cometh with clouds and with light,

And the trumpet of God, in the silence of night:
Heaven's armies before Him adoringly bend,

And thousands of thousands His bidding attend.

Hallelujah! He cometh: and every eye
Beholds Him with anguish or rapturous joy;
A wailing is heard from the kindreds of earth,
It is drown'd in Hosannas of heavenly mirth.

Hallelujah! He cometh: the judgment is set,
And the nations are gather'd in crowds to His feet;
The earth and the ocean have yielded their dead,
And the records of time are unfolded and read.

1850.

Hallelujah! earth crumbles in ashes and dust,
While calmly He severs the wicked and just,
The shadows of darkness are driven away,
And the morning has dawn'd of eternal day.