5.
“When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came in unto Thee.”
Lord, I have gazed upon approaching death,
When things which this our earthly sojourn bless
Seemed as in distance growing less and less.
Nor knew before what love then cherisheth,
Spreading the everlasting Arms beneath,
So terrible in Thy deep tenderness,
Which tears alone in silence can express,
With the faint sinking frame and failing breath.
Then, 'mid the agonies of mortal fear,
When dark eternity knocked at the door,
In utter helplessness and guilty pain
Did Thy absolving keys my soul sustain;
Conscious at that dread hour that Thou wast near,
I felt a blessedness unknown before.
