The Poetical Works of Robert Montgomery :: :: University of Virginia Library

Abide with us, dear Lord! abide;
No hearts can beat, and be untried
By pangful woe or care;
But, if Thy shielding arm o'ershade
The creature which Thy love hath made
Hell cannot harm a hair.

Around us Powers of evil throng
Who fain would hurry souls along
The wilds of sin and gloom;
And principles within us rage
In vernal youth, or wintry age,
Which haunt us to the tomb.

But Thou, abiding Lord of peace!
Art light, and liberty's release
To all meek sons of faith,
Thy word divine who e'er attend,
And listen to the sinner's Friend
Though dark the truth He saith.

The sinful Earth looks sad and lone,
And guilty hearts around us moan,
And graves, how fast they rise!
As added years their record bring
Of havoc, change, and suffering,—
What sadness loads our sighs!

But should Thy presence be supplied,
What calming powers of truth abide!
Our cross is meekly borne;
Though spent the noon, and night appears
To darken through our spirit's tears,
Life will not be forlorn.

When sickness shades the soul with dread,
And Fever moans with throbbing head
Till wild the pulses play,
Abide with us! blest Lord, and be
A balm beyond all sympathy
To awe the Fiend away.

Or, should it be our lot to keep
Night-watch beside the guarded sleep
Of parent, child, or friend,
There, as we note each ebbing breath
And scan the chill of coming death,
Thy dews of mercy send.

Or, when the churchyard-gloom we pace,
And oft with tearful silence trace
The tombs of friends no more,
Abide with us! that Hope and Prayer
May warble words of glory there,
Which back the dead restore.

But oh, blest Lord! of all the wounds
With which man's wearied life abounds,
Not death, nor sickness, they
Which most disease the mind with pain,
Or bid us view the world as vain,
Where grief and anguish sway;

But, hollow tongues and heartless smiles,
And glozing friends who were but wiles
Of falsehood lightly drest,—
These melt us into more than tears,
And make us feel our martyr'd years
A burden on the breast.

O then, abide with us! and calm
Our spirit with that sacred balm
Pure grace alone imparts;
Thy Presence like a heaven will be,
When all the false ones fade and flee,
And soothe our sunken hearts.

Abide with us!—why pray we so,
As if disciples did not glow
With Thine own promise sure?
“Lo! I am with you, till the chime
Of Ages sounds the last of time,
While earth and man endure.”

Yes, Thou art “with us” in Thy word;
Thy Voice in sacraments is heard,
And prayer and praise reveal
How through the soul Thy blessings glide,
As o'er the heart's most gloomy tide
Thy radiant comforts steal.

Dejection oft, but not despair,
In this tried world of woe and care
It may be ours to face;
Only, be Thou the sleepless guide,
Morn, noon, and night with us abide
Till we complete our race.

We ask not blissful calms to dwell
Around us with unbroken spell,
Nor seek a pangless lot;
But, by the breathing of Thy word
Be our faint bosoms freshly stirr'd,
Nor sigh, as if forgot!