405. PART 11.
“Amen.”
1
Ere we utter, it is finish'd,
And the last amen repeat;
Many steep and toilsome wanderings,
'Mid alternate cold and heat,
Through life's journey,
Still await our wandering feet!
2
Lessons, hard to be adopted,
We must learn before we die,
And, “Amen” be oft repeated,
With the tear, and with the sigh,
To prepare us
For the glorious world on high!
3
Can we see our friends desert us
For religion's cause alone;
Can we, if possessions vanish,
Still our Father's goodness own?
Looking forward
Where afflictions are unknown?
4
Can we, if disease invade us,
Pain or languor overtake,
Say, amen, and with the faithful,
Heaven alone our refuge make?
Brought the nearer
As our comforts us forsake?
5
If the hopes our hearts have cherish'd,
Brighter than the summer's day,
God, in his unerring wisdom,
Like our gourds, should take away;
Could our spirits
Then, amen! devoutly say?
6
And, when death at length approaches,
(Whose precursors pass'd before,)
Are we then prepar'd to utter
The amen! and God adore?
Ever willing
What he wills, and nothing more?
7
Then, a glorious consummation
Waits to make our joy complete!
When, (beholding Him who bought us,)
We surround the mercy seat,
And, the final,
Loud and long, amen! repeat!
