Thou glorious morning! beautiful and bright! The world is bathed in God's transcendent light,— As if the pearly gates had opened wide, And earth and sky alike were glorified. Enraptured, on the scene sublime I gaze, And every thought ascends to God in praise. The glittering host of stars, receding, seem To veil their faces, fading like a dream; The earth in her bright garniture of snow Is radiant now! O, can one wail of woe, One cry of agony, from grief or pain, Be heard in all this white-robed land again! So like an emblem of immortal light This sacred morning dawns upon our sight!
O, what more beautiful than this may be! What more of glory can we wish to see? Why list for music from the spirit world, Or sigh to see bright angel-wings unfurled? Our God has made all things so fair and bright We need but look around to find delight; And yet how many, blindfold, grope their way In error, fearfulness and gloom to-day! No joy or beauty meet their darkened sight; But fearful doubts, and shadows black as night. Why walk so desolate 'mid earth's fair bloom, And dim her brightness with imagined gloom? O, let us look to God with trustful eyes, Nor make life's journey o'er "a bridge of sighs" His richest blessings ever round us fall; His bounteous gifts are full and free to all.
Sin only mars our peace, our hope destroys; Its dreadful presence blights our sweetest joys. If pure in heart, this earth an Eden seems; Its beauty, fairer than our rarest dreams. And He whose goodness far exceeds our thought Or knowledge, this glorious truth has taught,— That we are His great family; and He, In His own time and way, shall make man free From sin's dark thralldom and the power of death, And perfect all, through penitence and faith.
