Oh lovely flowers, with quaint perfumes, So bright, so fresh, with vivid blooms! Ye wear the seals of brighter climes, As plants for Resurrection times! Dear, modest flowers, too sweet to last, E'en in a day your glory past: Yet never with such light serene, King Solomon in glory seen! Ye toil not, neither do you spin; Your lowly meekness could I win, Content with breathing God's sweet air, Mine His adoption, His my careI'd wait, the season through, His will, Nor more than lilies make complaint, But with my sweetest fragrance fill The heart of each adoring saint. O blessed Saviour! let us show Before we reach Thy throne above; That burdened, darkened souls may see, What boundless mercy God can give: What pardoning grace, so full, so free, That bids the Chief of Sinners live! Then all the petals of each flower, On earth but letters of Thy praise, In Faradise shall sing the Power And endless glory of Thy grace. The Morning Star foretells the Dawn, It waits the ministry of Night; So doth our lovely rising star, Forth from the bosom of the deep, With undiminished rays afar, Its gentle watch above us keep; Though hidden by the morning sun, Ere the first star of evening faded; Heaven's radiance for the soul's devotion. Dear Evening Star, whose sacred rays Hearts that commune with God in Prayer! Their heavenly grace how pure, how bright! But now each flower, so dear to me, Of all Thy shining graces born, With all the blossoms of the spring, That May-days to the children bring, And tiniest opening buds that cling; And violets dear to each sad heart, Because in memory there thou art, The evening breezes, whispering by, With unseen blessings from on high; The scenes so dear that greet the eyeReflect a Presence that hath gone, A sunset light, a rosy morn, No more our pathway to adorn! Yet now, O Lord! our hearts ascend To Thee, who didst such blessings lend. We wait the Resurrection Morn, Where all God's Covenant rainbows blend; Transcendent bliss that knows no end! In Heaven's Eternity to find The loved one now from sight withdrawn Lord, by such love alone we live, Are pearls Thou only canst impart ; Of hearts with Christ's dear love on fire, Earth's countless mourners to inspire, With Faith and Hope and Love indwelling O boundless Miracle of Grace, Thine offered mercy to embrace, And see Thy glory face to face! Thy sufferings were our Life's beginning; Thy death shall keep our Life from sinning, Thy precious all-atoning blood, Poured forth, to bring our souls to God! Nor Death, nor Hell, from Thee shall ever One impulse of our being sever! O blissful Life in Thine abode, THE LIFE THAT'S HID WITH CHRIST IN GOD! |