“YE GOLDEN LAMPS OF HEAVEN, FAREWELL.”
Dr. Doddridge's “farewell” is not a note of regret. Unlike Bernard, he appreciates this world while he anticipates the better one, but his contemplation climbs from God's footstool to His throne. His thought is in the last two lines of the second stanza, where he takes leave of the sun—
My soul that springs beyond thy sphere
No more demands thine aid.
But his fancy will find a function for the “golden lamps” even in the glory that swallows up their light—
Ye stars are but the shining dust
Of my divine abode,
The pavement of those heavenly courts
Where I shall dwell with God.
The Father of eternal light
Shall there His beams display,
Nor shall one moment's darkness mix
With that unvaried day.