420. L. M. 6l. Mrs. Case.
God's Kingdom Here.
1Oh, where, our Saviour! sweeps the line
That marks thy kingdom's holy reign?
Is it where northern meteors shine
Or gilds the cross the southern main?
Where breaks the dawn o'er spicy lands?
Or twilight sleeps on desert sands?
2Is it where sunny skies grow dim
With smoke of heathen sacrifice?
Or where, in costly domes, the hymn
Is taught on incense clouds to rise?
Nay, nay, thy blessed word has shown
Thy kingdom is the heart alone!
3That solemn world, whose bounds between
Life's mysteries of birth and death,
Are filled with warring hosts unseen,
Beings of power, though not of breath--
The spirit realm, where'er it be,
Is the dominion swayed by thee.
4Wild, phantom shapes of gloom and fear,
Roam dimly through the haunted spot,
And earth holds not a land so drear
As the sad heart that owns thee not,
Where sorrows wound and pleasures pall,
And death's dread shadow darkens all.
5But lift thy sceptre there, its bowers
Shall be serene and sweet and fair,
And, as in time's primeval hours,
The holy ones shall gather there,
And heaven's own peace the soul o'erflow,
E'en while it lingers here below.