Blessed angels! ye who heed
All our striving, all our need,
When our eyes with weeping ache,
When our hearts in silence break,
When the cross is hard to bear,
When we fail to do and dare,
Make our wounded spirits feel
All your power to bless and heal.
When we gaze on new-made graves,
When the love the spirit craves,
Pure and saintly, like a star,
Shines upon us from afar,
Lead us upward to that light,
Till our faith is changed to sight,
Till we learn to murmur not,
And with patience bear our lot.
By our human weal and woe,
By our life of toil below,
By our sorrow and our pain,
By our hope of heavenly gain,
By these cherished forms of clay,
Fading from our sight away,
Do we plead for light, more light,
From that world beyond our sight.
Never, till our hearts are dust,
Till our souls shall cease to trust,
Till our love becomes a lie,
And our aspirations die,
Shall we cease with hope, to gaze
On that veil’s mysterious haze,
Or the presence to implore
Of the loved ones gone before.
Holy spirit! quickening all,
On thy boundless love we call;
Send thy messengers of light,
To unseal our inward sight;
Lift us from our low estate,
Make us truly wise and great,
That our lives, through love, may be
Full of peace and rest in Thee.
NEARER TO THEE.
The following Poem was given at the conclusion of a lecture on “The Present Condition of Theodore Parker in Spirit Life”
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee.[36]
Yes, I am nearer Thee! for flesh and sense
Have been exchanged for an eternal youth;
My spirit hath been born anew, and hence
I worship Thee “in spirit and in truth.”