MORNING PRAYER.
Reading edition
ILLUSTRATION OF A PICTURE.
He is not here!
We meet around the altar yet once more,
Where we our prayers have blent so oft before,
And drop a tear
Upon the holy book from which he read
Who sleeps, at length, in peace, among the silent dead.
Yet from on high
He looketh on us—widow, daughter, son—
Pointing the course by which he glory won.
He still is nigh,
On angel’s wings, to comfort us and guide,—
Unseen, but not unfelt, forever by our side.
Father in heaven!
Who hast called home the leader of our band,
And the bright glories of the better land
Unto him given,
O, be with us, and keep us in the way
That leads, through this dark night, to an unending day!
Strengthen our hearts
To bear, with fortitude, the ills of time;
Preserve them ever from the winter’s rime,
So let our parts
Be acted, that again the prayer and song
We may together blend, and through all time prolong!