THOUGHTS OF HEAVEN

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 6, 1868

THOUGHTS OF HEAVEN.

No sickness there— No weary wasting of the frame away, No fearful shrinking from the midnight air, No dread of summer's heat and fervid ray; No hidden grief— No wild and cheerless vision of despair, No vain petition for a swift relief, No tearful eyes, no broken hearts are there.

Care has no home In all the realms of ceaseless prayer and song. Its billows break away and melt in foam Far from the mansions of the spirit throng. The storm's black wing Is never spread athwart celestial skies; Its wailings blend not with the voice of spring, As some too tender flow'ret fades and dies.

No night distills Its chilling dews upon the tender frame; No moon is needed; for the light which fills That land of glory, from its Maker came. No parted friends O'er mournful recollections have to weep; No bed of death enduring love attends, To watch the coming of a pulseless sleep.

No blasted flower Or withered bud celestial gardens know; No searching blast of fierce descending shower Scatters destruction to a ruthless foe. No battle word Startles the sacred host with fear and dread; The song of peace creation's morning heard, Is sung where holy angel minstrels tread.

Let us depart, If scenes like this await the weary soul. Look up, thou stricken one; thy wounded heart Shall bleed no more at sorrow's stern control. With faith our guide, White-robed and innocent, to lead the way, Why fear to plunge in Jordan's rolling tide, And find the ocean of eternal day?

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