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J. A. STRICKLAND

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 16, 1911

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 88, No. 46.

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J. A. STRICKLAND

By J. A. Strickland

Vesper-Bells

J. A. STRICKLAND

Low sinks the sun, and evening shadows falling / O’er moor and plain, on mountainside and crest, / Night’s curtain drops, while voices soft are calling / To weary toilers, “Come to me and rest.”
Wafted on evening’s wings, so softly ringing, / I hear a sweet and solemn sound, that swells / In volume grand, like happy children singing: / It is the vesper-bells.
What mean those bells, so softly, sweetly tolling? / Is it a call to worshipers to come / And join the throng with voices loud extolling / Man’s will and mighty works that he has done?
No; ’tis the tramp of time’s events fulfilling / Things that God’s Word so certainly foretells. / Listen, O earth! with ready mind and willing: / It is time’s vesper-bells.
Hark! hear the sound of martial music swelling / O’er all the lands and ocean’s foamy wave: / Alarm is felt wherever man is dwelling; / Hearts filled with fear, men’s faces sad and grave; / Tempest and scourge through all the world are sweeping; / Sin, crime, and woe, earth’s long-loved peace expel; / Gladness is gone, and mirth gives place to weeping: / It is earth’s vesper-bell.
Ring on, ye bells, your solemn message giving, / Proclaim that time will soon have run its race; / Send forth the news of warning to all living, / That soon we’ll see our blessed Master’s face. Soon Armageddon’s hosts will rage in terror, / Soon break the bars of Satan’s prison cells, / Soon Christ will come and end the reign of error: / O hear the vesper-bells!
These things foretell the coming of our Saviour, / Sure omens that sin’s rule is soon to cease; / Darkness departs, and then eternal favor, / Home, home at last! Blest home of joy and peace! / List for the trump and for the chariot’s rumbling; / Look up, thank God for what the message tells. / E’en now I hear the sound of nations crumbling: / I hear the vesper-bells.
Harvey Station, New Brunswick.