The Forgotten Prayer by The Rainbow

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Mar 15, 1877

The Forgotten Prayer.

By The Rainbow

Place on his head the royal crown, His right let every nation own, Let kings before him bend the knee, And worship in humility! Until he comes to claim his throne, Creation cannot cease its groan; And men will suffer, mourn, and die, Whilst God's Anointed waits on high, This is the word, most clearly given, By holy men inspired of Heaven, And all the facts of life combine To prove that word a truth divine. The church, whilst in her virgin youth, And ere tradition darkened truth, Talked much about her absent Lord, And dwelt with joy upon his word. She knew his presence would be “home,” And prayed, “Lord Jesus, quickly come!”

Who prays thus now? Alas, how few! The prayer is old. A doctrine new, Which neither Paul nor John proclaimed, Is welcomed by “the church,” so named. She is the great Instructress, she Will bring the world to bend the knee, To God in Christ, the first and last! She is the great Iconoclast! The idols of the nations fall, Rejected, at her queenly call! And swords transformed to ploughshares tell That she has done her work right well! She needs no king with royal sway, Would rather he remain away; And so the church, of modern fold, Forgets the prayer she prayed of old! —The Rainbow.