Things that Never Die

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jan 17, 1878

Things that Never Die.

The pure, the bright, the beautiful, That stirred our hearts in youth, The impulse of a wordless prayer, The dream of love and truth, The longing after something lost, The spirit's yearning cry; The striving after better hopes— Those things shall never die.

The timid hand stretched forth to aid A brother in his need; The kindly word in grief's dark hour, That proves the friend indeed; The plea for mercy softly breathed When justice threatens nigh, The sorrows of a contrite heart— These things can never die.

The memory of a clasping hand, The pressure of a kiss, The kindly work of grief's dark hour, That makes up love's first bliss; If with a firm, unchanging faith, And holy trust on high, These hands have clasped, these lips have met, These things shall never die.

The cruel and the bitter word, That wounded as it fell, The chilling want of sympathy We feel, but cannot tell, The hard repulse that chills the heart, Whose hopes are bounding high In an unfading record kept— These things shall never die.

Let nothing pass, for every hand Must find some work to do; Lose not a chance to waken love, Be firm, and just, and true; So shall a light that cannot fade, Beam on thee from on high, And angel voices say to thee, These things shall never die.