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THE QUEEN'S PRAYER

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International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 13, 1888

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 14, No. 2.

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THE QUEEN'S PRAYER

By Fannie Bolton

BY FANNIE BOLTON.
["Oh! keep me innocent, make others great."—Queen Caroline Matilda.]
The palace of the king sent stately towers To shape 'gainst heaven's blue; Its walks were garlanded with lovely flowers Of daintiest form and hue. The noble queen of Denmark, young and fair, Stood where the lilies wait; Their sweet suggestion grew into a prayer, "Oh! keep me innocent, make others great."
The towers, looming up, had not such charm As the lilies at her feet. "Make others proud, but let me do no harm; Make others rich, but let me be but sweet, Pure as the flower, whose simple grace is fair, Rarer than grandest state, Whose holy modesty my soul would bear. Oh! keep me innocent, make others great."
And fair temptations, in their guise of grace, Came, bending to the queen. The rose but deepened in her saintly face, And grew her noble mien. She saw the gilded sin received and loved By lords and dames of state; But angels saw her lips, as white they moved, "Oh! keep me innocent whate'er my fate."
Was the queen gay? Ah, no! her lord the king Was all unworthy truth. He fell from vice to vice. How could she sing, Seeing his sin and ruth? Her soul went out to lift and bear its part, To shape the nation's fate; But ever grew the hunger of her heart. "Oh! keep me innocent as here I wait."
And was it just to answer that sweet prayer That she was sent away A worse than widowed wife, 'mid want and care, To nevermore be gay? For, like a broken flower the king had worn And flung aside in hate, So she, the flower of Denmark, felt his scorn Because she was so innocent and great.
The sorrow of the good our Saviour knew. His heart was stainless white. He is the Light that lights men to the true, The Voice of noble right. His precious blood he shed to make us clean, And shall we hesitate To pray to him, as did that lowly queen, "Oh! keep me innocent whate'er my fate"?
Oh! great is innocence. Its course is true. Its power is like the stars. It urges on and on, and triumphs through All hindrances that debar. 'Tis white as heaven's lilies, sweet as love; It wears a crown of light; And Heaven's eternity alone may prove The unfeigned beauty and the power of right.
Oh! keep me innocent, the bloom God loves, Let that be on my heart. Fairer than flowers' loveliest, daintiest hues, Richer than gems of art. E'en if alone, unknown, misjudged, I stand Like Him who bore men's hate; For Heaven but counts the pure in heart as grand; The innocent alone are crowned as great.