The Rainbow

Dear happy Land beyond the skies!
When shall my soul thy light behold?
The jewell'd walls that round thee rise,
Thy gates of pearl, thy streets of gold!

That path of light which upwards bends,
Is it my nearest way to home?
That other that to earth descends,
Is it down that the angels come?

Are they the fragments of thy walls,
That pave it with their gems of light?
Or, where each angel footstep falls,
The flow'rs that spring there fresh and bright

I think of thee when sorrows lower.
Thy sunless light, thy cloudless air,
I see thy pathway in the shower,
Built by the Hand of Promise there.

How many a glorious arch of time
Has crumbled since Jehovah set
His Bow amid the clouds sublime,
Undimm'd, unchanged, unalter'd yet!

Though built of cloud and sunshine, still
Chance cannot touch, nor ages move
That arch, whose base is God's high will.
Its crown His deep enduring love.

God of the many-colour'd Bow!
Up whose bright steps of promise, Prayer
To Thine abode delights to go,
Into the Presence Chamber there;

Shine on the clouds of life, and make
That Rainbow round about the throne,
Love's glory, and for Whose dear sake
Thy banish'd are again Thine own.

Lift up from earth my drooping heart,
Help me to rise to Heav'n and Thee,
Piercing the skies to where Thou art
And where one day I hope to be;

Love-led along the narrow way,
That reacheth to the golden floor,
Safe through those gates of pearl, whence they
Who enter in go out no more.

HEN God came down, in Eden's shade
With sinless man to walk,
And of the things His Hand had made
To human heart did talk,

Swift flew the happy hours of time
Upon the wings of thought,
The Teacher and His words sublime
Enrapturing the taught.

But sin prevail'd, till Heav'n's sad tears
From earth wept off the stain;
Then through the parting clouds appears
His smile of love again, —

God's Bow reversed, its arrows thrown
In tenderness aside,
Now as a Bow of Promise shown
Unto the whole world wide!

Its pledge, that wrath's destructive might
Shall never more prevail.
Nor heat, nor cold, nor day, nor night,
While earth endures, shall fail.

Yet naught can weep, but tears of blood,
Sin's stain out of the heart;
Christ's sorrows, like a healing flood,
Thus do their saving part.

Clothed with a cloud, His sunlike face
Crown'd with a rainbow, He
One foot of fire on earth did place,
And one upon the sea;

And lifting up His hand to Heav'n,
By Him who lives there swore,
In voices deep as thunders seven,
That Time shall be no more.

Eternal God! when Time shall cease
And nations round Thee bow,
Look on the rainbow-crown of peace
Which binds the Saviour's brow;

The Rainbow round about the Throne,
O look upon, and see
In it Thy promise to make one
The ruin'd world and Thee.

And, in our hours of woe and want,
To Thy remembrance take
Thine everlasting covenant,
And save for Jesus' sake.