A living, loving, lasting word,
My listening ear believing heard,
While bending down in prayer;
Like a sweet breeze that none can stay,
It passed my soul upon its way,
And left a blessing there.

Then joyful thoughts that come and go,
By paths the holy angels know,
Encamped around my soul;
As in a dream of blest repose,
Mid withered reeds a river rose,
And through the desert stole.

I lifted up my eyes to see —
The wilderness was glad for me,
Its thorns were bright with bloom;
And onward travellers still in sight,
Marked out a path of shining light,
And shade unmixed with gloom.

O sweet the strains of those before,
“The weary knees are weak no more,
The faithful heart is strong;”
But sweeter, nearer, from above,
That word of everlasting love,
The promise and the song.

Hymns and Meditations, 1873