While they here sojourn'd, their presence drew us

By the sweetness of their human love;

Day by day good thoughts of them renew us,

Like fresh tidings from the world above;

Coming, like the stars at gloamin' glinting

Through the western clouds, when loud winds cease,

Silently of that calm country hinting,

Where they with the angels are at peace.

Not their own, ah! not from earth was flowing

That high strain to which their souls were tuned,

Year by year we saw them inly growing

Liker Him with Whom their hearts communed.

Then to Him they pass'd; but still unbroken,

Age to age, lasts on that goodly line,

Whose pure lives are, more than all words spoken,

Earth's best witness to the life divine.

Subtlest thought shall fail, and learning falter,

Churches change, forms perish, systems go,

But our human needs, they will not alter,

CHRIST no after age shall e'er outgrow.

Yea, Amen! O changeless One, Thou only

Art life's guide and spiritual goal,

Thou the Light across the dark vale lonely, --

Thou the eternal haven of the soul!