Bees in Amber Part 16

THEY COME!

From North and South, and East and West, They come!

The sorely tried, the much oppressed, Their Faith and Love to manifest, They come!

They come to tell of work well done, They come to tell of kingdoms won, To wors.h.i.+p at the Great White Throne, They come!

In a n.o.ble consecration, With a sound of jubilation.

They come! They come!

Through tribulations and distress, They come!

Through perils great and bitterness, Through persecutions pitiless, They come!

They come by paths the martyrs trod, They come from underneath the rod, Climbing through darkness up to G.o.d, They come!

Out of mighty tribulation, With a sound of jubilation, They come! They come!

From every land beneath the sun, They come!

To tell of mighty victories won; Unto the Father through the Son, They come!

They come--the victors in the fight, They come--the blind restored to sight, From deepest Darkness into Light; They come!

In a holy exaltation, With a sound of jubilation, They come! They come!

PROCESSIONALS

NORTH

We come from the gloom of the shadowy trail Out away on the fringe of the Night, Where no man could tell, when the darkness fell, If his eyes would behold the light.

To--the--Night,-- To--the--Night,-- To the darkness and the sorrow of the Night,-- Came--the--Light, Came--the--Light, Came the Wonder and the Glory of the Light.

There are wanderers still, without ever a guide, Out there on the fringe of the Night, They are bond and blind,--to their darkness resigned, With never a wish for the Light.

To--their--Night,-- To--their--Night,-- To the darkness and the sorrow of their Night, Take--the--Light!

Take--the--Light!

Take the Wonder and the Glory of the Light!

SOUTH

We come from the land of the blazing sun, From the land that was blacker than night,-- From the white-hot sand of the Great Dark Land, Where Might was the only Right.

To--the--Night,-- To--the--Night,-- To the darkness and the sorrow of the Night, Came--the--Light, Came--the--Light, Came the Wonder and the Glory of the Light.

There are sorrows still, there is darkness still, There are still gross wrongs to set right; There are grim black stains, there are peoples in chains, To be loosed from the grip of the Night.

To--their--Night,-- To--their--Night,-- To the darkness and the sorrow of their Night, Take--the--Light!

Take--the--Light!

Take the Wonder and the Glory of the Light!

EAST

We come from the East, from the glowing East, Where the Past, with its hand of ice, Still reaches across through its ages of loss, And still holds the land like a vice.

To--the--Night,-- To--the--Night,-- To the darkness and the sorrow of the Night,-- Came--the--Light, Came--the--Light, Came the Wonder and the Glory of the Light.

O, the sorrowful ones of the caste-bound lands, How they long for the wider way!

How they sigh in the gloom of their close-barred tomb For the Light of the Coming Day!

To--their--Night,-- To--their--Night,-- To the darkness and the sorrow of their Night, Take--the--Light, Take--the--Light!

Take the Wonder and the Glory of the Light!

WEST

We come from the Isles, from the Western Isles, From the isles of the sunny seas,-- Where the smiles and the wiles, with which Nature beguiles, Are but shrouds for her tragedies.

To--the--Night,-- To--the--Night,-- To the darkness and the sorrow of the Night,-- Came--the--Light, Came--the--Light, Came the Wonder and the Glory of the Light.

There is Darkness more deadly than Death itself, There is Blindness beyond that of sight.

There are souls fast bound in the depths profound Of unconscious and heedless Night.

To--their--Night,-- To--their--Night,-- To the darkness and the sorrow of their Night, Take--the--Light!

Take--the--Light!

Take the Wonder and the Glory of the Light!

FAITH

Lord, give me faith!--to live from day to day, With tranquil heart to do my simple part, And, with my hand in Thine, just go Thy way.

Lord, give me faith!--to trust, if not to know; With quiet mind in all things Thee to find, And, child-like, go where Thou wouldst have me go.

Lord, give me faith!--to leave it all to Thee, The future is Thy gift, I would not lift The vail Thy Love has hung 'twixt it and me.

"I WILL!"

Say once again Thy sweet "I will!"

In answer to my prayers.

"Lord, if Thou wilt!"-- --"I will!

Rise up above thy cares!"