James Challen The Lord's Day (1868)

FROM

THE

MILLENNIAL HARBINGER.

DEVOTED TO PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY.

=================================================================
VOL. 39.] BETHANY, W. V., JULY, 1868. [NO. 7.
=================================================================

T H E   L O R D ' S   D A Y.

BY JAMES CHALLEN.

O blessed day! earth's only Jubilee,
The poor man's heritage, our heaven on earth;
    The guardian of our liberty,
        The day of sacred mirth.
The golden clasp, that binds all hearts in one
Wherever Christ is known beneath the sun.

The unyoked oxen graze within the field,
The mill wheel rests; the plow and axe are free,
    And labor finds its welcome shield,
        And life--tranquillity.
The very air is balmier for its breath,
And vice seems slumbering in the arms of death.

Our hope exultant spreads its dewy wings,
The risen Christ is in our hearts to-day,
    And every soul with rapture sings
        The glad triumphant lay,--
"The dead is raised; the crucified--the slain--
Has broke the bars of death and lives again."

[The Millennial Harbinger (July 1868): 418.]

ABOUT THE ELECTRONIC EDITION

      James Challen's "The Lord's Day" was first published in The Millennial Harbinger, Vol. 39, No. 7, July 1868. The electronic version of the poem has been produced from the College Press reprint (1976) of The Millennial Harbinger, ed. Alexander Campbell (Bethany, VA: A. Campbell, 1868), p. 418.

      Pagination in the electronic version has been represented by placing the page number in brackets following the last complete word on the printed page. I have let stand variations and inconsistencies in the author's (or editor's) use of italics, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling in the poem.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 22 June 1998.
Updated 2 July 2003.

James Challen The Lord's Day (1868)
Back to James Challen Page
Back to Restoration Movement Texts