William Baxter Faith, Hope, and Love (1844)

 

T H E   L A D I E S '   R E P O S I T O R Y .
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CINCINNATI, FEBRUARY, 1844.

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O r i g i n a l .
F A I T H ,   H O P E ,   A N D   L O V E .
BY WILLIAM BAXTER.
HAIL, lovely sisters, harbingers of bliss,
    Array'd in your habiliments divine!
How came you e'er to seek a world like this,
    Who in the courts of heav'n were wont to shine?
Was there not joy enough amid that throng
    To make you happy in that bright abode?
Did you not join in the seraphic song,
    And have a seat fast by the throne of God?
Or did the lost condition of our race
    To pity move the great eternal Mind,
To bid you leave that holy, happy place,
    And come to earth to bless all human kind?
Surely 'twas Heav'n's beneficence to man
    That sent you blessed trio to our earth--
He whom we call our Father form'd the plan--
    'Twas he who gave the vast conception birth.
O, it was worthy of that mighty Pow'r
    Which call'd the world from utter nothingness,
To look on earth in man's most trying hour,
    And send bright heralds such as you to bless!
O, happy ones, we wait with list'ning ears,
    As earth-borns should, to hear a heav'nly strain--
Begin your story, quell our rising fears,
    And your sweet labor shall not be in vain!

Then holy Faith, with upturn'd eye,
    Her fingers o'er her harp-strings ran,
And thus, in strains sweet and sublime,
    Her mission told to guilty man--

I come to tell creation's work--
    Whose hand hath form'd the skies--
What voice from dark confusion bade
    Earth's glorious structure rise--
To tell how heav'n's bright arches rung,
    When by the stars its birth was sung.

I call up prophet, sage, and seer,
    Before the memory,
And fix man's erring gaze at last
    Upon Mount Calvary;
And there O may it rest upon
    The Savior--the chief corner-stone!

I come to pour celestial light
    Upon man's vision dark--
To shine forth as the holy star
    Which must direct his bark,
If he that haven e'er would gain,
Unknown to sorrow, toil, and pain.

I bid the heav'nly land appear,
    Though hid from human sight--
I bring to view its blissful groves,
    And waters flashing bright--
That stream whose bright and silv'ry flood
    Flows from beneath the throne of God.

I come to triumph o'er the grave--
    To chase its gath'ring gloom,
And by my cheering, hallow'd light,
    Illuminate the tomb;
And from the mansions of the dead
I point the way the Master led.

Then smiling Hope takes up the lyre,
    And wakes again its silent strings,
And thus, in joyous strains and high,
    Her message down to earth she sings--

I come to chase all fear away,
    And shed my radiance o'er each scene--
To drive away from Faith's firm gaze
    The gathering clouds that intervene.
My sister, Faith, beholds the prize
    Beyond this world of grief and sin;
But views its glories from afar,
    While I press on and enter in.
When sorrows rise, and faith is weak,
    I bear the trembling soul on high;
And, raised upon my buoyant wing,
    It sees the heav'nly city nigh.
And when the bright, angelic choir,
    And white-rob'd elders, wond'ring, stand,
The Spirit mingles with the song--
    With these bright ones at God's right hand.
I make the soul forget its cares--
    I make the future present seem,
And all the sorrows of the past
    But like a faint remember'd dream.
When dim's the eye, and flesh is faint,
    I see bright scenes of joy afar--
show the soul its dwelling-place,
    Where it shall shine--a fadeless star.

Then Love, with calm, benignant air,
    As when descending from the sky,
Thus told her errand down to earth,
    In tones of sweetest melody--

Me heaven its brightest herald deems--
    The loftiest in the skies;
Both seraph and archangel own
    My matchless victories.
Yes, all those glorious armies bend
    Obedient to my call,
And own, amid their highest strains,
    'Tis love that ruleth all.
I come to bid all strife to cease--
    My banner, when unfurl'd,
Displays upon its waving folds,
    Peace, peace to all the world!
I come to bind all kindred hearts
    Together into one,
And bid them learn to love as they
    Shall love around the throne. [45]

I constitute the bliss of heav'n--
    Inspire each joyous song
Which bursts in rapture from the lips
    Of the redeemed throng.
Nor shall a single jarring note
    Disturb their harmony,
While ages roll their cycles on
    Through vast eternity.
I last while God himself shall last--
    As him eternal prove;
For love's the ruling law of heav'n,
    And God himself is love.

 

[The Ladies' Repository 4 (February 1844): 45-46.]

ABOUT THE ELECTRONIC EDITION

      William Baxter's "Faith, Hope, and Love" was first published in The Ladies' Repository, and Gatherings of the West: A Monthly Periodical Devoted to Literature and Religion, Vol. 4, No. 2, February 1844, pp. 45-46. This volume, edited by E. Thomson, was published in Cincinnati by L. Swormstedt and J. T. Mitchell for the Methodist Episcopal Church.

      Pagination in the electronic version has been represented by placing the page number in brackets following the last complete word on the printed page.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 4 April 2000.
Updated 28 June 2003.

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