Poems (Dodd)/Are we slumbering now?
ARE WE SLUMBERING NOW?
Are we slumbering now when a watch we should keep?Let us banish the spell and wake from our sleep!On the watch-towers of Zion the trumpet we hear,"It is time to rejoice for salvation is near."
Yes, the night is far spent and the day is at hand;Free from terror and gloom in the brightness we stand;The gray mist away from our pathway has rolled,And the beams of the morning around we behold.
Let us leave the soft couch at this earliest hour,While the dew is yet fresh on each leaflet and flower;Let us put off the garments of sin from our sight,And go forth to the day clothed in armor of light.
The film is removed which has darkened our eyes,That truth, like the sun, on our vision may rise;And the chains from the mind are fast falling away,As the mist is dispersed by the dawning of day.
In the sunlight of hope unmolested we stand,With plenty and health smiling over our land:Here no tyrant can take what was given by God,And no priest holds a key to interpret His word.
Thy promises, Father, are given to all;How sweet from the lips of the Saviour they fall;And no craft, or device, can the record efface,For man may not measure, or limit thy grace.
On our green, sunny hills the white cottage is seen,And the spire rises up in the valleys between:From the church in the vale prayer and praises are heard,And the cottager sings of the goodness of God.
From the lowly, fair science is hidden no more,For the hard hands of labor are opening her store;And the poor, with the wealthy and great, may unfoldThe treasures of knowledge, more precious than gold.
In the streets of the city fair virtue is seenHow spotless her robes and how heavenly her mein!With her ranks filling fast she moves on in the light,While vice shrouds her form in the darkness of night.
Strong manhood comes forth, and forsaking the bowl,From the spirit of evil redeemeth his soul;For the board and the feast are with temperance crowned,And pure water is drank where the wine-cup went round.
O, glad should our hearts be, while thus going onAll around us we see the great work of reform;We may surely rejoice when the servants of sin,To the kingdom of virtue and peace enter in.
To the Father, should praise and thanksgiving arise,When a morning so glorious gladdens our eyes:May he grant that the sunlight thus bright at its dawn,Go not out ere the noonday in darkness and storm.
Let us watch and be sober as onward we move;Let us put on the breastplate of faith and of love;From the sword of the Spirit the wicked will flee;And the hope of salvation our helmet shall be.
With hearts firm and true we will walk in the day;For the night and the darkness are passing away;And strong in the Lord, and the power of his might,We will fearless go forth in our armor of light.