Lyrics:
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How painfully pleasing the fond recollection
Of youthful connections and innocent joy!
When blest with parental advice and affection;
Surrounded with mercies, with peace from on high.
I still view the chairs of my sire and my mother,
The seats of their offspring as ranged on each hand;
And that richest of books, which excelled every other,
The family Bible, which lay on the stand.
That Bible, the volume of God’s inspiration,
At noon and at evening could give us delight;
And the prayer of our sire was a sweet invocation,
For mercy by day and for safety thro’ night;
Our hymns of thanksgiving with harmony swelling
All warm from the hearts of that family band,
Half raised us from earth to that rapturous dwelling
Described in the Bible that lay on the stand.
Ye scenes of tranquility! long have we parted;
My hope’s almost gone, and my parents no more;
In sorrow and sadness I live broken-hearted,
And wander unknown on a far distant shore;
Yet, how can I doubt my dear Savior’s protection,
Forgetful of gifts from His bountiful hand!
Oh! let me with patience endure His correction,
And think of the Bible that lay on the stand.
Blest Bible! the light and the guide of the stranger,
With it I seem circled with parents and friends;
Thy kind admonition shall guide me from danger;
On thee my last lingering hope then depends.
Hope weakens to vigor and rises to glory;
I'll hasten and flee to the promised land,
And for refuge lay hold on the hope set before me,
Revealed in the Bible that lay on the stand.
Hail, rising the brightest and best of the morning,
The star which has guided my parents safe home;
The beam of thy glory, my pathway adorning,
Shall scatter the darkness and brighten the gloom.
As the old Eastern sages to worship the stranger
Did hasten with ecstasy to Canaan's land,
I'll bow to adore him, not in a low manger,--
He's seen in the Bible that lay on the stand.
Though age and misfortune press hard on my feelings,
I'll flee to the Bible, and trust in the Lord;
Though darkness should cover his merciful dealings,
My soul is still cheered by his heavenly word.
And now from things earthly my soul is removing
I soon shall glory with heaven's bright bands,
And in rapture of joy be forever adoring
The God of the Bible that lay on the stand.
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