The Angel in the Prison.
1 God's angels! not only on high do they sing,
And soar through our skies with invisible wing;
But here, on the earth, where in wretchedness lie
Its sin-stricken children to struggle and die.
2 They come, in their mercy and power, to dispel
The spectres of gloom from the prisoner's cell;
In love's name to say to the stricken one there,
That God still hath ear, and an answer to prayer.
3 And strong grows the heart of the outcast--and soon
In that dim prison come the pure light-gleams of noon;
The resolve and the faith of the sinner forgiven,
Send him back to the world with a heart seeking heaven.
4 God's angels! Love speed them o'er earth's wide domain!
New aids to impart, and new triumphs to gain;
Till the wrathful and wrong from our world shall retire,
And humanity's groans in her praises expire.
5 For the promise of truth--though the doubting deny--
Is, that love shall prevail in the earth as on high;
Its life-waters healing, wherever they flow,
With the angels above, or the angels below.