Our pathway oft is wet with tears,
Our sky with clouds o’ercast,
And worldly cares and worldly fears
Go with us to the last;—
Not to the last! God’s word hath said,
Could we but read aright:
O pilgrim! lift in hope thy head,
At eve it shall be light!
Though earth-born shadows now may shroud
Our toilsome path a while,
God’s blessed word can part each cloud,
And bid the sunshine smile.
If we but trust in living faith,
His love and power divine,
Then, though our sun may set in death,
His light shall round us shine.
When tempest-clouds are dark on high,
His bow of love and peace
Shines beauteous in the vaulted sky,
Token that storms shall cease.
Then keep we on, with hope unchilled,
By faith and not by sight,
And we shall own his word fulfilled,—
“At eve it shall be light.”
Source: A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion (15th ed.) #331
Barton, Bernard, commonly known as the "Quaker Poet," was born in London Jan. 31, 1784, and educated at a Quaker school at Ipswich. In 1798 he was apprenticed to Mr. S. Jesup, a shopkeeper at Halstead, Essex, with whom he remained until 1806, when he removed to Woodbridge, Suffolk, and entered into business with his brother, as a coal and corn merchant. On the death of his wife at the end of the first year of their married life, he proceeded to Liverpool, where he acted as a private tutor for a short time. He returned to Woodbridge in 1810, where he secured an engagement in the local bank of the Messrs. Alexander. This appointment he held for 40 years. He died at Woodbridge, Feb. 19, 1849. During the same year his daughter published his Poe… Go to person page >
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