THOU sweet Sabbath of rest! Priceless gift from above! Sacred symbol of faith! Fruitful token of Love! Thrice welcome to him who hath cast off the coil Of wearisome, worrying, work-a-day toil; Then in spirit ecstatic that thrills the heart's chord He exclaims: "Enter hither thou blest of the Lord." For prepared is my home as a fit dwelling-place For Heavenly Messengers, Angels of Grace, Who bear on their wings a new spirit benign That suffuses man's soul with afflatus divine; Thus bestowing upon him, for one day in seven, While a creature incarnate, a foretaste of Heaven. |