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[Newspaper Clipping]

My Beloved Is Mine

Spirit of light, my soul would rise in contemplation high;
My faith would grasp the infinite, and waft me to the sky,
Oh! that on wings of faith, my soul could rise to realms of day;
Could leave all earthly cares behind, and soar in bliss away.
Was not my soul among the lost, for whom His blood was spilt?
Thrice blessed thought - and can it be, He did for me atone?
Yes, Lord, I grasp the sweetest thought, as if for me alone.
Oh, Jesus! is my name engraved upon Thy heart of love?
And doth the spirit watch o'er me, like a gentle holy dove?
Inspire me with a stronger love,- - a child's confiding plea;
And let me feel as if Thy life, Thy death, was all for me.
Teach me the Truth, Thou art the Truth-- all else beside is vain;
Fix, Lord, my gaze on Thee alone, until Thou come again.
Hast Thou not promised to return, in glory and in might,
To take Thy saints where Thou art gone, where faith shall turn in sight?
Lord, here I grope in darkness, in weakness, and alone;
Sometimes a gleam of light doth flash from out Thy glory throne.
It lets me see Thy beauty, as it shone on Tabor's brow,
And fills me with a longing to be over with Thee now;
There --to behold Thy Glory, to worship, and adore,
To sing the song of the redeemed, on that Eternal shore.
REV. DR. IBBOTT.
Arthur, Ont., October 18, 1923.