Eternity

Verse 1

I stood at the time-beaten portals, Where many a pilgrim had passed Out into the infinite future, To be with the pure and the blest; And, musing in silent devotion, Eternity seemed to draw near; And strains from the choir of the faithful I seemed in my fancy to hear.

Chorus

Oh, eternity! Long eternity! Hear the solemn footsteps of eternity.

Verse 2

I lingered, and silently listened To the dull, heavy tread of the years, And thought of the fate of the guilty, When Christ in His glory appears; A shudder came over my spirit, As I thought what a moment might cost, For eternity’s stillness was broken By the groans and the sighs of the lost.

Verse 3

I saw then the Judge in His splendor, As He stepped to His great judgment seat, And thought of the crashing of ages, When time and eternity meet; For Time, who has laid many millions, To slumber in death’s silent shade, Shall reel at eternity’s presence, And sleep in the tomb he has made.

Verse 4

Let us work while ’tis day, brother, sister, For soon shall the Master return, To garner the wheat that we harvest, The chaff in His fury to burn; Then in haste let us rush to the rescue, But few can we save at the most: Soon millions shall be at the judgment, Forever, eternally lost.