Ode to the Bible

Hail, thou immortal book of God!

The lamp of truth and love;

Revealing ev'ry sacred code

Required to live above.   

Thou, like the Western rocky peak,

Hast stood the rage of Time;

Refuting errors, far oblique,

And furth'ring truth sublime.   

Thy face is like the lucent sun

Illuming earth entire;

Transfusing light to ev'ry one 

And scatt'ring holy fire.   

Beneath the ever-beaming ray

The germ of falsehood dies;

And to drear climes, where heathens stay,

Thy thrilling nurture flies. 

No human hand, with sword or flame,

Can stanch Thy onward course;

Nor Satan, with his skill or fame,

Retard by fraud or force. 

But on and on, with conq'ring tread,

O'er hell and ev'ry foe,

Thou goest forth, with "Living Bread"

And balm for ev'ry woe.