A MEMORIAL TRIBUTE

LEADER of armies, Israel's God,

Thy soldier's fight is won!

Master, whose lowly path he trod,

Thy servant's work is done!

No voice is heard from Sinai's steep

Our wandering feet to guide;

From Horeb's rock no waters leap;

No Jordan's waves divide;

No prophet cleaves our western sky

On wheels of whirling fire;

No shepherds hear the song on high

Of heaven's angelic choir.

Yet here as to the patriarch's tent

God's angel comes a guest;

He comes on heaven's high errand sent,

In earth's poor raiment drest.

We see no halo round his brow

Till love its own recalls,

And, like a leaf that quits the bough,

The mortal vesture falls.

In autumn's chill declining day,

Ere winter's killing frost,

The message came; so passed away

The friend our earth has lost.

Still, Father, in thy love we trust;

Forgive us if we mourn

The saddening hour that laid in dust

His robe of flesh outworn.