A gentle Angel walketh throughout world of woe,

With messages of mercy to mourning hearts below;

His peaceful smile invites them to love and to confide,

Oh! follow in His footsteps, keep closely by His side!

So gently will He lead thee through all the cloudy day,

And whisper of glad tidings to cheer the pilgrim-way;

His courage never failing, when thine is almost gone,

He takes thy heavy burden, and helps to bear it on.

To soft and tearful sadness He changes dumb despair,

And soothes to deep submission the storm of grief and care;

Where midnight shades are brooding He pours the light of noon,

And every grievous wound He heals, most surely, if not soon.

He will not blame thy sorrows, while He brings the healing balm;

He does not chide thy longings, while He soothes them into calm;

And when thy heart is murmuring, and wildly asking why?

He smiling beckons forward, points upward to the sky.

He will not always answer thy questions and thy fear,

His watchword is "Be patient, the journey's end is near!"

And ever through the toilsome way, He tells of joys to come,

And points the pilgrim to his rest, the wanderer to his home.