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Family Bible 165
Tune: William Caldwell, 1837
Alto: B. P. Poyner, 1902
Lyrics: The Charleston Courier, 1818
Meter: 12s,11s Double (12,11,12,11,12,11,12,11)
How painfully pleasing the fond recollection,
Of youthful connection and innocent joy,
While blest with parental advice and affection,
Surrounded with mercy and peace from on high.
I still view the chairs of my father and mother,
The seats of their offspring, as ranged on each hand,
And the richest of books which excels ev’ry other,
The family Bible that lay on the stand.
The Bible, that volume of God’s inspiration,
At morning and ev’ning could yield us delight;
The prayers of our father, a sweet invocation,
For mercy by day and for safety by night;
O hymns of thanksgiving with harmonious sweetness,
As warmed by the hearts of the family band,
Hath raised us from earth to that rapturous dwelling,
Described in the Bible that lay on the stand.