Scripture Verse

Forsake not the law of thy mother. Proverbs 1:8

Introduction

portrait
Christopher C. Cox
1816–1882

Words: Chris­to­pher C. Cox (1816–1882). Ap­peared in The Bi­ble So­ci­e­ty Re­cord (New York: May 1857), page 85, cit­ing the Epis­co­pal Re­cor­der.

Music: An­gel Falls Le­an­der L. Pick­ett, 1894 (🔊 pdf nwc). Al­so see The Saf­est Way.

portrait
Leander L. Pickett
1859–1928

Anecdote

[Ethan All­en’s daugh­ter] was a love­ly, pi­ous young wo­man, whose mo­ther, then long in the spi­rit-land, had in­struct­ed her in the truths of the Bi­ble.

When she was about to die, she called her fa­ther to her bed­side, and, turn­ing up­on him her pale face, light­ed by lus­trous blue eyes, she said, with a sweet voice: Dear fa­ther, I am about to cross the cold, dark ri­ver. Shall I trust to your opin­ions, or to the teach­ings of dear mother?

These words, like a keen ar­row, pierced the re­cess­es of his most truth­ful emo­tions. Trust to your mo­ther! said the cham­pi­on of in­fi­del­i­ty; and, co­ver­ing his face with his hands, he wept like a child.

Harper’s New Month­ly Ma­ga­zine (New York: Har­per & Bro­thers), Vol­ume XVIII, De­cem­ber 1858–May 1859, page 309

Lyrics

“The damps of death are coming fast,
My father, o’er my brow;
The past with all its scenes has fled,
And I must turn me now
To that dim future that in vain
My feeble eyes descry;
Tell me, O father, in this hour,
In whose stern faith to die.

“In thine? I’ve watched thy scornful smile,
And heard thy withering tone,
Whene’er the Christian’s humble hope
Was placed above thine own;
I’ve heard thee speak of coming death
Without a shade of gloom,
And laugh at all the childish fears
That cluster round the tomb.

“Or is it in my mother’s faith?
How fondly do I trace
Thro’ many a weary year long past,
That calm and saintly face;
How often do I call to mind,
Now she is ’neath the sod,
The place—the hour—in which she drew
My early thoughts to God.

“’Twas then she took this sacred book,
And from its burning page
Read how its truths support the soul,
In youth and failing age;
And bade me in its precepts live,
And by its precepts die;
That I might share a home of love,
In worlds beyond the sky.

My Father, shall I look above,
Amid this gathering gloom,
To Him whose promises of love
Extend beyond the tomb?
Or curse the Being who hath blessed
This checkered path of mine;
Must I embrace my mother’s faith,
Or die, my sire, in thine?

The frown upon that warrior brow
Passed like a cloud away,
And tears coursed down the rugged cheek
That flowed not till that day.
Not—not in mine, with choking voice
The skeptic made reply,
But in thy mother’s holy faith,
My daughter, may’st thou die!