He is gone—a cloud of light
Has received Him from our sight;
High in Heav’n, where eye of men
Follows not, nor angels’ ken;
Through the veils of time and space,
Passed into the holiest place;
All the toil, the sorrow done,
All the battle fought and won.
He is gone—and we remain
In this world of sin and pain:
In the void which He has left
On this earth, of Him bereft.
We have still His work to do,
We can still His path pursue;
Seek Him both in friend and foe,
In ourselves His image show.
He is gone—but we once more
Shall behold Him as before;
In the heaven of heavens the same,
As on earth He went and came;
In the many mansions there,
Place for us He will prepare;
In that world unseen, unknown,
He and we shall yet be one.
He is gone—but not in vain,
Wait until He comes again:
He is risen, He is not here,
Far above this earthly sphere;
Evermore in heart and mind
There our peace in Him we find:
To our own eternal Friend,
Thitherward let us ascend.
About the writer: Arthur Penrhyn Stanley was born in Cheshire, England in 1815. He graduated from Oxford in 1837 and entered the ministry of the Church of England. In 1855 he was appointed Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford. In 1864 he became Dean of Westminster. That same year he married Lady Augusta Bruce, a personal friend and attendant of Queen Victoria. He was the author of about a dozen hymns and of several translations. He was also a noted historian and biographer. He died in 1881.
Key Verse: It was not long after he said this that he was taken up into the sky while they were watching, and he disappeared into a cloud. –Acts 1:9