Luke xv. 20
In
the distant land of famine,
Craving
with the swine to
feed;
Oh,
how bitter that awakening
To
my sin, and shame, and
need!
Dark
and dreary all around me,
Now
no more by sin
beguiled;
I
would go and seek my Father,
Be
a bondsman, not a
child.
Yet
a great way off He saw me,
Ran
to kiss me as I
came;
As
I was my Father loved me,
Loved
me in my sin and
shame.
Then
in bitter grief I told Him
Of
the evil I had
done--
Sinned
in scorn of Him, my Father,
Was
not meet to be His
son.
But
I know not if He listened,
For
He spake not of my
sin--
He
within His house would have me,
Make
me meet to enter
in;
From
the riches of His glory
Brought
His costliest raiment
forth,
Brought
the ring that sealed His purpose,
Shoes
to tread His golden
courts.
Put
them on me--robes of glory,
Spotless
as the heavens
above;
Not
to meet my thoughts of fitness,
But
His wondrous thoughts of
love.
Then
within His home He led me,
Brought
me where the feast was
spread,
Made
me eat with Him, my Father,
I,
who begged for bondsman's
bread!
Not
a suppliant at His gateway,
But
a son within His
home;
To
the love, the joy, the singing,
To
the glory I am
come.
Gathered
round that wondrous temple,
Filled
with awe His Angels
see
Glory
lighting up the Holiest,
In
that glory Him and
me.
There
He dwells, in me rejoicing
Love
resplendent in His
Face--
There
I dwell, in Him rejoicing,
None
but I can know His
grace.
To
His blessed inner chamber,
Ground
no other foot can
tread,
He
has brought the lost and found one,
Him
who liveth, and was
dead.
This
the ransomed sinner's story,
All
the Father's heart made
known--
All
His grace to me the sinner,
Told
by judgment on His
Son--
Told
by Him from depths of anguish,
All
the Father's love for
me,
By
the curse, the cross, the darkness,
Measuring
what that love must
be.