Ruth i. 16, 17.
A homeless Stranger
amongst us came
To
this land of death and mourning;
He walked in a path
of sorrow and shame,
Through
insult, and hate, and scorning.
A Man of sorrows,
of toil and tears,
An
outcast Man and a lonely;
But He looked on
me, and through endless years
Him
must I love--Him only.
Then from this sad
and sorrowful land,
From
this land of tears He departed;
But the light of
His eyes and the touch of His hand
Had
left me broken-hearted.
And I clave to Him
as He turned His face
From
the land that was mine no longer--
The land I had
loved in the ancient days,
Ere
I knew the love that was stronger.
And I would abide
where He abode,
And
follow His steps for ever;
His people my
people, His God my God,
In
the land beyond the river.
And where He died
would I also die,
Far
dearer a grave beside Him
Than a kingly place
amongst living men,
The
place which they denied Him.
Then afar and afar
did I follow Him on,
To
the land where He was going--
To the depths of
glory beyond the sun,
Where
the golden fields were glowing--
The golden harvest
of endless joy,
The
joy He had sown in weeping;
How can I tell the
blest employ,
The
songs of that glorious reaping!
The recompense
sweet, the full reward,
Which
the lord His God has given;
At rest beneath the
wings of the Lord,
At
home in the courts of heaven.
P. G.