Is. xxxii. 2.
In the great and
terrible wilderness
I
wandered in thirst and dread;
The burning sands
were beneath my feet,
And
the firece glow overhead.
The fiery serpents
and scorpions dire
Dwelt
in that lonely land,
And around and
afar, as a glimmering sea,
The
shadowless, trackless sand.
Then came a day in
my journey drear
When
I sank on the weary road,
And there fell a
shadow across the waste--
The
shade of the wings of God.
The shadow solemn,
and dark, and still,
Lay
cool on the purple sand;
The shadow deep of
a mighty Rock
In
a weary, thirsty land.
Of old from Heaven
the thunder fell,
And
that mighty Rock was riven,
And a river of
water flowed down to me--
A
stream of the rain of Heaven.
And the Hand that
reft with the thunder dread
The
Rock of the Ages hoar,
Down to my lips the
waters led,
And
I thirsted nevermore.
For out of the
great eternal deep
Those
glorious waters flowed;
They flowed from
the fathomless depths of joy,
They
flowed from the Heart of God.
From the depths of
the tenderness all unknown,
That
passeth knowledge, they flow;
I know it as ages
of bliss roll on,
Yet
I never shall say, "I know."
And there, before
the Rock that was riven,
At
the feet of the Lord who died,
I drink of the
depths of the love of Heaven,
The
mighty, exhaustless tide.
"Drink, drink
abundantly, O beloved!
I
was smitten, accursed for thee."
O lips as lilies, O
mouth most sweet,
That
tell Thy heart to me!
C. P. C.