I Cor. xv. 47, 48.
Who are these whose
faces are irradiate
With
eternal joy?
With the calm the
tempest may not trouble
Nor
the grave destroy?
Glad as those who
hear a glorious singing
From
the golden street,
Moving to the
measure of the music
That
is passing sweet.
They have been
within the inner chamber
None
can tread beside,
Where the
Bridegroom radiant in His glory
Waiteth
for the Bride.
He has shown them
in those many mansions
How
to Him is given
That high palace of
surpassing beauty,
Holiest
in Heaven.
There it is that
they behold His radiance,
There
His love they know,
Therefore theirs is
God's eternal gladness
Whilst
they walk below.
Therefore tread
they in Earth's darkest places,
Through
all grief and sin,
For they know the
home that waits the weary,
Know
the love within.
Therefore sad and
strange to them the splendours
Of
the world must be,
"O forgotten and
rejected Jesus,
We
have looked on Thee!
"We have seen Thee
in the Father's glory,
Shared
the Father's kiss;
Strange
henceforward to the world our sadness,
Stranger
yet our bliss.
"Sadness for the
eyes that cannot see Thee,
Whom
to see is Heaven;
Bliss that flows
mysterious as the River
When
the Rock was riven.
"Oh might some
sweet song Thy lips have taught us,
Some
glad song and sweet,
Guide amidst the
mists and through the darkness
Lost
ones to Thy feet.
"Not our joy, but
Thy Divine rejoicing
Fills
that palace fair,
For the wonder past
our heart's conceiving
Is
the welcome there."
Is it strange that
from the golden chamber,
From
the secret place,
Come they forth
with everlasting radiance
Of
His glorious Face?
Telling mysteries
that to babes are simple,
Hidden
from the wise,
Fragrant with the
odours of the lilies
Of
God's Paradise?
Changed--transformed;
for ever and for ever;
Thine
alone to be;
Knowing none on
earth, O Lord, beside Thee,
None
in Heaven but Thee.
C. P. C.