[" The Christians to the lions" was the cry of the heathen populace in the days of the Roman emperors, when being thrown to the wild beasts in the ampitheatre was a common punishment.]
'Tis bright, all bright before me, and the hours
Hasten me on to the eternal brightness,
The blest inheritance of the saints in light.
Sorrow is all behind me, and the beams
Of the fast coining day upon my soul
Kiss into glory all the clouds that hung
Once heavily o'er my path. How all is changed!
They linger now about me but to catch
And to throw back the dawn in radiance
Like to the rainbow glory round the throne.
O world, poor world, that didst not know thy Lord,
Nor value heaven's treasures in His hand,
Nor know the love that brought Him down to thee
Abased and emptied of the form of God!
That didst misdeem the lowliness of grace,
Which, saving others, could not save itself!
The Cross of shame, the Cross thou gavest Him,
Thou knewest not must be transformed when He,
The Holy One, hung on it; knewest not
That death with all things else must own the One
Whom only man rejected,-that His death
Was but thy sentence, and His cross thy cross.
Poor world, that ne’er shall see such sight again,
The only glory and the only joy
Amid thy shadows is the lonely path
Of One who had not where to lay His head,
Of One who has ennobled poverty,
Made joy of sorrow and endear'd rejection.
Come to be with us, come not to be served,
But in the blest necessity of love
To serve even unto death, to serve forever,
And link us with Himself in blessedness,
The fruit of His own solitary toil.
O Son of God, yet Son of man forever!
Thy tree of life is in these dark death-waters,
And Marah is not Marah! we can drink, -
Yes, we, poor shrinking tremblers, we can drink,
Of any cup Thy lips have pressed, and whence
Thou hast drained all the bitterness. Death is gone,
Behind me in thy Cross; sin gone, wrath gone;
There is no wrath for me and no forsaking,
For that was Thine; but mine the Father's arms,
Those arms that shut out trouble evermore,
And shut me in to rest and joy and peace,
Where He, my Father-God, in His own love
Rests and rejoices in His lost one found..
Can there be sorrow that Thy path is mine?
That the disciple should be as his Lord?
What shadow could be dark beside the darkness
That hung its noonday shroud about the Cross?
What have I lost, but loss?
And if I have seen all my treasures landed
Though by rough hands, upon the sunlit shore
Which beckons me e'en now,—they are not lost,
But laid up where can be no bankruptcy,
To give me welcome home! and there's no check,
No weight to hinder in the eager race,
I run not wearily, but still most glad
That the end draweth near.
One only step,—
One step and then!.. Why, farewell, Caesar's prison;
Welcome the city of the jasper walls;
Welcome the portals of my Father's house;
Welcome the "ever" of my Savior's presence;
Farewell the passing; welcome the enduring;
Dying alone to death!-One little hour 1
The beasts shall have their prey, and I my joy.