“Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.” Luke 14:21, 23.
The Lord is coming quickly,
And darker grows the night;
The air is hanging thickly,
And evil near its height.
Alas! how truth is sunken,
And trampled in the streets;
Some drink, too, with the drunken,
And eat their dainty meats.
O, brethren, then awaken,
Arise, ye sons of day;
We soon shall hence be taken,
Now let us work and pray.
In every town and village,
At many a cottage door,
Is soil awaiting tillage,
Is fruit among the poor.
Go forth, ye earnest preachers,
Where God shall guide your feet,
And tell His sinful creatures
How He their souls will greet.
Proclaim in lane and alley,
How Christ, the Savior, died;
And, risen from earth’s valley,
He now is glorified.
Lift up your eyes enlightened,
And look upon the fields;
Already are they whitened,
The crop abundance yields.
God, in His grace, engages,
That they shall rest who toil;
The reaper shall have wages,
The sower share the spoil.
Then, heed we not the weather,
Nor care for toil and heat;
We all shall rest together,
When Christ has housed His wheat.
Then, gone all grief and sadness,
In yonder place we’ll roam;
Rejoice in Christ’s own gladness,
And hail His harvest-home.