 | Thoughts in Verse |  |
94
LORD, SAVE ME.
One day while sitting and list'ning
To a learned man of God;
He told me the following story,
Of a man who in sin long trod;
To show how the Holy Spirit
Of God may be grieved away;
And men be ruined for putting off
Their duty for but one day:
To a learned man of God;
He told me the following story,
Of a man who in sin long trod;
To show how the Holy Spirit
Of God may be grieved away;
And men be ruined for putting off
Their duty for but one day:
One day with earnest striving,
I spoke to a man of sin,
And urged him to seek that fountain,
Where he could be made clean;
For a day, not far off, was coming,
When this world, so fair and bright,
Would fade from his gaze admiring,
Into never-ending night;
I spoke to a man of sin,
And urged him to seek that fountain,
Where he could be made clean;
For a day, not far off, was coming,
When this world, so fair and bright,
Would fade from his gaze admiring,
Into never-ending night;
If he anchored not on Jesus,
Who came from His home on high,
With a heart full of love for all men,
To save them from misery.
I told him how great that love was,
How sorrow, and toil and pain,
Were counted as naught by Jesus,
That sinners might live again.
Who came from His home on high,
With a heart full of love for all men,
To save them from misery.
I told him how great that love was,
How sorrow, and toil and pain,
Were counted as naught by Jesus,
That sinners might live again.
With features o'erspread with scorning,
He turned, and with coldness said:
“There's time enough for such things;
I shall not bother my head
About religion for some time;
On the day of death I'll plea
For pardon and peace, from sin and crime,
And then I'll say—‘Lord, save me!’
He turned, and with coldness said:
“There's time enough for such things;
I shall not bother my head
95
On the day of death I'll plea
For pardon and peace, from sin and crime,
And then I'll say—‘Lord, save me!’
Those three words will bring salvation,
If uttered with my last breath;
So talk your religion to some one else,
I'll wait till the hour of death.”
Again and again I urged him
To delay not, lest he be lost,
For none may say what wasted time
To a living soul may cost.
If uttered with my last breath;
So talk your religion to some one else,
I'll wait till the hour of death.”
Again and again I urged him
To delay not, lest he be lost,
For none may say what wasted time
To a living soul may cost.
That in a moment when we think not,
Our Saviour may appear,
And we be summoned before our Judge
To answer for misdeeds here.
He turned away again and said—
“There's time enough, you see,—
In any time of danger
I can say—‘Lord save me!’”
Our Saviour may appear,
And we be summoned before our Judge
To answer for misdeeds here.
He turned away again and said—
“There's time enough, you see,—
In any time of danger
I can say—‘Lord save me!’”
My heart was filled with sadness,
As I thought of God's great plan
And His threatening words—‘My Spirit
Shall not always strive with man.
Few days passed when one evening—
My mind was filled with dread—
For news came that this careless one
In manhood's prime, was dead!
As I thought of God's great plan
And His threatening words—‘My Spirit
Shall not always strive with man.
Few days passed when one evening—
My mind was filled with dread—
For news came that this careless one
In manhood's prime, was dead!
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And then I asked what caused his death,
What his last word might be,—
To see if he cried with his parting breath
“Oh gracious Lord, save me!”
No, he was standing on the street,—
Death called him without delay,
To the upper world, his Judge to meet—
From thence to be sent away.
What his last word might be,—
To see if he cried with his parting breath
“Oh gracious Lord, save me!”
No, he was standing on the street,—
Death called him without delay,
To the upper world, his Judge to meet—
From thence to be sent away.
No word spoke he, for the angel Death,
Took his soul in its guilt to be
In endless remorse, in a world of woe,
For he cried not—“Lord Save Me!”
And now, my unconverted friends,
The lesson is plain to thee:
Do not delay to seek God's grace,—
But now cry—“Lord Save Me!”
Took his soul in its guilt to be
In endless remorse, in a world of woe,
For he cried not—“Lord Save Me!”
And now, my unconverted friends,
The lesson is plain to thee:
Do not delay to seek God's grace,—
But now cry—“Lord Save Me!”
January 31, 1882.
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