 | Songs in the House of Pilgrimage |  |
4.
[From the courier star that led]
“Lovest thou me?” “Lord, Thou knowest all things: Thou knowest that I love Thee?”
—John xxi. 15–17.
1
From the courier star that ledSages to the manger bed;
From the God incarnate press'd
To the mother-maiden's breast;
Day by day at Joseph's side;
From the sacred lessons learn'd
When the lamp of evening burn'd,—
Steals the voice persuasively
“Lovest thou, yea lovest Me?”
2
From the Holy Dove who cameThrough the azure heavens like flame;
From the fast, the foughten strife;
From the victory of life;
From the happy homes that smiled,
Parent heal'd and rescued child;
From the health that play'd again
On the cheek long worn with pain,—
Still there sounds unweariedly
“Lovest thou, yea lovest Me?”
3
From the mingled glow and gloomOf the Paschal upper room;
From the deepening shades that fell
Over Kedron's awful dell;
From the blood-stain'd pathway trod
By the fainting Son of God;
From the woes to us unknown,
Bitter cross, and sealèd stone,—
Ever comes persistently
“Lovest thou, yea lovest Me?”
4
From the dawn of Easter lightBreaking on the world's long night;
From the glories lingering yet
On the brow of Olivet;
From the rapturous angel-songs;
From the Pentecostal tongues;
From the voice divinely sweet
At the golden mercy-seat,—
Pleads, and pleads victoriously,
“Lovest thou, yea lovest Me?”
5
“Lord, Thou knowest through and throughAll I am and say and do,
All the daily wants that press,
All my hourly waywardness,
All my conflicts, crosses, cares,
Feeble praises, struggling prayers;—
Yet Thou knowest, Lord, that I
Fain for Thee would live, would die;
Surely Thou, who knowest me,
Knowest, Master, I love Thee.”
| Songs in the House of Pilgrimage | |