Poems and Short Features

The Peace of Christ
 Audio MP3

Sweet gift of Christ! O blessed thought!
    The peace of mind that God hath wrought!
No earthly passion’s half so sweet,
    No joy on earth is so complete,
As that the loving Father gives
    To those in whom the spirit lives
The peace of Christ.

O weary one upon life’s sea,
    That hast no Christ to comfort thee,
Remember when the billows roll,
    Surge upon surge, about thy soul,
That there’s a harbor safe and sure,
    Wherein thy heart may rest secure—
The peace of Christ.

O loving heart that trembles yet,
    Half fearful that it may forget;
Afraid that it may miss the way,
    Doubting, wavering, all the day—
Remember that it is to thee
    This gift of gifts is offered free—
The peace of Christ.

The love of God! How its dimension
    Reaches above our comprehension;
And who of us can understand
    The workings of his mighty hand?
But rest, my soul, and quiet be,
    Thou knowest this he giveth thee—
The peace of Christ.

So then, my soul, upon his breast
    Thy troubles cast, and be at rest.
Though sorrow wrings the heart, and pain
    Saps life and strength with steady drain,
O’er all these griefs and cares of thine
    God pours the healing balm divine—
The peace of Christ.

—Selected (Reprints, p. 1876)

 

 

 

Saviour Help Us
 Audio MP3

By thy birth, and by thy tears;
By thy human griefs and fears;
By thy conflict in the hour
Of the subtle tempter’s pow’r—
Saviour, look with pitying eye;
Saviour, help us, or we die.

By the tenderness that wept
O’er the grave where Laz’rus slept;
By the bitter tears that flowed
Over Salem’s lost abode—
Saviour, look with pitying eye;
Saviour, help us, or we die.

By thy lonely hour of prayer;
By thy fearful conflict there;
By thy cross and dying cries;
By thy one great sacrifice—
Saviour, look with pitying eye;
Saviour, help us, or we die.

By thy triumph o’er the grave;
By thy pow’r the lost to save;
By thy high, majestic throne;
By the empire all thine own,—
Saviour, look with pitying eye;
Saviour, help us, or we die.

By thy kingdom promised long;
By thy pow’r to right each wrong;
By thy church upon thy throne,
Thou will seek out all thine own;
Saving all of those who cry,
Saviour, help me, or I die.

  —Hymns of Dawn, #26       

 

                       

 

 Judas
 Audio MP3

The fact that God had foreknown from the beginning that one of the twelve would betray Jesus, the fact that the purchase of the field with the blood money had already been prophesied, did not alter the responsibility of Judas for his own fall. It was not God’s foreknowledge that injured Judas, but his own wrong course; and thus it is with all. God’s knowing from the beginning whatsoever will come to pass does not affect us, for He merely knows in respect to us what we will do of our own volition, our own yielding to avarice, to sin.

The testimony that Jesus knew in advance who would betray him does not prove that Jesus knew this at the time when he chose Judas. He knew that the Scriptures intimated that one of his disciples would betray him; and from the beginning of the deflection of Judas toward sin, toward avarice, Jesus knew that he must be the one who would commit the traitorous deed; yet in no sense of the word did Jesus’ conduct lead Judas to the wrong, but rather forewarned him to the contrary.

—Reprints, pp. 5552, 5553

 

Our Resurrection
 

Had we been there beloved Lord
When on that night you knelt
With anguished prayer upon your lips,
Would we your grief have felt?
Had we been there?

Had we been near, O precious Lord
When traveling Calvary’s road
You fell beneath the cross you bore,
Would we have born the load?
Had we been near?

That early morn would we have gone
And sought thy sacred tomb
That we might thus anoint thee there
With spice and sweet perfume?
That early morn?

What joy is ours, for thou art raised
And nevermore shalt die.
Thy blood was shed that we might live,
Thy name we glorify!
What joy is ours!

We’ll follow on, the call is clear
For all to consecrate.
A life anew in us begun,
All else do we forsake.
We’ll follow on!

Then raised with him when life is o’er,
A crown for every cross.
What resurrection joy we’ll know!
What gain for every loss!
When raised with Him!

—Alice M. Ripper, Poems of the Way, p. 91