p. 1 | LOVE TO CHRIST

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 9, 1856

LOVE TO CHRIST.

"Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity" Eph. vi, 24.

Do you love CHRIST?—I ask not if you feel The warm excitement of that party zeal Which follows on while others lead the way, And makes His cause the fashion of the day; But do you love him when his garb is mean, Nor shrink to let your fellowship be seen? Do you love Jesus, blind, and halt, and maimed? In prison succor him? nor feel ashamed To own him, though his injured name may be A mark for some dark slander's obloquy? Do you love Jesus in the orphan's claim, And bid the widow welcome in his name? Say not, "When saw we him?"—Each member dear, Poor and afflicted, wears his image here; And if unvalued or unowned by thee, Where can thy union with the holy be? And if thou thus art to the body dead, Where is thy life in Christ, the living Head? And if dissevered from the living Vine, How canst thou dream that thou hast life divine?

Sweet is the union true believers feel: Into one Spirit they have drunk; the seal Of God is on their hearts; and thus they see In each the features of one family; If one is suffering, all the rest are sad; If but the least is honored, all are glad, The grace of Jesus, which they all partake, Flows out in mutual kindness for his sake: Here he has left them for a while to wait, And represent him in their suffering state; While he, though glorified, as yet alone, Still bears his Church before the Father's throne.

[Songs from the Parsonage.]