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PURPOSE

God’s purpose is that He should bless -

He blessed before the assault of sin

And blessed still though the fall came in:

But once sin’s challenge had begun

God showed the heart He would express

By blessing only in the Son.

God’s purpose is that He should dwell -

He intervened thus to reverse

Man’s state since he had proved perverse;

He sent His Son to draw us near,

To cleanse our hearts, and to dispel

Man’s need to hide from God in fear.

God’s purpose is that He should rule -

With all conforming to His will.

And in the time of faith, until

Christ intervenes as Judge and King

He rules among the people who’ll

Share His reign over everything.

COMING

For the time of our endurance
Still He loves us, thus
He has given His assurance:
He will come to us.

Not like unbelieving Thomas
We are watching, thus
We embrace His loving promise:
He will come for us.

And we know the time is nearing,
Though this world is dim:
At the time of His appearing
We will come with Him.

REFLECTIONS xii

Like a luminous ribbon,

Stretching forward,

Yard by yard increasing

In fluorescence

and phosphorescence

The path of the righteous

Advanced toward

Perfect day.

REFLECTIONS xi

John was the burning

And the shining light.

The appearing light

Was evident to the sighted.

And he was content

To be consumed.

For as the shining light shone

The burning light had burned.

REFLECTIONS x

The cattle surge in their pen,

Shifting and flowing,

To the roped gate.

Spring has come. The farmer

Senses the ardency

Of their senses.

The gate swings wide.

From the shadows cattle

Trample, bucking

Into the sun.

Its warmth balms the joints

Of their plump bodies.

REFLECTIONS ix

The moon is not

Tossed

Upon cloudy seas - it moves

Fixedly in its orbit.

To men it may

Change and fluctuate -

To God’s eye

It remains in its orb.

And the seas it never touches

Rise and fall under

The rhythm of

Its influence.

REFLECTIONS viii

Each knew the Lord.

One lived on the consciousness

Of the mercy

By which he had been retrieved;

One dwelt in the knowledge

That God had chosen her

Before the world was;

One was formed

In the graces found

In Jesus Christ;

And one in the glories

Of all established

In Christ Jesus:

In these distinctions

Star differed from star

In glory.