VOYAGE

      
God is working in the Son
And the Son is His ideal;
Through the One who set the keel
He has made the vessel run.

He through whom the voyage begun
Will unlade the laden creel:
God is working in the Son
And the Son is His ideal.

Soon the journey will be done
And the morning will reveal
Christ’s eternal fresh appeal;
Till that verdant shore is won
God is working in the Son.


This is meant to be a rondel or rondeau or something like that!  I like they way these old forms interweave.

ANSWER

    The counsel of God
Finds its perfect answer
    In the work of God.

LITTLE CREATURES

There are four little creatures
And they are very wise;
The Proverbs names their features
Which no one should despise.
We’ll think of them and then we’ll see
Lessons from them, for you and me.

The first one which would rather
Work when it can - the ant -
Eats what it worked to gather
In winter when it can’t.  
So let us work to gather food
And when it’s Christ it will be good.

Rock-badgers are the second
And nobody should mock
- However weak they’re reckoned -
Because their house is rock.
We will be safe from beasts which roam
While Christ, the Rock, remains our home.

The locusts have none leading
As king in all their bands,
But while they’re wisely feeding
They go about in bands.
Young friend, so very much depends
On having Christians as our friends!

The last beasts we must ponder
Are lizards, tiny things,
Who still are free to wander
In palaces of kings!
Jesus, our King, in all His grace,
Invites us to His heavenly place.

God made these little creatures
    To show us how to live;
Let’s gather from those teachers
    The lessons which they give;
And, lastly, learn this from them all:
God helps us best when we feel small.


First written for Marianne when she was little, and rewritten for other young people afterwards.  But none of us are too old for these lessons, are we?

FLOW

    The Jewish system
Was not great enough to hold
    The flow of blessing!

PAST, FUTURE AND PRESENT

My past was dealt with in the work
    Of Jesus on the cross;
Now no sins mar, and no doubts lurk
    While gain replaces loss.

My future is to be with Him
    Among the saints in light;
No earthly saints or cherubim
    Have hopes that are so bright.

While for the present I have Christ
    As Model for my way,
And grace lest I should be enticed
    To dally or to stray.

Christ is my help if it should be
    I feel I cannot cope;
It is His face I long to see:
    He is my present Hope.

And I have Christ my Lord on high
    As Advocate and Priest,
And source of grace on whose supply
    I bountifully feast.

I have a place in Christ before
    The Father as a son;
The Spirit brings stupendous store
    Straight from the heavenly One.

SOLOMON

Almighty God  - give judgments to the King
And He will judge  according to Thy will!
He will do justice to those whom sin afflicts:
By righteousness  peace will flow from the hills;
He will descend  as a delicious smirr
While grace and truth  will both be flourishing;
Kings of the earth  will render precious gifts
And all mankind  will own His rulership.
Each day He shall be blessed:  and He shall live
While corn shall pullulate  from fertile tilth
Even upon  the mountain’s loftiest ridge:
Seeing His glory  let all the people sing!

DAVID

If in his face  and figure he was charming
While he was famed  for deftness as a harpist
Both strong in soul  and vigorous in action,
Before Goliath  indomitably valiant
Feebly in this  David portrayed the Master.
Christ has both charm of form  and charm of manner;
In antitype  He is the sweeter Psalmist
While our vile foe  who brought us to disaster
Is now defeated  and stripped of all his armour.
David secured  an empire through his battles
But Christ secured  God’s glory and our pardon:
He is a king  whose crown is amaranthine!

JOSEPH

Who should in truth  be named Zaphnath-paaneah,
Who is not only  the Saviour from all evil,
By whom the power of sin  has been defeated,
As crucified  where, spiritually, is Egypt
To bring His own  into eternal freedom,
Not only He  who has sustained His people
- His very flesh  the food that has been eaten -
To keep them in another  modus of being
But He who, come from God,  is the Revealer
Of God’s great love  and His abundant secrets
Which, till He came,  were in profound concealment?
None could sustain  this splendid name but Jesus.