| |
| THAT was the Shepherd of the flock; He knew | |
| The distant voice of one poor sheep astray; | |
| It had forsaken Him, but He was true, | |
| And listened for its bleating night and day. | |
| Lost in a pitfall, yet alive it lay, | 5 |
| To breathe the faint sad call that He would know; | |
| But now the slighted fold was far away, | |
| And no approaching footstep soothed its woe. | |
| |
| A thing of life and nurture from above | |
| Sunk under earth where all was cold and dim, | 10 |
| With nothing in it to console His love, | |
| Only the miserable cry for Him. | |
| His was the wounded heart, the bleeding limb | |
| That safe and sound He would have joy’d to keep; | |
| And still, amidst the flock at home with Him, | 15 |
| He was the Shepherd of that one lost sheep. | |
| |
| Oh! would He now but come and claim His own, | |
| How more than precious His restoring care! | |
| How sweet the pasture of His choice alone, | |
| How bright the dullest path if He were there! | 20 |
| How well the pain of rescue it could bear, | |
| Held in the shelter of His strong embrace! | |
| With Him it would find herbage anywhere, | |
| And springs of endless life in every place. | |
| |
| And so He came and raised it from the clay, | 25 |
| While evil beasts went disappointed by. | |
| He bore it home along the fearful way | |
| In the soft light of His rejoicing eye. | |
| And thou fallen soul, afraid to live or die | |
| In the deep pit that will not set thee free, | 30 |
| Lift up to Him the helpless homeward cry, | |
| For all that tender love is seeking thee. | |
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