They spoke of old to him who sat,
In blindness by the way,
Of Christ the Lord, who drawing near,
Could turn his night to day.
But still he lingered, trembling there,
Till o’er that living sea,
The words of welcome reached his ear,
“Arise! He calleth thee.”
And still those words from heaven fall,
On every sinner’s ear.
And still the Lord delights to bid
The trembling soul “draw near.”
The old, the young, the rich, the poor,
He calls from wrath to flee,
And from the death-like sleep of sin,
“Arise! He calleth thee.”
He saw thee when “a great way off,”
Thou had’st no thought of Him;
And the door of mercy open threw,
And gently called thee in.
As a child, within its father’s home,
As happy and as free,
He longed to have you with Himself,
“Arise! He calleth thee!”
From all the joys this world affords,
Which perish in a day;
The gilded snares which Satan spreads
To lead your steps astray.
From sin, from guilt—however great—
From want, from misery;
From all the sorrows of your life,
“Arise! He calleth thee.”
From the want, which urges on your feet
In sin’s dark paths to roam;
To the feast of love His hand has spread
And the endless joys of hornet
From the memory of your bye-past life,
However dark it be;
To the future fields of heavenly light,
“Arise! He calleth thee.”
A. S. O.