1. The Son of God goes forth to war
A kingly crown to gain.
His blood-red banner streams afar;
Who follows in His train?
Who best can drink His cup of woe,
Triumphant over pain,
Who patient bears his cross below--
He follows in His train.
2. The martyr first whose eagle eye
Could pierce beyond the grave,
Who saw His Master in the sky
And called on Him to save.
Like Him, with pardon on His tongue,
In midst of mortal pain,
He prayed for them that did the wrong--
Who follows in his train?
3. A glorious band, the chosen few,
On whom the Spirit came,
Twelve valiant saints; their hope they knew
And mocked the cross and flame.
They met the tyrant's brandished steel,
The lion's gory mane;
They bowed their necks the death to feel--
Who follows in their train?
4. A noble army, men and boys,
The matron and the maid,
Around the Savior's throne rejoice,
In robes of light arrayed.
They climbed the steep ascent of heav'n
Thro' peril, toil, and pain.
O God, to us may grace be giv'n
To follow in their train!
Hymn #452
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: 1 Timothy 6:12
Author: Reginald Heber, 1827
Composer: Henry S. Cutler, 1872
Tune: "All Saints New"
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Gn 22:1-19 / Mt 9:1-8 More than a century ago, Abraham Lincoln made the famous observation, "You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you can never fool all the people all the time." Quite so, yet a lot of our politicians keep trying! For us, an important corollary of this is that you can't fool God — ever — not even for an instant! Yet it seems that we keep trying. In today's gospel, Jesus shows us once again His ability to read people's hearts. It was the source of one of the great and continuing sadnesses of His life: He could see the envy and hatred that so many people harbored against Him, and for no reason. What does the Lord see when He reads our hearts? Without doubt He sees our goodness — which we ourselves so often fail to see and trust — and He sees our desire to be true and to do the deeds of love. But there's another part of us that He sees as well, our sins and failures, of course, but also those locked rooms whose doors we refuse to even open. If the Lord sees what is in us and does not reject us, why should we fear to enter those darkened rooms and to see those parts of ourselves that we fear and shudder to face? The answer is that we shouldn't, for, as the prayer says, "Lord, there is nothing that You and I can't handle together!" Remember that, trust Him, and open those doors now! |
Most inspiring hymn, thanks for posting.