Part of sedilia, St. John’s Church Osnabruck, Germany. (1868)
THE RICHES OF CHRIST
I offer you treasures more precious than gold,
More precious than treasures than banks on earth hold.
The riches of earth delude and ensnare;
Man loves them though Christ has bade him to beware:
The riches of Christ delight and refine;
They shine in full splendor when life we resign.
In the day when the worldling awakens to his loss,
When diamonds and riches and gold are just dross;
Then the ones who have labored for riches above,
Will attain them forever in a home of pure love.
If today then seem dim like the gold of a dream,
While the treasures of earth so glitteringly beam;
A tomorrow is coming on wings swift and sure:-
How then will it see? Which then will endure?
I bid you awake, to awaken today:
Lay hold of these riches, lay hold, don’t delay:
I bid you despise, to despise earthly gain:
To hold it as cheap, as a dangerous bane.
If I could but tell all the values to you,
Of the prize held aloft for mortals to view:
How it dwarfs human minds and still beckons on;
How the angels for this would mortal life don:
How it saves from earth’s darkness, the darkness of night.
And in place gives the kingdom, the kingdom of light:
How it makes the heart sing with joys evermore,
How it lasts through eternity, a billion years more:
How it means for us home, a home of pure love,
A home of rich fellowship with saints saved above:
How it makes us God’s children, — to the world always odd, —
And we’re to be filled with the fullness of God.
When the Christ comes again, appearing in glory,
Then we shall be like Him. This is the story.
Image above:
Image ID: 819337. Part of sedilia, St. John’s Church Osnabruck, Germany. (1868)
Retrieved from:
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?819337
Original Source:
“The study book of medieval architecture and art : a series of working drawings of the principal monuments of the Middle Ages.”