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.”