W. Garrett Horder, comp. The Poets’ Bible: New Testament. 1895.
I Bear in My Body the Marks of the Lord Jesus
Edward Hayes Plumptre (18211891)“T
The scourge and rod have graven deep their brands,
And Lystra’s stones have left
A wound that will not heal.
Hot suns, keen frosts upon the mountain height,
These have made life as death,
And brought the snows of age.
The sharp thorn pierceth ever more and more;
But this, at least, I gain;
My life henceforth is free.
To my own Master I or stand or fall:
Let man from troubling cease,
And leave me as I am.
Warring against the citadel of Truth,
Ye cannot touch the peace
Deep hid with Christ in God.”
By the same path may equal freedom gain,
Secure in inward calm,
Though storm-blasts round us rage.
The tempters to despair, or doubt, or pride,
They shall not mar our peace,
Nor separate from Him.
Nor all that worketh in the height or depth,
God’s chosen ones can hurt
Or banish from His love.