Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.
By Psalms and Hymns for the Church (1883). IX. “Pause now, and think, O Christian soul!”William Josiah Irons (1812–1883)
P
Is Christ a shadowy name?
Say, wilt thou give to Him that whole
Being, for which He came?
Ask of thyself: “Whose Son is He?”
Is He of earth or heaven?
And art thou a co-heir to be
Of hopes that He has given?
What is the Christ to thee?
A dim idea, to console
In some extremity?
A Name to win thee man’s respect,
The praise of flesh and blood?
If so, thou art not His elect,
And not the child of God.
“Him only shalt thou serve,”
His mansions wait for thee above,
If here thou wilt not swerve.
On earth He sent His Son to show
The one true heavenward way,
And thou must follow Him to know
God’s everlasting day.
So mayest thou know the Son:
The I in them, and Thou in Me,
“That they in Us be one.”
His penitents begin that joy,
His saints that bliss fulfil;
And angels there find sweet employ,
Obedient to His Will.
Think what a heaven is thine,
If thou wilt break from earth’s control,
And own thy Christ divine.
Nor hesitate to make thy choice,
Nor “tempt thy God,” Who still
Waits, with the angels to rejoice
Over man’s conquered will.