REFLECTIONS

“IMMANUEL.

When once I mourned a load of sin;

When conscience felt a wound within;

When all my works were thrown away;

When on my knees I knelt to pray,

   The blissful hour, remembered well-

    I learned Thy love, Immanuel.

When storms of sorrow toss my soul;

When waves of care around me roll;

When comforts sink, when joys shall flee;

When hopeless griefs shall gape for me,

   One word the tempest’s rage shall swell-

   That word Thy name, Immanuel.

When for the truth I suffer shame;

When foes pour scandal on my name;

When cruel taunts and jeers abound;

When ‘Bulls of Bashan’ gird me round,

   Secure within the tower I’ll dwell-

   That tower Thy grace, Immanuel.

When hell enraged lifts up her roar;

When Satan stops my path before;

When fiends rejoice and wait my end;

When legion’d hosts their arrows send,

   Fear not, my soul, but hurl at hell

   Thy battle-cry, Immanuel.

When down the hill of life I go;

When o’er my feet death’s waters flow;

When in the deep’ning flood I sink;

When friends stand weeping on the brink,

   I’ll mingle with my last farewell

  Thy lovely name, Immanuel.

When tears are banished from mine eye;

When fairer worlds than these are nigh;

When heaven shall fill my ravished sight;

When I shall bathe in sweet delight,

   One joy all joys shall far excel-

   To see Thy face, Immanuel.”

-C.H. Spurgeon