“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19: 10.
O, THE lands that in shadow are lying,
Where no gospel has ever been given,
Where the heathen in darkness are dying,
With groping hands reached up to heaven!
All the joys that may come on the morrow,
By an echo of sadness are crossed;
For my heart hears with infinite sorrow
The pitiful cry of the lost.
I would go where dark islands are lying,
The light of God’s love to uphold.
I would tell them of Christ and His dying,
And point to the Good Shepherd’s fold.
I would tell them how sins are forgiven,
Of redemption at infinite cost.
I would tell them that Christ came from heaven
To seek and to succor the lost.
I think, with a tender emotion,
Of those who leave children and wife
For the lonely lands over the ocean,
That love the truth better than life.
’Tis for this they on wild seas are sailing,
’Tis for this that the deserts are crossed.
Ah, they hear in far lands the sad wailing,
The pitiful cry of the lost!
They have gone to those lands in the distance,
Their love casting out every fear;
For they know that an endless existence
Will be theirs when the Lord shall appear.
’Twill be theirs to ascend into glory,
With no more stormy billows to cross;
For they’ve told to the world the glad story,
And the gospel has gone to the lost.
