THE TEST by Mary B. Sleight

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 19, 1880

THE TEST.

By Mary B. Sleight

"Forgive our debts as we forgive,"— Ah, who, dear Lord, can pray that prayer? The rest with ready zeal is said, But self-accused we falter there, Conscious, beneath its crucial test, Of hate our lips have ne'er confessed.

As we forgive! O Christ in Heaven, Can we both pardon and forget, When arrows dipped in deadly gall Within our hearts are rankling yet?— Sharp arrows by the false hands aimed Of those who once love's largess claimed?

Be pitiful, O blessed Christ, Nor chide us for our bitter thought Of those who rendered hate for love, And mocked us for the gifts we brought, For thou alone, dear Lord, dost know How measureless the debt they owe.

Forgive us, Lord. Can theirs exceed The endless debt we owe to thee? Thy patient, unrequited love, Thy mercy, boundless as the sea, Thy life-blood poured, a healing balm, From wounded side and nail-pierced palm?

Ashamed and penitent we kneel; O thou who dost our sins forget, Help us with thy sweet charity To pardon freely all the debt, That praying, Lord, that prayer again, Our inmost hearts may say "Amen." Sag Harbor, N. Y. —Mary B. Sleight.