SONGS BY THE WAY by Sel.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 24, 1872

SONGS BY THE WAY.

By Sel.

“Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.” Ps. 119:54.

I’m a pilgrim, and my journey were a desert one and drear, But for streams along the pathway,—precious springs of wayside cheer; Flowers in barren places blooming,—pictures treasured of the skies, In the sweet home-country shining, where the Father’s mansions rise.

I’m a pilgrim, and at nightfall, when my weary feet are spent, All unsandaled and ungirded in the stranger’s lonely tent, I re-tune my harp and sing, while my heart selects the theme— Not from loves that grow around me—not the poet’s idle dream; But from ones whose inspiration was the breath of Zion’s mount— Bards that drank the living waters of Shiloah’s sacred fount; And I waken in sleep-hours, and my heart repeats the strain; Do I sing, or do I listen to an angel’s sweet refrain?

I’m a pilgrim; night and morning bear me farther on my way, To the home-land of my soul, in the bright, eternal day; But the way has rests of joy, while thy laws my thoughts engage, For “thy statutes are the songs of my house of pilgrimage.”

I’m a pilgrim, and in vision do my yearning eyes behold Where “jasper walls” and “pearly gates” the blessed ones enfold; And I’ll drop my staff with triumph as I near the latest stage, While the victor’s song shall crown all the songs of pilgrimage.

—Sel.