Look Aloft and Live for Christ.
“Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” “Set your affection on things above.” Silly man, why linger gazing,
Earthward where corruption lies?
Angels wait to greet the raising
Of thine eyelids to the skies. Earth hath nought but toil and trouble,
Life is but a fleeting breath,
Honor but an empty bubble,
Worthless in the hour of death. Look aloft, his promise trusting
Of protection on the road
Up to mansions everlasting,
Stable as the throne of God. Let no fleeting joys deceive thee,
Pleasures do not come to stay;
Let no worldly losses grieve thee,
All of earth must pass away. Simple man, what mean you, hiding
Goods that fade, and turn to dust,
Rather than lay up abiding
Treasures safe from moth and rust? O the blindness! O the madness
Of rejecting life and light.
Endless day and endless gladness
For the gloom of endless night! Losing all that's pure and holy,
Losing life, and light, and bliss—
No extreme of human folly
Can at all compare with this! Earthly goods are hard to gather,
Harder are they still to keep;
Heavenly treasures—thieves and robbers
Cannot steal them while we sleep. Thorns are in the rich man's pillow
When his riches are his god;
With his harp upon the willow,
Oft he sighs beneath his load. Foolish man! why build where rageth
Storms o'er ever-shifting sands?
Why not on the “Rock of ages,”
Which secure forever stands?