ABIDE WITH ME: by Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 17, 1900

ABIDE WITH ME:

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE.

Bide Thou with me! The hour is late, Fast locked and closed the city’s gate, The solemn night-bird sounds her call, The watchmen guard the massive wall; But if thou guard not hill and plain, The watchmen waketh but in vain.

So, bide with me: when thou art near, I know nor danger, doubt, nor fear; E’en sorrow, with her mantle gray, And grief and anguish, flee away. O my Beloved! on thy breast Hold thou me in thine arms to rest.

I will not—will not—let thee go! Too well thy blessed peace I know, I do not say, “Be thou my guest, Abide one blessed hour,” lest When that sweet hour had passed away, Behold, my Lord had gone for aye.

And so I plead, Abide with me! How can I live apart from thee? To walk with thee as Enoch walked, To talk with thee as Moses talked, To live and move and breathe in thee,— O blessed Christ! abide with me.

What, my Beloved! dost thou wait? And have my sins fast barred the gate? Those sins which have my soul undone, I loathe, abhor them every one. Thy pierced feet stand at my door; Come in, and bide forevermore.

He came: his voice was music sweet; I bowed me at his blessed feet. My sins, which seemed like scarlet flame, White as the driven snow became. He healed my soul, he set me free; And lo! he doth abide with me.