p. 12 | The Home Circle by Emily J. Bugbee

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 25, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 33.

The Home Circle.

By Emily J. Bugbee

"COME."

"Come unto Me." We hear the invitation, In ceaseless echoes down the ages roll; It is no mocking hope of consolation He offers those who listen to His call.

Yet ah! so oft forgetting and forsaking, Bewildered and dismayed, we wander still, Such crooked pathways for our footsteps making, Such wayward wandering from His loving will.

"Come unto Me," forever gently calling; Dost Thou not weary that we come so slow? A little onward, and then backward falling, Lured by some mirage that hath mocked us so.

Alas! the long, sad wilderness of travel, When straight before us lies the happy land, Who shall to us the mystery unravel, That thus we cleave unto the arid sand?

Oh! if at last we reach the promised Canaan, And find its purling streams and fruits so sweet, How shall we marvel that our eyes were holden, And could not see the way to set our feet!

Be patient still, O wise and tender Shepherd, And teach the wandering sheep thy voice to know, Calling so clear, amid life's falling shadows, That we may fail not in right paths to go. —Emily J. Bugbee, in Christian Advocate.