Heavier the Cross

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Sep 23, 1875

Heavier the Cross.

Heavier the cross, the nearer Heaven; No cross without, no God within— Death, judgment from the heart are driven Amid the world’s false glare and din. Oh! happy he with all his loss Whom God hath set beneath the cross.

Heavier the cross, the better the Christian; This is the touchstone God applies. How many a garden would be wasting, Unwet by showers from weeping eyes! The gold by fire is purified; The Christian is by trouble tried.

Heavier the cross, the stronger faith; The loaded palm strikes deeper root; The vine juice sweetly issueth When men have pressed the clustered fruit; And courage grows where dangers come, Like pearls beneath the salt sea foam.

Heavier the cross, the heartier prayer; The bruised reeds most fragrant are; If sky and wind were always fair The sailor would not watch the star; And David’s psalms had ne’er been sung If grief his heart had never wrung.

Heavier the cross, the more aspiring; From vales we climb to mountain-crest; The pilgrim of the desert tiring Longs for the Canaan of his rest; The dove has here no rest in sight, And to the ark she wings her flight.

Heavier the cross, the easier dying; Death is a friendlier face to see; To life’s decay one bids defying, From life’s distress one then is free. The cross sublimely lifts our faith To him who triumphed over death.

Thou Crucified! the cross I carry. The longer may it dearer be; And least I faint while here I tarry, Implant thou such a heart in me That faith, hope, love may flourish there, Till for the cross my crown I wear.

—From the German.