FOLLOW CHRIST by John Greenleaf Whittier

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Sep 26, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 37.

FOLLOW CHRIST.

By John Greenleaf Whittier

(Whittier in "Chapel of the Hermits.")

YET lives the lesson of that day; And from its twilight cool and gray Comes up a low, sad whisper, "Make The truth thine own, for truth's own sake.

"Why wait to see in thy brief span Its perfect flower and fruit in man? No saintly touch can save; no balm Of healing hath the martyr's palm.

"Midst soulless form, and false pretense Of spiritual pride and pampered sense, A voice saith, 'What is that to thee? Be true thyself, and follow me!'

"Alas! no present saint we find; The white cymar gleams far behind, Revealed in outline vague, sublime, Through telescopic mists of time!

"Trust not in man with passing breath, But in the Lord, old Scripture saith; The truth which saves thou mayst not blend With false professor, faithless friend.

"Search thine own heart. What paineth thee In others in thyself may be; All dust is frail, all flesh is weak; Be thou the true man thou dost seek?

"Where now with pain thou treadest, trod The whitest of the saints of God! To show thee where their feet were set, The light which led them shineth yet.

"The footprints of the life divine, Which marked their path, remain in thine; And that great Life, transfused in theirs, Awaits thy faith, thy love, thy prayers!"