Jesus Welcoming Home a Martyr

Cast off thine anguish, thy lingering pain;
Still all the troubles astir in thy breast;
Hardships long suffered have not been in vain:
Thou hast been faithful – enter thy rest.

Great was thy love, O dear servant, for me:
And yet thou didst suffer; high was the cost;
Thou drank of the anguish that I bare for thee,
When thou wast unseeing, incapable, lost.

Long was thy journey, thy labor most hard:
Thy gospel was slighted by Adam’s fall’n race;
Thy body was broken and battered and scarred
By those whom thou strovest to tell of my grace;

But was I not with thee each step of the way,
Comforting, strengthening in thy distress?
Gave I not mercy and peace day by day?
Humbled I not those who strove to oppress?

I savored as incense thy heart’s prayers and sighs;
Upheld thee each time thou didst fall, my dear son;
I wiped every tear from thy sorrowing eyes;
I never forsook thee, my child – well done.

Cast off corruption, mortality, death:
As thou hast labored, so shalt thou be blest.
What though escapeth thy last gasping breath?
Thou hast been faithful – enter thy rest.

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