Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow Thee. <br />Destitute, despised, forsaken, Thou from hence my all shall be. <br />Perish every fond ambition, all I’ve sought or hoped or known. <br />Yet how rich is my condition! God and heaven are still mine own. <br /> <br />Let the world despise and leave me, they have left my Savior, too. <br />Human hearts and looks deceive me; Thou art not, like them, untrue. <br />And while Thou shalt smile upon me, God of wisdom, love and might, <br />Foes may hate and friends disown me, show Thy face and all is bright. <br /> <br />Go, then, earthly fame and treasure! Come, disaster, scorn and pain! <br />In Thy service, pain is pleasure; with Thy favor, loss is gain. <br />I have called Thee, “Abba, Father”; I have set my heart on Thee: <br />Storms may howl, and clouds may gather, all must work for good to me. <br /> <br />Man may trouble and distress me, ’twill but drive me to Thy breast. <br />Life with trials hard may press me; heaven will bring me sweeter rest. <br />Oh, ’tis not in grief to harm me while Thy love is left to me; <br />Oh, ’twere not in joy to charm me, were that joy unmixed with Thee. <br /> <br />Take, my soul, thy full salvation; rise o’er sin, and fear, and care; <br />Joy to find in every station something still to do or bear: <br />Think what Spirit dwells within thee; what a Father’s smile is thine; <br />What a Savior died to win thee, child of heaven, shouldst thou repine? <br /> <br />Haste then on from grace to glory, armed by faith, and winged by prayer, <br />Heaven’s eternal day’s before thee, God’s own hand shall guide thee there. <br />Soon shall close thy earthly mission, swift shall pass thy pilgrim days; <br />Hope soon change to glad fruition, faith to sight, and prayer to praise.<br /><br />Henry Francis Lyte<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/jesus-i-my-cross-have-taken/
