Galilee

by Horace H.Elson | Category: General | Feb 1936

Thoughts occasioned by reading M.M.B's. reminiscence of the boatmens' chorus on the Sea of Galilee.

The mountains round thee, Galilee,

Once sheltered Christ, Who shelters me

Upon thy breast He once took rest-

Upon Whose breast I rest, most blest.

Thy wondrous calm, tumultuous storm

Thy sunlit wave, cliff's stately form,

Each bore, or sheltered, or obeyed

My Lord-Who came to seek and save.

The golden sands thy blue waves meet,

Were once imprinted by His feet;

He healed the sick upon thy shore,

And preached the Gospel to thy poor.

But when He left thee, Galilee,

And set His face t'ward Calvary,

Glad tidings died upon the breeze,

With none thy miseries to ease.

And soon the cities by thy side,

The woes of which He spake, betide:

And craftless wave, and crumbling wall,

Through des'late centuries appall.

In haunts and scenes of men forsook,

Gennesaret long her sabbaths took,

But He Who humbly trod thy shore

And loved thee, loves thee still, and more-

Now gath'ring round thee as of yore

The sons of Abram-Israel's poor

Rebuild thy towns and ply thy deep;

But who shall make the scene complete ?

Who shall in thee-as Christ before,

Preach the glad tidings to thy poor?

And tell He saves, Whose feet once gave

Blest imprint to thy sand and wave.

Lord of the harvest-and the sea,

They sit in dark, in Galilee!

Send forth men-fishers, called by Thee,

"Let there be light "-in Galilee.

Horace H.Elson | Feb 1936
General

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