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CHRIST ALL IN ALL

“In Christ all fulness dwells: from him proceeds
All that fall’n man, poor, wretched, guilty, needs.
In him the contrite, bruised in spirit find
Whate’er can heal the sorrows of the mind—
Forgiving love, that saves from blank despair,
Rich grace, that banishes each anxious care,
Soft pity, that relieves the bursting sigh,
And truth, revealing joys that never die.

Thrice happy they, who to his word attend,
His favor seek, and on his strength depend:
‘Tis their’s to know his heart-consoling voice,
To share his smile, and in his name rejoice;
To them, reclaimed in mercy from the fall
And heavenward marching, Christ is all in all:
In want, their treasure—in distress, their stay—
In gloom, their day-spring—vigor, in decay—
‘Mid foes, their guard—in solitude, their guest—
In storms, their hiding-place—in toils, their rest—
In bonds, their freedom—their relief, in pain—
In life, their glory—and in death, their gain.”

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— June, 1889 —