“Follow Me!”
Samaritan Villagers. Three Answers to Disciples.
(The Gospel History, Section 84)
And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But he said unto him, Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but go thou and publish abroad the kingdom of God.
“Follow Me!”
(The Saviour of the World, Vol VI Book I Poem VIII)
As, pensive, went the Master on His way,
He met a man whose eye a need confessed;
His history was writ in instant’s play
Of glance, revealing that he sought the best,
And in the face of Christ perceived his rest:
The Lord beheld his love, and, “Follow Me,”
He spake to bless the man, and also test:
Ah me, that we the holiest should see
And for some near concern careless should let it be!
E’en so this man, who knew and loved the Lord,—
Divided duties kept him from his good;
His heart upleapt within him at the Word;
Alas, he could not follow an he would
For that old man, his father, who withstood
His son’s desire to leave him ere he died:
“A man must cherish his own flesh and blood
Nor seek another service in his pride!”
Poor man, he answered not, but sore of heart he sighed.
“Yea,” said the Lord, who knows the things that grieve
A man perplexed, with argument outworn;
“There be, shall never their home duties leave,
But rise to serve their household morn by morn:
But there be men who shall go forth forlorn,
The burden of the Lord upon them laid:
To others leave those cares that thou hast borne;
Go, preach the word, My son, nor be dismayed;
Thy God, shall He not be that old man’s staff and aid?”
St. Luke ix. 59, 60.
St. Matthew viii. 21, 22.
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