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Title: The Remote Christian
Author: John Castillo [
More Titles by Castillo]
Deep in a glen, remote and wild,
And far from affluence,
A cottage stood, and heaven smil’d,
Upon that residence.
A couple liv’d there many years,
In love and unity;
Who careful in this vale of tears,
Had rear’d a family.
No costly goods their cot adorn,
No shining liveries wait;
For them no huntsman sounds his horn,
No carriage at the gate.
A simple, honest peasant, free,
Not with much learning stored;
Though thus remote, yet happily,
Had sought and found the Lord.
Where neither moth nor rust can harm,
Nor thieves can ere invade,
Beyond the reach of human arm,
Was his heart’s treasure laid.
Around his farm, or in his field,
The moor birds hatch’d and fed;
And when at work, the lapwing cried,
And flutter’d o’er his head.
While thus his little field he drain’d,
Or temper’d the wild sod,
His household too with care were train’d,
To love and fear their God.
The field, the garden, and the tree,
For him their produce bore,
His table too, the bee supplied,
From her delicious store.
The Lord who thus his substance blest,
Did all his wants supply;
And pleasantly to quench his thirst,
A brook ran murmuring by.
I saw him on his dying bed,
When strength began to fail,
I saw him lift his languid head,—
And heard his happy tale.
He then began to bless the day,
His sins had been made known,
When he began to weep and pray,
And look’d to Christ alone.
He bless’d that Book his heart had cheer’d,
And tried its worth to tell;
He bles’d that Blood which once was shed,
To save his soul from hell.
Yes! Christ to him was precious then,
His company was sweet;
He said, His love was in his heart,
The world beneath his feet.
This, when the monster Death arriv’d,
Did solid comfort bring;
That blood he felt had quite depriv’d
The monster of his sting.
“This body chang’d, shall soon,” said he,
“With saints and angels join,
And sing to all eternity,
The depths of Love Divine!”
[The end]
John Castillo's poem: Remote Christian
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