The neighbour said when her work was done, “It may be Hannah is all alone, And oh! it’s an awful thing to lie Too ill to live, and afraid to die. So just to sit with her I will go, But how to help her I do not know.” So the neighbour went, and she heard no moan, And she thought, “Poor Hannah is dead and gone;” She lighted the candle with fear and dread, And stooped to see if Hannah was dead. But there she lay with her face so bright! It shone with glory and not with light. 142 And she said, “O neighbour, the Lord is good! He has washed me white in His precious Blood, My sins are gone from before His Face, And He has prepared a glorious place, Where those He loves with Himself shall be, And to that sweet Home He is calling me. O neighbour, here in the dark I lay, I felt so guilty I could not pray, And all my sins like a mountain stood Before the terrible Face of God. Then all in a moment, sweet and clear, A voice spake loud, though none was near, Like an Angel speaking I heard it say, ‘Jesus washes our sins away!’ And whilst I thought, Do my ears tell true? It said, ‘Poor woman, He died for you.’ And then did the words come sweet and low That I had forgotten long ago; I once heard tell in the years gone by, How Jesus came on the cross to die, And there He hung in the darkness dread, With a crown of thorns on His holy Head. 143 And some old, old words came back to me, ‘He bore our sins on the cursed tree.’ Yes, it was true that mine He bore, So the guilt is gone, and the judgment o’er; And more than that, if He died for me, What must the love of Jesus be! He in His Home of glory waits To see me enter the golden gates; Whilst I lay moaning in black despair; His heart was longing to have me there. And oh for the welcome I soon shall know! No words can tell how I long to go!” |