Poems (Shipton)/The Offering

by Anna Shipton

THE OFFERING.

"Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price."
1 Cor. vi. 19, 20.

No more my own, Lord Jesus!
 Bought with Thy precious Blood,
I give Thee but Thine own, Lord,
 That long Thy love withstood.

I give the life Thou gavest,
 My present, future, past;
My joys, my fears, my sorrows,
 My first hope and my last.

I give Thee up my weakness
 Which oft distrust hath bred,
That Thy indwelling power
 May thus be perfected.

I give the love the sweetest
 Thy goodness grants to me;
Take it, and make it meet, Lord,
 For offering to Thee.

Smile! and the very shadows
 In Thy blest light shall shine;
Take Thou my heart, Lord Jesus,
 For thou hast made it Thine.

Thou know'st my soul's ambition,
 For Thou hast changed its aim
(The world's reproach I fear not),
 To share a Saviour's shame.

Outside the Camp to suffer,
 Within the Vail to meet,
And hear Thy softest whisper
 From out the Mercy-seat.

Thou bear'st me on Thy bosom,
 Amidst Thy jewels worn,
Upon Thy hands deep graven,
 By arms of love upborne.

Rescued from sin's destruction,
 Ransomed from death and hell,
Complete in Thee, Lord Jesus:
 Thou hast done all things well!

O deathless Love that bought me!
 O price beyond my ken!
Life, that hides my own life
 E'en from my fellow-men!

Now fashion, form, and fill me
 With light and love Divine:
So, one with Thee, Lord Jesus,
 I'm Thine—for ever Thine!