Poems, by Uriah Smith

The Willing and Obedient

“If ye be willing and obedient,
ye shall eat the good of the land.” Isaiah 1:19. POUS 131.1

Whose is a willing heart,
Whose is a ready hand;
Joyful in Jesus’ cause to start,
Joyful for him to stand?
Whose breast with ardor glows,
The conflict to begin;
Warring, but not with carnal foes,
Wrestling with every sin? POUS 131.2

Who when the cross appears,
Hasten its weight to bear;
Glad, though it be through thorns and tears,
The cross of Christ to share?
Who at stern duty’s call,
Unbound by selfish will,
Meekly resign their earthly all,
Its bidding to fulfill? POUS 131.3

Who with unyielding feet,
When storms around them roar,
Shrink not the scorn and hate to meet
Which Christ their Saviour bore:
Deeming of higher worth,
Their Lord’s reproaches now,
Than all the cankered gold of earth,
To which the worldlings bow? POUS 131.4

Whose is a willing heart?
And who obedient stand?
To them shall Heaven its joys impart,
To them the goodly land.
For them the City waits,
Unstained by woe or sin,
And as they come, the pearly gates
Shall ope to let them in. POUS 132.1