Heaven, O sublime home of all purity,
That which Satan and his crew emptied;
And now ever admitting mortals
By the Way of Christ’s Cross!
Heaven, O how to get there, its bliss ours becomes!
How else but by the Way of the Cross;
For when Christ died, His Blood shared,
Our propitiation for sins becoming,
The Way to God’s Throne
And Eternity with God He paved,
That wretched man forever damned for sins
Sins in coalition with Satan against His Creator,
May forever free be and eternal God’s sons become!
O great vision to run with,
The Savior to cleave unto,
That Divinity and Humanity
Common foe in Satan may have and abhor,
And all his jettison!
Sin to flee,
The world and its ways and fashion to detest:
This then our vocation must be.
Contrariwise:
God’s Spirit and Command to obey,
The Narrow Way to submissively walk,
The Way of the Cross with fortitude to tread;
Striving thus the pearly gate to go through!
O how else to contend for the faith
Unto saints of yore and us delivered!
No other way to earnestly for a most precious faith vie.
Thus to hazard our lives we may as did our fathers,
For so true discipleship demands.
Hands once on a Holy plough, firm to remain,
For what in glory awaits we must far esteem
Than all earth’s mundane fascinations
And damning charms;
And thus by violence God’s Kingdom take by force!
This force of holiness that’s Christ Image in us formed,
That sins absconds,
Ways and fashions of this world flee;
But the narrow way resolutely walking,
Its demands tapping grace to obey
And unto Jesus looking,
His Hands theirs clutched.
With the Master of all storms walking
Their garments even whiter become.
For trials on the way by Him overcome for obedience
Makes these purer,
More resolutely heaven-bound,
And them, readies more for that sublime Celestial place.
‘O at last, Heaven-gained!’
Their rapturous voices sound out,
And Heaven permeate.
Eternity with God in all bliss commences!
O that this our portion eternally would be,
As the walk that this obtains, indeed secures we walk!
IMAGE: Bhavna Sayana
