An Old Man's Pilgrimage and Testimony

Since the Lord has kept and guided,
   More than ninety years of days,
Every hour and every moment,
   Through life's strange and crooked ways,
What is not the testimony
   Which, you so delight to bear?
For your long, uneven journey,
   Great experience must declare.

Once a baby, young and tender,
   Taught, by mother, how to talk,
And, while open-arms protected,
   Trained, by father, how to walk;
Next a boy of fun and frolic,
   Growing up through youthful days,
Till you whispered to a maiden,
   Words of friendship, love and praise.

While enjoying early manhood,
   With its pleasures manifold,
Greater joys, in Christ's Redemption,
   You were able to behold;
By his grace, through faith, adopted
   Into God's own family,
You enjoyed the Father's blessings,
   And His children's liberty.

She a girl bright, pure and gentle,
   Had the Saviour, too, received;
Trusted him, as Lord and Master,
   Practised what her soul believed;
And when asked, by you sincerely,
   If she would become your wife,
There was formed the sweetest blending,
   Love can know in human life.

Nothing, in this life, surpasses
   Such a bond of human hearts,
Which defies all outward forces
   To divide it into parts;
Love of lover and of sweetheart,
   Love of husband and of wife,
Welded by their love for Jesus,
   Binding all in happiest life.

Rough and long their journey may be,
   And life's burdens hard to bear,
But that love, divine and human,
   Brings a happiness they share;
As they pray, they trust and labour,
   Faithful to their heavenly Guide
Knowing He will not forsake them,
   Whatsoever may betide.

Wooed and won! you strolled together,
   When your leisure would allow;
Every walk was full of pleasure,
   For she was your angel now;
Kings and Queens you did not envy,
   Since her heart was yours alone,
Where was he or she, whose spirit,
   Was so gladsome as your own?

Then arrived the day of marriage – 
   Such a dawn you ne'er had seen;
When you crowned, with golden circlet,
   That fair damsel as your queen;
Onward spending life together,
   In a humble cottage-home,
Where no King had right to enter,
   Till you bid him forward come.

You enjoyed a many Summers,
   With the sunshine in the sky,
And were hopeful through the Winters,
   When the heavy clouds were nigh:
On you lived amongst the changes,
   Wedded life allotted you,
Till the passing of your loved one,
   With its hopeful last adieu.

Hopeful, though you would have lengthened
   Out her brittle thread of life,
Hopeful, though death, for a season
   Robbed you of that precious wife;
For the dawning of a morning,
   Brighter than the wedding-morn,
Will renew God-given friendships,
   His own glory to adorn.

Both had lived, in calm submission,
   To His will, along the way,
And could only feel that parting
   Was to meet another day:
On retiring she was ready,
   Should He call before the dawn;
And you said, – "We're in safe keeping:
   What is best, to Him is known."

When you had to be divided,
   As your loved one took her flight,
Death did not – could not disturb her,
   Though He called her in the night,
There, alone, she cheered, advised you,
   Beckoning as she onward moved,
Leaving you to prove, without her,
 What, together, both had proved.

Through the years which since have followed
   You have journeyed on alone,
Raising your own Ebenezer
   As you've passed each marking-stone;
Sometimes thinking of the dear one,
   And her cheering words to you
As she seems to come, in vision,
   Bygone seasons to renew.

Calmly trusting Christ's own promise,
   Fearing not what may befall,
Ere you sleep to wake, forever,
   To behold Him – "All in all":
Ebenezer is your triumph!
   When reviewing what has past,
Knowing Christ, Who has been gracious,
   Will be gracious to the last.

What is now the testimony,
   Which, to all, you would declare,
That we thus may be encouraged,
   And a kindred spirit share?
What is it that gives such pleasure?
   What would you have us to be?
Why are you so full of gladness,
   Hope, and joy, and liberty?

"As I think o'er my experience,
   Humbly, and in love I say,
Now I see wherein I've missed it,
   Where I've failed along the way:
How I could have been more useful,
   For my dearest Saviour-friend;
But the Lord's been good and gracious,
   And will be so to the end."

"When I waken in the night-time,
   I remember, while at rest,
Hymns, and passages of scripture,
   And, by them, my soul is blest.
Quietly I ponder over,
   'Midst the stillness all around,
Promises and sayings of Jesus,
   And, in them fresh hope I've found."

"O! I wish that men and women
   Would hold on to Church and School:
'Mong the boys and girls, as teachers,
   Or, as officers, to rule;
What a large amount of service
   They might render, if they would,
And become a means of blessing,
   To so many lives for good."

"Now they look on me as aged – 
   'One of the Old-school,' they say:
But, to spend that time, as they do,
   Is to throw their lives away:
Better far to serve the Master,
   And to strive His work to do:
They would then be much more happy,
   As life's journey they pursue."

"This world now, for me, has little,
   And, on me, has lost its hold,
For I'm looking to the future
   And, by Jesus, am controlled:
So, I raise my Ebenezer;
   Hither, by His help, I've come,
And I hope, by His good pleasure,
   Safely to arrive at home."