Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken

Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave and follow thee;
Destitute, despised, forsaken,
Thou, from hence, my all shalt be.
Perish every fond ambition,
All I’ve sought or hoped or known;
Yet how rich is my condition:
God and heaven are still my own!

Let the world despise and leave me;
They have left my Savior too.
Human hearts and looks deceive me;
Thou art not, like those, untrue.
And, while thou shalt smile upon me,
God of wisdom, love, and might,
Foes may hate, and friends may shun me;
Show thy face, and all is bright.

Haste thee on from grace to glory,
Armed by faith and winged by prayer;
Heaven’s eternal day’s before thee,
God’s own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon shall close thy earthly mansion;
Swift shall pass thy pilgrim days;
Hope shall change to glad fruition,
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.

—Henry F. Lyte