Never further than Thy cross,
Never higher than Thy feet;
Here earth’s precious things seem dross,
Here earth’s bitter things grow sweet.
Gazing thus our sin we see,
Learn Thy love while gazing thus,
Sin, which laid the cross on Thee,
Love, which bore the cross for us.
Pressing onward as we can,
Still to this our hearts must tend;
Where our earliest hopes began,
There our last aspirings end.
Till amid the hosts of light,
We in Thee redeemed, complete,
Through Thy cross made pure and white,
Cast our crowns before Thy feet.
About the writer: Elizabeth Rundle Charles, the daughter of John Rundle, a banker and member of Parliament, was born in Devonshire, England in 1828. In 1851 she was married to Andrew Paton Charles, a barrister at law. She is described in Allibone’s Dictionary of Authors as “one who had high reputation as a linguist, painter, musician, and poet.” Her Poems were published in New York in 1867. Before her death in 1896 several of her hymns became standards for different churches.
Key Verses: Whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down and worship the one who lives forever and ever. –Revelation 4:9, 10a