All In All [poem by Menie Parkes]

[Editor: This poem by Menie Parkes was published in Poems (1867).]

All In All.

Christ is All! Hast thou one need,
One want he cannot meet?
Didst at His cross unheeded lie,
Or helpless at His feet?

Thou canst not say it: thou dost know
He came before thy call;
Poor soul! and was it even so?
Then surely Christ is All.

Christ is All! was ever woe
His presence did not calm,
And turn its probing, burning sting
To a refreshing balm?

Canst thou recall a single grief
Thou’dst not have had befall,
To win the joy of that relief?
Thou canst not:— Christ is All!

Hast thou a joy thou would’st not quit,
And trample on with scorn,
If it should bid thee seek the world,
Afar from Christ to mourn?

Or is there aught so blest, so bright,
Could make His dear love pall;
Weaken His strength, or dim his light?
There is not:— Christ is All!

If this be so; if thou canst say
Truly, with all thy heart,
That Christ is all thy soul demands
For earth’s and Heaven’s part;

How shouldst thou watch thy thoughts, thy heart,
Thy steps, lest they should fall!
Those souls must early rise and start,
And late must watch, where Christ is All.

If this be so, there needs no fear,
To cloud the joyous brow;
“They find that seek” the Saviour said —
He always says it now!

And they are all in Christ’s kind heart;
On them his care does fall;
For those who choose the better part
He counts His All in All.

Source:
Menie Parkes, Poems, F. Cunninghame, Sydney, [1867], pages 108-110