Light of a Stone Most Precious

Princess Gate.

2 Cor. 4:6-7.

"God in heaven has a treasure,
Riches none may count or tell;
Has a deep, eternal pleasure,
Christ, the Son, He loves so well.
God has here on earth a treasure,
None but He its price may know -
Deep unfathomable pleasure,
Christ revealed in saints below.

"Christ, the light that fills the heavens,
Shining forth on earth beneath,
Through His Spirit freely given,
Light of life 'midst shades of death;
Down from heaven's unclouded glory
God Himself the treasure brought,
Closing thus His love's sweet story
With His sweetest, deepest thought.

"God, in tongues of fire descending,
Chosen vessels thus to fill
With the treasure never ending,
Ever spent - unfailing still.
Still unwasted, undiminished,
Though the days of dearth wear on,
Store eternally unfinished -
Fresh, as if but now begun.

"Earthen vessels, marred, unsightly,
But the treasure as of old,
Fresh from glory, gleaming brightly,
Heaven's undimmed, unchanging gold.
God's own hand the vessel filling
From the glory far above,
Longing hearts for ever stilling
With those riches of His love.

"Thus, through earthen vessels only,
Shining forth in ceaseless grace,
Reaching weary hearts and lonely,
Beams the light in Jesu's face:
Vessels worthless, broken, bearing,
Through the hungry ages on,
Riches given with hand unsparing,
God's great gift, His precious Son."
(Selected.)