William Baxter The Soul's Wants (1868)

FROM

THE

MILLENNIAL HARBINGER.

DEVOTED TO PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY.

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VOL. 39.] BETHANY, W. V., OCTOBER, 1868. [NO. 10.
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THE SOUL'S WANTS.
BY WILLIAM BAXTER.

Lord, I am thirsty, but no earthly stream
My soul's deep burning thirst can satisfy,
The stream I thirst for flashes near thy throne,
The tree of life grows where it murmurs by.

Lord, I am hungry, not for earthly food;
But that which thou alone, Lord, canst supply,--
The bread of life; O, give that bread to me;
Without it soon my hungry soul must die.

Lord, I am weary of the world and sin;
To weary Israel thou didst Canaan grant;
Give me the rest thou hast prepared above,
For that sweet rest, weary and worn, I pant.

Lord, I am poor, not lacking earthly goods;
But O, I wish myself an heir to feel
Of the true riches, where no moth corrupts,
And where the thief may not break through and steal.

Lord, I am weak, not in the flesh alone;
My spirit faints, life's path seems dark and long:
O give me strength for all my future way,
And to my soul when, fainting say, "Be strong."

Lord, I am blind; not as to fleshly eyes;
But the soul's eyes, alas! are lacking sight:
To the soul's chaos speak, as once of old,
And say to my dark mind, "Let there be light."

Lord, I am sick, with sickness of the soul!
And from that malady would fain be free;
I'm sick with sin, and know not of a cure,
Unless thou wilt the good Physician be.

Lord, I am dying; with the monster Death
I now am waging an unequal strife:
Aid me, O Christ, thou Conqueror of death,
And give, O, give to me eternal life.

[The Millennial Harbinger (October 1868): 571.]

ABOUT THE ELECTRONIC EDITION

      William Baxter's "The Soul's Wants" was first published in The Ladies' Repository, Vol. 24, No. 2, February 1864, p. 76. The poem was reprinted in The Millennial Harbinger, Vol. 39, No. 10, October 1868. The electronic version of the poem has been produced from the College Press reprint (1976) of The Millennial Harbinger, ed. Alexander Campbell (Bethany, VA: A. Campbell, 1868), p. 571.

      Inconsistencies in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and typography have been retained; however, corrections have been offered for misspellings and other accidental corruptions. Emendations are as follows:

            Printed Text [ Electronic Text
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 p. 571:    cnre, [ cure,

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 21 June 1998.
Updated 28 June 2003.

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