Oft Has My Youthful Mind Been Led

Oft has my youth­ful mind been led

Some for­eign re­gion for to tread

The vast ex­panse I would ex­plore

From west­ern isles to Gan­ges’ shore.

I’d see the once most Christ­ian ground

Where first the Gos­pel’s trump did sound

I’d see the now de­mol­ished mass

The scant re­mains of pol­ished Greece.

The place where thou­sands once did dwell

Has now be­come the her­mit’s cell:

A shep­herd here and there re­sides

With ser­pents

moles

and fea­thered tribes.

I then would see the Egypt­ian plains

Once oc­cu­pied by fru­gal swains.

I there would pause and view awhile

The flow­ing of the riv­er Nile.

From thence I’d see old Jor­dan’s flood

Where Is­ra­el knew their Sav­ior God;

Where John bap­tized a nu­mer­ous host

And cir­cum­ci­sion’s seal was lost.

To Geth­se­ma­ne’s gar­den I then would go

Where blood and tears for me did flow;

That con­se­crat­ed place I’d see

Where Je­sus knelt and prayed for me.

Then Cal­va­ry’s skul­ly mount I’d see

Where Sav­ior Je­sus died for me;

I’d view the place where once He stood

And drop a tear where He dropped blood.