The Shepherd Now Was Smitten

The Shep­herd now was smit­ten;

The wolf was ra­ven­ing near;

The scat­tered flock he threat­ened

But knew not whose they were.

In zea­lous fu­ry seek­ing

To bind and cru­ci­fy

A sud­den voice with­held him

A loud and start­ling cry:

Saul! Saul! why blind­ly dar­ing

To per­se­cute thy Lord?

’Tis Je­sus whom thou hat­est

Rebel not at My Word.

Then forth in pray­er he stretch­eth

Those hands pre­pared to slay;

What wouldst Thou with Thy serv­ant?

My Lord and Mas­ter

say.

Christ’s foe be­comes His sol­dier

The wolf de­stroys no more

A gen­tle lamb he en­ters

The sheep­fold by the door.

O voice of God Al­migh­ty

What won­ders hath it wrought!

It rends the lof­ty ce­dars

It bends the haugh­ty thought.

Jesu

our shep­herd

cease not

Thy flock from harm to free

And

when Thy sheep are wan­der­ing

O lead them back to Thee.

To Fa­ther

Son

and Spir­it

All glo­ry

praise and might

Who called us out of dark­ness

To His own glo­ri­ous light.