1 "Are ye able," said the Master,
"To be crucified with me?"
"Yea," the sturdy dreamers answered,
"To the death we follow Thee."
Refrain:
Lord, we are able.
Our spirits are Thine.
Remold them, make us,
Like Thee, divine.
Thy guiding radiance
Above us shall be
A beacon to God,
To love, and loyalty.
2 Are ye able to remember,
When a thief lifts up his eyes,
That his pardoned soul is worthy
Of a place in paradise? [Refrain]
3 Are ye able when the shadows
Close around you with the sod,
To believe that spirit triumphs,
To commend your soul to God? [Refrain]
4 "Are ye able?" Still the Master
Whispers down eternity,
And heroic spirits answer
Now, as then, in Galilee. [Refrain]
Earl Marlatt
The Methodist Hymnal 1939 edition
<idle musing>
OK, this is getting to be a broken record. I must be really parochial in my upbringing, because this, again, was an old standby. The last two days have seen hymns in the 200–300 hymnal range. Seems I'm going in the wrong direction, because this one only occurs in 86 hymnals!
The author was even on a hymnbook committee, but that doesn't seem to have helped! Oh well. I like it and it's my blog, so I can post the ones I like—and I never really cared about how popular things are. Good thing, too, because if I did, I would have stopped blogging about 10 years ago (you should see how low my hits are now compared to then). :)
By the way, note that the chorus has the theosis theme in it. Maybe that's another reason I like it!
</idle musing>
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