Sad was a humble home in Nain,
In days of long ago;
For bitter grief had entered there,
And joy was turned to woe.
For the Widow's pride lay dead,
Her loved her only son.
On whom each hope was centred,
Her bright her darling one.
And she sobbed,
" It seems but yesterday.
When I heard your dear voice say,
My mother, I'll protect you
Through all life's weary way !"
" My mother, I remember well
How you toiled for me each day;
But now I've reached my manhood,
My hand will be your stay !"
And she sobbed,
" O God ! O God !
Give back my darling boy!
I've lost each one I loved on earth
For me there is no joy !"
Hushed were the voices in Nain,
For they knew the bright-eyed youth,
Whose presence was like sunshine,
And who trod God's paths of truth.
And they said, "Are not God's ways strange,
That He'd call the Widow's son,
While other homes have many more
But he was her only one !"
The Widow's heart was bowed with grief,
And she sobbed,"
God, let me die !
No more for me will the sun be bright,
For my heart aches with its cry !"
So she sat and watched her loved one,
Till the burial day was come
When she took a long and last farewell
Of her child her darling son.
As they passed through the gates of the town.
With the Widow's son of Nain,
Behold ! God came and gazed on the sorrow.
On the dead and the Widow's pain !
And He looked on the woman's anguished face.
And with pity He said,
" Weep not !"
But she sobbed as she saw her dead son there
" He into the world I brought !"
Then the Lord touched the funeral bier,
And gazed with His pitying eyes,
And said in His gentle, searching voice,
" Young man, I bid thee arise !''
And at God's voice the spirit
Came back to its house of clay I
And he that was dead sat up and spoke
For the Lord stood there that day !
Then Jesus took him by the hand.
And called the Widow near,
And said,
" My child, here is thy son
For the breaking heart I always hear !"
The Widow saw her boy not dead !
And she looked on her Saviour kind
Then cried,
" My God, my God, forgive !
Forgive ! for mine eyes were blind !
" My God, Thou wert ever at my side,
When I felt as my heart would break !
Thou stood'st though unseen by my poor eyes,
Thou cam'st to Nain for my sake!
" Thou knewest I was poor and forlorn.
And had lost my hope and joy,
And Thou gavest back without money or price.
My own my beautiful boy !''
She clasped her loved son to her breast,
And gazed on his bright brown eyes
Then knelt at the feet of the Saviour,
Till he said,
" My child, arise !"
The son and the Widow looked on Him
On God who came from afar !
Who heard her bitter, heartfelt cry
For He is Life's Guiding Star !
And He who was as the humble son
Of the carpenter's widow obscure,
Knew what it meant to hunger and toil
For He trod the path of the poor !
And Christ, the Lord, supped that day
With the Widow of Nain and her son ;
And the crowds entered in with joy
For they knew their God had come !
So 'tis ever the same when Death is near.
And the heart feels like to break
The Saviour comes with His wondrous love,
For the sad He will never forsake.
Yea, God stands unseen in the house of grief.
When thy loved ones are called away
if thou hast faith He will send them to thee.
When thy summons comes one day.
