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1 There were ninety and nine that safely lay
In the shelter of the fold,
But one was out on the hills away,
Far off from the gates of gold–
Away on the mountains wild and bare,
Away from the tender Shepherd’s care,
Away from the tender Shepherd’s care.
2 "Lord, Thou hast here Thy ninety and nine;
Are they not enough for Thee?"
But the Shepherd made answer: "This of mine
Has wandered away from me;
And although the road be rough and steep,
I go to the desert to find my sheep,
I go to the desert to find my sheep."
3 But none of the ransomed ever knew
How deep were the waters crossed;
Nor how dark was the night the Lord passed thro'
Ere He found His sheep that was lost.
Out in the desert He heard its cry–
So sick and helpless and ready to die;
So sick and helpless and ready to die.
4 "Lord, whence are those blood-drops all the way
That mark out the mountain’s track?"
"They were shed for one who had gone astray
Ere the Shepherd could bring him back."
"Lord, whence are Thy hands so rent and torn?"
"They are pierced tonight by many a thorn,
They are pierced tonight by many a thorn."
5 And all through the mountains, thunder-riven,
And up from the rocky steep,
There arose a glad cry to the gate of heaven,
"Rejoice! I have found my sheep!"
And the angels echoed around the throne,
"Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own,
Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own!"
AMEN.
Source: The A.M.E. Zion Hymnal: official hymnal of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church #299
First Line: | There were ninety and nine that safely lay |
Title: | There Were Ninety and Nine |
Author: | Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane (1868) |
Meter: | Irregular |
Language: | English |
Refrain First Line: | Lost on the mountains cold and bare |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
There were ninety and nine that safely lay. Elizabeth C. Clephane. [The Lost Sheep.] This beautiful poem was probably written in 1868 at Melrose, where the authoress then resided, and first published in 1868, in a small magazine for the young, entitled, The Children's Hour, pt. ii. p. 15, in 5 stanzas of 6 lines. Subsequently it appeared as No. 8 of the series of her hymns entitled Breathings on the Border, in the Family Treasury, 1874, p. 595. Thence it was copied into the Christian Age, May 13, 1874, where it was seen by Mr. I. D. Sankey, who set it to music and sang it with great effect at his gospel meetings. He included it in 1875 in his Sacred Songs and Solos. It has since appeared in England, in the Hymnal Companion, 1876; Thring's Collection 1882; Baptist Psalms & Hymns Supplement, 1880, &c., and in America in the Evangelical Association Hymn Book, Cleveland, 1882, and other collections. It is rapidly attaining a foremost position among modern hymns. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)