quote · Legacy record
As the fond sheep that idly strays, With wanton play, through devious ways, Which never hits the road of home, O’er wilds of danger learns to roam, Till, wearied out with idle fear, And passing there, and turning here, He will, for rest, to covert run, And meet the wolf he strove to shun: Thus wretched I, through wanton will, Ran blind and headlong on in ill. ’Twas thus from sin to sin I flew, And thus I might have perished too; But mercy dropped the likeness here, And showed and saved me from my fear, While o’er the darkness of my mind The sacred Spirit purely shined, And marked and brightened all the way Which leads to everlasting day; And broke the thickening clouds of sin, And fixed the light of love within.
As the fond sheep that idly strays, With wanton play, through devious ways, Which never hits the road of home, O’er wilds of danger learns to roam, Till, wearied out with idle fear, And passing there, and turning here, He will, for rest, to covert run, And meet the wolf he strove to shun: Thus wretched I, through wanton will, Ran blind and headlong on in ill. ’Twas thus from sin to sin I flew, And thus I might have perished too; But mercy dropped the likeness here, And showed and saved me from my fear, While o’er the darkness of my mind The sacred Spirit purely shined, And marked and brightened all the way Which leads to everlasting day; And broke the thickening clouds of sin, And fixed the light of love within.
In print by 1888 AD · industrial
Recorded in a printed collection by this date; the original date of these words is still unknown.
Meaning not yet available
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Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Parnell (identity unresolved)
Attribution: unknown - Country attributed
- Not established
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- In print by 1888 AD · industrial
In print by 1888: recorded in A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 542 · printed citation: Parnell · subject: SIN
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.