IN the rubbish heaps of the ancient city of Oxyrhynchus, near the river Nile, a party of English Explorers, in the winter of 1897, discovered a fragment of a papyrus book, written in the Second or Third Century, and hitherto unknown. This single leaf contained parts of seven short sentences of Christ, each introduced by the words, "Jesus says:" It is to the fifth of these Sayings of Jesus that the following poem refers. PRELUDE A LOST WORD OF JESUS JEAR a word that Jesus spake HEAR Eighteen centuries ago, Where the crimson lilies blow Round the blue Tiberian lake: There the bread of life he brake, 'Tis the sacrament of labour; meat and drink divinely blest; Friendship's food, and sweet refreshment; strength and courage, joy and rest. |