<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><entry xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943458721859468966.post-1241762675913162245</id><published>2009-04-11T10:22:00.008-04:00</published><updated>2009-04-11T10:49:49.658-04:00</updated><title type='text'>A Favorite Poem</title><content type='html'>A few days ago I shared my favorite literary passage to help set our minds for the Easter season. Today I want to share a favorite poem for the same reason.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I was first introduced to this poem, written by Martha Snell Nicholson, in my college freshman speech class a quarter of a century ago. It has been one of my favorites ever since.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Martha Snell Nicholson was born around 1898 and died in 1954. She was an invalid confined to her bed for over thirty years and wrote a number of stirring poems.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;My Advocate &lt;/em&gt;(by Martha Snell Nicholson)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I sinned. And straightway, post-haste, Satan flew&lt;br /&gt;Before the presence of the Most High God,&lt;br /&gt;And made a railing accusation there.&lt;br /&gt;He said, "This soul, this thing of clay and sod,&lt;br /&gt;Has sinned, 'Tis true that he has named Thy name,&lt;br /&gt;But I demand his death, for Thou hast said,&lt;br /&gt;'The Soul that &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"&gt;sinneth&lt;/span&gt;, it shall die.' Shall not&lt;br /&gt;Thy sentence be fulfilled? Is justice dead?&lt;br /&gt;Send now this wretched sinner to his doom.&lt;br /&gt;What other thing can a righteous ruler do?"&lt;br /&gt;And thus he did accuse me day and night,&lt;br /&gt;And every word he spoke, O God, was true!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Then quickly One rose from God's right hand,&lt;br /&gt;Before whose glory angels veiled their eyes.&lt;br /&gt;He spoke, "Each jot and tittle of the law,&lt;br /&gt;Must be fulfilled: the guilty sinner dies!&lt;br /&gt;But wait . . . Suppose his guilt were all transferred&lt;br /&gt;To ME and that I paid his penalty!&lt;br /&gt;Behold My hands, My side, My feet! One Day&lt;br /&gt;I was made sin for him, and died that he&lt;br /&gt;Might be presented faultless, at Thy throne!"&lt;br /&gt;And Satan fled away. Full well he knew&lt;br /&gt;That he could not prevail against such love,&lt;br /&gt;For every word my dear Lord spoke was true!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6943458721859468966-1241762675913162245?l=gracenotes-gracenotes.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://gracenotes-gracenotes.blogspot.com/feeds/1241762675913162245/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6943458721859468966&amp;postID=1241762675913162245&amp;isPopup=true' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6943458721859468966/posts/default/1241762675913162245'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6943458721859468966/posts/default/1241762675913162245'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://gracenotes-gracenotes.blogspot.com/2009/04/favorite-poem.html' title='A Favorite Poem'/><author><name>Teresa Dickhoner</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03717625573104345465</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00710605781749034192'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry>