Please listen now to Missionary Richard Yerby in Japan,
telling us the background to the poem, “Beautiful Snow”.
In the early part of
the United States’ Civil War, the early 1860s, one dark Saturday morning
in the dead of winter, a young woman, twenty-two years old, died at the
Commercial Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio. She had once been beautiful and
the pride of respectable parents. Highly educated and accomplished, she might
have shone in the best society. But she was stubborn and willful
and would not listen to warning. She played with fire and called
it “fun.” One day she awoke to find herself ruined by a fatal mistake,
which she could not erase. She was fallen.
She spent the rest of her young life in disgrace and shame,
and died poor and friendless, a broken-hearted outcast. Among her
personal effects was found in manuscript, the poem, “Beautiful Snow” which
was immediately carried to Enos B. Reed (spelled…), editor of the National
Union. In the columns of that newspaper, on the morning following the girl’s
death, the poem appeared in print for the first time. When the newspaper
containing the poem came out on Sunday morning, the body of the victim had not
yet received burial. The attention of Thomas Buchanan Read (spelled…), one of
the first American poets, was soon directed to the newly published lines, and
was so taken with their stirring pathos, that he immediately followed
the corpse to its final resting place.
Such are the facts concerning her whose “Beautiful Snow”
will be long regarded as one of the brightest gems in American
literature.
The poem, “Beautiful Snow”. The author’s name is not
disclosed.
Oh! The snow, the
beautiful snow,
Filling the sky and
earth below,
Over the housetops, over
the street,
Over the heads of the
people you meet.
Dancing~Flirting~Skimming along,
Beautiful snow, it
can do no wrong.
Clinging to lips in
frolicsome freak,
Trying to kiss a fair
lady’s cheek,
Beautiful snow from
heaven above,
Pure as an angel,
gentle as love.
Oh! The snow, the
beautiful snow,
How the flakes gather
and laugh as they go,
Whirling about in
maddening fun,
Cheering the heart
and dispelling the gloom.
Chasing~Laughing~Hurrying by,
It lightens the face
and sparkles the eye.
Rollicking dogs with
a bark and a bound,
Snap at the crystals
which eddy around.
The town is alive and
its heart in a glow,
To welcome the coming
of beautiful snow!
How wildly the crowd
goes swaying along,
Hailing each other
with humor and song,
How gay are the
sleighs, like the stars flashing by
Are bright for a
moment, then lost to the eye.
Ringing~Swinging~Dashing they go,
Over the crest of the
beautiful snow,
Snow that’s so pure
when it falls from the sky,
That it makes one
regret that it’s fated to lie
And be trampled and
muddied by thousands of feet,
‘Till it blends with
the horrible filth of the street.
Once I was pure as
the snow, but I fell,
Fell like the
snowflakes from heaven to hell;
Fell to be trampled
as filth of the street,
Fell to be scoffed
at, to be spit on and beat,
Pleading~Cursing~Dreading to die,
Selling my soul to
whoever would buy,
Dealing in shame for
a morsel of bread,
Hating the living and
fearing the dead.
Merciful God! have I
fallen so low?
And yet I was once
like the beautiful snow.
Once I was fair as
the beautiful snow,
With an eye like a
crystal, a heart like its glow,
Once I was loved for
my innocent grace,
Flattered and sought
for the charms of my face.
Father~Mother~Sisters~all,
God and myself I have
lost by my fall.
The vilest wretch
that goes shivering by,
Will make a wide
sweep lest I wander too nigh;
For all that is on or
above me, I know
There is nothing so
pure as the beautiful snow.
How strange it should
be that this beautiful snow,
Should fall on a
sinner with nowhere to go!
How strange it should
be when the night comes again;
If the snow and the
ice struck my desperate brain.
Fainting~Freezing~Dying alone,
Too wicked for
prayer, too weak for a moan,
To be heard in the
streets of the crazy town,
Gone mad in the joy
of the snow coming down!
To be and to die in
my terrible woe,
With a bed and a
shroud of the beautiful snow.
Hopeless and foul as
the trampled snow,
Sinner, despair not,
Christ stoopeth low,
To rescue the soul
that is lost in sin,
And to raise it to
life and enjoyment again,
Groaning~Bleeding~Dying for thee,
The Crucified hung on
the cursed tree,
His accents of mercy
fall soft on thine ear.
“Is there mercy for me?
Will he heed my weak prayer?
O God! in the stream
that for sinners did flow,
Wash me, and I shall
be whiter than snow.”
The end of the poem, “Beautiful
Snow”.
My Friend without Christ as your Saviour, the following hymn is
a wonderful prayer. As you listen to it being sung now, with all
sincerity, and for your own eternal salvation and bless-ed-ness,
please silently voice those pleas to your Creator God.
1. “Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole; I want Thee
forever to live in my soul. Break down every idol, cast out every foe;”
(Chorus) “Now wash me, and I
shall be whiter than snow. Whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow; Now wash me
and I shall be whiter than snow.”
2. “Lord Jesus, let nothing unholy remain, Apply Thine Own Blood
and remove every stain; To get this blest washing I all things forego;
3. “Lord Jesus, look down from Thy Throne in the skies, And help me to make a complete sacrifice; I give up myself
and whatever I know;”
4. “Lord Jesus, for this I most humbly entreat; I wait, blessed
Lord, at Thy Crucified Feet; By faith, for my cleansing, I see Thy Blood flow;”
5. “Lord Jesus, Thou seest I patiently wait; Come now and within me, a new heart
create; To those who have sought Thee, Thou never said’st
‘No’,”
In His Holy Bible, Our Creator God says to each
and every human soul.
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool.”
(Isaiah Chapter 1, Verse 18)
“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah Chapter 53,
Verse 6)
“…the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth
us from all sin.” (1st John Chapter 1, Verse 7b)
“…for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” (Leviticus Chapter 17,
Verse 11b)
My Friend listening to me now, there is nothing in life
more important to you, than to sincerely pray the following prayer to your
Creator God.
“Lord Jesus Christ, please change my heart for my
eternal good. Please create within me a heart repentant toward Thee
for all my sins. Please forgive me of all my sins,
and wash me clean in God’s Precious Blood that Thou didst shed
for me on the cross. Please grant me true faith in my Creator God to fully
believe in Thee and to fully trust in Thee, Lord Jesus, as my Lord, my
God, my Saviour, my First and Foremost Love, my ALL. Thank Thee, Lord
Jesus, for hearing this prayer of mine. Amen!”
Please invite everyone you possibly can,
to listen to this reading of Beautiful Snow. This audio is in the Radio Sermons
on Richard’s website. That URL is Christ is all dot US. Separate those 3 words
with 2 dashes. Christ dash Is dash All dot US.
Most of the time, we have BEAUTIFUL SNOW available, printed
in tract form. Ask for it from:
CHRIST IS ALL
Vernon, AL 35592-0490
USA
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