In a touching interview afterwards, a sister of Mrs. Clephane told Mr. Sankey the authoress had not lived to see her hymn in print and to know of its blessed mission.
The first six lines give the situation of the lost sheep in the parable of that name—
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.
And, after describing the Shepherd's arduous search, the joy at his return is sketched and spiritualized in the concluding stanza—
But all through the mountains, thunder-riven,