'_He is able to keep!_' That was the sublime confidence that won the
heart of John Newton. It came to him in the form of a dream on his
voyage home from Venice. I have told the story in full in _A Bunch of
Everlastings_. 'It made,' he says, 'a very great impression upon me!'
The same thought made an indelible impression upon the mind of Faraday,
and he clung tenaciously to it at the last. '_He is able to keep_'--as a
shepherd keeps his sheep. '_He is able to keep_'--as a sentry keeps the
gate. '_He is able to keep_'--as the pilgrims kept the golden vessels on
their journey to Jerusalem, both counting and weighing them before they
set out from Babylon and again on their arrival at the Holy City. '_He
is able to keep_'--as a banker keeps the treasure confided to his
custody.
'_I know whom I have believed_,' says the margin of the Revised Version,
'_and I am persuaded that He is able to guard my deposit against that
day_.'
'_I know in whom my trust reposes_,' says Dr. Weymouth's translation,
'_and I am confident that He has it in His power to keep what I have
entrusted to Him safe until that day._'
'_I know whom I have trusted_,' says Dr. Moffatt's version, '_and I am
certain that He is able to keep what I have put into His hands till the
Great Day._'
_He will guard my treasure!_
_He will honor my confidence!_
_He will hold my deposit!_
_I know! I know! I know!_