"_The God of Jacob_ is our refuge."--Ps. 46:7.
"Happy is he that hath _the God of Jacob_ for his help."--Ps.
146:5.
"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of
gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found
unto praise, and honor, and glory at the appearing of Jesus
Christ."--1 Peter 1:7.
"Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and
entire, wanting nothing."--James 1:14.
"And we know that _all things_ work together for good to them that
love God, to those who are the called according to his
purpose."--Rom. 8:28.
"The God of Jacob!" Not the God of Israel. Wonderful God! Blessed
assurance, that "_the God of Jacob_ is our refuge,"--the God who saves
the man without character, irrespective of character,--makes of
him,--Israel. Jacob, the supplanter, the trickster, the weak
character, the warped character, the sinner, God takes, and through
trials, tests, develops him and makes of him Israel,--a prince of God.
That is _God's plan with men_. Consider it.
There are two theories, the poles apart. The one is, salvation by
character; that by acquiring a suitable character, by developing the
right kind of a character, man can be saved, can go to Heaven; that
one's character, if of the proper kind, entitles him to Heaven; that
if one has lived right, he will go to Heaven. The other theory is,
that God by grace, pure unmerited favor, saves irrespective of
character. It is a tremendous issue. It is vital; one or the other is
fatal. If those who hold one theory go to Heaven, all who hold to the
other will be lost, will go to Hell. We would as well face the issue.
They are two widely different ways of salvation, and God has but one.
Jesus said, "_I am the way_" (John 14:6), not one way, _The Way_. And
He leaves no possible ground for misunderstanding the meaning, "No man
cometh unto the Father, but by me."--John 14:6. Either, then, He is
_the only way_, or He was the vilest deceiver the world ever knew, or
He was a simple-minded, ignorant fanatic, who honestly thought Himself
"The Way" when He was not.
Against this theory of salvation by character there are four serious,
fatal charges:--
First, it is utterly cruel, heartless and selfish. It is cruel,
because to the weakest, most needy, most helpless class, the vast body
of men, born of vicious, debased parents, reared amidst vice and sin,
weakened by appetite and tied by habit, it does not give one-millionth
the chance to be saved, to go to Heaven, that men have who were born
of noble, godly parents, reared amidst moral, uplifting surroundings,
and strengthened by noble aspirations and splendid training. Stand
before you two young men representing these two classes, and tell them
of life beyond this life, and of Heaven; and then tell them of
salvation by character. To the one it would mean a bright, hopeful
anticipation; to the other, it would mean but taunting him with his
hopeless condition and prodding him with despair.
The theory of salvation by character is heartless, because, wrapt in
the robe of its own self-righteousness, it coolly condemns to hopeless
despair a vast body of the human race. Go stand by the helpless,
hopeless drunkard, and the drunken, sinful woman, and tell them of
salvation by character, and hear the sob of despair or see the jeering
look on their faces at the thought of salvation by character for such
as they! Before a pastors' conference, the polished, brilliant, highly
educated pastor of a wealthy, refined, intellectual congregation read
a seemingly learned paper on "Salvation by Character." When he had
finished reading the paper, some of his fellow-pastors endorsed the
paper and gave it high praise. Finally, the pastor of a people who had
been unfortunate in life, many of whom had gone far down in sin, and
were fettered by habit, arose and said, "Brother Moderator, the
brother has given us his wonderful paper on salvation by character. I
would like to ask him, what would he preach if he were the pastor of a
people who have no character?" The author of the paper arose and made
the heartless reply, "Brother Moderator, my brother and I have been
raised in such different intellectual atmospheres, that I don't
suppose I could make it plain to my brother." The other replied, "That
is doubtless true, Brother Moderator; but the trouble is, that he can
never make it plain to any one else."
It is selfish, because those who teach this theory are generally men
of intelligence, refinement, and are considered, and they consider
themselves, men of moral character. They thus provide for themselves
by their theory, but leave a vast body of the race with a very slight
hope or with no hope whatever.
The second charge against those who hold this theory is that by their
own theory none will be saved. If salvation is by character, by what
kind of character, a perfect character, or an imperfect character? If
by a perfect character, no one has it; no one even claims it. If by an
imperfect character, how imperfect may it be and the man yet be saved?
Where is the standard? If a man's character, in order to be saved by
it, must be the best he can make it, no one has even that
character,--no one's character is the best he could have made it.
Hence, salvation by character is a chimera.
The third charge against salvation by character is, that even if a
man's character were perfect from man's standpoint, in the sight of
God his character would still be corrupt. "All our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags."--Is. 64:6. Why? Because motive is the measure of the
character. "They that are in the flesh cannot please God."--Rom. 8:8.
Why? Because they have not, and cannot have, the right motive. "Though
I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am
become as sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the
gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and
though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have
not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the
poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it
profiteth me nothing."--1 Cor. 13:1-3. And no man has this love, no
man can have this love, until he is saved by Christ dying for his
sins (1 Cor. 15:3). "The love of Christ constraineth us; because we
thus judge, that if one died for all, then all died; and he died for
all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves,
but unto him who died for them, and rose again."--2 Cor. 5:14, 15.
The fourth serious, fatal charge against the theory of salvation by
character is that it is contrary to the teaching of the Saviour.
"Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and
the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you."--Matt. 21:31.
Certain it is that the publicans and the harlots had worse characters
than those to whom the Saviour was speaking; the fact is therefore
evident that Jesus taught salvation without character, irrespective of
character.
Let the reader consider two cases that will show conclusively that the
teaching of salvation by character is absolutely contrary to the
teaching of the Saviour. "The chief priest, mocking him, with the
scribes and elders, said: He saved others; himself he cannot save. If
he is the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we
will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he
will have him; for he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also that
were with him, cast the same in his teeth."--Matt. 27:41-44. Let the
reader notice that both the thieves "that were with him, cast the same
in his teeth." Then "one of the malefactors that were hanged railed on
him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other
answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou
art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the
due reward of our deeds; but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he
said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be
with me in Paradise."--Luke 23:39-43. From the time that both thieves
"cast the same in his teeth," to the time the one made his earnest
plea, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom," there had
been no time in which this thief could have formed, developed a
character that merited salvation. Hence, when Jesus said, "To-day
shalt thou be with me in Paradise," to this thief, He branded the
teaching of salvation by character as not from Heaven. The one who
does not see from this case that the cruel, heartless, selfish
teaching of salvation by character contradicts the Lord Jesus, will
never see anything contrary to his own preferences and preconceived
opinions.
The second case is just as conclusive. As the Saviour was reclining at
meat in the house of Simon the Pharisee, a woman, noted as a sinner,
came in and stood behind him weeping. "And he said to the woman, Thy
faith hath saved thee; go in peace."--Luke 7:50. The Saviour said the
woman was saved, yet she was of notorious character,--she had no
character.
That the Saviour saved irrespective of character is shown by two cases
in the book of Acts. We have the accounts of the salvation of two men
of opposite characters. One was "A devout man, and one that feared
God with all his house, who gave much alms to the people and prayed to
God always,"--Acts 10:2, a man of most excellent character. Among all
the unredeemed men of the earth, not one could show a better
character. If any man could be saved by character, here is the man.
God sends word to him, "Send to Joppa and call for Simon, whose
surname is Peter, who shall tell the words whereby thou and all thy
house shalt be saved."--Acts 11:13. Notwithstanding his noble, unusual
character, God tells him that he is unsaved. If he, with his character
unexcelled among unredeemed men, was yet unsaved, how can any other
unredeemed man hope for salvation by character? Peter's message to
this man of irreproachable character was, "To him give all the
prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth on him
shall receive remission of sins."--Acts 10:43. Why is it necessary for
this man of character to believe on Christ in order to be saved?
Because, though of unusual character, he had sinned, "for all have
sinned" (Rom. 3:23); and sin once committed can only be atoned for by
blood, "apart from shedding of blood there is no remission" (Heb.
9:22), and there is no blood of atonement in a noble character.
Over against this case is that of the Philippian jailor, a man of
hardened character; for he took two helpless, bleeding preachers who
had been beaten by a mob, and "thrust them into the inner prison, and
made their feet fast in the stocks" (Acts 16:24), and left them with
their backs bloody and gave them no supper. When the earthquake came
and the doors were opened, the hardened jailor started to commit
suicide. Paul having called to him and prevented the suicide, the
jailor "came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas and brought
them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"--Acts 16:30. If
ever a man should be told of salvation by character, here was the
opportunity, that he might at once begin the tremendous and all but
hopeless task of changing, so late in life, a hardened character into
one that would enable him to merit Heaven. Instead, they said,
"Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved."--Acts 16:31. How
similar the answer to the instructions of Peter to Cornelius, and yet
how widely different the characters of the two men! Why this
similarity? Because God has but one way of salvation, and that is
irrespective of character. "He gathereth together _the outcasts_ of
Israel" (Ps. 147:2), the God of Jacob.
While the Saviour saves without character, and irrespective of
character, God the Father does not leave them without character, but
develops in them the right kind of a character. The man redeemed,
saved, without character, does not remain without character. "And such
_were_ some of you" (1 Cor. 6:11), but they did not remain such
characters,--but "sanctified, called to be saints."--1 Cor. 1:2.
_God's plan with men_, then, is to save irrespective of character, and
then develop in the redeemed, saved man a character that shall "be
found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus
Christ."--1 Peter 1:7.
Three ways in which God develops character in the redeemed are:
First, by purifying the _motive_ of the life. Character is not formed
by deeds, but by the motives prompting the deeds. Two men flag the
night express train on two railroads; the deeds are the same, but one
flags the train that he may warn, and save the lives of the people,
because a bridge has been destroyed; the other flags the train that he
may rob it. While the deeds are the same, the character of the deeds
is different, and that difference is in the motive prompting the deed,
and that motive affects, moulds the character of the one who performs
the deed. No deed is right in the sight of God that is not performed
from the motive of love (1 Cor. 13:1-3); hence, no character can be
right in the sight of God if the deeds that formed that character were
not prompted by the motive of love. All deeds performed from simply
the motive of duty, or from the desire to be saved, to go to Heaven
after this life, or from fear of Hell, are, in the sight of God,
unworthy deeds, and the characters formed by such deeds are unworthy
characters. And the Saviour defines clearly what love is: "There was a
certain creditor who had two debtors; the one owed five hundred pence,
and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay he frankly
forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him
most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave
most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged."--Luke 7:41-43.
And John likewise defines love: "Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for
our sins."--1 John 4:10. This explains why God says: "They that are
in the flesh cannot please God."--Rom. 8:8. Their motive is wrong and
they cannot have the right motive, because they have not been
"forgiven most." Hence all characters are wrong in the sight of God
that were formed by deeds whose prompting motive was a simple sense of
duty, a desire to be saved, to go to Heaven, or from fear of Hell. And
all who have such a character are lost, have never been redeemed, are
not real Christians.
Second, God develops character in the redeemed, His real children, by
chastisements. Our earthly fathers "verily for a few days chastened us
as seemed right to them; but he for our profit, that we might be
partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth
to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterwards it yieldeth the
peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised
thereby."--Heb. 12:10, 11.
Third, God moulds the character of the redeemed by afflictions,
burdens, sorrows, etc. "Our light affliction, which is but for a
moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory."--2 Cor. 4:17. "Let patience have its perfect work, that ye may
be mature and complete, lacking in nothing."--James 1:14.
The shallow conception of _God's plan with men_ that makes it His
ultimate purpose simply to save men, leaves the life of the redeemed
man here on earth an unsolved riddle, often an inexplicable tragedy.
The heartaches, the disasters, the burdens, the afflictions, the
sorrows,--what of all these, when God assures us that "all things work
together for good to those that love God, to those who are the called
according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28), if the ultimate purpose is
simply salvation? "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."
The silver has been mined, digged from the earth, but there is dross
in it. The redeemed have been redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal.
3:13); have had the spirit sent into their hearts ("because ye are
sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father,"--Gal. 4:6); but there are defects from
heredity, from environment. The purifying process, the development of
character, comes, not in order to be saved, but after we are saved,
because we are saved.
With God as the Father of the redeemed, many of the afflictions, and
sorrows of real Christians can be accounted for as chastisements; many
of the severe, heavy afflictions in the lives of real Christians can
be accounted for in this way. "Ye have forgotten the exhortation which
speaketh unto you as unto sons, My son, despise not thou the
chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him; for
whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and _scourgeth every son_ whom he
receiveth."--Heb. 12:5, 6. Scourging is severe, yet God says it is for
_every son_.
But there are many, many trials, afflictions, burdens, sorrows, which
cannot be explained by chastisements; for chastisements are for wilful
sins of God's children: "If his children _forsake_ my law ... then
will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with
stripes."--Ps. 89:30-32. In the lives of many of the redeemed who are
living obedient lives there are some of the most severe trials and
afflictions. If God is their Father and loves them, what can these
severe trials and afflictions mean?
"One adequate support
For the calamities of mortal life
Exists, one only,--an assured belief
That the procession of our fate, however
Sad or disturbed, is ordered by a being
Of Infinite benevolence and power,
Whose everlasting purposes embrace
All accidents, converting them into good."
Wordsworth.
God Himself hath said it, "All things work together for good to those
that love God, to those who are the called according to his
purpose."--Rom. 8:28. Had God said, "Some things," what confusion
would have come to many of God's children! What enigmas would many
things in the lives of many of the redeemed have been! But when God
said "All things," He placed a key in the hands of every redeemed man,
every real child of His, with which to unlock the door of every
mystery; that every trial, every disaster, every accident, every
burden, every humiliation, every disappointment, every affliction,
every sorrow,--"All things work together for good to those that love
God, to those who are the called according to his purpose";--"that the
trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that
perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise,
and honor, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ."--1 Peter 1:7.
Muscles are developed by trials; minds are developed by trials; God's
redeemed people are developed by trials. To murmur against one's
trials after being redeemed, means to murmur against being developed
for one's eternal destiny. To give the muscles no trials, means for
the body never to be developed; to give the mind no trials, means for
the mind never to be developed; to give the redeemed man no trials,
means for his character never to be developed. Two children are born
into the world. The father and mother of one decide that he shall
never be required to do any unpleasant things; that he shall never
have any hardships. The father and mother of the other decide to give
their child every unpleasant thing to do, every hardship and burden to
bear, that will best develop him in body and mind. Often the redeemed
plead with their Father in Heaven to give them only pleasant things,
and He, the All-wise, All-powerful, in love gives them--trials.
The trials of life for the redeemed are so various. If the muscles
have only one trial, the body will never be fully developed. The
muscles need various trials. If the mind has only one trial, it will
never be fully developed. If the mind studies only one thing, it will
never be trained, developed, educated. If the soul has only one kind
of trial, it will never be developed. "Count it all joy, my brethren,
when ye fall into manifold temptations."--James 1:2 (R. V. Margin,
trials).
But the redeemed, the children of God, often complain that their
trials are so hard. Easy trials do not develop. The one who takes only
light exercises for his muscles will never be fully developed
physically. The boy who works the easy examples and skips the hard
ones, will never be an educated man; he will be only a "hewer of wood
and drawer of water." It takes hard trials to develop the body
properly. It takes hard trials of the mind to develop it properly. It
takes hard trials to develop the soul properly; "That the trial of
your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
_though it be tried with fire_." He who asks for only easy trials of
his muscles, asks to remain undeveloped physically; he who asks for
easy trials of his mind, asks to remain undeveloped mentally; he who
asks, yearns, to have no hard trials spiritually, yearns to remain
undeveloped in real character, in his spiritual nature. The hard
trials are the ones that develop. And the more one's muscles have been
developed, the harder should be the trials for those muscles; the more
one's mind is developed, the harder should be the trials for the mind;
the more the redeemed man's spiritual nature is developed, the harder
his trials will be.
That would be an unwise educator who, after training the pupil's mind
up through geometry, would then put him back to studying the simple
branches of mathematics, instead of taking him on into higher
mathematics. Likewise the Heavenly Father does not, after partly
developing the redeemed, His children, by hard trials, return them to
lives of easy trials, but He leads them into yet harder trials. Take
Elijah as an example (see F. B. Meyer's "Elijah"). He is sent to
pronounce God's sentence against Ahab (1 Kings 17:1); he is then sent
into obscurity (17:2, 3); he is left dependent on the ravens for food
(17:4-6); he sees the brook dry up, his only hope for water, for life
(17:7); he is submitted to the humiliation of being supported by a
poor widow (17:8, 9); God delays answering his prayer (17:17-22); God
requires him to expose himself to danger by showing himself to Ahab
(18:1); he is led to face popular religious error, and in doing so is
left to stand alone (18:19-38); God delays answer to his prayer till
he prays seven times (18:42-45); he suffers the further humiliation of
Elisha being anointed prophet in his room (19:15, 16); he is taken up
by a whirlwind to Heaven (2 Kings 2:11). A study of these trials will
show that they were all hard trials, and that they increased in
severity. God tells us that Elijah was a man subject to like passions
as we are (James 5:17); but by trials, hardships, burdens, God
developed him into one of the noblest characters of all ages. God's
redeemed people may expect, then, trials through their lives, and that
the trials shall be increasingly severe, as they advance in the
Christian life.
Often God's children are discouraged because they cannot see any
purpose in their trials. But God assures us that there is a purpose.
The child cannot understand the purpose of the lessons at school, but
the father has the purpose. Elijah, possibly filled with apprehension,
sitting by the drying brook Cherith, did not see any purpose, but God,
who makes all things work together for good to His people, had the
purpose and accomplished it in the development of Elijah's character;
and so, as F. B. Meyer has so aptly put it, the redeemed, sitting by
the drying brook of health, of property, of reputation, of family
happiness, may not see the purpose, but the Heavenly Father will
work, in His plan for each, every trial into the warp or woof of each
life. The Saviour said to Peter, "What I do thou knowest not now, but
thou shalt know hereafter."--John 13:7.
"Behind our life the Weaver stands
And works His wondrous will;
We leave it all in His wise hands
And trust His perfect skill.
Should mystery enshroud His plan,
And our short sight be dim,
We will not try the whole to scan,
But leave each thread to Him."
Who knows the defects, the weaknesses, of each character? Only God.
Who knows what each character ought to be? Only God. Who knows how to
develop each character properly? Only God. Who is able to so shape the
circumstances of each life as to properly develop each character? Only
God. And He has promised that He will. "We know that all things work
together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called
according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28); "that the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be
tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honor, and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ."--1 Peter 1:7. This is _the only_
explanation of the many harassments of life.
God has revealed that the standard by which character is measured is
patience, endurance. "Let patience have its perfect work, that ye may
be mature and complete, lacking in nothing."--James 1:4. If there
were no harassments, no afflictions, no burdens, no sorrows, no
disappointments, no sufferings, there could be no patience, endurance;
and if there were no patience, no endurance, there could be no
maturity and completeness of character. As to what trials are needed,
and are best in each case, only God can decide. In our dimsightedness
we think that many things are mistakes in God's plans, and that He
cannot bring good out of them; but He will. A boy was born with a
badly deformed foot. When he was eight years of age his father had two
surgeons to operate and try to straighten the foot, but they failed.
After a second operation, the foot was placed in a brace which was
worn for months. But the foot remained as badly deformed as ever. The
surgeons then informed the father that the foot could never be
straightened. The father studied the deformed foot for many days, and
then had a strange-looking box made with screws, felt taps and iron
rods in different parts of it. He had the surgeons to operate again on
the boy's foot, cutting the muscles and tendons in different places.
The foot was then placed in the strange box; a screw was turned till
the felt tap pressed against the foot at one place, almost breaking
the bones; then another screw and felt tap were brought to bear on
another deformed part of the foot, straightening the foot and almost
breaking the bones in that part of the foot; then the iron rod was
used to straighten another part. For months the boy's foot was kept in
that box. The suffering, day and night for months, was indescribable.
The child would weep for hours, the pain being all but unbearable;
and when the father would come home the child would beg piteously for
the box to be taken off and to be left a cripple. The father, mingling
his tears with the tears of the suffering child, would turn the screws
tighter than before, and the child would shriek in fearful agony.
During those weeks and months of suffering he looked upon his father
as being harsh and cruel and without love for him. Finally the father
loosened all the screws and said, "Son, stand up," and for the first
time in his life the boy stood erect. Often has that son, now a
gray-haired man, stood over the grave of that father, long since dead,
and bedewed the grave with his tears, and thanked God that he had a
father who was true enough to continue the suffering until the
terrible deformity was corrected. The father may have turned the
screws one thread too much, but the Father in Heaven makes no
mistakes, and far beyond the grave many of the redeemed will praise
Him, when they understand, for the sufferings and afflictions and
burdens they were led to endure here.
"Choose for us, Lord, nor let our weak preferring
Cheat us of good Thou hast for us designed.
Choose for us, Lord; Thy wisdom is unerring,
And we are fools and blind."
With the reader this may seem mere theory; he may feel that it cannot
explain all the seemingly unfathomable mystery of suffering in the
lives of many of the redeemed, the real children of God. Let the
reader consider two things: first, that as a juror, he would not form
a judgment till all the evidence had been placed before the jury.
God's purpose in each case, and what God actually accomplishes in each
case, in the development of character,--these have not yet been placed
before the jury; but, backed up by many fulfilled prophecies, by the
character of Jesus Christ, by His resurrection, by what He has
accomplished in the world, we have God's solemn assurance that _He
will yet place this evidence before the jury_.
Second, let the reader remember that with God character counts more
than comfort. What father would prefer his son to be a brutal,
ignorant pugilist, enjoying food and drink, physical life,--to a
useful, noble, highly educated, refined, learned son who could "listen
in the orange groves of Verona to the sweet vows of Juliet, or to the
blind bard's harp as he strikes the chords but seldom struck
harmonious with the morning stars, or to the music of the spheres as
they hymn His praises around their Creator's throne"? Far more than
the earthly father would choose the latter for his son, does the
Heavenly Father value the soul and its development above that of the
body.
Could God's redeemed people only learn that perfection of character
comes only through suffering, that as certain as God is true, a
blessing will come from every sorrow, every burden, every affliction,
every pang, every heartache!
"The ills we see--
The mystery of sorrow deep and long,
The dark enigmas of permitted wrong,
Have all one key--
This strange, sad world is but our Father's school;
All chance and change His love shall grandly overrule."
Rarely has the author been stirred, thrilled, as he was while
listening to an audience of a thousand colored people of the South
sing the following hymn. Some of them had been slaves; many were poor;
many uneducated; some Greek scholars; some were destitute; some were
half-invalids; some were aged and infirm; but few had the comforts of
life; all were heavy burden-bearers. White people from New York and
Texas, from Mississippi and Kansas, were moved to tears, as that
audience sang with such rhythm, such cadence, such pathos, such
sweetness, such soul-power, as only they can sing:--
"We are tossed and driven
On the restless sea of time,
Sombre skies and howling tempest
Oft succeed the bright sunshine.
In that land of perfect day
When the mists have rolled away,
We will understand it better by and by.
"By and by when the morning comes
And all the saints of God are gathered home,
We'll tell the story, how we've overcome,
For we'll understand it better by and by.
"We are often destitute
Of the things that life demands,
Want of shelter and of food
Thirsty hills and barren lands.
We are trusting in the Lord,
And according to His word,
We will understand it better by and by.
"Trials dark on every hand,
And we cannot understand
All the ways that God would lead us
To the blessed promised land,
But He guides us with His eye
And we'll follow till we die,
For we'll understand it better by and by.
"Temptations, hidden snares,
Often take us unawares,
And our hearts are made to bleed
For a thoughtless word or deed,
And we wonder why the test
When we try to do our best,
But we'll understand it better by and by."