| Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, | |
| In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side; | |
| Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight, | |
| Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right, | |
| And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and that light. |
Careless seems the great Avenger, history's pages but record
One death grapple in the darkness, 'twixt old systems and the Word;
Truth for ever on the scaffold, Wrong for ever on the throne,
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.
Excerpted from James Russell Lowell 1819-1891
See the entirety of this stirring poem at http://www.bartleby.com/102/128.html
It is a comfort that no matter what these days may hold we know the one who holds these days.
ReplyDelete"Our gracious Redeemer, the Ancient of Days, paviolioned in splendor and girded with praise."