The fool hath said, there is no God;
And skeptics sanction with a nod;
Because the churchling cannot tell
Why God has made a burning hell:
A burning hell, and full of woe,
Into which the race must go:
A place where Satan rules supreme;
Where Saints look on calm and serene:
A place where all must howl in rage,
Except the few whom grace engaged—
A few whom God is pleased to save,
And plant above the fiery wave,
To view with joy and happiness,
Their brethren in their deep distress.
No deep concern in these is found
For fallen man in misery bound.
A drop of water is asked in vain,
And scoffed at by the elect train.
A wailing host bemoan their fate;
A chosen few laugh, ah! too late!!
An idol, grim, o'errules, with rod,
This scene of riot, as a God.
Is this your God?
Not such I own
Whose will in heaven and earth be done.
Man views himself and sees within
A noble creature marred by sin;
But from the debris of the wreck
A promise rises as a speck,
And in the darkness of that day,
Shines as a dim lamp, far away:
Amid that darkness as of night,
The lamp gives forth a feeble light.
In course of time the promised oil,
In this same lamp makes night recoil;
The night will flee, but leave behind
A lasting lesson to mankind—
A lesson in which he learns to know
The awfulness of sin and woe;
Of death, and what it cost to save
Man from the power of the grave.
There is a God, the humble say,
Whose plan reveals a coming day,
In which His Judgment will disclose
The cause of all our pain and woes.
When Christ, the Mighty One, shall be
The king of heaven, and earth and sea,
His Saints shall share with him the Throne,
With Him shall reign, from zone to zone.
The scepter wielded in His name,
Shall make the nations know His fame.
His power shall reach from land to land,
And lead sin's captives by the hand
From out the charnel-house of death,
To reinstate them by His breath.
In that great age the Law will be
So clear and plain that all can see
Its purpose, and His right to reign,
And Law and Order to maintain.
When thus far God's revealed plan
Shall have been wrought with sinful man,
Then each abiding soul shall claim
A right to live in Jesus' name.
But he, who will the Law abuse,
Shall be cast out as base refuse;
Deprived of life, deprived of breath,
A victim to the "Second Death."
When every soul which Jesus bought,
Shall have been to perfection brought,
The Age of glory will begin,
With man forever freed from sin.
No evil then will mar the race,
The cause of it will have no place;
For God has said and cannot lie,
The soul that sins shall surely die.
Hence into the lake of burning fire,
He casts the tempter with all his ire,
From which there can be no salvation,
It simply means—annihilation.
A glorious host exulting sing
Hosannas to the heavenly King,
Whose plan to full perfection brought,
By far transcends their highest thought.
Is this your God?
Him do I own:
His will in earth and heaven be done.
J. P. MARTIN.