606 - Once to Every Man and Nation
Once to every man and nation
Comes
the moment decide,
In
the strife with false-hood,
For
the good or evil side;
Some
great cause, God’s new Messiah,
Offering
each the bloom or blight,
And
the choice goes by for ever
‘Twixt
that darkness and that light.
2
Then
to side with truth is noble
When
we share her wretched crust,
Ere
her cause bring fame and profit,
And
‘tis prosperous to be just;
Then
it is the brave man chooses,
While
coward stands aside,
Till
the multitude make virtue
Of
the faith they had denied.
3
By
the light of burning martyrs,
Christ,
Thy bleeding feet we track,
Toiling
up new Calvaries ever
With
the cross that turns not back;
New
occasions teach new duties,
Time
makes ancient good uncouth;
They
must upward still and onward,
Who
would keep a breast of truth.
4
Through
the cause of evil prosper,
Yet
truth alone is strong;
Though
her portion be the scaffold,
And
upon the throne ne wrong;
Yet
that scaffold sway the future,
And,
behind the dim unknown,
Standeth
God within the shadow,
Keeping
watch above His own.
