CONCLUSION
"Halleluia: for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth" - Revelation 19:6
In our
Foreword to the second edition we acknowledge the need for preserving the
balance of Truth. Two things are beyond dispute: God is sovereign, man is
responsible. In this book we have sought to expound the former; in our other
works we have frequently pressed the latter. That there is real danger of
over-emphasizing the one and ignoring the other, we readily admit; yea, history
furnishes numerous examples of cases of each. To emphasize
the sovereignty of God, without also maintaining the accountability of the
creature tends to fatalism; to be so concerned in maintaining the
responsibility of man, as to lose tight of the sovereignty of God, is to exalt
the creature and dishonor the Creator.
Almost all
doctrinal error, is, really, Truth perverted, Truth wrongly divided, Truth
disproportionately held and taught. The fairest face on earth, with the most
comely features, would soon become ugly and unsightly, if one member continued
growing while the others remained undeveloped. Beauty is, primarily, a matter
of proportion. Thus it is with the Word of God: its beauty and blessedness are
best perceived when its manifold wisdom is exhibited in its
true proportions. Here is where so many have failed in the past. A single phase
of God’s Truth has so impressed this man or that, that he has concentrated his
attention upon it, almost to the exclusion of everything else. Some portion of
God’s Word has been made a "pet doctrine", and often this has become
the distinctive badge of some party. But it is the duty of
each servant of God to "declare all the counsel of God" (Acts 20:27).
It is true that the degenerate
days in which our lot is cast, when on every side man is exalted, and
"superman" has become a common expression, there is real need for a
special emphasis upon the glorious fact of God’s supremacy. The more so where
this is expressly denied. Yet even here much wisdom is
required, lest our zeal should not be according to knowledge." The words
"meat in due season" should ever be before the servant of God. What
is needed, primarily, by one congregation, may not be specifically needed by
another. If called to labor where Arminian preachers have preceded, then the
neglected truth of God’s sovereignty should be expounded—though
with caution and care, lest too much "strong meat" be given to
"babes". The example of Christ in John 16:12, "I have yet many
things to say unto you, but ye cannot hear them now", must be borne in
mind. On the other hand, if I am called to take charge of a distinctly
Calvinistic pulpit, then the truth of human responsibility (in its many
aspects) may be profitably set forth. What the preacher needs to give-out is not what his people most like to hear, but what they
most need, i.e. those aspects of truth they are least familiar with, or least
exhibiting in their walk.
To carry into actual practice
what we have inculcated above will, most probably, lay the preacher open to the
charge of being a Turncoat. But what matters that if he has his
Master’s approval? He is not called upon to be "consistent" with
himself, nor with any rules drawn up by man; his business is to be consistent
with Holy Writ. And in Scripture each part or aspect of truth is balanced by
another aspect of truth. There are two sides to everything, even to the
character of God, for He is "light" (1 John 1:5) as well as "love"
(1 John 4:8), and therefore are we called upon to "Behold,
therefore the goodness and severity of God" (Rom. 11:22). To be all the
time preaching on the one to the exclusion of the other, caricatures the Divine
character.
When the Son of God became incarnate
He came here in "the form of a servant" (Phil.
2:6); nevertheless, in the manger He was "Christ the Lord" (Luke
2:11)! All things are possible with God (Matt. 19:26), yet God "cannot
lie" (Titus 1:2). Scripture says, "Bear ye one another’s burdens (Gal.
6:2), yet the same chapter insists "every man shall bear his own
burden" (Gal. 6:5). We are enjoined to take "no thought for the
morrow" (Matt. 6:34), yet "if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith,
and is worse than an infidel" (1 Tim. 5:8). No sheep of Christ’s can
perish (John 10:28, 29), yet the Christian is bidden to make his "calling
and election sure" (2 Pet. 1:10). And so we might go on multiplying
illustrations. These things are not contradictions, but complementaries: the
one "balances the other". Thus, the Scriptures set forth both the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. So too
should every servant of God, and that, in their proper proportions.
But we return now to a few closing
reflections upon our present theme. "And Jehoshaphat stood in the
congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord,
before the new court, And said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not Thou God in
heaven? and rulest not Thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in Thine
hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand
Thee?" (2 Chron. 20:5, 6). Yes, the Lord is God, ruling over all the
kingdoms of men, ruling in supreme majesty and might. Yet in our day, a day of boasted
enlightenment and progress, this is denied on every hand. A
materialistic science and an atheistic philosophy have bowed God out of His own
world, and everything is regulated, forsooth, by (impersonal) laws of nature.
So in human affairs: at best God is a far-distant spectator, and a helpless one
at that. God could not help the launching of the dreadful war, and though He
longed to put a stop to it He was unable to do so—and this
in the face of 1 Chronicles 5:22; 2 Chronicles 24:24! Having endowed man with
"free agency God is obliged to let man make his own choice and go his own
way, and He cannot interfere with him, or otherwise his moral responsibility
would be destroyed. Such are the popular beliefs of the day. One is not
surprised to find these sentiments emanating from German neologians (coiners of
new words), but how sad that they should be taught in many
of our Seminaries, echoed from many of our pulpits, and accepted by many of the
rank and file of professing Christians.
One of the most flagrant sins
of our age is that of irreverence—the failure to ascribe the glory which is due
the august majesty of God. Men limit the power and activities of
the Lord in their degrading concepts of His being and character. Originally,
man was made in the image and likeness of God, but today we are asked to
believe in a god made in the image and likeness of man. The Creator is reduced
to the level of the creature: His omniscience is called into question, His
omnipotency is no longer believed in, and His absolute sovereignty is flatly
denied. Men claim to be the architects of their own
fortunes and the determiners of their own destiny. They know not that their
lives are at the disposal of the Divine Despot. They know not they have no more
power to thwart Hs secret decrees than a worm has to resist the tread of an
elephant. They know not that "The Lord hath prepared His throne in the
heavens; and His kingdom ruleth over all" (Ps. 103:19).
In the foregoing pages we have
sought to repudiate such paganistic views as the above-mentioned, and have
endeavored to show from Scripture that God is God, on the Throne, and that so
far from the recent war being an evidence that the helm had slipped out of His
hand, it was a sure proof that He still lives and reigns, and is now bringing to pass that which He had fore-determined and
fore-announced (Matt. 24:6-8 etc.). That the carnal mind is enmity against God,
that the unregenerate man is a rebel against the Divine government, that the
sinner has no concern for the glory of his Maker, and little or no respect for
His revealed will, is freely granted. But, nevertheless, behind the scenes, God
is ruling and over-ruling, fulfilling His eternal purpose,
not only in spite of but, also by means of, those who are His enemies.
How earnestly are the claims
of man contended for against the claims of God! Has not man power and
knowledge, but what of it? Has God no will, or power, or knowledge?
Suppose man’s will conflicts with God’s—then what? Turn to the Scripture of Truth
for answer. Men had a will on the plains of Shinar and determined to build a
tower whose top should reach unto heaven, but what came of their purpose?
Pharaoh had a will when he hardened his heart and refused to allow Jehovah’s
people to go and worship Him in the wilderness, but what came of his rebellion? Balak had a will when he hired Balaam to come and
curse the Hebrews, but of what avail was it? The Canaanites had a will when
they determined to prevent Israel occupying the land of Canaan, but how far did
they succeed? Saul had a will when he hurled his javelin at David, but it
entered the wall instead! Jonah had a will when he refused to go and preach to
the Ninevites, but what came of it? Nebuchadnezzar had a
will when he thought to destroy the three Hebrew children, but God had a will
too, and the fire did not harm them. Herod had a will when he sought to slay
the Child Jesus, and had there been no living, reigning God, his evil desire
would have been effected; but in daring to pit his puny will against the
irresistible will of the Almighty, his efforts came to nought. Yes, my reader,
and you, too, had a will when you formed your plans without
first seeking counsel of the Lord, therefore did He overturn them! "There
are many devices in a man s heart: nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that
shall stand" (Prov. 19:21).
What a demonstration of the
irresistible sovereignty of God is furnished by that wonderful
statement found in Revelation 17:17—"For God hath put in their hearts to
fulfill His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the Beast, until
the words of God shall be fulfilled." The fulfillment of any single
prophecy is but the sovereignty of God in operation. It is the demonstration
that what He has decreed He is able also to perform. It is proof that none can
withstand the execution of His counsel or prevent the
accomplishment of His pleasure. It is the evidence that God inclines men to
fulfill that which He has ordained and perform that which He has
fore-determined. If God were not absolute Sovereign, then Divine prophecy would
be valueless, for in such case no guarantee would be left that what He had
predicted would surely come to pass.
"For God hath put in
their hearts to fulfill His will and, to agree, and give their kingdom unto the
Beast, until the words of God shall he fulfilled" (Rev. 17:17). Even in
that terrible time, when Satan has been cast down to the earth itself (Rev.
12:9), when the Antichrist is reigning in full power (Rev. 13), when the basest
passions of men are let loose (Rev. 6:4), even then God is
supreme above all, working "through all" (Eph. 4:6), controlling
men’s hearts and directing their counsels to the fulfilling of His own purpose.
We cannot do better than quote here the excellent comments of our esteemed friend
Mr. Walter Scott upon this verse—"God works unseen, but not the less
truly, in all the political changes of the day. The astute statesman. the
clever diplomatist, is simply an agent in the Lord’s hands.
He knows it not. Self-will and motives of policy may influence to action, but
God is steadily working toward an end— to exhibit the heavenly and earthly
glories of His Son. Thus, instead of kings and statesmen thwarting God’s
purpose, they unconsciously forward it. God is not indifferent, but is behind the
scenes of human action. The doings of the future ten kings
in relation to Babylon and the Beast— the ecclesiastical and secular powers—are
not only under the direct control of God, but all is done in fulfillment of His
words."
Closely connected with Revelation
17:17 is that which is brought before us in Micah 4:11,
12—"Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be
defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. But they know not the thoughts of the
Lord, neither understand they His counsel: for He shall gather them as the
sheaves into the floor." Here is another instance which demonstrates God’s
absolute control of the nations, of His power to fulfill His secret counsel or
decrees through and by them, and of His inclining men to
perform His pleasure though it be performed blindly and unwittingly by them.
Once more. What a word was
that of the Lord Jesus as He stood before Pilate! Who can depict the scene!
There was the Roman official, and there also was the Servant of
Jehovah standing before him. Said Pilate, "Whence art Thou?" And we
read, "Jesus gave him no answer. Then said Pilate unto Him, "Speakest
Thou not unto me? Knowest Thou not that I have power to crucify Thee, and have
power to release Thee?" (John 19:10). Ah! that is what Pilate thought.
That is what many another has thought. He was merely voicing the common
conviction of the human heart—the heart which leaves God
out of its reckoning. But hear the Lord Jesus as He corrects Pilate, and at the
same time repudiates the proud boasting of men in general—"thou couldest
have no power against Me, except it were given thee from above" (John
19:11). How sweeping is this assertion! Man—even though he be a prominent
official in the most influential empire of his day—has no power except that which is given him from above, no power, even, to do that
which is evil, i.e., carry out his own evil designs, unless God empowers him so
that His purpose may be forwarded. It was God who gave Pilate the power to
sentence to death His well-beloved Son! And how this rebukes the sophistries
and reasonings of men, who argue that God does nothing more than permit evil!
Why, go right back to the very first words spoken by the
Lord God to man after the Fall, and hear Him saying, "I will put ENMITY
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed" (Gen.
3:15)! Bare permission of sin does not cover all the facts which are revealed
in Scripture touching this mystery. As Calvin succinctly remarked, "But
what reason shall we assign for His permitting it but because it is His
will?"
At the close of chapter eleven
we promised to give attention to one or two other Difficulties which were not
examined at that time. To them we now turn. If God has not only pre-determined
the salvation of His own, but has also fore-ordained the good works which they
are to walk ‘in (Eph. 2:10), then what incentive remains for us
to strive after practical godliness? If God has fixed the number of those who
are to be saved, and the others are vessels of wrath fitted to destruction,
then what encouragement have we to preach the Gospel to the lost? Let us take
up these questions in the order of mention.
1. God’s Sovereignty and the believer’s growth in grace.
If God has fore-ordained
everything that comes to pass, of what avail is it for us to
"exercise" ourselves "unto godliness" (1Tim. 4:7)? If God
has before ordained the good works in which we are to walk (Eph. 2:10), then
why should we be "careful to maintain good works"
(Titus 3:8)? This only raises once more the problem of human responsibility.
Really, it should be enough for us to reply, God has bidden us do so. Nowhere
does Scripture inculcate or encourage a spirit of fatalistic indifference.
Contentment with our present attainments is expressly disallowed. The word to
every believer is, "Press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14). This was
the apostle’s aim, and it should be ours. Instead of hindering the development
of Christian character, a proper apprehension and appreciation of God’s
sovereignty will forward it. Just as the sinner’s despair of any help from
himself is the first prerequisite of a sound conversion, so the loss of all
confidence in himself is the first essential in the believer’s growth in grace;
and just as the sinner despairing of help from himself will
cast him into the arms of sovereign mercy, so the Christian, conscious of his
own frailty, will turn unto the Lord for power. It is when we are weak, we are
strong (2 Cor. 12:10): that is to say, there must be consciousness of our
weakness before we shall turn to the Lord for help. While the Christian allows
the thought that he is sufficient in himself, while he imagines
that by mere force of will he shall resist temptation, while he has any
confidence in the flesh then, like Peter who boasted that though all forsook
the Lord yet should not he, so we shall certainly fail and fall. Apart from
Christ we can do nothing (John 15:5). The promise of God is, "He giveth
power to the faint; and to them that have no might (of their own) He increaseth
strength" (Isa. 40:29).
The question now before us is
of great practical importance, and we are deeply anxious to express ourselves
clearly and simply. The secret of development of Christian character is the
realization of our own powerlessness, acknowledged powerlessness, and the
consequent turning unto the Lord for help. The plain fact is that
of ourselves we are utterly unable to practice a single precept or obey a
single command that is set before us in the Scriptures. For example: "Love
your enemies"—but of ourselves we cannot do this, or make ourselves do it.
"In nothing be anxious"—but who can avoid and prevent anxiety when
things go wrong? "Awake to righteousness and sin not"—but who can
help sinning? These are merely examples selected at random
from scores of others. Does then God mock us by bidding us do what He knows we
are unable to do? The answer of Augustine to this question is the best we have
met with—"God gives commands we cannot perform, that we may know what we
ought to request from Him." A consciousness of our powerlessness should
cast us upon Him who has all power. Here then is where a vision
and view of God’s sovereignty helps, for it reveals His sufficiency and shows
us our insufficiency.
2.
God’s Sovereignty and Christian service.
If God has
determined before the foundation of the world the precise number of those who
shall be saved, then why should we concern ourselves about the eternal destiny
of those with whom we come into contact? What place is left for zeal in
Christian service? Will not the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, and its
corollary of predestination, discourage the Lord’s servants from faithfulness
in evangelism? No; instead of discouraging His servants, a
recognition of God’s sovereignty is most encouraging to them. Here is one, for
example, who is called upon to do the work of an evangelist, and he goes forth
believing in the freedom of the will and in the sinner’s own ability to come to
Christ. He preaches the Gospel as faithfully and zealously as he knows how;
but, he finds the vast majority of his hearers are utterly indifferent
and have no heart at all for Christ. He discovers that men are, for the most
part, thoroughly wrapt up in the things of the world, and that few have any
concern about the world to come. He beseeches men to be reconciled to God, and
pleads with them over their soul’s salvation. But it is of no avail. He becomes
thoroughly disheartened, and asks himself, What is the use of it all? Shall he
quit, or had he better change his mission and message? If
men will not respond to the Gospel, had he not better engage in that which is
more popular and acceptable to the world? Why not occupy himself with
humanitarian efforts, with social uplift work, with the purity campaign? Alas!
that so many men who once preached the Gospel are now engaged in these
activities instead.
What then is God’s corrective
for His discouraged servant? First, he needs to learn from Scripture that God
is not now seeking to convert the world, but that in this Age He is
"taking out of the Gentiles" a people for His name (Acts 15:14). What
then is God’s corrective for His discouraged servant? This—a proper
apprehension of God’s plan for this Dispensation. Again:
what is God’s remedy for dejection at apparent failure in our labors? This—the
assurance that God’s purpose cannot fail, that God’s plans cannot miscarry,
that God’s will must be done. Our labors are not intended to bring about that
which God has not decreed. Once more: what is God’s word of cheer for the one
who is thoroughly disheartened at the lack of response to his
appeals and the absence of fruit for his labors? This— that we are not
responsible for results: that is God’s side, and God’s business. Paul may
"plant," and Apollos may "water," but it is God who
"gave the increase" (1 Cor. 3:6). Our business is to obey Christ and
preach the Gospel to every creature, to emphasize the "Whosoever
believeth", and then to leave the sovereign operations of the Holy Spirit to apply the Word in quickening power to whom He wills,
resting on the sure promise of Jehovah—"For as the rain cometh down, and
the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and
maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to
the eater: So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not
return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I
please (it may not that which we please), and it shall prosper in the thing
whereto I sent it" (Isa. 55:10, 11). Was it not this assurance that
sustained the beloved apostle when he declared "Therefore (see context) I
endure all things for the elect’s sake" (2 Tim.2:10)! Yea, is not this
same lesson to be learned from the blessed example of the Lord Jesus! When we
read that He said to the people, "Ye also have seen
Me, and believe not", He fell back upon the sovereign pleasure of the One
who sent Him, saying, "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me, and
him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:36, 37). He knew
that His labor would not be in vain. He knew God’s Word would not return unto
Him "void." He knew that "God’s elect" would come to Him
and believe on Him. And this same assurance fills the soul
of every servant who intelligently rests upon the blessed truth of God’s
sovereignty.
Ah fellow-Christian-worker,
God has not sent us forth to "draw a bow at a venture". The success
of the ministry which He has committed into our hands is not left
contingent on the fickleness of the wills in those to whom we preach. How
gloriously encouraging, how soul-sustaining the assurance are those words of
our Lord’s, if we rest on them in simple faith: "And other sheep I have
("have" mark you, not "will have"; "have,"
because given to Him by the Father before the foundation of the world), which
are not of this fold (i.e. the Jewish fold then existing) :
them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice" (John 10:16). Not
simply, "they ought to hear My voice," not simply "they may hear
My voice", not "they will do so if they are willing." There is
no "if", no "perhaps", no uncertainty about it. "They
shall hear My voice" is His own positive, unqualified, absolute promise.
Here then, is where faith is to rest! Continue your quest, dear friend, after the "other sheep" of Christ’s. Be not discouraged
because the "goats" heed not His voice as you preach the Gospel. Be
faithful, be scriptural, be persevering, and Christ may use even you to be His
mouthpiece in calling some of His lost sheep unto Himself. "Therefore, my
beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of
the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain
in the Lord" (1 Cor. 15:58).
It now remains for us to offer
a few closing reflections and our happy task is finished.
God’s
sovereign election of certain ones to salvation is a MERCIFUL provision. The
sufficient answer to all the wicked accusations that the doctrine of
Predestination is cruel, horrible, and unjust, is that, unless God had chosen
certain ones to salvation, none would have been saved, for "there is none
that seeketh after God" (Rom. 3:11). This is no mere inference of ours but
the definite teaching of Holy Scripture. Attend closely to
the words of the apostle in Romans 9, where this theme is fully discussed—"Though
the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall
be saved. . . . And as Isaiah said before, Except the Lord of hosts had left us
a seed, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah" (Rom.
9:27, 29). The teaching of this passage is unmistakable: but for Divine
interference, Israel would have become as Sodom and
Gomorrah. Had God left Israel alone, human depravity would have run its course
to its own tragic end. But God left Israel a "remnant" or
"seed." Of old the cities of the plain had been obliterated for their
sin, and none was left to survive them; and so it would have been in Israel’s
case had not God "left" or spared a remnant. Thus it is with the
human race: but for God’s sovereign grace in sparing a remnant,
all of Adam’s descendants had perished in their sins. Therefore, we say that
God’s sovereign election of certain ones to salvation is a merciful provision.
And, be it noted, in choosing the ones He did, God did no injustice to the
others who were passed by, for none had any right to salvation. Salvation is by
grace, and the exercise of grace is a matter of pure sovereignty—God
might save all or none, many or few, one or ten thousand, just as He saw best.
Should it be replied, But surely it were "best" to save all. The
answer would be: We are not capable of judging. We might have thought it
"best" never to have created Satan, never to have allowed sin to
enter the world, or having entered, to have brought the conflict between good
and evil to an end long before now. Ah! God’s ways are not
ours, and His ways are "past finding out."
God fore-ordains everything
which comes to pass. His sovereign rule extends throughout the entire Universe
and is over every creature. "For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are
all things" (Rom. 11:36). God initiates all things, regulates
all things, and all things are working unto His eternal glory. "There is
but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him" (1 Cor. 8:6). And
again, "According to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will" (Eph. 1:11). Surely if anything could be ascribed
to chance it is the drawing of lots, and yet the Word of
God expressly declares, "The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole
disposing thereof is of the Lord" (Prov. 16:33)!!
God’s wisdom in the government
of our world shall yet be completely vindicated before all created
intelligences. God is no idle Spectator, looking on from a distant world at the happenings on our earth, but is Himself shaping
everything to the ultimate promotion of His own glory. Even now He is working
out His eternal purpose, not only in spite of human and Satanic opposition, but
by means of them. How wicked and futile have been all efforts to resist His
will shall one day be as fully evident as when of old He overthrew the
rebellious Pharaoh and his hosts at the Red Sea.
It has been well said,
"The end and object of all is the glory of God. It is perfectly, divinely
true, that ‘God hath ordained for His own glory whatsoever comes to pass.’ In
order to guard this from all possibility of mistake, we have only to remember
who is this God, and what the glory that He seeks. It is He
who is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,—of Him in whom divine love
came seeking not her own, among us as ‘One that serveth.’ It is He who,
sufficient in Himself, can receive no real accession of glory from His
creatures, but from whom—‘Love’, as He is ‘Light,’—cometh down every good and
every perfect gift, in whom is no variableness nor shadow
of turning. Of His own alone can His creatures give to Him."
"The glory of such an one
is found in the display of His own goodness, righteousness, holiness, truth; in
manifesting Himself as in Christ He has manifested Himself
and will forever. The glory of this God is what of necessity all things must
serve—adversaries and evil as well as all else. He has ordained it; His power
will insure it; and when all apparent clouds and obstructions are removed, then
shall He rest—‘rest in His love’ forever, although eternity only will suffice
for the apprehension of the revelation. ‘God shall be all in all’ (italics ours
throughout this paragraph) gives in six words the ineffable
result" (F. W. Grant on "Atonement").
That what we have written
gives but an incomplete and imperfect presentation of this most important
subject we must sorrowfully confess. Nevertheless, if it results in a clearer
apprehension of the majesty of God and His sovereign mercy we shall be amply repaid for our labors. If the reader has received
blessing from the perusal of these pages, let him not fail to return thanks to
the Giver of every good and every perfect gift, ascribing all praise to His
inimitable and sovereign grace.
"The Lord, our God, is
clothed with might,
The winds
and waves obey His will;
He speaks, and in the shining
height
The sun and rolling worlds
stand still.
Rebel ye waves, and o’er the
land
With threatening aspect foam
and roar,
The Lord
hath spoken His command
That breaks your rage upon the
shore.
Ye winds of night, your force
combine—
Without His holy high behest
You shall not in a mountain
pine
Disturb
the little swallow’s nest.
His voice sublime is heard
afar;
In distant peals it fades and
dies;
He binds the cyclone to His
car
And sweeps the howling murky
skies.
Great God!
how infinite art Thou,
What weak and worthless worms
are we,
Let all the race of creatures
bow
And seek salvation now from
Thee.
Eternity, with all its years
Stands
ever-present to Thy view,
To Thee there’s nothing old
appears
Great God! There can be
nothing new.
Our lives through varied
scenes are drawn,
And vexed with mean and
trifling cares;
While
Thine eternal thought moves on
Thy fixed and undisturbed
affairs."
"Halleluia: for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth" (Rev. 19:6).