Testimony

"But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect," I Peter 3:15

Testimony

by Jane Van Allen

From early life to riper years.
The Savior's grace has kept me;
In all my varied, pilgrim life.
The Savior's love sustains me.

In all ray sorrows, sighs and tears.
The Holy Spirit calms me;
In all my trials, doubts and fears,
The loving Savior's with me.

In every suff'ring scene of life,
God's mercy then surrounds me;
And in the darkest hours of life.
The Savior's love shines round me.
 

An Easter Offering

"Neither will I offer unto the Lord my God that

which doth cost me nothing.'"

Within a crowded dwelling-place,

Climbing its narrow stair,

A little maid is toiling slow,

Who in her hand doth bear

A jug of water, which she guards

And holds with anxious care.

Slowly she climbs the stairway dim,

So narrow, steep, and high,

To where her little window looks

Out on a patch of sky;

And o'er a flower upon its ledge

She bends with loving eye.

The only treasure that is hers!

She dreams of it by night,

Guards it by day; the blue eyes watch

Its opening to the light.

Was ever lily seen before

So pure, so fair, so white ?

Soon, very soon, is drawing near

The blessed Easter Day,

When from a grateful, loving heart

We give our best away.

What offering could the dear child make?

She ponders day by day.

Such scanty earnings naught could yield,

From them she fears to take;

But there upon the window-ledge-

Oh! can she, can she make

Such sacrifice, and give her flower

For Easter - and His sake ?

The glad-voiced bells are chiming clear,

The dim-lit church is sweet

With font and chancel filled with flowers,

This Easter morn to greet,

When up the silent aisle there comes

A child with faltering feet.

Softly the notes from organ grand

Are stealing through the air;

Beneath the Altar's gleaming cross

She lays the lily fair,

And then all timidly she kneels,

And clasps her hands in prayer.

"Tis all I have," she murmurs low,

"Dear Lord, to give to Thee,

And so I bring this flower I love.

An offering from me;

For on this holy Easter Day

Thy child I pray to be."

Amid the throng at service hour,

In anthem, chant, and hymn,

One sweet voice rang, until it made

The older eyes grow dim;

They did not know what filled her heart

With gladness to the brim.

The best that it was hers to give,

That she had given away;

Not "that which cost her nothing," but

What nearest her heart lay.

Lord, grant that we may also give

Our best on Easter Day.

A Pilgrim's Song

A Pilgrim's Song

I JOURNEY along

On a cloudy day.

Apart from the throng

Of the glad and gay.

But Jesus is near,

More perfectly known,

When we may appear

To travel alone.

Those passing along

With skies ever bright

Have lost the sweet song

He gives in the night.

Called Aside

CALLED ASIDE.

" I have somewhat to say unto thee."

Called aside‚

From the glad working of thy busy life.

From the world's ceaseless stir of care and strife,

Into the stillness by thy Heavenly guide,

For a brief space thou hast been called aside.

Lonely hours

Thou hast spent, weary on a couch of pain,

Watching the golden sunshine and the rain;

Hours, whose sad length only to Him was known,

Who trod a sadder pathway, dark and lone.

Laid aside:

May not the little cup of suffering be

A loving one of blessing given to thee?

The cross of chastening sent thee from above

By Him who bore the cross, whose name is Love.

Called aside:

Hast thou no memories of that "little while"?

No sweet remembrance of thy Father's smile?

No hidden thoughts that wrapped thee in their hold

Of Him who did such light and grace unfold?

Called aside-

Perhaps into the desert garden dim,

And yet not lone, if thou hast been with Him,

And heard his voice in sweetest accents say,

Child, wilt thou not with me this hour stay?"

Called aside,

In hidden paths with Christ thy Lord to tread,

Deeper to drink at the sweet Fountain Head;

Closer in fellowship with Him to roam.

Nearer perchance to feel thy heavenly home.

Called aside.

Of, knowledge deeper grows with Him alone,

In secret of his deeper love is shown,

And learned in many an hour of dark distress

Some rare, sweet lesson of his tenderness.

Called aside.

We thank Thee for the stillness and the shade,

And for the hidden paths thy love hath made,

And, so that we have wept and watched with Thee,

We thank Thee for our dark Gethsamene.

Called aside:

O restful thought - He doeth all things well‚

O blessed sense, with Christ alone to dwell:

So, in the shadow of thy cross to hide,

We thank Thee, Lord, to have been called aside.

When Saints of Old

When Saints of Old
by Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton

When saints of old sad vigil kept 

Beside the brooks of Babylon,

And swathed in sackcloth, silent wept

Because the light of Heaven was gone,

Some prophet old, in desert dress.

Would raise his rugged voice and cry:

''Why sit ye here in such distress if

Ye ask deliverance, it is nigh,

Ye crave a monarch who shall show

Compassion for the suffering poor.

That sceptred king ye soon shall know.

His chariot wheels are at the door.

One starlit night a little child.

The King so long expected, came.

To still the sea of passion wild.

The sins that darken life to shame,

Deep in the conscience of the race

To light red judgment fires, whose gleam

Should penetrate the darkest place

Of human thought, or deed, or dream.

His throne was laid in law and love.

The crown he wore was righteousness.

Of the symbolic sacred dove

His signet had the sole impress.

Thus came he once, but every age

Beholds that sovereign come again.

The war with wrong afresh to wage.

The love to seek of sorrowing men.

And while we sit in vigil sad

Beside our brooks of Babylon,

And mourn because the world is mad.

And Truth's majestic empire done,

God's prophets, as in ages old

In Judah and in Galilee,

Proclaim that lust and love of gold

Shall not enthroned forever be,

But humbled to their rightful place

Of thralls and subject powers, shall stand

Subdued and meek before his face

Who sits at last in sole command;

That all the lies men love shall flee

Like ghosts that dread the approaching sun,

Whene'er the king in majesty

Declares the. reign of error done;

That redder judgment fires shall glow,

And yet sweet love increase in power,

Till Time's mixed trumpets cease to blow

And earth has reached its final hour.

Since That Dear Hour by Cowper

Since That Dear Hour 
by Cowper

Since the dear hour that brought me to thy foot, 

 And cut up all my follies by the root, 

 I never trusted in an arm but thine; 

 Nor hoped but in thy righteousness Divine, 

 My prayers and alms, imperfect and defiled, 

Were but the feeble efforts of a child; 

 Howe’er perform’d, this was their brightest part, 

That they were offerings of a thankful heart; 

I cast them at thy feet, my only plea Is, 

what it was,–dependence upon thee; 

While struggling in the vale of griefs below, 

 This never failed, nor shall it fail me now.”

True and False Principles

But the word of the Lord endureth forever. 1 Pet. i. 25.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Matt. xxiv.35.

TRUE AND FALSE PRINCIPLES.

Lo ! where amid the arctic regions, rise,
The Iceberg's turrets glittering in the skies,
Like some cathedral Gothic built, it rides,
Borne by the winds, and ever-shifting tides:
All shapes fantastic soon the phantom wears,
A palace now, and now a ship appears:
At length it drifts towards some southern shore,
When lo I 'tis vanish'd, and is seen no more.
Not so the Rock that rears its ancient head,
Its deep foundation's laid in ocean's bed;
All change resists, unalter'd is its form
Amid the sunshine, and amid the storm.
Unmoved it stands, and still 'twill stand secure.
Long as the moon, and as the sun endure.

      The Iceberg lifts its towering summit to the clouds, sparkling and dazzling, like a group of temples overlaid with silver. Its crystalline magnificence is bewildering; it forms one of the most, splendid objects that the mariner meets with in the northern seas, and at the same time one of the most dangerous. It is a floating mass without foundation; winds, waves, and currents bear it along in all directions. It assumes the most fantastic shapes imaginable : sometimes it looks like mountains piled on mountains; then temples, palaces, and ships are seen by turns; then again, cathedrals of every order of architecture appear to the eye of the wondering beholder. After, awhile it drifts out of the high latitudes into milder climes. It is carried towards the southern shores, the sun pours it's burning  rays upon the mammoth temple, turret after turret, spire after spire disappear, until the whole has dissolved. Its glory has departed.

      How very different is the nature and destiny of the Rock that is seen lifting its time-worn head above the surrounding waves ! It is probably as old as time itself; it retains its ancient position; it's foundations take hold of the world; it is marked in the charts, men always know where to find it, and are therefore not endangered by it. Changing the form of the element that surrounds it, itself unchanged, the summer's sun and winter's storm alike pass harmlessly by it. It is one of the everlasting hills, it must abide forever.

      The engraving is an emblem of True and False Principles. False principles are represented by the Iceberg. Like the iceberg, they are without a foundation; however specious, brilliant, and fascinating  their appearance, they have no solidity. Like it, too, they are ever-changing: their form receives its various impression from the ever-fluetuating speculations of mankind, and from the power and influence of the times. Like it, they are cold and cheerless to the soul, nipping all its budding prospects, cramping all its mighty powers. Like the iceberg, also, false principles will melt away before the burning sun of truth, and pass into oblivion. It will not do to trust them. Who would make a dwelling-house of the transitory iceberg?

      It is not so with true principles; although they may appear somewhat homely at first sight, yet the more they are contemplated the more they will be admired. Like the Rock, their foundations are laid broad and deep. The principles of truth rest on the throne of God, they are as ancient as eternity. Like the Rock, they may always be found. Are they not written in the Holy Bible? Like their Author, they are without variableness or shadow of turning, for,

"Firm as a Rock, God's Truth must stand,

When rolling years shall cease to move."

      Semper idem--"Always the same"--is their motto. Like the Rock of Ages, true principles live when time shall be no more. As are the principles, so are all who trust in them, for "the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance." (Text)

A Christian hymn composed by Augustus M. Toplady
 in 1775. Sung in the video by the Antrim Mennonite Choir,
from their album 'Amazing Grace.'