p. 4 | The Time of the Promise by C. L. STONE

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 24, 1914

The Time of the Promise

By C. L. STONE

C. L. STONE

When the chosen of God bitter servitude pressed, When a death-dealing scepter drove hope from the breast, When Jochebed’s mother love shielded her own, And launched on the wave her fair treas- ure alone, What though the king’s house might her darling espy, She dared; “for the time of the promise drew nigh.”

While in Babylon’s triumph and pompous parade, When the long train of captives she sought to degrade Had among them Judeans of royal de- scent, It was Daniel who stood for his righteous intent. And he stood till the stream of the king- dom ran dry, And he stood till “the time of the prom- ise drew nigh.”

Weary years of the world’s sorry tale came and went, And the “Seed,” early promised,—a present unsent,— Came announcement to Mary, the chosen and pure: “Jehovah is with thee; his promise is sure.” “So be it, my lord,” was her gentle reply, For she knew that “the time of the promise drew nigh.”

In the darkness of midnight, in priest lore and sin, When truth for the mind and the soul was shut in, When indulgences marked the sad fall- ing away, Came an earnest of light in a new dawn- ing day. It was Luther who dared all abuses decry; For he felt that “the time of the promise drew nigh.”

Now that earth’s evening shadows grow longer apace, And the moments but linger to minister grace, There arises the remnant, with courage and power To do work of days in the last, closing hour. And the sower, pursued by the reaper hard by, Hastens on; for the last promise swift draweth nigh.