Stand for the Right

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Apr 26, 1877

Stand for the Right.

Stand for the right, whate’er your condition, Even though friends may to enemies turn, Better have enemies in a just mission, Than a dark record of infamy earn.

Friendship that’s fickle is not worth preserving, Wealth gained by fraud and deceit is a curse, Stand by the right, then, undaunted, unswerving, Poverty’s bad, but dishonesty’s worse.

Stand by the right—it were folly to barter Self-independence for station or gain— Better to virtue and truth fall a martyr Than win a success mixed with sorrow and pain.

An unsullied heart and a conscience approving, Are worth all the wealth that the world can bestow. Stand by the right, be forgiving and loving, Asking no favor and fearing no foe.

Stand for the right! ’tis the best and the sweetest— Wrong may appear for awhile to succeed; But he is most happy whose heart is the purest, A self-condemned sinner is wretched indeed.

Hate and detraction in vain may assail thee If thou art pure, when their arrows they cast, Honor and rectitude never will fail thee; Stand for the right and you’ll triumph at last.