p. 5 | THE PENALTY by J. A. Edgerton

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 6, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 45.

THE PENALTY.

By J. A. Edgerton

We are mad—grown mad in the race for gold; We are drunk with the wine of gain; The truths our fathers proclaimed of old We spurn with a high disdain. But while the conqueror’s race we run, Our rulers should not forget That the God who reigned over Babylon Is the God who is reigning yet.

Would we tread in the paths of tyranny, Nor reckon the tyrant’s cost? Who taketh another’s liberty, His freedom hath also lost. Would we win as the strong have ever won, Make ready to pay the debt; For the God who reigned over Babylon Is the God who is reigning yet.

The ruins of dynasties passed away In eloquent silence lie; And the despot’s fate is the same to-day That it was in the days gone by. Against all wrong and injustice done A rigid account is set; For the God who reigned over Babylon Is the God who is reigning yet.

The laws of right are eternal laws, The judgments of truth are true; My greed—blind masters, I bid you pause And look on the work you do. You blind with shekles your fellow-man, Your hands with his blood are wet; But the God who reigned over Babylon Is the God who is reigning yet.

—J. A. Edgerton.