WHO DID HINDER YOU?

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 16, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 16.

WHO DID HINDER YOU?

"Ye did run well; who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth?" Gal. 5:7

HOW WELL ye ran, when first your eye The pardoning glance of Jesus caught; Each nerve was strung to ecstasy, As the bright goal the spirit sought; Like Isthmian racers, how ye sped! The feathered arrow was your type, And saints, aglow with feeling, said, For glory ye would soon be ripe.

And who did hinder you to press With equal purpose to the end? Do you salvation prize the less, Or grudge the zeal you once did lend? Is Heaven no boon your toil to claim? Is earth the keen supplanter now? Or will you that dear Lord defame, By lightly thinking of your vow?

Say, who did hinder you? Not God! His pledge of grace is still redeemed; As light upon the frozen clod, His Spirit on your pathway beamed; And as you toiled with single eye, The Father, who observes his sons, Said to the armies of the sky, "Behold my child, how well he runs!"

Ye did run well; has gold, or lust, With vampire greed upon you fed? Have Sodom's apples, formed of dust, A dainty table near you spread? Has the light jeer, like barbed lance, A keen insertion swiftly made? And of that one sarcastic glance, Have you, a hero, proved afraid?

Come back, come back! Begin the race With energies all freshly strung, And seek his reconciling face To whom in days gone by you clung. Anointed by his Spirit, press To that exalted prize again. The end will all the labor bless, For, running, ye shall soon obtain. —Sel.