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AWAKE, O CHRISTIAN!

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 20, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 12.

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AWAKE, O CHRISTIAN!

By Fred F. French

Awake, O Christian heart, awake, And at the fount of mercy slake Thy thirsting soul again! The Lord has called for volunteers; Why sleep ye ’mid the doubts and sneers Of vain, unrighteous men?
“Why will ye thus My patience mock? I stand before thy door and knock; Why heed ye not My cry? The world stands on a mighty brink, And souls cry out in vain, and sink Beneath the waves to die.
Arise, and stem the mighty tide That hurls the world from side to side On fear and discord’s wing. Grasp thou the moments slipping past, And nail thy colors to the mast, “For Christ, our Lord and King.”
Prepare thine armor for the fray, For comes a hard and trying day When love shall conquer all; Hold up before thy Father’s eyes Thy naked heart, nor then despise The cross that makes thee whole.
Thy soul, the image of thy God, Must walk the path that Jesus trod, To gather strength from sin; For by the exercise of good Where sin abounds, ye gather food To feed the soul within.
Go forth, and in the harvest reap With deeds of friendship, true and deep, And every moment seize; Let not thy hand hang idly by, “Nor love in word or tongue,” but try Some bleeding heart to ease.
The soul that loves without a flaw Hath e’en fulfilled God’s moral law, For on that hangeth all; “But he whose heart with slander burns, When from his neighbor’s face he turns, Is stumbling for a fall.”
For tho ye feed and clothe the poor, Not thus alone shall ye secure A mansion with the blest; But love, that overlooketh harm, That bears the lash of hatred’s arm, With peace within its breast,
Hath shown a love that is not known Or felt by man who tries alone With evil to compete. But he who does his uttermost, With guidance of the Holy Ghost, Shall cast it at his feet.
Apply unto your heart the test,— Who feeleth not within his breast A knowledge past all doubt, That God has pardoned every sin And come to dwell with thee, within, Is staying still without.
For when the Spirit comes to thee, All fear, and doubt, and strife will be A thing to thee unknown; The voice of God, as Peter heard, Or e’en the peace your soul has stirred, Will claim you for His own.
Skagway, Alaska. FRED F. FRENCH.