p. 27 | God with Us by Cuyler

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 21, 1864

God with Us.

By Cuyler

PAUL and his fellow-Apostles were wonderfully calm and collected men. They never indulge in bluster, and never betray fear. No threats alarm them. No sufferings break their spirits. No persecutions turn them from their straight-forward path a single moment. In all the record of the Acts of the Apostles, I do not find one expression of discouragement—one whimper of unmanly fear. What is the secret?

We find the secret of this calm courage in the simple message of Paul to Timothy, “THE LORD STOOD WITH ME and strengthened me.” When Paul is summoned to “stand before Cæsar,” he meets a greater than Cæsar already there; the arm of God is between him and Nero’s lictors clad in iron mail; therefore, stretching forth the hand that had been lifted above the Acropolis of Athens, and opening the lips that had made Felix tremble, he preaches Christ in the ears of the startled tyrant! God’s presence made the old man bold; it gave nerve to his right arm, and kept his countenance unblanched.

The father of ancient poetry has described his hero as ever attended by the goddess Minerva, who, in his greatest perils, stood constant at his side. In the thickest of the fight she is seen attired in celestial armor, holding the glittering Ægis before him, warding off the darts that were aimed at his life, and cheering him on to deeds of daring. This striking and poetical conception was born of the blind bard’s imagination; but what Homer aimed at in beautiful fiction becomes a glorious truth in the infinitely more beautiful providence of God. In every great struggle for the right, a mightier and more august Being than heathen poet ever conceived of does ever stand beside his faithful servants, inspiring them by an assurance of Almighty protection, and strengthening them by the infusion of a courage from on high.

The history of God’s church is illustrated by the shining memorials of God’s faithfulness. A countless cloud of witnesses can testify how often he interposed to deliver them from danger—to console their griefs, to supply their necessities, to dispel their fears—to preserve their lives and to bring gladness to eyes that were ready to fail through “wakefulness and tears.”

Moses, from the shores of the Red Sea and beside the smitten rock, testifies to the constancy of the Almighty arm. From out of the lion’s den, at Babylon, comes the same inspiring testimony: the barren solitudes of Brook Cherith and the craggy rocks of Patmos are vocal with it too. “The Lord stood with me,” exclaims Paul in Nero’s judgment-hall. And with me—resumes Martin Luther from the Imperial Diet. And with me—responds John Bunyan from Bedford Jail. And with me—whispers Halyburton from his couch of suffering. And with me—sounds from the tent of Havelock, that man who was every inch a soldier, and yet every inch a Christian. And with all of us—respond the noble army of martyrs, confessors, missionaries, reformers, and heroes for the truth, who have consecrated themselves to God. He never forsook one of them. He never forsakes a soul that throws itself into the conflict for his cause. He never betrays or deserts a people that are true to him.—Cuyler.