Poetry from Topical Teachings
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P-74
"We are not storerooms, but channels,
We are not cisterns, but springs,
Passing our benefits onward,
Fitting our blessings with wings;
Letting the water flow outward
To spread o'er the desert forlorn:
Sharing our bread with our brothers,
Our comfort with those who mourn."
From "Friendly Persuasion"
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P-76
"Men don't believe in the devil now,
As their fathers used to do;
They reject one creed because it's old
For another because it's new.
"There's not a print of his cloven foot,
Nor a fiery dart from his bow
To be found in the air of earth today:
At least--they declare it is so!
"But who mixes the fatal drought,
That palsies heart and brain,
And loads the bier of each passing year,
With its hundred-thousand slain?
"And who blights the bloom of the land today,
With the fiery breath of hell?
If it isn't the devil that does the work,
Who does? Won't somebody tell?
"Who dogs the steps of the toiling saint?
Who spreads the net for his feet?
Who sows the tears in the world's broad field?
Where the Savior sows His wheat?
"If the devil is voted not to be,
Is the verdict therefore true?
Somebody is surely doing the work
The devil was thought to do.
"They may say the devil has never lived,
They may say the devil is gone,
But simple people would like to know
Who carries the business on?"
From "Living With Temptation"
- Part 1
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P-77
"Make me a captive, Lord,
And then I shall be free;
Force me to render up my sword,
And I shall conqueror be.
I sink in life's alarms
When by myself I stand;
Imprison me within thine arms,
And strong shall be my hand."
From "Living With Temptation" - Part 1
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P-78
"God will lead and guide,
Direct a right
Fill you with wisdom, love
And light.
"In many ways be good
And kind
But God will not force
The human mind."
From "Two Appointments You
Will Never Break"
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P-80
In 1917, during World War I, John Oxenham received word that his son had been
killed in action. In his despair and loneliness, Dr. Oxenham went to a London
chapel to pray and think. In the quiet beauty of that place of worship, he wrote
the poem, The Vision Splendid.
"'Mid all the traffic of the ways,
Turmoils without, within,
Make in my heart a quiet place,
And come and dwell within.
"A little shrine of quietness
All sacred to thyself,
Where Thou shalt all my soul possess,
And I may find myself."
Out of that spiritual experience of worship in the life of that grief-stricken
father came much more than a poem which has inspired millions. There
also came the assurance that he was not alone! That amid all the complexities
of life in a war-torn world, he could find a sense of the nearness and goodness
of God.
From "Something More Than Entertainment"
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P-81
an unknown writer has left us a testimony of a daily encounter with God in such
an unlikely place.
"I who have lost the stars, the sod,
For killing pavement and cheerless light,
Have made my meeting place with God
A new and other night.
"A pigment in the crowded dark,
Where people sit muted by the roar,
I ride upon the whirring spark
Beneath the city's floor.
"You that need country skies to pray,
Scoff not at me, the city clod,
My only respite of the day
Is this wild ride with God."
Yes, God can be found amid the deafening roar of a subway train.
From "Something More Than Entertainment"
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P-82
In those moments of tragic sorrow when John Oxenham lost his son, he learned
to speak of the power of prayerful worship in such a place. He described it
as
"A little shelter from life's stress,
Where I may lay me prone,
And bare my soul in loneliness
And know as I am known."
From "Something More Than Entertainment"
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You see young people, Jesus understands
your struggles. He understands your trials and your temptations for you see,
he, too, was young.
A poet has put it this way:
"Because he, too, was young, he knows each snare along the way.
He knows what youth must dare!
He, too in Nazareth's narrow little street
Found hidden nets to trip his youthful feet.
And such forbidden music as you hear
Fell, strangely alluring on the young Christ's ear.
"The broad way then, as now was gay with song
And laughter; and the straight way lone and long.
The same foes lurked beside his humble way
That thwart the golden dreams of youth today,
And all the dark temptations that you know
He was acquainted with long, long ago.
"Tell him your longing. He will bend to hear.
Bring him your heartaches, and the skies will clear.
Share your dreams with him! He speaks the
Tongue of youth. He, too, was eager, glad and young.
Tell him! He is a comrade, loyal and true,
Whom you can trust in all you think or do."
From "If
I Were 'Sweet' Sixteen
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Bishop Robert Cushman put it this
way --
"I will not hurry through the day.
Lord, I will listen by the way
To humming bees and singing birds,
To murmuring trees and friendly words,
And, for the moment in between,
Seek glimpses of thy great unseen.
I will not hurry through the day.
I will take time to think and pray.
I will look up into the sky
Where fleecy clouds and swallows fly,
And somewhere, in the day maybe,
I will catch glimpses, Lord, of thee."
"In quietness and confidence shall be your strength."
From
"How to Experience a Victorious Life"
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"How many things He will forget.
Our every sin, and yet
He will remember and reward
The smallest service done for our dear Lord.
Divine forgetfulness, unfathomed grace,
And love that knows no time or space."
From "God's Guide to Glorious
Living"
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"To all those things which are behind,
Deaf to the voice that memory brings
With praise or scorn for many things.
Dumb to the things my tongue might tell
Of stumbling or running well.
Blind to the things I still might see
When they come back to trouble me.
Forgetting all that lies behind,
Lord, make me dead and dumb and blind.
Like Paul, I then shall win the race
I would have lost, but for thy grace.
Let me forget what I have done,
'Tis through thee, Lord, the race is won."
Unknown
From "God's Guide to Glorious
Living"
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I can hear some of you saying what
I.G. Thomas says in his searching bit of verse--
"When Christ spake that quiet command,
'Follow me,'
Did he mean I must go to the tree?
Did he mean I must tread
O'er the path those soldiers led
To the place of martyred dead, Calvary?
Did he mean I must go to the crowd,
And proclaim his love and sacrifice
Out loud?
Did he mean I must be
Humble, meek, and mild, as he,
Preaching immortality
Beyond the shroud?
Did he mean I must do everything
As he did ? Take the plaudits
And the sting?
Must I sacrifice my all
If I answer to his call,
Drink the wormwood and the gall,
Like my king?"
Yes! That's exactly what he meant.
From
"Under New Management"
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"His grace is great enough to meet
the big things,
The crashing waves which overwhelm your soul,
The roaring waves which leave you stunned and breathless,
The sudden storm beyond your life's control.
And,
"His grace is great enough to meet the small things,
The little pin-prick troubles that annoy,
The insect worries buzzing and persistent,
The squeaking wheels which grate upon your joy."
From "The Benediction"
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"The love of God is greater far,
than tongue or pen can ever tell.
It goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell.
Could we with ink the oceans fill, and were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above, would drain the oceans dry,
Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.
Oh love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and strong,
It shall forevermore endure, the saints and angels song."
From "The Benediction"
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"Come Holy Spirit --
Replace the tension within me with a holy serenity.
Replace the turbulence within me with a sacred calm;
Replace the anxiety within me with a quiet confidence.
Replace the fear within me with an abiding faith.
Straighten my crookedness.
Fill my emptiness.
Dull the edge of my pride.
Sharpen the edge of my humility.
Light the fires of my love.
Quench the flames of my lust.
Let me see myself as you see me,
That I may see you, as you have promised."
From "The Benediction"
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P01
"Men
do not reach the Stars
By digging in the murk of the stream.
Stars are reached by those who sing:
Climb the Ladder of a Dream."
From
"A Young Man Dreams A Dream"
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P02
"Dreams are the seeing of visions,
The hearing of golden chimes,
Only a dreamer conquers,
Only a dreamer climbs.
"A dream has the lift of a lever
A dream has the power to drive
They who have known no dreaming
Have never been alive.
"So dare to fight for your dreaming
And dare to dream anew
Knowing the God of dreamers
Will make your dreams come true."
From "A Young Man Dreams A Dream"
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P03
That will not be easy, but it will be glorious adventure. There is much to be
said for the spirit of Paracelus, when in Browning's great poem he is made to
say:
"Are there not, Festus, are there not, dear Michal,
Two points in the adventure of the diver?
One--when a beggar, he prepares to plunge and
One--when a prince, he rises with his pearl?
Festus, I plunge!"
That is the spirit of the church of which I dreamed. It was a church which plunged--and
won--because it knew that when all of the possibilities were against it, all
of the impossibilities were for it.
From "A Young Man Dreams A Dream"
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P04
And, again, I bring this into the focus of your life. You may or you may not
possess the things of wealth. You may or you may not be endowed with potentialities
for superb and scintillating service. But this one thing you do possess:
A Will. A will that is your very self. And therefore it is the one, the only
thing, that Christ requires. To be Lord at all, He must be Lord of all. And
thus He asks, "Your will, please." Nothing more is possible, nothing less will
do.
"Laid on thine altar, O my Lord divine,
Accept my gift this day, for Jesus' sake.
I have no jewels to adorn thy Shrine,
Nor any world-famed sacrifice to make.
"But here I bring within these trembling hands
This Will of mine, a gift that seemeth small;
But Thou doest know, dear Lord,
That when I give Thee this, I give Thee all."
From "A Young Man Dreams A Dream"
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P-05
The poet put it this way:
"You ask me how I came to Christ?
I do not know.
There simply came a yearning for Him in my heart
So long ago.
I found earth's flowers would fade and die;
I sought for something that would satisfy,
And then-- somehow I seemed
To dare
To lift my broken heart too Him in prayer.
I do not know, I cannot tell you how.
I only know He is my Savior now.
"You ask me when I gave my heart to Christ?
I cannot tell.
The day, or just the hour, I do not now remember well.
It must have been when I was all alone
The light of His forgiving Spirit shone
Into my heart so clouded o'er with sin.
I think, I think 'twas then I let Him in.
I do not know, I cannot tell you when.
I only know He's been so dear to me since then.
"You ask me why I gave my heart to Christ?
I can reply.
It is a wondrous story, listen while I tell you why.
My heart was drawn at length to seek His face.
I was alone, I had no resting place.
I heard how He loved me, and with a love
Of depth so great, of height so high above
All human ken
I longed such love to share,
And sought it then
Upon my knees in prayer.
"You asked me why I thought this loving
Christ would heed my prayer?
I knew He died upon the cross,
I nailed Him there!
I heard His dying cry.
'Father, forgive.'
"I saw Him drink death's cup that I might live.
My head was bowed upon my breast in shame.
He called me, and in penitence I came.
He heard my prayer.
I cannot tell you how, nor when, nor where.
Only that I love Him now."
From "Christianity 3D Style"
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P-07
Oh, how I wish this morning I could speak with the tongue of an angel. How I
wish I possessed the lips of an Isaiah touched with a coal from the alter of
God. For then, perhaps, I could make you understand who Christ is.
He is not some system of truth.
Some philosophy of life.
Some theory of love.
He is love itself. He is truth incarnate. He is the life of all living. And
only One such as He can meet your need.
You cannot live on a system about truth.
You cannot thrive on a philosophy about life.
You cannot grow on a theory about love.
"I had walked life's path with an easy tread,
Had traveled where comforts and pleasure lead
Until one day in a quiet place,
I met the Master, face to face.
"I had built my castles and reared them high,
Their towers had reached the blue of the sky.
I had sworn to rule with an iron mace,
'Til I met the Master, face to face.
"With comfort and wealth and ease as my goal,
Much thought for my body, but none for my soul,
I had entered to win in life's mad race
When I met the Master, face to face.
"I met Him, and knew Him, and blushed to see
That His eyes full of sorrow were fixed on me.
"I faltered and fell at His feet that day,
While my castles melted and vanished away.
Melted and vanished, and in their place
Naught else could I see but the Master's face.
"My thoughts are now for the souls of men.
I've lost my life to find it again.
'Ere since that day in a quiet place,
I met the Master, face to face."
From "Inclination Of Mortality"
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P-08
"Our Lord, our life,
our rest, our shield,
our rock, our food, our light.
Each thought of Thee doth
constant yield
unchanging, fresh delight."
From "Inclination Of Mortality"
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P-09
We read in Genesis that when God said, "Let there be light", there was light.
But you never read that God said, "Let there be Love", and there was love. Love
has no beginning because, as the scripture says in John 4:8, "God is love" and
God has no beginning.
So when you talk of the incarnation of God,
you are talking of the incarnation of love.
When you talk of the manifestation of God,
you are talking of the manifestation of love.
When you talk of the sacrifices of Calvary,
you are talking of the sacrifices of love.
How did the hymn writer put it? Oh, yes:
"The love of God is great afar
Than tongue or pen can ever tell.
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell.
"Could we with ink the oceans fill,
And were the skies of parchment made.
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every scribe a man by trade.
"To write the love of God above
Would drain the oceans dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky."
From "Inclination Of Mortality"
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P-13
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow takes us about as close to understanding God's forgiveness
as a human being can go, when in His beautiful introduction to the translation
of "The Divine Comedy", he describes the experience of going into the cathedral
of Eternity and hearing there the prayers of all the sinners of all the ages.
It seems, to him, as if there can be no possible relief from the agony of their
sorrow as they raise their prayers of repentance to the altar of God.
"From the confessionals, I hear arise
Rehearsals of forgotten tragedies,
And lamentations from the crypts below.
And then, a voice celestial, that begins
With the pathetic words,
'Although your sins be as scarlet',
and ends with (the glorious words)
'They shall be as white as snow'."
Indeed, God is forgiving.
From "A Creed For Our Church"
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P-12
"What a change within us one short hour
Spent in His presence will avail to make!
What heavy burdens from our spirits take.
What parched grounds refreshed as with a shower.
We kneel, how weak! We rise, how full of power."
From "A Creed For Our Church"
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P-14
Four words sum up the truth of Article VII: