IN THE VALLEY I have been through the valley of weeping, The valley of sorrow and pain: But the "God of all comfort'' was with me, His hand to uphold and sustain. As the earth needs the clouds and the sunshine, Our souls need both sorrow and joy: So He places us oft in the furnace, The dross from the gold to destroy. When He leads through some valley of trouble, His powerful hand we can trace: For the trials and sorrows He sends us Are part of His lessons of grace. Oft we shrink from the purging and pruning, Forgetting the Husbandman knows The deeper the cutting and paring, The richer the cluster that grows. Well He knows that affliction is needed: He has a wise purpose in view, And in the dark valley He whispers, "Hereafter thou wilt know what I do." As we travel through life's shadowed valley, Fresh springs of His love ever rise: And we learn that our sorrows and losses Are blessings just sent in disguise. So we'll follow wherever He leadeth, Though pathways be dreary or bright: For we've proof that our God can give comfort, Our God can give songs in the night. Many hundred years ago They venture to remark That Noah had some carpenters To help him build the ark. But sad to say on that last day When Noah entered in, Those carpenters were left outside And perished in their sin. NOAH'S CARPENTERS
How sad to think they may have helped To build the Ark so great, Yet still they heeded not God's Word And awful was their fate. Today the same sad state exists Among the sons of men, They helped to build the so-called Church Who are not born again. They stay behind for sacrament. They work, they sing, they pray: Yet never have accepted Christ, The Lif^, the Truth, the Way. Another judgment day will come, As sure as came the flood. And only those will be secure Who shelter 'neath Christ's blood. THANK GOD FOR THE BIBLE O, how we thank Thee, Our God, for the Bible, Whose truth doth Each century clearer reveal! The fountain of wisdom The source of all knowledge. The court of humanity's Final appeal. Oh, here Thou revealest That Thou art our Father, The hand that hath fashioned And caused us to be: Oh, "resident forces," "electrons," and "atoms" Could never have made Or have loved us like Thee! Oh, how can we thank Thee, Our God, for the Bible. The Gospel's glad story! Nor else had we known Of sinners redeemed And made meet for Thy glory, Of sinners redeemed Who shall sit at thy throne!
Then glory and honor, Dominion and power, Ascribe to the Trinity Again and again: To Father and Son, And the blest Holy Spirit, For ever and ever, And ever — Amen!
—James M. Gray
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