1 Once to every man and nation

Comes the moment to decide,

In the strife of truth with falsehood,

For the good or evil side;

Some great cause, God's new Messiah,

Offering each the bloom or blight,

And the choice goes by forever

Twixt that darkness and that light.

~

2 Then to side with truth is noble,

When we share her wretched crust,

Ere her cause bring fame and profit,

And 'tis prosperous to be just;

Then it is the brave man chooses

While the coward stands aside,

Till the multitude make virtue

Of the faith they had denied.

~

3 By the light of burning martyrs,

Jesus’ bleeding feet I track,

Toiling up new Calvaries ever

With the cross that turns not back;

New occasions teach new duties,

Time makes ancient good uncouth;

They must upward still and onward,

Who would keep abreast of truth.

~

4 Though the cause of evil prosper,

Yet 'tis truth alone is strong;

Though her portion be the scaffold,

And upon the throne be wrong:

Yet that scaffold sways the future,

And, behind the dim unknown,

Standeth God within the shadow

Keeping watch above His own.

Hymn of the Faith

The music of this hymn (#519 in the 1940 Hymnal, tune Ebenezer) adds to the tone of the lyrics by emphasizing the movement that comes from choosing between things of heaven and earth… between God and evil.  And much like the novel by John Bunyan, this song of the faith describes the progress each of us have as pilgrims in this world.  (If you haven’t read The Pilgrim’s Progress, I highly recommend it!) 

In stanza 2, we see that there is value to siding with the noble side of truth… even before the future blessings of which we are assured come.  Brave individuals act in faith instead of waiting of hope to be realized.

By stanza 3, we see that we follow in Jesus’s bloody footsteps… and the corpses of the saints who have been killed for the cause of Christ.  Thomas John Williams does not mince words here when he says that the “light” we follow is the burning of Christian martyrs.  But not even this should dissuade our resolution to follow Christ!  We carry on because we follow God and “keep abreast of truth.”

This is a hymn of hope!  Through the struggle that we all face in this life, the light of God and the faith we have is so much brighter than the temporary darkness of this world.