WITHOUT EXCUSE – C. T. Studd
Our Saviour has given commandment
To such as believe, in their hearts,
To publish the news of Salvation
On earth, to its uttermost parts.
The doors of the world lie wide open;
Its lands have been duly explored;
The sorrows and needs of the heathen
Can only be met by the Lord.
Christians were never so numerous,
Never so wealthy and wise,
Never made bigger professions,
Then why don’t we race for the prize?
Have we waxed fat like Jeshurun?
Are our livers or heads over large?
Have we become paralytic?
Or deaf to Christ’s summons to charge?
When has the job been so easy?
Peace is enthroned on the earth;
Travel was never so simple;
Of “Dreadnoughts” alone there’s a dearth.
How shall we look when our Saviour
Returns in His glory from heaven,
And finds we’ve refused or neglected
E’en one tribe with salvation to leaven?
If George the Fifth’s soldiers or sailors
Were ordered the world to subdue,
They’d hasten abroad in dead earnest
And pluckily dare and do.
Then why should the Soldiers of Jesus
Delay to obey His command?
Come along! Let us tackle the business,
We only need faith and sand.
(“sand” is “courage” in the U.S.A.)
Come! Let’s stop our vain talk of traditions,
Which nullify God’s Holy Word,
And dump all our Christless snobbery
In hell, and then hurry abroad.
Let us cease to do our own pleasure,
Stop hoarding and living at ease;
Let us fight or die to deliver
The folk in the lands overseas.
Let’s abolish our tame stonewalling,
And play for a win not a draw;
We must go in for hurricane hitting,
Or we’ll lose as we’ve lost before.
For Christ was a resolute hitter,
And so were Stephen and Paul;
They so warmed the devil’s fingers
That he scarce could hold the ball.
They didn’t play selfish in those good days,
They played for their side instead;
And they ran such really impossible runs
That the devil quite lost his head.
When a man got out he ran, not walked,
And the man going in ran too;
“What, stop the match for tea!” they cried;
“Bah! cock-a-doodle-doo.”
They didn’t wear pads or gloves those days,
You just couldn’t make them afraid;
And they never stopped to look at the clock
Till the winning hit was made.
Now if we played the game like that,
Do you think we shouldn’t win?
Of course we should, and, that being so,
Anything else is sin.
Christ to be sure would go with us;
Christ would see us through;
Christ wouldn’t let us falter
Till there’s nothing more to do.
So let’s settle now and once for all,
To finish our job or die;
We can evangelise the world
If we’re men enough to try.
C. T. Studd
