October 29, 2005

Have faith in God –
And as result, behave! Obey!
Have faith in God –
Obedience is the only way;
Have faith in God –
And show faith’s fruitage every day.
Have faith, dear friend, in God.

Where Cross the Crowded ways of Life

Frank Mason North, 1850-1935

    Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. Psalm 82:3, 4.

The author of this text, Franklin North, was a Methodist minister in New York city. He wrote this hymn in response to a request from the Methodist hymnal committee for a hymn about big city life, which Pastor North knew well and to which he was most sympathetic. The hymn first appeared in 1903 in the publication The Christian City, of which North was the editor. God help us to be people with sensitivity and compassion.

Where cross the crowded ways of life,
Where sound the cries of race and clan
Above the noise of selfish strife,
We hear your voice, O Son of man.

In haunts of wretchedness and need,
On shadowed thresholds dark with fears,
From paths where hide the lures of greed,
We catch the vision of Your tears.

From tender childhood’s helplessness,
From woman’s grief, man’s burdened toil,
From famished souls, from sorrow’s stress,
Your heart has never known recoil.

The cup of water given for You,
Still holds the freshness of Your grace;
Yet long these multitudes to view
The sweet compassion of Your face.

O Master, from the mountainside
Make haste to heal these hearts of pain;
Among these restless throngs abide;
O tread the city’s streets again.

Till sons of men shall learn Your love
And follow where Your feet have trod,
Till, glorious from Your heaven above,
Shall come the city of our God!

Have Faith in God by H.M.S. Richards, Used by Permission