“Can it be right for me to go
On in this dark, uncertain way?
Say ‘I believe’ and yet not know
Whether my sins are put away?
“Not know my trespasses forgiven
Until I meet Him in the air!
Not know that I shall get to heaven
Until I wake and find me there!
“Not know my state till on my brow
Beams the celestial diadem!
Why, surely all the world will know
That I’m a pardoned sinner then.
“Must clouds and darkness veil my brow
Until I dwell with saints in light?
And must I walk in darkness now
Because I cannot walk by sight?
“And shall I just begin to say,
‘Father, Thine every word is true,’
And cast my doubts and fears away
When all the world will own it too?
“Is this the way to treat the God
Who bids me trust and love Him now?
Is this the way to use the Word
Given to guide me here below?
“How can I forth to sinners go,
And tell of grace so rich and free,
If all the while I do not know
Whether that grace has smiled on me?
“How can it be my joy to dwell
On the rich power of Jesus’ blood,
If all the while I cannot tell
That it has sealed my peace with God?
“How can I be like Christ below,
How like my Lord in witness shine,
Unless with conscious joy I know
His Father and His God as mine?
“O, crush this cruel unbelief!
These needless, shameful doubts remove,
And suffer me no more to grieve
The God whom I do really love.”