Is God for me? I fear not, though all against me rise;
When I call on Christ my Savior, the host of evil flies.
My Friend, the Lord Almighty, and He who loves me, God!
What enemy shall harm me, though coming as a flood?
I know it, I believe it, I say it fearlessly,
That God the highest, mightiest, forever loveth me.
At all times, in all places, He standeth at my side:
He rules the battle fury, the tempest; and the tide.
A Rock that stands forever is Christ my Righteousness;
And there I stand unfearing in everlasting bliss;
No earthly thing is needful to this my life from heaven,
And naught of love is worthy save that which Christ has given-
Christ all my praise and glory, my light most sweet and fair;
The ship in which He saileth is scathless everywhere.
In Him I dare be joyful as a hero in the war,
The judgment of the sinner affrighteth me no more.
There is no condemnation, there is no hell for me:
The torment and the fire my eyes shall never see:
For me there is no sentence; for me death has no sting,
Because the Lord who loves me shall shield me with His wing.
Above my soul's dark waters His Spirit hovers still;
He guards me from all sorrows, from terror and from ill.
In me He works, and blesses the life-seed He has sown;
From Him I learned the " Abba," that prayer of faith alone.
And if, in lonely places, a fearful child I shrink,
He prays the prayers within me I cannot ask or think;
The deep unspoken language known only to that love
Who fathoms the heart's mystery from the throne of light above.
His Spirit to my spirit sweet words of comfort saith,
How God the weak one strengthens who leans on Him in faith;
How He hath built a city of love and light and song,
Where the eye at last behold eth what the heart had loved so long.
And there is mine inheritance, my kingly palace-home;
The leaf may fall and perish, not less the spring will come;
Like wind and rain of winter, our earthly sighs and tears,
Till the golden summer dawneth of the endless year of years.
The world may pass and perish: Thou, God, wilt not remove.
No hatred of all devils can part me from Thy love;
No hungering nor thirsting, no poverty nor care,
No wrath of mighty princes can reach my shelter there.
No angel and no heaven, no throne, nor power, nor might;
No love, no tribulation, no danger, fear, nor fight;
No height, no depth, no creature that has been, or can be,
Can drive me from Thy bosom, can sever me from Thee.
My heart in joy upleapeth, grief cannot linger there;
She singeth high in glory, amid the sunshine fair;
The sun that shines upon me is Jesus and His love,
The fountain of my singing is deep in heaven above.
PAUL GERHARDT.