113. Ought I, For Fear of Mockery

1. Ought I, for fear of mockery,
Reject the Spirit’s urging?
Ought not my faith the greater be
When Satan’s hosts are surging?
Ought I not gladly, day by day,
Proclaim God’s Word the while I may?

2. Ought not God’s favor mean much more
Than any man’s displeasure?
Though men reject it o’er and o’er
In ever-growing measure, -
It will as God’s own Word abide,
Out comfort true, though men may chide!

3. See, Lord, how sinners look askance,
And spurn Thy invitation;
Ought I for that forego my chance
To preach Thy great salvation?
For how could heaven still be won
If I should thus deny Thy Son?

4. Ought I refrain, for such as these,
To tell the Gospel story,
And merely seek their ears to please,
Unmindful of Thy glory?
And ought I from that cross now hide
On which Thou, Lord, hast bled and died?

5. Who are the men whose spiteful scorn
And anger I am faring?
Forsooth not gods, but mortals born
Enslaved to sin, and nearing
An awful death; they are no more
Than foam upon the ocean’s shore!

6. O let them rage in anger still,
My Lord will ever take me
Beneath His shield; at last He will
To His reward awake me.
The love of God my soul doth save
Through perils dark, e’en to the grave.

7. The love of Christ constraineth me
The lost ones to be seeking,
And straying ones, so they will be
Once more in Jesus’ keeping.
Let me with prayer His Gospel tell
And save them from the fire of hell.

8. And though for this most every man
My name would be rejecting;
Would me, as though within a ban,
From this world be ejecting, -
The fear of God doth strengthen me
To bear the cross, Lord, faithfully.