Blessed Be The Fountain

Copyright 2013 PJ Stassen

All Rights Reserved

There is more credit in being abused by fools than praised by rogues.

-       F.E Smith, later Lord Birkenhead, 1872-1930.

   When I look back on my life, I often stand amazed (and pretty disgusted) at the moral, social and financial indiscretions that ‘adorned’ (what I consider to be) my obnoxious past. I frankly cannot believe that it was me … after all; I started off in 1966, after I had left school and completed my military conscription-obligations, on such a good wicket only to, at a much later stage in life at the turn of the century (remember the Y2K-scare?) crash on the rocks of business-failure and the resulting debilitating clinical depression. 
   I thereafter often wondered ... do other people also make gross mistakes like that? Will I be damned forever for my sins and my many indiscretions?  Will God write me off?  Am I a hopeless case?  Will I ever see a light in this tunnel again, and if so, will it be the true, saving light of forgiveness and reconciliation, or the menacing light of an oncoming freight train, only to deliver the coup de grace of final disgrace and humiliation?

   It would appear as if I am one of those rare individuals whose overtures toward restitution for injured parties are, more often than not, bungled even worse than the original sin or injury, only adding further insult to injury and causing me to end up having to apologise for my clumsy and abortive restitution-efforts.  Someone has once said, "He is is so unlucky that he gets involved in accidents that originally had started out happening to someone else!"
   Fortunately the Bible promises that if we had sinned, that God is true and faithful and will forgive us the sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness  (1 John 1:7). Today nobody needs this reassuring little verse more than (I think) I do. The comforting thought is that, if we could deserve Salvation at all on the grounds of personal merit and an exemplary life, then Jesus Christ will have died in vain.  Apparently no man is exempt … we all probably, to a lesser or greater degree, sometimes make bad decisions, poor choices and glaring, life-changing mistakes. 

   William H. Herndon, in his civil war classic, Herndon’s Life of Lincoln, writes: “You should not forget there is a skeleton in every house.  The finest character dug out thoroughly, photographed honestly, and judged by that standard of morality or excellence which we exact for other men is never perfect.  Some men are cold, some lewd, some dishonest, some cruel, and many a combination of all.  The trail of the serpent is over them all!”  (Herndon & Weik:  ‘Author’s Notes’, viii).

   According to the Bible, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; yes, the trail of the serpent is over us all.  But, thank God for the blood of Christ that washes us whiter than the snow.  The gates of Hell and the trail of the serpent shall not prevail against the Church and blood of Christ.                  

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Blessed Be The Fountain

 Eden R. Latta, 1839-?/Henry S. Perkins, 1833-1914)

Blessed be the Fountain of blood,

To a world of sinners revealed;

Blessed be the dear Son of God ‒

Only by His stripes we are healed.

Tho I’ve wandered far from His fold,

Bringing to my heart pain and woe,

Wash me in the blood of the Lamb,

And I shall be whiter than snow.

Thorny was the crown that He wore,

And the cross His body o’ercame;

Grievous were the sorrows He bore,

But He suffered this not in vain.

May I to that Fountain be led,

Made to cleanse my sins here below;

Wash me in the blood that He shed,

And I shall be whiter than snow.

Father, I have wondered from Thee,

Often has my heart gone astray;

Crimson do my sins seem to me ‒

Water cannot wash them away.

Jesus, to that Fountain of Thine,

Leaning on Thy promise, I go;

Cleanse me by Thy washing divine,

And I shall be whiter than snow.

CHORUS

Whiter than the snow, Whiter than the snow ‒

Wash me in the blood of the Lamb,

And I shall be whiter than snow.

Piet Stassen                                                 

eLiterature/eLiteratuur:

1. Scribd Publishing Site:  www.scribd.com/PietStassen (ENGLISH & AFRIKAANS)
2. eBook: 'Evolution: The Science That Evolved Into A Fairy Tale' (ENGLISH)  
3. eBook:  'Bertrand Russell Revisited: Rebuttal Of Bertrand Russell's 'Why I Am Not A Christian''(ENGLISH)
4. eBook: 'Meditations & Contemplations: A Reader For Both Atheists And Creationists' (ENGLISH)
5. eBook: 'Conservation, Rhino Poaching And Hypocrisy' (ENGLISH)
6. eBook: 'Why Darwinism ('Evolution') Does Not Make Sense' (ENGLISH)
7. eBook: 'Names And Titles Of Jesus Of Nazareth (ENGLISH)'
8. eBoek:  'Darwin Of Christus: Suid-Afrikaners By 'n Kruispad!' [AFRIKAANS].
9. eBoek:  'Bevryding Van Die Anti-Evangelie Van Ateisme-Evolusionisme' [AFRIKAANS].
10. eBoek:  'Name & Titels Van Jesus Christus' [AFRIKAANS].
11. eTracts, Christian (Free, Downloadable):  Free, downloadable Christian eTracts for free distribution (ENGLISH)
12. eTraktate, Christelik (Gratis, Aflaaibaar): Gratis, aflaaibabre Christelike Traktate vir gratis verspreiding (AFRIKAANS)

Bibliography

1.     Andrews, Allen (1969)   Quotations For Speakers And Writers.  Newnes Books.  Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. London.

2.     Herndon, William H. & Weik, Jesse W. (1930), 1949, 1961).  Edit. Angle, Paul M.   Herndon’s Life of Lincoln.   Premier Civil War Classics.  Fawcett Publications, Inc.  Greenwich, Conn./American Book Publishers Council, Inc.

3.     Peterson, John W. (1968)   Great Hymns Of The Faith. ‘Blessed Be The Fountain’. Zondervan Publishing House.  Grand Rapids, Michigan.