01.20. Excerpt4 - The Heroic C. T. Studd

Excerpt4 - The Heroic C. T. Studd

Old Charlie was a cricketer,
(As most of you will know);
And when he played the lordly game
He always stole the show.
He "drove" and "pulled" and "pushed" and "cut"
That ball with lots of ease;
And to bewildered bowlers
Charlie was a tiresome tease.

But Charlie quit the game one day;
He gave away his bat
With a "Hallelujah!" and a grin,
And then hung up his hat.
The vision Charlie had received
Made cricket look so minor
He gladly counted all things loss
And sailed away to China.

For Charlie made "The Cambridge Seven"
(Oh, what a regal crew!);
He said, "I’m going now, dear Lord,
What wilt Thou have me do?"
With Smith and Polhill and the rest
He did a man-size task,
And tackled any ugly thing
The Lord did ever ask.

When Charlie got to fifty-three,
He sat and asked himself
If now his work was finished here
And he left on the shelf.
But suddenly the challenge came,
And he, with heart aglow,
Set out to face a greater task
Locked in the dark Congo.

Dear Charlie was "a fool for Christ"
With never a lament,
And counted nothing sacrifice,
But gladly he was spent.
"If Jesus Christ be God," he said,
"And He has died for me,
"O shame to talk of suffering
"In the light of Calvary."

Aye, Charlie loved and dared for God;
No man who lived was bolder.
Oh where’s the man who’d ever dare
Call Studd a chocolate soldier?
In God alone he trusted,
And God a hero made,
And in him God prepared a womb
To birth a great Crusade!

In this hour of great declension
We wish the churches would
Furnish ten thousand heroes
With hearts aflame like Studd.
We’d roll back dark apostasy
In every land and nation,
And, through this mighty rescue shop,
Steal millions from damnation.