Scripture Verse

How long halt ye between two opinions? 1 Kings 18:21

Introduction

portrait
James Thomas (1860–1946)

Words: Mar­tha E. Whit­ten, in New Ho­san­nas, by John E. Tho­mas et al. (Fort Worth, Tex­as: Quar­tet Mu­sic, 1906), num­ber 99.

Music: James E. Tho­mas (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a bet­ter pho­to of Tho­mas,

portrait
Martha E. Whitten (1842–1917)

Lyrics

Heard you not that rail­road whis­tle?
Lo, the Gos­pel train is here.
Get aboard, ye earth-worn pil­grims,
She is safe, there’s naught to fear.
She is built of God’s own tim­bers,
Coaches am­ple and com­plete;
Rails are laid in faith and pa­tience,
And each tie a pro­mise sweet.

Refrain

All aboard the Gos­pel rail­road.
All aboard, ere ’tis too late;
We are bound for Hea­ven’s de­pot,
Where the an­gel por­ters wait.

Storm-tossed sin­ner o’er life’s bil­low,
Come on board this train to­day;
There are sta­tions rich in bless­ing
Scattered all along the way.
Get your tick­et, God’s for­giv­eness;
Jesus paid the fare, you know,
And His te­le­grams of mer­cy
Up and down this rail­road go.

Refrain

We’re equipped in Gos­pel ar­mor
For the con­flicts by the way,
And our food is heav’n­ly man­na
God dis­pens­es day by day.
Oh the rich­ness of His mer­cy;
How it sa­tis­fies and saves!
While the ban­ner of sal­va­tion
O’er our rail­road proud­ly waves.

Refrain

We’ve a brave and true con­duct­or,
And the Bi­ble is our guide;
And the Ho­ly Ghost sup­plies us
With our mov­ing pow­er be­side.
All the brak­emen are God’s ser­vants,
Standing firm at du­ty’s post,
Carrying train­loads in­to Ca­naan—
Lo, a great un­num­bered host.

Refrain

See the Gos­pel head­light stream­ing
Far adown our fore­most track,
To dis­close the op­en switch­es
Satan leaves to hurl us back.
He may plan wrecks and dis­as­ters,
To de­rail or ditch our train,
But we’ll make the run suc­cess­ful;
All his ef­forts prove in vain.

Refrain

Lo, our en­gin­eer keeps sight­ing
Down the track with ea­gle eye,
If per­chance some threat­en­ing dan­ger
Half con­cealed may near us lie.
Down the tracks are dark ob­struct­ions,
Trials, trou­bles, pain and care;
Hark! He sig­nals dan­ger! dan­ger!
Down with brakes! be­ware! be­ware!

Refrain

We are sweep­ing on to glo­ry,
O’er each cul­vert, ’round each curve;
Up the grade of con­se­cra­tion,
Where our train must ne­ver swerve.
We are speed­ing o’er the bridg­es,
Where a break means cer­tain death;
O’er the mount­ains, thro’ the tun­nels,
Where we ride with bat­ed breath.

Refrain

Soon we’ll reach the heav’n­ly de­pot;
Lo, its spires arise in sight
As we slow up at the sta­tion,
At our jour­ney’s end alight.
Oh, the shouts of an­gels greet us!
Kindred long gone on be­fore;
And the su­per­in­tend­ent hails us,
Welcome, wel­come! ev­er­more!

Refrain