1 Timothy 3, verse 16. Now someone years ago called
this verse of Scripture, 1 Timothy 3, 16, 1 Timothy 3, 16, someone
called this the summary of true religion, the summary of true
religion. I'll tell you this, this verse
doesn't deal with trivial matters. It deals with important matters,
listen to it, 1 Timothy 3, 16, and without controversy, without
debate or argument, grace, grace is the mystery of godliness.
Six things, God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the
spirit, seen of the angels, unto the Gentiles, believed on in
the world, and received up into glory." Now, this being the summary
of true religion, I do know this. There's no sectarianism here. There's no idol boasting about
denominations, is there? There's no Catholic, Baptist,
Methodist, Presbyterian, Church of Christ or whatever. The message
here is to all men from Almighty God. There's no peanut stuff
here, is there? And none of this, our forefathers
and so forth, just not there. And secondly, there's no complicated
ceremonies here now. There's no complicated processionals. I see these processionals on
TV, the fellas walking with the cross and They're about three
abreast, you know, and they're all decked out in their uniforms,
and some are carrying this there. And I think, where do they get
that? I've read the Bible. In fact, actually, I've written
a commentary on every epistle to the church in the New Testament.
Every single epistle. Every epistle. Every word, every verse that
Paul, Peter, Jude, John, and all of them wrote to the churches.
And I can't find a processional in there. I can't find drops
of water. I can't find all of these solemn
assemblies. I cannot find those things. I've
yet to find them in there. This message is not about those
ceremonies and rituals and processionals and things. This is a message
of God's personal naked mercy to individuals. That's what that's
talking about. And then I don't see any exhibition
of doctrines and laws here. I know doctrine's important.
If you know Christ, you know Christ's doctrine. You can't
separate the teacher from his teaching. But this mystery of
godliness, listen to me, is not the coming of a system, it's
the coming of a person. I've got to get hold of that,
and you've got to get hold of that, because there's nothing
deader than cold religious logic. There's nothing deader than truth
without spirit. There's nothing deader than the
dry law without the life of Christ. And this great is the mystery
of godliness is not the coming of a system, it's the coming
of a person. A living, warm, affectionate,
loving person. And eternal life is not to know
the doctrine, it's to know the Lord. And I don't see any speculation
of prophecy here. There are no efforts to predict
what shall be. But there's a bold declaration
of what has taken place. Listen to it again. Great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest. So if this is a summary of true
religion, without its sectarianism and denominationalism and complicated
ritualism and ceremonies and systems and laws and doctrines
and rules and disciplines and prophecies, if this is a summary
of true religion, then those things are not vital, because
they're not here. And then it says this, it says,
without controversy, without argument, without debate, Either this is the most amazing
truth and revelation, or this is the most astounding deception
that's ever been pulled on the human race. Do you hear what I said? Either
this is the most amazing, astounding revelation. God is manifest in
the flesh. seen of the angels, justified
in the Spirit, preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the
world, received up into glory. God in the beginning was the
Word and the Word was made flesh. This is either the most amazing,
astounding revelation, most wonderful declaration, or this is the most
astounding deception that's ever been pulled on the human race.
Now, no man can afford to be undecided about this or indifferent. Is this true? Is this true? Then I must believe it. If this is true, I must believe
it. If this is true, I must study
it. If this is true, I must receive
it. If this is true, I must get bound
up in it, taken up with it. But if it's not true, if it's
false, I've got to find out. Because there's a lot of folks
believe it's true. And there are a lot of witnesses
that it's true. He says, so without argument,
without debate, great is the mystery of godliness. This is
great because anything that relates to the infinite, eternal God
is great. That's why it's great. And then
secondly, it's great because it deals with great matters.
It deals with mercy for sinners. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save. We're talking about life beyond
the grave. Some of us are getting closer
to the grave, aren't we? Well, we're talking here in this
passage about life beyond the grave, hope beyond the grave.
The only hope, the only life beyond the grave. And then this
is, now watch this, it says, There's no argument here. There's
no debate. You see that without controversy.
This is not a matter for debate. It's either true or not true.
No need to debate it. It's either true or not true.
It is either the most amazing, astounding revelation of God
to human hearts and ears that's ever been spoken, or it's the
greatest, most astounding deception that's ever been pulled over
the human race. And it's great. Talks about great
things, but he calls it a mystery. Great is the mystery. Now why
does the Lord God call this a mystery? Well, it's a mystery not because
you haven't heard about it, because you have. Paul said to Agrippa, when he's
standing before King Agrippa, he said, this wasn't done in
a corner. Jesus Christ lived and died,
was buried and rose again, that wasn't done in a corner. So this
is not a mystery in that we haven't heard about, we've heard about.
I expect you could go all over the United States and you could
ask people who is Jesus Christ or who did he profess to be or
who did the preacher say he is and most everybody will have
some information, right or wrong, but they'll have some information.
So it's not a mystery in that we haven't heard about it, we
have. And it's not a mystery from lack of information and
witnesses. Acts 10.43 says to him, give
all the prophets witness. It's in the Word of God. All
the prophets give a witness of Christ. And his resurrection
from the dead was witnessed by 500 brethren at one time. So
it's not a mystery from lack of witnesses. And then thirdly,
it's not a mystery because it's complicated or that it requires
great intelligence to comprehend. There are some things in the
physical world that are a mystery to me because I don't have the
brain power to understand them. Just don't have it. I read something
and I say, you know, something about the space program or the
splitting of the atom or the building of a television set,
I don't understand, I don't have the gray matter, I don't have
the intelligence to comprehend those things. And he says it's
a mystery to me. Well, the gospel is not a mystery,
listen now, it's not a mystery because it's complicated. Because
Paul talked about the simplicity of Christ, did he not? And then
our Lord said this, He said, Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. You understand
what I'm saying? So it's not a mystery because
it's complicated, it's not a mystery because it takes great intelligence
to comprehend it, because our Lord said babes can comprehend
it. Then why is it called a mystery?
Why is it called a mystery? without argument, great, magnificent,
is the mystery, the mystery of true godliness. I know we're
hearing people talk about holiness and godliness and righteousness
and all of this, to know God, to have a living union with God. Well, where is it? Why is this
called a mystery? Here it is. The mystery is not that we haven't
heard it. The mystery is not that the information
is not available or the witnesses are not verified. The mystery
is not that it's complicated, but the mystery is, listen, the
mystery is that such things could take place. There's the mystery. that such thing that God was
manifest in human flesh. That's the mystery. That's the
mystery. That's what Charles Wesley wrote
in that great hymn, and can it be? Can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior's blood? Died He for me who caused His
pain, for me who Him to death pursued. He left His Father's
throne above, so free, so infinite His grace, emptied Himself of
all but love, and died for Adam's sinful race. Amazing love! How can it be? How can it be
that thou, my God, should die for me? What's great is the mystery,
and the mystery, my friend, is in the fact that these things
could even be. What I'm preaching today is not
ordinary. What I'm preaching this morning
is unusual, extraordinary, supernatural. Nobody's going to believe it.
Who hath believed our report unless it's revealed to them?
These things are too unusual. Now let me give you the six of
them briefly. First of all, he says, God was manifest in human
flesh. That's what the Jews got angry
with Christ about. They said, you're a man. You
say you're God. You can't be God if you're a
man. God is a spirit. Anybody knows that. He said,
when Solomon and David prepared to build a house and Solomon
built it, God said, will you build a house for me? Can the
eternal God, whom the heavens can't contain, dwell in a house? Well, can He dwell in a human
body? That can't be. That's what we're talking about,
a mystery. This is the most extraordinary fact ever declared in human language. God was manifest in the flesh. That's the mystery. The mystery
is not in the fact that I don't have any information, there it
is. My five-year-old grandson can
understand what I'm saying there. God was manifest in the flesh,
he can understand the Word. It'd be a mystery to him to understand
how that I talk about God as being everywhere, omnipotent,
omniscient, omnipresent, and yet confining himself to dwell
in a human body I don't understand that. He'll say, well, I say,
son, I don't either. That's a mystery. That's what
I'm saying. There's the mystery. There's
the mystery. John 1 says this, in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
and all things were made by Him. Without Him was not anything
made that was made. He dwelleth in all places, He
dwelleth in all things. In Him we live and move and have
our being. By Him all things consist. And
yet I say that that God came down here to the womb of a virgin
and was conceived in the flesh by the Holy Ghost and came forth
in the form of a baby. And that manger in Bethlehem
That manger in Bethlehem holds the God of glory. That's a mystery. That carpenter shop in Nazareth
is the workshop of the Lord of glory. That man of Galilee, bone
of our bone and flesh of our flesh, is the eternal creator
of heaven and earth. Son of the highest became a man
of sorrows, higher than the heavens, yet made lower than the angels.
Giver of the law, yet subject to His own law in the flesh.
King of kings, yet He took upon Himself the form of a servant.
In Him was life, and yet He died. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Now there's the mystery. But
my friends, it matters most of all. It matters most of all. Will you listen to this? If you
don't hear anything else, it matters most of all. You say,
well, does it matter who Jesus Christ is? It matters most of
all who He is. Because who He is determines
the value of what He did. Now, don't you ever forget that. The average person thinks it's
a light, small matter. Here are men who are religious,
Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregational, Episcopal, Catholic,
whatever, and they've all got different ideas about Jesus Christ. Some say He was virgin-born,
some say He wasn't. Some say He was God in the flesh,
some say He was a messenger from heaven. You say, Preacher, does
it really matter? As long as you do good works,
as long as you believe in God, as long as you believe in a cross,
as long as you believe in blood, does it matter who Jesus Christ
is? It is of the most significance.
Because who he is determines the value of what he did. If
he's not God in human flesh, he couldn't even redeem himself,
let alone the world. Romans 8, 34, Paul said, Who
is he that condemneth? Who is he that condemneth? And
as you and I stand this morning with so many sins upon us and
in us and about us and recorded against us, We can look into heaven to the
perfect, pure, spotless, immaculate throne of God, and we can say,
who can condemn us? And we can look out at men and
we can say, who can condemn us? And we can look into our own
consciences and we say, who can condemn us? And we can look into
the fiery pits of hell and we can say, who can condemn us?
And we can look at the principalities and powers and rulers of the
darkness about us and say, who can condemn us? How can we say
such a thing? Only if Christ died. And that's
what Paul replied. Who can condemn me? It is Christ
that died. Who is Christ? He's Jesus Christ
the Lord, the Son of God. He's the Word. He's the eternal
Redeemer. He's the eternal charity. His
blood is the blood of the everlasting covenant. Who He is determines
the value of what He did. Don't ever forget it. It does
matter. God was manifest, manifest, revealed,
openly shown in the flesh. Jesus of Nazareth was born just
like you are, without a human father. He was born of the Spirit
of God. That brings me to the second
point. It says, God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the
Spirit. What does the word justified
mean? Write this down now. vindicated. My friends, your
religion, and everybody's got religion. I've got religion,
you've got religion. Your claim, your holy claim,
your spiritual claim, your religious claim, demand attention. Demand attention only in proportion,
only in proportion to the certainty and truthfulness of its claims. That's right, that's exactly
right. All self-proclaimed prophets are phonies. Buddha is a phony. There are no witnesses, there's
no verification from heaven of what he claimed. I don't care
who it is, Mohammed, Confucius, you say they said some good things.
The devil says some good things. He quotes scripture. When Christ
on the Mount of Temptation, the devil said to him, he'll give
his angels charge over you, lest you dashed your foot against
the stone. You know what he said? He quotes scripture. But I'm
saying this. Listen to this. Our Lord Jesus
Christ said in John 5.31, even if I bear witness of myself,
my witness is not true. He said, let every word be established
at the mouth of two or three witnesses. Let me tell you this,
I don't care who the man is who comes to you with a new revelation,
a new theory, something he said God said to him, was revealed
to him, you demand verification. You demand a vindication. That's exactly right. You demand
our Lord Jesus Christ said the Father had borne witness of me,
John the Baptist borne witness of me, the works that I do bear
witness of me, the Heavenly Father Himself bears witness of me,
and the Scriptures bear witness of me. That's five unanswerable
witnesses. But here it says God was manifest
in the flesh and vindicated in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit of
God justifies every claim of Christ. Will you bear with me
a minute? Listen. The formation of his body was
by the Holy Spirit. God said to Mary and Joseph,
that holy thing, the power of the highest shall overshadow
thee, the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and that holy thing
born within you shall be called the Son of God. The Holy Spirit
was the one who formed his body. in the virgin. And then when
he stood there, John the Baptist, in our Sunday school lesson this
morning, said, when I baptized him, and he came up straightway
out of the water, the heavens opened and the Spirit of God
descended and abode upon him. And the boy said to me, On whom
you see the Spirit descending and remaining, he's the Son of
God. And then he was raised from the
dead by the Holy Spirit And then after he went back to glory,
his disciples were filled with the Holy Ghost to go forth and
preach his message. And then he said this in John
16. Turn over there a moment. In
John 16. In John 16, he says in verse
13, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall guide you into
all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he
shall hear, that shall he speak, he'll show you things to come,
and he'll glorify me." And he'll glorify me. Here's
the great mystery. God was manifest in human flesh,
and every claim vindicated and justified by the Holy Spirit. But now that's not all. Look
at the third thing. And seen of the angels. Has it ever occurred to you,
I thought about this quite a bit yesterday, has it ever occurred
to you that all our religious doings do not attract much attention
from the heavenly beings? Have you ever thought much about
that? The establishment of new orders and new denominations
and new movements do not attract much attention from the heavenlies,
from the heavenly beings. Oh, we attract a lot of attention
from the media. We attract a lot of attention
from the people. We attract a lot of attention
on television and other places, but there's not much notice,
not much notice given to what men have done in the name of
religion by the heavenly beings. With all our commotion and claims
and our great denominations, I've never seen any of it truly
recognized by heaven. Have you? Any positive proof
that God was in it? Have you? I never have. And we came here this morning,
we drove our cars up, all came in this building, greeted one
another, went back and had our Sunday school lesson, we prayed.
We've gathered here in this auditorium, we have sung, we've read the
Scripture, now I'm preaching, but I don't see any visible outward
signs of God owning any of this, do you? Now, honest, now come
on! None, do you? But everything
he did, was attended by the heavenly beings. Christ. I'm talking about
Christ now. Now you watch this. First of
all, at his birth, the angel stood on the mountainside and
said to the disciples, after you was born in the city of David,
the Savior, Christ the Lord, the heavenly beings came down
here to this earth and announced that he was born. That's right. And with the angels, a multitude
of heavenly hosts said, Glory to God! Would that be something
if we organized a new denomination and the angels came down and
said, this is it! God's in this! The heavenly host
sang, glory to God! Don't need it because he's already
come. And then out yonder in the wilderness
when our Lord Jesus Christ fasted for forty days, Satan tempted
and tried him how weak he must have been, the angels of God
were all standing around watching, waiting, wanting, to help him. And after the trial was all over,
it said the angels came and ministered to him. Boy, I tell you, at the
tomb when he rose from the dead, the stone was rolled away and
the women came to the sepulchre that morning, right there standing
was an angel, right there in front of his grave. We like to say God's with us.
I know God was with him. I know God was with him. An angel
stood there by that open tomb and said to the women, why do
you seek the living among the dead? He's not here. He's not
here. He's risen. And then at his ascension, when
he stood on top of that mountain and blessed his disciples and
a cloud took him into heaven, the angels stood there and said,
Ye men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?
This same Jesus which is taken up from you shall so come in
like manner as you see him go. And then it says, when he comes
again, the trumpet will sound and the voice of the archangels
shall say, He's coming! Oh boy, I tell you, something
here, there's something here. And I just, I know, this whole
world's gone religious crazy. Everybody's religious. Everybody's
got a way, a form, a ceremony, a ritual, or something to go
in the name of God. But I know this, Christ is God. And He came down here God was
manifest in the flesh and vindicated by the Holy Ghost in His Word
of God in every other way. And seeing of the angels, everything
He did, the angels announced it, declared it, and celebrated
it, and honored it, and glorified it. You can rest in Him. God said, let all the angels
of the Lord worship Him. Worship Him. Preacher, what are
you getting at? I'm getting at this. To have
any hope of knowing God, to be in the program of God or the
kingdom of God, or any understanding of God,
I'm going to have to get where Christ is. In Christ, of Christ,
through Christ, by Christ. with faith in Christ because
God has given everything into His hands. That's where it all
is. The whole focus of God's spotlight is on Christ and everything
outside of Him's darkness. That's where I've got to get.
But the Catholic Church has been here a long time. Christ has
been here a long time. But the old landmarks, I'm talking
about the Redeemer. But I was always taught, you
ain't been here always. He has. Let God be true and every
man a liar. That, my friend, that's the urgency
of what I'm trying to preach. That's the urgency. Here it is. Without argument. There's no
argument. There's no debate. There's no controversy. The mystery
of godliness has to do with these facts. God was manifest in human
flesh, indicated by the Holy Ghost, seen of the angels. Now
watch this. Preach to the Gentiles. That's
us. That's us. Preach to the Gentiles. You say, Brother Mahan, is the
preaching of Christ the Redeemer and Christ the Messiah and Christ
the Son of God, is that to the Gentiles a great mystery, a great
wonder? Ask the Apostle Peter. God was
going to send him down to preach to some Gentiles and he didn't
want to go. He didn't want to go. God had
to give him a special revelation to get him to go among those
Gentiles. You know the nearest creature to God is an angel?
You know the farthest creature from God according to the Scripture
was a Gentile? Turn to Ephesians chapter 2.
That's you and me, Gentiles. Paul puts it right along, Ephesians
chapter 2, Paul puts it right along with the mystery of incarnation. The preaching of the gospel to
the Gentiles. That's right. Look at Ephesians
2, beginning, if you will, with verse 11. You remember that in
time, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who were
called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh made by hands, and at that time you were without
Christ, you were aliens from the common worth of Israel, you
were strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope, and
without God in this world. But now in Christ Jesus, that's
where it is, in Christ Jesus, you who were sometimes far off,
are made now by the blood of Christ." That Canaanite woman
came to our Lord, that's a Gentile woman, and she said, have mercy,
and he didn't even answer her. And she kept crying after him,
and he said to her, I'm sent to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. And she continued to cry unto
him, and he said, It's not right to give the children's bread
to dogs. And she said, That's true, Lord,
but dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.
And our Lord said, I haven't found faith like that in Israel.
Woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee as thou hast
desired. I tell you, my friends, this
is the amazing thing, that the gospel of God's glory and grace
should be preached to folks like me and you. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost without hope,
without help, without God in this world, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see."
Listen to the next line. Not only preached to the Gentiles,
but actually believed on. The incarnation is a miracle.
Great is the mystery. The witness of the Spirit and
the angels in this world of Christ's glory is a miracle, a mystery,
amazing. The calling of the Gentiles is
a mystery. The fact that God should manifest
himself to pagans and heathens and Gentile dogs is a mystery. But preacher, is faith a miracle? Is faith a miracle? Oh yes. It's the gift of God. Now, for
a man to work up a religious system that is in harmony with
what his flesh wants to believe or desires to believe, that's
no miracle. That's no miracle. For a man
to concoct a way of salvation by works and by doings and by
deeds, and God to do his part, man to do his part, and through
cooperation save the sinner, that's no mystery. That kind
of faith is normal and natural because every man's religious
by nature. But to believe that God in his
mercy and grace from all eternity should purpose to redeem a people
and give them to Christ, a people out of Adam's hopeless, helpless,
fallen race, with no desire for God and with no ability to come
to God. but that God in His mercy and
grace gave Christ to come down here into this world and bear
in His body our sins and through His perfect obedience give us
a righteousness and by His death to satisfy God's justice and
be buried and rise again from the dead and ascend to heaven
and be seated there as our intercessor and mediator. and all of our
hope and trust be in Him, our righteousness through His obedience,
and our holiness and acceptance through His death, that is impossible
for a man to believe apart from divine revelation. Men know of
God's existence, but His essence and glory must be revealed. Men
know of God's works, but His wisdom and will must be revealed. Men know God's power, something
of it, but His purpose in Christ to redeem must be revealed. Men
know of His miracles. Nicodemus said no man could do
what you do except God be with him, but His mercy in Christ
must be revealed. Men know of God's judgments. But his being just and justifying
must be revealed. So this is a mystery that he
should be believed on in the world. Now watch this, and I'll
close. It says, and he's received up into glory. My friends, I think the person
that said years ago, this is a summary of true religion, had
some glorious insight into God's redemptive purposes. For God
manifests in human flesh. Christ came down here to this
world. He was in the world and the world
knew him not. He came, He who existed before, who is preferred
before, who has preeminence, left His Father's glory and came
down here and took on, clothed Himself in human flesh, walked
this earth, was born under the law, made of a woman under the
law, walked this earth, God was manifest actually in human flesh.
John said we saw Him, we heard Him, and our hands touched Him. And he was justified, vindicated.
He's no phony, no false prophet. He was vindicated by the Holy
Ghost. And he was seen of the angels. Everything he did, the
angels were somewhere around making something of it. And this
glorious gospel of his free grace was preached to all men, even
pagan, heathen Gentiles, folks like us. He said to the religious
folks, the publicans and harlots enter heaven before you. You're
going to find them in heaven yourselves shut out. Our Lord's
a friend of sinners. Find the lowest, the blackest,
the deadest, the corruptest, the dumbest, and tell them to
look to Christ. God will have mercy. Chief of
sinners. That's right. And the fact that there are a
handful, there's a remnant of people that believe this gospel,
They believe it so much they'll die for it. They believe it so
much they'll go to prison for it. They believe Christ. They
believe it not only enough to suffer for it, but they find
their joy in it, and comfort, and happiness, and security,
and hope of heaven. And all of it summed up in this,
that having done all that, he was received up. Who received
him? Come on, who received it? The
Father received it. There's the key. The Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father, said, come up here and sit thou on my right
hand. Let me tell you something. This
is so vast. I wish we realized the importance
of the resurrection and the ascension and the seating of Christ at
the Father's right hand. What the Father is saying is
this. I'm pleased with everything he
did. I'm pleased with everything he said. I'm pleased with every sacrifice
he offered. And I'm pleased with everybody
who's in him. And nothing else needs to be
given. Nothing else needs to be set
forth. For He has sufficiently completed
everything I put in His hands to complete. And I say, come
home and sit down. And we'll wind it all up. Now
that's important. That's important. I'll tell you
this. If He is my representative and my federal head, and He is
actually enthroned and seated at God's right hand, then let
me tell you something. then I am seated and enthroned with Him." Now, I heard a fellow say this
recently, two fellows say two or three things. Number one,
a fellow said, if you are saved and you're sure for heaven, as
if you were already there, raise your hand. Well, I couldn't raise
my hand, because I ain't that sure, because I'm not there. But now another fellow said this,
if you're saved and sure for heaven, Because Christ is already
there. Raise your hand. I raised my
hand. Is there a difference there? There's a whole lot of difference.
The forerunner has entered within the veil and taken possession.
And my certainty and surety of heaven is not because I'm already
there. It's because He's already there.
And I am in Him. And if God raised Him, He'll
raise me. If God exalted Him, He'll exalt
me. Because my hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. That's what I'm preaching. And
that's the mystery. Somebody's done something for
somebody that somebody couldn't do for themselves. And he's done
such an effectual, perfect job, such a perfect job, that the
Father of glory accepted it and says, I'll take the whole thing
and everybody you did it for. That's it. Let's sing a closing hymn. Mike,
you come and lead us. I've selected 352. I think the way this song came to be
written, was it Charles that wrote that or John? Charles Wesley. One night he was in his house
on the second story, and a storm came up. It was dark. The wind
started blowing and thundering and lightning. And the wind was
blowing so hard that he had on a big old house coat that he
wore. He didn't have central heat like
we had. He wore a big, big old coat,
had a big old robe on. And the shutters were banging,
and he went over to close the shutter. He reached out to pull
the shutter to that was banging open. And when he reached out,
a little bird flew right into the bosom of his robe. That's
right, that happened. John, you read that story. Flew
right in the bosom of his rose. And he pulled that shutter too,
and he had that little bird right there in his bosom. And he went
on and sat down and wrote, Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy
bosom fly, while the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still
is now. Hide me, O my Savior, hide me,
till the storm of life is over. Safe into the haven, God, and
receive my soul at last.