The Good Time Coming
For God will be thy everlasting light. And the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
—Isaiah.
There’s a good time coming, boys,
A good time coming:
We may not live to see the day,
But earth shall glisten in the ray
Of the good time coming.
Cannon-balls may aid the truth,
But thought’s a weapon stronger;
Well win our battle by its aid;
— Wait a little longer.
There’s a good time coming, boys,
A good time coming:
War in all men’s eyes shall be
A monster of iniquity
In the good time coming:
Nations shall not quarrel then
To prove which is the stronger;
Nor slaughter men for glory’s sake;
— Wait a little longer.
There’s a good time coming, boys,
A good time coming:
Hateful rivalries of creed
Shall not make their martyrs bleed
In the good time coming.
Religion shall be shorn of pride,
And flourish all the stronger;
And charity shall trim her lamp;
— Wait a little longer.
There’s a good time coming, boys,
A good time coming:
Let us aid it all we can,
Every woman, every man,
The good time coming.
Smallest helps, if rightly given,
Make the impulse stronger;
Twill be strong enough one day;—
Wait a little longer.
—Charles Mackay.
Alternate Reading: II Timothy 4: 1-8.