Lord, let me stand on a common ground

Where all other men may stand

Where I may know that the thing I do

Is the thing Thou doest command.

For I would be as my Brother, Paul:—

If by eating I offend,

I’ll never more partake of meat

Lest my brother’s heart I rend.

To do the thing allowed by law

Becomes a sin to me

When I would, by my stubborn will,

Turn a soul away from Thee.

If I, for sanitation’s sake,

Insist on my own cup,

When others, for their conscience’s sake,

From one, alone must sup,

Then I stand not on a common ground

Where other men may stand,

And I know full well that the thing I do

Is not what Thou doest command.

But some may say, "The more we yield

The more do they demand."

"And what," I ask, "Is that to me,

As long as by faith I stand ?"

For I can yield on any point

My brethren think it meet,

So long as I still please my God

I find the yielding sweet.

But I cannot still please my God—

And Jesus I’ll offend

If I refuse to yield when I can,

And my stubborn will unbend.

So let me stand on a common ground

Where other men may stand;

But let me know that the thing I do

Is the thing Thou doest command.