STANDING ON THE PROMISES

Russell Kelso Carter is the author of the hymn, STANDING ON THE PROMISES.  He was an athlete, educator, rancher, preacher and physician.  But let us listen to him share his story through a part of his testimony.

“From my birth in 1849, I was surrounded by Christian influences.  My father stood for nearly half a century in the rank of Christian workers in Baltimore; by his side I had the example of a patient, loving mother.  I cannot remember when I was not subject to deep convictions of sin; yet as a school-boy, I wandered from the truth until age fifteen, when, under the influence of the cadet prayer- meeting in the Pennsylvania Military Academy, I made a profession of faith in Jesus.

But I made a common mistake; I didn’t forsake my old companions and habits and for fourteen years I lived the up-and-down experience so familiar to the average church member.  I never enjoyed myself so much as when working in Mr. Moody’s meetings in Baltimore; yet even up to that time I was continually slipping and falling.  My soul cried for deliverance, and God’s UNLIMITED PROMISES stood out like stars above me.  But I wasn’t willing to pay the price.

In the summer of 1879, my heart, which had been chronically diseased for seven years, resisting the remedies of physicians, and refusing to grow better, suddenly broke down so seriously as to bring me to the verge of the grave.

Kneeling in my mother’s room in Baltimore, I made a consecration that covered everything.  All doubtful things were swept aside.  I meant every word, and I have never had any doubts about it since.  A quietness came over me and I found the Bible wonderfully open and marvelously satisfying, as it had never been before.”

As you listen to or sing Carter’s hymn, STANDING ON THE PROMISES, you will hear the confidence of his faith in God!