 | Songs for Sufferers |  |
19
MY BED.
The blessing of the gospel is not gladness
Alone, or empty life of vacant joy,
The curse of idleness and an empty toy;
For it is framed about with sweet of sadness,
And raiseth all the soul to rich employ.
So, if my lot seem often down in hell,
I know the Saviour there with me doth dwell.
Alone, or empty life of vacant joy,
The curse of idleness and an empty toy;
For it is framed about with sweet of sadness,
And raiseth all the soul to rich employ.
So, if my lot seem often down in hell,
I know the Saviour there with me doth dwell.
A bed of fire He giveth me at seasons,
When Love would bid me share His lonely right
Of reigning in the darkness as the light;
Nor do I care to ask of Him the reasons,
When He is still the Beatific Sight.
He in the furnace walks with me, and bends
Resistance to new raptures and new ends.
When Love would bid me share His lonely right
Of reigning in the darkness as the light;
Nor do I care to ask of Him the reasons,
When He is still the Beatific Sight.
He in the furnace walks with me, and bends
Resistance to new raptures and new ends.
It is enough to prove that Christ is nearer
Than any evil thing that clouds the sky,
And never yet hath passed a sufferer by;
For in my anguish heaven itself is clearer,
And roots its pillars in adversity.
Yea, heaven's foundations would not stand so well,
Had they not pierced and conquered lowest hell.
Than any evil thing that clouds the sky,
And never yet hath passed a sufferer by;
For in my anguish heaven itself is clearer,
And roots its pillars in adversity.
Yea, heaven's foundations would not stand so well,
Had they not pierced and conquered lowest hell.
| Songs for Sufferers | |