TO A SISTER IN AFFLICTION.
Dear Sister, grief and sorrows are
Inwoven with our frame;
No human heart is free from care,
Nor misery's cruel claim.
Inwoven with our frame;
No human heart is free from care,
Nor misery's cruel claim.
One only sovereign, healing balm,
Upon life's bitter grief,
Flows from a never-dying source,
With safe and sure relief.
Upon life's bitter grief,
Flows from a never-dying source,
With safe and sure relief.
Where calm content and peace serene
In rich exuberance flow,
Celestial joys successive rise,
And banish every woe.
In rich exuberance flow,
Celestial joys successive rise,
And banish every woe.
A noble pleasure glows supreme
O'er all the ills of life;
The aching heart no more complains,
And troubles cease their strife.
O'er all the ills of life;
The aching heart no more complains,
And troubles cease their strife.
Could we, Maria, banish grief,
And raise our thoughts above,
Consider these afflictions here,
As chastisements of love,—
And raise our thoughts above,
Consider these afflictions here,
As chastisements of love,—
Repinings banish from our hearts,
And feel to Heaven resigned,
Though hourly troubles waste our lives,
Our souls would be refined.
And feel to Heaven resigned,
Though hourly troubles waste our lives,
Our souls would be refined.
We too should feel the purer bliss
Of pleasure all divine,
Each moment give unrivalled joy,
Through never-ending time.
Of pleasure all divine,
Each moment give unrivalled joy,
Through never-ending time.
The Sovereign Power, that dwells unseen
In the broad heavens on high,
Can conquer the most froward mind,
And change its sinful dye.
In the broad heavens on high,
Can conquer the most froward mind,
And change its sinful dye.
Change our vain minds, O Power Divine!
Point to the blissful shore;
Fill our reluctant souls with grace,
And teach us to adore.
Point to the blissful shore;
Fill our reluctant souls with grace,
And teach us to adore.