27. The Gift of Perseverance
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ONCE, as I brooded o'er my guilty state, |
| A fever seized me, duties to devise, |
| To buy me interest in my Saviour's eyes; |
| Not that His love I would extenuate, |
| But scourge and penance, masterful self-hate, |
| Or gift of cost, served by an artifice |
| To quell my restless thoughts and envious
sighs |
| And doubts, which fain heaven's peace would antedate. |
| Thus as I tossed, He said:—"E'en holiest deeds |
| Shroud not the soul from God, nor soothe its needs; |
| Deny thee thine own fears, and wait the end!" |
| Stern lesson! Let me con it day by day, |
| And learn to kneel before the Omniscient Ray, |
| Nor shrink, when Truth's avenging shafts descend! |
Oxford.
November 23, 1832. |