Elegies, Elegy IV

Thou sacred word of matchless might! O Word of truth divine! Bless'd be the day when first thy light 'Mong men began to shine.

2 Aside from thee, where shall we look, Whose lives are but a span? Nothing is found in nature's book Like hope for dying man.

3 Eternal darkness must have held Uninterrupted sway; Had not that darkness been dispell'd By thy all-chearing ray.

4 Why then's thy sacred light and bliss Despis'd by great and small?— Because the love of darkness is The common taste of all.

5 But happy, happy 'tis for man, Thy light still shines abroad; That still thy page displays the plan, And grand designs of God.

6 Then tell us, sacred word, when shall The Lord's redeem'd arise? When shall they hear his powerful call, To meet him in the skies?

7 When the arch-angel's trump shall blow, His dead the sound shall hear: And rising from the tombs below, Shall meet him in the air.

8 But deign, O sacred Word, to say If he Man's sorrows feels; O what concern protracts his stay? Why stop his chariot-wheels?

9 'Tis a concern of boundless grace And great good-will to man; Long suffering patience stops his pace, 'Till he completes his plan.

10 'Till all the many sons, with whom The son of God took part, Shall in the sight of faith, like him, Learn lowliness of heart.

11 Conform'd to him by his employ, In shame, reproach, and thrall: Like him, before the cup of joy, First taste the cup of gall.

12 O then! quick as the light'ning darts, Shall Jesus soon appear, And heal his people's aching hearts, And wipe away each tear.

13 The man whose mem'ry we revere, Drank deep in sorrow's cup, And learn'd by disappointments here, Far better things to hope;

14 Like the first foll'wers of the Lord, Whose lives and doctrines he Admir'd and copy'd; and their word To speak was bold and free.

15 This bus'ness made him many foes, Few friends and scanty bread, And scarcely found he at life's close A place to lay his head.

16 Yet he complain'd not, nor repin'd, But ever kept in view That matchless humbleness of mind Which God's dear Son did shew.

17 Patience and hope on ev'ry side, (His comfort and his stay) Did surely join, his steps to guide, Else he had lost the way.

18 But patience with the cordial word Refresh'd his memory, He talk'd of joys with which the Lord Rewarded his on high.

19 When hope and patience deign to guide Man in the narrow way; With ease they'll in the path abide; Far from it never stray.