LOVE! if Thy destined sacrifice am I, Come, slay thy victim, and prepare Thy fires; Plunged in Thy depths of mercy, let me die The death which every soul that lives desires! I watch my hours, and see them fleet away; The time is long that I have languished here; Yet all my thoughts Thy purposes obey, With no reluctance, cheerful and sincere. To me 'tis equal, whether Love ordain My life or death, appoint me pain or ease: My soul perceives no real ill in pain; In ease or health no real good she sees. One Good she covets, and that Good alone; To choose Thy will, from selfish bias free; And to prefer a cottage to a throne, And grief to comfort, if it pleases Thee. That we should bear the cross is Thy command, Die to the world, and live to self no more; Suffer, unmoved, beneath the rudest hand, As pleased when shipwrecked as when safe on shore. |