I OFTEN weep, yet I am not sad;
Often in sorrow, I yet am glad;
Chastened sore, yet I shall not die;
Poor I am, yet how rich am I!
Naked, but clothed in fairest dress:
Nothing I have, yet I all possess.
Losses and troubles upon me rain;
I count the losses my richest gain:
I am a fool in the world's esteem;
Folly and madness, my choice they deem:
Christ's reproach is my richest prize;
God's folly makes me divinely wise.
I pass through rivers, yet am not drowned;
I walk the waves, as on solid ground;
The hottest fires cannot singe or burn;
The hosts of darkness cannot o'erturn:
While He that dwelt in the bush is near,
And God is with me, what should I fear?
Say, is the devil more strong than God?
Or Pharaoh's scepter than Moses' rod?
Lo! in the river and in the sea,
In the hot furnace, He's still with me;
In the dark valley, and in the grave,
Jehovah-Jesus is strong to save.
Soon shall the weary night be o'er,
The sun will arise to set no more:
Soon shall the winter's cold rain be past,
The turtles be heard in the land at last;
And soon shall the glorious Bridegroom say,
“Arise, my fair one, and come away.”
Oh, what a moment the past will seem
Vanished away, like a troubled dream!
Not worth a sigh will its grief be thought,
When to His presence we 're safely brought;
Praise our employment ceaseless be,
Chiefest among ten thousand He!