1. Take courage, Saints, and faint not by the way, Though storm clouds thick and fast be hovering nigh; The sun proclaims the glory of the day, Behind the clouds as in the cloudless sky.
2. The darkest hour is just before the dawn; Yet who shall doubt the fast approaching morn? Or when we see the snow-clad hedge and lawn, Who dares to say that spring will ne’er return?
3. ’Tis meet that some should now and then be left To blindly grope in life’s sequestered shade, To feel their breast of life and hope bereft, Till all their sins are on the altar laid.
4. No vain aspiring can the soul afford; God’s searching eyes will every vice assail: The wrong must perish like the miser’s hoard Or as the chaff before the passing gale.
5. God knows the proper path to lead us in. And what is best that we should do and know To win the victory over death and sin, And fit us for the reign of peace below.
6. Let not the heart be sad at trials here, But sense how e’en the Savior suffered ill; He bore the cruel thorn, the galling spear, To glorify his Father’s holy will.