p. 38 | THE WARFARE by Mary E. Guilford

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 16, 1872

THE WARFARE.

By Mary E. Guilford

How oft the weary child of God Is brought through places dark as night, And made to feel the chastening rod, And mourn o’er sin’s dark, withering blight.

How oft doth sorrow pierce his heart, And paleness gather on his brow, And torturing pain inflict its smart, Till he in anguish bendeth low.

How oft he meets the world’s cold scorn, And feels the sting of selfish pride; In sadness, braves the raging storm, Of persecution’s angry tide.

Oppressed with grief, and doubts, and fears, Conflicts without, and foes within, Lonely he treads this vale of tears, A pilgrim in a world of sin.

But oh! why paint this gloomy scene, Upon the canvas of his life, There are true joys that intervene, And hopes that reach beyond earth’s strife.

As oft he feels the soft winds blow The spicy gale from Eden’s shore, And gladly follows on, to know The way to life and bliss, the more.

There is a blessed land of rest, Where sin and sorrow never come. ’Tis there, he will be truly blest; ’Tis there he’ll find his long-sought home,

For this he’ll work, and watch, and pray; And wait the coming of that day, Which brings release from every woe.

MARY E. GUILFORD.

Castalia, Ohio.