DIVINE AWARD by Alice Cary

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 2, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 34.

DIVINE AWARD.

By Alice Cary

I THANK thee, gracious Lord, For the divine award Of strength that helps me up the heavy heights Of mortal sorrow, where, through tears forlorn, My eyes get glimpses of the authentic lights Of love's eternal morn.

For thereby do I trust That our afflictions spring not from the dust, And that they are not sent In arbitrary chastisement, Nor as avengers to put out the light, And let our souls loose in some damned night That holds the balance of Thy glory just; But rather, that as lessons they are meant, And as the fire tempers the iron, so Are we refined by woe. —Alice-Cary.