p. 30 | VAIN WORLD by E. W. Darling

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 24, 1862

VAIN WORLD.

By E. W. Darling

The more I view this boasted earth, The more its emptiness I know; What seemed so fair in early youth, Hath proved but vain, deceitful show.

Distance alone its joys enhance, And pleasures are not what they seem, They dim and fade as we advance, And mock us like a fitful dream.

Here sorrow blends with every joy, Some blight the fairest fruit may spoil; The purest gold conceals alloy, And evil springs from every soil.

Vain world, whose only use can be To prove and purify the heart, I hasten to be done with thee, And yet desire to bear my part.

The Just made perfect by his pain, His hardships and his sufferings here; Shall I, his servant, then, complain, My burden with my Lord to share?

The bitter mingled with the sweet, My cup a wholesome draught will prove, And when my trials are complete I'll know that all was dealt in love.

E. W. DARLING.

Beaver, Minn.