CHASTISEMENT by Sir Robert Grant

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Dec 11, 1879

CHASTISEMENT.

By Sir Robert Grant

O SAVIOUR, whose mercy, severe in its kindness, Has chastened my wanderings, and guided my way; Adored be the power which illumined my blindness, And weaned me from phantoms that smiled to betray.

Enchanted with all that was dazzling and fair, I followed the rainbow—I caught at the toy— And still in displeasure thy goodness was there, Disappointing the hope, and defeating the joy.

The blossom blushed bright—but a worm was below; The moonlight shone fair—there was blight in the beam; Sweet whispered the breeze—but it whispered of woe; And bitterness flowed in the soft-flowing stream.

So, cured of my folly, yet cured but in part, I turned to the refuge thy pity displayed; And still did this eager and credulous heart Weave visions of promise that bloomed but to fade.

I thought that the course of the pilgrim to Heaven Would be bright as the summer, and glad as the morn; Thou show'dst me the path—it was dark and uneven, All rugged with rock, and all tangled with thorn.

I dreamed of celestial rewards and renown; I grasped at the triumph which blesses the brave; I asked for the palm-branch, the robe, and the crown; I asked—and thou show'dst me a cross and a grave.

Subdued and instructed at length to thy will, My hopes and my longings I fain would resign; O, give me the heart that can wait and be still, Nor know of a wish or a pleasure but thine.

There are mansions exempted from sin and from woe, But they stand in a region by mortals untrod; There are rivers of joy—but they roll not below; There is rest—but it dwells in the presence of God.

—Sir Robert Grant.