56.
Vanity of the Creature Sanctified.
1 HONEY though the bee prepares,
An en venom d sting he wears ;
Piercing thorns a guard compose
Round the fragrant blooming rose.
2 Where we think to find a sweet,
Oft a painful sting we meet ;
When the rose invites our eye,
We forget the thorn is nigh.
3 Why are thus our hopes beguiled ?
Why are all our pleasures spoil d ?
Why do agony and woe
From our choicest comforts grow ?
4 Sin has been the cause of all !
Twas not thus before the fall:
What but pain and thorn and sting
From the root of sin can spring ?
5 Now with every good we find
Vanity and grief entwined ;
What we feel or what we fear
All our joys embitter here.
6 Yet, through the Redeemer s love,
These afflictions blessings prove ;
He the wounding stings and thorns
Into healing med cines turns.
7 From the earth our hearts they wean,
Teach us on his arm to lean ;
Urge us to a throne of grace ;
Make us seek a resting-place.
8 In the mansions of our King
Sweets abound without a sting ;
Thornless there the roses blow,
And the joys unmingled flow,
