Poems (Edwards)/Resignation

by Matilda Caroline Smiley Edwards

For works with similar titles, see Resignation.

RESIGNATION.

Well, if it must be so,
 If I am doomed to part
From all I love, O! grant to me
 A meek, submissive heart!
A resignation that can say,
My God, take all I have away.

Joy after joy decays,
 Hope after hope has fled,
Friend after friend has passed away,
 To slumber with the dead;
But yet another cup of pain
Is left for my wrung heart to drain.

Give me but strength to feel
 And say, thy will be done;
And I will give up all to thee,
 Yes, give up every one,
Each idol I have cherished long;
To Thee, to Thee they all belong.

Oh! I have loved too well
 The gifts that thou has sent,
Forgetting when I called them mine,
 That they were only lent;
Then take them each, take every one;
Thy will, not mine, O! Lord, be done.

Give me true faith and hope,
 Give me thy perfect love,
And from this stubborn heart of mine
 Each murmuring thought remove.
Give me thy grace to suffer long;
Oh! let me suffer, and be strong.

From Thee life's blessings come,
 All joy, all peace, all hope,
Thy justice lays me in the dust,
 But mercy lifts me up;
I pass beneath thy chastening rod,
And say "thy will be done," oh God!