5057 7. 7 7. D
’TIS my happiness below
   To encounter many a cross,
But the Saviour’s power to know,
    Sanctifying every loss:
Trials must and will befall;
    But with humble faith to see
Love inscribed upon them all—
    This is happiness to me.
 
2  God in Zion sows the seeds
    Of affliction, pain and toil;
These spring up, and choke the weeds
    Which would overspread the soil:
Trials make the promise sweet;
    Trials give new life to prayer;
Trials bring me to His feet,
    Lay me low and keep me there.
 
3  Did I meet no trials here,
    No reproof along the way,
Might I not, with reason, fear
    I should prove a castaway?
Some, it seems, escape the rod,
    Sunk in earthly, vain delight;
But the true-born child of God
    Must not, would not, if he might.
 
William Cowper, 1731-1800