|  | ’TIS sweet to feel that He who triesThe silver takes His seat
 Beside the fire that purifies,
 Lest too intense a heat—
 Raised to consume the base alloy—
 The precious metals, too, destroy.
 
 ’Tis good to think how well He knows
 The silver’s power to bear
 The ordeal through which it goes;
 And that with skill and care
 He’ll take it from the fire when fit,
 With His own hand to polish it.
 
 ’Tis blessedness to know that He
 The piece He hath begun
 Will not forsake till He can see—
 To prove the work well done—
 His image, by its brightness known,
 Reflecting glory like His own.
 But ah! how much of earthly mould,
 Dark relics of the mine,
 Lost from the ore, must He behold—
 How long must He refine,
 Ere in the silver He can trace
 The first faint semblance of His face!
 
 Thou great Refiner! sit Thou by,
 Thy promise to fulfil!
 Moved by Thy hand, beneath Thine eye,
 And melted at Thy will,
 O may Thy work forever shine,
 Reflecting beauty pure as Thine!
 Poems of Dawn |  |