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Sermon Illustrations > Suffering/Trials > Welcome Cross

Welcome Cross


Olney Hymns, William Cowper, from Cowper's Poems, Sheldon & Company, New York

"Tis my happiness belowNot to live without the cross,But the Saviour's power to know,Sanctifying every loss:Trials must and will befall;But with humble faith to seeLove inscribed upon them all,This is happiness to me.

God in Israel sows the seedsOf affliction, pain, and toil;These spring up and choke the weedsWhich would else o'erspread 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.

Did I meet no trials here,No chastisement by the way,Might I not with reason fearI should prove a castaway?Bastards may escape the rod,Sunk in earthly vain delight;But the true-born child of GodMust not&md;would not, if he might.