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A HYMN TO GOD THE FATHER.
Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,
Which was my sin, though it were done before?[73]
Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run,[74]
And do run still, though still I do deplore?--
When thou hast done, thou hast not done;
For I have more.
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won
Others to sin, and made my sins their door?[75]
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun
- A
- year or two, but wallowed in a score?--
When thou hast done, thou hast not done;
For I have more.
- I
- have a sin of fear, that when I've spun
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son
Shall shine, as he shines now and heretofore;
And having done that, thou hast done:
I fear no more.
In those days even a pun might be a serious thing: witness the play in
the last stanza on the words son and sun--not a mere pun, for the Son
of the Father is the Sun of Righteousness: he is Life and Light.
What the Doctor himself says concerning the hymn, appears to me not only
interesting but of practical value. He "did occasionally say to a friend,
'The words of this hymn have restored to me the same thoughts of joy that
possessed my soul in my sickness, when I composed it.'" What a help it
would be to many, if in their more gloomy times they would but recall the
visions of truth they had, and were assured of, in better moments!
Here is a somewhat strange hymn, which yet possesses, rightly understood,
a real grandeur:
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