The Lord hath pity yet, as well as pow’r,
Had
He not Mercy we were now no more.
Who
can the wonders of his Truth repeat,
His
Mercies still are new, and ever great.
The
Lord is good, from him my Hope I’ll take.
For
them that seek him he will not forsake.
‘Tis
good to hope, and patiently attend,
That
Quiet which the Lord at last may send,
‘‘Tis
Patience far o’erpaid when God’s thy Friend.
‘Tis
good at first to bear th’afflicting Rod,
For
Youth, when prosperous, is vain and proud.
And
what is best is still ordain’d by God.
Yet
dismal Silence doth my Spirits wound,
When
neither Peace nor Comfort can be found,
I
bow my Humble head e’en to the ground,
To
seek for Hope, and am so low become,
That
e’en Reproaches are with Patience born,
And
to th'insulting Foe I’m made a scorn.
But
yet the Lord will not forsake me ever,
And
tho’ a while his Mercies he doth sever,
At
length he will my weary Soul deliver.
Unwillingly
he punisheth, and slow,
But
all his Works do his Compassions show,
His
unexhausted Mercies ever flow.
All,
who Injustice do, his Soul disdains,
Such
as add weight to th’weary Captive’s Chains.
Anne Wharton 1659-1685
I've visited Arthur's seat! You've brought back some good memories for me, David.
ReplyDeleteBlessings!
I was brought up close to Arthur's Seat, but this was the first time I had seen it from this angle. It always seemed to me like a friendly guardian lion as I walked to school.
DeleteWho was this Anne?
ReplyDeleteShe was a minor poet and dramatist. Her father had died before she was born, and her mother shortly after her birth. She was a niece of Lord Rochester (who was a pretty bad man). She was neither as good a Christian or a poet as Lucy Hutchinson or Hester Pulter (in my view!) but she died at 26 which didn't give as much chance as they had to develop. There's a Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Wharton . (The view I've picked up elsewhere is that Goodwin Wharton's autobiography is unreliable.)
Delete