Christ My Song - 309
'Tis my happiness below - Welcome Cross
(William Cowper/Johannes Thomas Rüegg)
Welcome Cross.
1. 'Tis my happiness below
not 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 see
love inscribed upon them all,
this is happiness to me. PDF - Midi
2. God in Israel sows the seeds
of affliction, pain and toil;
these spring up and choke the weeds
which 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.
3. Did I meet no trials here,
no chastisement by the way:
might I not, with reason, fear
I should prove a castaway?
Bastards may escape the rod,
sunk in earthly, vain delight;
but the true born child of God
must not, would not, if he might.
(3,5: Hebrews 12,8)
William Cowper, The Complete Poetical Works of William Cowper, 1853(?), 253.