47. Penance

{95}
MORTAL! if e'er thy spirits faint,
    By grief or pain opprest,
Seek not vain hope, or sour complaint,
    To cheer or ease thy breast:

But view thy bitterest pangs as sent
    A shadow of that doom,
Which is the soul's just punishment
    In its own guilt's true home.

Be thine own judge; hate thy proud heart;
    And while the sad drops flow,
E'en let thy will attend the smart,
    And sanctify thy woe.

Off Pantellaria
.
December 23, 1832.

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Newman Reader — Works of John Henry Newman
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