95. Zeal and Patience

{164}
"I, Paul, the prisoner of the Lord."

O COMRADE bold of toil and pain!
    Thy trial how severe,
When sever'd first by prisoner's chain
    From thy loved labour-sphere!

Say, did impatience first impel
    The heaven-sent bond to break?
Or, couldst thou bear its hindrance well,
    Loitering for Jesu's sake?

Oh, might we know! for sore we feel
    The languor of delay,
When sickness lets our fainter zeal,
    Or foes block up our way. {165}

Lord! who Thy thousand years dost wait
    To work the thousandth part
Of Thy vast plan, for us create
    With zeal a patient heart.


Off Sardinia
.
June 19, 1833.

 

Top | Contents | Works | Home


Newman Reader — Works of John Henry Newman
Copyright © 2007 by The National Institute for Newman Studies. All rights reserved.