The Happiness of the Children of God

Extensive promise! O what hopes divine,
What rich delight, the gracious words impart!
My father! when my faith can call thee mine,
A ray of heaven illuminates my heart.

Lord, if thy word confirm my heavenly birth,
And bid me say "my father," then I live;
Not all the tenderest, dearest names on earth,
Can half the pleasure, half the transport give.

The Lord Almighty deigns (amazing thought!)
To call us children, (once the heirs of woe,)
Sweet words of consolation, richly fraught
With all the blessings mercy can bestow.

His eye, attentive marks his childrens way,
He guides them safe though dangers lurk unseen:
Though sorrow's gloomy clouds o'ershade the day,
Secure, on his Almighty arm they lean.

His ear, indulgent to their feeble prayer,
Receives each rising wish, each plaintive sigh;
His kind, compassionate, paternal care
Knows all their wants, and will those wants supply.

When foes unnumber'd rise, and fear alarms,
His constant love immediate succour lends,
Encircled in their father's guardian arms,
Foes rise in vain, omnipotence defends.

All needful, present good, his hand provides,
But what their future portion? Angels tell,
(For mortal language fails,) where he resides,
What blooming joys, what boundless raptures dwell.

But not the natives of that glorious place,
Not all the bliss resounding songs above,
Can e'er display the riches of his grace;
Or count the endless wonders of his love.

O could those distant seats of joy impart
A moment of their bliss! how would it raise,
How would it animate this languid heart,
In these dark regions, to begin his praise!

Yet from his word, a bright enlivening ray
Shines on my heart, while all my powers adore;
Jesus, whose wonderous love mark'd out the way,
Jesus, the heavenly friend, is gone before.

Fair mansions in his father's blest abode
That heavenly friend prepares, and joys unknown
By him presented to their Father God,
His children bow before the eternal throne.

In his prevailing, his accepted name,
Father, my soul adores beneath thy feet;
Let his full merits plead my humble claim,
And raise my hope to joy divinely sweet.

Source: Miscellaneous Pieces in Verse and Prose #58