Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
Man. | SWEETEST Saviour, if my soul | |
Were but worth the having, | |
Quickly should I then control | |
Any thought of waving. | |
But when all my care and pains | 5 |
Cannot give the name of gains | |
To Thy wretch so full of stains, | |
What delight or hope remains? | |
|
Saviour. | What, child, is the balance thine, | |
Thine the poise and measure? | 10 |
If I say, ‘Thou shalt be Mine,’ | |
Finger not My treasure. | |
What the gains in having thee | |
Do amount to, only He | |
Who for man was sold can see; | 15 |
That transferr’d th’ accounts to Me. | |
|
Man. | But as I can see no merit | |
Leading to this favour, | |
So the way to fit me for it | |
Is beyond my savour. | 20 |
As the reason, then, is Thine, | |
So the way is none of mine; | |
I disclaim the whole design; | |
Sin disclaims and I resign. | |
|
Saviour. | That is all: if that I could | 25 |
Get without repining; | |
And My clay, My creature, would | |
Follow My resigning; | |
That as I did freely part | |
With My glory and desert, | 30 |
Left all joys to feel all smart—— | |
|
Man. | Ah, no more! Thou break’st my heart! | |