998
L. M.
The refiner’s fire.
Mal. 3:3.
Saviour! though my rebellious will
Has been, by thy blest power, renewed;
Yet in its secret workings still
How much remains to be subdued!
2 Oft I recall, with grief and shame,
How many years their course had run
Ere grace my murmuring heart o’ercame,
Ere I could say, “Thy will be done!”
3 At length thy patient, wondrous love,
Unchanging, tender, pitying, strong,
Availed that stony heart to move,
Which had rebelled, alas! so long.
4 Then was I taught by thee to say,
“Do with me what to thee seems best,
Give—take, whate’er thou wilt away,
Health, comfort, usefulness, or rest.
5 “Be my whole life in suffering spent,
But let me be in suffering thine;
Still, O my Lord, I am content,
Thou now hast made thy pleasure mine.”
Charlotte Elliott.