The Joys of Pentitence

FAREWELL! Thine earthly strife is o'er;

Thine earthly sorrows past;

Jesus, thy friend, hath gone before;

And thou art free at last.

No more the solitude and pain;

No more the bitter tear;

A better land thy soul shall gain,

Than that, which held thee here.

Earth's children did not understand

The sorrows of thy heart;

But spirits of the heavenly land

Shall judge thee as thou art.

A soul that erred, a soul restored,

A soul that sinned, a soul forgiven;

Dear to the Christ, the loving Lord,

And safe, at last, in heaven.

— Christ in the Soul (1872) XXXV.