Away My Needless Fears

Away my need­less fears

And doubts no long­er mine!

A ray of heav’n­ly light ap­pears

A mes­sen­ger di­vine:

Thrice com­fort­able hope

That calms my stor­my breast;

My Fa­ther’s hand pre­pares the cup

And what He wills is best.

He knows what­e’er I want

He sees my help­less­ness

And al­ways rea­di­er is to grant

Than I to ask His grace:

My fear­ful heart He reads

Secures my soul from harms

And un­der­neath His mer­cy spreads

Its ev­er­last­ing arms.

Here is firm foot­ing; here

My soul

is sol­id rock

To break the waves of grief and fear

And trou­ble’s rud­est shock:

This on­ly can sus­tain

When earth and Heav’n re­move:

O turn thee to thy rest again

Thy God’s eter­nal love.

To God again I turn

And shel­ter in His breast

His will (let me re­joice or mourn)

His will is sure­ly best:

His skill in­fal­li­ble

His pro­vi­den­tial grace

His pow­er

and truth

that nev­er fail

Shall or­der all my ways.

The ran­dom blows of chance

The be­ing I de­fy

Whose life’s mi­nut­est cir­cum­stance

Is sub­ject to His eye:

He hears the ra­vens call;

Nor can His child­ren grieve

Nor can a worth­less spar­row fall

Without my Fa­ther’s leave.

Why then was I cast down

And trou­bled with­out cause

And trem­bled at the crea­ture’s frown

And feared the threat­ened loss?

Shall I mis­trust His care

My bless­ings to defend

Or dread (who can­not lose a hair)

To lose a bo­som friend?

If what I wish is good

And suits the will di­vine

By earth and hell in vain with­stood

I know it shall be mine:

Still let them coun­sel take

To frus­trate His de­cree

They can­not keep a bless­ing back

By Heav’n de­signed for me.

If what my soul re­quires

To me would ev­il prove

His love shall cross my fond de­sires

His kind­ly jea­lous love:

But would I for His sake

With ev­ery ri­val part

My life

my all

my friend give back?

He knows

He knows my heart.

Here then I doubt no more

But in His plea­sure rest

Whose wis­dom

love

and truth and pow­er

Engage to make me blest;

T’accomp­lish His de­sign

The crea­tures all agree

And all the at­tri­butes di­vine

Are now at work for me.

To know my fi­nal state

I at His foot­stool bow

Who tells my soul the hand of fate

Is on the cur­tain now!

His will the veil with­draws

And while I lift my eyes

Discovers here a glo­ri­ous cross

That draws me to the skies.