Classic Poem

Now is the time to leap for joy,
To shout and be exceeding glad;
While enemies their arts employ,
And friends pronounce us fools or mad.

Did not our Lord Himself declare
That all who love His holy Name,
If they would in His glory share,
Must also bear with Him the shame?

And did He not most truly call
Worthy of His own love divine,
Those who relations, friends, and all,
Gladly for Him and His resign?

And does He not those servants bless
Who bear affliction for their Lord,
And comfort them in their distress
With promise of a sure reward?

O Jesu, it will ever be
My wonder whence this mercy came,
That I should both believe in Thee,
And also suffer for Thy Name.