Sonnet XXIII.

For patient ministrations, sweet and kind;
For self-denying love, on our distress
Pouring its soft and soothing tenderness;
For the calm wisdom of thy christian mind,
With deep experience of earth's griefs combined;
For comfort which no language can express;
For this, and how much more, thy name we bless,
And keep it in our heart of hearts enshrined.
But chiefly for those glimpses, pure and bright,
Of faith intense, and piety serene,
Wherewith thou charm'st our spiritual sight
To worlds which fleshly eye hath never seen;
For that thy love, in sorrow's murkiest night,
The pole-star of our Faith and Hope hath been.