Where long and deeply hath been fixed the root...

Where long and deeply hath been fixed the root

In the blest soil of gospel truth, the Tree,

( Blighted or scathed tho’ many branches be,

Put forth to wither, many a hopeful shoot )

Can never cease to bear celestial fruit.

Witness the Church that oft-times, with effect

Dear to the saints, strives earnestly to eject

Her bane, her vital energies recruit.

Lamenting, do not hopelessly repine

When such good work is doomed to be undone,

The conquests lost that were so hardly won:—

All promises vouchsafed by Heaven will shine

In light confirmed while years their course shall run,

Confirmed alike inprogress and decline.