George Herbert

3 April 1593 – 1 March 1633 / Montgomery, Wales

The Holdfast

I threatened to observe the strict decree
Of my deare God with all my power and might:
But I was told by one, 'It could not be;
Yet I might trust in God to be my light.'

'Then will I trust,' said I, 'in Him alone.'
'Nay, ev'n to trust in Him, was also His:
We must confesse that nothing is our own.'
'Then I confesse that He my succour is.'

'But to have nought is ours, not to confesse
That we have nought.' I stood amaz'd at this,
Much troubled, till I heard a friend expresse
That all things were more ours by being His:

What Adam had, and forfeited for all,
Christ keepeth now, Who cannot fail or fall.
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