O happy band of pilgrims, If onward ye will tread With JESUS as your Fellow To JESUS as your Head! | O happy, if ye labour As JESUS did for men: O happy, if ye hunger As JESUS hungered then! | The Cross that JESUS carried He carried as your due: The Crown that JESUS weareth He weareth it for you. | 246 The Faith by which ye see Him, The Hope, in which ye yearn, The Love that through all troubles To Him alone will turn,— | What are they, but vaunt-couriers To lead you to His Sight? What are they, save the effluence Of Uncreated Light? | The trials that beset you, The sorrows ye endure, The manifold temptations That Death alone can cure,— | What are they, but His jewels Of right celestial worth? What are they but the ladder, Set up to Heav’n on earth? | 247 O happy band of pilgrims, Look upward to the skies:— Where such a light affliction Shall win you such a prize! | |