Wouldst thou inherit life with Christ on high?
Then count the cost, and know
That here on earth below
Thou needs must suffer with thy Lord and die.
We reach that gain to which all else is loss,
But through the cross.

Oh think what sorrows Christ himself has known!
The scorn, and anguish sore,
The bitter death He bore,
Ere He ascended to His heavenly throne;
And deemest thou, thou canst with right complain,
Whate'er thy pain?

Not e'en the sharpest sorrows we can feel,
Nor keenest pangs, we dare
With that great bliss compare
When God His glory shall in us reveal,
That shall endure when our brief woes are o'er
For evermore!

Lyra Germanica: The Christian Year, 1861