Toss not my soul, O Love

Toss not my soul, O Love, 'twixt hope and fear!

Show me some ground where I may firmly stand,

Or surely fall! I care not which appear,

So one will close me in a certain band.

When once of ill the uttermost is known;

The strength of sorrow quite is overthrown!

Take me, Assurance, to thy blissful hold!

Or thou Despair, unto thy darkest cell!

Each hath full rest: the one, in joys enroll'd;

Th' other, in that he fears no more, is well.

When once the uttermost of ill is known,

The strength of sorrow quite is overthrown.