Lo, when back mine eye

Lo, when back mine eye,
Pilgrim-like, I cast,
What fearful ways I spy,
Which, blinded, I securely past!

But now heaven hath drawn
From my brows that night;
As when the day doth dawn,
So clears my long imprisoned sight.

Straight the caves of hell,
Dressed with flowers I see:
Wherein false pleasures dwell,
That, winning most, most deadly be.

Throngs of masked fiends,
Winged like angels, fly:
Even in the gates of friends
In fair disguise black dangers lie.

Straight to heaven I raised
My restored sight,
And with loud voice I praised
The Lord of ever-during light.

And since I had strayed
From His ways so wide,
His grace I humbly prayed
Henceforth to be my guard and guide.