Searching after Happiness

O happiness, thou pleasing dream,
Where is thy substance found?
Sought through the varying scenes in vain,
Of earth's capacious round.

The charms of grandeur, pomp, and shew,
Are nought but gilded snares;
Ambition's painful steep ascent,
Thick set with thorny cares.

The busy town, the crouded street,
Where noise and discord reign,
We gladly leave, and tir'd, retreat
To breathe and think again.

Yet if retirement's pleasing charms
Detain the captive mind,
The soft enchantment soon dissolves;
'Tis empty all as wind.

Religion's sacred lamp alone,
Unerring points the way,
Where happiness forever shines
With unpolluted ray:

To regions of eternal peace,
Beyond the starry skies,
Where pure, sublime, and perfect joys
In endless prospect rise.

There Jesus, source of bliss divine,
Our glorious leader reigns;
He gives us strength to hold our way,
And crowns the traveller's pains.

Dear Saviour, let thy cheering smile
My fainting soul renew;
Then shall the heav'nly Canaan yield
A sweet, though distant view,

Be thy almighty arm my stay,
My guide through all the road,
Till safe I reach my journey's end,
My Saviour, and my God.