The Enchantment Dissolved

I

Blinded in youth by Satan’s arts,
The world to our unpractised hearts
A flatt’ring prospect shows;
Our fancy forms a thousand schemes
Of gay delights, and golden dreams.
And undisturb’d repose.

II

So in the desert’s dreary waste,
By magic power produced in haste,
(As ancient fables say,)
Castles and groves and music sweet,
The senses of the trav’ler meet,
And stop him in his way.

III

But while he listens with surprise,
The charm dissolves, the vision dies⁠—
’Twas but enchanted ground.
Thus if the Lord our spirit touch,
The world, which promised us so much,
A wilderness is found.

IV

At first we start and feel distress’d,
Convinced we never can have rest
In such a wretched place;
But he whose mercy breaks the charm,
Reveals his own almighty arm,
And bids us seek his face.

V

Then we begin to live indeed,
When from our sin and bondage freed
By this beloved Friend:
We follow him from day to day,
Assured of grace through all the way,
And glory at the end.